Joan Plowright Movies
One of England's most esteemed actresses, Joan Plowright was trained at the Old Vic. She made her regional stage debut in 1951 and her London stage bow in 1954. Two years later, she joined the English Stage Company, where she essayed her most popular role up to that time, Margery Pincher in Wycherly's The Country Wife. That same year, she appeared in her first film, Moby Dick. In the original 1958 stage production of John Osborne's The Entertainer, Plowright co-starred with Sir Laurence Olivier, whom she would marry in 1961, a union that lasted until Olivier's death in 1989. She appeared on screen with her husband in the film versions of The Entertainer (1960) and The Three Sisters (1970), the latter of which was also directed by Olivier. During the same period, Plowright and Olivier were mainstays of London's National Theatre.In 1961, Plowright won a Tony award for her Broadway appearance in A Taste of Honey. Her stage work was briefly curtailed in the mid-to-late '60s, allowing her time to raise her family. From 1982 on, Plowright began appearing in films with increasing regularity, demonstrating at least two traits she'd evidently picked up from Olivier: a propensity for elaborate foreign accents (the hero's Jewish mother in Avalon (1990) and the heroine's Yugoslavian mom in I Love You to Death (1990)) and a willingness to take assignments possibly only for the money (Mrs. Wilson in Dennis the Menace (1993)). While an Oscar win is long overdue (although she was awarded a CBE from the Queen in 1970), Plowright was nominated for her work in 1992's Enchanted April. Perhaps one of her most endearing portrayals in recent years was as the high school teacher in The Last Action Hero who runs a clip from Laurence Olivier's Hamlet (1948) for her class, introducing Olivier as "the fellow who did all those Polaroid commercials." In 1999, Plowright additionally endeared herself to moviegoers with her role as one of a group of high society women living in fascist Italy in Franco Zeffirelli's Tea with Mussolini. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
There are more puppies than you can shake a rolled up newspaper at in this live-action remake of the Disney animated favorite 101 Dalmatians. Roger (Jeff Daniels) is a designer of computer games who shares his home with his pet dalmatian, Pongo. One day, Roger takes Pongo for a walk in the park and the dog sets his eyes on a beautiful female dalmatian named Perdy. Perdy likes Pongo as much as he likes her, and thankfully Perdy's mistress, a fashion designer named Anita (Joely Richardson), is quite taken with Roger. Romance blooms between the human and canine couples, and Roger and Anita tie the knot (Pongo and Perdy are apparently still living in sin). Anita works for Cruella De Vil (Glenn Close), an intense fashion maven whose lust for fur doubtless places her high on PETA's hit list. Inspired by her dogs, Anita finds herself working up a design for a fur coat made with spotted fur, and Cruella leaps on the idea of making garments out of real dalmatians. But where to get the animals? Cruella has two nasty but not especially intelligent henchmen, Jasper (Hugh Laurie) and Horace (Mark Williams), who've been known to kill the odd endangered species at madame's request. Now they're sent on a mission to round up dalmatians, and when they fall a bit short of their goal, it comes to Cruella's attention that Perdy has just given birth to a litter of 15 pups. For this version, a number of real dalmatian puppies were combined with computer-generated animation and animatronic creatures from Jim Henson's Workshop, who respond better to direction (and are doubtless easier to clean up after) than the real thing. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenn Close, Jeff Daniels, (more)
- 1986
When a workaholic businessman needs to be married to maintain a good image, he asks a woman to pose as his wife. The film is a British production originally made for The Romance Theatre. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- 1994
This complex political drama zeroes in on the life of a small bourgeois family living in Stalinist Czechoslovakia. It is set in the 50's. The family is falling apart from the pressure to think along party lines, even in private. The mere mention of the West could result in prison, or worse. Little Marushka is a normal, imaginative young girl who is not easily repressed. Her ways are not appreciated by her grandparents and her mother who possesses neither trait. Marushka's mother, an aspiring actress in the local socialist-realist theater, spends most of her time cozying up to local Communist leaders. She is too busy for her daughter which leaves the girl to be raised by her uncle and her grandparents. Marushka's uncle does not fully embrace Communist thinking. He values independence and free thinking. This gets the family in terrible trouble with the ever-present authorities. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Plowright, Ian Bannen, (more)
- 1994
In this touching drama, a kind-hearted pediatric nurse tries to adopt an HIV-positive baby and ends up taking care of its troubled, dying mother as well. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sissy Spacek, Mary-Louise Parker, (more)
This is an offbeat romantic comedy that's the directorial debut of TV producer Joshua Brand, co-creator of St. Elsewhere (1982-88) and Northern Exposure (1990-95). John Leguizamo stars as Sergio, a Toronto pastry shop worker who faints whenever he sees Hattie (Sadie Frost), a neighborhood girl with whom he is smitten. Hattie, however, wants to see the world and avoids all commitments. Sergio's employer, the kindly Linzer (Armin Mueller-Stahl), wants his shop burned down so that he can use the insurance money to give his wife (Joan Plowright) the lifestyle she deserves, so he offers Sergio $20,000 to torch the store. Sergio refuses but then one night the bakery is burnt to the ground. The real culprit is Garet (William Baldwin), a wealthy pyromaniac with a limp who's madly in love with Stephanie (Erika Eleniak). The slightly unhinged Garet uses the fire as his public declaration of affection. Although innocent, Sergio also claims culpability so that he can use Linzer's payoff to whisk Hattie away. To protect Sergio, however, Linzer confesses to the crime, and to prevent her husband from being jailed, Mrs. Linzer also claims responsibility. With four people confessing, local constable Sgt. Zikowski (Mike Starr) is at a loss. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Baldwin, John Leguizamo, (more)
- 1998
- PG
More chilling than fiction, this taut drama chronicles the CIA's search to prove that one of its agents has succumbed to greed and is exchanging highly classified government secrets for money. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Timothy Hutton, Elizabeth Peña, (more)
- 1991
Originally aired on the Masterpiece Theatre television series and set in Great Britain towards the end of WW II, this romantic drama chronicles the sacrifices made by a blue-collar woman and her family. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Watt, Phyllis Logan, (more)
The third of director Barry Levinson's autobiographical "Baltimore Trilogy" (the first two entries were Diner and Tin Men), Avalon covers nearly forty years in the lives of an immigrant Jewish family. Sam Krichinsky (Armin Mueller-Stahl) emigrates to Baltimore in 1914, where Sam's brothers Gabriel (Lou Jacobi), Hymie (Leo L. Fuchs), and Nathan (Israel Rubinek) are awaiting his arrival. By and by, Sam meets his future wife, Eva (Joan Plowright). With the introduction of the Krichinsky's grown son Jules (Aidan Quinn), the film ventures into culture-clash country. Unwilling to become a manual laborer like his dad, Jules opts for the life of a door-to-door salesman. Eventually, he teams with his cousin Izzy (Kevin Pollak) to open the first TV store in Baltimore. Thereafter, the disintegration of the Krichinsky family is paralleled by the rise of TV's omnipresence in the American home. Avalon's elegiac and melancholy effect is underlined by Randy Newman's soulful musical score. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Armin Mueller-Stahl, Aidan Quinn, (more)
Although Frances Hodgson Burnett did not feel the need to write a sequel to her classic fantasy novel The Secret Garden, this did not prevent producer Norman Rosemont from commissioning just such a sequel. Set in 1946, Back to the Secret Garden finds Mary Lennox, the youthful heroine of the original novel, all grown up and far removed from her beloved enchanted garden in Yorkshire's Mistlewaith Manor. Now living in New York, Mary comes in contact with Lizzie (Camilla Belle), a feisty Brooklyn-born orphan. It is Lizzie who tries to save the day by heading off to England and endeavoring to save Mary's secret garden, which has been literally dying in its caregiver's absence. Joan Plowright, George Baker, Cherie Lunghi, and Leigh Lawson co-star in this German-British co-production, which was originally intended for theatrical release. The American premiere of Back to the Secret Garden appeared on the Showtime Cable Network on September 2, 2001 -- nearly two years after the film's completion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Camilla Belle, Joan Plowright, (more)
- 2001
"Bailey's Mistake" is the apt cognomen for a dismal, virtually uninhabitable island off the coast of Maine. Upon finding that the island was secretly purchased by her late husband, impoverished widow Liz Donovan (Linda Hamilton) heads "down east" to discover just what it was about Bailey's Mistake that compelled the deceased Mr. Donovan to squander all of his money on it. Before long, Liz and her two children are plunged into a mystery of Gothic dimensions, involving such elements as a man with a tail, a woman who calls herself "the Other Mrs. Donovan," a demonic land-grabber, airborne youngsters, eccentric Irish faith healers, a voracious goat, and a drunken cat. Originally aired by ABC as a two-hour episode of the Wonderful World of Disney anthology, Bailey's Mistake premiered on March 18, 2001. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Linda Hamilton, Kyle Secor, (more)
