Harry Dean Stanton Movies

A perpetually haggard character actor with hound-dog eyes and the rare ability to alternate between menace and earnest at a moment's notice, Harry Dean Stanton has proven one of the most enduring and endearing actors of his generation. From his early days riding the range in Gunsmoke and Rawhide to a poignant turn in David Lynch's uncharacteristically sentimental drama The Straight Story, Stanton can always be counted on to turn in a memorable performance no matter how small the role. A West Irvine, KY, native who served in World War II before returning stateside to attend the University of Kentucky, it was while appearing in a college production of Pygmalion that Stanton first began to realize his love for acting. Dropping out of school three years later to move to California and train at the Pasadena Playhouse, Stanton found himself in good company while training alongside such future greats as Gene Hackman and Robert Duvall. A stateside tour with the American Male Chorus and a stint in New York children's theater found Stanton continuing to hone his skills, and after packing his bags for Hollywood shortly thereafter, numerous television roles were quick to follow.

Billed Dean Stanton in his early years and often carrying the weight of the screen baddie, Stanton gunned down the best of them in numerous early Westerns before a soulful turn in Cool Hand Luke showed that he was capable of much more. Though a role in The Godfather Part II offered momentary cinematic redemption, it wasn't long before Stanton was back to his old antics in the 1976 Marlon Brando Western The Missouri Breaks. After once again utilizing his musical talents as a country & western singer in The Rose (1979) and meeting a gruesome demise in the sci-fi classic Alien, roles in such popular early '80s efforts as Private Benjamin, Escape From New York, and Christine began to gain Stanton growing recognition among mainstream film audiences; and then a trio of career-defining roles in the mid-'80s proved the windfall that would propel the rest of Stanton's career. Cast as a veteran repo man opposite Emilio Estevez in director Alex Cox's cult classic Repo Man (1984), Stanton's hilarious, invigorated performance perfectly gelled with the offbeat sensibilities of the truly original tale involving punk-rockers, aliens, and a mysteriously omnipresent plate o' shrimp.

After sending his sons off into the mountains to fight communists in the jingoistic actioner Red Dawn (also 1984) Stanton essayed what was perhaps his most dramatically demanding role to date in director Wim Wenders' Paris, Texas. Cast as a broken man whose brother attempts to help him remember why he walked out on his family years before, Stanton's devastating performance provided the emotional core to what was perhaps one of the essential films of the 1980s. A subsequent role as Molly Ringwald's character's perpetually unemployed father in 1986's Pretty in Pink, while perhaps not quite as emotionally draining, offered a tender characterization that would forever hold him a place in the hearts of those raised on 1980s cinema. In 1988 Stanton essayed the role of Paul the Apostle in director Martin Scorsese's controversial religious epic The Last Temptation of Christ.

