Peter Fonda

Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Nick Redman details director John Ford's remarkable stint at Twentieth Century Fox in an intimately detailed documentary that pays special attention to the relationship between the famed Grapes of Wrath director and studio head Darryl F. Zanuck. A master of the silent film who would go on to become a true legend of American cinema, Ford was just twenty-six years old when he took the helm for Just Pals (1920). Later, when Fox merged with 20th Century in 1935, Ford went to work with the notoriously strong-willed Zanuck. If there was any filmmaker who could give Zanuck a run for his money it was Ford, and it wasn't long before the director made history by earning back-to-back Oscars. Additional input from Ford biographer Joseph McBride, film historian Rudy Behlmer, and screen legend Peter Fonda (whose father Henry had a long-running professional relationship with the filmmaker) ensure that this is one of the most painstakingly assembled profiles of Ford ever committed to film. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A mismatched group of bored suburbanites longing to escape the stress of their daily lives and embrace the freedom of the open road finds that it takes more than polished chrome and leather jackets to truly experience the biker lifestyle in this revved-up road comedy starring John Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence, and William H. Macy. Upon trading the comfort of their couches for the thunderous rumble of two-wheeled street machines, these four adventurous riders cross paths with the notorious Del Fuegos -- an authentic biker gang that doesn't take kindly to the weekend warrior type. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

In Mexican director Paul Leduc's crime drama El Cobrador: In God We Trust, Peter Fonda plays an unnamed sociopathic millionaire who lives in Miami and gets a charge out of running down female pedestrians in his oversized SUV. Meanwhile, El Cobrador, a Brazilian mineworker, travels to the Big Apple and kills everyone he can find. The Fonda character then heads down to Mexico, where he partners up with Argentinean photographer Ana (Antonella Costa), and the two embark on a bloody crime spree à la Bonnie and Clyde. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Adapted from the novel by Anne Tyler, the made-for-TV "Hallmark Hall of Fame" presentation Back When We Were Grownups stars Blythe Danner as 53-year-old Baltimore widow Rebecca Davitch. Having long since given up her dreams of college to get married and raise a family, and also having abandoned all of her other goals and ambitions in order to manage her family's catering business, Rebecca is attending an engagement party for her stepdaughter when it suddenly strikes her that she has, in the words of the film's press release, "been living the wrong life!" Thus begins Rebecca's quest to reclaim her lost youth -- with her childhood sweetheart Will Allenby (Peter Fonda) figuring prominently in Rebecca's "second wind." Boasting a star-studded supporting cast (Faye Dunaway, Jack Palance, Nina Foch, Peter Reigert, Ione Skye), Back When We Were Grownups was first broadcast November 21, 2004, on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based upon Peter Biskind's book of the same name, this BBC-produced documentary traces the rise of a generation of Hollywood filmmakers who briefly changed the face of movies with a more personal approach that pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable onscreen. Influenced by such European directors as Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, and Federico Fellini, the movement kicked off in the mid-'60s with two films directed by Arthur Penn: Mickey One and Bonnie and Clyde. (The latter had been offered to both Godard and Truffaut before it wound up with producer/star Warren Beatty and Penn.) What really kicked it into gear was the unexpected success of Easy Rider, a biker-road movie that became that rare film phenomenon: acclaimed at the Cannes Film Festival and a huge commercial success. Film school graduates, the first generation brought up with movies as their main cultural reference, flooded the studios (whose own regimes were changing) with production chieftains such as Robert Evans of Paramount and David Picker at United Artists; they approved risky-looking projects and allowed relatively untested filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola to take on heavyweight movies such as The Godfather or Hollywood newcomers like Britain's John Schlesinger to make quirky stories like Midnight Cowboy. Enriched by success with their TV show The Monkees, producer Bert Schneider and director Bob Rafelson formed a company that produced not only Easy Rider but seminal '70s films such as Five Easy Pieces and the Oscar-winning Vietnam War documentary Hearts and Minds. Another godfather to the new movement was producer Roger Corman, who gave early career opportunities to Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Peter Bogdanovich, and Jonathan Demme on low-budget projects that allowed them to learn their craft.

