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
- 2000
The life of one of the most famous American women of the last half of the 20th century receives yet another retelling in this made-for-TV drama. Raised by a harsh, domineering mother (Frances Fisher) and a charming but unfaithful (and alcoholic) father (Fred Ward), Jacqueline Bouvier (Joanne Whalley) is born into privileged circumstances but learns early on that wealth and power do not guarantee happiness. Jackie falls in love with John F. Kennedy (Tim Matheson), the son of a family even richer and more influential than her own, and is by his side as he becomes President of the United States -- though she soon discovers that, like her father, his charm and position make him very attractive to other women, a temptation he does little to resist. After the assassination of Kennedy in 1963, Jackie becomes America's best-known widow, and is forced to struggle through her mourning in the glare of the public eye. Alone and with expensive tastes, Jackie eventually becomes the trophy wife of Aristotle Onassis (Philip Baker Hall), yet another wealthy and flamboyant man. Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis was first aired in two parts on November 5 and 8, 2000, by the CBS television network. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joanne Whalley, Tim Matheson, (more)
One of Hollywood's most acclaimed Westerns gets a new interpretation in this made-for-TV remake of Fred Zinnemann's 1952 classic. Will Kane (Tom Skerritt), the marshal of the frontier town of Hadleyville, is stepping down to marry his sweetheart Amy (Susanna Thompson) and move on to a less demanding occupation. However, on the day of his wedding, Will gets bad news -- Frank Miller (Michael Madsen), an outlaw Will helped to put behind bars, has just been released from jail and will arrive in Hadleyville on the noon train to settle his score with the marshal. Will appeals for support from the local townspeople, most of whom have done little to help him in the past, and they unfortunately behave in much the same manner in his time of greatest need; Amy even turns her back on her fiancé rather than become a widow on the day of her marriage. In the end, Will finds that he alone must face Miller in a shootout in Hadleyville's main street. Also featuring Dennis Weaver, Maria Conchita Alonso, and Reed Diamond, this version of High Noon was produced for the TNT cable network, where it first aired on August 20, 2000. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Skerritt, Susanna Thompson, (more)
Twenty-two year old Carla Tate (Juliette Lewis) is a slightly mentally challenged young woman who has spent several years at a sheltered private boarding school. Now she's coming home to her wealthy parents in northern California who are emotionally ill-equipped to deal with her and are guilt ridden over sending her away in the first place. The biggest limitation Carla must now overcome is her overprotective mother Elizabeth (Diane Keaton). When she takes a class at a trade school, Carla soon meets the equally challenged Daniel (Giovanni Ribisi). Despite his limitations, he maintains a job in a bakery and lives alone. Carla dares to dream of independence and love despite her mother who refuses to view her as an adult. When Daniel fails his class, his father cuts off his funds. Facing a move to Florida to live with his mother, the two turn to each other and find a way to stay together to face a world of adult opportunities and responsibilities. ~ Ron Wells, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Juliette Lewis, Diane Keaton, (more)
- 1999
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A major earthquake brings the City That Never Sleeps to a screeching halt in this made-for-TV suspense drama. New York City Mayor Lincoln (Charles S. Dutton) and Fire Chief Ahearn (Tom Skerritt) are contentious political rivals forced to set aside their differences and work together when a catastrophic earthquake rips into the city. Lincoln's urgency to dig the city out of the rubble becomes personal when he learns that his daughter Evie (Lisa Nicole Carson) is trapped in a buried subway car -- what's more, one of her fellow passengers is a murder suspect who has just won acquittal, but whom the mayor believes may have been guilty. Elsewhere, Dori (Sharon Lawrence) is a mother who, after accidentally injuring her child in an auto accident, becomes all the more panicked when she learns that her boy is trapped inside a damaged school building that could turn deadly in the event of an aftershock. Originally aired in November 1999, Aftershock: Earthquake in New York also features Cicely Tyson, Erika Eleniak, Jennifer Garner, and Fred Weller. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Skerritt, Sharon Lawrence, (more)
