Norman Jewison Movies

The legendary Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, and Dean Martin co-headline a live, vintage concert performance before a packed house in the home video issue, Most Famous Hits: Judy Garland/Frank Sinatra/Dean Martin. Featured in this 60-minute show are 20 numbers, performed solo and together. Selections include Garland interpreting "Just in Time," "When You're Smiling," "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," and "The Man that Got Away"; Sinatra on "Too Marvelous for Words" and "I See Your Face Before Me"; and Martin covering "Almost Like Being in Love" and "Bye Bye Blackbird." The three team up for "You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You," while Garland performs two separate versions of "You Do Something to Me," one with Sinatra and one with Martin. Martin and Sinatra pair up on "The One I Love Belongs to Somebody Else." ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

In this collection of clips from The Judy Garland Show, which ran for 26 episodes on CBS television in 1963 and 1964, the legendary singer and actress performs a number of songs, several of them collaborations with up-and-comer Barbra Streisand, grand dame Ethel Merman, and Garland's own daughter, the then-teenaged Liza Minnelli. Garland's solos include several of her signature numbers, from "I'm Nobody's Baby," which she performed as a fresh-faced MGM star in 1940's Andy Hardy Meets Debutante, to "The Man That Got Away," written especially for 1954's comeback vehicle A Star Is Born. Garland and Streisand alternate friendly banter about hating each other's talent with solo renditions and two extended medleys. The most famous of these pairings is their show-stopping combination of the standards "Get Happy" and "Happy Days Are Here Again"; Garland had performed the former in 1950's Summer Stock, while Streisand recorded the latter the same year the program aired. In another segment, Merman appears in the middle of the audience and joins Streisand and Garland for a leather-lunged rendition of "There's No Business Like Show Business." The Merman and Streisand footage was taped on October 4, 1963, for episode nine of Garland's eponymous program. A sequence featuring three duets and lots of clowning with Minnelli was taped a few months earlier, on July 16, for episode three. Several years after her program was cancelled, Garland was set to play Helen Lawson, a character based on Merman, for the film version of Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls; she was replaced, however, by Susan Hayward. Streisand would go on to star in her own remake of A Star Is Born, while Minnelli would mine her mother's legacy in her own repertoire. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Light and laugh-filled, Send Me No Flowers is typical Rock Hudson and Doris Day fare. George (Hudson) is a hypochondriac married to Judy (Day) in this marital comedy. When George goes to visit the doctor, he overhears two doctors talking about a diagnosis of a terminally ill patient. George believes they are talking about him and that he is doomed to die. He recruits his friend Arnold (Tony Randall) to find a new husband for Judy. Judy thinks George is covering up for an illicit affair and throws him out of the house. George locates Judy's old college flame Bert (Clint Walker), now a Texas oil millionaire. Excellent performances by Edward Andrews as Dr. Morrissey and Paul Lynde as the aggressive cemetery-plot salesman help this feature along. Although not as solid as the Day/Hudson pairing in Pillow Talk or Lover Come Back, Send Me No Flowers is still a good romantic comedy. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Two bohemians come up with a get-rich-quick scheme that goes awray in this comedy scripted by Carl Reiner. Paul (Dick Van Dyke and Casey (James Garner) are two American expatriates living in Paris; Paul is an artist and Casey a writer. Both have been trying to make a career, but with little success; Paul's girlfriend Nikki (Angie Dickinson), who is still in America, believes in his work and pays his rent. But Paul has reached the end of his tether and wants to go back home; Casey is horrified at the prospect of losing a rent-free home, so he comes up with an idea to help Paul's career and make some money. Since works by dead artists tend to fetch higher price tags and command more interest than work by living painters, Paul will fake his death with Casey's help and they'll both clean up. The plan works at first, until Casey finds he's been accused of murdering Paul. Ethel Merman has a supporting role as a madam with a habit of bursting into song. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The winner of the 1967 Oscar for Best Picture (as well as four other Oscars), In the Heat of the Night is set in a small Mississippi town where an unusual murder has been committed. Rod Steiger plays sheriff Bill Gillespie, a good lawman despite his racial prejudices. When Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier), a well-dressed northern African-American, comes to town, Gillespie instinctively puts him under arrest as a murder suspect. Tibbs reveals himself to be a Philadelphia police detective; after he and Gillespie come to a grudging understanding of one another, Tibbs offers to help in Gillespie's investigation. As the case progresses, both Gillespie and Tibbs betray a tendency to jump to culture-dictated conclusions. Still, the case is solved thanks to the informal teamwork of the two law officers. Based on the novel by John Ball, In the Heat of the Night inspired two sequels, both starring Poiter as Virgil Tibbs. In 1987, a TV series version of In the Heat of the Night appeared, with Carroll O'Connor as Gillespie and Howard Rollins as Tibbs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ben Hecht's reminiscences from his youth as a cub reporter in 1910 Chicago makes an uneasy transition to the screen in this Norman Jewison production. During the Galena, Illinois, Independence Day celebration of 1910, Ben Young (Beau Bridges) determines that it is time to seek his fortune and sets out by train to Chicago. Once in Chicago, Ben has his money stolen, and he faints from hunger. To his rescue comes Queen Lil (Melina Mecouri), a local madam, who takes him to her brothel, where he is allowed to stay on the top floor of the house. Queen Lil gets Ben a job on the Chicago Journal and he meets the gruff, but kind, editor Francis X. Sullivan (Brian Keith). Sullivan takes Ben on a drinking tour of the Tenderloin, where Ben's naiveté is given a good working-over as Ben experiences the political realities of the city. Ben decides to devote his life to reforming the shady politics of Chicago. Meanwhile, reform leader Axel P. Johanson (George Kennedy) is trying to obtain a ledger of civic corruption compiled by Honest Tim Grogan (Hume Cronyn). During a party for Grogan at Queen Lil's, Ben inspires friendly prostitute Adeline (Margot Kidder) to change her evil ways. Her first act as a reformer is to steal Grogan's ledger and join the Salvation Army mission. But everyone thinks that Ben has stolen the ledger, and soon Sullivan, Queen Lil, Grogan and Johanson are all after him to get the ledger back. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Norman Jewison's adaptation of the long-running Broadway musical is set in the Ukranian ghetto village of Anatevka (the film was actually lensed in Yugoslavia). Israeli actor Topol repeats his London stage role as Tevye the milkman, whose equilibrium is constantly being challenged by his poverty, the prejudicial attitudes of non-Jews, and the romantic entanglements of his five daughters. Whenever the weight of the world becomes too much for him, Tevye carries on lengthy conversations with God, who does not answer but is at least more willing to listen than the milkman's remonstrative wife Golde. After arranging a marriage between his oldest daughter Tzeitel and wealthy butcher Lazar Wolf, Tevye is forced to do some quick rearranging when the girl falls in love with poor tailor Motel Kamzoil. Fancying himself more broad-minded than his gentile oppressors, Tevye cannot accept the notion that his other daughter Chava would want to marry Fyedka, a non-Jew. And after shouting the praises of "tradition," Tevye must change his tune-and his entire life-when he and his neighbors are forced out of Anatevka by the Czar's minions. Topol's co-stars include Norma Crane as Golde, Yiddish theater legend Molly Picon as Yente the matchmaker, and Leonard Frey as Motel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The second Biblical epic to be turned into a musical by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricist Tim Rice, this box-office disappointment recounts the last week in the life of Jesus Christ in rock-opera format and from the surprising point of view of Christ's betrayer, Judas Iscariot. Carl Anderson stars as Judas, who has begun to believe that Jesus (Ted Neeley) has sold out and started buying into the mythology that's quickly springing up around him. Particularly disturbing to Judas is the relationship between Jesus and his friend Mary Magdalene (Yvonne Elliman), a prostitute. When Jesus throws a temper tantrum at the moneylenders in a temple, Judas determines to work with the Pharisees who want to put Jesus on trial as a false prophet. Following his success with the adaptation of Fiddler on the Roof (1971), director Norman Jewison experimented with a hippie-influenced sensibility on Jesus Christ Superstar (1973). Among such touches are depictions of the cast arriving via bus to mount the show, modern high-tech weaponry in the hands of the ancient Romans, and on-location filming in Israel. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

In the year 2018 violence has been outlawed and corporations have replaced government as the ruling party following the demise of politics. With the absence of war or conflict, a forcibly passive population's bloodlust is satisfied by a brutal new sport known as Rollerball. A high-octane melding of the outlawed sports of the past, the worldwide phenomenon of Rollerball has resulted in a corporate-backed sensation. The most popular athlete in the world, Jonathan E. (James Caan) has steadily risen through the ranks to become a legendary veteran of the sport. When the corporate backers of Rollerball begin to fear that Jonathan's popularity has instilled him with a potentially dangerous amount of power, a thunderous struggle between man's free will and the oppression of the masses threatens to shatter the fragile strings that the puppet masters use to manipulate mankind. His determination to remain with the sport flying in the face of the very reason Rollerball was conceived, the corporate rulers hatch a plot to abandon the rules in hopes that Jonathan will be killed and their grip of power will remain an unyielding chokehold on an increasingly bloodthirsty populace. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Norman Jewison's blackly satirical look at the American justice system has gained in stature as one of the more incisive social commentaries of its time. Al Pacino plays Arthur Kirkland, an incorruptible attorney who attempts to initiate reforms in the Maryland justice system. Kirkland is haunted by the fates of two past clients, one of whom committed suicide in jail; the other is still alive but is locked up on a trumped-up traffic violation. The ability of power and money to distort the pursuit of justice becomes all too clear as Kirkland finds out how deeply the rot has spread. He finally retaliates by representing a repulsive judge (John Forsythe) accused of rape. Pacino's and Forsythe's performances are intense and powerful. Many critics found the film biting and almost painful in its razor-sharp indictment of the justice system, while others declared the script too outrageous. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

We'd rather not speculate over how much of Best Friends is autobiographical. We'll just note that this story of a male-female screenwriting team was written by real-life married scenarists Barry Levinson and Valerie Curtin. Lovers as well as collaborators, scriveners Richard Babson (Burt Reynolds) and Paula McCullen (Goldie Hawn) decide to make their union legal. Predictably enough, they discover that their relationship goes straight downhill after they say "I do." The stars are far less interesting than the supporting cast, including Jessica Tandy and Barnard Hughes as Hawn's parents, Audra Lindley and Keenan Wynn as Reynolds' folks, Ron Silver as an avaricious producer (no names, please!), and Richard Libertini as a Mexican justice of the peace. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Inspired by the Herman Melville novel Billy Budd, writer Charles Fuller created the Pulitzer Prize-winning A Soldier's Play, which he then adapted into this film drama in 1984, for socially conscious, liberal director Norman Jewison. In the racially-divided 1940s, Fort Neal, Louisiana, is a military base where black soldiers are sent not to fight in WWII but to play baseball against other armed forces teams. The murder of a black sergeant, Waters (Adolph Caesar) brings an investigator, Captain Davenport (Howard E. Rollins, Jr.) to the base. Davenport, the first black officer that most of the men have ever met, suspects that a pair of white men were responsible for Waters' death, but his probe reveals that nearly everyone, regardless of skin color, had ample reason to kill the loathsome but pitiable Waters. The cast of A Soldier's Story features early supporting performances from several African-American actors who would go on to greater prominence, including Denzel Washington, David Alan Grier, and Robert Townsend. The film was nominated for three Oscars: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Caesar) and Best Adapted Screenplay. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide