Theresa Russell Movies
Discovered by a photographer at the age of 12, Theresa Russell was rapidly initiated into the world of child modeling, and was encouraged to leave public school in order to attend the prestigious Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. At 19 years old, Russell made her film debut in The Last Tycoon (1976), one of prolific director Elia Kazan's final six films before his death in 2003. Though The Last Tycoon did not share the type of praise garnered for many of Kazan's other films, it nonetheless allowed the inexperienced actress an opportunity to work alongside Robert De Niro, Robert Mitchum, and Jack Nicholson.In 1978, Russell found herself opposite Dustin Hoffman and a fledgling Kathy Bates in Straight Time, for which she earned no small amount of critical praise for her performance as Hoffman's steadfast love interest. Two years later, Russell took what turned out to be a fruitful risk starring in Nicolas Roeg's Bad Timing: A Sensual Obsession (1980). Her first of over six experiences acting with Roeg, whom she would later marry, the erotic drama featured Russell opposite Harvey Keitel and Art Garfunkel as a sexually frank woman involved in a torrid affair with her psychiatrist. Though the film was initially rated X, the more explicit scenes were edited enough to appropriate an R rating. Bad Timing wouldn't be Russell's last sexually provocative role; in 1991, she starred in Ken Russell's Whore, an NC-17-rated prostitution drama, and she later took part in Britain's three-part television series A Woman's Guide to Adultery and participated in Erotic Tales II, which was co-directed by Roeg.
Interestingly enough, Russell also took on several pointedly feministic roles, such as her part as a young, idealistic lawyer in Physical Evidence (1989) with Burt Reynolds, and later played a proud, highly capable 19th century widow in The Proposition (1997). In The Razor's Edge, one of Bill Murray's first dramatic roles, Russell's performance as a painfully self-destructive alcoholic was lauded as one of her best yet. In 1998, she played a scorned wife in Wild Things with Matt Dillon, Kevin Bacon, and then "it" girls Neve Campbell and Denise Richards. In 2001, Russell was praised for her performance as co-leader of a skinhead sect in Henry Bean's The Believer, which also starred Billy Zane and Ryan Gosling. After several ill-advised film roles and relatively well-received, if short-lived, television appearances, Russell took part in the star-studded television movie Empire Falls (2004) opposite Ed Harris, Helen Hunt, Joanne Woodward, and Paul Newman. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
A handful of strangers living on the edge of Los Angeles' sex industry share a terrible secret in this psychological drama. Jimmy (Paul Ben-Victor) is a small-time kingpin in California's underground sleaze empire, and he runs a strip club and peep-show arcade where Tara (Angela Sarafyan) displays her body for paying customers. Tara is working off a sizable debt to Jimmy, and her boyfriend, Jaron (Josh Janowicz), meets with Jimmy's business partner Uncle Lou (Marcus Giamatti) to find out what it would cost to clear her bill. Eager to make some fast money to pay off Jimmy, Jaron teams up with Balery (Brittany Snow), a hooker who wants to get even with an abusive regular customer. One of Jimmy's more unlikely colleagues is Mr. Garrett (Eddie Jemison), a high-school teacher who learns that two of his students, Courtney (Chloe Domont) and Melody (Candice Accola), are attracted to him. Garrett decides to introduce the girls to Jimmy, who wants to lure them into a career in pornographic modeling. And Wes (Clayne Crawford) is a self-centered musician whose career has yet to take off; needing money, he allows his girlfriend, Chantel (Shanna Collins), to earn their keep by working as a streetwalker. Also starring Theresa Russell and James Russo, On the Doll was the first feature film from director Thomas Mignone, who previously distinguished himself making music videos. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brittany Snow
- 2007
The sixth of the prime time "novelas" offered by the fledgling MyNetwork service, American Heiress was based on the Spanish-language TVAzteca soap opera (La Heredera--and could just as easily have been retitled "The Perils of Elizabeth." Alice Leigh Willis starred as toothsome young heiress Elizabeth Wakefield, whose adventures began when her family's private jet crashed in a Guatemalan rain forest. Surviving the wreck, the pampered Elizabeth was forced to battle the elements with her fellow survivor, hard-bitten pilot J.D. Bruce (Carter MacIntyre). Ultimately returning to civilization, Elizabeth found that her troubles were far from over: Her imperious father Lionel (John Aprea) was dead set against her romance with the charismatic J.D., while her scheming older brother Damian (Race Owen)--who may very well have engineered the plane crash--was tireless in his efforts to claim the entire family fortune for himself, leaving his siblings out in the cold. The other characters were similarly drawn with broad, unsubtle strokes, especially the resident "easy" girl Loren (AnnaLynne McCord). Debuting March 13, 2007 and initially planned as a 65-episode series to be run on a nightly basis, American Heiress was quickly pared down to 22 weekly installments thanks to MyNetwork's ever-plummeting ratings (the network would soon abandon original "fictional" programming entirely in favor of a docket of new reality series and old movies). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2007
Author E.L. Doctorow's acclaimed short story Jolene: A Life gets the big screen treatment in Mrs. Palfrey at the Clairemont's director Dan Ireland's independent drama about life on the road. Jolene (Jessica Chastain) is a red-haired wanderer who isn't content to call one place home for any expended stretch of time. Setting off to explore the outside world at age fifteen, the free-spirited teen embarks on a decade-long cross-country of adventure which finds her crossing the paths of everyone from a firebrand Texan (Dermont Mulroney) who steals her heart and destroys her marriage to his wealthy fundamentalist nephew (Michael Vartan), to an ex-mobster (Donald Sutherland) attempting to make good in Las Vegas. Denise Richards, Rupert Friend, and Theresa Russell co-star in a film adapted from the story by screenwriter Dennis Yares. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jessica Chastain, Dermot Mulroney, (more)
- 2005
After she is savagely attacked by a rapist, blind lawyer Diana Scott (Jamie Luner) is determined to help the police nail the perpetrator. Using her heightened non-visual senses, she narrows the search down to one Malcolm Humphries (Tood Sandomirsky), who on the bais of Diana's testimony is thrown into prison. While thus incarcerated, Malcolm meets fellow con Anthony Davis (Thomas Mitchell), who freely boasts that it was he who attacked Diana. Ultimately, DNA testing proves that Malcolm is innocent, whereupon a mortified Diana tries her best to make amends. However, any hopes for a early happy denoument are dashed when Anthony Davis escapes, fully intending to brutalize Diana all over again! The made-for-cable Blind Justice was originally telecast March 10, 2005 on the Lifetime network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This two-part HBO miniseries is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Richard Russo. Having long since sacrificed youthful ideals and values to remain in his New England hometown for the sake of his family, middle-aged Miles Roby (Ed Harris) finds his "secure" little world disintegrating when his wife, Janine (Helen Hunt), divorces him. Equally vexing is the emotional and financial pressure exerted by domineering town matriarch Francine Whiting (Joanne Woodward), who owns (among other things) the Empire Grill, the little diner that Ed has run for several years. As he reflects on what he considers to be a wasted life, Ed flashes back to memories of his curmudgeonly father, Max (Paul Newman, who also executive-produced the miniseries); his long-dead mother, Grace (Robin Wright Penn); his scapegrace brother, David (Aidan Quinn); his blossoming daughter "Tick" (Danielle Panabaker); and Francine's late husband, C.B. Whiting (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Also tied in with Miles' reminiscences is the spectacular saga of the rise and fall of Empire Falls, a once-prosperous mill town that has fallen into disrepair -- as have the town's once-rigid and inviolate social barriers. Despite the initial bleakness of Miles' plight, and the revelation of innumerable family skeletons as the plot progresses, the story is ultimately both heartwarming and life-affirming. Filmed on location in Maine, Empire Falls originally aired on May 28 and 29, 2005. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ed Harris, Danielle Panabaker, (more)
- 2004
- Add Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession to QueueAdd Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession to top of Queue
The Z Channel wasn't America's first premium cable outlet specializing in feature films, and it wasn't the most commercially successful, but few, if any, had as strong an impact on the film industry or a more influential list of customers. Based in California and blanketing sections of the state dominated by the movie business, Z Channel had been operating for several years before former screenwriter Jerry Harvey took over as head of programming in 1980. Under the guidance of Harvey and his staff, the channel became a film buff's dream, screening rare classics, important foreign films, and maverick American titles that had fallen through the cracks of commercial distribution. Harvey and his staff also programmed original and uncut versions of films which had only played American theaters in altered form (including Heaven's Gate, Once Upon a Time in America, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, and The Leopard) long before the concept of the "director's cut" had currency beyond the most hardcore of film fans. And The Z Channel aggressively championed pictures they believed were overlooked, and programmed deserving Oscar-nominated movies during the Academy's voting period, years before studios began distributing video "screeners" to potential voters. (More than one industry expert has credited Z Channel's showings of Annie Hall as a key factor in the film winning Best Picture.) But Jerry Harvey was also a deeply troubled man, and when legal and economic problems began dogging the company in the late '80s, he snapped, leading to a horrible and tragic murder and suicide. The Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession is a documentary that looks at the channel's short but remarkable history as well as Harvey's damaged personal life. It includes interviews with Robert Altman, Quentin Tarantino, James Woods, Jim Jarmusch, Alexander Payne and a number of other filmmakers and critics who attest to Z Channel's lasting impact. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
In the family-entertainment tradition of his multi-talented father Michael Landon, writer/director Michael Landon Jr. offered this made-for-cable frontier drama, adapted from a novel by Janet Oke. En route to her new home in the West, Marty Claridge (Katherine Heigl) suddenly finds herself a widow, with no roof over her head or means to support herself. At the gentle prodding of her settler friends Ben and Sarah Graham (Corbin Bernsen, Theresa Russell), Marty accepts the marriage proposal of taciturn widower Clark Davis (Dale Midkiff). It is strictly a business arrangement, with no romance or cohabitation involved; Marty will act as housekeeper to Davis and as teacher and surrogate mother for Clark's sullen nine-year-old daughter Missy (Skye McCole Bartusiak), and in return she will receive food and lodging. Pragmatists both, Marty and Clark assume that they will dissolve their marriage of convenience when the spring thaw comes...but that isn't how things turn out. Love Comes Softly first aired April 13, 2003, on the Hallmark Channel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Richard Pepin's The Box stars James Russo as Frank Miller, an ex-convict attempting to live on the right side of the law. He works at a coffee shop in Los Angeles and is starting a relationship with his co-worker Marie Evans (Theresa Russell), who has attempted to begin life over after making a living as a prostitute. Sadly, there are people from their past that make their new life much more difficult than they would like. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
A NASA spacecraft taking an experimental bioengineered life form, named V.I.P.E.R., to live on Mars doesn't even make it out of Earth's orbit before the thing escapes its pod and slays the crew. Luckily, NASA can cover up the disaster, because that creature is stuck in outer space. The bad news is, it wasn't the only V.I.P.E.R. made, and the other one has escaped its earthbound confines and is now haunting rural California, where it uses its tentacles to grab and devour anything that breathes. NASA sends its best off-the-books agent, Mike Conners (Patrick Muldoon), to find the creature and evaporate it. Conners is hindered by two things: he's been partnered with icy Dr. Burnham (Theresa Russell), who invented the critter, and someone behind the scenes at NASA has reason to see that Conners fails in his effort to slay the beast. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Theresa Russell, Patrick Muldoon, (more)
Young marrieds Lori (A.J. Cook) and Tom (Matthew Harrison III) relocate from Chicago to the country where they end up living next to Carl (James Russo), a right-wing radical who beats his wife, Helen (Theresa Russell). When Tom goes away for a few days, Lori, with the help of best friend, Monica (Sean Young), investigates the disappearance of Helen. Of course, this isn't the best idea, since it involves sneaking into gun-nut Carl's house in the middle of the night. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide
Two young people learn an invaluable lesson about what love really means in this romantic drama. Angela (Mia Kirshner) and John (Adam Beach) have been close friends since childhood, and as they've grown into adulthood, John's feelings for Angela have matured into love. John is of Cree Indian heritage, and Ghost Fox (Gordon Tootoosis), a spiritual advisor of the tribe, tells John that it is his destiny to be with Angela. Angela, however much she cares for John, has other plans, and ends up involved with T.J. (Gabriel Olds), a mean-spirited man who shows her little respect. John saves the day for Angela after she's brutally attacked by T.J., but rather than stay by his side, Angela, who has always dreamed of being an actress, decides to move to Hollywood and try her luck, only to learn that her bond with John is deeper and more complex than she imagined. Now and Forever also stars Theresa Russell as Dori, Angela's mother. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mia Kirshner, Adam Beach, (more)
Theresa Russell stars in this suspense drama as an art restoration expert living in Los Angeles who falls into a deep depression after her son is killed during a carjacking. As she attempts to investigate the murder on her own, she uncovers a vast web of corruption that involves the police, powerful politicians, and the city's wealthy elite. The Running Woman also features Andrew Robinson. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andrew Robinson, Theresa Russell, (more)
- 1996
Filmed for television, Once You Meet a Stranger is a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train, using the same Patricia Highsmith novel as its source but transforming the protagonists into females. A chance meeting brings together former child star Sheila Gaines (Jacqueline Bisset) and the deceptively charming social butterfly Margo Anthony (Theresa Russell). As the ladies converse, two major facts come to light: Sheila is saddled with an ex-husband who refuses to give him a divorce, while Margo despises her wealthy mother and wishes her dead. In what seems to be a playful hypothesis, Margo suggests that she and Sheila "trade murders"; she will kill Sheila's former husband, Sheila will do in Margo's mom, and the authorities won't be any the wiser. Figuring that Margo is a harmless eccentric at best and a nutcase at worse, Sheila laughs off the notion of such an "arrangement"--but she isn't laughing when her troublesome ex-hubby turns up dead! If you've seen Strangers on a Train, you know how this one turns out, so best to find another way to spend 95 minutes. Once You Meet a Stranger originally aired September 25, 1996 on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1995
The Grotesque (aka Grave Indiscretion, aka Gentleman Don't Eat Poets) is a very black, very British comedy that puts an unusual and perversely entertaining spin on the classic tea-cup-and-intrigue mystery. Sir Hugo Coal (Alan Bates) is a grumpy, eccentric English gentleman (and self-styled paleontologist) obsessed with reconstructing a dinosaur skeleton with bones dredged up from a nearby moor. He is also penniless, and so must live vicariously off the inheritance of his smoldering American wife Harriet (Theresa Russell). Enter: the crafty and secretive Fledge (Sting) and his wife and co-conspirator Doris (Trudie Styler) the new Coal family servants. Fledge immediately sets his sights on Harriet and the Coal fortune, Doris on the household wine cellar. When Hugo and Harriet's daughter Cleo (Lena Headey) announces her engagement to demure poet Sidney Giblet (Steven Mackintosh), Hugo is less than pleased, but not for long, since Sidney is murdered soon after and, we learn, his body gruesomely disposed of. As the rivalry between Fledge and Hugo escalates, Cleo, the police, and the poet's shrewd mother Mrs. Giblet (Anna Massey) follow a trail of clues from the swampy, bone-littered moor to the Coal pig sties and finally (rather horribly) back to the Coal dinner table. Though criticized for its irreverent humor and somewhat ambiguous ending, The Grotesque is worth a watch. Sting and his real-life partner Trudie Styler (who co-produced the film) are both wonderful as the loathsome, manipulative servants, as is Anna Massey as the poet's investigative mother. The real stars of the film, however, are not the actors, but the dense, ornamental interiors provided by Jan Roelfs and Michael Seirton. Every corner of the Coal mansion is littered with artifacts and art objects, every frame crawling with worms, frogs, and reptiles. Like a Dutch still life, The Grotesque is simultaneously repellent and attractive, a painterly assemblage of morbidity and dramatic artifice. ~ Anthony Reed, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Bates, Theresa Russell, (more)
- 1995
This anthology is comprised of three steamy vignettes from three different filmmakers. The first, Cinzia Torrini's "Sweeties," follows the desperation of a rotund, neglected housewife who goes to a psychic for help. The mystical woman gives the housewife a few special sweets with the warning that she should not eat too many. The candies are delicious though, and the greedy housewife gobbles them all and finds herself paying a terrible price. In the second, "Hotel Paradise," from Nicolas Roeg, a woman awakens on her wedding day chained to a bed with a stranger. He informs her that they just spent the wildest night of her life together. Unfortunately, she remembers nothing and arguments ensue as she dons her gown and prepares for her nuptials. The third story comes from Polish director Janusz Majewski. "Devilish Education" centers on the deflowering of a luscious Polish farm girl at the turn-of the-century by a handsome artist who hires her as his model and begins tutoring her in the art of lovemaking. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1993
Teresa Russell plays dual roles as twins in this made-for-television English thriller. Based on the book of the same name by Dylan Jones, Russell stars as twin sisters Debbie and Jo. When Jo is killed in a car accident, twin Debbie assumes her sister's life and family, making everyone suspicious of Jo's death -- including Jo's husband. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Theresa Russell, Jonathan Pryce, (more)
Based on a novel by Carol Clewlow, the three-part British miniseries A Woman's Guide to Adultery chronicled the sexual interrelations between three married couples. Only Rose (Theresa Russell), the nominal heroine, abstained from extramarital hanky-panky. However, the siren song of Temptation proved strong indeed, and Rose's resistance was worn down bit by bit as those around her seemed to be having such a jolly good time. Remarkably frank in its dialogue and depiction of contemporary carnality, A Woman's Guide to Adultery first aired in 1993. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Theresa Russell, Sean Bean, (more)
An international collection of well-known directors contributed to this compilation film, each fashioning a short film inspired by an aria from a famous opera. The approaches vary broadly, from the playful abstraction of Jean-Luc Godard's segment, which illustrates Armide with exercising body-builders, to the more literal approach of Franc Roddam, who transports Tristan und Isolde's story to modern-day Las Vegas. A particular stand-out is Julian Temple's take on Rigoletto, which recasts Verdi as the accompaniment to a contemporary Southern California sex farce. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Theresa Russell, Nicola Swain, (more)
Black Widow bears no relation to the 1954 film of the same name--beyond its characterization of the female as the deadlier of the species, that is. Debra Winger stars as a federal agent who has sworn to bring Theresa Russell to justice. Ms. Russell has married several millionaires who have all died mysterious deaths, for which she has remained undetected because she has assumed a number of different identities. Ms. Winger is the only person in her department who suspects that all of the deceased millionaires' widows are the same person. Finally tracking down Russell, Winger finds herself inexorably becoming friends with the charming murderess. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Debra Winger, Theresa Russell, (more)
A reclusive, unhappy gold magnate finds his isolated tropical paradise threatened by the intrusion of organized criminals in director Nicolas Roeg's convoluted, arty drama. Gene Hackman stars as Jack McCann, a one-time gold prospector who his parlayed the discovery of a rich deposit in the Canadian wilderness into an immense fortune. Instead of satisfaction, McCann's wealth leads to depression and paranoia, and he moves to a remote island and withdraws from the world. The bulk of the film centers on what has become of McCann some thirty years later, as he attempts to deal with a troubled daughter (Theresa Russell) and the attentions of the Mafia, who want to build a new casino on his tropical home. As the pressures increase, his efforts to protect his property and maintain his family become increasingly desperate, culminating in an extended public trial. Even stranger and more stylized than most of Roeg's work, the disjointed Eureka will seem incomprehensible and painfully pretentious to those with little patience for his indirect narratives and purposefully exaggerated approach. Devoted fans, however, will find further proof of the director's impressive visual sense, especially during the film's earlier sequences. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Hackman, Theresa Russell, (more)
- 1979
The 8-hour TV miniseries Blind Ambition was originally telecast May 20 through 23, 1979. This 105-minute feature-film version, prepared in 1982, seems a bit rushed at times, but overall does a credible and coherent job of storytelling. Based on John Dean's book Blind Ambition, with elements of Maureen Dean's Mo woven in by screenwriter Stanley R. Greenberg, this is the saga of the Watergate affair, as experienced by Dean (Martin Sheen) and hia wife Maureen (Theresa Russell). As the Nixon administration goes down in flames, the Deans' marriage is sorely tested-as is Dean's success-at-any-price credo. Rip Torn plays Nixon like something out of a Greek Tragedy; some viewers accepted his interpretation, others found it jarringly inaccurate. Others in the cast of "usual suspects" include Michael Callan as Charles Colson, Lonny Chapman as L. Patrick Gray, William Daniels as G. Gordon Liddy, Fred Grandy as Donald Segretti, Christopher Guest as Jeb Magruder, Lawrence Pressman as H. R. Haldeman, William Windom as Richard Kleindienst, James Greene as E. Howard Hunt, Logan Ramsey as J. Edgar Hoover, and Al Checco as judge John Sirica. Also known as The John Dean Story, Blind Ambition earned two Emmy nominations. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martin Sheen, Theresa Russell, (more)
Directed by actress Rosanna Arquette, this candid documentary is not only about the iconoclastic and somewhat reclusive film star Debra Winger (who does not even appear onscreen until an hour into the film), but also about the trials and tribulations of actresses in Hollywood who have reached "that certain age." In the course of her "search," Arquette interviews several of her colleagues, among them Whoopi Goldberg, Diane Lane, Teri Garr, Holly Hunter, Vanessa Redgrave, Charlotte Rampling, Meg Ryan, and Sharon Stone, all of whom have their own personal horror stories about insensitive producers and casting directors who tend to think of over-40 (and sometimes over-30) actresses as being suitable only for mother, "other woman," and "hero's girlfriend" roles -- when they bother to cast these actresses at all. The women also discuss the difficulties in balancing a successful career and a private life. Test-marketed on the film festival circuit throughout 2002, Searching for Debra Winger received its largest audience when it aired over the Showtime cable channel on August 18, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patricia Arquette, Rosanna Arquette, (more)
This film was part of Cinemax's Creature Feature films, which remade classic American-International monster films from the '50s. Quentin Kimmer (Devon Gummersall) believes he will turn himself into his idol, the Arachnid Avenger, when he injects himself with spider serum. As with Jeff Goldblum's character in Cronenberg's remake of The Fly, Kimmer mutates into a frightening monster. Dan Aykroyd, Theresa Russell, and Christopher Cousins round out this effort from Scott Ziehl. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Devon Gummersall
In this powerful and disturbing drama, Danny Balint (Ryan Gosling) is a member of a gang of racist skinheads who espouses a vile but well-articulated philosophy of anti-Semitism. Danny also has a secret -- he is a Jew, and was a top student in Hebrew school before he began to ask too many questions about the deeper implications of the teachings in the Torah and the Old Testament, leading to his expulsion. Angry and confused, Danny began to explore the philosophies of the neo-Nazi movement, which he soon came to embrace through a mixture of anger over the tragic history of the Jewish people, bitterness over his experiences in Hebrew school, and a loathing of himself. Danny soon becomes a key member of a skinhead sect led by Curtis (Billy Zane) and Lina (Theresa Russell), but while Curtis and Lina believe that the desire for cultural assimilation by many American Jews will lead to their self-destruction, Danny advocates a more direct and violent approach in dealing with the "enemy." Danny gains the admiration of his fellow skinheads for his intelligence and commitment, and wins the affection of Carla (Summer Phoenix), a group member with severe masochistic tendencies. But in time Danny's beliefs begin to shift once again, just as the truth about his background becomes known to his comrades. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival, The Believer was inspired by the true story of Daniel Burros, a member of the American Nazi Party who committed suicide in the 1960s when it was revealed by the press that he was born to a Jewish family. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ryan Gosling, Summer Phoenix, (more)
This thriller takes place in Blue Bay, Florida, where social-climbing guidance counselor Sam Lombardo (Matt Dillon) is indifferent to teen-socialite Kelly Van Ryan (Denise Richards), who retaliates by accusing him of rape, an accusation that leads to his suspension by the school and a rejection from the country club. He can't afford a big attorney, so he hires shrewd Ken Bowden (Bill Murray), while Kelly's mom, Sandra Van Ryan (Theresa Russell), Sam's former lover, gets a platoon of top lawyers. Trailer-trash Suzie Toller (Neve Campbell) backs up Kelly's claim and additional plot twists and turns develop. The seldom-seen Carrie Snodgrass (Diary of a Mad Housewife) has a supporting role in this film. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Bacon, Matt Dillon, (more)