- 1999
Based on a true story, The Hunt for the Unicorn Killer concerns the notorious Ira Einhorn, a political activist turned murder suspect who eluded Philadelphia police for nearly 20 years. In 1968, Texas-born Holly Maddux (Naomi Watts) left home to attend Bryn Mawr College, and two years later she made the acquaintance of Einhorn (Kevin Anderson), a community organizer and activist well known for leading peaceful crusades and as the key figure in Philadelphia's radical community. Holly and Ira became romantically involved, but, despite his public image, behind closed doors Einhorn was often abusive and manipulative, though Holly, for her own reasons, accepted his poor treatment and infidelity. In 1977, Holly had reached the end of her rope and told friends she was leaving Ira, intending to return to their apartment only to collect her belongings. She was not seen again for several months, until her corpse was found stuffed in a trunk in Ira's apartment. Einhorn was arrested in connection with the crime, but was released on bail, only to flee the country, surfacing in France four years later. Convicted 'in absentia' for Holly's murder in 1993, Einhorn was extradited to the United States in 1997 under the condition he receive a new trial. The Hunt for the Unicorn Killer was produced for NBC Television, and was first aired as a two-part miniseries in May 1999. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Anderson, Tom Skerritt, (more)
- 1998
Larry Brothers scripted this adaptation of the James Lee Burke novel that begins in a Louisiana penal colony during the 1830s. After middle-aged Allison (Kris Kristofferson) and young Holland (Scott Bairstow) make an escape, they take along Sana, a Choctaw (Irene Bedard, of Disney's animated Pocahontas) and head for the encampment of Sam Houston (Tom Skerritt) in East Texas. When Holland and Sana get too close, Allison tells Holland to drop her, and the two ride off, leaving her in the dust. Eventually, they link up with Houston and Allison's longtime pal Jim Bowie (Peter Coyote), but Bowie is off to confront General Santa Anna (Marco Rodriguez) at the Alamo. After the battle, Allison and Holland meet widow Dickinson (Karey Green) at the Alamo ruins. This TV movie premiered January 18, 1997 on TNT. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kris Kristofferson, Scott Bairstow, (more)
This dramatic feature was written, directed, and co-produced by Native Americans. Native American writer Sherman Alexie scripted this adaptation of his 1993 short story collection The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. Director Chris Eyre's previous short Someone Kept Saying Powwow is incorporated into the 88-minute feature. Developed at the Sundance Lab in 1995, the film was a winner of both the Audience Award and the Filmmakers' Trophy at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. In 1976, an infant survives a fire that kills his parents. In a flash forward to the present day, the infant has grown up to become the skinny, nerdy adult Thomas (Evan Adams). At Idaho's desolate Coeur d'Alene Indian reservation, the overeager youth is mostly ignored by others, including stoic athletic Victor Joseph (Adam Beach), even though it was Victor's father, alcoholic Arnold Joseph (Gary Farmer), who saved the infant Thomas' life in the fire. A drunken Arnold later abandoned his family, and Victor hasn't seen his father in a decade. When Victor learns of Arnold's death in Phoenix, Thomas offers to pay for the trip to Phoenix if he can accompany Victor. They make an odd couple since Victor is embarrassed by Thomas' geekiness. In Phoenix, they find that Arnold lived in a small trailer in the desert, and they meet Arnold's friend Suzy Song (Irene Bedard), who provides disturbing truths about Arnold that impact on Victor. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adam Beach, Evan Adams, (more)
- 1997
- PG
Scripter Robert W. Lenski adapted G.D. Gearino's novel What the Deaf-Mute Heard for this Hallmark Hall of Fame comedy. It was filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina, by director John Kent Harrison. During the '40s, single mother Helen (Bernadette Peters) boards a bus for Barrington, Georgia, with her 10-year-old son Sammy (Frankie Muniz). She tells him not to say a word. The two are separated when she exits the bus and is carried away, leaving the sleeping Sammy to travel to Barrington by himself. Because Sammy won't speak, bus-station manager Norm assumes he's mute and deaf. Norm gives Sammy a cot in the back of the station, and he's fed by widower Norm's friend Lucille (Judith Ivey), owner of the adjacent cafe.
