Ken Wahl Movies
Broad-shouldered American actor Ken Wahl has proven time and again that he's more than just a mass of muscle. After a handful of supporting roles, Wahl entered cult-film Valhalla with his starring role as a Bronx-Italian highschooler in The Wanderers (1979). Arguably, his best screen role was as the "see no evil" partner of conscience-stricken cop Paul Newman in Fort Apache, the Bronx (1981). His many film appearances aside, Wahl's popularity rests with his three-year performance as underground cop Vinnie Teranova in Wiseguys (1987-90), which was impressive enough to make viewers forget Wahl's earlier series-TV stint in the unlamented adventure series Double Dare (1985). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
They say you can't miss what you never had, but one woman wants to put that idea to the test in this comedy. Kathy Whiting (Harley Jane Kozak) is a housewife and mother of two who enjoys a happy but unexciting relationship with her husband Peter (Bill Pullman), while her best friend Emily Embrey (Elizabeth McGovern) runs an art gallery and is living with a good-looking artist, Elliot Fowler (Brad Pitt). Both women feel that a sense of romantic adventure is missing from their lives, and Kathy has never been able to forget Tom Andrews (Ken Wahl), a football player that she was in love with in high school but never slept with (she was saving herself for marriage at the time). So when Kathy learns that Tom is living in Denver, and Emily will be going there on business soon, she asks Emily for a very big favor: find Tom, seduce him, and then give her a full report on what she's been wondering about these 15 years since graduation. The Favor was filmed in 1991 but went unreleased until 1994, after A River Runs Through It and Legends of the Fall had made fourth-billed Brad Pitt a box-office draw. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Harley Jane Kozak, Elizabeth McGovern, (more)
- 1994
In this chilling thriller, a woman living in Seattle finds herself plagued with visions of a murder that occurred in the 1920s and realizes that the victim was her in an earlier lifetime. She becomes desperate to learns all the details of that death when it becomes apparent that history seems determined to repeat itself. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lisa Hartman, Ken Wahl, (more)
- 1991
- R
Football hero Boomer Hayes (Ken Wahl) finds he is in the middle of a looting scheme in this non-stop actioner. Billionaire and owner of LA's pro football team, Bat Masterson (Robert Davi), has arranged a fake toxic chemical spill to provide an opportune situation for his group of ex-cops to plunder an evacuated community in Beverly Hills. Surprised by the state of things when he comes out of the bathroom, Boomer soon grasps the opponent's play and takes it upon his able-bodied self to tackle the situation. Luckily, he not only has the support of his girlfriend, Laura (Harley Jane Kozak), but ex-cop and bad-turned-to-good guy Ed (Matt Frewer) also decides to play on the home-team. With a plethora of explosions and stunts, it shows how the heroes semi-effectively defend their lush neighborhood. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ken Wahl, Harley Jane Kozak, (more)
- 1987
Jack Corbett (Ken Wahl) is a journalist who takes to the bottle after a series of setbacks. When his daughter Jessie (Nicole Eggert) is kidnapped during a liquor store robbery, he calls on LAPD Detective Milnor (Doug McClure) for help. When Milnor's efforts prove ineffective, Jack calls on his friend and former Vietnam veteran Phil (George DiCenzo) to seek vengeance in this routine action thriller. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ken Wahl, George DiCenzo, (more)
In this made-for-TV movie, a young Los Angeles man is killed by a drunken driver and his brother attempts to avenge his death by ridding the streets of dangerous drivers. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi
- 1985
The first of two feature-length television sequels that continue the saga of the 1967 original, this outing finds two individuals (Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine) forced to lead a suicide mission behind enemy lines. This time, they head into Germany to thwart an unbelievable plot to assassinate Hitler. ~ John Bush, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, (more)
- 1984
- R
This tale of doomed romance set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War was the last in a string of box office disappointments from director Sidney J. Furie before he struck gold again with Iron Eagle (1986). Ken Wahl stars as Dr. Don Jardian, a Navy medical officer assigned to duty in Vietnam. Jardian is no flag-waving patriot, however; the reluctant warrior is just biding his time until he can return stateside and start a lucrative private practice. Then he meets and falls in love with Deborah Solomon (Cheryl Ladd), a devoted nurse who at first keeps the handsome doctor at bay, disgusted by the avariciousness that led him to choose what Deborah considers a noble profession. Eventually, however, Deborah's selflessness inspires Don and their romance blooms despite their bloody surroundings, leading to a dangerous mission that could separate them forever. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ken Wahl, Cheryl Ladd, (more)
