Adrian Pasdar Movies
It was a pair of misfortunes that led darkly handsome Adrian Pasdar to become an actor. While studying literature at the University of Florida, he showed promise as a football player and might have made it a career had not an auto accident at the end of his freshman year taken him permanently off the field and sent him to his native Philadelphia. The son of a heart surgeon, Pasdar passed his recuperation time apprenticing as a set builder for the People's Light and Theatre Company until he seriously injured his thumb and again had to rethink his options. Injured enough to receive disability payments, Pasdar decided to become an actor and so enrolled at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute in New York. Upon graduation, Pasdar successfully auditioned for a part in Top Gun (1986). In fact, director Tony Scott was impressed enough by Pasdar to write a small part, that of Chippie, just for him. Top Gun's success led Pasdar to a larger role in the youthful sci-fi/adventure Solarbabies (1986). The following year, Pasdar played a hapless Oklahoma cowboy who is seduced by a vampire and forced to join her roving band of bloodsuckers in Kathryn Bigelow's cult favorite Near Dark; Pasdar garnered acclaim for his role. He has subsequently specialized in independent films while only making the occasional major feature. In addition to his feature-film efforts, Pasdar continues working on-stage and appearing on television. He is particularly drawn to avant-garde and offbeat television pieces such as Big Time (1989). In 1996 Pasdar played a psychotic, ambitious corporate executive in the short-lived Fox Network series Profit. Since then, Pasdan finds himself in increasing demand as a supporting actor in films such as Ties to Rachel and A Brother's Kiss (both 1997). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1986
- PG13
A futuristic dystopia is the setting for this tale about good versus evil and a magical space-sphere out to reestablish a civilized society. An orphanage in a bleak and deserted landscape imprisons a large group of youngsters who have divided into good and bad groups. One day, while competing at roller-skate ball, the teams come across a bowling-ball-sized sphere named Bodhi (a Sanskrit word equivalent to "enlightened compassion"). Bodhi communicates with the good kids, but the bad ones cannot understand the sphere's electronic burbles. The nasty Darstar (Adrian Pasdar) steals Bodhi and heads out into the forbidden world beyond the orphanage. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Jordan, Jami Gertz, (more)
Devil-may-care navy pilot Pete Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is sent to Miramar Naval Air Station for advanced training. Here he vies with Tom Kasansky (Val Kilmer) for the coveted "Top Gun" award. When not so occupied, Mitchell carries on a romance with civilian consultant Charlotte Blackwood (Kelly McGillis). Shaken up by the death of a friend, Mitchell loses the Top Gun honor to Kasansky. Worried that he may have lost his nerve, Mitchell is given a chance to redeem himself during a tense international crisis involving a crippled US vessel and a flock of predatory enemy planes. The story wasn't new in 1986, but Top Gun scored with audiences on the strength of its visuals, especially the vertigo-inducing aerial sequences. The film made more money than any other film in 1986 and even spawned a 1989 takeoff, Hot Shots. An Academy Award went to the Giogio Moroder-Tom Whitlock song "Take My Breath Away." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, (more)
- 1986
- R
Klaus Maria Brandauer stars in this drama as Alek Neuman, a one-time boxing champion in the Soviet Union. While he was one of the top-ranked Russian fighters of his day, he was never allowed to box in the Olympics, because the Soviets would not permit Jews to compete on their national teams. Many years later, an elderly Alek is able to emigrate to the United States; he settles in the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn, New York, where he makes ends meet as a dishwasher. Alek is depressed and starts sinking into alcoholism until he meets Timmy Boyle (Adrian Pasdar) and Roland Jenkins (Wesley Snipes), two up-and-coming amateur boxers. Alek thinks that the two young fighters have potential, and he offers to coach them. While Timmy and Roland aren't sure at first if they trust Alek (or each other), in time they grow to respect each other, and it looks as if they may make the United States Olympic team -- where they may fight against the Russian team that wouldn't accept Alek years before. Brandauer won critical acclaim for his performance in Streets of Gold, which also featured Wesley Snipes several years before his breakthrough role in Spike Lee's Mo' Better Blues. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Klaus Maria Brandauer, Adrian Pasdar, (more)
In Kathryn Bigelow's tale of vampires in the American Southwest, the creatures of the night aren't elegant, cloaked aristocrats. They're a gun-toting gang that dresses and acts like a motorcycle gang. Caleb (Adrian Pasdar), a restless young man from a small farm town, meets an alluring drifter named Mae (Jenny Wright). She reveals herself to be a vampire, who "turns" Caleb into one of her kind rather than kill him. But the rest of her "family" is slow to accept the newcomer. The ancient leader, Jesse (Lance Henriksen), and his psychotic henchman Severen (Bill Paxton) lay down the law; Caleb has to carry his own weight or die. However, he can't bring himself to kill. He manages to win the gang's approval when he rescues them from certain death in a daytime gunfight during a spectacular motel shoot-out in which every bullet hole lets in a deadly ray of sunlight. When the vampires threaten Caleb's real family, he's forced to choose between life and death. The film avoids the complex vampire mythology of such films as Interview with the Vampire. Instead, it emphasizes the intense, seductive bond that forms between Caleb and the violent but tightly knit gang. Bigelow would later utilize this powerful dramatic device in her 1991 film Point Break. ~ Jonathan E. Laxamana, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adrian Pasdar, Jenny Wright, (more)
- 1987
- R
Not the same as Jean-Luc Godard's 1966 film, this movie stars Chris Penn and Adrian Pasdar as Pennsylvania coal-mining victims who hit the road and travel to California. On the way, they add a hitchhiker (Lori Singer) and get mixed up in a life of crime. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adrian Pasdar, Chris Penn, (more)
Directed by Jan Egleson, Big Time follows a frustrated model (Mia Sara) through the ups and downs of the hectic and drug-addled late '80s fashion scene. The made-for-television feature also stars Ron Silver, Dennis Boutsikaris, and Adrian Pasdar, and is based on a play written by Keith Reddin. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mia Sara, Dennis Boutsikaris, (more)
Based on the novel A Forbidden Love by Chayym Zeldis, this drama tells of a young Jewish Israeli soldier who meets up with his childhood Arabic friend and the two fall in love. Unfortunately, the couple must face a number of tragic circumstances as they attempt to be together in a religiously prejudiced and war-torn country. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adrian Pasdar, Cecilia Peck, (more)
- 1989
- R
Directed by Susan Seidelman and written by Alice Arlen and Nora Ephron, Cookie comes across as an inconsequential piece of fluff, bolstered by a quirky performance by Emily Lloyd. Lloyd is Cookie Capisco, the daughter of mobster Dino Capisco (Peter Falk), who has just finished thirteen years in prison. Dino wants to get out of jail, settle some old scores, and make up for lost time with his daughter. His illegitimate daughter, that is -- since Cookie's mother, Lenore (Dianne Wiest), has been Dino's longtime mistress. Dino's actual wife Bunny (Brenda Vaccaro) has, he thinks, been kept in the dark about Dino's mistress and his daughter. Dino decides that the best way to get to know Cookie is to hire her as his chauffeur. With her ears attuned to the conspiracies floating around Dino, she quickly discovers that her father's old crony, Carmine (Michael V. Gazzo), has been swindling him and that Dino's life is in jeopardy. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Falk, Dianne Wiest, (more)
Marisa Silver helmed this tightly directed hospital drama reminiscent of David Swift's 1962 The Interns. Jimmy Smits plays Dr. David Redding, who guides seven student doctors through their third year of residency at Los Angeles Central's medical school. The cast includes Laura San Giacomo as Lauren Rose, a hard-working waitress putting her uncaring husband Kenny (Jack Gwaltney) through medical school; Kenny eventually breaks down the resistance of cool fellow student Gena Wyler (Diane Lane). Kenny is also competing with doctor's son Michael Chatham (Adrian Pasdar), who wants to become the best surgeon at L.A. Central; Michael, however, has to reconsider his goals when he realizes that he also needs Gena's love. Bobby Hayes (Tim Ransom) and Suzanne Maloney (Jane Adams) are also struggling with medical school, but they are a support team who study, work, and even sleep together. Through all the competitions and love affairs it eventually takes the wisdom of a dying cancer patient (Norma Aleandro) to make the medical students realize the important things in life. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adrian Pasdar, Diane Lane, (more)
- 1990
In this made-for-TV gangster docudrama, Al Capone (Eric Roberts) wages war against his younger brother (Adrian Pasdar), a Midwestern sheriff. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1992
Just Like a Woman is a contemporary cross-dressing farce played as if it were a romantic comedy. But still, in the deep recesses of the celluloid, the narrator from Ed Wood's Glen Or Glenda can be heard intoning, "Remember, transvestites are not homosexuals." The story begins when businessman Gerald (Adrian Pasdar) is kicked out of his house by his wife, who discovers Gerald in the possession of a strange woman's underwear. After being cast out of hearth and home, he ends up living in a rented room at the home of fortyish divorcee Monica (Julie Walters). The two proceed to fall in love, and all is well until Monica spots a mysterious woman creeping upstairs to Gerald's room. When Monica investigates, it turns out that the mystery woman is, in fact, Gerald. Monica is taken aback, but only for a moment, and they continue their affair -- dresses, panties, garter belts and all. As one of Monica's friends points out to her, "It's 'is 'obby, luv . . . like golf . . .except you see more of him." Unfortunately, so does Gerald's boss, Miles Millichamp (Paul Freeman) who abruptly fires him for being a transvestite. But Gerald's firing affects his firm's negotiations with an important Japanese company and he must muster up enough fortitude to both straighten out his career and his panty hose. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julie Walters, Adrian Pasdar, (more)
- 1992
Set in 19th-century Louisiana, the made-for-cable film The Grand Isle is about a wealthy woman (Kelly McGillis) who discovers that she no longer believes in her pampered life as a socialite when she falls in love with a Creole artist (Adrian Pasdar). After she falls in love, she tragically tries to break away from her husband and his society. The Grand Isle is adapted from Kate Chopin's novel, The Awakening. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kelly McGillis, Jon de Vries, (more)
Night of the Living Dead meets Gone with the Wind, in which the Blue and the Gray have to battle the Ghoulish and the Undead. When the Confederate army accidentally unleashes a supernatural voodoo baddie, the spirit starts organizing an army full of dead soldiers, and soon a take-no-prisoners Civil War battle ensues -- one not found in the Ken Burns documentary. This film stars reigning straight-to-video king Corbin Bernsen. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
Carlito's Way is a tale of a former hood trying to escape his former life. Al Pacino is Carlito Brigante, a high-level Puerto Rican drug dealer sprung from a three-decade jail sentence after only five years, thanks to a technicality and his sleazy, cocaine-addled lawyer, Dave Kleinfeld (Sean Penn). Carlito renounces his previous ways and takes a job as the manager of a club that Kleinfeld has invested in, planning to save enough money so that he can eventually move to the Caribbean. But no sooner is Carlito back on the streets of New York than his old life claws at him in the form of both old partners (Luis Guzman) and vicious up-and-comers (John Leguizamo). Nevertheless, Carlito stays clean and even restarts his relationship with a dancer named Gail (Penelope Ann Miller), until he is finally led astray by Kleinfeld, who manipulates Carlito into participating in the murder of a Mafia don from whom Kleinfeld has stolen a million dollars. At that point, the race is on to see whether Carlito and Gail can escape his world for good. The film is based on two novels about Carlito written by New York State judge Edwin Torres. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- 1994
- R
