Rick Springfield Movies
Handsome, dark-haired Australian Rick Springfield is best known for his upbeat pop songs like "Jesse's Girl," but he is also an occasional actor. Fans of the long-running television soap opera General Hospital will best remember him for playing the dashing Dr. Noah Drake. He was born Richard Lewis Springthrope in Sydney, Australia. The son of a high-ranking British Army officer, Springfield spent his youth shuttling between Australian and British military bases. Though he had been in several rock bands throughout his teens, Springfield had his greatest success with the metal band Zoot and went to the U.S. in hopes of getting a major record contract. When that proved a long time coming, Springfield signed a contract with Universal and guest starred in television series such as The Six Million Dollar Man. He was also a semi-regular on The Young and the Restless before he signed to RCA in the early '80s, the same time he was cast in General Hospital. Since his inauspicious movie debut in Hard to Hold (1984), Springfield has only appeared in a handful of made-for-television movies such as A Change of Place (1994). He also appeared briefly in Aaron Spelling's short-lived series Robin's Hoods (1994). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Getting the Knack, released to commemorate the silver anniversary of the hit song "My Sharona," documents the career of the band The Knack. In addition to videos and live performance clips, he film contains interview footage with band members as well as contemporaries like Bob Mothersbaugh, Elliot Easton, and Rick Springfield. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- The Knack
- 1998
In this decidedly pre-9/11 political thriller, the President of the United States (Lloyd Bochner) responds to terrorism by announcing plans to negotiate with the aggressors. This policy does not rest at all well with General Metzger (Nick Mancusco), the fiercely xenophobic chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. With the help of a group of CIA rogues and other conspirators, Metzger stages a White House mutiny, taking the President hostage. It is up to Vice President Lane--who happens to be a woman, played by Joan Van Ark)--to battle against a sea of enemies to prevent a full-scale military junta. Made for cable, Loyal Opposition: Terror in the White House was first shown by the Family channel on March 16, 1998. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Made-for-television, this future-set sci-adventure follows a band of brave soldiers in an epic battle against a government-created monster. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Parker Stevenson, Terry Farrell, (more)
In this frothy outing, a helpful twin temporarily leaves college to pretend to be a fashion model in order to help keep her sister out of trouble. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rick Springfield, Andrea Roth, (more)
- 1991
The made-for-television thriller Silent Motive is about a screenwriter (Patricia Wettig) whose recent script is being used for a series of murders of film-industry executives. Consequently, a police detective (Mike Farrell) immediately assumes that she is the chief suspect behind these gruesome crimes. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1989
Made for cable TV, Dead Reckoning concerns a deadly love triangle aboard a cruise ship. A plastic surgeon discovers that the ship's captain is his wife's lover, and as the seas grow stormy, so does their relationship. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
A night beat cop, a good vampire who only drinks cows' blood, is after a bad vampire, who is sucking the blood of the city's human inhabitants. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rick Springfield
- 1985
- Add Rick Springfield: The Beat of the Live Drum to QueueAdd Rick Springfield: The Beat of the Live Drum to top of Queue
This concert video features guitarist/singer/songwriter Rick Springfield in Tucson, Arizona. Songs performed include "Jessie's Girl," "Affair of the Heart" and "Love Somebody". Three conceptual music videos from his "Tao" LP are also featured. ~ All Movie Guide
Italian horror auteur Dario Argento produced and co-wrote (with director Lamberto Bava) this gory, nightmarish horror film set almost entirely within the "Metropol," a huge, cathedral-like Berlin cinema showing an invitation-only screening of a rather lame slasher film. The difference, of course, is that the cheap scares on the Metropol's screen are child's play compared to the horrors which soon emerge to lay hold of the unsuspecting filmgoers: when a young woman is scratched by part of a display in the theatre lobby, she begins to mutate into a fanged, slavering creature who then attacks other audience members, spreading the demonic infection until only a handful of survivors are forced to combat rampaging armies of inhuman beasts, making the latter portion of the film resemble Night of the Living Dead. A handful of sequels followed; there's a little "reward" for those who stick around for the end credits. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Natasha Hovey, Urbano Barberini, (more)
In Hard to Hold, pop singer Rick Springfield is cast as an immensely successful recording artist named James Roberts. As a result of a fender-bender accident, Roberts meets and falls in love with child psychologist Diana Lawson (Janet Eilber), who is not the least bit impressed with James' wealth or fame. He spends the rest of the picture following Diana all over San Francisco, much to the discomfort of his lovelorn writing partner Nicky Nides (Patti Hanson). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rick Springfield, Janet Eilber, (more)
Three of the hallmarks of education in America -- nudity, teenage sex, and big, destructive gags -- are on plentiful display in this teen comedy. Christine (Phoebe Cates), a student at an exclusive all-girls private school, is in love with Jim (Matthew Modine), who attends an academy for boys nearby. Christine's archrival Jordan (Betsy Russell) also has her eye on Jim, and she is willing to do whatever she can to steal him away. Jim's über-slob buddy Bubba (Michael Zorek) is going with Betsy (Kathleen Wilhoite), Christine's cynical friend, though he would probably be unfaithful if any other woman were willing to get near him. Bubba and his pals sneak into the girls' school dressed in drag in hopes of reaching the Promised Land (better known as the women's shower room), while Christine and Jim run away together for the weekend, though their escapade isn't as romantic as they had hoped. Among the adults observing the chaos are Ray Walston, Fran Ryan, Martin Mull, and Sylvia Kristel; one of the sexy students on display is future scream queen Brinke Stevens. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Phoebe Cates, Betsy Russell, (more)
- 1982
In this made-for-TV film, a high-school counselor (Joyce Brothers) faces ineffectual help from administration in combating drugs, so she recruits several students to help in the battle. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Hunt
This feature-length movie is a re-edited version of the first few episodes of the TV series. The story line concerns a spaceship full of survivors of a doomed planet who are headed to the Earth. Led by Commander Adama (Lorne Greene), they encounter villainous robots, threatening their journey to find Earth. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Richard Hatch, (more)
- 1978
In part one of Battlestar Galactica's pilot episode, the 12 colonies of humankind are poised to sign a peace treaty with the Cylons, a race of mechanical men with whom the colonies have waged war for the past millennium. In truth, however, the peace conference is a trap, arranged by traitorous human Baltar (John Colicos) for the purpose of wiping out humankind for good. Of all the colonies' battlestars, only the Galactica, helmed by Commander Adama (Lorne Greene) -- who, wisely, never completely trusted Baltar in the first place -- manages to escape the Cylon fleet. Led by Adama, his Viper-pilot son, Captain Apollo (Dirk Benedict), and Apollo's best friend, Lieutenant Starbuck (Dirk Benedict), the survivors of the Cylon ambush board Galactica and head for the long-lost 13th colony, which once bore the name of Earth. Originally telecast as a three-hour special, "Saga of a Star World" has since been divided into three separate episodes for syndication, and an edited 125-minute version has also been released theatrically. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict, (more)
- 1978
Jim (James Garner) picks up his phone and hears a threat against his life: the caller, it turns out, has dialed the wrong number. The intended recipient of the threat is self-absorbed social climber Jay Rockfelt (John Pleshette), who in his eagerness to make an impression on the world has inadvertently insulted--and publicly humiliated--a notorious gangster. Though he has no vested interest in Jay's plight, Jim nonetheless tries to orchestrate a rescue when the bad guys (so bad that they even poison a harmless little dog!) kidnap Jay's sister. Rock star Rick Springfield appears as (Surprise! Surprise!) a rock star, whose number-one hit provides this episode with its seemingly nonsequitur title. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
