Scott Wilson Movies
Menacingly handsome American actor Scott Wilson was chosen for his first important film role in In Cold Blood (1967) because of his chilling resemblance to real-life murderer Dick Hickok. In Cold Blood helped to revitalize the career of Wilson's costar Robert Blake, but Wilson found himself typecast as sociopaths for the next few years. In The Great Gatsby (1974), for example, Wilson portrays the cuckolded garage owner who ends up shooting Gatsby (Robert Redford) in the latter's expensive swimming pool. Since then, Scott Wilson has alternated between likeable and hissable in such films as The Right Stuff (1981), The Aviator (1984) and On the Line (1987). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1973
- PG
Petty jealousies and misunderstandings between two rival families escalate into a tragic outburst of violence in this drama. Laban Feather (Rod Steiger) is the patriarch of a family of Tennessee moonshiners, brewing corn liquor with the help of his sons: Thrush (Scott Wilson), Zack (Jeff Bridges), Hawk (Ed Lauter), and Finch (Randy Quaid). The chief rivals of the Feather Family have long been the Gutshalls, another Tennessee clan who sell illegal alcohol; the Gutshalls are led by father Pap (Robert Ryan), with the help of his boys Ludie (Kiel Martin), Seb (Gary Busey), and Villum (Paul Koslo). While fighting for their share of the market in white lightning, the Feathers and the Gutshalls have also feuded over a piece of land that each side believes is rightfully theirs. Hoping to create internal friction amongst the Feather siblings, Ludie Gutshall mails a postcard from the non-existent "Lolly-Madonna" to the Feather home and allows the brothers to puzzle over who has attracted her attentions. The prank begins to turn ugly when Thrush and Hawk kidnap Roonie Gill (Season Hubley), a woman passing through town en route to meet her fiancée, believing that she's the "Lolly Madonna" they've heard about. Lolly-Madonna XXX was based on a novel by Sue Grafton entitled The Lolly-Madonna War, and was also released under that title. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rod Steiger, Robert Ryan, (more)
Joseph Wambaugh's best-seller about patrol-car cops in urban Los Angeles is given a competent yet antiseptic treatment by director Richard Fleischer. The film has a bad-tasting us-versus-them mentality in its depiction of patrolmen-civilian interaction, and its hopeless atmosphere carries over into the bleak suicide of one of the principle characters. But behind its rancid veneer, the story is the old "B"-movie police story concerning a rookie cop being shown the ropes by a kindly and wizened old veteran. Roy (Stacy Keach) is the young patrolman introduced into the ways of Los Angeles street life by Kilvinsky (George C. Scott), the philosophical old pro. Kilvinsky is just short of retirement and wants to educate Roy to succeed him when he leaves. Roy, however, is on the edge because of a recent divorce, and it takes many speeches by Kilvinsky and the love and affection from his new black girlfriend Lorrie (Rosalind Cash) to keep from going over the deep end. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George C. Scott, Stacy Keach, (more)
The Grissom Gang is a remake of the notorious 1949 British melodrama No Orchids for Miss Blandish. Kim Darby plays a 1920s-era debutante who is kidnapped and held for ransom. Her captors are the Grissoms, a family comprised of sadists and morons, and headed by Ma Barker clone Irene Dailey. One of the Grissoms, played by Scott Wilson, takes a liking to his prisoner, which results in a bloody breakdown of the family unit. Both The Grissom Gang and the original No Orchids for Miss Blandish were inspired by the best-seller by James Hadley Chase, though neither film retains Chase's original ending. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kim Darby, Scott Wilson, (more)
This decidedly different war movie follows Maj. Abraham Falconer (Burt Lancaster), a tired, one-eyed Army officer, as he leads eight men into Belgium where they hope to take a much-needed rest at a 10th century castle. The master of the house, Henri Tixier (Jean-Pierre Aumont), welcomes them with a surprising degree of enthusiasm. Tixier is married to his young niece, Therese (Astrid Heeren), and the couple would like to have a child, but since Tixier is impotent, he has been unable to father one. He encourages Falconer to see if he can have better luck with Therese. The men under Falconer's command have more than a few escapades of their own, as Sgt. Rossi (Peter Falk) seduces the wife of a local baker, an art historian among them tries to protect the treasures of the castle, and a car buff becomes fascinated by his first encounter with a Volkswagen. Amidst the surreal fun and games at the castle, the soldiers make the most of their well-deserved vacation until an invasion of German troops puts them back on the firing line. Directed by Sydney Pollack, Castle Keep was based on a novel by William Eastlake. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Lancaster, Patrick O'Neal, (more)
John Frankenheimer directed this low-key drama about three men who stage a sky-diving thrill show and what happens when they roll into a small town in Kansas. Mike Rettig (Burt Lancaster) is the oldest of the group and more than a bit jaded; Joe Browdy (Gene Hackman) is the fast-talking MC who knows how to work the crowd; and Malcolm Webson (Scott Wilson) is the rookie of the group. When they get a job performing in Bridgeport, Kansas, Malcolm arranges for them to stay at the home of his Uncle John (William Windom) and Aunt Elizabeth (Deborah Kerr). John and Elizabeth's marriage has seen better days; they've grown apart from each other, and when Elizabeth meets Mike, a spark of passion catches fire between them which neither can fully control. The two fall into an affair, making love one night in the living room, not caring that John is watching them. However, this relationship does not bring Mike out of his depression and leads to a shocking incident at the group's next show. The Gypsy Moths marked the first time Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr had worked together since their memorable pairing in From Here to Eternity (1953). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Lancaster, Deborah Kerr, (more)
Richard Brooks wrote and directed this stark black-and-white (with brilliantly evocative cinematography by Conrad Hall) study of two drifters who murder a family, based on Truman Capote's non-fiction novel In Cold Blood. The film takes place in Holcomb, Kansas, where four members of the Herbert Clutter family are roused from their sleep and brutally murdered. The killers, Perry Smith (Robert Blake) and Dick Hickock (Scott Wilson), are two ex-cons who plan to rob the Clutters of $10,000 kept in a safe in their home. But Dick and Perry find no safe and no $10,000 and end up leaving the murder scene with only $43. The police, led by Alvin Dewey (John Forsythe) of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, try to track down the killers. Meanwhile, Dick and Perry take off to Mexico, where Perry has fantasies of prospecting for gold. But when his dreams of prospecting come to naught, Dick insists that they return to the United States. Confident that they have left no clues, they cash bad checks, and the police track them down in Las Vegas. During questioning, their alibis are broken when they are separated and tell conflicting stories. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Blake, Scott Wilson, (more)
The winner of the 1967 Oscar for Best Picture (as well as four other Oscars), In the Heat of the Night is set in a small Mississippi town where an unusual murder has been committed. Rod Steiger plays sheriff Bill Gillespie, a good lawman despite his racial prejudices. When Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier), a well-dressed northern African-American, comes to town, Gillespie instinctively puts him under arrest as a murder suspect. Tibbs reveals himself to be a Philadelphia police detective; after he and Gillespie come to a grudging understanding of one another, Tibbs offers to help in Gillespie's investigation. As the case progresses, both Gillespie and Tibbs betray a tendency to jump to culture-dictated conclusions. Still, the case is solved thanks to the informal teamwork of the two law officers. Based on the novel by John Ball, In the Heat of the Night inspired two sequels, both starring Poiter as Virgil Tibbs. In 1987, a TV series version of In the Heat of the Night appeared, with Carroll O'Connor as Gillespie and Howard Rollins as Tibbs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, (more)
