Lenny Von Dohlen Movies
If childhood dreams are indicators of ones' future career, actor Lenny Von Dohlen might today be riding a horse in a blinding circle of dust and speed. Thankfully for his fans, the once aspiring jockey decided on a career in film and television, instead. After attending the University of Texas at Austin, the Augusta, GA, native explored the stage while majoring in drama at Denver's Loretto Heights College. Though he had some pre-college on-stage experience, it was during his stint at Loretto Heights that Von Dohlen truly began to heed his calling. By the early '80s, the actor's extensive stage work earned him a role in the made-for-TV feature Kent State (1981), and he moved to features with a brief turn in the acclaimed drama Tender Mercies in 1983. Following a brief return to the small screen, Von Dohlen received his biggest role to date in the technophobic feature Electric Dreams (1984). Cast as a hapless architect whose self-aware home computer unexpectedly becomes his rival in romance, the film was a hit with audiences and played in a seemingly endless loop on cable TV for years. It may not have been Shakespeare, but Electric Dreams certainly earned the rising star a healthy collection of dedicated fans. In the following years, Von Dohlen found himself once again primarily relegated to supporting roles, though a turn as Karl Malden's steel-worker son in Billy Galvin in 1986 proved that the young actor was as capable with drama as he had been with comedy. After closing out the decade by fighting the undead in Dracula's Widow (1988) and getting tangled up in a murder plot in Love Kills (1991), Von Dohlen once again got a chance to shine as the agoraphobic Harold Smith in David Lynch's Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992). A marked disappointment for both critics and many fans of the series at the time, the actor's eccentric performance gave the film one of its most memorable characters. A series of forgettable thrillers preceded a turn opposite Fairuza Balk in the twisted drama Tollbooth (1994). Two years later, Von Dohlen got a chance to shine in the little-seen drama Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story. A swift thrashing by an eight-year-old in Home Alone 3 (1997) did little to dampen the actor's spirit, and, in 2001, Von Dohlen returned to the small screen with the TVdrama The Ponder Heart. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
A high-school student struggling to suppress her budding sexuality makes a startling discovery about her womanhood after becoming the victim of sexual violence in director Michael Lichtenstein's semi-surreal exploration of the vagina dentata myth. Dawn (Jess Weixler) is a proud virgin and the most active member of her local chastity group. Though she struggles with every ounce of her willpower to resist the pleasures of the flesh, Dawn finds her noble efforts to remain chaste repeatedly challenged by her disturbed stepbrother, Brad -- whose provocative advances are becoming increasingly difficult to resist. When Dawn is sexually assaulted and discovers that her vagina actually has teeth, she struggles to comprehend her anatomical anomaly while experiencing both the benefits and drawbacks of this strange new revelation. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jess Weixler, John Hensley, (more)
For the third film in this series, Alex D. Linz replaced Macaulay Culkin as the central figure. Four industrial spies acquire a missile guidance-system computer chip and smuggle it through an airport inside a remote-controlled toy car. Because of baggage confusion, grouchy Mrs. Hess (Marian Seldes) gets the car. She gives it to her neighbor, eight-year-old Alex (Linz), just before the spies turn up. The spies rent a house in order to burglarize each house in the neighborhood until they locate the car. Home alone with the chicken pox, Alex calls 911 each time he spots a theft in progress, but the spies always manage to elude the police -- while Alex is accused of making prank calls. The spies finally turn their attentions toward Alex, unaware that he has rigged devices to cleverly booby-trap his entire house. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Alex D. Linz, Olek Krupa, (more)
- 1996
- PG13
This biographical drama was based on the true story of Dorothy Day, a devout Catholic who devoted much of her life to working with the poor and homeless on New York City's Lower East Side. Born in an Episcopalian household in 1897, Day (played by Moira Kelly) was a free-thinking agnostic in her young adulthood; she contributed to radical leftist journals and was friends with the likes of Eugene O'Neill (James Lancaste) and Mike Gold (Paul Lieber). After undergoing a painful abortion and giving birth to another child out of wedlock after her lover, Foster Batterham (Lenny Von Dohlen), abandoned her rather than marry, Day embraced Catholicism, a faith she would cling to strongly for the rest of her life. Day's leftist politics and her sense of personal activism remained; she established a political journal, "The Catholic Worker," in association with self-described Christian anarchist Peter Maurin (Martin Sheen), and was a tireless and outspoken champion of the rights of the poor and disenfranchised. Day came under heavy criticism for her political and social activism; as she put it, "If you feed the poor, you're called a saint, but if you ask why they're poor, you're called a Communist." However, Day continued her mission undaunted until her death in 1980, when she was called America's Mother Teresa. Entertaining Angels was produced by Paulist Pictures, a Catholic organization who also produced Romero, another film about a noted Catholic activist. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Moira Kelly, Martin Sheen, (more)
- 1995
This thriller was filmed on location in Bulgaria. The story centers on Nikolai as he makes his final confession and tells his story to a priest on the day he is to be executed. His tale of revenge is presented in flashback and begins while Nikolai was still a child. Back then he saw his father, a policeman, brutally shot by Griffith, an American smuggler of drugs and arms when the Communists were still in control. Nikolai spent the rest of his life plotting his revenge. He begins by seducing the smuggler's daughter, Kily, who has come to visit. He then tells the criminal that he has kidnapped her. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1995
- R
In this suspenseful drama, Matt's life spirals out of control after he meets his old acquaintance Simon, the man who saved Matt from burning to death after a car accident many years before. Unlike Matt who has since become a successful video game programmer, Simon's life has led him to the streets. Compassionate Matt decides to help and so invites Simon back home and then helps him find work at Matt's company. This proves to be a big mistake, for Simon is not what he seems, and nothing that has happened between him and Matt, past or present, has been an accident. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- James Remar, Lenny Von Dohlen, (more)
- 1994
- R
In this quirky drama a trio involved in a self-contained world revolving around a remote tollbooth in the Florida Keys. Jack, an aspiring policeman, works in the tollbooth. There he dreams of his new career and of starting a new life in Miami with his high school sweetie Doris. She works at the Gator Gas fuel depot down the road. She daydreams about her estranged father Leon and takes care of her mother Lillian who suffers from chronic depression. When not caring for her mom, Doris sees Dash, a bait salesman. Leon suddenly returns. A new toll collector, Vic, comes to the booth. He is a suspicious character and soon the state police are carefully watching him. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Fairuza Balk, Lenny Von Dohlen, (more)
- 1992
- R
Meg Tilly and Christine Lahti star in this female buddy story that recalls the earlier Thelma and Louise. Marianne (Meg Tilly) is a quiet waif who has just walked out on her abusive husband. Darly (Christine Lahti) is a brassy waitress who was a ballsy stripper using the stage name Pillow Talk. Darly is on her way to Alaska to claim a home being built for her and return to the family she abandoned eighteen years earlier. The two women run into each other and Darly allows Marianne to tag along as they journey to Alaska. On the way, they met a collection of colorful characters, including a strange-talking waitress named 66 (Patrika Darbo), and Walt (James Gammon), a road guy who recognizes Darly as the former Pillow Talk and wants to pay her big money for sex. The women finally make it to Alaska, where Darly finds that the house she was expecting to find has never been built. The two set up in a house trailer and, with the Alaskian wilderness as a backdrop, they begin to reevaluate their lives. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Christine Lahti, Meg Tilly, (more)
- 1992
- R
Institutionalized serial killer Janice Bickle (Lenny Von Dohlen) volunteers to undergo a radical medical experiment. If the operation is successful, he will be cured of his homicidal tendencies. Instead, the surgery goes horribly awry, turning him into a worse basket case than before. And then he escapes, heading straight to the home of the doctor who masterminded the experiment. It's Desperate Hours redux, and pretty good at that. The cast of Eyes of the Beholder includes one-time "James Bond" George Lazenby and veteran heavy Charles Napier. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
David Lynch's prequel to his cult television series "Twin Peaks" concerns the last seven days in the life of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee), whose plastic-wrapped corpse, found floating in a river, was the fulcrum for the television series. During the day in the town of Twin Peaks, Laura is a top honors student at the local high school. By night, she is a sex-crazed cokehead, prostituting herself at a sleazy sex club to get money to feed her drug habit. Her race to oblivion is fueled by her father, Leland (Ray Wise), who, as his alter ego Bob (Frank Silva), has been sexually abusing Laura since she was a child. But Laura has an attack of conscience when she realizes that she is leading her best friend Donna (Moira Kelly) down the same rocky road. Leland, however, discovers Laura's nocturnal debauchery when, during a business trip out-of-town, his mistress for a sexual tryst sets him up with his own daughter. In a fit of jealous rage, Leland follows Laura as she travels to a sex party in an abandoned railroad car. Consumed by insatiable longing, Leland transforms himself into Bob, with tragic results for Laura and her friends. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sheryl Lee, Chris Isaak, (more)
Stressed out LA detective John Berlin gets too near the edge following the destruction of his marriage and decides to leave the violence an un-ending hub-bub of the big city and take a job in the supposedly quiet northern tow of Eureka. Unfortunately, he isn't there long before he finds himself obsessed with pursuing a serial killer with a thing for blind young women. The case isn't new and Berlin's old-time buddy, Freddy Ross and his boys have spent the last six months investigating a string of seven murders. They have dubbed the case "Jennifer 8" because Berlin is positive that he knows the identity of the next victim. She is beautiful blind student Helena Robertson, the roommate of the latest victim. As he steps up his investigation, Berlin finds himself falling for Helena. Meanwhile, he has become so obsessed with finding the killer that pal Ross begins worrying that Berlin is having a breakdown and so goes with him on a late night surveillance of Helena's school. A tragedy ensues leaving Berlin to not only go it alone, but also to clear his own name. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Andy Garcia, Uma Thurman, (more)
- 1991
Shuki Levy, best known for his work on behalf of the Saban Entertainment animated-cartoon firm, directs a group of "live" performers in Blind Vision. Lenny Von Dohlen stars as nerdish mail clerk, who worships Deborah Shelton from afar. Emulating Hitchcock's Rear Window (or is it DePalma's Body Double?), Von Dohlen watches his dream girl through a highpowered lens. When one of Shelton's boyfriends turns up dead, Von Dohlen is sucked into a vortex of intrigue. Don't be lulled into the sense of deja vu in the early reels; this one's got quite a few tricks up its sleeve. Written by Levy and his frequent Saban collaborator Winston Rickard, Blind Vision costars Robert Vaughn (as "Mr. X"!), Ned Beatty, and Louise Fletcher; the film was lensed on location in Norfolk, Virginia. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1991
In this made-for-cable thriller, Virginia Madsen portrays a photographer who discovers that her husband has hired a hit man to rub her out. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
- 1988
- R
Emmanuelle's Sylvia Kristel vamps it up as Vanessa, the widow of the legendary Count Dracula, whose coffin is transported from its resting place in modern-day Romania to a Hollywood "House of Horrors" wax museum. After her arrival, she awakens to seek both the remains of her husband and the descendant of Jonathan Harker -- who has gone to great lengths to ensure that the count will never rise again. Notable mainly as the debut effort of Francis Coppola's nephew Christopher, this film benefits from a flamboyant style and great use of film noir ambience (gritty, neon-lit street scenes; Josef Sommer's Chandleresque voice-overs) but the tired script is in dire need of a punch-up. This basic premise was handled with far greater panache in Michael Almereyda's Nadja. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sylvia Kristel, Josef Sommer, (more)
- 1986
Lenny Von Dohlen plays Billy Galvin, the son of a no-nonsense construction worker (Karl Malden). Though his dad insists that he go to college to become an architect, Billy would rather go into his father's line of work. To prevent this, dad pulls strings to keep Billy out of the ironworker's union. His bullheadedness inevitably leads to ill-will and emotional disaster. Produced for PBS' American Playhouse TV series, Billy Galvin was afforded a very brief theatrical run. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Karl Malden, Lenny Von Dohlen, (more)
- 1985