Years pass, but the grown Sammy (Matthew Modine), working as a handyman, still remains silent. Well-to-do widow Tynan (Claire Bloom) orders him about when she has him clean porch furniture. Her snobbish son Tolliver (Jake Weber), who steals church money, treats Sammy with contempt. Tolliver's sister Tallasse (Anne Bobby) likes Sammy, and she confides in Sammy, thinking he can't hear what she's saying. Her father and Sammy's mother, they learn, both loved the Weill-Gershwin song, My Ship. Throughout Barrington, the locals have learned to trust Sammy, but eventually, joyful junkman Thacker (James Earl Jones) stumbles onto Sammy's secret. Bernadette Peters is heard singing My Ship during the closing credits. What the Deaf Man Heard first aired November 23, 1997 on CBS. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
Years pass, but the grown Sammy (Matthew Modine), working as a handyman, still remains silent. Well-to-do widow Tynan (Claire Bloom) orders him about when she has him clean porch furniture. Her snobbish son Tolliver (Jake Weber), who steals church money, treats Sammy with contempt. Tolliver's sister Tallasse (Anne Bobby) likes Sammy, and she confides in Sammy, thinking he can't hear what she's saying. Her father and Sammy's mother, they learn, both loved the Weill-Gershwin song, My Ship. Throughout Barrington, the locals have learned to trust Sammy, but eventually, joyful junkman Thacker (James Earl Jones) stumbles onto Sammy's secret. Bernadette Peters is heard singing My Ship during the closing credits. What the Deaf Man Heard first aired November 23, 1997 on CBS. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matthew Modine, Claire Bloom, (more)
- 1997
In this tense drama, a husband single-handedly faces down a white supremacy group after his wife is convinced to join them. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Skerritt, Dylan Walsh, (more)
The search for life outside our solar system becomes a personal and spiritual quest for a young researcher. Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster) is a scientist who lost her faith in God after her parents died when she was a child. However, Ellie has learned to develop a different sort of faith in the seemingly unknowable: working with a group that monitors radio waves from space, Ellie hopes that some day she will receive a coherent message from another world that will prove that there is a world beyond our own. Ellie's hard work is rewarded when her team picks up a signal that does not appear to be of earthly origin. Ellie decodes the message, which turns out to be plans for a space craft, which she takes as an invitation for a meeting with the aliens. Ellie and her fellow researchers soon run into interference from a White House scientific advisor, David Drumlin (Tom Skerritt), who cuts off their funding and tries to take credit for their achievements. However, Ellie receives moral support from Palmer Joss (Matthew McConaughey), a spiritual teacher who advises President Clinton and tries to persuade her to accept the existence of a higher power, and financial backing from S.R. Hadden (John Hurt), a multi-millionaire willing to fund her attempts to contact the source of the message. Contact was based on a novel by Carl Sagan, who advised director Robert Zemeckis during the film's production until his death in 1996. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, (more)
This murder mystery from director Carl Schenkel stars Christopher Lambert (Highlander) as Peter Sanderson, an expert chess champion. When a woman Sanderson has recently slept with is among several women brutally murdered at a chess tournament, he becomes a suspect. But when the murderer contacts Sanderson and informs him that he's set up a maniacal human chess game, he realizes that he'll have to beat the murderer to stop the killings and clear his own name. Diane Lane plays a psychologist who falls for Sanderson, and Tom Skerritt is the local sheriff investigating the case. Knight Moves won the Critics Award at the 1992 Cognac Film Festival. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Lambert, Diane Lane, (more)
The always challenging transition from adorable child performer to sexy adult star was achieved flamboyantly by actress Drew Barrymore with this erotic drama that unfolds like a paranoia-drenched Lolita (1962). Sylvie Cooper (Sara Gilbert) is a misanthropic student at a private high school for children of the privileged. While calling in a phony bomb threat to the TV station where her father, Darryl (Tom Skerritt) is a producer, Sylvia attracts the attention of Ivy (Drew Barrymore). Ivy is an orphan from a poor family, attending the school on a scholarship. She and Sylvia quickly become best friends, and Ivy eventually moves out of her aunt's home and into the Cooper household. Ivy covets the Coopers' lavish lifestyle and luxuries, so she begins plotting to kill Sylvie's ailing mother Georgie (Cheryl Ladd), then seduce the alcoholic Darryl and frame Sylvie for the crime, thus taking over the Cooper house. Director Katt Shea Ruben and her co-writer husband Andy Ruben were veterans of the Roger Corman school of filmmaking. The success of Poison Ivy (1992) on video and cable television inspired a pair of sequels, Poison Ivy 2: Lily (1996) and Poison Ivy: The New Seduction (1997). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Drew Barrymore, Sara Gilbert, (more)
- 1992
Based on Robert Anderson's novel, the made-for-television Getting Up and Going Home is a drama about a divorced attorney (Tom Skerritt) who copes with a mid-life crisis by having affairs with no less than three women: his ex-wife, a single mother, and a married suburbanite. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1992
- R
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All poor Blue really wants is to be a regular, suburban Southern California teen from the 1950s, with a boy friend and lots of normal friends. Unfortunately, Fate has other plans. This erotic drama (related to it's predecessor in name and director only) chronicles her experiences. Blue's father is a heroin-addicted jazz musician and her estranged mother is a hooker. The trouble begins when her father, Ham, runs out of heroin and gets too upset to play. Blue procures him a fix, but when he learns that she sold herself to the club owner to get it, he drops dead of shock. Blue continues working at the club, but she is no great shakes in the sex department and the club owner sells her to an upscale brothel that caters to high-ranking government officials. On one of her days off, she meets a handsome young man outside a church. Josh is everything she dreams of, clean-cut and kind. Unfortunately, she cannot tell him of her true profession and they must separate. Blue is despondent and makes a lousy call girl. To try and liven her up a bit, a senator hires her for a private gang bang. He films the festivities, but fortunately, just before she is raped by the depraved politicians, her chauffeur, Sully, who has become her friend, rushes in to save her and they leave town. Eventually they end up in Josh's town. She and Josh fall in love. Unfortunately, the irate madame has come looking for her. To break them up, she show's the young football captain the politician's video-tape of his girlfriend in action. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nina Siemaszko, Wendy Hughes, (more)
Robert Redford's lyrical direction sets the tone for this evocative adaptation of author Norman MacLean's memoir of his idyllic Montana youth. The MacLean family is presided over by the strict but encouraging Rev. MacLean (Tom Skerritt) and his loving wife (Brenda Blethyn). Craig Sheffer stars as the young Norman, the older son in his family, who takes his school work and writing a bit too seriously for Paul (Brad Pitt), the impetuous younger son, to take much stock in. Paul would rather have a good time, drink and play cards than get involved with academic study. Where Norman wants to be a college literature professor, Paul would prefer to stay in Montana all his life and wrangle some kind of job writing for a local newspaper. But, ironically, Paul is the better fly fisherman and in this way attains a sense of perfection. The film also details the MacLean boys' involvement with a colorful group of town's people -- including a young Indian woman Paul decides to date and the defiant Jessie (Emily Lloyd), whom Norman later marries. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Craig Sheffer, Brad Pitt, (more)
Set amidst the burgeoning Seattle alternative music scene of the early '90s, Singles follows a group of twentysomethings as they try to find love and try to come to terms with their passage into adulthood. Arranged as an episodic comedy, the film follows a group of friends who live in the same apartment building and hang out at the same coffee shop. The central couple is Steve Dunne (Campbell Scott) and Linda Powell (Kyra Sedgwick), a pair who meet at an Alice In Chains concert and eventually fall in love. Singles follows the tumultuous relationship between Steve and Linda and their friendship with Janet Livermore (Bridget Fonda), who is trying to win the affection of grunge-rocker Cliff Poncier (Matt Dillon). The film also has a number of cameos, including actors Eric Stoltz, Tom Skerritt, Peter Horton, director Tim Burton and the film's author/director, Cameron Crowe. From the musical side of the fence, Singles features appearances by Sub Pop executive Bruce Pavitt, musicians Chris Cornell (Soundgarden), Pat DiNizio (Smithereens), Tad (Tad), and Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, Jeff Ament, and Stone Gossard, who play Dillon's backing band, Citizen Dick. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bridget Fonda, Campbell Scott, (more)
When a single mother comes in to help take care of a man's ill wife, he becomes interested in her for more than the care she is rendering. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- 1990
In this made-for-TV mystery a troubled psychologist must somehow reach a traumatized 8-year old boy who witnessed a family murder. The trouble is the boy cannot distinguish between reality and fact. According to him, the killer is Captain Hook from Peter Pan. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
In return for Warner Bros. greenlighting his pet project White Hunter, Black Heart (1990), Clint Eastwood directed and starred in this more commercial film, an action caper about a mismatched pair of auto theft cops. Eastwood is grizzled veteran detective Nick Pulovski, who's determined to bring down the chop-shop operation being run by a pair of German crooks, Strom (Raul Julia) and Liesl (Sonia Braga). Although he's been officially removed from the case and partnered with a green, recently promoted detective, David Ackerman (Charlie Sheen), the hard-drinking Nick's not about to let the car thieves get away with murder. David, in the meanwhile, is dealing with his own issues, including the death of his brother (for which he was responsible), his unhappy girlfriend Sarah (Lara Flynn Boyle) and his estrangement from his wealthy father Eugene (Tom Skerritt). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clint Eastwood, Charlie Sheen, (more)
- 1990
In this made-for-cable chiller, a psychopath provides himself with a veritable smorgasbord of victims by masquerading as a member of the California Highway Patrol and bedeviling the residents of a small desert town during his vacation. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Skerritt, Michael Parks, (more)
- 1990
I'll Take Romance has nothing to do with the old Grace Moore musical film of the same name. Rather, this 1990 TV movie is about a publicity contest. Dressed in Joan Crawford Chic, Linda Evans plays a Seattle TV meteorologist, assigned to host a contest to find the most romantic man in Puget Sound. Evans' boyfriend Tom Skerritt stews on the sidelines as she wends her way through the studdish contestants. Since Skerritt plays a judge, is there a remote possibility that I'll Take Romance will have a crucial courtroom scene somewhere along the line? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Linda Evans, Tom Skerritt, (more)
- 1989
Tom Skerritt plays an end-of-tether CIA agent in Red King, White Knight. His superiors persuade Skerritt to take one last assignment: to prevent the assassination of the Russian president. Max Von Sydow plays Skerritt's opposite number at the KGB, who despite orders to kill the American agent, teams up with him to save the Soviet leader. Meanwhile, Skerritt's private life is complicated by the return of ex-lover Helen Mirren. Though unrated, the film contains violence and nudity. Produced for the HBO Cable Service, Red King, White Knight was first telecast November 25, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1989
This light comedy is a contemporary--and wacky--version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. In this version, a malformed young man hangs out in the bell tower of a California college campus and has to face a number of prejudices when he is brought out into the light. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Allan Katz, Corey Parker, (more)
In this made-for-TV thriller, a quartet of female friends hire a boozy wilderness guide and head into the mountains for a little backpacking fun that is spoiled when they become the target of a militant survivalist group's war games. The film is also known as Bitter Creek. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
