Luis Guzman Movies
A well-respected character actor who specializes in playing tough guys with a heart, Luis Guzman has appeared in a dizzying array of film and television productions since he began his professional acting career in the early 1980s.A native of Manhattan, Guzman graduated from City College and worked for some years as a youth counselor at the Henry Street Settlement House. During his time as a social worker, he began performing in street theatre and independent films. Guzman got his first big break in the early '80s with a role on the popular TV series Miami Vice. He went on to work sporadically in film and television throughout the rest of the decade, appearing in such films as Sidney Lumet's Family Business and Ridley Scott's Black Rain (both 1989).
Guzman's work schedule grew increasingly crowded as the 1990s progressed; kicking off the decade with an appearance in another Lumet piece, Q & A (1990), the actor began popping up in films ranging from romantic comedy (Anthony Minghella's Mr. Wonderful, 1993) to crime drama (Brian De Palma's Carlito's Way, 1993) to gay and lesbian historical docudrama (Nigel Finch's Stonewall, 1995).
Thanks to directors Steven Soderbergh and Paul Thomas Anderson, Guzman became more readily recognizable in the late 1990s. For Soderbergh, he had substantial roles in Out of Sight (1998), which cast him as a prisoner whose planned escape is ruined by George Clooney; and The Limey (1999), in which he played Terence Stamp's gruff but good-hearted partner in revenge. For Anderson, Guzman appeared in both Boogie Nights (1997) and Magnolia (1999), playing a wannabe porn star in the former and a game show contestant in the latter. 2002 proved Guzman's busiest year to date as the increasingly visible actor appeared in no less than five films, including a prominant role in the caper comedy Welcome to Collinwood and a re-teaming with director Anderson with Punch-Drunk Love.
On television, Guzman became a regular presence thanks to a recurring role on the HBO prison drama Oz, as well as appearances on such shows as Law and Order, NYPD Blue, and Walker, Texas Ranger. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
Christine (Sandy McLeod) is a ticket-taker at a Manhattan porn cinema. Her ability to separate reel life from real life is seriously impaired in this slow, often silent, and ultimately enigmatic study of a lonely young woman who first despises the porn and then becomes fascinated with it and the clients who attend the shows. Her inclinations become more active than passive after she decides to follow an elegantly turned-out "businessman" from the theater into an adult video shop, where they begin talking and he invites her to a Yankee game (that dates this movie!). Once at the game, the man leaves for a moment, and Christine follows him again, this time to some sort of strange rendezvous. At this point, it is difficult for both Christine and the viewers to distinguish reality from fantasy, leaving everyone in limbo. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sandy McLeod, Will Patton, (more)
- 1985
- R
This Mexican children's film concerns a most unchildlike subject: the traditional "Day of the Dead" celebration. David Gonzalez plays a small boy who discovers that the Devil plans to take over the festival. His Satanic Majesty's master plan is to replace the sugar skulls made in Calacan with cheap plastic imitations. Gonzalez foils this (literally) diabolical scheme with the help of the festival's "skeleton boy." You don't have to be Mexican to understand Calacan, but it sure helps. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Gonzalez, Humberto Leon, (more)
- 1987
In this small, independent production by a first-time director and the co-owner of a New York city music club named The Great Jones Cafe, a young man attempts to make his way in the music business and in the midst of his struggles becomes acquainted with all sorts of would-be musicians, great artists, and has-beens. One highlight of the film is its soundtrack, featuring The Raunch Hands, Raw Youth, and Richard Hell. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Brisbin
An evil drug baron rears his ugly head in this sequel to the blockbuster Crocodile Dundee, kidnapping Sue so that Dundee will butt out of the Baron's affairs. Using outback strategy, Dundee attempts to rescue his girlfriend. Reversing the procedure of the first film, the story later takes the hero and heroine from America back to Australia, making Sue the fish out of water. In the interim between the two films, stars Paul Hogan and Linda Kozlowski became husband and wife. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Hogan, Linda Kozlowski, (more)
The only True Believer at the beginning of this drama is idealistic young attorney Robert Downey Jr., who apprentices under the guidance of celebrated civil-rights activist James Woods. Alas, in the years since the sixties, Woods has become a disillusioned, dope-smoking ambulance chaser. Goaded by Downey, Woods takes up one last "lost cause:" that of Korean-American prison inmate Yuji Okomoto, who is about to be tried for the self-defense slaying of another prisoner. As Woods investigates, he unearths several iniquities in the trial that sent Okomoto to prison. Despite the fact that the one witness who might clear Okomoto is an unhinged conspiracy theorist, Woods endeavors to re-open Okomoto's case--which plays right into the hands of sharkish, politically ambitious DA Kurtwood Smith. Chock full of plot twists and last-minute shockers, True Believer was popular enough to inspire a spin-off TV series, Eddie Dodd. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Woods, Robert Downey, Jr., (more)
- 1989
- R
Set in the Manhattan street milieu that served him well in West Side Story, Robert Wise’s Rooftops tells the story of T, a quiet, soft-spoken teen-ager who has left his broken home and is living in a makeshift shelter in an old water tower on top of an abandoned tenement building. There are other kids like him, including Squeak, a talented graffiti artist who joins T after an altercation involving his mother’s boy friend. T and Squeak manage to scrape together what little money they need through minor sins (stripping cars, etc.), and at night all these street inhabitants get together in a vacant lot to “combat” dance, in which they use a combination of karate and dancing to force an opponent off of a platform. Into this mix comes Lobo, a drug dealer who moves into T’s building and turns it into a crack house. Lobo’s beautiful cousin Elana serves as his lookout – not because she wants to, but because her father’s heart attack has left her family in dire financial straits. T and Elana become interested in each other, but T and Lobo are at odds with each other – which fact leads to a showdown in which T must put his “combat” skills to good use. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Gedrick, Troy Beyer, (more)
Under scrutiny by his superiors for allegedly dipping into confiscated drug money, New York vice cop Michael Douglas can expect no sympathy from his ex-wife, who is gouging him for alimony. Douglas gets a chance to redeem himself when he is assigned to escort Japanese mob boss Yusaku Matsuda back to his own country to stand trial. Upon arriving in Osaka, Douglas and his partner Andy Garcia are tricked into releasing their prisoner. Now on the outs with both the American and Japanese police authorities, Douglas is forced to deal with the Yakuza-the Japanese equivalent of the Mafia-to retrieve the elusive Matsuda. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Douglas, Andy Garcia, (more)
You've probably already guessed that the Family Business in this all-star melodrama is the business of crime. Adapted from a novel by Vincent Patrick, the film stars Sean Connery as Jessie McMullen, the patriarch of a family of career criminals, including his son Vito (Dustin Hoffman) and grandson Adam (Matthew Broderick). Vito has gone legit, but college-educated Adam remains loyal to his grandfather. Reluctantly, Vito joins his father and son on a big-time heist involving millions of dollars' worth of test-tube specimens. There's many a slip-up and betrayal before the three generations can find a common ground. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Connery, Dustin Hoffman, (more)
Following Serpico (1973) and Prince of the City (1981), veteran urban crime film director Sidney Lumet completed a thematic trilogy about New York City police corruption with this noir drama. When New York City cop Mike Brennan (Nick Nolte) shoots an unarmed Hispanic drug dealer in cold blood, he quickly plants a gun on his victim and manufactures some eyewitness testimony. D.A. Kevin Quinn (Patrick O'Neal) calls in his assistant district attorney, Al Reilly (Timothy Hutton), to conduct a perfunctory investigation of the incident, but Brennan's obvious guilt during a question and answer session makes Reilly dig deeper. The crusading lawyer is soon uncovering a web of corruption that reaches from Brennan into Quinn's office. At the same time, Reilly learns that his ex-girlfriend Nancy Bosch (Jenny Lumet, the director's daughter), is now dating his chief witness, Puerto Rican drug dealer Bobby Texador (Armand Assante). Q&A (1990) was based on the novel by Edwin Torres, a New York State Supreme Court judge whose two other novels were later adapted into the film Carlito's Way (1993). Lumet would again return to the subject of New York's corrupt criminal justice system with Night Falls on Manhattan (1997). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nick Nolte, Timothy Hutton, (more)
- 1990
Just released from prison, Carlos Delgado (Luis Guzman) attends his grandson's christening, where he is reunited with his mobster father Ernesto (Joe Santos). Though Carlos wants to go straight, Ernesto pressures him into remainng with the Organization for one more "hit"--and to make matters worse, Carlos' own son Tomas (Raymond Cruz) likewise insists that his dad resume his life of crime. As a mobster's son himelf, Hunter (Fred Dryer) takes a special interest in this extreme example of family loyalty. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Action film director John Badham bites the hand that feeds him in this action movie spoof that features ribbing of pretty-boy Hollywood action stars by Michael J. Fox and a parody of colorful, hair-trigger James Woods types by the man himself. Woods plays New York homicide detective John Moss, who is within an inch of closing in on a serial killer who calls himself The Party Crasher (Stephen Lang) because his specialty is shooting his victims in the middle of discos. Chasing The Party Crasher after his latest victim has been dispatched, Moss finds himself hanging onto the door of a speeding truck with The Party Crasher at the wheel. When Moss is thrown off the truck and nearly killed, The Party Crasher escapes, and Moss is taken off the case. Moss is given a new assignment --to tag around with Hollywood action film star Nick Lang (Michael J. Fox), the popular hero of the "Smoking Gun" movies. Lang spotted Moss on a television news show and thinks he would be the ideal cop to study for adding authenticity to an up-coming police action picture. Posing as Moss's rookie partner, Lang follows Moss everywhere, proceeding to spoil his pursuit of The Party Crasher and interfering with Moss's burgeoning affair with his girlfriend Susan (Anabella Sciorra). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael J. Fox, James Woods, (more)
