Paul Anka Movies
Pop singer Paul Anka was a successful teenage heartthrob of the late '50s and early '60s. His life was chronicled in the 1962 documentary Lonely Boy (1962). Occasionally, Anka plays small roles in feature films. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Chuck Berry: Maybellene, a part of the Songs That Changed the World series, details how the legendary rock single fused styles in order to create a sound that provided the blueprint for much of the rock and roll that followed. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- 1958
Singer Julius LaRosa, whose greatest fame lies in the fact that he was fired on the air by radio-TV personality Arthur Godfrey, heads the cast of the near-plotless musicfest Let's Rock. LaRosa plays a top recording star who suffers a dip in popularity when rock-n-roll becomes the national craze. With the help of girlfriend Phyllis Newman, LaRosa is able to recapture his audience by adjusting to the "new sound." Forget the plot: this the film in which Danny and the Juniors perform their hit single "At the Hop" and the Royal Teens participate in a production-number version of their smash "Short Shorts". And besides, who couldn't love a film which offers not only Paul Anka and Della Reese, but also the legendary Wink Martindale!!! Let's Rock was later reissued as Keep It Cool. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julius LaRosa, Phyllis Newman, (more)
- 1959
Three Murderesses stars Alain Delon as a French playboy who gets more than he bargained for when he begins romancing three women at once. All three ladies (Mylene Demongeot, Pascale Petit and Jacqueline Sassard) are sisters, of wildly divergent personalities. Eventually all three tire of Delon toying with their emotions and plot a wry revenge. Director Michel Boisrone can't completely avoid the healthy vulgarity that is his trademark, but Three Murderesses strives to please without unduly offending. Released in France in 1957 as Faibles Femmes, Three Murderesses was initially distributed in the US under the title Women are Weak. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mylène Demongeot, Pascale Petit, (more)
- 1959
Director Samuel Fuller skillfully intercuts footage of the German death camps with scenes from this thought-provoking drama about a forbidden, post-war love affair. David (James Best) is a G.I. stationed in Germany with the American Military Government. He falls in love with Helga (Susan Cummings), a young German woman, and she reciprocates his feelings. But their romance is not condoned by either culture and made all the more difficult because a troublesome gang of neo-Nazis is on the rampage, killing, stealing, and helping war criminals evade capture. Helga's younger brother is a member of the gang who suddenly breaks down when he attends the Nuremburg trials and sees footage on the death camps. That changes his mind and he is ready to help the American military, and maybe the relationship between his sister and David as well. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Best, Susan Cummings, (more)
- 1959
This sexually explicit, low-budget film makes no pretensions about being anything other than offensive. There is no plot since none is especially necessary. Director Charles Haas (his last film was the following year), opens with a scene of sexually active men and women at a party. Then one of these women, Silver Morgan (Mamie Van Doren), is mistakenly accused of a crime and sent to an institution, run by Catholic nuns, for wayward young women. As it turns out, the inmates in the institution actually run it through sadistic means. One of them is even more seriously mentally disturbed than the others, and so the nuns welcome her as a novitiate, making even a non-Catholic viewer grimace. The content of this story, such as it is, is made all the worse by an accompanying disregard of the craft of filmmaking. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mamie van Doren, Mel Tormé, (more)
- 1961
The only film directed by sometime actor and producer William Alland, Look in Any Window is an uninspired melodrama that relied on the star power of teen heartthrob Paul Anka to attract the younger set when it was released in 1961. Anka plays Craig Fowler, a disturbed kid whose main pleasure and pursuit in life is donning a mask and peeking into windows in his neighborhood. Craig's missing pistons are attributed to his dysfunctional family; his mother (Ruth Roman) favors the bottle over him, and his parents' marriage has gone down the tubes. As a host of unsavory characters wanders in and out of his life, it is obvious that Craig has a few reasons for being slightly wacko. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Anka, Ruth Roman, (more)
- 1961
This parody of Genesis caused an uproar before and during its release (the final version was reworked and cut) though its routine or worse cinematic level would not encourage large audiences. The story begins with a busload of men and women with hang-ups in the romance department, all heading for Reno. A sudden rainstorm brings on flooding, and the passengers have to hole up in a church. That setting, apparently, suggests the skewed "dream" of Genesis that follows. The Catholic Legion of Decency gave this film a Condemned rating. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mickey Rooney, Mamie van Doren, (more)
