Ron Rifkin Movies

An angry mother (Cloris Leachman) fights an ineffective judicial system to bring justice to her daughter's rapist. The film was based on a true story and made for television in 1979. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

In this, Joan Rivers' first attempt at film direction, a young virgin male (Billy Crystal) is engaged to be married when he finds out he is pregnant! Using the film as a vehicle for her acerbic humor, director Rivers may as well be on stage, for interspersed throughout this questionable plot is an unending onslaught of sarcastic slams pointed at just about every sector of society. Ms. Rivers even makes a cameo appearance. Other big names in this film are Tom Poston (as a minister), Roddy McDowall (in several roles), and George Gobel as the U.S. President. ~ All Movie Guide

Richard Dreyfuss plays Moses Wine, an ex-Sixties radical who pays the bills as a private eye. Wine is hired to stem a smear campaign against a popular political candidate. Gradually the plot thickens into a murder case, involving a hippie leader whose values, like Wine's, have been severely compromised over the years - and who plans to blow up a major LA freeway as a protest. Susan Anspach provides a great deal of dramatic (and sexual) tension as Wine's boss. Among the minor players are future stars Mandy Patinkin and F. Murray Abraham. The Big Fix was adapted by Roger L. Simon from his own novel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Much against his will (and his better judgement), Jim (James Garner) gets involved in the trials and tribulations of Warren Weeks (Ron Rifkin), the wimpish cousin of attorney Beth Davenport (Gretchen Corbett). Warren was recently fired from his job by a man who later turned up murdered. The principal suspect in the killing is the victim's own boss Perry Lefcourt (Joe Maross)--who happens to be the husband of Warren's current sweetheart Catherine (played by onetime Playboy centerfold Anne Randall). When Lefcourt himself turns up dead, the feckless Warren finds himself facing charges for both murders--and in his efforts to clear Warren, Jim ends up getting arrested no fewer than three times! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

James Franciscus stars as a university professor with an eye on bigger things. Using his inherent promotional know-how, he launches a career in the record industry, eventually operating his own top-selling label. To insure that the local stations will run his artists' recordings, Franciscus crosses certain deejays' palms with silver. That's called payola, and that's against the law. His empire shattered, Franciscus is reduced to cabdriving to earn a living--and by the end of the film he's neither earning nor living. Singer Kenny Rogers makes his acting debut as one of Franciscus' clients; also featured is Rogers' former First Edition colleague Mickey Jones. Made for television, The Dream Makers has pretenses of profundity, but ultimately is as pointless as its abrupt climax. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The body of a murdered bookkeeper is found in a cheap motel, and a prostitute and her procurer are accused of the crime. Kojak doesn't buy this, deducing that the killing was done by a professional. Trouble is, he can't prove his theory so long as the FBI is also on the case, impeding Kojak's investigation to serve the Bureau's own ends. The guest cast ranges from Broadway veteran Robert Alda (father of M*A*S*H star Alan Alda) to B-movie stalwart Gregory Walcott (Plan 9 From Outer Space). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the '90s and 2000s, Mel Brooks enjoyed tremendous success resurrecting old ideas in new venues -- just witness his hit stage musicals The Producers and Young Frankenstein. So it might intrigue casual fans to learn that his broad cinematic farce Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993) also found its origins in an older project: a failed sitcom from the mid-'70s entitled When Things Were Rotten. The original series, like the movie, took place in the 12th century, with Robin Hood (Dick Gautier) presented as neither heroic nor impressive, but a complete buffoon. With his accomplices behind him, he only triumphed from episode to episode because his enemies -- led by Prince John and The Sheriff of Nottingham -- were twice as moronic as he was. Brooks packed the series with off-the-wall gags and gleeful anachronisms that had become trademarks of the creator/producer's big screen films by the mid-'70s. The series, which co-starred Bernie Kopell as Alan-a-Dale, Dick Van Patten as Friar Tuck, Henry Polic II as the Sheriff, and Misty Rowe as Maid Marian, drew high praise from critics who championed it as witty and inventive; unfortunately, audiences did not share the same level of admiration, and the series aired for the last time on Christmas Eve, 1975, three-and-a-half months after it premiered. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Walter Matthau stars in this made-for-TV adaptation of Clifford Odets' classic stage drama (which became one of the inaugural production of the famed Group Theater in the mid-'30s). The Berger family are an extended Jewish family living in the Bronx who are struggling to survive in the face of poverty and difficult circumstances. To earn some extra money, the Bergers have decided to rent a room to a boarder, and Moe Axelrod (Matthau), a veteran of the Great War who lost a leg in battle, becomes the new face in the household. Moe has a bitter sense of humor and a willingness to speak his mind, and his outspoken nature soon wins him an ally in Grandfather Jacob (Leo Fuchs), an outspoken leftist who believes the family should rise up and take action against the economic and political circumstances which hold them down. The supporting cast also includes Ron Rifkin and acclaimed director Martin Ritt. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Faulkner (Christopher George) is an ATF agent who shut down the moonshine operation of Burl (Ralph Meeker) in his Southern state hideaway. Along with agent Martin (Ron Rifkin), the duo uses eight escaped prisoners for the job, promising their freedom should the mission succeed. Fabian stars as one of the more unlikely criminals and Leslie Parrish drips with sweet Southern charm as a honeysuckle rose in this routine adventure film. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

With her dad elsewhere on business, Gidget (Sally Field) spends the weekend with her sister Anne (Betty Conner) and brother-in-law John (Peter Deuel). Reasoning that this set-up should not interfere with her social life, Gidget asks for and receives permission to go out of town with her friends. Little does our heroine know that her trail is being dogged every inch of the way by a secret chaperone. Watch for a young Barbara Hershey as Ellen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide