Susan Blakely Movies
Actress/model Susan Blakely, the daughter of a U.S. Army colonel, was born in Germany and raised in ports of call ranging from Korea to Hawaii to Texas. After a year at the University of Texas, Blakely struck out for New York, where she studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse while pursuing a modeling career. By 1972, she was pulling down 100,000 dollars a year for her appearances on magazine covers and TV advertisements; she also began showing up in bit parts in films like Savages (1972) and The Way We Were (1973). Larger roles came her way in The Lords of Flatbush (1974), Report to the Commissioner (1974), The Towering Inferno (1974), and Shampoo (1975). It was a television production that brought her full-fledged stardom: in 1977, Blakely appeared as Julie Prescott in the ratings-busting miniseries Rich Man Poor Man. She continued to flourish in TV movies into the 1990s, sinking her dazzling teeth into such meaty roles as Eva Braun in The Bunker (1981), Frances Farmer in Will There Really Be a Morning? (1982), and attorney Leslie Abramson in Honor Thy Father and Mother: The True Story of the Menendez Brothers (1994). Susan Blakely has been married to screenwriter Todd Merer and producer Steve Jaffe. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
The fourth Airport film may be the silliest of them all, as George Kennedy returns, this time co-piloting with Alain Delon. The plane is on its way to the Moscow Olympics, has a bomb on board, and gets fired upon with missiles that necessitate flying upside-down. A look at the cast list resembles a bad episode of Fantasy Island, but it's always fun to see shameless touches like casting Mercedes McCambridge (Johnny Guitar) as the coach of the Soviet team. If you don't understand the significance of that choice, you may find this film more tedious than laughable, but fans of bad movies will have a field day, as Jimmie Walker, Charo, and -- oddly enough -- Bibi Andersson rub shoulders with high-altitude disaster. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alain Delon, Susan Blakely, (more)
- 1977
After several years of marriage, suburban housewife Andrea Fleming (Susan Blakely) realizes that she has never truly been happy. This is particularly galling in that Andrea's repressive mother (Joanne Linville) instilled within her the desire to find the "secret of happiness" before reaching adulthood--but never told her how to go about this. Upon her mother's death, Andrea is possessed by desires she can neither understand nor control, and begins seeking out the aforementioned "secret" by promiscuously embarking upon several casual affairs. Star Susan Blakely also wrote and performed the theme music for Secrets, which was first telecast by ABC on February 20, 1977. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
More ambitious and expensive than ABC's first "novel for television" miniseries QB VII, the eight-episode, 12-hour Rich Man, Poor Man was the one that truly put the genre on the map, its phenomenal success in the ratings making possible the even more spectacular Roots. Adapted from the mammoth novel by Irwin Shaw, the miniseries covers the years from WWII to the 1960s, detailing the vacillating fortunes of the immigrant Jordache brothers. "Rich Man" Rudy Jordache (Peter Strauss) is determined to use his hard-earned education -- and his inherent ruthlessness -- to carve out a business and political empire not unlike that enjoyed by Joseph P. Kennedy and his progeny. "Poor Man" Tom Jordache (Nick Nolte), a quick-fisted hothead, goes an entirely different route, first as a professional boxer, then as a functionary of the evil gangster chieftain Falconetti (William Smith). Naturally, both brothers become entangled in romance along the way, with Julie Prescott (Susan Blakely) ending up as Rudy's benighted spouse. Originally telecast on February 1, 2, 9, 16, 23, and March 1, 8, and 15 in 1976, Rich Man, Poor Man earned 20 Emmy nominations and led to a weekly sequel, Rich Man, Poor Man -- Book 2, in the fall of 1976 (this version necessitated a title change for the original, which was rebroadcast as Rich Man, Poor Man -- Book 1 in the spring of 1977). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Strauss, Nick Nolte, (more)
- 1975
- R
Ben Gazzara stars in this low-level depiction of legendary gangster Al Capone, who rose to command the mob underworld in 1920's Chicago. Born in Brooklyn, Capone joins his first gang at the age of 11. From there, he graduates to the infamous "Five Points Gang" run by Johnny Torrio (Harry Guardino). After moving to Chicago a few years later and wiping out Torrio's crimeboss uncle, Capone becomes Torrio's right hand man. Capone becomes head of the area's prostitution and racketeering business, but, as his mind deteriorates from syphillis, so does his empire. There's not much to recommend here, aside from a surprisingly good appearance by Sylvester Stallone as fellow gangster Frank Nitti. Gazzara is frankly awful in the title role and producer Roger Corman uses stock shootout footage from other gangster films, including footage of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre from his own, earlier movie on the subject. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Gazzara, Susan Blakely, (more)
This low-budget independent film by novice directors Stephen F. Verona and Martin Davidson is a slice-of-life elegy from the leather-jacket, bobby-soxer era of 1957, set in a Brooklyn high school. The film stands out for the appearance of up-and-coming actors (circa 1974) Sylvester Stallone, Henry Winkler, and Perry King (even Armand Assante has a bit role). Stallone, Winkler, King, and Paul Mace are members of a local neighbor social club called "The Lords of Flatbush," and they spend their time exercising their hormones, hot-wiring a car, playing pool, and quaffing egg creams at the local candy store. The film finally focuses its interest on two of the "lords." Chico (Perry King), owns a motorcycle and wheels over to see Jane Bradshaw (Susan Blakely), the daughter of an army colonel who, despite Chico's motorcycle, gives him the brush-off. Then there is the muscle-headed Stanley Rosiello (Sylvester Stallone), who, like Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront, loves pigeons. He also loves Frannie (Maria Smith), with whom he has bedded down under the boardwalk one too many times, and now finds that she is pregnant and wants to get married. Skirting along the edges of the frame are Butchey Weinstein (Henry Winkler) and Wimpy Murgalo (Paul Mace), who, as second bananas, go along with Chico and Stanley as they adjust their testosterone to adult living. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Perry King, Sylvester Stallone, (more)