Jinxed is an apt name for this disastrous project which, sadly, turned out to be Don Siegel's final film. The film takes place in Reno, where blackjack dealer Willie Brodax (Ken Wahl) becomes an innocent victim of a broken-down gambler named Harold Benson (Rip Torn). Such is Willie's luck that when he sees Benson sit down at his blackjack table, he realizes that he will soon be out of a job. Benson is also giving his girlfriend Bonita Friml (Bette Midler) a difficult time. When she notices Willie and sees how Bensen is putting him through the wringer, she begins to fall for him and gets him involved in a scheme to kill her boyfriend. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bette Midler, Ken Wahl, (more)
- 1982
- R
Soviets steal a cache of plutonium leaving one rogue super CIA agent to steal it back and save the world. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ken Wahl, Klaus Kinski, (more)
- 1981
Back in the USA is a penny-pinching exploitation flick which barely hit the theatres before it was picked up by cable and videocassette. The setting is the Everglades, where three teenagers stumble across a terrorist organization. This is excuse enough for an interminable but fitfully exciting chase through the swamps. Old B-movie hand Bradford Dillman is around to look menacing and spit out his lines through clenched teeth. Chances are Back in the USA would have sunk in the backwater bogs without a trace were it not for its future-saleable cast: Ken Wahl, Judge Reinhold, Annie McEnroe. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Paul Newman stars as an essentially decent cop patrolling that decimated, drug-and-gang-ridden borough known on the city maps as the Bronx, but known to its denizens as "Fort Apache". While Newman tries to hold on to his basic humanity and to treat even the sorriest of the people on his beat with dignity, he can't do much to convince his superiors that blind brutality is not the answer to social blight. When he witnesses fellow-cop Danny Aiello cold-bloodedly murdering a crime suspect, Newman is advised to sweep the whole incident under the rug. He refuses to do so, and as a result becomes "persona non grata" to his former friends on the force. Ed Asner co-stars as the beleaguered captain who has given up trying to treat his job as anything but a necessary evil, while Rachel Ticotin is Newman's love interest. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Paul Newman, Ed Asner, (more)
- 1981
- PG
Actor David Hemmings made one of his periodic forays into directing with the lightning-paced Race For the Yankee Zephyr. The film pits deer hunters against a group of unscrupulous businessmen. Their mutual goal is a reserve of gold, hidden somewhere in the Australian wilds. Ken Wahl and Leslie Ann Warren are the Hollywood-bred "box office insurance" in this Australian/New Zealand coproduction. Race for the Yankee Zephyr was first shown in America via pay-cable, where it carried no rating but was preceded with a warning vis-a-vis violence and strong language. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
The year 1979 saw an epidemic of American street-gang films, including Phil Kaufman's hit period drama The Wanderers. Set in the Bronx in 1963, the film concerns the titular gang of Italian-American teens and their ongoing power struggle with the rival "Fordham Baldies." Richard Price, upon whose novel this film was based, drew from his own experiences to weave his tale. Essentially a series of anecdotes-some tension-filled, some amusing -- The Wanderers climaxes on the occasion of the J.F.K. assassination, which for Price and hundreds and thousands of his aimless contemporaries served as a wake-up call. Viewed from the vantage point of the 1990s, one would wish that the current street gangs be shocked into adulthood with such suddenness (though not through the same tragic means). Ken Wahl, Karen Allen, and Linda Manz are among the standout performers in this richly detailed period piece. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ken Wahl, John Friedrich, (more)
- 1979
- PG
Ken Wahl and Judge Reinhold are returning from service in the Army in the Panama Canal Zone. Reinhold kept a few Army-issue items, including a camera. He takes an aerial photo to check out the camera, unknowingly photographing a secret base to be used in the Bay of Pigs operation. Authorities find the negatives when they land and suspect the two to be spies, and the chase is on. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Ken Wahl, John Saxon, (more)
Clint Eastwood's first comedy feature proved to be one of his most profitable vehicles. Eastwood plays Philo Beddoe, a bare-knuckle boxer who travels from fight to fight in a beat-up truck, accompanied by his "pal" Clyde, a orangutan with a mean right hook, and his human buddy Orville (Geoffrey Lewis). During a stopover, Philo meets and falls in love with would-be country & western singer Lynn Halsey-Taylor (Sondra Locke). After a while, she wants to break off the relationship, but he doesn't -- a shaky plot peg upon which to hang several reels' worth of zany car chases and confrontations with such opponents as a gang of bikers and a battalion of hostile lawmen. Adding to the fun is Ruth Gordon as Eastwood's don't-mess-with-me octogenarian mother, and Beverly D'Angelo as an ace sharpshooter. The enormous box-office success of Every Which Way But Loose yielded an equally wacky -- and equally lucrative -- sequel, Any Which Way You Can. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, (more)
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