Bud Cort Movies

Although he was not the first choice to direct it, the hit black comedy MASH established Robert Altman as one of the leading figures of Hollywood's 1970s generation of innovative and irreverent young filmmakers. Scripted by Hollywood veteran Ring Lardner, Jr., this war comedy details the exploits of military doctors and nurses at a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in the Korean War. Between exceptionally gory hospital shifts and countless rounds of martinis, wisecracking surgeons Hawkeye Pierce (Donald Sutherland) and Trapper John McIntyre (Elliott Gould) make it their business to undercut the smug, moralistic pretensions of Bible-thumper Maj. Frank Burns (Robert Duvall) and Army true-believer Maj. "Hot Lips" Houlihan (Sally Kellerman). Abetted by such other hedonists as Duke Forrest (Tom Skerritt) and Painless Pole (John Schuck), as well as such (relative) innocents as Radar O'Reilly (Gary Burghoff), Hawkeye and Trapper John drive Burns and Houlihan crazy while engaging in such additional blasphemies as taking a medical trip to Japan to play golf, staging a mock Last Supper to cure Painless's momentary erectile dysfunction, and using any means necessary to win an inter-MASH football game. MASH creates a casual, chaotic atmosphere emphasizing the constant noise and activity of a surgical unit near battle lines; it marked the beginning of Altman's sustained formal experiments with widescreen photography, zoom lenses, and overlapping sound and dialogue, further enhancing the atmosphere with the improvisational ensemble acting for which Altman's films quickly became known. Although the on-screen war was not Vietnam, MASH's satiric target was obvious in 1970, and Vietnam War-weary and counter-culturally hip audiences responded to Altman's nose-thumbing attitude towards all kinds of authority and embraced the film's frankly tasteless yet evocative humor and its anti-war, anti-Establishment, anti-religion stance. MASH became the third most popular film of 1970 after Love Story and Airport, and it was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. As further evidence of the changes in Hollywood's politics, blacklist survivor Lardner won the Oscar for his screenplay. MASH began Altman's systematic 1970s effort to revise classic Hollywood genres in light of contemporary American values, and it gave him the financial clout to make even more experimental and critical films like McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971), California Split (1974), and Nashville (1975). It also inspired the long-running TV series starring Alan Alda as Hawkeye and Burghoff as Radar. With its formal and attitudinal impudence, and its great popularity, MASH was one more confirmation in 1970 that a Hollywood "New Wave" had arrived. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

They used to say "don't trust anyone over 30," but there's no one over 30 left to distrust in this loosely plotted satirical comedy directed by Roger Corman. During the opening ceremonies for a chemical and biological weapons facility in Alaska, an experimental gas is accidentally released which has an unusual effect -- it rapidly advances the aging process of those over 25, while those under 25 are left untouched. Soon, the world's elders are dead, with the planet left to the youth. Wisecracking hippy Coel (Robert Corff) and his girlfriend, Cilla (Elaine Giftos), discover that rookie cops and conservative frat rats have taken over their hometown of Dallas, TX, so they hit the road in his vintage Ford Edsel in search of a friendly commune in New Mexico. Along the way, they pair up with music-obsessed Marissa and her radical boyfriend, Carlos (Ben Vereen), and as they look for their new home, they encounter Hell's Angels-turned-country club members, a neo-fascist football team, a pack of painfully shy would-be sexual predators, rock star and self-proclaimed "godhead" A.M. Radio (Country Joe McDonald), and Edgar Allen Poe (Bruce Karcher), who roams the highways on his motorcycle. Gas-S-S-S! (aka Gas-s-s-s...or, It May Become Necessary to Destroy the World in Order to Save It) proved to be the last of Roger Corman's many projects for American International Pictures; according to Corman, AIP subjected the film to severe prerelease cutting without his consent, and the interference was one of the factors that inspired him to start his own company, New World Pictures. The film also provided early supporting roles for Bud Cort and Talia Shire, the latter billed as Tally Coppola; psychedelic rock band Country Joe & the Fish appear in a concert sequence and provide the film's musical score. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this unusual black comedy, Stacy Keach plays Jonas Candide, a former carnival showman who roams the southern U.S. in 1918 with a portable electric chair. He offers his services as a freelance executioner for $100 a pop. He takes a job in a prison in Alabama, where he is supposed to execute a young woman named Gundred Herzallerliebst (Marianna Hill) and her brother. He electrocutes the brother first. On the night before she is scheduled to die, Gundred seduces Jonas and he falls for her. Jonas tries to get Doc Prittle (Graham Jarvis) to help him fake her execution, but the doctor demands a high price. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

Many observers consider the 60-minute Bernice Bobs Her Hair to be the best-ever filmed adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Bernice (Shelley Duvall), a shy retiring girl of the Roaring 20s, yearns to be popular. On the advice of her flapper cousin Marjorie (Veronica Cartwright), Bernice cuts her unfashionable long hair into a short bob, begins dressing more stylishly, and learns the Most Valuable Rule: "When you're with a man, there are only three topics of conversation: you, me and us." Bernice Bobs Her Hair first aired on PBS' American Playhouse on April 5, 1977. It was telecast in tandem with a dramatization of Sherwood Anderson's oft-adapted I'm a Fool. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The leader of a right-wing political party discovers that a young man named Willi (Bud Cort), an illiterate woodcarver, is actually the son of Adolf Hitler. He and his chauffeur kidnap the boy from a mental hospital and then set out to prepare him to start the Fourth Reich. Believe it or not, this is a comedy ... ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide

This 3-hour TV adaptation of the 1932 Aldous Huxley novel is set 600 years in the future. In this "well- ordered" society, the citizens are required to take mind-controlling drugs, sex without love is compulsory, and test-tube babies are commonplace because of a ban on pregnancy. Keir Dullea heads the cast as Thomas Grahmbell, "director of hatcheries". Not everybody is satisfied with society's lack of humanity and feeling; the loudest dissidents are free-thinking poet Heimholtz Watson (Dick Anthony Williams) and brilliant oddball Bernard Marx (Bud Cort). An injection of new "old" ideas are brought in by "primitive" John Savage (Kristoffer Tabori), who lives on an Indian reservation which still honors 20th century values. Meanwhile, Linda Lysenko (Julie Cobb) becomes a natural mother--and in so doing becomes a criminal. In keeping with the style of the original book, the script's newly-minted characters are given names of pop-culture icons (Disney, Maoina, Stalina, and so on). Brave New World was first telecast March 7, 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This charming fantasy was originally part of Shelly Duvall's HBO series Faerie Tale Theatre and features actor Herve Villechaize as the irascible gnome who grants the wish of an impoverished but boastful miller who claims his lovely daughter can spin straw into gold. While Rumpelstiltskin is willing to help the miller, his generosity does not come without a high price: in exchange for the gift, the daughter must give up her first-born child. She can only escape the bargain if she can guess his name. The bargain is struck. When the king learns of her talent, he marries her and puts her in a room to spin. The real trouble begins when she gets pregnant. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The Nightingale is a 60-minute cable TV presentation starring Mick Jagger, Barbara Hershey, Bud Cort and Mako. The basic storyline follows the classic Hans Christian Andersen tale The Emperor's Nightingale. A cruel and overbearing Chinese emperor (Jagger) is given the present of a nightingale by a kindhearted kitchen mai (Hershey). Greedily, the emperor forsakes his pet in favor of a mechanical singing bird. Both bird and master nearly meet their Makers as a result of the Emperor's callous behavior. The Nightingale was originally presented as an episode of Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky's first American film is a romantic tale about an American war veteran whose dreams of his childhood sweetheart are countered by a less sunny reality. John Savage stars as Ivan Bibic, who has returned home to a small town in Pennsylvania, having suffered a nervous breakdown as a P.O.W. During the war, he would dream about his fiancee back home, Maria Bosic (Nastassja Kinski), imagining their forthcoming perfect marriage. At one point, Ivan is told, "You dreamed about her too long. She lives in your dreams, not in your body." And it's true -- his dreams do not equal his reality. Maria and Ivan marry, but Ivan finds that he cannot make love to the flesh and blood Maria. Knowing she was actively pursued by men in town during the war, Ivan courages her to take lovers. Maria does so, having affairs with another GI, Al Griselli (Vincent Spano), and a passing drifter named Clarence Butts (Keith Carradine). But after spending the night with Clarence, Maria becomes pregnant, and Ivan's love for her is sorely tested. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Dweebish architect Miles Harding (Lenny Von Dohlen) is hopelessly in love with neighboring musician Madeline (Virginia Madsen). He soon learns that Madeline already has an ardent suitor: Harding's own computer (voiced by Harold and Maude star Bud Cort)! When the electronic device, nicknamed Edgar, begins composing love songs dedicated to Madeline, Harding passes the tunes off as his own. At this point, the envious Edgar really goes to town, taking over all the electrical appliances in Harding's house--and dangerously meddling in its owner's life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

John Moffitt directed this silly Canadian comedy about a falsely accused Salem witch (Kelly Preston). Terry Sweeney's script seems to find most of its humor in sex, drugs, and bathroom jokes, none of which are very amusing. Genre devotees will be quite pleased, however, with a cast featuring Barbara Carrera, SCTV member Dave Thomas, Bud Cort, Stuart Pankin, and Anne Ramsey. Dr. Joyce Brothers makes one of her obligatory cameo appearances as well. Preston appeared in another witch film, Janet Greek's Spellbinder, the following year. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

In this suspense thriller with a few humorous touches, an employee of a phone-sex service (Lynn Danielson) is being stalked by a clown-masked psychotic killer (Cameron Dye) who has already murdered a number of her colleagues. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide

Brain Dead was based on a script by Charles Beaumont, leading some obtuse fans to hail the "return" of that frequent Twilight Zone contributor. Actually Beaumont has been dead since 1967, so this cookie spent a long time in the oven. Stalwart supporting actor Bill Pullman is given star billing as a brilliant brain surgeon who agrees to perform an operation on a psychotic mathematician. This surgery, ostensibly, is to "adjust" the patient's attitude--and, incidentally, to unlock the corporate secrets secreted within the patient's brain. But as Pullman probes about, he begins experiencing first-hand the psycho's fevered, paranoic dreams. Pullman drifts farther and farther from reality, and the audience is implicitly invited to do the same. Bill Paxton also stars in this Roger Corman-style thriller, produced by Corman's daughter Julie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide