Gary Swanson Movies

A Family Upside Down stars Fred Astaire and Helen Hayes as a retired married couple. Always proud of his independence and resilience, Astaire suffers a sudden heart attack. Though he recovers, Hayes is unable to care for Astaire herself, so she and her husband are compelled to move in with son Efrem Zimbalist Jr. and daughter-in-law Pat Crowley. Astaire's heart problems persist, and the family must face the unpleasant alternative of placing him in a nursing home. Though A Family Upside Down threatens to become an uninterrupted wallow in misery, the film takes several unexpected twists and arrives at a reasonably upbeat conclusion. Coproduced by Ross Hunter, A Family Upside Down co-stars Patty Duke Astin as Astaire and Hayes' emotionally overwrought daughter. The made-for-TV film, which won Fred Astaire the last of his many Emmy awards, originally aired April 9, 1978. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Siblings Eric Roberts and Julia Roberts appear in this old-fashioned saga about oppressed Sicilian wine-growers in 19th-century California. Giancarlo Giannini stars as Sebastian Collogero, the robust Italian patriarch who is battling with railroad mogul William Bradford Berrigan (Dennis Hopper) to prevent his land from being taken over by the rail company. Sebastian's spirited son, Marco (Eric Roberts), is in love with Angelica (Lara Harris), the daughter of a rival wine-grower's clan. Marco is not very concerned about the warfare about to erupt between the wine-growers and the railroad until Berrigan's thugs torture and kill Sebastian in front of his daughter Maria (Julia Roberts). Marco then gets his friends together and organizes a revolt against Berrigan and his railroad empire. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Set upon a struggling turn-of-the-century Texas sugar-cane plantation, this brutal and realistic drama centers on the efforts of an aging plantation boss (Robert Duvall), using convicts for workers, to keep his farm afloat. The story is adapted from Horton Foote's cycle of plays The Orphan's Home. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Elaine May and Marlo Thomas star in this black comedy taking place in the black comedy capital of the world -- New York City. Elaine May plays Marianne Flan, who moves back to a nightmare New York City from Beverly Hills after her husband, Roger (Peter Falk), has been fired from his job. She hires ditzy psychic Reva Prosky (Marlo Thomas) to redecorate her apartment, and they end up being pursued by a crazed killer. They flee the city and end up at a new-age retreat in upstate New York. Jeannie Berlin, Elaine May's daughter, co-wrote the script with Laurie Jones and appears briefly as the Flan's strumpet neighbor. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Any film with a cast that runs the age-and-experience gamut from Ione Skye to Maureen O'Sullivan is certainly worth at least one look. Stranded casts Ione as a lonely 17-year-old, living in a remote farmhouse with her grandmother, O'Sullivan. Late one evening, five space aliens crash-land near the farm. Holding Skye and O'Sullivan prisoner, the extraterrestrials run afoul of the law when one of them impulsively kills Ione's boyfriend, who happens to be the son of local hothead and rabblerouser Michael Greene. Despite the aliens' laser weaponry, sheriff Joe Morton intends to treat the incident as a standard hostage crisis, but Greene wants to storm the farmhouse, with no consideration of Skye and O'Sullivan's safety. In true "Stockholm syndrome" fashion, the hostages befriend the more likeable aliens--one of whom is played by Flea, bass player for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. A curious blend of several genres, Stranded has true cult-classic potential, should any distributor want to give it a second chance on the midnight-movie circuit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Exorcist director William Friedkin made a return to the horror genre with this blend of straightforward suspense and Druid myth-inspired horror-fantasy. The idyllic lives of yuppie couple Phil and Kate (Dwier Brown and Carey Lowell) seem complete when they select the winsome young Camilla (Jenny Seagrove) as a live-in nanny for their newborn child, but the lovely young Camilla -- whose natural sexuality begins to work its spell on Phil -- is not what she appears to be. This becomes shockingly apparent to the audience early in the story when she is set upon by a trio of rape-minded thugs who meet with a particularly nasty fate in the woods, but it seems to take the parents much longer to come to the same conclusion. In fact, the woods are the key to the entire equation, as Camilla is revealed to be a powerful forest entity from Druid mythology who intends to sacrifice her infant charge to a hideous tree-god. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

When pimp Ramrod (Wings Hauser) is wanted by the police for murder, an undercover detective, Tom Walsh (Gary Swanson), enlists the aid of prostitute Princess (Season Hubley), a loving mother struggling to support her kid, to help capture the fiend. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

After their psychiatrist is killed, mental patients Lydia (Shelley Winters), Julietta (Corinne Neuchateau), and Hattie (Frencesca de Sapio) escape from a mental institution and take up residence in an abandoned house. Attempting to use occult powers to contact the spirit of their dead shrink, the women run into complications when they meet up with a local hunter. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide