Peter Strauss Movies
Trained at Northwestern University, versatile leading man Peter Strauss made his first film appearance in 1969's Hail Hero. Strauss attained stardom in the role of Rudy Jordache (which required him to age nearly thirty years) in the pioneering TV miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man (1976). Together with Richard Chamberlain, Cheryl Ladd and Victoria Principal, Strauss went on to become one of the stalwarts of the made-for-TV movie form. His roles in this genre have included the title characters in Young Joe, the Forgotten Kennedy (1977), Peter Gunn (1989), and Thicker Than Blood: The Larry McLinden Story (1995). In 1979, Peter Strauss won an Emmy for his portrayal of prison lifer-turned-Olympic runner Larry "Rain" Murphy in The Jericho Mile. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1987
Set in modern times, this western drama chronicles the reconciliation between a draft-dodging son and his ultra-conservative rancher father after the son realizes that his father is going to die soon. The film originally aired on cable television. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1986
- PG
In this Road Warrior clone, an aging trucker spends his retirement mining an old cobalt mine with the assistance of his devoted grandson. A good friend lures the trucker out of retirement by offering him a quarter of a million dollars to drive some plutonium from Nevada to a high-security operation in Arizona. He begins his trek in a high-tech rig unaware that terrorist are waiting to ambush him and his deadly cargo. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Forrest Tucker, John Ireland, (more)
- 1986
Tony Richardson, who in his days of prominence directed the Oscar-winning Tom Jones (1963), demonstrated in 1986's Penalty Phase that the intervening years did not dim his talent in the least. Peter Strauss stars as a liberal judge, in the midst of a re-election campaign. Strauss has been under fire from his enemies for being too soft on criminals. He intends to prove otherwise while presiding over the case of a vicious mass murderer and rapist (Richard Chaves). Shortly after a guilty verdict is reached, Strauss is tipped off anonymously that the defendant right's may have been violated during interrogation. While the jury enters "the penalty phase" wherein they must decide on proper punishment, Strauss undergoes a profound moral dilemma: Should he honor the letter of the law, thereby incurring public wrath and losing all hopes for being re-elected? Scripted by former lawyer Gail Patrick Hickman, the made-for-TV Penalty Phase was originally telecast November 18, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1986
Under Siege was first telecast in February 1986, a time when the notion of foreign terrorists in America was still speculative fiction. A militant group sets off explosives at US Army bases, then branches out to such civilian targets as crowded shopping centers. FBI director Peter Strauss discovers that these outrages are possibly being orchestrated by Iranian extremists. Despite pressure to take retaliatory action, US President Hal Holbrook continues to preach moderation, until he can be certain of the true source of the attacks. Under Siege was cowritten by Bob Woodward, of All the President's Men fame. Little Rock, Arkansas substitutes for Washington DC in several scenes, including one startling sequence set in the Capitol Building. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1986
This somber documentary uses historical film footage to recount the trial of Nazi war criminals for their participation in the genocide at the Majdanek death camp. In July 1944, evidence surfaced of the atrocities that led to a combined inquiry by the Soviet Union and Poland. Camp survivors and Nazi soldiers were interviewed to determine the extent of the genocide. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bengt von zur Muehlen
- 1985
Adapted from the phenomenally popular best-seller by Jeffrey Archer, the three-part, seven-hour CBS miniseries Kane & Abel is the tale of two tycoons -- one a self-made man, one born into wealth -- who both came into the world on the very same day. The illegitimate son of a Polish baron, Abel Rosnovski (Peter Strauss) is forced to fend for himself from childhood. Escaping from Siberia during WWI, Abel emigrates to America, where he builds up a multimillion-dollar hotel business. Meanwhile, Boston brahmin William Lowell Kane (Sam Neill) is carefully groomed to take his place in both society and the financial world, succeeding on both counts in the banking business. Though Abel and Kane might have become friends in any other circumstances, an accidental slight on Kane's part earns him the undying enmity of a vengeful Abel -- and thus is set in motion a tense, feud-driven power struggle that will consume both their lives for the next 25 years. Filmed on-location in Canada, England, and France, Kane & Abel originally aired from November 17 to 19, 1985. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Strauss, Sam Neill, (more)
- 1983
Written for television by Gary Devore, Heart of Steel concentrates on a societal dilemma that has only gotten worse since 1983. Second-generation steelworker Peter Strauss loses the job he's held all his life when the mill closes down. Unable to find work, Strauss takes to drink, then vents his frustration on his family. A personal tragedy snaps Strauss out of his self-pity and renews his will to survive. Only the "feel good" ending strikes a false note in the otherwise grimly persuasive Heart of Steel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
- PG
- Add Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone to QueueAdd Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone to top of Queue
In this weakly scripted, dull sci-fi adventure, three women have been shipwrecked somewhere in the galaxy on planet Terra Eleven and now Wolff (Peter Strauss), the pilot of a salvage ship, his friend Washington (Ernie Hudson), and the orphaned Niki (Molly Ringwald) are out to rescue them. Along the way, the trio face several life-threatening situations, and as they escape each danger intact, their final encounter with the evil Overdog McNabb (Michael Ironside) draws ever closer. With a wobbly storyline, one-note theme (people versus machines), and unintentionally funny dialogue, Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone has a few things going for it: quick-paced action scenes, unusual sets, a 3-D format, a good musical score, and creative sound effects. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Strauss, Molly Ringwald, (more)
Frustrated with the Walt Disney studio's reluctance to produce full-length animated films, Don Bluth and a number of animators left the studio in the early '80s with the intent of creating movies in the style of Disney's classics. The Secret of NIMH is the first film Bluth produced after leaving the studio. Adapted from Robert C. O'Brien's acclaimed children's book Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of N.I.M.H., the film is about a widowed mouse whose home is threatened; also, one of her children is gravely ill. On her way to find help, she discovers NIMH, a secret society of highly-intelligent rats who have escaped from a nearby science lab. The rats help the widow to protect her family and home. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Hartman, Dom DeLuise, (more)
- 1981
Based on the book by Farley Mowat, this made-for-TV movie follows the struggle of a New York ecologist (Peter Strauss) to stop the whale killing taking place off the coast of Newfoundland. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
Wits and weapons clash in this 1981 epic chronicling a rebellion by Jewish Zealots against Roman rule. After Jerusalem falls to the Romans in 70 A.D., nearly a thousand Jewish rebels led by Eleazar ben Jair (Peter Strauss) withdraw to a mountaintop fortress 30 miles southeast of Jerusalem. There, fed by defiance and an unlimited supply of cistern water, they make their stand against Roman rule, now and then conducting surprise raids against Roman positions down below. Whenever the Romans retaliate, Eleazar goes them one better. He and his men burn grain supplies, poison wells and generally make life miserable for the Roman 10th Legion, encamped in the baking desert surrounding the fortress. Frustrated, the Roman general Cornelius Flavius Silva (Peter O'Toole) brings in a brilliant siege master, Rubrius Gallus (Anthony Quayle), to devise a way to breach the mountaintop stronghold. When Gallus begins construction of an earthen ramp up the mountainside, rebels rain down arrows on the Roman workers. Flavius then uses Jews from nearby villages to build the ramp. Meanwhile, Flavius makes several attempts to persuade the rebel Jews to surrender, promising they will live in peace and prosperity under Roman rule. But the Jews are adamant; they want only one thing: freedom, or, at the very least, limited freedom under a Roman-appointed Jewish governor. But after Roman Emperor Vespasian vetoes peace plans, the ramp continues to rise. When it is finished, the Romans pull a massive battering ram on wheels--another of Gallus's stratagems--up the ramp, and the stage is set for the final battle deciding the fate of the Jews. This film had at least three incarnations: as a 6-hour, 34-minute TV series in 1980, and then in trimmed-down versions in 1981 and 1984. Although the filmed-on-location Masada is based on history, parts of it are fictionalized. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Strauss, Peter O'Toole, (more)
- 1980
A gangster who was wrongfully executed for a killing is promised leniency from Satan if he returns to earth in the body of a lawman who is trying to stamp out evil. Trouble is, the dead man has a hard time being evil enough to get revenge. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Strauss, Richard Kiley, (more)
- 1979
Director Michael Mann co-wrote the teleplay for The Jericho Mile with Patrick J. Nolan. Peter Strauss stars as "Rain" Murphy, serving a life sentence in Folsom Prison for first-degree murder. To break up the boredom of prison life, Murphy begins running laps around the prison recreation track. Prison officials take notice when Murphy runs a mile in less than four minutes. They lobby to enter Murphy into the Olympics, an act of largesse that not only pulls Murphy out of his misanthropy but also helps to unify his racially divided fellow prisoners. Originally telecast March 18, 1979, The Jericho Mile was filmed on location at Folsom Prison, with several inmates playing small roles--and talking the talk of prisoners, never mind the TV censors. ~ 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)
Elia Kazan directed this curiously constipated film adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's unfinished final novel, about Monroe Starr, a brilliant and efficient studio executive (based upon Fitzgerald's experiences with MGM wunderkind Irving Thalberg). Robert De Niro plays Monroe Starr in a cool and detached manner, and as Kazan pans around the Hollywood Dream Factory of the 1930s, Starr juggles several productions, deals with nervous actors and recalcitrant directors, stays afloat in the Hollywood corporate battlefields, and secretly carries on a love affair with an even cooler and more detached English girl, Kathleen Moore (Ingrid Boulting). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert De Niro, Tony Curtis, (more)
- 1975
As is customary, Stone (Karl Malden) and Keller (Michael Douglas) are faced with a baffling mystery which they must unravel in the episode's alotted sixty minutes. The game is afoot the moment that the skeleton of a former convict is found during an excavation on Alcatraz Island. There's only one problem: this particular convict was supposed to have escaped from "The Rock" in the 1950s--and in fact, is still purportedly sending letters to his family! Featured in the cast are two seasoned veterans of radio's Golden Age: Paul Stewart and Virginia Gregg. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
Attack on Terror: The FBI Versus the Ku Klux Klan is a fact-based, two-part TV movie. The film is a dramatization of the murders of three civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1964. The FBI, personified herein by southern operative Wayne Rogers, is brought in to investigate the trio's disappearance. Upon the discovery of the bodies on August 2, 1964, the feds follow a trail of (admittedly skimpy) evidence which leads to the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan, headed by the virulent Glen Tuttle (Rip Torn). The first part of Attack on Terror was originally telecast February 20, 1975. The film was based on the book by Don Whitehead. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ned Beatty, John Beck, (more)
- 1973
Though previously filmed several times in one- and two-reel form, Edward Everett Hale's classic 1863 novel The Man Without a Country was not given a full-length treatment until this ABC "Kodak Special" TV presentation. Cliff Robertson stars as young, zealously patriotic American military officer Philip Nolan, who after participating in Aaron Burr's abortive efforts to establish an independent government is placed on trial for treason. During the proceedings, a flustered Nolan exclaims, "Damn the United States! I wish I may never hear of the United States again!" The judge solemnly grants Nolan his "wish," sentencing him to spend the rest of his life on a Navy vessel, where no one will ever be permitted to mention the United States in his presence, and from which he will never be allowed to return to his native soil. Thus is Nolan's fate sealed for the next 60 years -- yet somehow, the prisoner's innate patriotism and love for the land of his birth is never completely extinguished. Capped by one of the most moving deathbed scenes in all American literature, The Man Without a Country was filmed on location in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Niagara, NY. The film first aired on April 24, 1973. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cliff Robertson, Beau Bridges, (more)
- 1973
Stone (Karl Malden)and Keller (Michael Douglas) spring into action when a priest is killed in his Confessional. It turns out that the victim had attended the same seminary as three other priests who were murdered in similar fashion. To root out the killer, Stone goes undercover, donning the collar and robe of a Roman Catholic prelate. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
Father Daniel Berrigan, at the height of the Vietnam War, was arrested along with eight other protesters (including his brother Philip) in Baltimore in 1968, for burning draft records. Berrigan later penned a didactic play, based upon the incident, which was the basis for this film. The motives behind the Vietnam War protesters are examined during their trial, but the plea for individual responsibility and personal action concerning the war is rejected by the judge, and the Nine are found guilty and sentenced to imprisonment. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gwen Arner, Ed Flanders, (more)
- 1972
Several years before achieving stardom in the TV miniseries Rich Man--Poor Man, Peter Strauss is cast in this episode as temporarily paroled convict Bobby Jepson. Ordered to find a job during a 36-hour-pass or return to prison, Jepson runs headlong into a stone wall of prejudice and hostility, with only Detective Stone (Karl Malden) willing to give the man a break. But even Stone's compassion is sorely tested when Jepson is accused of murder--and the evidence seems air-tight and irrefutable. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
- PG
Peter Strauss, six years removed from his Rich Man Poor Man stardom, stars in the Italian-Spanish Man of Legend. Strauss plays a WW I-era German soldier, who barely escapes being wrongly executed as a spy. He escapes to the French Foreign Legion, then enjoys a torrid romance with Tina Aumont, daughter of a Moroccan rebel leader. Before he knows what hit him, Strauss has become a hero of the rebellion Man of Legend bears no relation to truth, but it goes down easily on a rainy afternoon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A cavalry unit in Colorado is conducting two important cargoes to Fort Reunion, home of the 11th Colorado Volunteers: Cresta Marybelle Lee (Candice Bergen), the fiancée of an officer in the unit until two years ago, when she was taken by the Cheyenne, and who just escaped; and Captain Battles (Dana Elcar), the paymaster, with a strongbox containing gold. The men are tired -- almost asleep in their saddles -- and frustrated, and doubly so by the presence of Cresta, whose beauty and reputation (by virtue of living two years with "savages") is driving them to distraction; all except for Honus Gant (Peter Strauss), a neophyte trooper and wide-eyed innocent. The detachment is ambushed by a Cheyenne war party and the only survivors are Cresta and Honus, who learn to tolerate each other as they struggle across the wilderness and the desert in search of help. An encounter with white trader Isaac Q. Cumber (Donald Pleasence), a profiteer who is running guns to the Indians, nearly results in their deaths, and Honus is seriously wounded.