Two things brought this movement to an end: Some individual filmmakers' personal excesses (such disastrous flops as Dennis Hopper's follow-up to Easy Rider, appropriately titled The Last Movie, and Scorsese's New York, New York), and the studios growing fascination with special effects-driven B-movies. An outgrowth of two box-office and marketing juggernauts -- Jaws and Star Wars -- the resulting films became entertainments rather than personal statements of the directors. Narrated by William H. Macy, Easy Riders, Raging Bulls features vintage clips of Coppola, Scorsese, Beatty, George Lucas, Sam Peckinpah, Roman Polanski, Robert Altman, and Pauline Kael. It also includes original interview material with Penn; Corman; Bogdanovich; Hopper; Picker; writer/directors John Milius and Paul Schrader; actresses Karen Black, Cybill Shepherd, Margot Kidder, and Jennifer Salt (the latter two shared a house in Malibu, a social center for young filmmakers); actors Peter Fonda, Kris Kristofferson, and Richard Dreyfuss; producers Jerome Hellman, Michael Phillips, and Jonathan Taplin; editor Dede Allen; production designer Polly Platt; writers David Newman, Joan Tewksbury, Gloria Katz, and Willard Huyck; cinematographers Laszlo Kovacs and Vilmos Zsigmond; agent Mike Medavoy; and former production executive Peter Bart. Among the films discussed are Rosemary's Baby, The Wild Bunch, Mean Streets, American Graffiti, The Rain People, Midnight Cowboy, M*A*S*H, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, The Last Picture Show, Shampoo, Taxi Driver, and Raging Bull. (Three interviewees -- cinematographer Gordon Willis, critic Andrew Sarris, and writer-director Monte Hellman -- listed in the Variety review of this film, were not included in this version from a screening on Bravo.) ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide

Actress Salma Hayek makes her directorial debut with this heartwarming drama based on the novel by Theodore Taylor. José (Eddy Martin) is a young boy from Mexico who sneaks into the United States in search of his father, a migrant worker. On the run with an injured arm and looking for a place to rest, José sneaks into a church in San Ramos, CA, and hides in a scaffolding above the pulpit. Blood from José's arm drips onto a statue of Christ, and the next morning when Josephina (Soledad St. Hilaire), a devoted member of the congregation, arrives for her daily prayers, she's convinced that the plaster figure is weeping tears of blood. Father Russell (Peter Fonda), the parish priest, isn't sure if this is a genuine miracle or not, though given the town's financial woes and his own waning faith, the timing would be good for one. As Father Russell tries to determine just what has happened, Josephina begins spreading word of the miracle, as and the story spreads, it becomes increasingly embellished. Soon curious believers and intrigued skeptics flood San Ramos, boosting the town's sagging economy, with Maisie (Mare Winningham), proprietor of the local cafe, one of the prime beneficiaries. Maisie, however, has also discovered and taken in José, and when she and her friend Cruz (Ruben Blades) learn the truth about the weeping statue, they're unsure if they should tell the townspeople just what has happened. The Maldonado Miracle was produced for cable television broadcast in a partnership between Hallmark Productions and the Showtime premium cable network. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Made in the USA is a documentary about motorcycles in a celebration of 100 years of the Harley-Davidson company. It's narrated and directed by Jim Duffner and features Jennifer Snyder, Mike Hacker, and a special appearance by Peter Fonda. Includes the history of Harley-Davidson, how the company was founded, and how it became a success. Footage consists of dirt track racing, drag racing, motocross, road racing, and bike rallies. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

