Tom Skerritt Movies
Tom Skerritt is probably the best-known actor whose name is never remembered. A rugged "outdoors" type, Skerritt briefly attended Wayne State University and UCLA before making his film bow in War Hunt (1962). His subsequent film and TV roles were sizeable, but so adept was Skerritt at immersing himself in his character that he seemed to have no tangible, recurrent personality of his own. Billed second as "Duke" in the original M*A*S*H* (1970), Skerritt did his usual finely-honed job, but audiences of the time preferred the demonstrative, mannered acting technique of Elliott Gould, Donald Sutherland and Robert Duvall; significantly, Skerritt's character was not carried over into the even more unsubtle M*A*S*H TV series. Finally, in 1980, Skerritt began to attain a following with his authoritative performance in Alien. Since that time, there's been no stopping him. He posed in a popular series of "Guess?" Jeans ads, appeared as a 1987-88 regular on "Cheers," starred in 1992's A River Runs Through It (directed by his long-ago War Hunt costar Robert Redford), and won a 1994 Emmy for his work on the TV series "Picket Fences."Skerritt would continue to work at a remarkable pace, usually appearing in several projects a year. From 1999's family drama The Other Sister to 2003's war thriller Tears of the Sun, the actor could be spotted by fans of seemingly every area of film throughout the 90's and 2000's. In 2006, he took a recurring role in the hit primetime drama Brothers and Sisters, and in 2008 he signed on for the redneck comedy Beer for my Horses.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Robert Redford makes his big-screen debut in this off-beat war drama that tells the tail of a new replacement on the Korean front line. It is his first time in battle, and he comes all starry eyed and eager to prove himself a glorious hero. Obviously a greenhorn, the platoon commander takes the young private under his wing. All too soon, the youth realizes there is little glory in war. He also encounters a lone-wolf soldier whose lust for killing the enemy has turned him into a full-blown and deadly psychopath, leaving the private and his commanders to somehow stop him before he begins killing his own platoon-mates. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Saxon, Robert Redford, (more)
- 1962
Pvt. Braddock (Shecky Greene) is strongarmed into serving as jeep driver for Froggy Clyde (Keenan Wynn, a brash, bullying American colonel. Circumstances dictate that Braddock don Clyde's field jacket--at which point he is mistaken for the colonel and captured by the Germans, who hope to exchange him for imprisoned Nazi general Hoffman. The canny Clyde decides to go through with the prisoner exchange, adding a wry twist of his own. The episode's highlight finds the opportunistic Braddock rather enjoying the preferential treatment that he receives from the German as a captured "officer." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1963
Head over heels in love with brassy nightclub singer Niki Carroll (Diana Dors), Dr. Don Reed (John Gavin) intends to marry her despite the objections of his father, Horace Reed (Carl Benton Reid), and Niki's former boyfriend, Bill Floyd (Scott Brady). Even the fact that all three of Niki's former husbands met with violent deaths will not deter Don from popping the question. It would be nice to report that Don's instincts are on target, and that Niki is a "good girl" despite her reputation -- but that just isn't true, as Don learns to his everlasting grief during his honeymoon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Gavin, Diana Dors, (more)
- 1963
From at least the 1930s on to the 1970s, the upbeat protestant minister, Reverend Norman Vincent Peale, ministered to the well-heeled and upwardly mobile of the United States from his pulpit at the Riverside church on Fifth Avenue in New York City. At least as positive-thinking as the similarly cheery Dale Carnegie (How To Win Friends and Influence People), his lift-yourself-by-your-bootstraps message of good cheer was perceived as unorthodox by many within the churches he grew up in. After many decades of preaching his message, summed up in his best-selling book The Power of Positive Thinking, he was enshrined as a sort of secular saint. His influence reached to Presidents and corporate heads, and his name became synonymous with a kind of extraverted wholesomeness which has long since vanished. This biopic traces his career in the most respectful possible manner. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Murray, Diana Hyland, (more)
- 1964
Adam Cartwright is rescued from drowning by Tom Wilson (Rory Calhoun), a man as lucky at cards as he is at love. Though grateful to Tom, Adam looks askance when Tom moves in on Matilda (Barbara Wilkin), the girlfriend of a man named Jerry (Tom Skerritt). When Tom is accused of killing Matilda's father, Adam tries to prove his innocence-a task that proves deceptively easy when Sue makes an all-too-convenient confession. Written by Jerry Adelman, "Thanks For Everything, Friend" originally aired on October 11, 1964. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, (more)
- 1964