The Longest Day is a mammoth, all-star re-creation of the D-Day invasion, personally orchestrated by Darryl F. Zanuck. Whenever possible, the original locations were utilized, and an all-star international cast impersonates the people involved, from high-ranking officials to ordinary GIs. Each actor speaks in his or her native language with subtitles translating for the benefit of the audience (alternate "takes" were made of each scene with the foreign actors speaking English, but these were seen only during the first network telecast of the film in 1972). The stars are listed alphabetically, with the exception of John Wayne, who as Lt. Colonel Vandervoort gets separate billing. Others in the huge cast include Eddie Albert, Jean-Louis Barrault, Richard Burton, Red Buttons, Sean Connery, Henry Fonda, Gert Frobe, Curt Jurgens, Peter Lawford, Robert Mitchum, Kenneth More, Edmond O'Brien, Robert Ryan, Jean Servais, Rod Steiger and Robert Wagner. Paul Anka, who wrote the film's title song, shows up as an Army private. Scenes include the Allies parachuting into Ste. Mere Englise, where the paratroopers were mowed down by German bullets; a real-life sequence wherein the German and Allied troops unwittingly march side by side in the dark of night; and a spectacular three-minute overhead shot of the troops fighting and dying in the streets of Quistreham. The last major black-and-white road-show attraction, The Longest Day made millions, enough to recoup some of the cost of 20th Century Fox's concurrently produced Cleopatra. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, (more)
- 1972
Based on Franz Xaver Kroetz's play, which is in turn based on a true story, this film by Rainer Werner Fassbinder tells the story of a very young girl who, after persuading a local boy to become her lover, induces the lad to kill her father, whose incestuous sexual attentions to her have grown unbearable. The site they choose for this deed, which gives its name to the film, is a wild-game crossing. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1972
Outtakes and stock footage from the 1970 Oscar-winner Patton were utilized to flesh out the made-for-TV Fireball Forward, which was the brainchild of Patton producer Frank McCarthy. Ben Gazzara plays a fictional American general obviously patterned on "Old Blood And Guts". Gazzara suspects that there's a Nazi sympathizer in his ranks, and dedicates himself to ferreting out the traitor. One thing Fireball Forward has that Patton didn't is a romantic interest; Anne Francis plays the girl Worth Fighting For. Scripted by Edmund H. North (another Patton) alumnus, Fireball Forward, which first aired March 5, 1972, was the 2-hour pilot for an unsold television series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Gazzara, Ricardo Montalban, (more)
- 1974
Series star Telly Savalas makes his directorial debut in this episode, which features a surprising characterization by the multitalented Paul Anka. Eschewing his established "nice guy" image, Anka is cast as Buddy Maus, a slimy police informer with mob aspirations. Throughout the episode, Maus callously exploits his main police contact, detective Sam Colucci (Richard Romanus), to climb ever upward in the criminal world. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Burt Lancaster stars as Lou, an aging mob flunkey, barely making a living in Atlantic City. Susan Sarandon plays Sally, a casino croupier whose husband Dave (Robert Joy) steals a large supply of drugs from the mob. When he is killed, the narcotics pass to the unwilling Sally. Lou, in the midst of longtime affair with middle-aged gangster's widow Grace (Kate Reid), falls for the much younger Sally, becoming her savior by killing the mob thugs sent to shut her up. The killings serve a therapeutic value for Lou, proving that he hasn't lost his old panache. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Lancaster, Susan Sarandon, (more)
- 1985
In this holiday film, featuring songs by Paul Anka, George discovers that his Christmas tree lacks a brilliant star, so he puts together a spacecraft and leaves his planet in search of one. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
No Way Out is told in flashback as Naval officer Tom Farrell (Kevin Costner) is grilled by his superiors regarding a recent "unpleasantness." While at a Washington party, Tom meets Susan Atwel (Sean Young), and they're soon sharing a steamy love scene in the back of a limo (marvelously parodied in 1993's Hot Shots! Part Deux). Several months pass before Tom meets Susan again; he discovers she's the mistress of the US Secretary of Defense David Brice (Gene Hackman). When Susan is murdered by Brice, his loyal aide (Will Patton) dutifully destroys the evidence and invents the fallacious theory that a KGB mole was responsible. Tom is assigned to locate that mole -- a perilous situation, since Tom knows that no such mole exists, but must go along with the charade since he was the last person who was seen with Susan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman, (more)
- 1989
- Add Jerry Lee Lewis: I Am What I Am to QueueAdd Jerry Lee Lewis: I Am What I Am to top of Queue
This 1987 documentary presents the life story of influential singer, songwriter, and musician Jerry Lee Lewis, whose pioneering brand of country-blues-boogie shook the world of rock & roll. Nicknamed "The Killer," and a cousin of notorious televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, Lewis displayed a prodigious eclectic musical talent, absorbing and reworking blues, gospel, Al Jolson, rockabilly, and Hank Williams. This biography features interviews with Lewis and a lineup of performing artists and celebrities including Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Roy Orbison, Dick Clark, and Mickey Gilley. Highlights include concert footage of Lewis performing some of his greatest hits, such as "Great Balls of Fire," "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," "Breathless," and "Crazy Arms." ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide
Martin Scorsese explores the life of organized crime with his gritty, kinetic adaptation of Nicolas Pileggi's best-selling Wiseguy, the true-life account of mobster and FBI informant Henry Hill. Set to a true-to-period rock soundtrack, the story details the rise and fall of Hill, a half-Irish, half-Sicilian New York kid who grows up idolizing the "wise guys" in his impoverished Brooklyn neighborhood. He begins hanging around the mobsters, running errands and doing odd jobs until he gains the notice of local chieftain Paulie Cicero (Paul Sorvino), who takes him in as a surrogate son. As he reaches his teens, Hill (Ray Liotta) is inducted into the world of petty crime, where he distinguishes himself as a "stand-up guy" by choosing jail time over ratting on his accomplices. From that moment on, he is a part of the family. Along with his psychotic partner Tommy (Joe Pesci), he rises through the ranks to become Paulie's lieutenant; however, he quickly learns that, like his mentor Jimmy (Robert DeNiro), his ethnicity prevents him from ever becoming a "made guy," an actual member of the crime family. Soon he finds himself the target of both the feds and the mobsters, who feel that he has become a threat to their security with his reckless dealings. Goodfellas was rewarded with six Academy Award nominations including Best Picture; Pesci would walk away with Best Supporting Actor for his work. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, (more)
- 1990
Each installment of An Evening With presents a performer, band, group, or other public figure in a setting aimed to please fans looking for a representative sampling of what a particular person or group of people does best. In this tape, Paul Anka performs some of his greatest hits from the stage of the Palace Theater in New Haven, CT. Performances include "My Way," "Diana," and many more from the performer's long career. ~ Rob Ferrier, All Movie Guide
- 1991
This carefully crafted, lighthearted musical tells the story of the dreams and aspirations of small-town Finnish youth in the 1960s who want to emulate the stars on the hit parade and "teeny-bopper" movies of the era and become working singers, auto racers, or models. In addition to the cast of young unknowns, the film features appearances by Paul Anka and Finnish pop stars from that period. One highlight of the film are some entirely new television commercials which gently parody those which aired on Finnish television at the time. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1991
A 6 volume rock 'n' roll video series with Volume 4 featuring artists Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, Paul Anka, Ricky Nelson, Sonny James, Elvis Presley and The Everly Brothers. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1991
In this entry in the long-running mystery series, Perry Mason must reevaluate his legal principles when an old buddy asks him to represent the gangster suspected of murdering his wife. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Raymond Burr, Paul Anka, (more)
After he inherits a yacht, Chicago businessman Martin totes his family to the Caribbean to claim it. Not having any skill at boating, he hires long-haired, one-eyed low-life Captain Ron, to pilot the heap to Miami. During the journey, the somewhat inept sailor frequently loses his way while becoming a hit with everyone in the family--except Martin. This comedy features Martin Short, Kurt Russell, Mary Kay Place, with Benjamin Salisbury and Meadow Sisto as the two children. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kurt Russell, Martin Short, (more)
The mock heavy-metal band Spinal Tap (actually comedians Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer) return to duty in this made-for-TV sequel to Rob Reiner's 1984 mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap, filmed to promote the group's album Break Like the Wind. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, (more)