A spoiled city kid learns the importance of family when his ailing grandfather arrives in Minneapolis for medical treatment in director Leszek Burzynski's affecting and affectionate comedy. Young Charles (Joseph Mazzello) has never been close to his grandfather Stoney (Peter Fonda), but when Stoney's pal Shuck (Kris Kristofferson) arrives to break his old friend out of the concrete jungle and take him back to the ranch, the curious youngster joins the pair for the adventure of a lifetime! It may take a wild trip back to the badlands of North Dakota for young Charles to appreciate his roots and join in the long tradition of becoming a "wooly boy," but it's never too late to connect with your past and the adventure that this trio shares will stay with them for the rest of their lives. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The internationally popular children's television program Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends (shown in the United States as part of the PBS series Shining Time Station) makes its way onto the big screen in this feature-length adventure. On her way to see her Grandpa Burnett (Peter Fonda), young Lily (Mara Wilson) gets on the wrong train and ends up lost. Fortunately, she meets the tiny Mr. Conductor (Alec Baldwin), who shows her a magical railway where the plucky little steam engine Thomas (voice of John Bellis) pulls the line from the enchanted town of Shining Time to the island of Sodor. Thomas' rival is the bigger (and meaner) Diesel Ten, who has already put one of Thomas' allied engines, The Lady, out of commission. Without The Lady, the Conductor has no source for the magic gold dust that allows him to travel from Sodor to Shining Time in the wink of an eye, so Lily and Thomas have to find a way to find more for him. Thomas and the Magic Railroad also features Didi Conn as Stacy Jones (reprising her role from Shining Time Station) and Russell Means as Billy Two Feathers. Like the TV series, Thomas and the Magic Railroad is loosely based on the Thomas the Tank Engine books written by British children's author Wilbert Vere Awdry. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The private life of celebrated author and philosopher Ayn Rand takes center stage in this film produced for the Showtime cable network. In 1951, Ayn Rand (Helen Mirren) is a best-selling author and celebrated thinker when she meets Nathaniel Branden (Eric Stoltz) and his friend Barbara (Julie Delpy), two college students who admire her writing and ideas. Rand takes the students under her wing, but before long her mentoring becomes less benevolent and more abusive. She badgers Barbara and Nathaniel, who were never more than close friends, into marrying, and while Nathaniel responds well to Rand's tutelage, Barbara begins to shrink from Rand's lack of compassion, which Rand sees as weakness. Things become more uncomfortable when, after Barbara and Nathaniel join Ayn and her often-ignored husband Frank O'Connor (Peter Fonda) on a vacation, Ayn and Nathaniel demand "permission" to have an affair, which they feel is dictated by the importance of their work. Based on Barbara Branden's autobiography about her years with Rand, The Passion Of Ayn Rand was premiered at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Two actors best known for their work in the late 1960s, Terence Stamp and Peter Fonda, star in The Limey, a drama in which a recently released felon contemplates the gulf between aging criminals like himself and their modern counterparts. Wilson (Stamp) is a British career criminal who has been released after nine years in prison. He has learned that his daughter Jenny died under suspicious circumstances in Los Angeles, so he travels to America for the first time to find out what happened and who's responsible. With the help of an ex-con named Ed (Luis Guzman), Wilson discovers Jenny was romantically involved with Valentine (Fonda), a middle-aged record producer with a shady past and a fondness for young women. In hopes of getting the truth -- and getting to Valentine -- Wilson finds himself doing battle with some of the worst criminals to crawl from the underbelly of Los Angeles; along the way, he also meets Elaine (Lesley Ann Warren), an older actress who knew Jenny and reminds Wilson of how little he really did for his daughter while she was alive. Steven Soderbergh's first film after his commercial comeback with 1998's Out Of Sight, The Limey features, along with Stamp and Fonda, two other notable 60's actors in supporting roles, Barry Newman and Joe Dallesandro. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This adaptation of the classic Shakespearean tale of an exiled ruler who happens to be a very powerful magician is set in a pre-Civil War Mississippi bayou, with the main characters as powerful slaveowners instead of heads-of-state. ~ All Movie Guide