The sensitive topic of child molestation is compellingly (and tastefully) handled on this ABC Afterschool Special. While babysitting for six-year-old Molly Stewart (Niki Scalera), teenager Karen Anderson (Kelly Wolf) cannot help but notice the inordinate amount of attention showered upon the child by the much older "family friend" Mike (Lenny Von Dohlen). Still harboring painful memories of being molested as a child, Karen does not trust Mike, and for good reason. Will Karen be able to alert Molly's parents that their child is in imminent danger of being sexually assaulted -- and, of more importance, will they believe her before it is too late? ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Kelly Wolf, Niki Scalera, (more)
In this light-weight romantic story, based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's Myra Meets His Family and set in the 1920s, a young woman is out for a carefree time until one day she decides she needs to marry, and then her life changes more than she could have imagined. When Myra (Sean Young) picks out a dashing rich friend (Lenny von Dohlen) as her lucky future bridegroom, she is unprepared for his off-beat parents. After arriving at the family mansion to meet her future in-laws, the unsuspecting young Myra is at first treated with a certain aloofness and then with straightforward cruelty. After several twists of fate, Myra has an opportunity to give as good as she got. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sean Young, Lenny Von Dohlen, (more)
- 1984
- PG
Dweebish architect Miles Harding (Lenny Von Dohlen) is hopelessly in love with neighboring musician Madeline (Virginia Madsen). He soon learns that Madeline already has an ardent suitor: Harding's own computer (voiced by Harold and Maude star Bud Cort)! When the electronic device, nicknamed Edgar, begins composing love songs dedicated to Madeline, Harding passes the tunes off as his own. At this point, the envious Edgar really goes to town, taking over all the electrical appliances in Harding's house--and dangerously meddling in its owner's life. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lenny Von Dohlen, Virginia Madsen, (more)
Mac Sledge (Robert Duvall), a once-famous country western singer, wakes up broke, alone and hung over in a tiny Texas motel run by widowed Rosa Lee (Tess Harper). Having nowhere else to go, Sledge takes a job at the motel, and through the kindness and faith of Rosa he changes his self-destructive ways. He marries Rosa (after he's baptized at her urging) and becomes a father/pal to her son (Allan Hubbard). Given an opportunity to make a comeback, Sledge considers leaving his new family behind, but after a reunion with his own unhappy daughter (Ellen Barkin), he vows never again to ruin anyone else's life. A simple story simply told, Tender Mercies is a warm, persuasive tale of redemption, with Robert Duvall giving one of his finest performances. Also appearing is Betty Buckley as Duvall's ex-wife, a Dolly Parton-type country star, and Wilford Brimley as Duvall's former manager. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert Duvall, Tess Harper, (more)
- 1983
Veronica Hamel makes the first of several 1980s breaks from her Hill Street Blues image in the made-for-TV Sessions. Hamel plays Leigh Churchill, the sort of high-cost, high-class call girl who seemingly exists only on screen. As of late, Leigh's professional calls have been fewer and farther between, an occupational hazard in a business where youth is a vital success factor. Leigh's professional eclipse is mirrored by several crises in her personal life, involving her live-in boyfriend, her judgmental father, and her sympathetic kid sister. Jeffrey DeMunn co-stars as a good-hearted doctor who offers to take Leigh away from "all this." Originally aired September 26, 1983. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1981
The May 4, 1970 tragedy at Kent State University is meticulously recreated this three-hour TV movie. Conceived in semidocumentary fashion, the film illustrates the slow, simmering buildup to the fatal confrontation between students and National Guard troops on the Kent Campus. The four students who fall victim to Guard gunfire are played by Jane Fleas, Talia Balsam, Keith Gordon and Jeff McCracken. Those who might complain that victims come off in a saintly fashion should be reminded that the young, inexperienced National Guard troops are likewise treated with respect and sympathy. Screenwriters Gerald Green and Richard Kramer trace the roots of the incident back to President Nixon's decision to selectively bomb strategic targets in Cambodia; their script is based on interviews and published accounts of the shooting. Filmed in Alabama rather than Ohio, Kent State was originally telecast February 8, 1981. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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