- 1974
- PG
A young NYPD detective learns (the hard way) about the politics that govern a big-city police department. He kills a lady-detective/colleague whose undercover garb concealed her profession and he gets caught up in a department cover-up. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Moriarty, Yaphet Kotto, (more)
A skyscraper and an all-star cast go up in flames in Irwin Allen's classic disaster movie. To celebrate the construction of the Glass Tower, the world's tallest building, architect Doug Roberts (Paul Newman) and builder James Duncan (William Holden) hold a gala bash on the highest floors. Trouble is, Duncan's son-in-law and electrical subcontractor Roger Simmons (Richard Chamberlain) installed faulty wiring throughout the 138-story behemoth to save money. While the guests -- including Doug's lady friend (Faye Dunaway), a rich widow (Jennifer Jones), a con man (Fred Astaire), and a politico (Robert Vaughn) -- enjoy the party, and a security guard (O.J. Simpson) wonders why his equipment is on the fritz, a burnt-out circuit breaker ignites some garbage on the 85th floor, swiftly turning the high-rise into, well, a towering inferno. With the guests trapped on the 135th floor, it's up to Roberts and Fire Chief O'Hallorhan (Steve McQueen) to find a way to stop the blaze. Though not the first all-star '70s disaster movie (1970's Airport and 1972's The Poseidon Adventure preceded it), The Towering Inferno was the most popular and the most spectacular. In a move that would become more common in late-'90s blockbuster Hollywood, The Towering Inferno's mammoth production was mounted by two studios; screenwriter Stirling Silliphant combined the two novels owned by the studios into one saga. 1970s "shake 'n bake" maestro Allen, with co-director John Guillermin (Allen did the action sequences), tapped into deep fears about the fragility of modern life in the face of extreme natural phenomena, as well as into the envies and insecurities of middle-aged professional men. The Towering Inferno packed theaters and earned eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture; it won for Cinematography, Editing, and Song. While its heroic, no-nonsense men provided some traditional comfort, The Towering Inferno still might provoke second thoughts about going into a skyscraper. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, (more)
"Gorgeous goyish guy" meets Jewish radical girl in Sydney Pollack's glossy romance. In 1937, frizzy-haired Red co-ed Katie Morosky (Barbra Streisand) briefly captures the attention of preppy jock Hubbell Gardiner (Robert Redford) with her passionate pacifism, while the writing talent beneath his privileged exterior entrances her. Almost eight years later, the two are reunited in New York, when well-coiffed leftist radio worker Katie spies military officer Hubbell snoozing in a nightclub. Through her force of will, and in spite of his smug rich friends, the two opposites fall in love, sparring over Katie's activist zeal and Hubbell's writerly ambivalence after a failed first novel. They head to Hollywood so that Hubbell can write a screenplay for his buddy-turned-producer J.J. (Bradford Dillman). But the House Committee on Un-American Activities' Communist witch hunt in 1947 tears the pair apart, as a pregnant Katie refuses to keep silent about the jailing of the Hollywood Ten, while a faithless Hubbell decides to save his career. When the two meet again at the dawn of the '60s, TV hack Hubbell and A-bomb protestor Katie feel the old pull, but they have to decide if it's worth the grief. Although blacklisted writers had returned to Hollywood -- and won Oscars -- by the early 1970s, the HUAC sections of Arthur Laurents's screenplay were still considered dicey, resulting in substantial cuts; Laurents reportedly blamed star Redford for not fighting them hard enough. Regardless of the edits, and critics' complaints about the film's schlockiness, 1973 audiences went for the well-executed and still politically tinged weepie, turning The Way We Were into one of the most popular films of 1973 and Redford into a major heartthrob. Streisand won an Oscar nomination for Best Actress and the Streisand-sung title tune won for Best Song. Despite the eviscerated politics, The Way We Were poignantly captures the insoluble dilemma of reconciling private desires with public awareness. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbra Streisand, Robert Redford, (more)
This hippie parable, co-written and directed by James Ivory and produced by his long-time partner Ismail Merchant, tries to make a heavy-handed parallel between civilization and corruption. A tribe of nameless natives (played by Sam Waterston, Susan Blakely, Salome Jens and Martin Kove, among others) finds a croquet ball and, rolling it along the ground mystified by what it might be, stumbles upon an estate. They enter and occupy the mansion and don the clothes and trappings of civilized luxury. A dividing line begins to develop between strong and weak tribe members, with the weak becoming subordinate to the others. A lavish party is thrown that resembles nothing so much as a summer weekend gathering of sophisticates. After a game of croquet, however, the natives begin to tire of their masquerade and devolve back into their original, more primitive state, and disappear into the forest. Cinematographer Walter Lassally makes the film's point more blunt and obvious by filming the prologue in black and white and then switching to color once the tribe discovers the estate. One of Ivory's co-writers was Michael O'Donoghue, infamous bad boy of the original Saturday Night Live writing staff. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lewis J. Stadlen, Anne Francine, (more)
