Noah Wyle Movies
Best known in the mid-'90s for playing the earnest but often fumbling Dr. John Carter on the hit television drama ER, Noah Wyle has also appeared in a few feature films, notably Swing Kids in which he played a chillingly ardent member of the Hitler Youth. The son of an electrical engineer and an orthopedic nurse, Wyle was raised in Hollywood. He attended a boarding school and, while growing up, dreamed of becoming a basketball player. Lacking the height and the necessary skill, he turned toward acting. After graduation, he had the opportunity to go to college, but turned it down in favor of studying acting with Larry Moss. Wyle supported himself by working as a busboy and gained experience on stage, a venue he dearly loves. In 1990, he landed his first television role, albeit a very small one, in the NBC miniseries Blind Faith. In 1991, he made his feature film debut as the contented son Ask in the family drama Crooked Hearts (1992). More supporting roles followed, including a turn as Sir Lancelot in Guinevere, a made-for-cable look at the famed Arthurian queen as told from a feminist perspective. In 1997, Wyle starred in the independent drama The Myth of Fingerprints as a 23-year-old who has trouble getting over a breakup with his girlfriend. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Season four of ER opens with the famous "live" episode, which was originally telecast in "you are there" documentary fashion (with two separate stagings, one each for the East and West Coasts). This episode serves to introduce a new regular, British doctor Elizabeth Corday (Alex Kingston). Within a few weeks, Elizabeth has inaugurated a romance with irascible Dr. Peter Benton (Eriq La Salle), who is presently occupied with caring for his deaf son, Reese. Another character, overachieving pediatrician Dr. Anna Del Amico (Maria Bello), graduates from recurring to regular status just in time to enter into a relationship with Dr. John Carter (Noah Wyle). Also joining the cast this season is the obnoxious, obstreperous Dr. Robert Romano (Paul McCrane), whose dislike of Dr. Corday borders on the obsessive; and Carter's fabulously wealthy grandmother, played by Frances Sternhagen. Dr. Greene (Anthony Edwards) spends much of the season trying to overcome the physical and emotional scars after being severely beaten by an unknown assailant near the end of season three. When Dr. Ross (George Clooney) heads to California to handle funeral arrangements for his ne'er-do-well father, Greene accompanies him, and along the way he endures a painful reunion with his own parents. Elsewhere, Nurse Carol Hathaway (Julianna Margulies) breaks off her rekindled romance with Ross; gruff ER head Dr. Anspaugh (John Aylward) is "humanized" by the serious illness of his son; Dr. Weaver (Laura Innes) is appointed new acting chief of emergency services, leading to a brief fling with the CEO in charge of the cost-cutting organization that has purchased Chicago County; Greene makes a bid for the position of pediatrics attending physician, causing a sharp divide between those for and against his promotion; and Benton's ex-girlfriend Jeanie (Gloria Reuben) tries to lead a normal life and career despite her AIDs. The season closes with Ross in deep trouble (again!), this time over his unauthorized treatment of a drug-addicted baby. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Noah Wyle, Anthony Edwards, (more)
Season three of ER marks the (temporary) exit of Chicago County emergency-room doctor Susan Lewis (Sherry Stringfield), whose ever-increasing emotional problems are exacerbated when her romance with Dr. Greene (Anthony Edwards) fails to take off. It also marks the begining of John Carter's (Noah Wyle) medical career, as he starts off the season now a doctor, but still low on the food chain as a first-year intern. New to the series this season are head of surgery Dr. Donald Anspaugh (John Aylward), pediatrician Dr. Abby Keaton (Glenne Headley), and oversensitive intern Dr. Dennis Gant (Omar Epps), who, unable to withstand the incessant hectoring of hard-driving supervisor Dr. Peter Benton (Eriq La Salle), commits suicide. Benton has problems on other fronts as well: Dr. Keaton dismisses him from the prestigious pediatrics team; his current girlfriend, Jeanie Boulet (Gloria Reuben), is diagnosed as HIV-positive; and his former sweetheart Carla Reese (Lisa Nicole Carson) prematurely delivers Benton's baby son, who is born deaf. Elsewhere, womanizing Dr. Ross (George Clooney) has another scandal on his hands when his latest one-night stand (whose name he doesn't even know) drops dead; unfortunately, his attempt to redeem himself by rescuing a 14-year-old prostitute from a life on the streets ends disastrously as well. Long-suffering Head Nurse Carol Hathaway (Julianna Margulies) is torn between staying in her current job and entering med school. And newly divorced Dr. Greene nervously re-enters the dating scene, even while his ongoing war of nerves with the abrasive Dr. Kerry Weaver (Laura Innes) intensifies. As the season rushes to a climax, Greene is accused of allowing a black patient to die while caring for a white patient -- and shortly afterward, he is severely beaten by an unknown assailant. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Noah Wyle, Anthony Edwards, (more)
- 1995
Part two of The One with the Two Parts is a hospital farce. Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) has to go to a doctor, but has no insurance. To alleviate the problem, Monica (Courteney Cox) and Rachel switch identities so that Rachel can use Monica's coverage. Complications ensue when the two become attracted to their doctors (guest stars George Clooney and Noah Wyle). Asked out on dates by the cute practitioners, Monica and Rachel begin to bicker over who will date who -- listing each other's worst attributes in front of the doctors. Meanwhile, Joey (Matt LeBlanc) and Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) are not getting along because Joey is still dating Phoebe's twin sister, Ursula, forgetting Phoebe's birthday -- despite the fact that the identical siblings share the same birthday. Finally, Ross (David Schwimmer) is still afraid of being a father until Marcel the Monkey swallows some Scrabble tiles and Ross has to rush him to the hospital. His ability to take care of Marcel convinces him that he can handle fatherhood. This episode originally aired on February 23, 1995. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1995
The Larry Sanders Show is celebrating its eighth anniversary, and guests k.d. lang, Pat O'Brien, Rosie O'Donnell, Mandy Patinkin, and Noah Wyle are booked for the big show. It seems that Murphy's Law is in full effect for the anniversary show, however, and in addition to O'Donnell's limo failing to arrive, it's revealed that lang and Hank (Jeffrey Tambor) have a background as feuding neighbors, while Patinkin and Wyle can't stop arguing over who has a better TV series. As if those factors weren't enough to make the anniversary show a stressful occasion, it seems as if Larry (Garry Shandling) has forgotten to take his usual bathroom break before the show. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Having all but forced its CBS medical-show competition Chicago Hope off the Thursday-night schedule, NBC's ER reigned supreme as the series entered its second season. Having wrongly assumed that he would leave Chicago County after his third year of med school, John Carter (Noah Wyle) remains on staff as a surgical sub-intern, and by and by is given a promotion; later on, he follows the example of his sexually supercharged colleagues by getting involved in a romantic triangle. Carter's short-tempered supervisor, Dr. Benton (Eriq La Salle), likewise enters into a relationship, with divorcée Jeanie Boulet (Gloria Reuben) -- who may or may not be entirely free of her troublesome ex, Al (Michael Beach). Left standing at altar by her fiancée at the end of season one, Head Nurse Carol Hathaway (Julianna Margulies) falls for Ray "Shep" Shepard (Ron Eldard), a rather reckless paramedic. And Dr. Susan Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) has become quite comfortable caring for her irresponsible sister Chloe's baby, Suzy -- until Chloe (Kathleen Wilhoite) pops up out of nowhere to demand custody. Season two marks the introduction of Laura Innes as Dr. Kerry Weaver, whose brusque, fingernails-on-the-blackboard attitude gets on everyone's nerves. In other developments, Dr. Ross (George Clooney), facing dismissal because of his maverick behavior, redeems himself by saving a boy trapped in a culvert during a torrential downpour; Shep goes over the edge when his paramedic partner is killed in a fire; and, in the season-ending cliffhanger, Benton discovers that Jeanie's former husband, Al, has infected her with the HIV virus. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Noah Wyle, Anthony Edwards, (more)
Similar to the premise of American Graffiti, this film centers on eight California high school students whose lives intersect over two nights in the hot summer of 1965. As the Watts riots begin, the young people make decisions that will impact their entire lives. Writer-director Floyd Mutrux examines at the graduating class of 1965 of Westwood High School in Los Angeles, which was featured on the cover of Look magazine in 1961. The story is narrated by the class valedictorian, Mary Beth (Lucy Deakins). Kelli Williams plays Sunshine, a prototypical flower child. Characters played by Dermot Mulroney and Rick Schroder and others struggle with decisions about the Vietnam war, aspire to be rock musicians, and take divergent paths on politics while navigating various romantic entanglements. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dermot Mulroney, Rick Schroder, (more)
This made-for-TV romance is a reworking of the legend of King Arthur's queen and tells how she forsook her real love and married Arthur in order to bring England together. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sheryl Lee, Sean Patrick Flanery, (more)
The first season of the prestigious NBC medical drama ER is seen largely through the eyes of new third-year medical student John Carter (Noah Wyle) as he tries to survive his shakedown cruise in the Emergency Room of Chicago's County General Hospital. Carter is swiftly introduced to his ill-tempered, ultra-demanding supervisor Dr. Peter Benton (Eriq La Salle), ER head Dr. Morganstern (William H. Macy), and his new co-workers, womanizing Dr. Doug Ross (George Clooney), workaholic Dr. Mark Greene (Anthony Edwards), and troubled Dr. Susan Lewis (Sherry Stringfield). Likewise appearing for the first time -- and almost the last -- is Ross' current amour, Head Nurse Carol Hathaway (Julianna Margulies), a character who was supposed to have appeared only once before committing suicide, but who proved so popular that she recovered and returned to work. The many first-season plot strands include Greene's ever-growing domestic problems with his restless wife, Jennifer (Christine Harnos), the normally ice-cold Benton's anguish over the failing health of his mother (Beah Richards), and Lewis' tribulations with her irresponsible, drug-addicted sister, Chloe (Kathleen Wilhoite), who presumptively deposits her baby at Lewis' home and disappears. Showing up in mid-season during a major medical crisis is Dr. Angela Hicks (CCH Pounder), one of the few people who can match Benton in anger and imperiousness. Another character conflict develops between Lewis and rule-bound Dr. Kayson (Sam Anderson), who first brings charges of incompetence against her -- and then tries to date her! On a more salutary note, Greene is promoted to attending physician. The Emmy award-winning episode "Love's Labor Lost" dramatized a career turning point for Greene when a misdiagnosis causes the death of an expectant mother. Shortly afterward, new ER chief William Swift (Michael Ironside) makes trouble for the staff with his eccentric approach to medicine. Also introduced is another third-year med student, Jing-Mei "Deb" Chen (Ming-Na), who enters into intense competition with Carter -- with disastrous results. Another first-season recurring character, Lewis' erstwhile boyfriend Dr. Div Cvetic (John Terry), breaks under the pressure of the ER and runs naked into the streets, never to be seen again. Worth special notice is the episode "Motherhood," directed by no less than Quentin Tarantino; and the season finale, in which the marriage between Carol Hathaway and Dr. John Taglieri (Rick Rossovich) is scuttled at the last moment, leaving poor Carol with another emotional cross to bear. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Noah Wyle, Anthony Edwards, (more)
In 1939 Hamburg, Germany, a group of teenagers express their rebellion against Adolph Hitler's Nazi regime through their affection for American swing music, British fashion, and Harlem slang. American and British big-band jazz records are among those banned by the Fuhrer, but the young men secretly get together with their friends to listen and dance to the music. As their escapades become increasingly bold, they each get into trouble with the authorities. Robert Sean Leonard stars as Peter, who ends up being forced -- by a prank -- into having to join the Hitler Youth with his friend Thomas (Christian Bale). They are both engineering students at the university, where Thomas' father was taken away for defending his Jewish colleagues. With Arvid (Frank Whaley), they pretend to be Nazi supporters by day while rebelling with the swing music by night. Kenneth Branagh, in an uncredited appearance, is a glib Nazi Gestapo chief who makes matters more difficult. Each of the boys must choose among family, safety, friendship, and freedom as politics impinges on their youthful exuberance, and the Nazis set them against one another. The movie was shot in Prague, directed by Thomas Carter from a script by Jonathan Marc Feldman, and released by Disney. Barbara Hershey appears as Peter's mother. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Sean Leonard, Christian Bale, (more)
In this military courtroom drama based on the play by Aaron Sorkin, Navy lawyer Lt. Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise) is assigned to defend two Marines, Pfc. Louden Downey (James Marshall) and Lance Cpl. Harold Dawson (Wolfgang Bodison), who are accused of the murder of fellow leatherneck Pfc. William Santiago (Michael de Lorenzo) at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Kaffee generally plea bargains for his clients rather than bring them to trial, which is probably why he was assigned this potentially embarassing case, but when Lt. Commander JoAnne Galloway (Demi Moore) is assigned to assist Kaffee, she is convinced that there's more to the matter than they've been led to believe and convinces her colleague that the case should go to court. Under questioning, Downey and Dawson reveal that Santiago died in the midst of a hazing ritual known as "Code Red" after he threatened to inform higher authorities that Dawson opened fire on a Cuban watchtower. They also state that the "Code Red" was performed under the orders of Lt. Jonathan Kendrick (Kiefer Sutherland). Kendrick's superior, tough-as-nails Col. Nathan Jessup (Jack Nicholson), denies any knowledge of the order to torture Santiago, but when Lt. Col. Matthew Markinson (J.T. Walsh) confides to Kaffee that Jessup demanded the "Code Red" for violating his order of silence, Kaffee and Galloway have to find a way to prove this in court. A Few Good Men also features Kevin Bacon as prosecuting attorney Capt. Jack Ross and Kevin Pollak as Kaffee and Galloway's research assistant, Lt. Sam Weinberg. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, (more)
Adapted from the Robert Boswell novel, the film focuses on a very troubled family beset from all sides by conflict, arguments and scandal. The father (Peter Coyote) brings his wife (Cindy Pickett) and two sons (Vincent D'Onofrio, Peter Berg) to Washington State to begin a new life, but finds that the same problems have followed them. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vincent D'Onofrio, Jennifer Jason Leigh, (more)
- 1990
Originally telecast in two parts, Blind Faith was adapted from a fact-based book by investigative author Joe McGinniss. The scene is Toms River, New Jersey; the year is 1984. Insurance salesman Rob Marshall (Robert Urich) informs the authorities that his wife Maria (Joanna Kerns) has been murdered by a band of marauding thieves. Marshall claims that he and his wife were ambushed at a remote picnic area, and for a while everyone believes the man. But further investigation leads to the conclusion that Maria was the victim of a murder conspiracy, fomented by Marshall himself in order collect his wife's insurance. The climactic trial forces Marshall's three teenaged sons to bear witness against their own father. With grim irony, Blind Faith was first broadcast just before Valentine's Day, 1990. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