The arrival of a mysterious stranger disrupts the lives of the members of a British family in this dark, psychological thriller. The stranger is one Martin Taylor (Sting), a dangerous charmer who ingratiates himself with the Bateses, a dignified, older couple (Denholm Elliott and Joan Plowright). The couple becomes especially fond of Martin after he demonstrates a strong, caring rapport with their daughter, a disabled invalid. It is only when he has become a part of the household, unofficially serving as the daughter's caretaker, that Martin's true, potentially demonic nature begins to show itself. Based on a script by Dennis Potter, the creator of the brilliant British television miniseries Pennies from Heaven and The Singing Detective, the film layers its already charged situation with hints of the supernatural, aspiring to be both disturbing family drama and provocatively ambiguous morality play. Some moments of MTV-like stylization threaten to diminish the mood of slow suspense and unhealthy obsession, but Potter's distinctly warped sensibility and the solid performances generally carry the film over its rough patches. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sting, Denholm Elliott, (more)
A man looking for a woman just like himself ends up with someone quite different in this farcical comedy. Peter Sanderson (Steve Martin) is a lawyer who is having trouble getting his life back on track after his wife, Kate (Jean Smart), divorces him; he's also adjusting to his new status as a single father. Looking for companionship, Peter tries an internet dating site and virtually meets "lawyer-girl," an attractive and single fellow attorney. Peter makes a date with her, but the woman who arrives at his door turns out to be Charlene Morton (Queen Latifah), who not only isn't a lawyer, she turns out to be an escaped convict. Charlene is also a brash and brassy African-American, while Peter is perhaps the most tightly wound white guy in L.A. Charlene explains to Peter that she's strung him along because she's innocent of the crime for which she was convicted, and she needs a top-notch attorney to help prove her case. Peter isn't the least bit interested at first, but Charlene isn't the sort of woman to take "no" for an answer, and in time she wears him down and agrees to help. As Charlene moves into Peter's home, she helps him to loosen up and unleash his inner groove, which quite surprises Kate, and her down-to-earth advice comes in handy for Peter's son and daughter. But Charlene may end up going too far when Peter is asked to entertain Mrs. Arness (Joan Plowright), a wealthy woman looking for a new law firm. Bringing Down the House also features Eugene Levy as Howie, one of Peter's friends who takes a keen interest in Charlene, and Betty White as one of Peter's neighbors. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve Martin, Queen Latifah, (more)
This dark comedy charts the chaos that results when the panicked staff of a major English hospital attempts to prepare for a visit by the Queen Mother, only to face every problem imaginable. Britannia Hospital clearly attempts to recapture the anarchic bite of director Lindsay Anderson's previous satires If... and O Lucky Man, but fails to achieve the same combination of intelligent political critique, comic lunacy, and skillful filmmaking. (Indeed, the three films are often considered a loosely linked trilogy, largely due to the presence in all three of lead Malcolm McDowell). The film does make a valiant effort, but its commentary on the poor, labor disputes, and the inhumanity of bureaucratic institutions mixes uneasily with the film's broader elements, like the experiments of a cartoonish mad scientist. The result is often quite entertaining on a scene-by-scene basis, but the film never reaches the level of delirious, farcical energy or satirical sharpness to which it clearly aspires. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leonard Rossiter, Graham Crowden, (more)
A mournful look at the last days of opera diva Maria Callas, director Franco Zeffirelli's biographical drama attempts to explore the irresistible allure of a comeback for a fallen star who hungers for the success of her past. Weathered from the excess of the previous decade and with her best performances long behind her, Callas (Fanny Ardant) withdraws to her Paris apartment to live her final days in seclusion. Despite being ravaged by a throat disease and being stuck in an extended period of mourning following the death of her true love, Callas' manager Larry Kelly (Jeremy Irons) nevertheless suggests that the former reigning queen of opera attempt a spectacular comeback. Though she is physically unable to perform the pieces the way that she once did, the suggestion to lip-sync to recordings of her previous performances offers a tentative chance for latter day fame. Despite her belief that lip-syncing her performance would be dishonest to her fans, the prospect of performing Carmen, an opera that she once recorded but never performed on stage, offers Callas one last shot at reliving her former glory. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fanny Ardant, Jeremy Irons, (more)
- 2000
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Home Vision Cinema presents Christmas Glory From Westminster. This program features poetry and music from celebrities from the worlds of film and opera. Readings include Greta Scacchi reciting William Blake's The Lamb and Joan Plowright reading Kipling's Eddie's Service, while the performances feature Charlotte Church singing Stephen Adams' "The Holy City" and Andrea Bocelli performing "Mille Cherubini in Coro." Released in 2000 and running one hour, Christmas Glory From Westminster also features Bryn Terfel and Trevor McDonald. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
The naughty little monkey from Margret Rey and H.A. Rey's beloved children's stories makes the leap to the big screen in this animated adaptation. Ted (voice of Will Ferrell) is an explorer with a large yellow hat who is good friends with Bloomsberry (voice of Dick Van Dyke), who runs a natural history museum. Bloomsberry's greedy son, Bloomsberry Junior (voice of David Cross), wants to tear down his dad's museum and put a parking ramp in its place, but the elder Bloomsberry is convinced that a spectacular new exhibit could save the museum from the wrecking ball. Ted heads to Africa on an expedition to find some special artifacts that will keep his friend in business, but while he's there he befriends a playful monkey he calls George (voice of Frank Welker). While George is friendly, he has a taste for mischief and seems to always get Ted in hot water; Ted thinks he's seen the last of his simian friend when his ship heads back to America, until he discovers that George managed to hide aboard the boat before it set sail. Ted's search for a eye-catching exhibit proved to be a failure, and Ted and his good friend Maggie (voice of Drew Barrymore), a schoolteacher who's sweet on him, struggle to find of a way to save Bloomsberry's museum. But time becomes precious for Ted when George has an entire new city to explore. Curious George features a handful of original songs composed for the film by surfer-turned-singer/songwriter Jack Johnson. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Will Ferrell, Drew Barrymore, (more)
Randa Haines directed this dance drama, focusing on young Cuban Rafael Infante (Latino singer Chayanne) after the death of his mother. Rafael leaves Cuba for Houston, where he meets his father John Burnett (Kris Kristofferson) for the first time. Burnette is unaware that the young man is his son, and Rafael can't figure out how to tell him. Rafael's mother was a singer on cruise ships where Burnett was a dance instructor. Burnett owns the Excelsior Dance Studio, and he gives Rafael a handyman job there, where he meets and falls for the Ruby (Vanessa L. Williams) a beautiful professional dancer. With the Las Vegas World Open Dance competition in a few weeks, dancers work on their routines, and Ruby aims for the Vegas prize. Rafael partners with Patricia (Jane Krakowski) after Burnett loses interest in the competition, and Ruby dances with her brutish ex-boyfriend, the father of her young son. Then it's on to Vegas. This film features great dance numbers and an homage to Gene Kelly beneath a sprinkler system. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vanessa Williams, Chayanne, (more)
Sir Laurence Olivier stars in this film about a group of people in a Soho restaurant who are all invited by a boisterous woman to a tea at her husband's home. Enraptured by the woman is an elderly businessman who may find that things with this enchanting woman may not be what they seem. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
John Hughes continues the trend he began with the Home Alone series in Dennis the Menace, the Hughes-scripted film version of Hank Ketcham's long-running comic strip, cartoon show, and television comedy. The film opens as Dennis (Mason Gamble) is seen careening down a sidewalk in a beautiful and idealistic suburban town on his training-wheeled bike -- cans on string clattering behind him, baseball cards flapping in the spokes of the wheel, his red wagon filled to the brim and his dog following him. "Hey! Mister Wilson!" he screams and slams his bike to a halt in front of his much put-upon neighbor, Mr. Wilson (Walter Matthau). Half of the film concerns vignettes of small-town Hank Ketcham life as Dennis' mom Alice (Lea Thompson) starts a new job, Dennis stays over at his friend Margaret's (Amy Sakasitz) house, and Mr. Wilson and his gentle, well-meaning wife, Martha (Joan Plowright), mind Dennis during the night of a big garden party. Through all this, Dennis continually gets into Mr. Wilson's hair. But then the Home Alone plot kicks in -- with an unsubtle dose of O. Henry -- when Switchblade Sam (Christopher Lloyd) makes an appearance. Switchblade Sam is a homeless drifter who combs the neighborhood stealing purses and small home items. But when Switchblade Sam steals Mr. Wilson's collection of gold coins, Dennis comes to the rescue and inflicts Dennis the Menace-type tortures upon the thief in order to reclaim the coins for Mr. Wilson. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Matthau, Mason Gamble, (more)
