Shelley Winters

Film director George Cukor (1899-1983) gets the American Masters treatment in this documentary from the acclaimed PBS series. Few directors from Hollywood's Golden Age can match the list of Cukor's achievements, which included What Price Hollywood, David Copperfield, Camille, Holiday, The Philadelphia Story, The Women, A Double Life, Adam's Rib, Born Yesterday, Pat and Mike, and the 1954 version of A Star Is Born, essentially the same story as What Price Hollywood. Even after the studio system broke up, Cukor continued making films right into the 1980s, though their quality began to vary widely. He did win his first and only Oscar in 1965 for My Fair Lady, though in retrospect, that film is not in the first rank of his filmography. Cukor's reputation in Hollywood was as a ladies' director, and few filmmakers can match his track record for drawing superb performances from actresses. The film does address the subtext of that reputation, Cukor's homosexuality, which was well-known in Hollywood during his lifetime, though not openly discussed in his public interviews. It allegedly led to his dismissal from directing Gone With the Wind after star Clark Gable insisted on having him replaced. Cukor was also one of the film community's most genial hosts, his dinner parties bringing together the most glamorous denizens of Hollywood. Both critics and historians, including Jeanine Basinger, David Denby, Richard Schickel, and Peter Bogdanovich, attest to Cukor's importance in motion pictures, and several of his collaborators and friends, including Angela Lansbury, Jack Lemmon, Mia Farrow, Fay Kanin, Shelley Winters, and Claire Bloom, offer insights into his working methods. Jean Simmons narrates. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide

In the comic fable Gideon, the residents of the Lakeview Retirement Home are drifting through their final years with quiet dissatisfaction. A former cook (Carrol O'Connor) can't stand the food, a former fighter (Mike Connors) wishes he could still box, a one-time philosophy professor (Charlton Heston) has no one to discuss life's issues with, and a long-time artist (Shirley Jones) isn't allowed to paint the way she likes. Then one day Gideon (Christopher Lambert), younger than the rest but suffering from mental retardation, joins the group. While Gideon's I.Q. is lower than the other residents, his people skills are unusually keen, and his simple yet profound outlook on life soon gives everyone a new lease on life and makes the days something to look forward to again. Christopher Lambert co-produced as well as starring in the title role. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Roseanne misses Dan, so she visits Nana Mary (Shelley Winters) with Leon (Martin Mull) and Scott (Fred Willard). Nana Mary (Shelley Winters) tells stories about her rebellious past and leaves everyone with very sound advice. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Two aspiring young rockers in love with each other, try to make it into Colin Gramercy's upcoming show. Gramercy is not only a major star, he is also the celebrity spokesperson for the World Unity Coalition, a front for a wicked, subversive organization. The girl, Lila, is chosen for a back-up singer. This low-budget hodgepodge of film genres, chronicles her exploits. Soon after she is chosen her boy friend Chris' grandmother suddenly begins having terrifying prescient dreams about the organization. Demons begin to attack her and she dies of a coronary, but not before she begs psychic, powerful Sister Kate to watch over Chris and Lila, who are both in terrible danger. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This character drama, set in a local pub in rural New York State, focuses on the lives, thoughts, and emotions of a group of social outcasts. The lead misfit is Victor, a shy and very rotund man in his '30s who works as a pizza maker in a roadside inn. His mother, Dolly owns the establishment. She dominates his life. The senior waitress there is Dolores, an aging woman with a reputation for being easy. Dolores is resentful when Dolly hires the vivacious teenager Callie, who is in love with Jeff, a garage mechanic. Victor develops a painful crush on Callie and fantasizes about rescuing her from a life with Jeff. To help himself, he begins to diet and enrolls at a chef school. His mother becomes suddenly ill. Then Delores makes a pass at him, but he doesn't respond. He does however, feel emboldened to make a play for Callie. His actions lead him into a new world of expression. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Backfire! aspires to the tradition of Jim Abrams and brothers Jerry and David Zucker with this chaotic spoof of Ron Howard's Backdraft (1991). Set in New York, the story centers on the attempts of Jeremy Jackson to join the city's all-female fire department. Finally making it onto the force, he finds himself constantly victimized by his curvaceous but concrete tough colleagues. Meanwhile, someone begins setting toilets ablaze all over the Big Apple. Fire Marshal Marshall investigates. Back at the firehouse, Jackson encounters his former sweetheart, Jessica Luvintryst, a close personal secretary of the Mayor. Matters heat up when Jackson accidentally discovers that the bathroom arsonist is using jet fuel to burn his bowls. This clue in turn leads Jackson and company to the mysterious Most Evil Man, a villain behind a horrific plan. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this suspenseful mystery, two rival sisters vie for the love of a powerful businessman. One of them ends up murdered and then the real trouble begins. The story is based on a best-seller by Mary Higgins Clark. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A baseball-capped Shelley Winters guest stars as Roseanne's grandmother, Nana Mary, for a Mother's Day barbecue. By the end of it, the Conners wish Nana Mary lived with them. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Bev (Estelle Parsons) and Nana Mary (Shelley Winters) visit the Conners for Thanksgiving dinner. Roseanne and Jackie don't believe Bev's story about their dad being sick and they end up learning the truth about the fate of their parents' marriage. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

This video is a close-up of Marilyn Monroe as seen by some of those who knew her best. The award-winning program is filled with memories as told by her friends and fellow actors, including Celeste Holm, Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Susan Strasberg, and Josh Logan. Clips from her best moments in movies are shown, along with seldom-seen home movies and rare footage of the famous, but lonely actress. Richard Widmark provides narration. ~ Alice Day, All Movie Guide

In this film, sisters Frances and Evelyn McEllany (Patricia Neal and Shelley Winters) are two older women who have put aside their differences to set up a comfortable life together. However, when shy, retiring Frances falls in love with an Asian mechanic (Mako), her stuffy, intolerant sister falls into a rage that threatens to destroy their relationship. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Menahem Golan melds a Chuck Norris action spectacle with the disaster film genre in The Delta Force. The story is based upon the June, 1985 hijacking of a TWA jet, where passengers were held at gun-point by terrorists in Beirut, Lebanon. The film re-enacts various real life incidents from the crisis -- an American serviceman is beaten to death, a terrorist holds a gun to the pilot's head as the pilot is being questioned by reporters -- while depicting the tension aboard the plane and the agony of the passengers, held under the threat of death by the terrorists. The Delta Force, a crack anti-terrorist commando group, is preparing to rescue the passengers. Colonel Nick Alexander (Lee Marvin) is the grizzled commander of the task force; his best soldier is Major Scott McCoy (Chuck Norris), who was planning to retire but is called back into action for one last heroic stand against terrorism. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide