Susan Strasberg Movies
The daughter of renowned acting coaches Lee and Paula Strasberg, Susan Strasberg did not, as has often been assumed, attend her father's celebrated Actors Studio. She was, however, a close friend of several of her parents' most famous students--notably Marilyn Monroe, the subject of Strawsberg's affectionate 1992 memoir Marilyn and Me. While growing up, Strasberg harbored dreams of becoming a scientist like her idol Marie Curie, but many of her parents' friends urged the girl to give acting a try. Mildly curious, she made her off-Broadway debut in the 1952 production Maya. Two years later, she made her first television appearance as Shakespeare's Juliet, and shortly thereafter was cast as a regular on the Hume Cronyn-Jessica Tandy TV situation comedy The Marriage. At 17, Susan blossomed into full-fledged stardom when she played the leading role in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway play The Diary of Anne Frank. By 1957, she was being tagged as "Helen Hayes' successor" by several influential critics. Her first film appearances in The Cobweb and Picnic (both 1955) also bode well for a long and lasting stardom. Unfortunately, Susan's ardent supporters began turning on her when she starred in Stage Struck, the 1957 remake of Morning Glory (1933). Her over-the-top rendition of the role that had won Katharine Hepburn an Oscar back in 1933 was almost universally drubbed by the critics, prompting Strasberg to flee the U.S. and resettle in Europe. In the early 1960s, director Franco Zeffirelli persuaded her to return to Broadway in his production of Dumas' Lady of the Camelias. Alas, this effort also proved disastrous, forcing her to grasp at straws to revive her reputation. Her best effort during this awkward phase of her career was the Yugoslav-Italian film Kapo (1960), in which she played a concentration camp survivor. Such excellent opportunities were rare indeed; for the most part, Strasberg was mired in such tripe as Psych-Out (1967) and The Name of the Game is Kill (1968). In 1973, Susan returned to television as co-star of the detective series Toma. She has since continued to accept character roles of fluctuating quality in both U.S. and Canadian productions. In 1980, Susan penned her autobiography Bittersweet, which detailed her brief marriage to actor Christopher Jones, the heart defect that long imperiled the life of her daughter Jennifer, and the debilitating burden of being too famous too soon. Reflecting on her career in 1974, Susan Strasberg compared her teen-aged stardom to "trying to play a violin before it's finished." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1975
A woman calls together all of her prospective wedding guests to locate the killer of her late fiance. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1974
Jim Rockford (James Garner) is hired by former countess Deborah Ryder (Susan Strasberg), who is being blackmailed about her less-than-savory past by Carl Brego (Dick Gautier). After filming Deborah meeting Brego at the drop-off point, Jim confronts the blackmailer and "leans" on him a little to persuade him to get lost. You guessed it: Brego later turns up dead, and Rockford finds himself facing a murder rap. Tom Atkins makes his first series appearance as police lieutenant Alex Diehl, who here as elsewhere would give anything to throw Rockford in the slammer for keeps. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
Leslie Nielsen is the guest star in the season-three opener of Streets of San Francisco. Nielsen is cast as Joe Landers, an alcoholic police officer whose drunken bungling has caused the death of his longtime partner. Going to desperate and dangerous lengths to cover up his negligence, Officer Landers ultimately proves to be no match for diligent homicide detectives Mike Stone (Karl Malden) and Steve Keller (Michael Douglas). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
Best of the Safecrackers is an ersatz movie made up of a two-part installment from the Toma TV series. Tony Musante stars as Dave Toma, a real-life Newark police detective. Toma is a master of disguise, and this time around he poses as a bank robber. He joins the gang of ace safecracker William Daniels, an untrustworthy sort who may tumble to Toma's pose at any moment. Once he's in the bank that's to be robbed, Toma becomes cut off from headquarters and is unable to tip them off to the location of the heist. Best of the Safecrackers originally aired February 1 and 8, 1974. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
The made-for-TV Toma was inspired by the real-life career of New Jersey plainclothes detective Dave Toma. Tony Musante stars as the detective, whose penchant for impenetrable disguises makes him indispensable to the undercover division of the Newark police department. Toma's fierce independence gets him in hot water with his superiors, who are forced to say "no" when he expresses a desire to get the goods on a numbers racketeer. Defying orders, Toma dons another clever disguise and infiltrates the gang. Tony Musante, Susan Strasberg (as Patty Toma) and Simon Oakland (Inspector Spooner) were all retained for the subsequent Toma series, which ran from 1973 until 1974, then resurfaced in altered form as the Robert Blake cop series Baretta. As he would so often on the weekly Toma, the real David Toma plays a cameo role in this 74-minute pilot film. The original Toma was first telecast March 21, 1973. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
Based primarily on the "Silver John" tales of Manly Wade Wellman, this enthusiastically silly low-budgeter tells the story of young John (Hedge Capers), a balladeer who returns home to find that his Grandpappy (Denver Pyle) -- also named John -- has decided to do battle with the Devil by playing a special tune (penned by Hoyt Axton, no less!) on a silver-stringed guitar. Unwisely, the elder John chose silver dollars to make his strings, realizing too late that modern-day dollar coins contain no silver at all (due, of course, to an evil government conspiracy), and his soul is lost. The younger John decides to follow the old man's path -- only not quite as stupidly -- and creates his own silver strings (this time genuine). In his travels, he encounters an undertaker who made a deal with a witch (Susan Strasberg) in exchange for gold; an evil gatekeeper named O.J. and his "Big Ugly Bird" (depicted via stop-motion animation); and a cotton plantation run by a voodoo overlord. He eventually reaches Washington, D.C., presumably to do battle with the ultimate evil: the Army Corps of Engineers. Sticking to the essence of the Appalachian ghost stories on which Wellman's stories were based, director John Newland (erstwhile host of One Step Beyond) conjures some delightfully bizarre images despite the painfully low budget, but one wonders exactly where he was going with this. This film is also known as Who Fears the Devil. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
Produced by Dan "Dark Shadows" Curtis, this TV adaptation of Mary Shelley's classic spine-chiller Frankenstein remains fairly faithful to its source. Robert Foxworth stars as Dr. Victor Frankenstein, who comes to grief when he "plays God" by creating a human being from spare body parts. The monster, played by Bo Svenson, is doomed from the start, not only by fate but by his inherited homicidal nature. Susan Strasberg and Heidi Vaughn co-star as the two unfortunate women in Dr. Frankenstein's life. Originally telecast in two parts on ABC's late-night Wide World of Mystery anthology, Frankenstein debuted January 16 and 17, 1973. It was later pared down to a traditional two-hour, single-part TV movie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Foxworth, Susan Strasberg, (more)
- 1973
Somewhat reminiscent of the 1965 film The Satan Bug, And Millions Will Die is a thriller based upon the premise of germ warfare. A lunatic plans to extort millions of dollars by threatening to unleash a deadly nerve gas upon the citizens of Hong Kong. He prepares to make good his threat--but then dies before he can reveal the underground location whence the gas will be released. Richard Basehart, the villain in Satan Bug, switches sides to play frenzied scientist who races against time to unearth the lethal gas in And Millions Will Die. Given its foolproof premise, the film is disappointedly bereft of suspense, though the Hong Kong scenery is lovely. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
- PG
The only noteworthy element of this otherwise undistinguished low-budget suspense flick is the presence of director Reginald LeBorg, who helmed numerous Joe Palooka comedies and several horror projects (including the excellent Vincent Price thriller Diary of a Madman) before taking a career dive into drive-in exploitation fare. As polished as its miniscule budget permits, this lurid psychological thriller involves the plight of a distraught widow (Susan Strasberg), whose fearsome fits of uncontrollable grief land her in the questionable care of her sister (Faith Domergue)... who, fresh out of a sanitarium, is not exactly a pillar of mental stability herself. In no time, the pair skip right through the tearful reunion and go straight to psychological warfare (shades of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?), escalating, of course, to the point of murder. Other than some silly psychedelic depictions of the psycho siblings' increasing delirium, this film lacks the kind of operatic campiness of the suspense melodramas that inspired it. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- 1971
Veteran director King Vidor had long harbored hopes of directing a filmization of Ann Head's novel Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones, but couldn't get backing from a major studio. The book was finally filmed in 1971 but as a TV movie rather than a theatrical feature and with Robert Day in the director's chair. Desi Arnaz Jr. and Miss Christopher Norris play a couple of lovesick teenagers who are forced to get married when the girl becomes pregnant. Arnaz can't support his wife, Norris isn't really ready for motherhood, and the rest of the community nearly smothers the newlyweds in misguided advice. Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones was easy to take, but might have had a better chance of being truly memorable under the guiding hand of King Vidor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1970