By the 1990s Stanton was a widely recognized icon of American cinema, and following memorably quirky roles as an eccentric patriarch in Twister and a desperate private detective in David Lynch's Wild at Heart (both 1990), he settled into memorable roles in such efforts as Against the Wall (1994), Never Talk to Strangers (1995), and the sentimental drama The Mighty (1998). In 1996, Stanton made news when he was pistol whipped by thieves who broke into his home and stole his car (which was eventually returned thanks to a tracking device). Having previously teamed with director Lynch earlier in the decade, fans were delighted at Stanton's poignant performance in 1999's The Straight Story. Still going strong into the new millennium, Stanton could be spotted in such efforts as The Pledge (2001; starring longtime friend and former roommate Jack Nicholson), Sonny (2002), and The Big Bounce (2004). In addition to his acting career, Stanton can often be spotted around Hollywood performing with his band, The Harry Dean Stanton Band. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
1998  
PG13  
Add The Mighty to QueueAdd The Mighty to top of Queue
In the tradition of My Left Foot (1989), Peter Chelsom directed this emotional drama of outcasts, adapted from the Rodman Philbrick's popular young-adult novel Freak the Mighty. Although burly, slow-paced eight-grader Maxwell Kane (Elden Hensen), who narrates, is learning disabled, he nevertheless has a poetic soul, as evidenced when he meets the bright and brainy Kevin Dillon (Kieran Culkin), crippled by a birth defect. The physically deformed Kevin, who wears leg braces and uses crutches, suffers from Morquio's Syndrome, which causes physical growth to stop after the age of six. Illiterate Max gets Kevin as a reading tutor, and the two misfits soon become friends, sharing a vision of life as a contemporary Camelot. Gena Rowlands and Harry Dean Stanton appear as Max's grandparents and guardians. Max is portrayed by 19-year-old Emerson College filmmaking student Henson, while Sharon Stone has the role of Gwen Dillon, Kevin's mother. Boston-born author Philbrick, who winters in Key West, otherwise resides in Seacoast, New Hampshire (the setting of the book). The movie was filmed at a soundstage in Toronto, the University of Toronto, Cincinnati, and Covington, Kentucky. Exhibited out of competition at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Sharon StoneElden Henson, (more)
1998  
R  
Add Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas to QueueAdd Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas to top of Queue
Terry Gilliam (Brazil, Twelve Monkeys, The Fisher King) directed this colorful, stylized, pseudo-psychedelic $21-million adaptation of the 1971 Hunter S. Thompson classic, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey into the Heart of the American Dream, about stoned sportswriter Raoul Duke, Thompson's alter ego, on a wild drug-crazed road trip, a paranoid plummet into the belly of the beast, with his pal, lawyer Oscar Zeta Acosta. Originally serialized in Rolling Stone (November 1971), the book catapulted Thompson headfirst toward the Kerouac-Mailer-Capote pantheon and jump-started the entire movement of "gonzo journalism." Carrying a suitcase of drugs, Raoul Duke (Johnny Depp with shaved pate) and his attorney Dr. Gonzo (Benicio Del Toro) drive a red convertible across the Mojave from L.A. to Vegas, where Duke has an assignment to cover the Mint 400 desert motorcycle race. As the drugs kick in, Duke ventures into voiceover, filling in the blank spots and narrative gaps. "This is not a good town for psychedelic drugs," says Duke, but even so, they consume vast quantities, eventually escalating to ether. Duke notes that with ether "you can actually watch yourself behaving this terrible way, but you can't control it." The two trash their hotel room, and Gonzo goes back to L.A. Thinking the hotel room holocaust will lead to an arrest, Duke begins a drive back to L.A., but after an odd encounter with a highway patrolman (Gary Busey) and a telephone conversation with Gonzo, he returns to Vegas to cover the District Attorney Convention on Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs in the glitzy Flamingo Hotel. This time the drugged-out duo trash their Flamingo room. The crazed carnival atmosphere segues into a carney casino, Bazooko's Circus, where a barker (Penn Jillette) spiels amid aerialists, clowns, and a rotating carousel bar. Gonzo worries over runaway teen Lucy (Christina Ricci), who paints portraits of Barbra Streisand. Soon the hallucinations begin: Duke sees Gonzo transmogrify into a demon with breasts on its back, and an acid vision of a Vegas bar features large legit lounge lizards (courtesy of monster makeup man Rob Bottin). Flashbacks depicting Duke's intro to the drug scene jump back to love-Haight relationships in San Francisco's Summer of Love. Cameos and guest stars include Mark Harmon, Cameron Diaz, Flea, Lyle Lovett, Harry Dean Stanton, Ellen Barkin, Tobey Maguire, and Hunter S. Thompson himself. The film features a Geffen Records soundtrack mixing rock of the period with Vegas lounge tunes. Over the years, various script adaptations came and went as did numerous talents; people connected with past efforts to film Thompson's book include Martin Scorsese, Jack Nicholson, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, and writer-director Alex Cox. Shown in competition at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Johnny DeppBenicio Del Toro, (more)
1997  
R  
Add She's So Lovely to QueueAdd She's So Lovely to top of Queue
Written by the late John Cassavettes in 1987 and filmed by his son Nick a decade later, the comic drama She's So Lovely (originally and more appropriately titled She's De Lovely in honor of the Cole Porter composition central to the movie) stars real-life couple Sean Penn and Robin Wright-Penn as Eddie and Maureen, a young husband and wife whose relationship is strained by Eddie's frequently irrational behavior. When a run-in with a slimy neighbor (James Gandolfini) leaves the pregnant Maureen beaten and bruised, Eddie goes on the warpath, and his violent actions land him in a mental institution. Upon his release a decade later, he discovers Maureen has remarried (to a construction manager portrayed by John Travolta), had two more kids, and moved to the suburbs. Regardless, he resolves to win her back. A kind of reworking of the Cassavetes Sr. masterpiece A Woman Under the Influence, She's So Lovely marked the second film directed by Nick after Unhook the Stars. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Sean PennRobin Wright Penn, (more)
1997  
R  
Add Fire Down Below to QueueAdd Fire Down Below to top of Queue
Martial arts star Steven Seagal stars in this action drama as Jack Taggart, an undercover agent working for the Environmental Protection Agency. When an EPA representative is murdered in a small Appalachian community, Taggart is sent in -- posing as a handyman working with a Christian relief agency -- to find out what happened. Taggart discovers that Orin Hanner (Kris Kristofferson), a powerful local businessman, has been illegally dumping toxic waste which has been leading to serious health problems among children in the area; it seems that the murdered agent knew too much and was killed to keep him quiet, a scenario the unscrupulous Hanner would be all too willing to repeat. Taggart becomes involved with Sarah Kellogg (Marg Helgenberger), a woman whose father also died under circumstances that trace back to Hanner. Harry Dean Stanton co-stars as Cotton, former member of The Band Levon Helm plays a preacher, and country music stars Travis Tritt and Randy Travis appear as themselves. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Steven SeagalMarg Helgenberger, (more)
1996  
PG13  
Add Down Periscope to QueueAdd Down Periscope to top of Queue
Vulgar, slapstick comedy abounds in this feature film debut for television sitcom star Kelsey Grammer. Almost everyone else thinks of Lieutenant Commander Tom Dodge is a class "A" goof who messes up every task he is assigned, but Adm. Dean Winslow thinks otherwise and decides to give Dodge one last chance by assigning him to helm an outmoded, diesel powered, rusty in a series of wargames. Dodge's sub is to be the enemy and must somehow outsmart their high tech opponents. Though ostensibly only games, Admiral Yancy Graham, who considers Dodge an embarrassment to the Navy, decides to do everything he can to scuttle Dodge and his ragtag crew's mission. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Kelsey GrammerLauren Holly, (more)
1996  
 
Oscar-winning character actor Ben Johnson was never as well known as other stars, and yet for many industry insiders, he was the epitome of cowboy actors. Of Cherokee and Irish heritage, Johnson was born in Oklahoma and became a cowboy at age eleven. He grew up to become the only movie cowboy to win both an Oscar and a rodeo championship. This documentary tells the fascinating, colorful story of his life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Read More

1996  
 
Add Dead Man's Walk to QueueAdd Dead Man's Walk to top of Queue
Author Larry McMurtry revisits Gus and Woodrow, the aging lawmen from his bestselling Western novel Lonesome Dove, in their early days as young men determined to make a name for themselves as Texas Rangers in this made-for-TV prequel. Gus (David Arquette) and Woodrow (Jonny Lee Miller) join up with a ragtag band of Rangers determined to take Santa Fe away from Mexico, but they soon find they've walked into a dangerous but forbidding territory of populated by hostile Indians and dangerous opportunists. Dead Man's Walk also features Brian Dennehy, F. Murray Abraham, Keith Carradine, and Edward James Olmos. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Read More

1995  
R  
Add Never Talk to Strangers to QueueAdd Never Talk to Strangers to top of Queue
A beautiful but reserved criminal psychiatrist must deal with the obsessive stalking of a dangerous killer in this erotically charged thriller. The film's central tension emerges from the relationship between Dr. Sarah Taylor (Rebecca DeMornay), a highly professional psychologist, and a handsome stranger, Tony Ramirez (Antonio Banderas). After randomly encountering Tony in a supermarket, the normally aloof Sarah lets her guard down and embarks on a passionate sexual affair with the Latino charmer. Soon afterward, however, Sarah receives a series of disturbing threats from an unknown stalker. Her suspicions immediately fall on Tony, as she realizes how little she knows about her new lover. Her fear throws a shadow over their relationship, and her doubts increase as she learns more about Tony's dangerous past. Director Peter J. Hall maintains a fast pace and attempts to keep audiences guessing, introducing additional suspects from an imprisoned serial killer (Harry Dean Stanton) to the next-door neighbor (Dennis Miller). The characters rarely transcend standard thriller types, and the uneven screenplay does not have a satisfying ending, but the chemistry between DeMornay and Banderas may keep their fans interested along the way. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Rebecca De MornayAntonio Banderas, (more)
1995  
 
Add A Hundred and One Nights to QueueAdd A Hundred and One Nights to top of Queue
This homage to the cinema by venerated movie-maker Agnes Varda, often dubbed the "grandmother" of the French New Wave, features an all-star international cast. The story is based upon the memories and insights of the 100-year old Mr. Simon Cinema. He lives in a magnificent house filled with movie memorabilia. To help him remember the important details of his career he hires Camille, a film student to write down his remembrances and experiences which have involved all areas of movie-making. Camille comes once a day for 101 days. Film clips, photographs and actual visitors highlight his stories. As he continues to spin his yarns, the imagery in the film smoothly morph into other images. Camille, when not recording, is involved in other exploits including a romance with a production assistant, Mica who aspires to becoming a director. She also begins plotting a way to get to Mr. Cinema's fortune by having a friend pose as his long lost heir. Many other characters are peripherally involved including Death, an Italian seeking the rights to his film catalogue, and a memory specialist. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Michel PiccoliMarcello Mastroianni, (more)
1994  
R  
Add Blue Tiger to QueueAdd Blue Tiger to top of Queue
In this crime thriller, a hit man with the yakuza (Japanese Mafia) is in the midst of a public execution of the leader of a rival group when a woman named Gena Hayes (Virginia Madsen) happens by with her son. The child is killed in the crossfire, and Gena is determined to get revenge. About all she can remember about the killer is he had a blue tattoo of a tiger; after she asks several tattoo artists about it, she's unable to track down the shooter simply on the basis of his body art, but she ends up getting a similar tattoo herself. She gets a job as a cocktail waitress at a bar favored by members of the yakuza, and her tattoo catches the attention of Seiji (Toru Nakamura), a handsome gangster. Gena is interested in him as well, and a torrid romance develops, but she doesn't realize that her new lover is the same man who killed her son. Virginia Madsen's brother Michael Madsen makes a cameo appearance as a gun salesman. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Virginia MadsenToru Nakamura, (more)
1994  
 
Add Against the Wall to QueueAdd Against the Wall to top of Queue
Made for cable TV, Against the Wall represents filmmaker John Frankenheimer's return to the small screen. This in-your-face reenactment of the 1971 Attica prison riots is jam-packed with political and sociological implications. Refreshingly, none of the participants -- the prisoners, the guards, the high-profile mediators, the New York powers-that-be-are rendered in strictly good-guy or bad-guy terms by screenwriter Ron Hutchinson. Anyone old enough to have witnessed the original live TV coverage of the riot, however, will be able to discern who was truly responsible for its tragic outcome. While the 1971 TV-movie Attica was told from a journalist's point of view, Against the Wall is filtered through the eyes of idealist young prison guard Kyle MacLachlan. Director Frankenheimer (who in 1962 helmed the vastly different prison picture Birdman of Alcatraz)stage-manages the proceedings with his usual aplomb, though he uncharacteristically leans towards B-flick melodrama in some scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Kyle MacLachlanSamuel L. Jackson, (more)
1993  
 
Hotel Room is a made-for-cable anthology, featuring three separate stories that are all set in the same New York hotel room over different years. Set in 1992, the first, "Getting Rid of Robert," features three girlfriends who devise a plan to help Sasha dump her sleazy movie executive boyfriend. The second, set in 1969, is called "Tricks" and is about a dull, junkie prostitute Darlene, her client Moe and the sudden re-appearance of Moe's friend Lou. "Blackout," the last story, is set in 1936 and is about a young husband who is attempting to accept the madness of his gorgeous wife. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Read More

1993  
 
Hostages is a made-for-cable film that chronicles the captivity of several Western hostages who were held in Lebanon for five years during the mid-'80s. Combining newsreel footage with re-enactment's, the film captures the horror of the hostages--Americans Terry Anderson, Thomas Sutherland, Frank Reed; British citizens John McCarthy, Terry Waite; and Irish teacher Brian Keenan--as they are held by the Muslim fundamentalist group, the Hezbollah. It also follows the trials and tribulations of their families, who struggle against government bureaucracy to free their loved ones. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Kathy BatesColin Firth, (more)
1992  
PG13  
Add Man Trouble to QueueAdd Man Trouble to top of Queue
Actor Jack Nicholson, writer Carole Eastman, and director Bob Rafelson re-team 22 years after their classic Five Easy Pieces, for this romantic comedy. Nicholson plays Harry Bliss, a small potatoes security expert unhappily married to a Japanese woman (he sarcastically calls her Iwo Jima during therapy sessions). Harry's life is coming apart at the seams -- not only is his marriage on the rocks, but the IRS and assorted creditors are nipping at his heels. Then opera singer Joan Spruance (Ellen Barkin) contacts him. It seems she wants Harry's help in obtaining an attack dog for her apartment, since an unknown person has been burglarizing her home and attacking her with an ax. Needless to say, Harry and Joan fall in love. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Jack NicholsonEllen Barkin, (more)
1992  
 