Cresta goes off in search of help and is picked up by a cavalry scout and brought to the 11th Colorado, whose commanding officer, Col. Iverson (John Anderson), is planning a punitive strike against a peaceful Cheyenne encampment over the massacre of the paymaster's party. Cresta tries to secure help for Honus but Iverson is too busy planning bloodshed, and her fiancé, Lt. McNair (Bob Carraway), is just too eager to pick up where he left off with her to listen to her warnings. She rides out on her own and returns to the village where she'd spent the previous two years, while Honus manages to survive to reach Iverson. He ends up along for the assault on the village, which takes place despite the chieftain Spotted Wolf (Jorge Rivera) flying a flag of truce and an American flag given him at a previous negotiation with the whites. The Native Americans defend themselves when fired upon with artillery and rifles, and all hell breaks lose -- virtually all of the men in the village are killed in the first assault, and then the soldiers spot the women, children, and old men, and there begins an orgy of rape, mutilation, beheadings, dismemberment, and torture before Honus' horrified eyes by joyously shrieking soldiers. Cresta kills a soldier who tries to rape her and intends to die with her Native American family but is pulled out, only to watch the slaughter continue. In the end, Honus is left to be marched back to Fort Reunion as a prisoner for trying to stop the killing, and Iverson expresses pride and satisfaction at what he's done, while Cresta and a tiny handful of survivors -- almost all old men and women -- watch in mute horror and anger. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
Cresta goes off in search of help and is picked up by a cavalry scout and brought to the 11th Colorado, whose commanding officer, Col. Iverson (John Anderson), is planning a punitive strike against a peaceful Cheyenne encampment over the massacre of the paymaster's party. Cresta tries to secure help for Honus but Iverson is too busy planning bloodshed, and her fiancé, Lt. McNair (Bob Carraway), is just too eager to pick up where he left off with her to listen to her warnings. She rides out on her own and returns to the village where she'd spent the previous two years, while Honus manages to survive to reach Iverson. He ends up along for the assault on the village, which takes place despite the chieftain Spotted Wolf (Jorge Rivera) flying a flag of truce and an American flag given him at a previous negotiation with the whites. The Native Americans defend themselves when fired upon with artillery and rifles, and all hell breaks lose -- virtually all of the men in the village are killed in the first assault, and then the soldiers spot the women, children, and old men, and there begins an orgy of rape, mutilation, beheadings, dismemberment, and torture before Honus' horrified eyes by joyously shrieking soldiers. Cresta kills a soldier who tries to rape her and intends to die with her Native American family but is pulled out, only to watch the slaughter continue. In the end, Honus is left to be marched back to Fort Reunion as a prisoner for trying to stop the killing, and Iverson expresses pride and satisfaction at what he's done, while Cresta and a tiny handful of survivors -- almost all old men and women -- watch in mute horror and anger. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Candice Bergen, Peter Strauss, (more)
- 1969
- PG
Hail, Hero! stars Michael Douglas in his screen debut as long-haired college student Carl Dixon. Reversing the usual procedure in late-1960s films, Dixon decides to quit school and enlist in the Army, even though he's already run afoul of the law as a Vietnam protestor. It is our hero's intention to use love, rather than bullets, to combat the Viet Cong. Needless to say, his idealism is no match for the harsher realities of war, but this doesn't stop him from endlessly spouting the sort of agit-prop rhetoric so beloved of filmmakers of the era. In addition to Michael Douglas, co-star Peter Strauss likewise makes his first film appearance in Hail, Hero! Dated in the extreme, the film is saved by the musical score by Gordon Lightfoot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Douglas, Arthur Kennedy, (more)