Walt Disney Pictures redefined computer animation with this technically accomplished fantasy of prehistoric life, combining live-action backgrounds with computer-generated animals. After a pterodactyl snatches a dinosaur's egg and accidentally drops it while flying away, the egg is rescued by a family of lemurs, who keep it warm until it hatches. They raise the baby dinosaur, named Aladar, as one of their own, and as he grows to adulthood, Aladar protects the primates that he has come to regard as his family. When a giant meteor appears in the sky, packs of dinosaurs have no idea what to make of the strange fiery light, but Aladar and the lemurs are convinced that they must escape to a safer place before the huge flaming stone destroys their home, leading Aladar to encounter his own kind for the first time. D.B. Sweeney provides the voice of Aladar; other actors in the voice cast include Joan Plowright, Julianna Margulies, Alfre Woodard, and Ossie Davis. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- D.B. Sweeney, Alfre Woodard, (more)
- 1988
- R
Peter Greenaway wrote and directed this typically surreal and iconoclastic black comedy. Three generations of women who share the same name -- 63-year-old Cissie Colpitts (Joan Plowright), her daughter Cissie Colpitts II (Juliet Stevenson), and granddaughter Cissie Colpitts III (Joely Richardson) -- have all discovered the same way of dealing with their marital problems. The senior Cissie has drowned her husband Jake (Bryan Pringle) in the bathtub, her daughter sent her spouse Hardy (Trevor Cooper) to a watery grave in the ocean, and the youngest Cissie sent her husband Bellamy (David Morrissey) down in a swimming pool. Needless to say, local coroner Henry Madgett (Barnard Hill) has some questions about this sudden rash of drownings among the Colpitts husbands, and again all three women respond in the same way: they promise to sleep with Henry in exchange for recording the deaths as accidental (though none of the Cissies make good on this promise). When the local gossip mill begins working overtime about this sudden rash of water-related deaths, Henry's teenage son Smut (Jason Edwards) comes to the aid of the Cissies and organizes a tug-of-war, with he and the Colpitts women on one side and the doubting townspeople on the other (and, of course, a river in the middle). Along the way, Greenaway often stops to contemplate his obsessions with literature, astronomy, and numbers. Drowning by Numbers was released in Europe in 1988, but didn't find its way to American screens until 1991, following the success of Greenaway's The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bernard Hill, Joan Plowright, (more)
Previously filmed in 1935 with Ann Harding, Enchanted April, a romantic novel by Elizabeth, was remade in 1992. The first film skips along superficially at 66 minutes: the second, directed by the always intriguing Mike Newell, runs 101 minutes, allowing for richer characterizations and a bottomless reserve of brilliant dialogue. Two cloistered, married English women (Josie Lawrence, Miranda Richardson) impulsively rent an Italian villa and embark upon a vacation without their spouses. They are joined by two other ladies: the high-flown aging widow Joan Plowright, and elegant upper-crust beauty Polly Walker) whom they've never met. Under the spell of an exotic new location, the foursome are in for quite a few life-altering experiences, many of them amusing, and not a few very surprising. Impeccably accurate in its recreation of European manners and mores in the 1920s, Enchanted April is sheer bliss from fade-in to fade-out. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Miranda Richardson, Joan Plowright, (more)
- 1998
In this TV sitcom, damaged vocal cords cut short the career of egomaniacal opera star Joe Pinoni (Nathan Lane), prompting his sudden return home to the Napa Valley where his family has a winery. His eccentric mother, Marie Pinoni (Joan Plowright), who usually finds companionship attending funerals of people she never knew, is delighted by Joe's return. However, his sister Francesca (Glenn Headly), just establishing herself as the winery manager, is certain he's going to interfere with her life. She's right. Filmed in L.A., this series premiered September 22, 1998 on NBC. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nathan Lane, Joan Plowright, (more)
Richard Burton plays a psychiatrist who attempts to discover why young Peter Firth has taken to mutilating live horses. In probing Firth's psyche, Burton discovers that the source of the boy's obsession is his mother, Joan Plowright, who has raised Firth with a convoluted set of values. Even as he gets closer to the reason behind Firth's horrendous acts, Burton discovers many previously locked-away secrets within himself. Equus was based on the play by Peter Schaffer who received an Academy Award Nomination for his adapted screenplay. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Burton, Peter Firth, (more)
