Robert Ginty Movies
A Yale man, American actor Robert Ginty was of the Sid Haig / Harry Dean Stanton / Charles Napier school of film performing. Whether good guy or bad, Ginty's acting style was sullen and laconic, as if he held some appalling secret that it was best the world not know. He specialized in low-budget films, where his expertise shone all the more in his many performance as drifters, loners, and troubled war vets. Ginty has also directed from time to time, though no festival awards have been garnered by The Bounty Hunter (1989) and Vietnam, Texas (1990). Among Robert Ginty's TV series credits are Black Sheep Squadron (1976), The Paper Chase (1979), and Hawaiian Heat (1984) (a rare "establishment" role as a cop). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1983
This drama is adapted from the true story of Barbara Graham, a woman sentenced to die in the mid-1950s after she allegedly committed a murder during a robbery. Graham pleaded innocent until the day she died in the San Quentin gas chamber. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1983
Although the title is the same, this film is not related to the 1953 White Fire by John Gilling, except for their mutual interest in diamonds. Beau (Robert Ginty) and Ingrid (Belinda Mayne) are siblings who were raised by Sam (Jess Hahn) after they were orphaned while very young. Now all three are involved in smuggling diamonds, a successful enterprise thanks to a security officer at the mines who is willing to look the other way for a price. Even though all three are ostensibly after a famous 2,000 carat diamond known as White Fire, the plot suddenly flip flops, and Ingrid is killed. Her brother meets a woman who agrees to undergo plastic surgery and replace Ingrid -- and lo and behold, she is converted into Ingrid's twin, and their covert diamond business can continue. In the third or fourth plot detour, Beau then falls in love with his sister's look-alike, and shades of incest are not so subtly cast over their liaison. Eventually, the different threads weave their way to an inevitable ending. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Ginty, Fred Williamson, (more)
- 1982
John Sebastian's musical score lends an appropriately anachronistic touch to the endearingly outdated The Act. Robert Ginty and Sarah Langenfield are the principal participants in this satiric tale of political dirty trickery, with emphasis on underhanded union tactics. Also on hand are veterans Jill St. John, Eddie Albert and Pat Hingle, who laudably behave as if the dialogue they're spouting actually has some artistic value. If you don't remember The Act making the scene at your local theatre in 1982, don't feel bad. The film barely received a release at all until it was committed to videotape several years later. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Ginty, Sarah Langenfeld, (more)
- 1982
In this followup to the Season Six episode "Who Speaks for the Children", Quincy (Jack Klugman) continues his crusade to push forward the stalled "Orphan Drug Act" in congress, creating funding to develop curative drugs for rare diseases. The big problem is money, or lack of it: the major pharamaceutical companies don't want to invest in research that will benefit only a handful of consumers, while dedicated scientists like Dr. Styer (Joseph Campanella) are facing severe cutbacks. The situation becomes personal when Quincy befriends a young mother suffering from Myoclonus, a degenerative nerve disease that has already driven another of Styer's patients to suicide. Returning from "Who Speaks for the Children" are Michael Constantine as pharmaceutical activist Dr. Ciotti, and Paul Clemens as Ciotti's son Tony. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1981
"B"-movie legend Charles Band cranked out this deadly-dull black magic flick through his then-fledgling Empire Pictures company in 1980, though the film never saw widespread American distribution until its video release five years later. The main character is an ageless glassmaker (Robert Ginty) who, thanks to a feud with the evil sorcerer Delgado (Robert Glaudini) in the 19th century, is not only doomed to live forever but regularly transforms into a barely-seen, werewolf-like monster. A century later (the 1950s, for no apparent reason), Ginty meets a woman at his mountain cabin whom he believes to be the reincarnation of his dead wife (Lucinda Dooling), who was the chief catalyst for the feud in the first place. The climactic battle (sort of) between the rival wizards involves low-budget demons called up by Glaudini from a gateway to hell. Despite a decent employment of attractive woodland locations and occasional bouts of cheap but creative effects, this is a rather tedious exercise, bogged down by slow pacing, shoddy lighting and bland performances by the entire cast. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Ginty, Lucinda Dooling, (more)
- 1980
When one of the twin babies of Madeline and Bill Estes (Tyne Daly, Robert Ginty) dies under mysterious circumstances, the initial evidence points to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. But thanks to a small but criticial error in the coroner's office, Dr. Bob Gage (Jonathan Segal) suspects thar Madeline Estes actually murdered his child--and before long, even Madeline's husband Bill thinks that she's guilty. Can Quincy (Jack Klugman) come to the rescue before another tragic blunder occurs? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1980
- R
A Vietnam veteran declares a one-man war on crime in this vigilante revenge thriller. Michael Jefferson (Steve James) saved the life of his best friend John Eastland (Robert Ginty) while the two were serving in Vietnam, so when Jefferson is left permanently paralyzed after a vicious attack by muggers, Eastland is determined to get revenge. Declaring war not only on the thugs who injured Jefferson but the entire lawless underclass, Eastland becomes known as "The Exterminator" for his swift and deadly retaliation against muggers and other street criminals. While Eastland's actions may be making for safer streets, they're also illegal, and just as the mob have put a price on Eastland's head, Detective James Dalton (Christopher George) has set his sights on putting "The Exterminator" out of business. Jazz great Stan Getz makes a cameo appearance as himself. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher George, Samantha Eggar, (more)