An elderly retired violinist befriends a troubled young woman in this touching, sensitively performed drama. Armin Mueller-Stahl stars as Joseph Kopple, a former professional musician who has withdrawn into a quiet life after the death of his wife. Remaining mostly isolated, Kopple stays at home, playing his violin in the evenings for entertainment. This routine is disrupted, however, when he witnesses a violent fight between his neighbor, Eddie (Adrian Pasdar), and his girlfriend Charlotte (Olivia d'Abo). Kopple takes an interest in the young woman, eventually taking her in when he learns that she has no place to stay. The gentle Kopple possesses a traditional, European restraint, while Charlotte is tough and jaded. Nevertheless, the two soon become close companions, sharing their pain and finding unexpected solace in each other. Director Bob Balaban uses his acting background to draw strong performances from his cast, particularly Mueller-Stahl, whose sensitive portrayal of Kopple proves the film's greatest asset. Despite the potentially sentimental subject matter, these performances ensure that the film presents a believably complex and affecting portrayal of the feelings surrounding old age. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Armin Mueller-Stahl, Maureen Stapleton, (more)
Set in Utah (but filmed in Texas), the made-for-TV Shadows of Desire will probably seem fresh and original to anyone who hasn't seen the old Katharine Hepburn-Robert Taylor-Robert Mitchum theatrical feature Undercurrent--or, for that matter, to anyone unfamiliar with the Biblical story of Cain and Abel. Central to the plotline is Rowena Ecklund (Nicollette Sheridan), a woman torn between her sincere love for the kindly, sensitive Jude Snow (Adrian Pasder) and her insatiable lust for Jude's arrogant, dangerous older brother Sonny (Joe Lando) (guess which brother has the longest hair and the sweatiest shirt?) The passions engendered by this triangle are matched only by the all-stops-out histrionics of Piper Laurie as Jude and Sonny's domineering mother Ellis. Originally telecast September 20, 1994, on CBS, Shadows of Desire has since been rerun on cable television and on Canadian TV under the title The Devil's Bed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1995
Set in the late 19th century and based upon a novel by Beth Streeter, this outdoor adventure chronicles the lives of a city-bred woman who gives up her dreams of becoming a singer to forge a new life in the Nebraska wilds with her pioneering husband. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nancy McKeon, Adrian Pasdar, (more)
This lively and complicated romantic comedy-drama centers on four fellows. Runyon is a poet carrying a torch for Kathryn; he flies to LA to talk about scripting a movie and is accompanied by the lovely Tarzaan. Gadabout Josh is seen having a fling with a Chinese hat-check girl and pursuing Cynthia; despite his womanizing, he also still cares for his ex-wife Gina, the sister of Phil, a plumber and owner of a hardware store who is married with two children. Phil is in a quandary because he finds himself lusting for a sophisticated English coquette who just might be interested in him. Meanwhile, therapist Mark is utterly wrecked over a difficult relationship with Tasha. The title of the film comes from a line in rocker Steve Miller's song, "The Joker". ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jon Cryer, Tim Guinee, (more)
Singer Paula Abdul makes her acting debut in this tense ABC TV movie. Recovering from a vicious attack by a serial rapist, businesswoman Ellen Collier (Paula Abdul) finds comfort and security in her relationship with her loving and supporting new boyfriend, car salesman Jerry Braskin (Adrian Pasdar). But as Ellen slowly comes out of her self-imposed shell, events conspire to persuade her that Jerry is harboring an unsavory secret. By the time Ellen has been confronted with rock-solid evidence that Jerry is the very man who sexually assaulted her, it may be too late to save herself. Based on a true story, Touched by Evil was originally telecast on January 12, 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paula Abdul, Adrian Pasdar, (more)
- 1996
- R
In this suspenseful thriller, a female game warden (Madchen Amick) must draw upon all her wilderness experience to evade the poacher (Adrian Pasdar) who seeks to kill her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mädchen Amick, Adrian Pasdar, (more)
- 1997
In this delightfully lachrymose Barbara Taylor Bradford confection, Maggie Sorrell (Victoria Principal) moves to a different town after she is dumped by her cheating husband. Within what seems to be a few minutes, Maggie has carved out a new career for herself as an immensely successful interior designer. She then meets Jake Cantrell (Adrian Pasdar), a much-younger man who, unbeknownst to Maggie, has likewise been abandoned--but not divorced--by a faithless spouse. Beyond the expected May-December complications, the plot also manages to incorporate a car accident, a fatal illness, and a side trip to Scotland (Well, why not Scotland?). Barbara Taylor Bradford's Love In Another Town originally aired October 19, 1997 by CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victoria Principal, Adrian Pasdar, (more)
