Jack Gold Movies
After a decades' worth of experience in British television, director Jack Gold made his feature-film debut with the critically acclaimed The Bofors Gun (1968). Gold's later films have been a curious lot, none curiouser than the revisionist Robinson Crusoe flick Man Friday (1976). Occasionally returning to TV, Gold has directed such praiseworthy efforts as Catholics (1973), The Naked Civil Servant (1975) and the Ricky Schroder version of Little Lord Fauntleroy (1980). More recently, Jack Gold has busied himself with made-for-cable features along the lines of Sakharov (1989). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this adaptation of the novel by Michelle Magorian, John Thaw stars as Tom Oakley, an old man with a short temper who doesn't have much use for people. However, after the outbreak of World War II, Tom is forced to take in Willie Bech (Nick Robinson), a young boy who has been evacuated from London and sent to the small village Tom calls home. Willie is a quiet, withdrawn child whose childhood has not been a happy one; Tom learns to draw him out, tutors him in reading and writing, and encourages his creative gifts. An unexpected bond develops between Tom and Willie, and when the boy's mother wants him to return to a London that's been torn apart by the blitz, Tom doesn't want him to leave -- and neither does Willie. Goodnight, Mister Tom received its American premier on PBS's Masterpiece Theater in 1999. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Thaw, Nick Robinson, (more)
- 1997
More than one case of mistaken identity is leading an expatriate Briton into hot water in Greece in this tale of suspense. Harry Barnett (John Thaw) was once a successful British businessman, but after his luck and his business acumen went south, Harry suddenly found himself single, and these days he works as a laborer for his old friend Alan Dysart (Matthew Marsh), a former government figure who fled to the Greek island of Rhodes to get away from a scandal. One night, Harry enjoys a brief fling with Heather Mallender, an attractive woman from out of town; the next morning, Harry discovers that Heather is nowhere to be found, and has seemingly disappeared. When Dysart's men seem downright casual about Heather's death, it draws Harry's suspicion; he begins digging, and learns Heather's death parroted the killing of one of Dysart's former employees -- who was also Heather's sister. 1997's Into the Blue was originally produced for British television, and first aired in the United States as part of the anthology series Masterpiece Theatre. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Thaw, Matthew Marsh, (more)
- 1994
- PG
Unlike the barren and forbidding moors elsewhere in England, Return of the Native's Egdon Heath attires itself in vibrant wildflowers, mossy hillsides, winding streams, arching footbridges, and undulant meadows. An enchantress would be at home in this place, but not Eustacia Vye, portrayed by Zeta-Jones. Though coveted by every man in Egdon Heath -- and every boy old enough to stare -- the beautiful Eustacia longs for the smoking chimneys and broad stone buildings of Paris. When a native of Egdon Heath, Clym Yeobright Ray Stevenson, returns from his job in Paris as a jeweler, Vye stuns him with her beauty and marries him in hopes of persuading him to take her to Paris. But, alas, Clym is a clod at heart. He vows to remain in Egdon Heath to teach and edify. After his eyesight deteriorates, Eustacia turns her attentions to rakish Damon Wildeve Clive Owen, and the plot begins to churn and curdle. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Zeta-Jones, Clive Owen, (more)
- 1991
She Stood Alone is the fact-based story of Prudence Crandall, described by her admirers as "the bravest woman in America." In Connecticut in the 1830s, Ms. Crandall establishes a school for young woman. Upon her acceptance of a black girl for admission, Prudence endures racism, threats, renunciations and mob violence. When the white parents pull their children out, Prudence defiantly opens the doors of her school exclusively for African-American girls. Mare Winningham is excellent, and scrupulously accurate in her period costumes and mannerisms, as Prudence Crandall. Produced by Disney, She Stood Alone was originally telecast as part of NBC's "Education 1st" week in April of 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1990
This made-for-TV adventure dramatizes the courage of Allan Pinkerton, who founded the famed detective agency, and a blue-blooded Southern belle, as they team up to keep the Union intact during the Civil War. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Reeve, Carrie Snodgress, (more)
- 1989
- R
Adam Horovitz, of Beastie Boys fame, plays a troublesome teen who is shipped off by his wealthy parents to an institute for "problem" youths. This is the sort of place where any sign of rebellion is dealt with in draconian fashion. The strapped-down Horovitz tells his life story to psychiatrist Donald Sutherland. In flashback, we see a fairly docile young Horovitz, whose chance involvement in a rumble instigated by gang leader Don Bloomfield leads to an arrest. Appearing in court, Horovitz is railroaded into the institute by his father, more as a means of getting even with his divorced wife than out of any concern for his son. Sutherland tries to help, but Horovitz betrays the doctor's trust once too often. Only by extricating himself from the influence of Bloomfield does Horovitz have any chance for redemption--and only by undergoing a domestic reversal of his own is Sutherland truly able to aid the boy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald Sutherland, Adam Horowitz, (more)
The Package, a thriller involving political assassination and intrigue, is an excellent action feature using a familiar theme and providing good performances by the cast. Boyette (Tommy Lee Jones) is a prisoner entrusted to Gallagher (Gene Hackman) for transportation back to the United States. Boyette escapes and Gallagher must find him. In doing so, Gallagher finds himself getting into far more than he had bargained for as he becomes involved in a political assignation plot that he must stop. Both Hackman and Jones are excellent in reprising familiar roles. Hackman is never better than when portraying the decent man in a precarious position, and Jones plays Boyette with the same cunning and intelligence that he brought to The Executioner's Song. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Hackman, Joanna Cassidy, (more)
- 1988
Glenn Close and Keith Carradine are the only non-Latino cast members of the made-for-TV Stones for Ibarra. Close and Carradine portray a San Francisco couple who feel they've lost touch with life's meaning. They journey to a tiny Mexican village, where they find themselves sharing the "companionship of death" with the locals. The film is at its best when emphasizing its mysticism and clashes of custom. Adapted by Ernest Kinoy from a novel by Harriet Doerr, this was originally presented as a Hallmark Hall of Fame special. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1988
Anthony Hopkins stars in this glossy TV adaptation of Graham Greene's The Tenth Man. The scene is Paris, during the Nazi occupation. Hopkins plays a French lawyer who is sentenced to be executed as a reprisal for the activities of the Resistance. To escape the firing squad, Hopkins arranges for another man to take his place. That man, played by Timothy Wilson, is an embittered soul with no desire to go on living. As part of his bargain with Hopkins, Wilson wills Hopkins' estate to his own heirs. At war's end, Hopkins, travelling incognito, takes a gardener's job at the estate he once owned. He gradually falls in love with Wilson's sister Kristin Scott Thomas. And then total stranger Derek Jacobi shows up--claiming to be the long-lost Hopkins! Produced in Britain by veteran TV-movie maven David Rosemont, The Tenth Man was first offered December 4, 1988, as a Hallmark Hall of Fame special. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
During WWII, Sobibor was a notorious Nazi death camp. This gripping, fact-based drama chronicles the courage of an inmate who managed the largest escape from such a place. Thanks to him, over 300 prisoners were freed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1985
Daniel J. Travanti plays a glum, no-nonsense Edward R. Murrow in this made-for-TV biopic. We follow Murrow's rise to prominence as America's foremost news commentator between the years 1940 through 1955, beginning with his on-the-spot radio coverage of the bombing of London. After the war, Murrow hosts CBS television's documentary series See It Now, which eventually leads to his legendary confrontation with Red-baiting Senator Joseph McCarthy. Murrow's own occasional compromises with his conscience, and his extramarital affairs, are bypassed in Ernest Kinoy's lean, spare script. Of more importance in the scheme of things is Murrow's edict that TV "can teach, can illuminate, and damn it, can inspire." Also in the cast are Dabney Coleman as CBS head-honcho William Paley, John McMartin as Frank Stanton, Edward Herrmann as Fred Friendly, David Suchet as William L. Shirer, and Robert Vaughn as President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Murrow debuted January 19, 1986, as an HBO Premiere Films presentation ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
- R
The Chain is linked by a series of moves. As one couple moves out of their current residence to live in posher quarters, another moves in, and so it goes all the way up to the lavish mansioned owned by self-made millionaire Leo McKern. The cycle starts all over again when McKern, wishing to be closer to his roots, returns to the working-class neighborhood whence he came. Each move is wryly commented upon by the team of professional movers headed by Warren Mitchell. The enormously gifted British cast includes Billie Whitelaw, Nigel Hawthorne, Maurice Denham, Denis Lawson, Phyllis Logan, and David Troughton. This multistoried seriocomedy is at its best a fond throwback to the Ealing films of the 1950s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Herbert Norville, Denis Lawson, (more)
- 1984
The made-for-TV Sakharov stars Jason Robards as famed Soviet nuclear physicist D. Andrei Sakharov. Lauded by his government for his scientific achievements, Sakharov nonetheless becomes an outspoken critic of Russia's human rights violations. He is reclassified as a "non-person" and exiled to the cloistered city of Gorky. He is also awarded the 1975 Nobel Peace Prize. Originally slated for a September 1984 premiere, Sakharov debuted over the HBO cable service on June 20. This coincided with Sakharov's internationally publicized hunger strike, designed to secure much-needed medical attention outside the Soviet Union for his second wife, Dr. Yelena Bonner (played in the film by Glenda Jackson). Sakharov was filmed in England and Austria with two separate crews. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Robards, Jr., Glenda Jackson, (more)
- 1983
The misbehavior of a group of young men away at school seems to be indicative of what is waiting for them when they "grow up," in this slightly far-fetched account of then and now in the British upper classes. In 1973, the young men barely associate with Quentin (Martyn Stanbridge) because his family lives in Singapore, and they bully their lower classmate Cox (Anton Lesser) just because they feel like it. Alistair Mount (Dominic Jephcott), the ringleader of this group of nondescript wealthy men is particularly obnoxious. One decade later, Quentin is bored, still plays cricket with the old buddies, and in an ironic twist, Alistair's wife starts a liaison with Quentin that would flatten her husband if he ever found out - but he is in Northern Ireland, up to absolutely no good at all. Meanwhile, Cox - apparently an admirer of Che Guevara, approaches Quentin with plans of vengeance for those earlier years of persecution. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anton Lesser
- 1983
Presented in a series of ostensibly farcical or irreverent episodes without any particular connection to each other, and based on short stories written by Yuri Krotkov's own personal knowledge of Stalin, the Red Monarch sketches the infamous Russian dictator as something of a buffoon suffering under the responsibilities of total power. Stalin's many purges of "undesirables" that amounted to millions dead by the end of his reign are not mentioned, and Beria, the chief of the Secret Police (NKVD) responsible for those deaths, is presented in his other notorious persona, that of a vulgar skirt-chasing lecher. Episodes cover a meeting of the Politburo to go over the USSR's loss at a major basketball tournament, and an arm-wrestling context with Mao Zedong. No matter how well Colin Blakely portrays Stalin, he cannot overcome the aspects of the script that trivialize Stalin's criminal record in this failed attempt at a Mel Brooks-style comedy. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Colin Blakely, David Suchet, (more)
- 1982
- NR
In this convoluted crime drama, a conniving nurse conspires to marry and kill a wealthy professor. To do the deed, she, who has already killed the rest of his family, enlists the aide of the professor's assistant. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jonathan Pryce, Cherie Lunghi, (more)
- 1980
Bassanio (John Nettles), a young man of Venice, falls hopelessly in love with fair Portia (Gemma Jones), a wealthy heiress. But his pocket lacks the jingle to woo her. So Bassanio obtains a loan from the Jewish moneylender Shylock (Warren Mitchell), and his friend Antonio(John Franklyn-Robbins) agrees to repay it in three months. However, if Antonio fails to meet the deadline, Shylock says, Antonio must forfeit a pound of his flesh -- certain death -- as payment. In his heart, Shylock hopes Antonio will default so that he can carve up one of the Christians who mock and humiliate him simply because he is Jewish. Meanwhile, Portia entertains distinguished suitors from around the world. Although she loves Bassanio, her late father made her promise to marry only the suitor who passes a strange test: He must choose from among three caskets -- one gold, one silver, and one lead. If the chosen casket contains a picture of Portia, the suitor wins her hand in marriage. After princes from Morocco and Arragon select the wrong caskets, Bassanio chooses the right one. In the meantime, Shylock's daughter Jessica (Leslee Udwin) elopes with a Christian, Bassanio's friend Lorenzo (Richard Morant), and helps herself to her father's jewels and gold before leaving. When Antonio suffers a financial reversal and fails to repay the loan, Shylock demands the pound of flesh. A trial before the Duke of Venice ensues, in which Portia, disguised as a male advocate, addresses the court, telling Shylock he is entitled to his pound of flesh according to the loan agreement. Shylock, praising her for her ruling, prepares to cut into Antonio's chest. But Portia warns him that he must take only flesh, but no blood, for the contract says nothing of blood. Shylock drops his knife, realizing he has been defeated. As punishment for conspiring to kill Antonio, Shylock must forfeit property and become a Christian. As he leaves the court, a broken man, the other principals celebrate and live happily ever after. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warren Mitchell, Gemma Jones, (more)
- 1980
Alec Guinness stars as an elderly Brit who takes in his poor New Yorker grandson (Ricky Schroeder) in this made-for-TV modern-day retelling of Frances Hodgson Burnett's novel. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1979
David Hemmings plays Charlie Muffin, a working-class British secret agent who suffers fools and aristocrats not at all well, and as such is in constant conflict with his superiors. Unlike James Bond, Charlie bleeds when you prick him...and he cares, deeply. Britain's M16 unit reluctantly assigns Charlie the task of protecting Valery Kalenin (Pinkas Braun), head of the KGB. Kalenin is ostensibly defecting, but Charlie gloms onto the truth of the whole affair early on. He also figures out that those unseen assassins taking potshots at him are not only in the employ of the KGB, but also the M16. Originally released in 1979, Charlie Muffin did not receive widespread American exposure until its October 1983 telecast on PBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Hemmings, Pinkas Braun, (more)
- 1978
Based on a novel by David Garnett, Sailor's Return is a British Victorian-era domestic drama, with plenty of domesticity and precious little drama. Tom Bell stars as a sailor who returns to his home village with his new bride (Shope Soleinde). The bride is black; the village is aghast. Struggling against the prejudice of the townsfolk and his own doubts about the wisdom of his union, Bell opens a pub. No distributor wanted to have anything to do with Sailor's Return, a dilemma due less to the film's subject matter than to its production ineptitudes. The film finally got its first showing on British television, two years after its completion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Bell, Shope Shodeinde, (more)
- 1978
- PG
In The Medusa Touch Brunel (Lino Ventura), a French detective on temporary assignment with Scotland Yard, investigates a mysterious series of disasters. The uncanny events begin happening shortly after writer John Morlar (Richard Burton) was hit over the head by an unknown intruder and rendered comatose. Slowly, Brunel begins to connect the strange things that are happening in the world with the deranged dreams of the comatose Morlar. He gets the final clue he needs from Morlar's reluctant psychiatrist, Dr. Zonfield (Lee Remick), who holds the key to Morlar's past. Once it is discovered that Morlar has the ability to think horrible thoughts and make them come true, Brunel and Zonfield must take off with dispatch to a London cathedral, where the Queen is scheduled to make an appearance -- but Morlar is thinking about the cathedral, and it is crumbling fast. Well-liked in Britain, this movie did not do well in the U.S. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Burton, Lino Ventura, (more)
- 1976
Malcolm McDowell plays a World War I air ace, in charge of an elite squadron. Outwardly a bastion of courage, McDowell dies a little every time one of his boys is killed. To steel his nerves, he takes to drink, which has an adverse effect on his abilities. Christopher Plummer staunchly portrays McDowell's commanding officer. Aces High is a remake of Journey's End (1930), which in turn was based on a play by R.C. Sheriff. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Malcolm McDowell, Christopher Plummer, (more)
- 1975
- PG
In 1970, Elliot Gould was the hottest male star in Hollywood; by 1975, he was making do with indifferent projects like Who?. This interesting British/German sci-fier, also known as Man Without a Face, Prisoner of the Skull and The Man With the Steel Mask, and also under the title Robo Man. Gould's role as an American government official is secondary to the character played by Joseph Bova. While visiting the Soviet Union, scientist Bova is involved in a serious car accident. The Russian surgeons perform emergency life-saving surgery by replacing most of Bova's body parts with electronic devices. Thus when he returns home, Bova is to all intents and purposes a cyborg. It is up to Gould to find out if our reconstituted hero has been transformed into a Soviet spy. After several rondelay dialogue scenes and silly car chases, Who? ends on a quiet, pensive note-perhaps the most effective scene in the whole picture. Adapted from the well-regarded novel by Algis Budrys. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elliott Gould, Trevor Howard, (more)