- 1991
Fifty-three people die in a fire at a private Manhattan nightclub. Suspects include a disgruntled patron who was not allowed entry to the popular night-spot, and a rival club owner. But as the investigation proceeds, the trail of evidence leads to a particularly nasty green card scam, targeting illegal aliens. This episode is distinguished by its impressive supporting cast of Hispanic actors. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1991
Michael Pare and Mary Mara star in this thriller about two police detectives who fall into a passionate relationship as they investigate a murder among the wealthy and privileged. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Paré, Mary Mara, (more)
- 1991
- R
A Colombian soldier (Chick Vennera) working to save U.S. prisoners of war is killed during a bloody coup, so his sister (Maria Conchita Alonso) asks one of the rescuers (Christopher Walken) to avenge his death. The man assembles a team of soldiers to invade Central America and get rid of the evil dictator. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Walken, Maria Conchita Alonso, (more)
- 1992
When a decorated New York City policeman voiced his opposition to an accused cop killer's death sentence, his co-workers ostracized him in this true story. ~ All Movie Guide
An uneven but entertaining blend of graphic horror and black comedy from John Landis, very much in the mode of the director's successful An American Werewolf in London. French actress Anne Parillaud -- star of Luc Besson's acclaimed thriller La Femme Nikita -- plays Marie, a lithe and lovely vampire with a conscience who will not take "innocent blood" and maintains a low profile by dining exclusively on criminals and lowlifes. She finds a virtual smorgasbord in Pittsburgh's criminal underworld, arriving in the thick of a bloody mob war sparked by ruthless kingpin Sal Macelli (Robert Loggia). After preying on one of Macelli's hoods (Chazz Palminteri), Marie fumbles her attack on the boss himself and he manages to escape, eventually transforming into a vampire himself. Macelli soon comes to appreciate his new superhuman condition and hatches a diabolical scheme to control the syndicates by turning his underlings into vampires -- including his beleaguered lawyer, Emmanuel Bergman (Don Rickles). Marie, faced with a new and powerful undead enemy, is forced to take matters into her own claws. To this end she enlists the reluctant aid (and eventual affection) of undercover cop Joe Gennaro (Anthony LaPaglia), whose cover has just been leaked to the press, making him a target for Macelli and his growing army of blood drinkers. Landis has crafted a dark and brooding film, pumped up with bouts of extreme gore and gangland violence -- but where American Werewolf's occasional comic touches helped to ground the story and give the "straight" horror scenes more punch, most attempts at humor here seem jarring and out of place. The film's highlights come from numerous horror in-jokes, including cameos from Sam Raimi, Clive Barker, Dario Argento and Linnea Quigley; Rickles' explosive death scene ranks among the weirdest in cinema history. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anne Parillaud, Robert Loggia, (more)
- 1992
- R
This bleak, provocative drama, the debut of filmmaker Jeff Stanzler, gives a haunting look at the effects of drug abuse upon those who care for the user. It tells the story of unemployed, depressed and just-divorced Bronx-resident Manny who hears burglars in his kitchen one morning and walks in to find his little brother Danny and Danny's girlfriend Jeanette rifling around for money to support their crack cocaine habits. Using the baseball bat he carries, Manny nearly beats his errant brother to death. He grabs their drugs and bundles them into his car for a long drive to the graveyard where their recently deceased father is buried. Thus begins a long, depressing journey between the disparate brothers as they try to make peace with their pasts and find redemption for their wasted lives amidst the ruins of their old neighborhood. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim Roth, Alexis Arquette, (more)
- 1992
In this made-for-TV drama, a teenage girl named Sarah (Kathleen Robertson) is flying home to see her parents when she falls ill. While Sarah is convinced that she has simply come down with a bad cold, when she keels over and dies while crossing a street, an autopsy reveals that Sarah had in fact contracted the pneumonic plague. Dr. Nora Hart (Kate Jackson), the hospital's authority on epidemics and highly contagious diseases, now must track down as many people as possible who came in contact with the girl before the plague begins to spread -- including Calvin Phillips (Howard Hessman), a congressman Sarah met on her flight. Based on the novel The Black Death by Gweneth Cravens and John C. Marr, Quiet Killer also stars Jerry Orbach, Luis Guzman, and Al Waxman. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
