Paul Sorvino Movies

Director Carl Reiner, most closely associated with the homey values of situation comedies, shocked, surprised, and (in some cases) delighted his admirers with the jet-black comedy Where's Poppa?. George Segal plays Gordon Hocheiser, a New York attorney whose love life is constantly being sabotaged by his senile mother (Ruth Gordon), who constantly asks the question of the title. (She doesn't realize Poppa is dead). Every time Gordon has a prospective bride or lover lined up, Mrs. Hocheiser gums up the works with her insane behavior. The attorney at last finds a kindred spirit in the beautiful caregiver Louise Callan (Trish VanDevere), who has likewise been a victim of someone else's eccentricities (her first husband used the conjugal bed as his own personal toilet). When Mrs. Hocheiser chases Louise away like she has all the others, Gordon begins entertaining notions of killing his mother. In desperation, Gordon begs his brother Sidney (Ron Leibman) to take his mother off his hands, which leads to several comic vignettes in deliriously bad taste. The film's incest-themed original ending (trimmed from the video version but still included in cable prints) finds Gordon climbing into bed with Mrs. Hocheiser, only to be greeted with a "Here's Poppa." The celebrated "tush scene," wherein Mrs. Hocheiser bites Gordon on his bare backside while Louise looks on in horror, packed a real wallop back in the early '70s, as did a courtroom scene involving a disgruntled hippie (Rob Reiner) and a psychotic U.S. general who graphically describes his homicidal acts against the Vietnamese. Though Carl Reiner would continue to "push the envelope" in his later films (Steve Martin as a "poor black child"? George Burns as God?) he would never again attempt anything as risky as Where's Poppa?. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this film, a young boy from the Appalachians realizes his dreams of a life of excitement and adventure when he becomes involved in the daredevil world of car racing. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

In this semi-autobiographical romantic comedy starring Joseph Bologna and Renee Taylor (who also wrote the script together) two lonely hearts find each other in group therapy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Director Mike Nichols and screenwriter Buck Henry team up again (after collaborating on The Graduate and Catch-22) for this adaptation of Robert Merle's best-selling adventure novel concerning dolphins who become pawns in a plot to kill the president. George C. Scott plays Dr. Jake Terrell, a researcher who, along with his wife Maggie (Trish Van Devere), is investigating dolphin intelligence, believing they have the capability of speech. Harold DeMilo (Fritz Weaver), in charge of a major corporation, sponsors their work. But undercover work by government agent Curtis Mahoney (Paul Sorvino) reveals that DeMilo is working with a right-wing group planning to kidnap the dolphins and use them to blow up the presidential yacht. Jake and Maggie have to race against time to save both their dolphins and the president. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

James Earl Jones gave one of his finest performances in the title role of Joseph Papp's acclaimed New York Shakespeare Festival production of the Bard's tragedy, putting a new spin on this classic story of one family's vainglorious battle over the affections and favor of an aging monarch. Jones and the production's original cast re-created their roles for this 1974 television special; the supporting cast includes Raul Julia, Rosiland Cash, Paul Sorvino, René Auberjonois, and Lee Chamberlin. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

James Toback made his screenwriting debut with this taut drama, loosely adapted from the story by Dostoevsky. Axel Freed (James Caan) is an intelligent and well-respected professor of literature at a noted New York university, who uses great writing as a springboard for examining moral and philosophical issues in his class. But when he's not in front of the chalkboard, Axel has a serious problem -- he's hopelessly addicted to gambling. Axel will bet on almost anything, and while he lives for the heady rush of winning, it doesn't happen all that often, and Axel's latest losing streak has put him in debt to his bookies to the tune of $44,000, more than a college professor could hope to pay in 1974. Even after tapping his mother (Jacqueline Brookes), his grandfather (Morris Carnovsky), and his girlfriend (Lauren Hutton) for cash, Axel still owes thousands to his bookie Hips (Paul Sorvino), who is quickly losing his patience with Axel, especially when he learns after he finally scored a major winning streak, rather than paying off his bills he used the money to keep gambling ... and lost it all, leading to visits from an increasingly threatening series of underworld "collectors." The Gambler also features supporting performances from Burt Young, James Woods, and M. Emmett Walsh. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Angel (Dadi Pinero) is a young migrant worker. Big Joe (Paul Sorvino) is a telephone lineman. Disillusioned by his humbling experiences in the so-called land of opportunity, Angel trusts no one. Big Joe sets about to prove that there's at least one person Angel can trust. Made for television, the 30-minute Angel and Big Joe has been made available to high school audiences by the Learning Corporation of America. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hardbitten, hard-driving San Francisco police detectives Mike Stone (Karl Malden) and Steve Keller (Michael Douglas) may have finally met their match in the form of brash, bullying New York cop Bert D'Angelo (Paul Sorvino). Having arrived in the Bay Area to track down a runaway informant who may have set up his ex-partner for murder, D'Angelo breaks as many rules as humanly possible--but withal, he earns the grudging respect of his SFPD counterparts. Originally telecast on March 4, 1976, this episode was rather blatantly designed as the pilot for the weekly Streets of San Francisco spinoff Bert D'Angelo, Superstar, which had launched its single-season run some two weeks earlier on February 21. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Adapted by Larry Gelbart from the novel by Avery Corman, the film stars John Denver as Jerry Landers, the assistant manager of a grocery store who is chosen by God (George Burns) to spread the Word to the rest of the world. Not surprisingly, Jerry is soon labelled a basket case: even his loving wife Bobbie (Teri Garr) doubts her husband's sanity. But there's enough evidence on Jerry's side for a panel of prominent clerics to demand that the hapless fellow prove in court that he's the agent of God. Donald Pleasence was supposed to have an extended supporting role in the film, but the first cut ran too long, and Pleasence's dialogue was eliminated -- but not Pleasence himself, who retains his prominent billing and is seen doing precisely nothing in several scenes. Netting $30 million on its first run, Oh God was followed by two lesser sequels, both featuring Burns. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This sentimental tearjerker is also a slice-of-New York-life melodrama directed by John G. Avildsen as his follow-up to the career-high smash success of Rocky (1976). Paul Sorvino stars as Lou Friedlander, a Manhattan newspaper columnist who is instantly smitten by Sarah Gantz (Anne Ditchburn, who was nominated for a Golden Globe for her debut performance). A ballerina who's just moved into Lou's apartment building after a breakup with her boyfriend, Sarah soon gets the news that she is terminally ill and should quit her strenuous dancing career. Despite the medical advice, she continues anyway, and Lou begins writing a piece for his employer about her valiant struggle. As he assembles the article, he and Sarah begin to fall in love. At the same time, Lou is also nurturing a story about an orphaned Hispanic kid who's a junkie but is managing to rise above the harshness of life on the city's ghetto streets. The Friedlander character was reportedly inspired by and loosely modeled upon writer Jimmy Breslin. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Based on a true story, Dummy stars LeVar Burton as Donald Lang, a deaf-mute teenager accused of killing a prostitute. Paul Sorvino co-stars as Lowell Myers, the hearing-impaired public defender who takes Burton's case. The court, deciding that Lang is incompetent to stand trial, orders the boy to be shunted away to a mental institution. Doggedly following the evidence trail, Myers argues for "due process" in the treatment of his client. While the film's ending is upbeat, real life does not always turn out so well, as the ironic closing title (which details what has happened to Burton's character since this case was resolved) demonstrates. Initially telecast May 27, 1979, Dummy was adapted by Ernest Tidyman from his own book. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Few filmmakers other than Warren Beatty would have had the courage and vision to fashion an epic film from the life of famed American Communist John Reed (who is the only US citizen buried in the Kremlin). The film is an effort to humanize a political movement that has previously been depicted on screen in a series of unsubtle and prejudicial broad strokes. The film begins in 1915, when Reed (Beatty) makes the acquaintance of married Portland journalist Louise Bryant (Diane Keaton). So persuasive is Reed's point of view--and so charismatic is Reed himself-- that Bryant kicks over the traces and joins Reed and his fellow radicals. Among the famous personages depicted herein are Emma Goldman (Maureen Stapleton), Eugene O'Neill (Jack Nicholson) and Max Eastman (Richard Herrmann). The second half of this nearly-200-minute film skims through the years when Reed, now a Russian resident, becomes disillusioned by the harsh realities of Bolshevism. Despite the celebrity line-up of real-life "witnesses" to the events depicted in the film (ranging from novelist Henry Miller to comedian George Jessel!), historians took Reds to task for its oversimplification of events and its laundering of the notoriously promiscuous Louise Bryant. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Adapted from Jason Miller's play which won the Pulitzer Prize, That Championship Season is about a group of men who, after 25 years, get together again for a high-school basketball team reunion. After drinking and chumming, the circle of friends soon find long-hidden anger and resentment resurfacing which become muddled with their current mid-life problems. Soon their long-time friendships are collapsing before them. Performers in this drama include Martin Sheen, Paul Sorvino, Robert Mitchum, Bruce Dern and Stacy Keach. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide