Burt Bacharach Movies
During his heyday in the mid-to-late 1960s, American composer and songwriter Burt Bacharach wrote many popular tunes for Broadway and films. Many of these songs such as "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head," and "What the World Needs Now" have become American standards. He is the son of syndicated newspaper columnist, Bert Bacharach. After receiving professional training, Bacharach served in Korea as a concert pianist in the Army. After his military stint, he became a professional accompanist for such entertainers as Vic Damone, Joel Grey, and Polly Bergen, but he did not really get his big break until he began working as the conductor-arranger for Marlene Dietrich, on her world concert tour, while simultaneously penning songs for Broadway musicals and films. Bacharach's songs during the '60s and early '70s are distinguished for their complex, highly syncopated rhythms and clever lyrics. Many of them were made popular by Dionne Warwick and Jack Jones. He won two Academy Awards in 1969 for the soundtrack for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and for the song Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head from the same film. Many of his tunes were written with lyricist Hal David. Though not as popular as he once was, Bacharach continues to score films and has also established a career as a solo entertainer and performs concerts and in nightclubs all over the country. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1969
- PG
- Add Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to Queue Add Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to top of Queue
Opening with a silent "movie" of Butch Cassidy's Hole in the Wall Gang, George Roy Hill's comically elegiac Western chronicles the mostly true tale of the outlaws' last months. Witty pals Butch (Paul Newman) and Sundance (Robert Redford) join the Gang in successfully robbing yet another train with their trademark non-lethal style. After the pair rests at the home of Sundance's schoolmarm girlfriend, Etta (Katharine Ross), the Gang robs the same train, but this time, the railroad boss has hired the best trackers in the business to foil the crime. After being tailed over rocks and a river gorge by guys that they can barely identify save for a white hat, Butch and Sundance decide that maybe it's time to try their luck in Bolivia. Taking Etta with them, they live high on ill-gotten Bolivian gains, but Etta leaves after their white-hatted nemesis portentously arrives. Their luck running out, Butch and Sundance are soon holed up in a barn surrounded by scores of Bolivian soldiers who are waiting for the pair to make one last run for it. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
- Starring:
- Paul Newman, Robert Redford, (more)
Retired after years of international espionage, Agent 007 is lured back into action to battle the evil spy organization SMERSH in this notoriously incoherent parody of the James Bond films. David Niven portrays the aging Bond, who atypically rejects the advances of a variety of women, and agrees to battle SMERSH's hold on the lavish Casino Royale only after organization head M is murdered. Also mixed up in the affair are several other secret agents, all named James Bond, played by everyone from Peter Sellers and Woody Allen to a chimpanzee. Despite a star-studded cast, a large production budget, and a hit score by Burt Bacharach, the film was universally panned as a muddled, overlong failure, with the occasional amusing sequence lost in the unintelligible surroundings. The participation of several screenwriters and five different directors, including John Huston, only adds to the confusion. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Ursula Andress, (more)
With Peter Sellers as star, Neil Simon as screenwriter, and Vittorio DeSica as director, how could After the Fox miss? Miss it did, however--though the film, patchy and inconsistent though it might be, definitely has its moments. Sellers plays an Italian master thief who can't seem to stay out of jail. His latest scheme involves moving $3 million worth of stolen gold bullion from Cairo to Rome. To cover his tracks, Sellers pretends to be a "nouvelle vague" movie director, filming a crime picture. Britt Ekland, Mrs. Sellers at the time, plays his movie-struck sister. The film is effortlessly stolen by Victor Mature, who is unbearably funny as a vainglorious hasbeen Hollywood star. Director DeSica shows up in the film as "himself"-at least until all his camera equipment is stolen by Sellers and his partner-in-crime Akim Tamiroff. Never as hilarious as it should have been, After the Fox nonetheless manages a few isolated belly laughs. Outside of Mature's performance, our favorite bit in the film is the final gag: "Ze wrong man has escaped!" ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Britt Ekland, (more)
Michael Caine's first starring role was a foray into dramatic irony, scripted by Bill Naughton from his novel and play. Alfie (Caine) is a charming, rogueish Cockney who cannot get his fill of women. He uses them without shame or malice, jumping from one promiscuous female's bed to another without much thought or feeling. Of course, Alfie's not as carefree as he would have the audience -- to whom he often speaks directly -- think: he treats his pregnant, common-law wife, Gilda (Julia Foster), quite shabbily, and has an affair with a married woman (Vivien Merchant) that leaves her pregnant, for which Alfie arranges an abortion. In the end, Alfie never finds lasting meaning or pleasure but remains an unrepentant, if low-class, Don Juan. Caine was Oscar-nominated for his performance. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi
- Starring:
- Michael Caine, Shelley Winters, (more)
A notorious womanizer, fashion editor Michael James (Peter O'Toole) decides to seek the help of a psychiatrist when he begins to feel that his inability to commit to a relationship is adversely affecting his personal life. Desperate to remain faithful to his fiancée Carole (Romy Schneider), Michael enlists the help of Dr. Fassbinder (Peter Sellers), blissfully unaware that as Dr. Fassbinder is making the moves on a patient who secretly longs for the seemingly irresistible Michael. As Michael and Carole check into the Chateau Chantelle in hopes of patching up their relationship, Dr. Fassbinder has also arrived at the Chateau in hopes of finally cementing his relationship with the comely patient. As the two couples check into the hotel, disaster looms just beyond the bend in a series of hilarious mishaps that will test both Michael's faithfulness and Dr. Fassbinder's sanity. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Peter O'Toole, (more)
- 1964
A woman has to choose between the rich man she wants and the bohemian type who loves her in this comedy. Michele O'Brien (Leslie Caron) is a young widow raising a baby in Greenwich Village. She's decided that her child needs a father, and she determines that her best bet as a prospective mate is Dr. Phillip Brock (Robert Cummings), a well-heeled child psychologist. The only trouble is, Phillip doesn't like children very much, so Michele tries to keep her baby a secret from him. Michele's upstairs neighbor, Harley Rummell (Warren Beatty), is in love with her and is more than happy to baby-sit; however, Harley makes his living shooting nudie films in his flat, and when the baby begins making cameo appearances in the films, Michele starts wondering if Harley might be a bad influence on the tyke. William Peter Blatty, later to write the best-selling novel The Exorcist, penned the screenplay. Keep an eye peeled for a young Donald Sutherland in a bit part. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Warren Beatty, Leslie Caron, (more)
Light and laugh-filled, Send Me No Flowers is typical Rock Hudson and Doris Day fare. George (Hudson) is a hypochondriac married to Judy (Day) in this marital comedy. When George goes to visit the doctor, he overhears two doctors talking about a diagnosis of a terminally ill patient. George believes they are talking about him and that he is doomed to die. He recruits his friend Arnold (Tony Randall) to find a new husband for Judy. Judy thinks George is covering up for an illicit affair and throws him out of the house. George locates Judy's old college flame Bert (Clint Walker), now a Texas oil millionaire. Excellent performances by Edward Andrews as Dr. Morrissey and Paul Lynde as the aggressive cemetery-plot salesman help this feature along. Although not as solid as the Day/Hudson pairing in Pillow Talk or Lover Come Back, Send Me No Flowers is still a good romantic comedy. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Rock Hudson, Doris Day, (more)
- 1962
The trilogy on Franz Josef, Emperor of Austria and his queen Empress Elizabeth by director Ernest Marischka has been cut and spliced to make this interesting though slow-paced, two and a half-hour compilation costume drama. The tale starts out with the courtship of the future queen, known as "Sissi" (Romy Schneider, who made her screen debut in the first of the three dramas), an attractive and lively young woman. After Franz Josef (Karl Boehm) falls in loves and captures Sissi's heart, they plan their wedding and head into the topic of the second feature in the series, the coronation of Franz Josef in Budapest. Finally, Sissi is shown as being instrumental in helping to keep the peace -- or obtain it -- among the belligerent nations of Europe. The original titles of each of the three separate dramas were Sissi, Sissi, die Junge Kaiserin, and Sissi, Schicksalsjahre Einer Kaiserin. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Romy Schneider, Carl Boehm, (more)
In his first starring role, Steve McQueen plays a typical oversexed, car-lovin' highschooler who can't get anyone to believe his story about a huge meteor, which crashes to earth and begins exuding a pink, gooey substance. Affixing itself to the body of an old man, the "blob" begins parasitically sucking the life out of several unfortunate humans, growing to an enormous size. Problem is, the disappearances of the victims can all be explained (one is supposed to be out of town, another is attending a convention), so the cops still won't believe McQueen or his girlfriend Aneta Corsaut (the future Helen Crump of The Andy Griffith Show). Rallying his teen pals, McQueen finally manages to get the adults' attention-but by now, the Blob is consuming entire city blocks. In 1972, the sequel Beware the Blob followed. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Steve McQueen, Aneta Corsaut, (more)
- 1957
In his second solo starring film after breaking with Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis plays cartoonist George Baker's classic GI misfit The Sad Sack. Lewis' constitutional inability to do anything right brings him under the scrutiny of gorgeous Army psychiatrist Phyllis Kirk. She discovers that Lewis possesses a photographic memory, making him valuable enough to be transferred to a top secret assignment in Morocco. Assigned along with buddies David Wayne and Joe Mantell to guard a new weapon, Lewis deviates from his task when he falls in love with sexy nightclub performer Lilliane Montevecchi. She spurns him, so the heartbroken Lewis deserts the army and joins the Foreign Legion. When enemy spy Peter Lorre discovers that Lewis has memorized the assembly instructions for the secret weapon, he and his minions kidnap Lewis, Wayne and Mantell. With the help of Montevecchi, Lewis thwarts the baddies and becomes a hero--but within minutes, he's fouled up again, so it's back to permanent KP duty. Jerry Lewis still needed a straight-man foil at the time of The Sad Sack so Paramount provided him with David Wayne and Joe Mantell. By the time Geisha Boy rolled around in 1958, Lewis was finally able to carry a picture by himself. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jerry Lewis, David Wayne, (more)
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