David McCallum stars in Hauser's Memory as scientist Hillel Mondoro. At the behest of the CIA, Mondoro willingly has himself injected with the brain fluid from a dying fellow scientist named Hauser. The purpose of this experiment is to preserve the missile secrets lodged in Hauser's memory banks. The result is a deadly liason between Mondoro and Hauser's pro-Nazi wife Anna (Lilli Palmer). Susan Strasberg costars as Mondoro's nonplussed wife Karen, while German film director Helmut Kautner alsos plays an important featured role. Made for television, Hauser's Memory premiered November 24, 1970. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1969
This episode of the weekly TV series Name of the Game was first telecast December 20, 1968. As in every 90-minute episode of Game, the story concentrates on the exploits of an employee of Crime magazine. This time the focus is on researcher Peggy Maxwell (Susan St. James), who is kidnapped while digging up information on a famous rock star. The series' regular male stars (Gene Barry, James Farentino and Robert Stack) sit this one out, permitting correspondent Andy Hill (Cliff Potter) to investigate Peggy's disappearance. With the help of FBI agent Susan Strasberg, Hill unearths a hotbed of mob-motivated intrigue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1969
A family living on a remote island learns an escaped prisoner may be in the area. Allan (Sterling Hayden) is the professor who studies the migratory habits of birds. His wife Clea (Maureen McNalley) has a fascination for all things dead. Her sister Lis (Susan Strasberg) is visiting to break the news of her impending marriage to an older man. Clea leaves tobacco and food out for the unseen escapee. Lis meets the prisoner (Stuart Whitman) on the beach and the two make love. The quiet paradise is interrupted by the escaped prisoner who later suffers a potentially fatal wound while killing another man. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sterling Hayden, Maureen McNally, (more)
- 1968
The launching pad for the long-running ABC medical series Marcus Welby, M.D. was this feature-length pilot film, first aired March 26, 1969. Robert Young of course stars as Dr. Welby, a crusty but golden-hearted general practitioner forced by a mild coronary to take on a partner. At first, Welby and his new assistant, long-haired, doggedly independent motorcycle fancier Dr. Steven Kiley (James Brolin), are about as compatible as oil and water, but the two quickly become friends and confidants during an unexpected medical crisis. Originally, Anne Baxter as Welby's erstwhile lady friend, Myra Sherwood, and Sheila Larkin as the doctor's daughter, Sandy, were supposed to have been regulars, along with Penny Santon as Welby and Kiley's no-nonsense nurse/secretary Consuelo. But by the time the project graduated to series status, only Consuelo remained, played by Elena Verdugo. In syndication, Marcus Welby, M.D. was retitled A Matter of Humanities. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1968
Hawaii Five-O's Jack Lord stars in this odd little thriller directed by Gunnar Hellstrom. Lord plays a Hungarian man named Lipa who meets the beautiful Mickey (Susan Strasberg) while wandering the highways of Arizona. Mickey runs a gas station in the desert with her mother (T.C. Jones) and two sisters and invites Lipa to stay with them. He does, not knowing that the entire family is stark-raving mad. The usual psychological games ensue, with Lipa being attacked by a rattlesnake, seduced by the psychotic sisters, and run over with a car before figuring out the predictable truth -- that "Mom" is really a man. Gorgeous photography by Vilmos Zsigmond and some amusingly sadistic set-pieces accent this enjoyably trashy thriller. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Lord, Susan Strasberg, (more)
- 1968
Chubasco (Christopher Jones) is a wayward youth who is given a choice by the presiding judge. His choices are go to jail or take an honest job on a fishing boat. He chooses to set sail, leaving behind his girl Bunny (Susan Strasberg) and her father Sebastian (Richard Egan), who obviously has it out for the wayward teen. He works on a tuna boat, learning to break free of a life of crime. He also meets a bordello madame named Angela (Ann Sothern) who may or may not be his mother. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Egan, Christopher Jones, (more)
- 1968
Jennie (Susan Strasberg) travels to San Francisco to locate her hippie brother Steve (Bruce Dern). She meets Stoney (Jack Nicholson) in a coffeehouse and he helps her look for Steve, who Stoney has seen in his various attempts to start a rock & roll band. Stoney and his pals transform the square girl into a swinging hippie chick, complete with a mod miniskirt. Along with their buddy Dave (Dean Stockwell), they search for Steve amidst the psychedelic splendor of the Haight-Ashbury hippie haunts. Dave is killed by a car when he wanders around in an STP-induced stupor. LSD, marijuana, and the good and the bad sides of hippie life are illustrated with non-judgmental accuracy. The soundtrack of the movie is a musical gem, complete with the international smash "Incense and Peppermints" by the Strawberry Alarm Clock. (The group reached the top of the charts with the song in October 1967.) Also on hand are the Seeds, although they don't get to perform their best-known song, "Pushin' to Hard." (Seeds lead singer Sky Saxon would gain as much notoriety as an acid casualty as he would from his musical ability.) Also adding music are the Storybook and Cryque Boenzee. The latter group contained Rusty Young and George Grantham, who would join with former Buffalo Springfield members Richie Furay and Jim Messina from the legendary, long-lived country-rock band Poco. This time-capsulized gem was produced by Dick Clark, the world's oldest teenager. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susan Strasberg, Dean Stockwell, (more)
- 1968
Breaking from tradition, Bonanza offered two first-run episodes amidst the usual sea of reruns in the summer of 1968. The first of these, "A Severe Case of Matrimony", aired on July 7, 1968. Susan Strasberg plays Rosalita, a fiery gypsy girl who aspires to a career in opera-and never mind that she can't carry a tune in a washbucket. Willing to marry one of the Cartwrights to finance her singing career, Rosalita fabricates a story of relentless abuse at the hands of her father Anselmo (J. Carroll Naish). Also in the cast are Andre Philippe as Paco and Lili Valenty as Dolores. Written by Michael Fessnier, this episode went into production under the title "A Slight Case of Matrimony." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, (more)
In Martin Ritt's The Brotherhood, Kirk Douglas plays Frank Ginetta, an old-line Mafioso who resents the newer policies encouraged by his younger brother Vince (Alex Cord). Frank resists all attempts at modernizing his operation, whereupon Vince cajoles his father-in-law Dominick Bertolo (Luther Adler) to spearhead an inter-mob rebellion. Summing up Bertolo as a rat and a liar, Frank has the man murdered in a graphically brutal fashion. It is up to Vince to exact retribution by killing his own brother. Lewis John Carlino's screenplay includes many of the elements that would gain legendary status upon the release of The Godfather, including the dreaded "kiss of death." Star Kirk Douglas also served as producer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kirk Douglas, Alex Cord, (more)
- 1968
Dean Stockwell guests stars as Mike Riley, a two-bit errand boy for the Mafia. Though he could arrest Riley at moment's notice, Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) intends to use the man as bait to trap the higher-ups in the Mob. Unfortunately, Erskine may not get the chance: Having been deemed expendable, Riley is now Number One on the Mafia's hit list. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1967
Roy Thinnes was the star of this 1967-1968 science fiction series, about an Earth poised on the brink of alien takeover. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1967
In the conclusion of a two-part story, the FBI continues to exert pressure on La Cosa Nostra, even while a bitter turf war between two mob families threatens to destroy the organization from within. Things come to head when gangland boss Leo Roland (Walter Pidgeon) orders the murder of potential federal witness Ed Clementi (Telly Savalas)--and picks Ed's own nephew to pull the trigger. Fans of The Godfather will appreciate the presence of Robert Duvall in a supporting role. Originally telecast March 12 and 19, 1967, the two parts of "The Executioners" were later combined and released theatrically overseas as Cosa Nostra, Arch Enemy of the FBI. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1967
In the first episode of a two-part story, the FBI squares off against La Cosa Nostra (evidently J. Edgar Hoover had finally acknowledged the fact that Organized Crime really did exist!) Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) is hoping that dissension within the ranks of the Mob will cause the hierarchy to collapse under its own weight. He may be right: A power struggle involving Mafia chieftan Ed Clementi (Telly Savalas) currently threatens to spark a full-scale turf war. Originally telecast March 12 and 19, 1967, the two parts of "The Executioners" were later combined and released theatrically overseas as Cosa Nostra, Arch Enemy of the FBI. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1967
Roger Corman directed this psychedelic odyssey concerning the curative properties of LSD, with a surrealistic screenplay written by Jack Nicholson. Peter Fonda is Paul Groves, a television commercial director whose estranged wife Sally (Susan Strasberg) is pressuring him to sign their divorce papers. Feeling strain in both his professional and his personal life, Paul talks to a guru named John (Bruce Dern), who suggests that an acid trip will cure what ails him. Paul goes to John's pad and his trip begins -- at first calm and sedate, but when Sally and a sexy blonde hippie enter his hallucinations, it's every man for himself. Paul experiences crazed sexual couplings, paranoiac visions, and even gets to attend his own funeral. After imagining he's seeing John's head bashed in, he runs from the apartment in terror and takes to the streets. He is finally rescued and brought to a beach house, where he completes his trip while making love to a beautiful woman. After the trip subsides, Paul is convinced he has been reborn and is prepared to face the new day. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Fonda, Susan Strasberg, (more)
