Maurice Jarre Movies
A hugely prolific composer best known for his multiple collaborations with director David Lean, Maurice Jarre is one of the most well-respected personalities in the film industry. A student of the Paris Conservatoire, Jarre, who was born in Lyons on September 13, 1924, was the musical director at Paris' Theatre National Populaire in the early 1950s, when he became intrigued with film work. His first movie assignment was the Georges Franju-directed short subject, Hotel des Invalides (1952). Here, as in future projects, Jarre preferred to avoid the obvious in his scores, opting for muted and romantic effects where other film musicians might rely upon bombast. He gained worldwide prominence and three Oscars, for his collaborations with director Lean on Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Doctor Zhivago (1965), and A Passage to India (1984). The composer's Zhivago leitmotif "Lara's Theme" became a best-selling single, though it caused a brief rift with Lean, who disapproved of hit songs that detracted from the films themselves. Jarre has also scored the films of directors as diverse as Alfred Hitchcock (Topaz, 1969), John Huston (The Man Who Would Be King, 1975), Peter Weir (The Year of Living Dangerously, 1982, Witness, 1985) and even satirist Jerry Zucker (Top Secret!, 1984). When Zucker decided to forego parody for romantic fantasy in 1990's Ghost, he engaged Jarre for the score -- and the composer had yet another hit (with the help of Alex North's "Unchained Melody"). Jarre is the father of Jean-Michel Jarre, a popular composer in his own right. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This homage to the cinema by venerated movie-maker Agnes Varda, often dubbed the "grandmother" of the French New Wave, features an all-star international cast. The story is based upon the memories and insights of the 100-year old Mr. Simon Cinema. He lives in a magnificent house filled with movie memorabilia. To help him remember the important details of his career he hires Camille, a film student to write down his remembrances and experiences which have involved all areas of movie-making. Camille comes once a day for 101 days. Film clips, photographs and actual visitors highlight his stories. As he continues to spin his yarns, the imagery in the film smoothly morph into other images. Camille, when not recording, is involved in other exploits including a romance with a production assistant, Mica who aspires to becoming a director. She also begins plotting a way to get to Mr. Cinema's fortune by having a friend pose as his long lost heir. Many other characters are peripherally involved including Death, an Italian seeking the rights to his film catalogue, and a memory specialist. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Piccoli, Marcello Mastroianni, (more)
A Passage to India, director David Lean's final film (for which he also received editing credit), breaks no new ground cinematically, but remains an exquisitely assembled harkback to such earlier Lean epics as Doctor Zhivago and Ryan's Daughter. Based on the novel by E. M. Forster, the film is set in colonial India in 1924. Adela Quested (Judy Davis), a sheltered, well-educated British woman, arrives in the town of Chandrapore, where she hopes to experience "the real India". Here she meets and befriends Dr. Aziz (Victor Banerjee), who, despite longstanding racial and social taboos, moves with relative ease and freedom amongst highborn British circles. Feeling comfortable with Adela, Aziz invites her to accompany him on a visit to the Marabar caves. Adela has previously exhibited bizarre, almost mystical behavior during other ventures into the Indian wilderness: this time, she emerges from the caves showing signs of injury and ill usage. To Aziz' horror, he is accused by Adela of raping her. Typically, the British ruling class rallies to Adela's defense, virtually convicting Aziz before the trial ever begins. Though he is eventually acquitted due to lack of evidence (in fact, director Lean never shows us what really happened), Aziz is ruined in the eyes of both the British and his own people-as is Adela. Woven into these proceedings is a subplot involving Adela's elderly travelling companion Mrs. Moore (Peggy Ashcroft), who through a series of plot twists too complex to describe here becomes a heroine of the Indian Independence movement. A Passage to India was nominated for several Academy Awards, scoring wins in the categories of Best Supporting Actress (Peggy Ashcroft) and Best Original Score (Maurice Jarre). A theatrical version of A Passage to India, written by Santha Rama Rau, was previously adapted for television by the BBC in the mid-1970s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Judy Davis, Victor Banerjee, (more)
In this atmospheric romantic drama, Keanu Reeves plays Paul Sutton, who has just returned home from a stretch in the Army during World War II. Still reeling from the horrors of war, Paul wants to settle down and start a farm, but his wife Betty (Debra Messing), whom he met and impulsively married shortly before shipping out, has arranged for him to take a job as a salesman peddling chocolates. While taking a sales trip to another town, he befriends a beautiful but distraught young woman, Victoria Aragon (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon). While away at college, Victoria met and fell in love with a young man and soon became pregnant; however, when her boyfriend discovered she was expecting, he abandoned her. She returns home full of shame and fearful of her father's reaction. But Paul gets an idea -- he'll pose as her husband and leave after a day or two, so when she's left alone with the child, the disgrace will be on him, not her. Victoria agrees, and Paul joins Victoria as she arrives at her family's estate in the California wine country. Most of the Aragon family take to Paul readily enough, especially Grandfather Don Pedro (Anthony Quinn), but Victoria's father, Alberto (Giancarlo Giannini), senses something amiss between the young couple. A Walk In The Clouds was the first American film from director Alfonso Arau, who previously made the international hit Like Water For Chocolate. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Keanu Reeves, Aitana Sanchez-Gijon, (more)
Adapted from a novel by pulp writer Jim Thompson, After Dark, My Sweet evokes memories of the film noirs of yore. Jason Patric plays Collie, a short-fused ex-boxer who gets mixed up with alcoholic widow Fay (Rachel Ward) and burned-out former lawman Uncle Bud (Bruce Dern). These two lowlifes involve Collie in a kidnapping scheme. At first willing to go along with the plan, Collie tires of Fay's drunken mood swings and seeks out new companionship. Doctor George Dickinson proves all too eager to be friends with Collie -- more than friends, in fact. Driven back into Fay's arms, Collie agrees to aid in the kidnapping. But when the victim turns out to be diabetic, things go from bad to worse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Patric, Rachel Ward, (more)
Australian star Paul Hogan just couldn't seem to come up with a hit comparable to his 1986 international hit Crocodile Dundee. Hogan's Almost an Angel was a nice try, but no cigar. The star plays a lifelong thief who suffers a potentially fatal accident. While "in limbo", Hogan is visited by God (amusingly played by Charlton Heston-well, why not Charlton Heston?). When he recovers, Hogan is convinced that he'd been returned to the land of the living in order to do God's work. He turns over a new leaf, coming to the assistance of wheelchair-bound Elias Koteas and his pretty sister Linda Kozlowski (the real-life Mrs. Hogan). At first suspicious of Hogan, Kozlowski is finally won over by his new-found sincerity. So lightweight that it threatens to float away at any moment, Almost an Angel is held together exclusively by Paul Hogan's star appeal. Unfortunately, this wasn't enough to insure a box-office success. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Hogan, Elias Koteas, (more)
- 1986
Apology stars Lesley Anne Warren (with a Stefanie Powers hairdo) as a Manhattan-based sculptor/performance artist. To enhance her latest project, Warren invites the participation of anonymous phone callers, whose voices she records. One of her unseen "collaborators" calls her up to confess to a murder--several murders, in fact. Warren strongly suspects that the mystery caller may be intending a little "performance" involving her own demise. Peter Weller co-stars as a sympathetic detective who ends up Warren's lover--but can he be trusted? Made for HBO, Apology was originally telecast July 27, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lesley Ann Warren, Peter Weller, (more)
- 1973
A woman undergoes a surgeon's scalpel in a last-ditch attempt to win back her husband in this drama. Barbara Sawyer (Elizabeth Taylor) has been married to her husband, Mark (Henry Fonda), for 30 years, and she's afraid the spark has gone out of their relationship. Barbara is convinced the problem is her appearance -- the years have taken a heavy toll on her, and her haggard, saggy appearance is a far cry from the beauty she possessed in her youth. Determined to save her marriage, Barbara checks into a clinic in Switzerland for extensive plastic surgery, and arranges to meet Mark at a nearby ski lodge once she's recovered. After having her face, breasts, and bottom lifted, Barbara leaves the hospital looking as beautiful as Elizabeth Taylor, and as she waits for Mark to arrive in Switzerland, she allows herself to be seduced by Erich (Helmut Berger), a handsome young playboy, to prove to herself she has regained her allure. However, her new face and figure isn't enough to save her marriage when Mark informs her he's decided to leave her for another woman. Ash Wednesday features detailed footage of actual plastic surgical procedures, some of which were far too bloody for the comfort of most audiences. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Taylor, Henry Fonda, (more)
- 1983
Unfortunately bound by clichés and stereotypes rather than original insights and new viewpoints, this condensed movie version of an 8-hour television series does not do complete justice to its noble topic of courage in the face of the World War II holocaust. The story is based on the memoirs of Martin Gray (Michael York plays the older Gray and Jacques Penot the younger), a Polish Jew who survived the Warsaw Ghetto and escaped Treblinka, the Nazi death camp where his mother and brothers died. After leaving Treblinka, Martin returns to Warsaw in time to join the Jewish insurrection at the Warsaw ghetto. In 1943, thousands of Jews in the walled ghetto revolted and fought the German occupation forces for six weeks, killing 5,000 Germans but losing their heroic struggle -- that six-week battle is a major focus of the film. Miraculously, Gray survives the war and moves to France where he meets and falls in love with Dina (Brigitte Fossey) -- and then has a major second tragic episode in his life that opens this film, and in the story and in real life it inspires him to write his memoirs. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael York, Brigitte Fossey, (more)
By 1964, it was possible for a major studio to make a film touching upon the Spanish Civil War without having to answer to some senate investigating committee or other. Based on Emeric Pressburger's novel A Mouse on Sunday, Behold a Pale Horse stars Gregory Peck as a war veteran who continues waging a one-man offensive years after hostilities have officially ceased. Exiled to France, Peck is lured back to Spain by vengeful police captain Anthony Quinn. Priest Omar Sharif advises Peck that he's being tricked, but Peck is determined to return to Spain to bid farewell to his dying mother Mildred Dunnock. Halfway through, the film bogs down into ponderous preachifying and moralizing, but overall the film is worth a glance. In 1966, Behold a Pale Horse was scheduled to be telecast on a major American network, but was cancelled at the last minute, reportedly at the behest of the Spanish government. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn, (more)
On August 8, 1963, the Royal Mail train, on its nighttime run from London to Glasgow, was robbed by 15 men who got away with 2.6 million pounds (today the equivalent of $35 million). Buster tells the story of one of the junior robbers, Buster Edwards (played by pop singer Phil Collins), in a crime that came to be known as the Great Train Robbery. The film details the planning of the famous heist, but its main concern is Buster's relationship with his family and his devotion to his wife June (Julie Walters). The Edwards are like a British Kramden family, trying to make ends meet from day-to-day in their rental apartment, but instead of a bus driver, Buster is a two-bit thief who has the fine luck of hardly ever getting caught. After the Royal mail train robbery, the heat intensifies, since the Conservative Government, already smarting from the Profumo scandal, latches onto the train robbery as a means to deflect attention from the scandal by bringing the train robbers quickly to justice. Buster and June go into hiding and have a series of close calls before finally escaping to Mexico. Finally in paradise, the Edwards find their money quickly being eaten up and discover that they cannot adapt to the Mexico milieu. June, for her part, is homesick, and Buster, always ready to keep her happy, makes the grand gesture -- to return to England and turn himself in to the police. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Phil Collins, Julie Walters, (more)
Handsome young Washington attorney Louie Jeffries (Chris McDonald) has it all: a promising career, a beautiful wife, and a baby on the way. But after discovering a local judge is in cahoots with the Mob, Louie bites it in a car crash and finds himself in Heaven. Unsatisfied with the customer service he's receiving, Louie jumps the gun and gets himself reincarnated -- before being administered the magic injection that will remove his memories of his former life. For the next quarter-century, Louie's museum curator wife, Corinne (Cybill Shepherd), remains true to her husband's memory, ignoring the frustrated devotion of Louie's best friend, Philip Train (Ryan O'Neal). Meanwhile, Louie's soul grows up in the body of Alex Finch (Robert Downey Jr.), an aspiring journalist. Alex's memories of his life as Louie return after he becomes romantically involved with Miranda (Mary Stuart Masterson) -- the daughter he never got to meet. Soon, Alex/Louie is romancing his wife, spurning his daughter's advances, and frustrating Philip's attempts finally to woo Corinne. Written by Mystic Pizza scribes Perry and Randy Howze and directed by Emile Ardolino of Dirty Dancing fame, Chances Are didn't score as well at the box office as those earlier comedies. Its soundtrack, however, generated the hit Peter Cetera and Cher ballad "After All." ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cybill Shepherd, Robert Downey, Jr., (more)
- 1981
- PG
A former baseball player (Alan Arkin) has descended into alcoholism, and meets up with a has-been entertainer (Carol Burnett) when both spot a briefcase containing secret documents. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Arkin, Carol Burnett, (more)
- 1981
- R
Bruno Ganz plays a West German journalist whose frequent assignments to war-torn nations have left him jaundiced. He is assigned to cover the civil war in Beirut. The combination of his harrowing experiences on the job and his after-hours relationship with widow Hannah Schygulla affects Ganz deeply, in spite of the wall he's built around himself. He suffers a crisis of conscience when he is forced to commit himself to someone--and something--for the first time in his life. The plot of Circle of Deceit was based on the reminiscences of novelist Nicolas Born; the picture's realism is grotesquely enhanced by the decision to film on location in Beirut, surrounding the actors with genuine wartime carnage--bodies and all. Originally titled Die Falschung, Circle of Deceit is not a comfortable experience, but few will stop watching once the film has started. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruno Ganz, Hanna Schygulla, (more)
- 1982
Coming Out of the Ice stars John Savage as the real-life Victor Herman, an American athlete born to Ukrainian immigrants. In 1931, when Herman was sixteen, he and his family moved to the Soviet Union when his father was transferred there for his job with Ford Motor Company. Four years later, Victor won the world parachute jump competition, but refused to accept an award bestowed by Josef Stalin or to renounce his American citizenship. Presumably as a result, Herman was sentenced to hard labor and then exile in Siberia; he would not be cleared of "counterrevolutionary" charges until 1955. He eventually returned to the United States nearly 45 years after he was first imprisoned. Filmed in Finland, Coming Out the Ice was first telecast on May 23, 1982. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1960
Three stars appear in two separate but intertwined stories of romantic triangles gone wrong in this ambitious drama. In the first segment, Hagolin (Orson Welles) is a loutish construction worker with an unhappy wife, Eponine (Juliette Greco). The wife becomes involved with a swarthy working man, Larnier (Bradford Dillman), and their passion knows no boundaries of caution or safety. Eventually, Eponine's and Larnier's lust drives them to madness, and they murder Hagolin. The second tale concerns an up-and-coming young lawyer, Claude (Dillman), whose mentor is a highly successful veteran attorney, Lamerciere (Welles), with a beautiful young wife named Florence (Greco). Claude finds himself defending Larnier and Eponine, while Lamerciere dies of a heart attack after he discovers that Florence has been unfaithful to him with Claude. Producer Darryl F. Zanuck also wrote the screenplay, under the pen name Mark Canfield. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Orson Welles, Juliette Greco, (more)
Robin Williams toned down his usually manic comic approach in this successful period drama. In 1959, the Welton Academy is a staid but well-respected prep school where education is a pragmatic and rather dull affair. Several of the students, however, have their thoughts on the learning process (and life itself) changed when a new teacher comes to the school. John Keating (Williams) is an unconventional educator who tears chapters of his textbooks and asks his students to stand on their desks to see the world from a new angle. Keating introduces his students to poetry, and his free-thinking attitude and the liberating philosophies of the authors he introduces to his class have a profound effect on his students, especially Todd (Ethan Hawke), who would like to be a writer; Neil ( Robert Sean Leonard), who dreams of being an actor, despite the objections of his father; Knox (Josh Charles), a hopeless romantic; Steven (Allelon Ruggiero), an intellectual who learns to use his heart as well as his head; Charlie (Gale Hansen), who begins to lose his blasé attitude; unconventional Gerard (James Waterston); and practical Richard (Dylan Kussman). Keating urges his students to seize the day and live their lives boldly; but when this philosophy leads to an unexpected tragedy, headmaster Mr. Nolan (Norman Lloyd) fires Keating, and his students leap to his defense. Dead Poets Society was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Williams; it won one, for Tom Schulman's original screenplay. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, (more)
Discharged from Vietnam, John Lithgow and his army buddies have trouble fitting into a hostile home-front society. Rather than endure dirty looks and taunts of "baby killer," Lithgow and his friends wander aimlessly all through the Pacific Northwest. Several years pass, during which time Lithgow's estranged son Ralph Maccio grows to manhood. Finally emerging from his self-imposed exile, Lithgow begins searching for the son he's never known. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Lithgow, Ralph Macchio, (more)
Based on the Nobel Prize-winning novel by Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago covers the years prior to, during, and after the Russian Revolution, as seen through the eyes of poet/physician Yuri Zhivago (Omar Sharif). In the tradition of Russian novels, a multitude of characters and subplots intertwine within the film's 197 minutes (plus intermission). Zhivago is married to Tonya (Geraldine Chaplin), but carries on an affair with Lara (Julie Christie), who has been raped by ruthless politician Komarovsky (Rod Steiger). Meanwhile, Zhivago's half-brother Yevgraf (Alec Guinness) and the mysterious, revenge-seeking Strelnikoff (Tom Courteney) represent the "good" and "bad" elements of the Bolshevik revolution. Composer Maurice Jarre received one of Doctor Zhivago's five Oscars, with the others going to screenwriter Robert Bolt, cinematographer Freddie Young, art directors John Box and Terry Marsh, set decorator Dario Simoni, and costumer Phyllis Dalton. The best picture Oscar, however, went to The Sound of Music. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, (more)
- 1982
- PG
This heartwarming tale of courage and devotion is set during the Vietnam war and centers upon a young medic who makes extra money on the side dealing drugs. His life is forever changed when he meets an Army doctor who persuades him to help her save a group of war orphans. First she appeals to his sense of guilt; then she blackmails him into assisting. The children are cared for by a few Vietnamese nuns. The doctor and the medic bring them badly needed food and supplies. To do this, the brave duo must face enemy bombs and the resistance of the US government. This is based on a true story and though wrenching, it is not syrupy or sentimental. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Christopher, Susan Saint James, (more)
Great special effects do not always make for a great film, but Dreamscape comes awfully close. Dr. Paul Novotny (Max Von Sydow) and Dr. Jane Devries (Kate Capshaw) run a clinic for the study of dreams. Hoping to alleviate the pain of those plagued with recurring nightmares, Novotny hires a team of psychics to "inhabit" the subconsciouses of the patients. Alex Gardner (Dennis Quaid), a small-time hustler who uses his ESP gifts for financial gains, is hired to work at the clinic. He helps to disperse the fears of a young nightmare-plagued boy, then reverts to type by "raping" the thoughts of the lovely Dr. Devries. Things come to a head when one of the patients, the American president (Eddie Albert), decides to purge himself of his apocalyptic dreams by making a lasting peace with the Soviets. Bob Blair (Christopher Plummer), the political reactionary who finances the clinic, decides to assassinate the president by acting upon Dr. Novotny's pet theory: if a person dies in his or her dream, he/she will die in real life. The finale pits Gardner against psychic assassin Tommy Ray Glatman (David Patrick Kelly). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Quaid, Max von Sydow, (more)
- 1970
- R
Jim Brown and Lee Van Cleef team up for this western set on the Mexican border. Brown is Luke, who escapes from a chain gang after learning that a fortune in gold is hidden in the Mexican fortress of El Condor. He joins up with the snake-eyed crook Jaroo (Lee Van Cleef) and together they round up a tribe of Apaches, headed by Santana (Iron Eyes Cody), to attack the fort -- convincing the Indian renegades that the fort houses food and guns greatly needed by the Apaches. During their first crack at taking the fort, Luke and Jaroo are captured by the fort's commandant, Chavez (Patrick O'Neal). Claudine (Marianna Hall), the wife of the commandant, falls in love with Luke and she aids them in their escape from the fort. Later on, she is instrumental in getting Luke and Jaroo's band into the fort -- diverting the gaze of the fort's defenders by disrobing in front of a well-lit bedroom window. Chavez escapes, but Santana is shot by Jaroo after discovering that Jaroo deceived him. With Santana shot, the Apaches leave the fort, carrying the food and ammunition. Now the only ones left to defend the defenseless fort are Luke, Claudine, and Jaroo. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Florencio Amarilla, Per Barclay, (more)
Ron Silver stars as Herman, a Holocaust survivor who believes that his wife Tamara (Anjelica Huston) perished in the concentration camps. He marries fellow immigrant Yadwiga (Margaret Sophie Stein), whose family sheltered him from the Nazis, and resettles in the Coney Island area of New York. Not all that devoted to Yadwiga, Herman begins an affair with Masha (Lena Olin), who becomes pregnant by him. Reasoning that, since Yadwiga is a gentile, his marriage is not legal in the eyes of his religion, Herman marries Masha as well. The triangle metamorphoses into a quadrangle when Tamara, who was not killed after all, reappears. Olin and Huston were both nominated for Best Supporting Actress Academy Awards. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ron Silver, Anjelica Huston, (more)
Love means never having to say that you're ugly in the extravagant fantasy film Enemy Mine. Earthling Dennis Quaid is Davidge, one of many space warriors engaged in a bloody extraterrestrial battle against the Draconians. Crash-landing on a faraway planet, Davidge is forced into an "up close and personal" with the Drac (Lou Gossett Jr.), a repellant, reptilian creature. Evidently a bivalve, the Drac gives birth to a baby Drac just before expiring. Now a reluctant foster father, Davidge tries to keep himself and the baby alive while the war continues to rage all around them. The special effects (courtesy Industrial Light and Magic) are serviceable if not brilliant, and the acting is okay so far as it goes. What socks over Enemy Mine is Rolf Zehetbauer's awe-inspiring production design and Chris Walas' superb makeup work. Though a favorite on home video, the film deserves to be seen on a wide theatre screen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Quaid, Louis Gossett, Jr., (more)
- 1980
This made-for-TV historical drama chronicles the personal and professional lives of Colonel Tibbets and the airmen who dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The story is based on a book by Gordon Thomas and Max Gordon Witts and also looks at the ways in which the aftermath of the bombing affected their lives. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
