Ulu Grosbard Movies
Before becoming a full-fledged filmmaker in 1968, with the critically acclaimed film adaptation of The Subject Was Roses, Ulu Grosbard was a highly respected director of Broadway plays. Born in Antwerp, Belgium, Grosbard received his education at the University of Chicago and at the Yale Drama School. For a time he worked as a diamond cutter, but in 1957 he became a theatrical director. Beginning in the 1960s, Grosbard was assistant director on such Hollywood films as Splendor in the Grass, and West Side Story. Though he continues to direct the occasional film, Grosbard primarily works in theater. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Beth Cappadora (Michelle Pfeiffer), a photographer, is married to Pat (Treat Williams), a restaurateur, and they would seem to have a perfect life in Madison, Wisconsin. In 1988, they have three small children that Beth takes along to her high school reunion in Chicago. While checking in at a crowded hotel lobby, her middle child, three-year-old Ben, disappears. Despite a frantic search and much media coverage, the boy is not found, and Beth soon falls apart. Nine years later, the family has only barely recovered when they move to Chicago so Pat can open a restaurant with his father. A few months later, a neighborhood boy named Sam Karras (Ryan Merriman) knocks on the door, asking to mow the lawn. Beth notices the boy's appearance exactly matches a time-elapsed photo of Ben constructed by the police; she takes pictures of the boy and contacts both her husband and police detective Candy Bliss (Whoopi Goldberg). School fingerprints of Ben and Sam match, and the boy is taken to foster care while Candy and Beth confront the father, George (John Kapelos). It seems Ben was abducted by an unbalanced woman who was Beth's high school classmate; the boy was eventually adopted by George when he married "Sam's" new mother, and she later committed suicide, leaving no one to blame. Having grown up happily with George, Sam has no memories of his real parents. Now Beth and Pat must find a way to bond with Sam, and heal older brother Vincent (Jonathan Jackson), who was supposed to be watching Ben at the time he disappeared, and has been suffering from guilt ever since. ~ Ron Wells, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michelle Pfeiffer, Treat Williams, (more)
An unflinching drama of frustrated ambition and troubled siblings, Georgia examines the relationship between a self-destructive, would-be rock singer and her sister, a successful folk musician. Sadie (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is the younger, more troubled sister, a wild child with a taste for reckless behavior, from her dangerous romances to her attachments to drugs and alcohol. Hopping between low-rent clubs, Sadie struggles to make it from gig to gig, delivering rawly emotional performances that lack technical skill. Her repeated career failures drive her further into addiction, sending her life into a downward spiral. Ultimately, she is forced to seek help from her sister Georgia (Mare Winningham), who is everything Sadie is not: married, financially secure, and blessed with a smooth voice that has won her popular success. A clash of seemingly opposite personalities follows, as Georgia attempts to help Sadie without becoming damaged herself. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jennifer Jason Leigh, Mare Winningham, (more)
Falling in Love can be described as an urban American Brief Encounter. Reteamed for the first time since The Deer Hunter, Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep star as a married couple. Thing of it is, they're not married to each other. While Christmas shopping for their respective families, architect Frank Raftis (DeNiro) and graphic artist Molly Gilmore (Streep) "meet cute," their holiday packages becoming mixed up. What starts as a pleasant chance acquaintance blossoms into romance. Inevitably, however, both parties realize that what they're doing is wrong--a shade too late to save their marriages, as it turns out. The film ends with a bittersweet "one year later" coda. The natural charisma of its stars lends distinction to the otherwise so-so Falling in Love. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, (more)
- 1981
- R
Adapted by John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion from Dunne's novel, True Confessions uses the still-unsolved "Black Dahlia" murder as the foundation for a devastating attack on big-city corruption -- in which it appears that many of the perpetrators wear clerical collars. In, 1948 Los Angeles detective Tom Spellacy (Robert Duvall) is assigned to investigate the death of a priest, who apparently suffered a heart attack while being serviced by a prostitute. Meanwhile, Tom's brother, young Catholic monsignor Des Spellacy (Robert De Niro), is reluctantly currying favor with crooked contractor Jack Amsterdam (Charles Durning), the better to finance an expansion of Des' church. The unifying factor between Tom and Des, beyond their sibling relationship, turns out to be the grisly murder of a hooker. The key words in the labyrinthine proceedings are power, ambition, and hypocrisy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall, (more)
Paroled criminal Max Dembo (Dustin Hoffman) is compelled to withstand the calculated cruelties of slimy parole officer Earl Frank (M. Emmet Walsh). The more Max tries to go straight, the more he is defeated by circumstance or hectored by the sadistic Frank. It becomes clear after a while that neither Max nor his fellow ex-cons will be able to survive looking for legitimate work. Max is too "far gone" as a human being to succeed at anything other than crime. He goes back to his old thieving ways, inveigling reformed crook Jerry Schue (Harry Dean Stanton) into helping him. A climactic "big caper" goes tragically awry, thanks in great part to the tragic flaws in Max's personality. Based on a novel by Edward Bunker, Straight Time is possibly the most realistic cinematic probe into the sociopathic psyche of the career criminal. Famed theatrical director and instructor Ulu Grosbard directed, with an uncredited assist from star Hoffman; it was their second film together, after Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dustin Hoffman, Theresa Russell, (more)
- 1971
- PG
Georgie Soloway (Dustin Hoffman) is an unbelievably successful composer of popular music. Just in the last year, he has written over 60 hit songs. That kind of output worries him, however. Now that he is getting to be middle-aged, he wonders if he will be able to keep the pace he has set. He also has a rich crop of neuroses, and his worries go way beyond what might seem reasonable. For instance, Georgie believes that someone named Harry Kellerman sabotaged each of his previous relationships, and he is worried about his current one with Alison (Barbara Harris), a singer. He seeks the aid of his psychiatrist (Jack Warden) but gets little satisfaction. He then tries to get comfort from his business associates (Dom De Luise and Gabriel Dell), but they don't have a clue about how to help him. Turning to home, he visits his mother (Betty Walker) and father (David Burns) but is further distressed when he learns that his father is dying. Still highly agitated, he takes to the air in his private jet. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1968
Frank D. Gilroy's Pulitzer-winning "kitchen sink" theatrical piece The Subject Was Roses was given a no-frills film transference in 1968. Martin Sheen and Jack Albertson re-create their stage roles as a returning serviceman and his alcoholic father. Patricia Neal takes over from the play's Irene Dailey as Nettie Cleary, Timmy's (Sheen) overly protective mother, long at odds with husband John (Albertson) over his drinking. Mother and Father try to put on a facade of happiness for the benefit of their son, but soon the three of them are squabbling again, just as if the boy had never been away. With the exception of adding a few extraneous characters, the film version of The Subject Was Roses is essentially the same as its 1964 Broadway counterpart. The film helped establish the career of Martin Sheen, launched a whole new dramatic career for Jack Albertson, and represented a triumphant comeback for Patricia Neal, who'd recently recovered from a debilitating stroke. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patricia Neal, Jack Albertson, (more)