Travelling under the name of "Richard Clark", Kimble (David Janssen) is arrested for hitchhiking by Marshall Joe Bob Simms (Pat Hingle). Though he enjoys a reputation as a prince of a fellow, Simms is actually a scheming sadist who uses prisoners like Kimble as slave labor, forcing them to work on a town park that the Marshal hopes will advance his political career. Though he manages to leave town after serving his time, Kimble returns to make Simms pay the penalty for the death of another prisoner (Tom Skerritt)--thereby placing his own life in jeopardy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1964
Acting as squad leader in Saunders' absence, Caje (Pierre Jalbert) is faced with an unexpected problem from within his own ranks. For some reason, Private Thomas (Dee Pollock) lives in mortal terror of Private Jackson (Mike Kellin), a cynical wisecracker from another squad. What is the power that Jackson holds over Thomas--and what will this mean to Caje, who is now himself the target of Jackson's vitriol? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1964
A pre-That Girl Marlo Thomas guest stars as Paula, the highly intelligent--and highly insecure--niece of landlady Mrs. Brown (Pamela Britton). To prevent Paula from figuring out his true identity, Martin (Ray Walston) tries to distract her by asking Tim (Bill Bixby) to take the girl out. Unfortunately, Paula is so obsessed with her self-described "plain" appearance that she turns Tim off--whereupon Martin performs a bit of Martian magic to spiritually transform the duckling into a swan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Originally trade-previewed as Those Crazy Calloways, Disney's Those Calloways is a lengthy, anecdotal film about a highly individualistic New England family. Patriarch Cam Calloway (Brian Keith) is regarded as a crank by the local villagers because of his dream to build a bird sanctuary that will protect migratory geese from hunters. Cam uses all his savings to buy a lake, where he intends to establish his sanctuary. When a wealthy sportsman offers to turn the town into a booming resort community in exchange for hunting rights, Cam opposes the plan, which briefly puts him on the outs with everyone else. Only when Cam is accidentally shot by the sportsman do the locals rally around the "crazy" Calloways so that Cam's sanctuary can come to fruition. The plot of Those Calloways can best be described as picaresque; the film is most successful in establishing mood and atmosphere, and in offering a vast array of distinctive characterizations from such pros as Brian Keith, Vera Miles, Brandon de Wilde, Walter Brennan, Ed Wynn, John Larkin, Parley Baer, John Qualen, and Paul Hartman. Look for young Linda Evans as the girl friend of the oldest Calloway boy (DeWilde) and for future Picket Fences star Tom Skerritt as the town bully. Those Calloways was based on Swiftwater, a novel by Paul Annixter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brian Keith, Vera Miles, (more)
- 1965
When the submarine Angier is lost at sea, Nelson (Richard Basehart) and Crane (David Hedison) investigate and discover that the captain and first officer -- previously the best of friends -- turned on each other, after a few hours' stay on a mysterious island. They head to the same island and are captured and subjected to brainwashing that turns the two into bitter enemies. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- 1966
Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) learns that Bishop John Atwood (Dean Jagger), a peace envoy to the US, has been targetted for assassination. Unfortunately, the trigger man, known only to the FBI as "Anton Christopher", has never been photographed or fingerprinted, making it virtually impossible to track him down. Further complicating the situation is the fact that Christopher has been hired by one of Bishop Atwood's most trusted confidantes! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1966
Lt. Hanley (Rick Jason) is fed up with the insubordination of streetwise punk Private Vinnick (Sal Mineo), and with Vinnick's constant ragging of fellow GI Private Burke (Tom Skerritt). Accused by Vinnick of being a coward, the resentful Burke is determined to prove his courage under fire, thus placing everyone else's life in jeopardy. Further complicating the storyline is the fact that one of the two warring privates is wanted for murder in the States! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1966
Newly arrived in Utah under the alias "Jim Corman", Kimble (David Janssen) meets unwed mother Ruth Simmons (Kim Darby), whose baby is seriously ill. In his efforts to treat the infant, Kimble meets strong opposition in the form of Ruth's father Joshua (Harry Townes), a religious zealot who objects to any sort of medical treatment. Adding to Kimble's burden of woe is an ambitious deputy named Pete (Tom Skerritt) who is using a team of bloodhounds to track down the fugitive. This episode was originally slated to air on October 11, 1966. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1966
Captured by the Germans (again!), Saunders (Vic Morrow) manages to escape from a POW train in the company of cowardly American soldier Decker (Tom Skerritt). Seriously wounded in the escape, Saunders knows that he cannot rely upon his "companion" for aid--and worse, the Germans have sent a vicious pack of dogs after both men. The situation becomes graver still when Saunders is recaptured and injected with mind-altering drugs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1967
This prescient episode costars Tom Skerritt, soon to appear as "Duke Forest" in the movie version of M*A*S*H, with Wayne Rogers, the future "Trapper John" in the M*A*S*H TV series. Skerritt is cast as John Rim, a fugitive from justice who is hiding in a Gulf Coast community where he is regarded as a local hero for rescuing a busload of children. When Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) shows up in search of Rim, is confronted by a wall of silence and hostility from the locals, who can't believe (or choose not to believe) that John Rim is a criminal. Meanwhile, John shows his true colors by attempting to seduce the wife (Katherine Justice) of his own brother Frank (Rogers). This is the first episode in which star Efrem Zimbalist Jr. dropped character at the conclusion to issue his monthly "Wanted by the FBI" bulletin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Although he was not the first choice to direct it, the hit black comedy MASH established Robert Altman as one of the leading figures of Hollywood's 1970s generation of innovative and irreverent young filmmakers. Scripted by Hollywood veteran Ring Lardner, Jr., this war comedy details the exploits of military doctors and nurses at a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in the Korean War. Between exceptionally gory hospital shifts and countless rounds of martinis, wisecracking surgeons Hawkeye Pierce (Donald Sutherland) and Trapper John McIntyre (Elliott Gould) make it their business to undercut the smug, moralistic pretensions of Bible-thumper Maj. Frank Burns (Robert Duvall) and Army true-believer Maj. "Hot Lips" Houlihan (Sally Kellerman). Abetted by such other hedonists as Duke Forrest (Tom Skerritt) and Painless Pole (John Schuck), as well as such (relative) innocents as Radar O'Reilly (Gary Burghoff), Hawkeye and Trapper John drive Burns and Houlihan crazy while engaging in such additional blasphemies as taking a medical trip to Japan to play golf, staging a mock Last Supper to cure Painless's momentary erectile dysfunction, and using any means necessary to win an inter-MASH football game. MASH creates a casual, chaotic atmosphere emphasizing the constant noise and activity of a surgical unit near battle lines; it marked the beginning of Altman's sustained formal experiments with widescreen photography, zoom lenses, and overlapping sound and dialogue, further enhancing the atmosphere with the improvisational ensemble acting for which Altman's films quickly became known. Although the on-screen war was not Vietnam, MASH's satiric target was obvious in 1970, and Vietnam War-weary and counter-culturally hip audiences responded to Altman's nose-thumbing attitude towards all kinds of authority and embraced the film's frankly tasteless yet evocative humor and its anti-war, anti-Establishment, anti-religion stance. MASH became the third most popular film of 1970 after Love Story and Airport, and it was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. As further evidence of the changes in Hollywood's politics, blacklist survivor Lardner won the Oscar for his screenplay. MASH began Altman's systematic 1970s effort to revise classic Hollywood genres in light of contemporary American values, and it gave him the financial clout to make even more experimental and critical films like McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971), California Split (1974), and Nashville (1975). It also inspired the long-running TV series starring Alan Alda as Hawkeye and Burghoff as Radar. With its formal and attitudinal impudence, and its great popularity, MASH was one more confirmation in 1970 that a Hollywood "New Wave" had arrived. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elliott Gould, Donald Sutherland, (more)
- 1971
- PG
If you want to know what The Wild Bunch would have looked like with Blake Edwards rather than Sam Peckinpah in the director's chair, we submit for your approval Wild Rovers. William Holden and Ryan O'Neal play a couple of shiftless ranch hands who impulsively decide to rob a bank. They manage to make off with the money, but also incur the wrath of their former boss Karl Malden, who sends his two sons Tom Skerritt and Joe Don Baker out to bring back Holden and O'Neal, preferably dead. The film's climax is surprisingly melancholy for an Edwards film, but one can't deny that the ending grows logically from the events leading up to it. Severely edited by its distributor Warner Bros, Wild Rovers doesn't make a lot of sense in its release version; the director's cut, incorporated 30 minutes' worth of extra footage, is fortunately available on video. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Holden, Ryan O'Neal, (more)
- 1971
Some prisoners pin their hopes for freedom on a homemade aircraft in this made-for-television thriller. Based on a true World War Two story, Doug McClure stars as Harry Cook, an Allied soldier who tries to escape a Nazi prison camp with a scientist in tow, using a glider built by their fellow inmates. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
- 1971
In a variation of Evan Hunter's famous novel King's Ransom (previously filmed by no less than Akira Kurosawa), outlaws Thorn and Bryan Hazard (Tom Skerritt, Fabian Forte) kidnap a girl whom they believe to be wealthy young Laura Singer (Susannah Darrow). Instead, they have abducted Karen Oliver (Sherry Boucher), the daughter of poverty-stricken Harry Oliver (Woodrow Parfrey). Will Oliver lose everything he owns trying to raise the $100,000 ransom, or will Laura's millionaire father Owen Singer (John Lasell) come through in a pinch? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Fuzz treads the line between raucous comedy and gut-churning melodrama. Based on an "87th Precinct" novel by Ed McBain (aka Evan Hunter), the film stars Burt Reynolds and Jack Weston as, respectively, detectives Steve Carella and Meyer Meyer. Their current assignment is to bring in Deaf Man (Yul Brynner), a mad bomber who has been targeting politicians. A subplot concerning a couple of punks who get their kicks by setting fire to sleeping winos is dramatically justified by the main storyline, but it was this element that caused a lot of trouble for the producers of Fuzz when a pair of real-life teenagers decided to imitate the film. On a lighter note, Raquel Welch co-stars as Detective Eileen McHenry, who is obliged to go undercover -- and under covers -- with fellow officer Bert Kling (Tom Skerritt). And as a bonus, viewers are treated to Burt Reynolds' first "drag" scene. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Reynolds, Jack Weston, (more)
- 1972
Penny Fuller guest stars as Jean Scott, an accomplished thief and con artist. Freshly escaped from prison, Jean charms several gullible males into acting as accomplices in a nationwide robbery spree. She needs the money to kidnap her son from her ex-husband and then leave the country with the boy in tow--unless, of course, Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) can stop her. Appearing as Jean's son Tommy is a pre-teen idoldom Leif Garrett. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
After fourteen seasons and 430 episodes, the saga of Bonanza came to an end on January 16, 1973 with a powerful episode titled "The Hunter." Written and directed by series star Michael Landon, the episode is essentially a two-man show for Landon (as Joe Cartwright) and guest star Tom Skerritt, cast as a psychopath named Tanner. A self-styled "human hunter", Tanner targets Joe as his latest quarry. With no horse, supplies or weapons, Joe desperately tries to outwit and outmaneuver his relentless pursuer. Even by Landon's usually sparse standards, "The Hunter" contained practically no dialogue; the episode represented visual storytelling at its very best, and as such was a worthwhile finale for one of TV's most popular and durable western series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Landon, Tom Skerritt, (more)
Released in the same 12-month span as Terrence Malick's Badlands (1973) and Steven Spielberg's The Sugarland Express (1974), Robert Altman's Thieves Like Us (1974) also tells a story of doomed outlaws in love. Depression-era criminals T-Dub (Bert Remsen), Chicamaw (John Schuck), and Bowie (Keith Carradine) band together to rob banks after escaping from a prison farm. Hiding out with Dee Mobley (Tom Skerritt) and Keechie (Shelley Duvall), and then with T-Dub's in-law Mattie (Louise Fletcher) between bank jobs, the three crooks are a loyal group, but increasingly sensational news accounts of their bloodless robberies force them to split up before their next crime. After a car accident, Chicamaw leaves the injured Bowie in Keechie's care. Love blossoms between the two naïfs, compelling Bowie to find a way to balance his bond to Keechie with his loyalty to his friends and the need for money to head for Mexico. With the law closing in, Bowie and Keechie learn the hard way about the finite honor among thieves, and the need to survive. Adapted from the same Edward Anderson novel as Nicholas Ray's They Live By Night (1949), Altman, writers Calder Willingham and Joan Tewkesbury, and Altman's acting "regulars" reworked not just the classical crime movie but also the 1967 hit Bonnie and Clyde, presenting a resolutely unglamorous portrait of this Coke-swilling outlaw couple and the survivors' stoic drive to carry on. With the radio providing soundtrack and commentary, and the newspapers sending a veiled warning, Bowie and Keechie cannot escape the outside world, but they also cannot transcend it into the realm of myth. Rather than turning the crimes into stylish exploits, Altman's camera remains outside most of the robberies, observing the banal action on the street; he saves the slow-motion in the climactic shoot-out for the witnesses rather than the dead. His zoom shots hover between fragments of emotion and place, while they maintain their observational distance. Unfortunately for Altman (and Malick and Spielberg), audiences preferred outlaw glamour to genre-bending introspection. Still, with its deceptively laid-back tone, eye for expressive detail, and ear for ironic juxtaposition, Thieves Like Us takes its place in Altman's exceptional body of early 1970s work. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Keith Carradine, Shelley Duvall, (more)
Angie Dickinson essays the title role in Big Bad Mama. This Depression-era crime caper casts the future star of Police Woman as sexy Ma Barker type Wilma McClatchie, who forces her nubile daughters (Susan Sennett, Robbie Lee) into participating in a robbery/kidnapping/murder spree. Wilma seems to be as motivated by the erotic thrill of lawbreaking as she is by the financial gains. She evens hops in the sack with her daughters, as does her common-law husband, played by William Shatner. A sequel appeared in 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Angie Dickinson, William Shatner, (more)