Hal Ashby's 1978 melodrama examines the impact of the Vietnam War on the "war at home" among the men who fought it and the women in their lives. Left alone in Los Angeles when her gung-ho Marine husband Bob (Bruce Dern) heads to Vietnam in 1968, proper wife Sally Hyde (Jane Fonda) decides to volunteer at the V.A. hospital where her new friend Vi (Penelope Milford) works. There she meets Luke Martin (Jon Voight), a former high-school classmate and Marine who has returned from 'Nam a bitter paraplegic. As their relationship grows, Sally sees the effect of the war on the soldiers after they come back, inspiring her to rethink her priorities; Luke's spirits begin to lift, and a hospital tragedy helps focus his anger toward meaningful protest. After a Hong Kong visit with her increasingly withdrawn husband, Sally finds a love and companionship with Luke that she had never known with her husband. Once Bob comes home with his own injury, however, the three must find a way to deal with a changing world and with a system that betrayed the men fighting for it. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Fonda, Jon Voight, (more)
- 1978
This film is a failed TV pilot. The action drama chronicles the lives and exploits of Air Force test pilots. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1977
James R. Silke narrates this 1977 compilation of mayhem in the movies. This Rhino Video release features behind-the-scenes looks at how the stunts are done, and clips from 29 classic films that show heroes riding horses, falling off buildings, blowing up tanks, bare-knuckle fighting, and dodging bullets. Features footage of John Wayne, Hedy Lamarr, Glenn Ford, Joan Crawford, Cary Grant, Rita Hayworth, and more. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide
Larry Peerce directed this tired disaster movie about a mad sniper loose in a football stadium. At the beginning, the sniper picks off a cyclist for practice and then takes roost in the top tower of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Sent in to stop the terror is Captain Peter Holly (Charlton Heston), who wants to get his hands on the sniper without endangering the lives of the people in the stadium. Unfortunately, there is a second group of law enforcement officers, a tactical commando group, who want to go into the stadium and rush the sniper -- regardless of the danger such an action would cause to the crowd watching the game. The sniper plans to start blasting at the two-minute warning signal of the football game. Holly has to find the sniper before the two-minute warning is given -- not merely to prevent the killings threatened by the sniper but to head off the tactical force before any other unnecessary deaths are incurred by the force's bulldog techniques. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlton Heston, John Cassavetes, (more)
- 1975
This TV movie was originally aired as John O'Hara's Gibbsville. Based on O'Hara's semi-autobiographical story anthology The Doctor's Son, the film tells the story of Jim Malloy (John Savage) and his youth in his Pennsylvania home town. Aspiring to become a reporter, Malloy goes to work for alcoholic editor Ray Whitehead. Biff McGuire plays Jim's doctor father; other cast members include Kathleen Quinlan, Peggy McCay and Janis Paige. Written and directed by playwright Frank D. Gilroy, Gibbsville: The Turning Point of Jim Malloy was first telecast April 12, 1975; it was the pilot for the Gibbsville TV series, also starring John Savage and Gig Young, which (after several delays) ran briefly in the fall of 1976. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
Jolene Hyland (Shelley Fabares), the wife of prison convict Gerald Hyland (Don Eichner), hires Jim (James Garner) to locate the stolen $500,000 which her husband claims to have hidden somewhere in Caledonia County. Before long, several shady characters are pressuring Jim to be cut in on the hidden loot. The trail of clues proves to be a painful one for the detective, but he soldiers on until reaching his destination--a Caledonia chicken ranch which harbors more than its share of surprises. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
The 1972 film And Baby Makes Three is completely unrelated to the 1949 comedy of the same title. Instead, it is a drama recounting the story of a couple with a newborn child, who decide to undergo detox so that their child won't have to grow up with junkie parents. Many of the events told in the story re-create actual experiences of some of the filmmakers. When their baby boy is born addicted, the hospital tells the mother they can save him. She leaves her dope-dealing junkie husband to enter a rehab program. Stunned by her departure, he arranges to enter the same program. Despite difficulties, by the end of the film they have cleaned up and retrieved the infant from his grandparents. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
Filmed in a record five days, Gold Raiders was an attempt by producer Jack Schwartz to inaugurate a new western series starring old favorite George O'Brien. Adding novelty value to the proceedings are the Three Stooges: Shemp Howard, Larry Howard and Moe Howard. The action is fairly divided between O'Brien, who plays a frontier insurance investigator, and the Stooges, cast as itinerant snake-oil peddlers. The star and his comedian cohorts team up to squash a gang of thieves who've been hijacking gold-mine shipments. It is no surprise to anyone that the villain is local bigwig Sawyer (Lyle Talbot), but the plot does manage to sneak in quite a few interesting twists, including a red-herring character who turns out to be a spy for the baddies, and then turns out to be working for the good guys! For all their buffoonery, the Stooges perform heroically during the climactic shootout (even Larry)! Sheila Ryan co-stars as the granddaughter of bibulous doctor Clem Bevans, while Monte Blue enjoys a larger part than usual as the local mine owner. Gold Raiders was reissued in a shortened version (shorter even than its original 56-minute running time!) as The Three Stooges Go West. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George O'Brien, Moe Howard, (more)
