Clive Revill Movies

Sean Connery attempted to make a clean break from his "James Bond" image in the boisterous comedy A Fine Madness. Connery plays Samson Shillitoe, a Brendan Behan-like poet with a mile-wide misogynistic streak. Try as he might to complete his latest masterpiece, Shillitoe is constantly interrupted by the women in his life. Driven to a nervous breakdown, he seeks help from the medical establishment -- and ends up a babbling shell of his former self. The film takes scattered potshots at a repressive society that forces the truly creative among us into near-madness; at times, it is sidesplittingly funny, though never quite as potent as the Elliot Baker novel upon which it is based. Sean Connery is brilliant, but the public wanted James Bond to behave himself, thus the film didn't do as well at the box office as it should have. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This sophisticated black comedy sex romp is based on the novel by Iris Murdoch, which she also turned into a stage play (with J.B. Priestley). Ian Holm, is hapless wine-taster Martin Lynch-Gibbon who has both a mistress (Jennie Linden) and a nymphomaniac wife, Antonia Lynch-Gibbon (Lee Remick). His best friend, psychiatrist Palmer Anderson (Richard Attenborough), is having an affair with Antonia. Palmer's half-sister Honor Klein (Clair Bloom) is having sexual relations with him also, which he is slightly apologetic about. The wine taster has had a lifelong antagonism for his friend's half-sister, but after his wife and mistress leave him, he takes up with Honor. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Londo neglects an important series of legislations with the Narn when he falls in love with nightclub dancer Adira Tyree (Fabiana Udenio). Things get dicey when it develops that the dancer is a reluctant spy, assigned to get top-secret information which could topple the Centauri government. Meanwhile, Garibaldi discovers that someone is using the Gold Channels without permission. Mary Woronov receives onscreen credit as Narn envoy Ko D'Ath, even though Woronov was replaced just before filming by Caitlin Brown as envoy Na'Toth. First telecast February 9, 1994, "Born to the Purple" was written by Lawrence G. DiTillio. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on the mystery novel by Marryam Modell (using the pseudonym Evelyn Piper), Bunny Lake Is Missing is a bizarre study in motherhood, kindness, enigma, and insanity. Ann Lake (Carol Lynley), an American freshly relocated to England, wishes to drop off her daughter Bunny for the girl's first day at a new nursery school. Oddly, Ann cannot locate any teachers or administrators, only the school's disgruntled cook (Lucie Mannheim). She is forced to leave Bunny unsupervised in the building's "first day" room, under the reassurance that the cook will be responsible for the child. When Ann returns in the afternoon, the cook has quit and Bunny Lake is missing. The school's remaining employees vehemently deny ever seeing the child, and Ann desperately calls her older brother Stephen (Keir Dullea) for help. Ann was raised fatherless and never married; she and Bunny have lived under Stephen's care and protection for the majority of both their lives. Stephen is enraged by the irresponsibility of the staff, but as Scotland Yard begins its investigation, it comes to light that he had never officially enrolled a child at the school. When Police Superintendent Newhouse (Laurence Olivier) begins to unravel the Lakes' lives and search their belongings, he discovers that not only did Ann once have an imaginary childhood daughter named "Bunny," but that the young Bunny seemed to have no tangible possessions at the Lake apartment. Bunny Lake (whom we have yet to see onscreen) may not be missing: she may not even be real. Terrified that Newhouse will now abandon the search for the girl, the hysterical Ann sets out to prove her sanity and, in the process, surprisingly uncovers the true psychosis behind the disappearance of her little Bunny Lake. ~ Aubry Anne D'Arminio, All Movie Guide

The longest (26-1/2 hours), most expensive ($25 million) and most complicated (four directors, five producers, five cinematographers, almost 100 speaking parts, several hundred extras) project made for television up to that time, Centennial was shown in two- and three-hour installments over a period of four months. An adaptation of James Michener's best-selling novel, it told the story of the settling of the American West by looking at the founding of the fictional town of Centennial, Colorado, from the settling of the area in the late 18th century to the present. Emmy-nominated for film editing and art direction, it boasts of sterling performances from Richard Chamberlain as frontiersman Alexander McKeag, Robert Conrad as the French-Canadian trapper Pasquinel, and a surprisingly powerful performance from former football star Alex Karras as compassionate but iron-willed immigrant farmer Hans Brumbaugh. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide

The Conspirators was one of four Columbo feature-length TV specials irregularly scheduled during the 1977-1978 TV season. The titular conspirators are Irish political terrorists, funded by Americans. Clive Revill is an Irish poet who murders an arms dealer (Bernard Behrens) while the poet is gunrunning to his compatriots in Ireland. The murderer is certain that he's thoroughly covered her tracks--until Lt. Columbo (Peter Falk) shambles onto the scene. Columbo: The Conspirators was filmed at a time when Peter Falk was insisting that he would hang up the lieutenant's raincoat for good; no way. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Somewhat based on the life of author Anais Nin, this beautifully photographed erotic outing from director Zalman King (Wild Orchids, 9 1/2 Weeks) tells the story of an aspiring American writer who comes to Paris to hone her craft and ends up exploring the full extent of her sexuality. Initially, Elena's dream was to become a writer of serious literature, but that of course does not happen overnight. In the meantime there are expenses to be met, so when a wealthy and extremely handsome French novelist (whom she has been secretly watching every morning as he rows up and down the Seine) offers her a small fortune to write erotic stories, what can she do but accept the offer? She quickly discovers however, that it's difficult to write of life's sensual pleasures when one has not experienced them and so, sets off to educate herself. Her schooling leads her to a variety of steamy situations and locales with an equally broad assortment of tutors. Though filled with all the bells and whistles expected of such a film, which was originally rated NC-17 but later released on video with a tamer R-rated version, King's film has been widely panned by critics as ostentatious, trite, and worst of all, not nearly as sexy as it tried to be. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The ongoing plight of Russian Jewry serves as the backdrop for the Golan-Globus effort Escape to the Sun (Habricha el Hashemesh). Laurence Harvey is cast against type as Major Kirsanov, a nasty KGB officer who refuses to allow Soviet Jews Nina Kaplan (Josephine Chaplin, Charlie's daughter and Geraldine's sister) and Yasha Bazarov (Yuda Barkin) to emigrate to Israel. In desperation, Nina, Yasha and several others hijack a jetliner. Kirsanov foils the plan, but Nina and Yasha manage to escape--if you can call heading to the desolate Russian steppes an "escape." The actors are talented and the locations well chosen, but the script is a real let-down. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Filmed in England, Galileo is based on Charles Laughton's 1947 adaptation of the play by Bertolt Brecht, which, like this 1975 film, was directed by Joseph Losey. Israeli film-star Topol plays the 17th century Italian astronomer, whose theories run contrary to the edicts of the Catholic Church. Forced to renounce his ideas about planetary movement, Galileo nonetheless holds fast to those beliefs to the end of his days, certain that time will vindicate him. Brecht's trademarked "alienation" technique, wherein the audience is constantly reminded that it is watching a play, is muted by Losey's cerebral direction. Galileo was one of producer Ely Landau's American Film Theatre presentations. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Released several years after it was filmed, this standard Peter Sellers comedy focuses on Dick Scratcher (Sellers), a bumbling, roughly-hewn chief cook on a pirate ship trying to keep an unsteady control of things after he murders the captain. Once the captain is dead, Scratcher is the only one who knows where the pirate's stash lies hidden and that is the source of his control over everyone, even the second mate Pierre (Anthony Franciosa). Into this precariously balanced situation comes little Jeremiah (Richard Willis) who wants to learn all about sailing the high seas and becomes a third factor in the struggle for control of the ship and the hidden treasure. Meanwhile, Bill Bombay (Spike Milligan), another pirate captain, is also out for the same treasure, complicating everything. Both Sellers and Milligan launch into improvised routines -- but in general, the acting is frenetic and underpar while the story runs aground instead of pulling into port with a reasonable ending. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this satire, former Italian Resistance hero Natalino (Nino Manfredi) finds himself a total failure as a civilian. He becomes a mercenary when U.S. agents hire him to assassinate a neo-Nazi spy attempting to sneak his soft-drink formula to the communists. The Americans are to pay him $100,000 for the hit. His wife Elvira (Francoise Prevost) finds someone willing to do the job for half the amount. What should have been one gunman turns into five, each one chasing the other and the former Nazi for a coveted secret formula. The comedy comes full circle when the ex-Nazi is hidden in Natalino's apartment and makes love to his wife. After all assassination attempts fail, the spy confesses and kills himself. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A cardsharp comes up with the ultimate system for beating the casinos at their own game in this high-style caper comedy. Barney Lincoln (Warren Beatty) is a footloose playboy with a taste for gambling and an ingenious scheme for winning at the leading casinos in Europe. Barney discovers that nearly all of the major gambling houses use playing cards manufactured by the same company; by breaking into their plant and subtly altering the printing plates, he's able to mark the cards with a code only he can read, and he is soon pulling in record winnings across the continent. However, Barney's secret is discovered by his girlfriend Angel McGinnis (Suzannah York), a successful fashion designer, which might not be a problem if her father, "Manny" McGinnis (Clive Revill) weren't a top inspector at Scotland Yard. Manny approaches Barney and makes him a deal -- he won't reveal his secret about the cards if Barney will help him catch Harry Dominion (Eric Porter), a high-level international drug trafficker. Unfortunately, Barney's sleuthing goes awry after a certain amount of initial success, and when Harry gets wind of what he's been doing, he retaliates by kidnapping Angel and demanding repayment of his loss of sales. Jane Birkin makes her screen debut in this film, appropriately enough as a character named "Exquisite Thing." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The Derek Bentley Case has been an uneasy blight on the British legal system since the early 1950s. Two young, frightened boys were caught by police trying to break into to a building. One of the boys had a gun. When the policeman reached out to the youth to turn over the gun, his friend shouted "Let him have it," and the policeman was killed by a gun blast. Whether the boy understood "Let him have it" to mean he should turn over the gun or to kill the police officer has been debated ever since. But the result was the 19-year-old boy was executed for the crime -- only to be posthumously exonerated in 1953. In this dark and biting film by Peter Medak, the life of Derek Bentley (Chris Eccleston) that led up to the crime is recreated in pitiful detail, as well as the ensuing trial and execution. The story begins in 1952, when the likable Bentley is released from reform school. Bentley is an impressionable young man who returns home to his loving family -- his parents (Tom Courtenay and Eileen Atkins) and sister (Clare Holman) -- but becomes involved with a group of friends, led by the intimidating Chris (Paul Reynolds), who live in the poverty of post-World War II Britain and escape their bleak world by emulating the American gangster films they see at the local cinema. They play-act at being gansters, but with real guns ... and tragic results. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide