James Naughton Movies

This filmization of John Jay Osborn Jr.'s novel Paper Chase ended up one of the surprise hits of the 1973-74 movie season. Timothy Bottoms stars as the Minnesotan Hart, a brilliant but naive first-year student at the Harvard Law School. Like most of his fellow aspiring attorneys, Hart is in fearful awe of his demanding, ego-deflating instructor, Professor Kingsfield (John Houseman). He is not so much intimidated by Kingsfield, however, as to resist falling in love with the professor's pretty daughter (Lindsay Wagner). An eminent theatrical and film producer, John Houseman won an Oscar for his first important film role (no, it wasn't his first film role ever; he'd played an unbilled cameo in 1964's Seven Days in May), launching Houseman on a latter-day acting career wherein he spent most of his time playing variations of Kingsfield. Houseman also recreated the role for a Paper Chase TV series, which first ran on CBS, then on public television, then on the Showtime pay cable service. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When a company is robbed even though they have a complex electronic security system, they hire a private detective to figure out how. ~ All Movie Guide

In a strange blending of reality and fantasy, this is the story of F. Scott Fitzgerald's use of the creative process to try to work out and ameliorize his own marital difficulties, writing the fictional "The Last of the Belles" while trying to work out his own relationship with Zelda during WWI. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

Conceived as the pilot for a TV series, The First 36 Hours of Dr. Durant stars Scott Hylands as the title character. The film follows the super-idealistic Durant as he assumes his residency in a big-city hospital. The young doctor clashes with practically everyone in authority, but by film's end he's learned to temper at least some of his pugnaciousness. First 36 Hours of Dr. Durant was coincidentally one of two failed pilot films of the 1975-76 season to star Scott Hylands as a doctor (the other was the 60-minute Angel's Nest). First telecast May 13, 1975, First 36 Hours etc. was later syndicated as A Small Step Forward. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After 20th Century-Fox's "Planet of the Apes" film series had run its theatrical course, the next logical step seemed to be a TV spin-off. Originally telecast September 13 to December 27, 1974, the TV version of Planet of the Apes stars Ron Harper and James Naughton as Alan Virdon and Pete Burke, two 20th-century astronauts who land on a planet where articulate apes rule and bestial humans are treated like cattle. It is giving nothing away at this late date to reveal that the Planet of the Apes is actually a futuristic, post-apocalyptic earth. After the series ran its network course, its episodes were re-edited into six "feature films," each comprised of two hour-long installments. Forgotten City of the Planet of the Apes concerns itself with hidden colonies of insurgent humans who intend to topple the ape hierarchy. Carried over from the Apes films is Roddy McDowell as intellectual chimpanzee Cornelius. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Originally telecast as an ABC Theatre of the Month special, My Body, My Child nobly attempts to tackle the abortion issue--but does so with a painfully contrived, mazelike Perils of Pauline script. Irish-American schoolteacher Vanessa Redgrave, married to Italian fireman Joe Campanella and already the mother of three daughters, believes that she's pregnant. Her doctor pooh-poohs the notion and prescribes several forms of drugs to counter her "faux" morning sickness. The effect of the narcotics, coupled with the fact that Redgrave's invalid father (Jack Albertson, in his final role) has been charged with the mercy killing of her mother, lead the poor schoolmarm to attempt suicide. This time the doctor on the scene announces that Redgrave is pregnant, and that her previous drug intake will result in a deformed, retarded child. Now arrive at the abortion issue: With all the cards stacked against her, what will Redgrave do in regards to her body and her child? Unfortunately, after raising so many diverse social issues, My Body, My Child drops many of those issues in order to rush towards its climax. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Perky social worker Laura Mathews (Pam Dawber) takes up the cause of a group of senior citizens, whose dilapidated apartment building has been targetted for demolition. While on a blind date, Laura falls in love with Richard Wylie (James Naughton)--who, alas, turns out to be the very building inspector who condemned the building. But help is on the way in the unlikely shape of Laura's ex-boyfriend, a hotshot attorney. Populated with the sort of "cute" oldsters that generally infest TV movies of this nature (the old ladies swear and play cards, the old men keep unusual pets and pursue eccentric hobbies, etc.), The Last of the Great Survivors premiered January 3, 1984 on CBS. ~TV Guide/Marrill/Internet/Expert ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cat's Eye is an uneven, tepid trilogy of stories written by Stephen King connected by a cat which appears at the beginning of each story. The best story, and first episode, concerns chain-smoker Morrison (James Woods) who joins a stop-smoking group run by sadistic Dr. Monatti, played with great relish by Alan King. In the second episode, a gambler named Cressner (Kenneth McMillan) makes a bet with his wife's lover. In the third episode, a young girl (Drew Barrymore) is terrorized by a tiny troll. Although he wrote the screenplay, Stephen King was disappointed with the results and thought the interconnection of the stories using the cat clumsy and distracting. Directer Lewis Teague does an average job of directing the confusing and sometimes foolish script. However, James Woods' fine performance and the special effects by Jeff Jarvis make the film worth a view. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

Paul Newman directed this moving adaptation of Tennessee Williams' classic play The Glass Menagerie. Joanne Woodward stars as aging Southern belle Amanda Wingfield, whose domineering parenting has driven her shy, timid daughter Laura (Karen Allen) inward and has made her adventure-hungry son Tom (John Malkovich) miserable. Newman hasn't tried to open the original stage play up at all, preferring to keep all of the action within the Wingfield apartment. The cast performed the play in a Broadway revival prior to the filming. James Naughton appears as Laura's gentleman caller. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Anna Dunlap (Diane Keaton) is a divorced mother living is Boston with her 6-year-old daughter Molly (Asia Viera). She supports herself and her daughter by working part time in a lab and teaching piano. Her ex-husband Brian (James Naughton) is a Washington lawyer who has since remarried. Anna meets Leo Cutter (Liam Neeson) and she and the Irish sculptor begin a torrid and passionate love affair. Molly walks in while the two are making love and lies down to sleep next to her mother, oblivious of their act of intimacy. Molly innocently relates the incident to Brian, and the livid lawyer sues for custody of the little girl. An ugly courtroom battle begins, with Leo being accused of molestation of a minor and Anna branded as an amoral, unfit mother. Her attorney Muth (Jason Robards) levels with Anna and tells her she must choose between Molly and her lover. Directed by Leonard Nimoy, this powerful drama is taken from the best-selling novel by Sue Miller. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Produced for cable TV, this feeble follow-up to the classic Hitchcock thriller transfers the avian carnage from Bodega Bay to the New England fishing town of Land's End, where a young couple and their two daughters are besieged by squadrons of malicious gulls and their assorted winged cousins. Despite some opening scenes suggesting an actual motivation for the bird attacks -- something Hitchcock left eerily ambiguous -- there is little variation on the formula, which overstays its welcome long before the lackluster climax (which owes more to The Killer Shrews than to The Birds); the pointless proceedings are further bogged down by a dreary adultery subplot. Even the presence of Tippi Hedren fails to provide even a slightly clever nod to the original, as she is wasted in a minor role as the proprietor of a local diner who has her own theories about the cause of the bird attacks. Direction was credited to standard DGA pseudonym Alan Smithee when Rick Rosenthal withdrew his name from the final cut. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide