Timothy Scott Movies
During the '60s, lanky supporting and character actor Timothy Scott got his start playing scruffy bad guys in Westerns such as The Way West (his debut, 1967) and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). Fans of the film Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) will recognize Scott for playing the gentle homeless alcoholic Smokey Lonesome. In addition to film and television work, Scott was also a partner in the Met Theater and a member of the Los Angeles Classical Repertory Company. In 1994, Scott's extensive work in Westerns was commemorated by his induction into the Cowboy Hall of Fame. The following year, he passed away at the age of 57. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 1987
This made-for-television drama is based on the true story of a harrowing country abduction. Tracy Pollan stars as Kari Swenson, an Olympic biathlon athlete-in-training who is kidnapped by some reclusive, backwoods mountain men looking for marriage. The movie follows her captivity, the massive search and her recovery from both her physical injuries and the trauma of the experience. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
- 1979
Director Joel Schumacher makes like Robert Altman in the made-for-TV Amateur Night at the Dixie Bar and Grill. In the tradition of Altman's Nashville, Schumacher's film is a rambling, anecdotal study of an amateur talent show in a tawdry Southern saloon. The link between the two films is strengthened by the presence in Amateur Night of Henry Gibson, who'd played a Porter Wagoner type in Nashville. Among the contestants is country-western singer Tanya Tucker, who also contributed some of the background themes for the film's musical score. Amateur Night at the Dixie Bar and Grill was produced by Motown Industries' motion picture division. Sidebar: To improve ratings, the ad copy for this film was headlined "Disco Killer on the Loose!"--then, in smaller type, the copy explained that "killing" was merely a slang term for winning over the audience! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
Consumed by grief when his father is felled by a heart attack, 11-year-old Obie (Ricky Busker) runs away from his white, upper-class surroundings. He ends up in a particularly dismal Chicago ghetto neighborhood where, after enduring a beating administered by gang members, he is befriended by streetwise black youth Jeremy "Scam" Henderson (Darius McCrary). The two become partners in crime, leading to a deadly situation involving a pair of professional hit men. Just when it seems things can't get any worse, they do. Robert Prosky co-stars as a slimy pawnbroker. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ricky Busker, Darius McCrary, (more)
- 1983
Blood Feud was a two-part TV drama, originally presented as an "Operation Prime Time" special. Robert Blake is disturbingly convincing as labor leader Jimmy Hoffa, engaged in a decade-long war of words with attorney (and later attorney general) Robert F. Kennedy. Cotter Smith makes his TV debut as Kennedy, a role he'd repeat on future occasions. Thoroughly compelling when sticking to the facts, the drama falls apart whenever indulging in flight of fanciful speculation (Sample: two of Hoffa's lieutenants watch the live telecast of Lee Harvey Oswald's murder, then celebrate the fact that Oswald will never be able to reveal their complicity in the JFK assassination!) Blood Feud was syndicated to local TV stations beginning April 24, 1983. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Blake, Cotter Smith, (more)
Blue Sky was the last film directed by Tony Richardson (Tom Jones) before his death in 1991 and one of the last releases from once-thriving Orion Films, whose bankruptcy kept the picture on the shelf for several years. It also features two career-high performances by Tommy Lee Jones and Jessica Lange, who won the Best Actress Oscar for this role, as Hank and Carly Marshall, a military couple whose marriage unravels under the pressure of his job and her mental instability. Hank is an Army captain at odds with his superiors over the wisdom of nuclear testing. Carly is a free spirit spiralling into a dangerous depression after the family's move from Hawaii to a nowhere base in Alabama alarms the couple's older daughter (Amy Locane) and sends Carly into an affair with the base commander (Powers Boothe). ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jessica Lange, Tommy Lee Jones, (more)
- 1986
- R
A young British soldier stationed in war-torn Northern Ireland kills an Irish rebel in self-defense and finds himself thrown into a hellish ordeal when the very authorities who sanctioned his actions suddenly change and decide to use him as a scapegoat to keep others from making the same mistake in this powerful, provocative British film. Welshman Wil Thomas joins the British army in hopes of escaping the poverty of his hometown and proves to be an honest and dutiful soldier. After the killing he is immediately taken back to England, tried, and, despite his vigorous protestations of innocence, thrown into the brig. There he is brutalized, harassed and denied medical attention. As he continues to fight to prove his innocence and endure the many indignities, the situation leading to his incarceration is presented via flashback. Also chronicled is his brief affair with an Irish Catholic woman who breaks up with him when she realizes that he belongs to the army. He later learns that she paid a horrible price for their relationship. He also reflects upon the orders of his sergeant who gave them permission to use force on the rebels and to defend themselves from attacks. Back in the present, cruel corporal Bernard Latham begins taking a special interest in tormenting Thomas. Still Thomas staunchly refuses to crack. Meanwhile his former sergeant launches a campaign to help his former friend. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Lynch, Dafydd Hywel, (more)
- 1969
- PG
- Add Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to QueueAdd Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to top of Queue
Opening with a silent "movie" of Butch Cassidy's Hole in the Wall Gang, George Roy Hill's comically elegiac Western chronicles the mostly true tale of the outlaws' last months. Witty pals Butch (Paul Newman) and Sundance (Robert Redford) join the Gang in successfully robbing yet another train with their trademark non-lethal style. After the pair rests at the home of Sundance's schoolmarm girlfriend, Etta (Katharine Ross), the Gang robs the same train, but this time, the railroad boss has hired the best trackers in the business to foil the crime. After being tailed over rocks and a river gorge by guys that they can barely identify save for a white hat, Butch and Sundance decide that maybe it's time to try their luck in Bolivia. Taking Etta with them, they live high on ill-gotten Bolivian gains, but Etta leaves after their white-hatted nemesis portentously arrives. Their luck running out, Butch and Sundance are soon holed up in a barn surrounded by scores of Bolivian soldiers who are waiting for the pair to make one last run for it. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Newman, Robert Redford, (more)
Since Chattahoochee is a story based on true events, it may seem absurd to suggest that the actual events of Chattahoochee are pirated from other true-life tales like Gideon's Trumpet. But it certainly seems as if true stories are just as derivative as any fictional narrative coming out of Hollywood. The Chattahoochee saga details the Emmett Foley (Gary Oldman) story. The film takes place in 1955, when Foley, a Korean war veteran depressed and shattered by continual unemployment, snaps and shoots up his neighborhood, hoping that the police will come and shoot him down like a crazed dog so that his wife Mae (Frances McDormand) can collect on the insurance money. Instead of being gunned down by the law enforcement officers, he is sent to Chattahoochee, a notorious prison for the mentally ill which makes The Snake Pit look like a vacation in Bermuda. The gruesome conditions in the jail send Foley into listlessness. But then his anger gets the better of him and, encouraged by a friend, Walker Benson (Dennis Hopper), he begins sending letters to the authorities protesting the sub-human conditions in the mental facility. Due to his efforts, a state commission is formed to investigate conditions in Chattahoochee, and Foley has a chance to tell the world of the horrible conditions. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Oldman, Dennis Hopper, (more)
- 1986
Up for an award at the annual Postman's Ball, Cliff (John Ratzenberger) naturally wants to bring a date along to bask in his glory. Covering his bets, he asks both Carla (Rhea Perlman) and Diane (Shelley Long) to go with him to the ball. When both ladies accept, a nonplussed Cliff begs Sam (Ted Danson) to figure a way out of his dilemma with a minimum of hurt feelings and physical violence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Dana Carvey plays a private detective who forgets everything when he goes to sleep at night, waking up each morning with a "clean slate," in this hit-and-miss comedy that plays like a companion piece to the much funnier Groundhog Day. Pogue (Carvey) is afflicted with his unique form of amnesia after getting injured in a car explosion. With the aid of a mysterious woman (Valeria Golino) who allegedly died in the bombing, he must find a priceless coin and evade the murderous clutches of the mobster (Michael Gambon) who executed the explosion and who wants to silence Pogue before he can testify against him. Carvey fares reasonably well in his role, but the best moments are provided by Pogue's dog, a one-eyed Jack Russell named Barkley who makes a habit out of running into things headfirst. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dana Carvey, Valeria Golino, (more)
- 1989
- R
The good people of Milo, Kansas (pop. 1,972) combine forces to battle against the evil agribusiness Farmco that conspires to drive up the price of bread to six dollars a loaf. Farmer Jeff Parker (Sonny Gibson) and the crusading journalist Charlie Stevens (Buck Henry) recruit former Farmco executive James Kirkland (Doug McClure) who resigns when his conscience bothers him too much. Reporter Roger Crandall (Paul Newson) uncovers the plot to inflate the price of grain and sends it to colleague Jessica Stanton (Reparata Mazzola) before he is killed. Jessica investigates Roger's "accidental" death and the shooting of a federal grain inspector. Jeff saves Jessica after she is kidnapped and drugged with ether. Ben Johnson plays the local sheriff in this message drama. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sonny Gibson, Doug McClure, (more)
Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven, the long-awaited follow-up to his 1973 debut Badlands, confirmed his reputation as a visual poet and narrative iconoclast with a story of love and murder told through the jaded voice of a child and expressive images of nature. In 1916, Chicago steelworker Bill (Richard Gere, stepping in for John Travolta) flees to Texas with his little sister Linda (Linda Manz) and girlfriend Abby (Brooke Adams) after fatally erupting at his boss. Along with other itinerant laborers, they work the harvest at a wealthy, ailing farmer's ranch, but the farmer (playwright Sam Shepard) falls in love with Abby, and, believing her to be Bill's sister, asks the three to stay on at his elysian spread. Seeing it as his one real chance to escape perpetual poverty, Bill urges Abby to marry the sick man. Marriage, however, has more restorative powers, and the farmer has more magnetism, than Bill had planned. "Nobody's perfect," Linda impassively observes in one of her many voiceovers, after their brief paradise is erased by plagues of locusts, fire, and lethal jealousy. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, (more)
- 1986
A sprawling adaptation of the same-named novel by David Nevin, the three-part CBS miniseries Dream West starred Richard Chamberlain as colorful, controversial American explorer John Charles Fremont (1813-1890). The story detailed the visionary (and occasionally mercenary) Fremont's lifelong war against shortsided authority figures, beginning with his early skirmishes with the "brass" as an Army officer. In 1842, Fremont embarked upon his greatest adventure, heading an expedition to map the Oregon Trail -- the first step towards opening the entire North American continent to free and unimpeded exploration. His mission pitted Fremont against hostile Indians, the Mexican army, and the U.S. government itself. Along the way, he crossed paths with scores of historical figures, including Kit Carson, Jim Bridge, John Sutter, and President Abraham Lincoln. Alice Krige, Richard Chamberlain's vis-à-vis in the earlier Wallenberg: A Heroes' Story, co-starred as Jessie Benton, the headstrong senator's daughter who became Fremont's wife. Running seven hours in all (plus commercials), Dream West was originally telecast from April 13 to 15, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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)
The budget may be loftier, but Eye of the Tiger is essentially an up-to-date AIP motorcycle flick. Ex-convict Buck Mathews (Gary Busey) lives as quietly as possible in his old home town. The corrupt local sheriff (Seymour Cassel) would give anything to drive Buck out of town: thus, the sheriff looks the other way when a motorcycle gang headed by Blade (William Smith, who else?) invades the community and targets Buck for extermination. With no one else on his side, Buck turns to honest cop J.B. Deveraux (Yaphet Kotto), but he's a few days away from retirement and doesn't want to get involved. It turns out that the only "good guy" Buck can depend upon is a "bad guy": A well-connected Latino drug lord who owes Buck a favor. When the chips are down and Buck's daughter is kidnapped, Deveraux joins in the climactic offensive against the bikers--which, of course, boils down to a mano-y-mano struggle between Buck and Blade. You've seen it all before, but in this case familiarity does not breed contempt. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Busey, Yaphet Kotto, (more)
- 1985
This made-for-TV movie was edited from several episodes of the short-lived television series Hell Town, in which Robert Blake starred as Father Noah "Hardstep" Rivers, a tough but giving Catholic priest trying to do good works in a rough ghetto neighborhood. Also appearing in Father of Hell Town are Jeff Corey and James Gammon. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Blake, Jeff Corey, (more)
- 1985
- R
Writer-director Richard Brooks' final film features a weak script and poor acting but high energy direction in a tale of compulsive gambling in Las Vegas. Ryan O'Neal stars as Taggart, a sports reporter obsessed with gambling. As Taggart gets deeper and deeper into debt, he compounds his problems with assorted loansharks and gambling operators. Taggart has already lost his wife because of his compulsive gambling, but he takes up with big-timer Charley (Giancarlo Giannini), hoping to make a killing and settle the score. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ryan O'Neal, Catherine Hicks, (more)
In this lively adolescent-oriented musical, a city kid attempts to adapt to life in an ultra-conservative backwater Midwestern town. Once there, he ends up leading the repressed teenagers into a rebellion against the town fathers, who have outlawed rock & roll and dancing. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Bacon, Lori Singer, (more)
A woman learns the value of friendship as she hears the story of two women and how their friendship shaped their lives in this warm comedy-drama. Evelyn Couch (Kathy Bates) is an emotionally repressed housewife with a habit of drowning her sorrows in candy bars. Her husband Ed (Gailard Sartain) barely acknowledges her existence, and while he visits his aunt at a nursing home every week, Evelyn is not permitted to come into the room because the old women doesn't like her. One week, while waiting out Ed's visit, Evelyn meets Ninny Threadgoode (Jessica Tandy), a frail but feisty old woman who lives at the same nursing home and loves to tell stories. Over the span of several weeks, she spins a whopper about one of her relatives, Idgie (Mary Stuart Masterson). Back in the 1920s, Idgie was a sweet but fiercely independent woman with her own way of doing things who ran the town diner in Whistle Stop, Alabama. Idgie was very close to her brother Buddy (Chris O'Donnell), and when he died, she wouldn't talk to anyone except Buddy's girl, Ruth Jamison (Mary-Louise Parker). Idgie gave Ruth a job at the cafe after she left her abusive husband, Frank Bennett (Nick Searcy). Between her habit of standing up for herself, standing up to Frank, and serving food to Black people out the back of the diner, Idgie raised the ire of the less tolerant citizens of Whistle Stop, and when Frank mysteriously disappeared, many locals suspected that Idgie, Ruth, and their friends may have been responsible. Evelyn finds herself looking forward to her weekly visits with Ninny, and is inspired by her story to take a new pride in herself and assert her independence from Ed. Fried Green Tomatoes was based on the novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by actress-turned-author Fannie Flagg, who makes a cameo appearance as the leader of a self-help group. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kathy Bates, Jessica Tandy, (more)
The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara becomes this sprawling historical epic. As in Shaara's novel, director Ronald Maxwell focuses on a handful of major players to dramatize the events of July 1863, when the armies of the Union and Confederacy clash at the small Pennsylvania town of the title. Among them are Martin Sheen as General Robert E. Lee, who disagrees with his top advisor, General James Longstreet (Tom Berenger) over battle strategy, and Jeff Daniels as Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, a college professor whose unorthodox techniques save the day (and possibly the war) for his beleaguered army. Other cast standouts include Richard Jordan in his final film appearance as the ill-fated General Lewis Armistead, and cameo roles for Civil War buff Ken Burns and media mogul producer Ted Turner. Filmed on-location at Gettysburg National Military Park, Gettysburg was shot as a television miniseries for Turner's TNT cable channel, but earned a limited theatrical release. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martin Sheen, Jeff Daniels, (more)
In the tradition of his earlier work in Grapes of Wrath and Twelve Angry Men, Henry Fonda played another social-protest role in the Hallmark Hall of Fame TV presentation Gideon's Trumpet. Clarence Earl Gideon (Fonda) is a poor, ill-tempered Florida handyman who is arrested for petty larceny in 1961. Unable to afford a lawyer, Gideon is sentenced to five years in prison. His treatment by the Florida judicial system, a clear violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, is brought to the attention of the Supreme Court. As a result, a landmark decision is reached, assuring free legal representation for anyone accused of a crime in the United States. Also appearing are Jose Ferrer as Gideon's attorney Abe Fortas, John Houseman (who also produced) as the Chief Justice, and Fay Wray as the owner of the lodging establishment where Gideon lived. Gideon's Trumpet premiered on April 30, 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry Fonda, John Houseman, (more)
- 1989
A misdiagnosis of a curable disease tests the bonds of love between a couple in this true story drama. ~ All Movie Guide
The winner of the 1967 Oscar for Best Picture (as well as four other Oscars), In the Heat of the Night is set in a small Mississippi town where an unusual murder has been committed. Rod Steiger plays sheriff Bill Gillespie, a good lawman despite his racial prejudices. When Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier), a well-dressed northern African-American, comes to town, Gillespie instinctively puts him under arrest as a murder suspect. Tibbs reveals himself to be a Philadelphia police detective; after he and Gillespie come to a grudging understanding of one another, Tibbs offers to help in Gillespie's investigation. As the case progresses, both Gillespie and Tibbs betray a tendency to jump to culture-dictated conclusions. Still, the case is solved thanks to the informal teamwork of the two law officers. Based on the novel by John Ball, In the Heat of the Night inspired two sequels, both starring Poiter as Virgil Tibbs. In 1987, a TV series version of In the Heat of the Night appeared, with Carroll O'Connor as Gillespie and Howard Rollins as Tibbs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, (more)
- 1986
- R
Agoraphobia (Greek for "fear of the marketplace") is the focus of this drama starring Elliott Gould as Jimmy Morgan. Morgan seems fairly well-adjusted considering that deeply afflicted agoraphobics live in fear and even terror of human relationships and other people; a fear of going outside is only one part of the illness. Yet Morgan controls his finances from home, has sexual partners brought in by an escort service, persuades his relatives to visit him, and gets his drugs via housecalls. This travesty of a seriously sick man is only allayed slightly when he lies to everyone and tries to disguise his inability to step outside his door (a common trait of agoraphobics). As Morgan loses friends, business investments, and a budding relationship with one of the escort women (Jennifer Tilly), he is driven to consider treatment for the first time. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elliott Gould, Howard Hesseman, (more)
- 1977
- PG
One of Cannon Films' two 1976 Italian-Israeli co-productions starring Lee Van Cleef and Leif Garrett (Gianfranco Parolini's Pistola di Dio was the other), this spaghetti western was actually shot in the Middle East by American director Joseph Manduke. Pop star Garrett plays Tom, a teenager who teams with a black gunfighter named Isaac (Jim Brown) to avenge his family. The culprit was McClain (Van Cleef), a sadistic outlaw who carried out the brutal rape-massacre, but his role is minor, as most of the film deals with Tom's maturation and coming to terms with his feelings. Omnipresent 1970s character actors Glynnis O'Connor and John Marley co-star. If there is anything remarkable about Kid Vengeance, it is Francesco Masi's fine musical score, but the film is otherwise anemic. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leif Garrett, Jim Brown, (more)