A young man (Matt Dillon) is trying to go in with his friends on a bowling-alley investment, but finds that his finances are too strapped to attempt the venture. To curb his outlays, he begins arranging a marriage for his ex-wife (Annabella Sciorra) so he can end the alimony payments which keep him in debt. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matt Dillon, Annabella Sciorra, (more)
Sidney Lumet directed this Larry Cohen-scripted courtroom procedural that owes more than it should to Jagged Edge. Jennifer Haines (Rebecca De Mornay), one of the top female lawyers in the country and flush from the success of defending a gangster, has a new client to defend. A suave ladies man in an Armani suit, David Greenhill (Don Johnson) has come to solicit Jennifer's services. It seems that his rich socialite wife has been pushed to her death through an open window, and David stands to inherit a very large fortune. Needless to say, David is a prime suspect in his wife's murder. David admits to Jennifer the he is a womanizer and an oily manipulator, but nevertheless Jennifer decides to take his case as a challenge -- as she puts it: "People who are guilty are rarely this blunt." The result is an intricate chess game between Jennifer and David as they manipulate events, other people, and each other in order to determine the guilt or innocence of the playboy widower. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rebecca De Mornay, Don Johnson, (more)
- 1993
In classic noir tradition, the protagonist of the made-for-TV Double Deception is hard-boiled private eye John Kane (James Russo), who provides the first-person narration for the deliciously convoluted plotline. Kane knew that former call girl Pamela Sparrow (Alice Krige) was a keg of dynamite the minute she uncrossed her beautiful stems in his seedy office. "Please help me," pleaded Pamela in that come-hither voice, "My husband is missing." But the dame wasn't up front at first, failing to mention that her soul-mate was tied in with a 10-year-old murder case. Funny thing: Pamela reminded Kane of his dead wife -- and funnier still, there are some things just don't stay dead. It figured that Kane would get a few lumps on the casaba along the way, and that he'd have a couple of waltz-arounds with the top brass. But a case is a case, and when murder's involved, someone's got to do something about it, or it's bad for business. Double Deception was originally broadcast by NBC on June 21, 1993. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1993
Crossetti (Jon Polito) insists upon handling the case of his ex-partner Thormann (Edie Falco), who was shot in the head on assignment. Bayliss (Kyle Secor) is becoming increasingly frustrated by the dead ends in the Watson killing, the most recent being a raid on the dead girl's house. Felton (Daniel Baldwin) may have found the evidence necessary for Lewis (Clark Johnson) to tighten the noose around "black widow" Calpurnia Church (Mary Jefferson). And a dispute over a bust of Maryland's own Spiro Agnew leads to tragedy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Baldwin, Ned Beatty, (more)
- 1993
Visiting his drug-addicted brother Roberto (Mark Adair-Rios), detective Martinez (Nicholas Turturro) finds out that Roberto's landlord is a crooked cop who is shaking down his tenants on behalf of the Mob. After one of the tenants is murdered, Martinez wants to take action against the bad cop, but Kelly (David Caruso) intervenes. Meanwhile, newly appointed ADA Laura (Sherry Stringfield) turns up the heat on Giardella (Robert Costanzo). And the 15th Precinct is bedeviled by an inveterate practical joker. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Carlito's Way is a tale of a former hood trying to escape his former life. Al Pacino is Carlito Brigante, a high-level Puerto Rican drug dealer sprung from a three-decade jail sentence after only five years, thanks to a technicality and his sleazy, cocaine-addled lawyer, Dave Kleinfeld (Sean Penn). Carlito renounces his previous ways and takes a job as the manager of a club that Kleinfeld has invested in, planning to save enough money so that he can eventually move to the Caribbean. But no sooner is Carlito back on the streets of New York than his old life claws at him in the form of both old partners (Luis Guzman) and vicious up-and-comers (John Leguizamo). Nevertheless, Carlito stays clean and even restarts his relationship with a dancer named Gail (Penelope Ann Miller), until he is finally led astray by Kleinfeld, who manipulates Carlito into participating in the murder of a Mafia don from whom Kleinfeld has stolen a million dollars. At that point, the race is on to see whether Carlito and Gail can escape his world for good. The film is based on two novels about Carlito written by New York State judge Edwin Torres. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- 1993
Janice Licalsi (Amy Breneman) is blackmailed into cooperating with the Mob. Feeling that Martinez (Nicholas Turturro) didn't do enough to prevent the drug-overdose death of his brother, Martinez' father (Luis Guzman) takes the law into his own hands. And the very married Detective Medavoy (Gordon Clapp) celebrates his 40th birthday by going ice-skating with gorgeous administrative assistant Donna Abandando (Gail O'Grady). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