Warren Oates was a well-respected American supporting actor who achieved his greatest success during the 1960s and 70s. He chiefly played villains and losers for such innovative directors as Sam Peckinpah. This documentary, narrated by his friend Ned Beatty gives a good picture of the actor as a man, since it was produced with the cooperation of his family. However, the producers were unable to secure rights to screen clips of many of his performance in his most significant films (e.g. Major Dundee and The Wild Bunch), so this tribute is somewhat incomplete. Nonetheless, the film is graced by interviews fellow actors such as Peter Fonda and Robert Culp who offer their insights and fond recollections. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Peter FondaStacy Keach, (more)
1992  
R  
Add Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me to QueueAdd Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me to top of Queue
David Lynch's prequel to his cult television series "Twin Peaks" concerns the last seven days in the life of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee), whose plastic-wrapped corpse, found floating in a river, was the fulcrum for the television series. During the day in the town of Twin Peaks, Laura is a top honors student at the local high school. By night, she is a sex-crazed cokehead, prostituting herself at a sleazy sex club to get money to feed her drug habit. Her race to oblivion is fueled by her father, Leland (Ray Wise), who, as his alter ego Bob (Frank Silva), has been sexually abusing Laura since she was a child. But Laura has an attack of conscience when she realizes that she is leading her best friend Donna (Moira Kelly) down the same rocky road. Leland, however, discovers Laura's nocturnal debauchery when, during a business trip out-of-town, his mistress for a sexual tryst sets him up with his own daughter. In a fit of jealous rage, Leland follows Laura as she travels to a sex party in an abandoned railroad car. Consumed by insatiable longing, Leland transforms himself into Bob, with tragic results for Laura and her friends. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Sheryl LeeChris Isaak, (more)
1991  
 
For most of his life, a former cop (Keith Carradine) has been tormented by his inadvertent involvement in the death of his parents. It happened during childhood. How was he to know the box he was asked to deliver contained a bomb? Now, after all these years, he learns the identity of the real perpetrators: gangsters headquartered in a Lake Tahoe resort. Armed with this invaluable knowledge, he meticulously plots his revenge. This thriller is based on a novel by Ronald T. Owen. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Keith CarradineKim Greist, (more)
1990  
 
This documentary focuses on the person and the films of one of Germany's premiere post-war filmmakers, Wim Wenders. Wenders is a lifelong fan of American pop culture, particularly its rock music and B-movies, and his highly personalized filmmaking style is deeply influenced by both of these. He is best known for films featuring drifters and the lure of the open road and open spaces. The documentary features interviews with actors like Dennis Hopper, filmmakers (cinematographer Robby Muller) and rock musicians (e.g., Ry Cooder) and others who have worked with him over the years, as well as interviews with the director himself, who is well aware of his cinematic gifts and limitations. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Wim WendersHarry Dean Stanton, (more)
1990  
R  
Add Wild at Heart to QueueAdd Wild at Heart to top of Queue
Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern play a pair of lovers on the run in David Lynch's surrealist road movie Wild at Heart. Cage's Sailor Ripley is a violent ex-convict with an Elvis Presley fixation who falls in love with Dern's Lula Pace Fortune, the daughter of a rich, but mentally unstable, Southern belle named Marietta (Diane Ladd, Dern's real-life mother). Just after Sailor is released from prison, where he was jailed for brutally killing one of Marietta's thugs, he and Lula take off on a wild cross-country trip, pursued by his parole officer, her mother, criminals, bounty hunters, and detectives. Along the way, Sailor and Lula have a lot of sex, share their pasts, share their respective obsessions for Elvis and The Wizard of Oz, and meet a lot of bizarre characters, including a seedy ex-marine (Willem Dafoe) who persuades Sailor to participate in a bank robbery. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Nicolas CageLaura Dern, (more)
1990  
R  
The Fourth War finds director John Frankenheimer delving into the same Cold-war territory he'd previously cultivated in films like The Manchurian Candidate. Col. Jack Knowles (Roy Scheider), serving at a faraway post on the German-Czech border, carries on a personal war with his Soviet counterpart, Colonel Valachev (Jurgen Prochnow). Both have been hardened by past combat experiences, and both have been embittered by the exigencies of red tape, bureaucracy, and diplomatic deal-making. Their friendly rivalry snowballs (literally so!) into a guerilla-like combat situation, culminating in a one-on-one showdown. It's essentially a shaggy dog story, but a compelling one. Based on a novel by Stephen Peters, The Fourth War was given surprisingly short shrift by Cannon Films' distribution channels. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Roy ScheiderJürgen Prochnow, (more)
1989  
 
In this crime drama, murder begets vengeance and violence ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Read More

1989  
PG  
Add Twister to QueueAdd Twister to top of Queue
Don't mistake this movie for the stormy special-effects blockbuster of the same name; the two films are light years apart. Based on Mary Robison's novel Oh!, this Twister was the quirky first feature from screenwriter/director Michael Almereyda (Nadja, The Eternal) about an eccentric soda-pop tycoon and his dysfunctional family. Suzy Amis plays Maureen Cleveland, a single mother who lives with her precocious daughter Violet (Lindsay Christman) and her very strange brother Howdy (Crispin Glover) in the family mansion, tended by the young live-in housekeeper Lola (Charlaine Woodward). Maureen's ex-boyfriend Chris (Violet's father) comes back to town with the intention of rescuing Maureen and Violet from Kansas so they can start a family of their own. This turns out to be more difficult than he expected. Maureen is still angry about their break-up and seems unresponsive to his earnest and somewhat clumsy displays of affection. Howdy is too busy writing nonsensical songs and hanging out with his new girlfriend Stephanie (Jenny Wright) to be of any help. To complicate matters, their father Eugene (Harry Dean Stanton) shows up with a prudish children's TV evangelist named Virginia (Lois Chiles) and announces their engagement. No one gets along, and soon all are trapped indoors during a particularly bad Kansas twister. As the storm rages outside, Maureen and Howdy cook up a plan to find their long-lost mother, who may be the only person who can explain why they are all so odd. Like Almereyda's later films, Twister is a kaleidoscope of absurd conversations, oddball characters, and events that seem to happen for no reason at all. It's a perfect vehicle for Crispin Glover, who delivers some of the film's wackiest dialogue as the rich kid comfortably living in his own fantasy world. Tim Robbins makes an appearance as Stephanie's jealous ex-boyfriend Jeff, and author William S. Burroughs has a cameo as a farmer shooting targets in an empty barn. ~ Anthony Reed, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Harry Dean StantonSuzy Amis, (more)
1989  
PG13  
Add Dream a Little Dream to QueueAdd Dream a Little Dream to top of Queue
In 1987-88, a quartet of films with the same basic body-switching premise deluged theaters: Like Father, Like Son (1987), Big (1988), Vice Versa (1988), and 18 Again (1988). One year later, Dream a Little Dream (1989) followed suit. Coleman Ettinger (Jason Robards) is forever scolding the local high school students who use his yard as a shortcut to and from their nearby school. Coleman is not a crotchety old coot, however. He's deeply in love with his wife Gena (Piper Laurie) and is good friends with his next-door neighbor Ike (Harry Dean Stanton). In fact, Coleman is looking for a mystical way to preserve his and Gena's lives forever by transferring their consciousness into the bodies of younger people. One day, student Bobby Keller (Corey Feldman) has a bicycle mishap with Coleman while cutting through the yard, and their minds change places. Now Coleman has the brain of a teenager, while young Bobby uses Coleman's wisdom and life experience to win over the girl of his dreams. Dream a Little Dream was the directorial debut of Marc Rocco, son of actor Alex Rocco, who costars in a supporting role. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Corey FeldmanMeredith Salenger, (more)
1988  
PG  
Add Mr. North to QueueAdd Mr. North to top of Queue
A young man freshly graduated from Yale (Anthony Edwards) moves to Rhode Island and finds himself with a strange power: the ability to create mild electric shocks through his hands. He begins to make friends around the community, and tries to help those around him by healing several minor sicknesses. Mr. North was the directorial debut for Danny Huston, the son of John Huston. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Anthony EdwardsRobert Mitchum, (more)

BLOCKBUSTER name, design and related marks are trademarks of Blockbuster Inc. © 2009 Blockbuster Inc. All rights reserved.

Portions of Content Provided by All Movie Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC.© 2009 All Media Guide, LLC.