Wendell Burton Movies
Stage actor Wendell Burton's movie career began on a high note with 1969's The Sterile Cuckoo, when he co-starred with another newcomer to films, Liza Minnelli. In the searing 1970 prison drama Fortune and Men's Eyes (1970), Burton was cast as a young naif who, arrested on a marijuana-possession charge, is clapped into a Québéc prison exclusively populated by sexual degenerates. Thereafter, he was largely confined to below-the-title character roles. On television, Wendell Burton co-starred in the 1971 sitcom The New Dick Van Dyke Show and the 1981 miniseries East of Eden, and played the title role in a 1973 adaptation of Broadway's You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Burt Reynolds stars as the bitter bodyguard and degenerate gambler Mex in this uneven action film. He wakes up hungover, vowing to rekindle his dream of leaving Las Vegas for good if he can just raise enough money. Mex divides his time working for the low-key millionaire Cyrus Kinnick (Peter MacNicol) at the casino and moonlighting as a paid enforcer. When Mex's pretty neighbor Holly (Karen Young) is attacked by a quartet of perverted thugs, Mex goes after gang leader Danny DeMarco (Neill Barry) and company. The feature was continually plagued by production problems, with three uncredited directors employed in addition to R.M. Richards. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Burt Reynolds, Karen Young, (more)
The 1955 film version of John Steinbeck's East of Eden will always be popular because of the presence in the cast of James Dean. Even so, the film covered only a small portion of the original novel. For those Steinbeck completists who prefer a more thorough treatment, we submit for your approval the TV miniseries adaptation of East of Eden, which first aired February 8, 9 and 11, 1981. This eight-hour dramatization begins in the years following the Civil War. Braggadocio union officer Cyrus Trask (Warren Oates) is the father of gentle, loyal Adam (Timothy Bottoms) and hellraiser Charles (Bruce Boxleitner). Enter the bewitching, mean-spirited Cathy Ames (Jane Seymour), who leads both brothers on and causes an irreparable rift between them. Eventually, Adam marries Cathy, taking her and their twin sons to a 900-acre farm in California's Salinas Valley. Cathy rebels against this cloistered existence and runs off to work in a house of ill repute. In Part Three, we finally meet the "James Dean" character: Cal Trask (played by Timothy Bottoms' brother Sam), who can never hope to come up to the standards of his "good" twin brother Aron (Hart Bochner) in the eyes of his father. Cal's "bad" reputation obscures his good intentions, but by film's end he is compelled to reveal to brother Aron that their mother had not died as father Adam has claimed, but in fact has become a hard-bitten bordello "madam". Adapted for television by Richard Shapiro, East of Eden was part of ABC's informal "Novels for Television" series. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Timothy Bottoms, Jane Seymour, (more)
- 1975
In this pilot film for the NBC TV series Medical Story, idealistic young intern Dr. Steve Drucker (Beau Bridges) clashes with three of his superiors over whether a prominent actress should have a hysterectomy. The woman in question is played by Harriet Karr, who had undergone a similar experience in real life. In fact, Karr's ordeal was the inspiration for this film, which was produced and written by her husband, Abby Mann (who also partially adapted the script from an unrelated novel by Dr. Howard A. Oglin). Medical Story first aired on September 4, 1975; the series itself was broadcast weekly until January 8, 1976. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1974
In this acclaimed version of Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage, Richard Thomas stars as a young Civil War soldier who runs away during his first big battle. Tortured by his seeming lack of bravery, he eventually learns that courage is just as dependent upon common sense as on bravado. He returns to battle and proves himself a hero in the process. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Richard Thomas, Michael Brandon, (more)
- 1973
"Alice" was the pseudonymous name of the teenaged author who wrote the book upon which this above-average TV movie was based. Jamie Smith-Jackson portrays a shy, slightly overweight high schooler who is so anxious for acceptance that she falls in with the drug crowd. In a methodical, almost casual matter, we see how Alice descends into a nether world of pushers, pimps and prostitution. Perhaps to make the point that this could be the story of any impressionable youth, few of the characters are identified by name: Julie Adams plays "The Mother," William Shatner "The Professor," Andy Griffith "The Priest," and so on. Filmed in a cinema-verite fashion, Go Ask Alice makes excellent use of relatively unfamiliar Los Angeles locations. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1971
A charming doctor who kills his female patients is discovered by a private detective in this made for television movie. ~ Rovi
- 1971
- R
John Herbert's stage play Fortune and Men's Eyes first enjoyed a sensational run on Broadway with Sal Minneo in the lead and was originally a fairly tame drama which used prison homosexual activity as a framework around which to base a plea for prison reform. In this screen adaptation, Mineo's role as Smitty, the unfortunate naif sent to prison on a drug charge who becomes a brutal prison leader, is played by Wendell Burton. Basically, this is an earnest prison drama with some small amusement provided by its treatment of prison homosexuality. Michael Greer offers a noteworthy performance as the extremely flamboyant and effeminate "Queenie." While this film has strong language and some nudity, sexual situations are handled discreetly enough for the film to have merited an "R" rating at the time of its release. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- 1969
- PG
Liza Minnelli is Pookie Adams, a relentlessly kooky coed in The Sterile Cuckoo. The film's focus, however, is on Wendell Burton (likewise making his first screen appearance) as reserved young college student Jerry. He is actively pursued by the unpredictable Pookie, who helps him to survive his first months in school. Gradually, however, it is obvious that Jerry is outgrowing Pookie. Both, however, have benefited from the relationship (he has gained self-confidence, she is now able to come to grips with her unhappy home life) and their parting is a tender one. Not unlike his stars, Alan J. Pakula was making his directorial bow with The Sterile Cuckoo, which earned an Oscar nomination for its theme song "Come Saturday Morning." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Liza Minnelli, Wendell Burton, (more)
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