Jeffrey Tambor Movies
Born July 8th, 1944, character actor Jeffrey Tambor has built his career in comedies playing the role of the uptight boss, or more generally, the stuffy guy. After graduate school, teaching, and a prolific stage career, Tambor started making television guest-starring appearances in the early '70s. He showed up on Three's Company enough that he eventually got a spot on the spin-off series The Ropers as the disapproving next-door neighbor Jeffrey. After the show's two-season run, he did a few TV movies before landing a reoccurring roles on the television version of 9 to 5, naturally playing the Dabney Coleman boss character. Throughout the '80s and early '90s, he continued to play the role of the stuffy guy on television (The Golden Girls, L.A. Law, Max Headroom) and movies (Mr. Mom, City Slickers, Life Stinks). His big break came in 1992, when he was cast as Garry Shandling's smiling sidekick, Hank Kingsley, on HBO's The Larry Sanders Show, his most recognizable role. For the rest of the '90s, he frequently returned to playing snide characters for movies (Teaching Mrs. Tingle, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Muppets From Space), although he would be more well-known for his work on television. In 1999, he appeared on the AMC series The Lot for its two-season run and provided voice talent for the MTV cartoon show 3 South. He played another boss type in the heist film Scorched in 2002.In 2003, Tambor joined the cast of Arrested Development for the role of George Bluth, an imprisoned millionaire and patriarch to a seriously dysfunctional family. The role would earn two Emmy nominations. Tambor tried his luck at television success once again in Welcome to the Captain, a short-lived sitcom in 2006, and returned to the big screen for the buddy comedy Twenty Good Years. He played a supporting role in 2009's critically acclaimed comedy the Invention of Lying, and played father of the bride in the megahit The Hangover. In 2011, Tambor took another supporting role for the comedy drama Win Win, and reprised his role in The Hangover for The Hangover Part 2. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
In this comedy, a writer's triumphant return to his hometown turns out to have a very long string attached. As a child, small and timid David Leary grew up in Hastings, MN, where he lived in mortal fear of the school bully, Roscoe Bigger, aka "Fang." Fang loved nothing more than making David's every waking moment a physical and emotional torment. Fortunately for David, his parents moved the family to California not long after David turned the tables on Fang; Fang stole a moon rock from a school display and David finked on him, putting Fang on the fast track to reform school. Years later, David (played as an adult by Rick Moranis) is a successful author, and he has been invited to teach English at the school he attended as a child. David is intrigued to discover that Victoria (Julianne Phillips), the girl he used to have a crush on, is also on the faculty (as the sex-ed instructor, no less) and interested in seeing him. But David's happiness is short-lived when he meets the school's shop teacher -- none other than Roscoe (Tom Arnold). Fang's stay in a juvenile home shattered his spirit, and he's been a spineless loser ever since; these days, David is the only person still afraid of him. Having someone to intimidate again does Roscoe a world of good; it restores his confidence, lifts his spirits, and even saves his marriage. But it doesn't do much for David, who can't exactly complain to the principal that Fang's picking on him again. Don Knotts appears in a supporting role as Principal Kokelar. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Rick Moranis, Tom Arnold, (more)
- 1996
An oil expedition in Bermuda is terrorized by what seems to be band of phantom pirates. Sent to investigate, the Quest Team comes face to face with ghostly buccaneer Black Jack Lee, whose galleon, the Ivory Web, sank near the expedition site centuries before. As it turns out, however, Black Jack isn't quite as spooky as he seems. The first episode of The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest to be telecast (though actually the fourth one filmed), "The Darkest Fathoms" got the new series off to a rousing start, with first-rate animation and character design. The program originally aired on August 26, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- J.D. Roth, George Segal, (more)
- 1996
In the spirit of such earlier efforts as Operation Eichmann and House on Garibaldi Street, this meticulously crafted cable movie recounts the 1960 mission by the Israeli secret service to kidnap Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann from his hiding place in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Although Israel will ultimately subject Eichmann to a scrupulously fair trial, it is first necessary to break the law and violate Argentina's strict "no extradition" policy regarding renegade Nazis. Once the abduction has been accomplished, the task remains to smuggle Eichmann out of the country without detection -- and at this point, the film boils down to a battle of wits and wills between evil genius Eichmann (played by Robert Duvall, who also co-produced) and the mission's leader, Israeli Mossad agent Peter Malkin (Arliss Howard). Based on Malkin's memoir Eichmann in My Hands, The Man Who Captured Eichmann was first seen over the TNT cable service on November 10, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert Duvall, Arliss Howard, (more)
Camp Hope is a summer camp for fat kids; it is also the locale of this Disney family comedy. All of the kids at Camp Hope have a weight problem. It is the one place they can go without feeling different. But when the previous owners declare bankruptcy, the camp is purchased by an obnoxious fitness freak who becomes obsessed with changing his chubby charges into budding body builders. He immediately begins serving them low calorie foods and subjecting them to rigorous exercises. Part of his motivation is greed: he is in the process of writing a book, and filming an infomercial on weight loss. The boys at camp rebel and mayhem ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tom McGowan, Aaron Schwartz, (more)
- 1995
Perhaps in response to the sometimes dark turns taken in season three of The Larry Sanders Show, season four makes things a bit more upbeat by focusing on the foibles of show business rather than the strife of the characters. Despite characters blowing off steam in such episodes as "Arthur After Hours" and a brush with mortality in "I Was a Teenage Lesbian," conflict generally resulted in more humorous outcomes as viewers began to learn more about such peripheral players as Beverly (Penny Johnson) ("Beverly and the Prop Job") and Paula (Janeane Garofalo) (the aforementioned "I Was a Teenage Lesbian"). ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Garry Shandling, Rip Torn, (more)
- 1994
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Taking a dark turn in may respects, season three of The Larry Sanders Show found familiar faces struggling with inner demons and the sometimes draining demands of a career in late-night television. Starting with the eponymous host living as a recluse and ending with him struggling to overcome an addiction to pain killers, the third season would lighten up somewhat in the middle with such humorous episodes as "Hank's Night in the Sun" and "People's Choice," though both Hank (Jeffrey Tambor) and Artie (Rip Torn) would face dark times in "Hank's Divorce" and "Arthur's Crisis." Despite the fact that the series contained some more downbeat themes, the writing on The Larry Sanders Show continued to be a strong as ever, and fans would certainly be pleased to find the show as fresh and pointed as the day it premiered. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Garry Shandling, Rip Torn, (more)
A blend of screwball farce and whodunit murder mystery, this madcap period piece was the brainchild of executive producer George Lucas. In 1939, Penny Henderson (Mary Stuart Masterson) is the harried general secretary and de facto manager of a new fourth radio network, WBN. On the night that the Chicago station goes live on the air, a mysterious voice interrupts, and a series of murders soon follows, each one described by the same sonorous phantom. While Penny and her staff desperately try to keep WBN's roster of shows afloat during the unfolding crisis, her estranged husband Roger (Brian Benben), a staff writer, becomes the chief suspect. Roger is forced to dodge a detective, Lieutenant Cross (Michael Lerner), find the real killer, win Penny back, and perform last-minute script rewrites for an unhappy sponsor. As the backstage hysteria reaches a fever pitch, the show goes on with real-life radio-era pros such as George Burns and Rosemary Clooney. Although never explicitly pointed out in the film, Radioland Murders (1994) was a pseudo-prequel to an earlier Lucas feature -- Roger and Penny are the future parents of Curt Henderson (Richard Dreyfuss) from American Graffiti (1973). ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Brian Benben, Mary Stuart Masterson, (more)
- 1994
Incredible as it must seem to some, quite a few families and individuals have agreed to give up all or part of their privacy and permit a film crew to record their every act. Therefore, the premise of this send-up of "reality television" is not so far-fetched as might be supposed. In the story, a ratings-hungry television executive (Robby Benson) persuades the Webber family to become subject to this sort of intrusion, in return for lots of money and the opportunity to live in a really fancy mansion. The star of the resulting show is the family's nubile and sexually active daughter (Jennifer Tilly), who takes casts of each of her dates' better body parts in hopes of one day putting together a model of her ideal man. The highly intellectual father in the family is a psychiatrist (Jeffrey Tambor) with some very strange patients, some of whom have agreed to appear on camera as well. The mom (Rita Taggert) becomes a popular role model, even though she feels neglected by the rest of the family, and especially her husband, and the son (David Arquette) just moons around, in mourning for his recently dead girlfriend. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jeffrey Tambor, Rita Taggart, (more)
- 1993
- R
A House in the Hills, is an offbeat, unusual film which can't decide if it is a love story or a thriller and ends up being neither. Waitress and aspiring actress Alex (Helen Slater) spends the weekend in a lavish house to study her role for a day-time soap opera. Alex is house-sitting for a family who wants to get away for the weekend to forget a murder that happened in the house next door. After a series of plot twists involving mistaken identities, deception and diamond theft, Alex and minor-league criminal Mickey (Michael Masden) fall in love just in time to confront the killer of the neighbor and solve the crime. All this could have been both romantic and exciting, but the overly complicated plot and the cliched, unconvincing dialogue makes the film both confusing and unbelievable from beginning to end. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi
- Starring:
- Michael Madsen, Helen Slater, (more)
- 1993
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Relationships, contract negotiations, and the familiar Larry Sanders Show theme of paranoia-fueled hyper-competitiveness drive the second season of HBO's popular satire of late-night talk shows. While season one introduced viewers to the sometimes grating character quirks that would become the show's trademark, season two played those quirks to the hilt for maximum comic effect. Starting off with a somewhat introspective two-part cliffhanger in which Larry (Garry Shandling) begins to question his abilities as his ratings begin to slip, the second season also began to reveal the more emotional side of the characters, endearing them to the audience as they became more accessible while simultaneously becoming even more outlandish in many respects. While episodes such as "The Breakdown" and "Artie's Gone" displayed the genuine care that the characters began to develop for one another, episodes such as "Hankerciser 2000" and "Larry's Birthday" provided perfect contrast with their sharp and cynical wit. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Garry Shandling, Rip Torn, (more)
- 1992
- Add The Larry Sanders Show: Season 01 to Queue Add The Larry Sanders Show: Season 01 to top of Queue
In season one of HBO's Emmy award-winning series The Larry Sanders Show, audiences experienced the bizarre and often hilarious backstage antics of a late-night television talk show as rarely glimpsed by the outside world. From the stress of floundering ratings to the foibles of being a celebrity and the outlandish quirks that define the entertainment industry, The Larry Sanders Show introduced a series of sometimes grating characters that audiences would come to simultaneously love and endure in the coming seasons. In addition to host Larry (Garry Shandling), sidekick Hank (Jeffrey Tambor), and strong-arm producer Artie (Rip Torn), the first season of The Larry Sanders Show introduced audiences to such recurring celebrity characters as Mimi Rogers and Dana Carvey. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Garry Shandling, Rip Torn, (more)
The title Article 99 refers to a fictional legal loophole which states that American veterans cannot be treated in VA hospitals unless their illnesses are related to their military service. The pinchpenny administrator of a Kansas City hospital intends to follow this proviso to the letter, while his irreverent staff does everything it can to circumvent rules and red tape. When freewheeling surgeon Ray Liotta is fired for exhibiting traces of humanity, the patients stage a revolt. Playing a new medico, Kiefer Sutherland also stars. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ray Liotta, Kiefer Sutherland, (more)
In this coming-of-age drama, three recent high school graduates from Detroit must make a difficult choice when they are offered a fortune to smuggle hashish from Canada into the US. As they are quickly going nowhere in their grimy suburban town, the three buddies are sorely tempted. Each of them undergoes a major change in their personal lives and they are left with the feeling of having nothing left to lose. Unfortunately, their lark across the border becomes deadly serious when they meet the dealer at an isolated farm and realize that he wants them to smuggle heroin, not hash. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Josh Charles, Jason Gedrick, (more)
- 1992
This made-for-TV movie was originally offered in two parts under the title Scott Turow's Burden of Proof. Adapted by John Gay from Turow's bestselling novel, the film stars Hector Elizondo as defense attorney Alejandro "Sandy" Stern, the same character played by Raul Julia in the 1990 cinemazation of Turow's Presumed Innocent. This time, Stern's private and professional life have merged, as he investigates the suspicious suicide of his wife. He also comes to the aid of his rather unsavory brother-in-law Dixon Hartnell, a commodities broker who is under federal investigation. Hartnell is played by Brian Dennehy, who also appeared in Presumed Innocent, albeit in a different role. Part One of Burden of Proof first aired February 9, 1992; Part Two, wherein Sandy Stern is confronted with numbing revelations of sexual and economic misconduct, was telecast February 10. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
If a comedy is to be made from the plight of the homeless, who have to scrape through their days returning deposit bottles and cleaning car windshields to get their daily bread as the rich get richer and more heartless, it may as well be Mel Brooks' Life Stinks. The trademark Brooks humor dominates this fable about a ruthless billionaire, Goddard Bolt (Mel Brooks), who wants to obliterate a poor section of Los Angeles and build a high-tech commercial center in its place. His only problem is that he owns only half the land needed for the construction, the other half belonging to equally ruthless billionaire Vance Craswell (Jeffrey Tambor), who has his own ideas for the land. The two try to buy each other out until, finally, a deal is struck: Craswell bets that Bolt cannot survive a month on the streets as a homeless man. If Bolt makes it, he gets the property. If he doesn't, Craswell gets it. Bolt agrees and, as a poor man, he begins to feel the pain of being uprooted and alone, even meeting a friendly homeless woman, Molly (Lesley Ann Warren) with whom he forms an attachment. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mel Brooks, Lesley Ann Warren, (more)
This highly rated independent production was written years before Bull Durham, and though it covers much of the same territory, it is considered worth seeing in its own right. In the story, Roy Dean Bream (William Russ) is too old to be part of his minor-league baseball team's cultural mainstream. In short, he's often ignored, derided, or treated to the worst or last of everything, like any other outcast. Tyrone (Glenn Plummer) is so young that it gives the same teammates who shun Roy the willies and reminds them that they too are getting older -- so he's an outcaste, too. What could be more natural than for these two men to seek one another out. It doesn't matter that the older man is white, the younger is black. They both love the game, and Roy has been around the block a few times and has plenty to teach Tyrone. When the time comes for Roy to be sent to retirement, everyone holds their breaths to see how he will react. It's a pity they didn't get to know him better, or they would know that this kind, generous man wishes them all well. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- William Russ, Glenn Plummer, (more)
City Slickers blends sight gags, one-liners, and sincerity, with both humor and drama arising from the characters and their situations. Mitch (Billy Crystal) is a radio station sales executive who finds himself in the throes of a mid-life crisis; accompanied by two friends, Phil (Daniel Stern) and Ed (Bruno Kirby) in the grip of similar problems, he heads to New Mexico for his birthday to participate in a two-week "vacation" cattle drive to Colorado. The three friends and the rest of their group, including an attractive, newly single young woman and two African-American dentists, are all urbanites lost when it comes to herding cattle and surviving on the prairie; it's up to authentic, almost mythic cowboy Curly (Jack Palance, who won an Oscar for the role), to whip them into shape. As various adventures occur along the way, including run-ins with outlaw cattlehands, treacherous natural mishaps, and Mitch's delivery of a newborn calf, the three "city slickers" open up to each other, learn to appreciate Curly's Old West values, and begin to resolve their midlife dilemmas. When Curly dies, it's left to Mitch, Phil, and Ed to bring in the herd. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi
- Starring:
- Billy Crystal, Daniel Stern, (more)
- 1990
- PG13
As directed by Gary Sherman, this thriller tells the story of a young girl who makes telephone calls to a man who she later finds out is a serial killer. Lisa (Stacy Keanan) is a 14-year-old girl whose mother Katherine (Cheryl Ladd), having been herself an unwed mother, forbids her to have dates until she is 16 years old. Katherine has raised Lisa alone and has a good business as a florist, but due to her own past trauma, never dates. Lisa retreats into a fantasy world and finds men, follows them, and begins making enticing telephone calls to them. One of the men turns out to be a handsome restaurant owner, who also likes to kill women, tracking them down very much the same way that Lisa does. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi
- Starring:
- Cheryl Ladd, D.W. Moffett, (more)
- 1990
In this thriller, a suburban housewife begins playing detective after she overhears a neighborhood conspiracy to kill someone on her baby's intercom. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1989
- PG
Brook Shields plays the comic-strip journalist, Brenda Starr, who travels to a South American jungle on an assignment. It is there that she covers the story about a mad scientist who plans to blow up the planet with his newly developed rocket fuel. Also appearing are Timothy Dalton and Charles Durning, among others, who don Bob Mackie-designed costumes. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi
- Starring:
- Brooke Shields, Timothy Dalton, (more)
- 1988
Jessica (Angela Lansbury) accepts the invitation of her niece Carrie (Kate McNeil), the wife of astronomer Leonard Palmer (Dean Jones), to be on hand for the return of a long-lost comet. Thrilled at the prospect of witnessing this stellar phenomenon, Leonard takes a long look through his telescope -- but doesn't like what he sees. Soon thereafter, Carrie's ex-boyfriend, business executive Drake Eaton (Steven Ford), turns up murdered...and Leonard is the prime suspect. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
The first feature film from director Phil Joanou (State of Grace), Three O' Clock High chronicles a high school nerd's much hyped after-school bout with the infamous class bully. When the impish Jerry Mitchell (Casey Siemaszko) is assigned to interview the new transfer student with a supposedly violent past, Buddy Revell (Richard Tyson), he makes the fatal mistake of touching his subject. Revell, who hates being touched, responds by challenging the unwilling Mitchell to a fight at three o'clock in the parking lot. Spanning the course of the school day, the film follows the disaster-bound Mitchell as he soils his good-boy image through various misguided attempts at averting the fight. Also making noteworthy appearances in the film are Jeffrey Tambor and Philip Baker Hall. ~ Rachel Deahl, Rovi
- Starring:
- Casey Siemaszko, Anne Ryan, (more)
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