Joseph Bologna Movies
Joseph Bologna attended Brown University, where he majored in art history. After a hitch with the marines, Bologna was hired to produce and direct Manhattan-based TV commercials. In 1965, he married actress/writer Renee Taylor, who would collaborate with Bologna on such stage, screen, and TV projects as Lovers and Other Strangers, Made for Each Other, Woman of the Year, and the Emmy-winning Acts of Love and Other Comedies. Bologna and Taylor also created the 1973 TV series Calucci's Department, and co-directed the 1989 feature film Made for Each Other. On his own, Bologna has been a much-in-demand film actor since 1970. His most rewarding screen assignments have included the starring role of Dan Torrance in the 1976 disaster-flick spoof The Big Bus and Sid Caesar-like TV comic King Kaiser in the nostalgic My Favorite Year (1982). On television, Joseph Bologna played a cameo as Walter Winchell in the made-for-cable biopic Citizen Cohn (1992), and starred as Nick Foley on the 1987 TV "dramedy" Rags to Riches, which gave him a rare opportunity to sing from time to time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1987
In this TV pilot, millionaire Nick Foley adopts six little orphan girls who prove to be much more of a challenge than he bargained for. This stars Joseph Bologna as Foley. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1987
A malevolent toy tycoon threatens the happiness of a teen android and his inventor. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1986
This drama is based on the true story of a housewife who becomes a helicopter pilot for the US Army after her husband suffers a massive coronary. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
In a plot that combines Mary Shelley's mad Dr. Frankenstein and Bram Stoker's Count Dracula, two yellow journalism reporters, Jack and Gil (Jeff Goldblum and Ed Begley, Jr.) head off to a castle in Transylvania. The intrepid duo is out to hunt down a story that proves Frankenstein's "monster" is still alive and sparking. What they find is an appropriately demented Dr. Malavaqua and his monstrous creations. Tame stuff for the hardcore groupie, this intended spoof falls a tad short of funny. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Goldblum, Ed Begley, Jr., (more)
- 1985
This campy drama, set in the 1940s, was inspired by a hit song by Barry Manilow. It tells the tale of an aspiring songwriter, Lola, a showgirl, and the sleazy owner of the Copa. Tragedy ensues as the two men duel over Lola's love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
This attempt to remake the clever 1977 French farce Un Moment d'Egarement stars 50-film-a-year man Michael Caine as an executive named Matthew Hollis, who, together with friend Victor Lyons (Joseph Bologna), travels to Rio de Janeiro on business. Victor sets out on the town in search of a lambada partner, leaving Matthew to fend for himself against his friend's over-sexed teenage daughter (Michelle Johnson), who's come along for the ride. Soon, Matthew succumbs to her advances, despite his efforts to break off the affair, and finds himself a repeated statutory rapist, at least by American legal standards. The script plays out like an extended version of Three's Company, with lots of near-misses and dumb-dumb humor; critics aptly noticed Caine's apparent discomfort throughout the film. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Caine, Joseph Bologna, (more)
- 1984
This HBO TV special presents a live performance of the popular improvisational comedian who does some of his most popular improves from Saturday Night Live. He also does impressions of Frank Sinatra singing in a heavy-metal band, and a parody of Michael Jackson's Thriller in which the undead arising from the graves are all clones of Jerry Lewis' Nutty Professor. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Gene Wilder's remake of this 1976 French comedy is a Hollywood version of what happens when Theodore (Wilder), an ordinary ad agency executive, is captivated by a gorgeous woman (Kelly Le Brock). The woman just happens to be standing on a grate when her skirt blows up over her waist (a scene first made famous by Marilyn Monroe in The Seven-Year Itch), and one glimpse is enough to change Theodore's whole life. Although he is married, he is willing to risk his happy relationship with his wife for a romp in the hay with the beautiful stranger. Unfortunately, even when he tracks down the object of his lust he is woefully inept at sneaking out on his wife to consummate his desire. Three of his male office mates help him as much as they can, but Ms. Milner (Gilda Radner) is really incensed when she finds out that the object of Theodore's attention is not herself. Stevie Wonder's score included his hit song "I Just Called to Say I Love You", which received an Oscar nomination. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Wilder, Charles Grodin, (more)
- 1983
In this lightweight made-for-television domestic comedy, a beautiful divorcee, who got the house and the kids, finds herself allowing her husband and his ditzy young fiancee to stay with them after he gets into financial dire straits. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Richard Benjamin's directorial debut is an engaging slice of nostalgia, purportedly based on an incident in life of Mel Brooks. Mark Linn-Baker stars as Benjy Stone, junior writer on the popular 1950s TV comedy/variety series The King Kaiser Show. Kaiser (Joseph Bologna)'s guest star this week is Hollywood matinee idol Alan Swann (Peter O'Toole), a swashbuckling Errol Flynn type, right down to his indiscriminate womanizing and fondness for mass quantities of booze. Stone is assigned to keep the actor out of trouble during rehearsals and deliver him sober to the performance. Becoming fast friends, Stone and Swann alternate baby-sitting responsibilities: Swann takes the young writer to the Stork Club and on an early-morning jaunt through Central Park with a "borrowed" police horse, while Stone takes Swann to his home in the Bronx, where the star is fawned over by Benji's mom (Lainie Kazan) and asked embarrassing questions about his love life by Uncle Morty (Lou Jacobi). Despite a few anxious moments, all goes well until Swann, panicking at the discovery that King Kaiser's show will be telecast live and not on film, walks out just before airtime. Shamed by Benjy into honoring his committment, Swann makes a spectacular, timber-smashing entrance, saving the show and rescuing Kaiser from being rubbed out by a gangster (Cameron Mitchell) whom the comedian has offended. Though it fluctuates between wistful realism and the manic exaggeration of a TV comedy sketch, My Favorite Year holds together quite well, delivering a plentitude of solid laughs. Jessica Harper, usually the star of bizarro films like Inserts and Suspiria, is quite appealing as Benjy Stone's girlfriend; that lady dancing with O'Toole at the Stork Club is 1930s film star Gloria Stuart, later an Oscar nominee for Titanic; the King Kaiser Show wardrobe mistress is played by Selma Diamond, a real-life comedy writer for Sid Caesar. My Favorite Year was converted into an unsuccessful Broadway musical in the early 1990s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter O'Toole, Mark Linn-Baker, (more)
- 1980
Jill Robinson's Bed-Time-Story, inspired by actual events, was the source for the made-for-TV A Cry for Love. Divorcee Susan Blakely, with no alimony and two kids to support, begins turning to amphetamines. While at her lowest ebb, she meets Powers Boothe, an alcoholic and three-time loser in marriage--who, incredibly, turns out to be the ideal man for her! Joseph Bologna and Renee Taylor were the guiding hands behind the Cry For Love teleplay. The film debuted on October 20, 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Lee Remick is Torn Between Two Lovers in this made-for-TV romantic drama. Happily married to Joseph Bologna, Remick becomes involved with handsome architect George Peppard after a chance meeting in Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. Halfway down the cast list is Second City TV regular Andrea Martin in the role of Remick's buttinsky sister-in-law. The film's title was inspired by Peter Yarrow and Philip Jarrell's syrupy 1970s song hit of the same name. Representing the third TV-movie collaboration between actress Lee Remick and director Delbert Mann, Torn Between Two Lovers debuted May 2, 1979. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
- R
Neil Simon's bright, autobiographical romantic comedy, a big Broadway success, has been adapted to the screen in a screenplay by Simon, directed by Robert Moore, that subtly shifts the emphasis from the play. In the stage version, recently widowed writer George Schneider (James Caan) and his efforts to form a new relationship after years of marriage, was the crux of the story. The film, however, reduces George's role and, instead, emphasizes the character of Jennie MacLaine (Marsha Mason), the actress being wooed by George. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Caan, Marsha Mason, (more)
The Big Bus is set aboard a nonstop, nuclear-powered luxury bus commandeered by Joseph Bologna. Naturally, Bologna is a tortured hero with a deep dark secret (he keeps insisting he didn't eat all those passengers on his last disastrous drive). Stockard Channing and Harold Gould play the designers of the big bus, and of course they have a few skeletons in their closet. In fact, there isn't a passenger on the all-star manifest that isn't hiding something. The supporting cast features contributions by René Auberjonois (parodying his M*A*S*H role), Ned Beatty, José Ferrer, Ruth Gordon (doing a devastating send-up of Airport's Helen Hayes), Sally Kellerman, Richard Mulligan, and many others; Murphy Dunne contributes a memorable bit as a smarmy cocktail pianist. Unfortunately, The Big Bus was dumped onto the summer 1976 release schedule without fanfare by Paramount, and it sank without a trace. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joseph Bologna, Stockard Channing, (more)
- 1976
Renee Taylor and Joseph Bologna cowrote as well as starred in this 1976 TV remake of the 1941 Tracy-Hepburn vehicle Woman of the Year. Except for a handful of updated details, the storyline is substantially the same in both versions: A down-to-earth male sportswriter (Bologna, in the Spencer Tracy part) marries a high-profile female international news commentator (Taylor, in the Katharine Hepburn part). In fine "golden age" tradition, the stars are complemented with an excellent supporting cast, including Richard Bakalyan as a punch-drunk bartender, Leon Belasco as a refugee Russian musician and John Fiedler as a justice of the peace. Only Anthony Holland's swishy male secretary strikes a discordant note. The remake's "reconciliation" finale wisely avoids the ponderous, sexist slapstick setpiece at the end of the original film, wherein Katharine Hepburn nearly destroys her kitchen by cooking her first breakfast. A surefire audience pleaser, Woman of the Year was curiously premiered in July of 1976, a time when most potential viewers were out of the house. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
- PG
In this sentimental comedy, the coach of the struggling Phoenix Suns basketball team finds his already heavy load increased when his wife decides to adopt three more children, a Vietnamese, a black and a Native American. They already have three kids of their own. Now in addition to trying to produce a winning team, he must figure out how to feed three more, and deal with bigoted neighbors. Things get even worse when he is fired. Fortunately, his trials are only temporary. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
In this comedy from director Aram Avakian, New York police officers Cliff Gorman and Joe Bologna turn crooked. Their plan is to steal $10 million worth of investment certificates, using a Manhattan parade as their "cover". Gorman and Bologna display an amazing degree of dexterity and foresightedness in breaking down the investment firm's sophisticated security system. Too bad they didn't take fate into consideration. Cops and Robbers was based on a novel by Donald Westlake (The Hot Rock). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cliff Gorman, Joseph Bologna, (more)
Gay Talese's bestseller Honor Thy Father is given a superb, albeit slightly expurgated, treatment in this made-for-TV movie. Joseph Bologna plays Bill Bonanno, the son of New York City Mafia-don Joe "Bananas" Bonanno (Raf Vallone). When his father disappears in 1964, Bill is compelled to take over the "family business." This proves well-nigh impossible as several Mafiosi fall over themselves trying to stake their own claims within the Bonanno empire. Lewis John Carlino, the script writer for the 1968 Mafia flick The Brotherhood, adapted the Talese novel for television. Joseph Campanella "appears" as the slyly noncommittal off-screen narrator. Honor Thy Father was first telecast March 1, 1973. The producers sagaciously withheld the film from the critics until that night to make certain no reviewer would spoil the audience's enjoyment by prematurely cataloging the differences between the film and the book. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brenda Vaccaro, Joseph Bologna, (more)
- 1971
- PG13
In this semi-autobiographical romantic comedy starring Joseph Bologna and Renee Taylor (who also wrote the script together) two lonely hearts find each other in group therapy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Lovers and Other Strangers became a "sleeper" hit, based on a play by Renée Taylor and Joseph Bologna. The story is essentially a series of vignettes and anecdotes, unified by an impending marriage. Father of the bride Hal (Gig Young) has problems with his long-suffering mistress, Cathy (Anne Jackson), who spends much of the film sitting on the toilet, crying her eyes out; Wilma (Anne Meara), the bride's sex-starved sister, can't wrest her husband, Johnny (Harry Guardino), away from the TV; and Frank (Richard S. Castellano), as the groom's father, slips comfortably into Bartlett's Familiar Quotations with his oft-repeated query "So what's the story?" Twelfth-billed Diane Keaton makes her film debut as a garrulous wedding guest. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bea Arthur, Bonnie Bedelia, (more)
