Sidney Lumet Movies
American director Sidney Lumet originally planned to follow in the footsteps of his father, Yiddish Art Theatre actor Baruch Lumet. On-stage from the age of five, the younger Lumet studied at New York's Professional Children's School and acted in numerous Broadway productions, most notably Dead End. With several other New York-based actors, Lumet was featured in the agitprop film drama One Third of a Nation (1939); he played Sylvia Sidney's crippled kid brother, sparking the film's climax by setting fire to a disease-ridden tenement house and perishing in the conflagration.After wartime service, Lumet decided he'd had enough of acting and started to focus on the production end of the business. Working his way up the summer stock ladder, Lumet began directing for live television in 1950, working on such distinguished series as Omnibus and Studio One, and filmed anthologies like Alcoa-Goodyear Theatre. He directed his first film, Twelve Angry Men (1957), at the request of producer/star Henry Fonda; the director later confessed that it was a grueling learning experience for both himself and novice producer Fonda, though he took pride in finishing the film in 19 days and under budget. For his efforts, he garnered a Best Director Oscar nomination. Lumet directed a few more films, but drew more satisfaction out of stage and TV work. In 1960, he gained notoriety for directing The Sacco-Vanzetti Story on NBC; the drama drew flack from the state of Massachusetts (where Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were tried and executed) because it was thought to postulate that the condemned murderers were, in fact, wholly innocent. But the brouhaha actually did Lumet more good than harm, sending several prestigious film assignments his way, including his 1962 artistic triumph Long Day's Journey Into Night.
Proponents of the "auteur" theory, who insist that a director should leave his personal signature on each film, have long been confounded by Lumet, who has refused to do anything twice in his movie work. After directing the Cold War suspense dramaFail-Safe (1964) and the tense war-guilt character study The Pawnbroker (1965), he went on to explore Jewish middle-aged angst in Bye Bye Braverman (1969); tried his hand at a roller coaster police-thriller with Serpico (1973); made the shaggy-dog bank robbery account Dog Day Afternoon (1974); ventured into mystery with the slick, stylish Murder on the Orient Express (1974); won awards for his media satire Network (1976); explored the battle between the sexes in the hilarious Just Tell Me What You Want (1980); and looked at the grim arena of underworld crime in The Family Business (1989).
Lumet handled these diverse projects with considerable skill, managing to turn out a body of remarkably diverse work. In 1993, the director, as full of surprises as ever, delivered a nail-biting whodunit, Guilty As Sin. Plagued with numerous plot holes and illogical character behavior, it was not his best, but after a couple of years of inactivity, Lumet was back at work, producing and directing 1997's Critical Care, and writing and directing Night Falls on Manhattan the same year. The former, a hospital satire starring Albert Brooks, James Spader, and Helen Mirren, failed to make much of a critical or commercial impression, but the latter, a crime thriller featuring Andy Garcia, Richard Dreyfuss, Lena Olin, and Ian Holm, enjoyed some measure of critical acclaim. Lumet's next effort was a 1999 remake of John Cassavetes' 1980 film Gloria. Starring Sharon Stone in the title role that was originally played by Gena Rowlands, the film met an unfortunate critical and commercial fate, netting bad reviews and audience indifference. However, Lumet -- who had, by this point, been nominated for five Oscars (four for Best Director and one for Best Adapted Screenplay) over the course of his career -- managed to survive this relative failure with his reputation pretty much intact; in fact, many acknowledged that even a second-rate Lumet was better than the first-rate work of many other directors. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2001
Oscar-winning director Sidney Lumet, who began his career during the "golden age" of live television, returned to his TV roots as creator, writer, and director of the gritty, one-hour drama series 100 Centre Street. The title refers to the address of New York's Criminal Court, presided over by such distinguished jurists as Judge Joe Rifkind (Alan Arkin and Judge Atallah Sims (LaTanya Richardson). Though diametrical opposites in terms of philosophy -- Rifkind tends towards lenient liberalism, while the by-the-book Sims is known far and wide as "Atallah the Hun" -- the two judges remain close friends. Many of the episodes deal with the ramifications of the judges' decisions: In the opener, for example, Rifkind had to wrestle with the fact that a defendant he set free immediately went out and committed a savage murder -- and the victim was the daughter of Rifkind's former law partner. Others in the cast are Joseph Lyle Taylor and Paula Devicq as Assistant DAs Bobby Esposito and Cynthia Bennington, Larry Pine as Cynthia's father Frank, Manny Perez as womanizing legal aide Ramon Rodriguez, Val Avery as Sal Gentile, and Armando Williams as Al Thompson. As realistic as possible within the strictures of basic cable, and doggedly refusing to take dramatic easy-outs or provide pat endings, 100 Centre Street is worthy of all the "hype" attending its January 15, 2001, debut on the A&E network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Arkin, La Tanya Richardson, (more)
A Puerto Rican youth is on trial for murder, accused of knifing his father to death. The twelve jurors retire to the jury room, having been admonished that the defendant is innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Eleven of the jurors vote for conviction, each for reasons of his own. The sole holdout is Juror #8, played by Henry Fonda. As Fonda persuades the weary jurors to re-examine the evidence, we learn the backstory of each man. Juror #3 (Lee J. Cobb), a bullying self-made man, has estranged himself from his own son. Juror #7 (Jack Warden) has an ingrained mistrust of foreigners; so, to a lesser extent, does Juror #6 (Edward Binns). Jurors #10 (Ed Begley) and #11 (George Voskovec), so certain of the infallibility of the Law, assume that if the boy was arrested, he must be guilty. Juror #4 (E.G. Marshall) is an advocate of dispassionate deductive reasoning. Juror #5 (Jack Klugman), like the defendant a product of "the streets," hopes that his guilty vote will distance himself from his past. Juror #12 (Robert Webber), an advertising man, doesn't understand anything that he can't package and market. And Jurors #1 (Martin Balsam), #2 (John Fiedler) and #9 (Joseph Sweeney), anxious not to make waves, "go with the flow." The excruciatingly hot day drags into an even hotter night; still, Fonda chips away at the guilty verdict, insisting that his fellow jurors bear in mind those words "reasonable doubt." A pet project of Henry Fonda's, Twelve Angry Men was his only foray into film production; the actor's partner in this venture was Reginald Rose, who wrote the 1954 television play on which the film was based. Carried over from the TV version was director Sidney Lumet, here making his feature-film debut. A flop when it first came out (surprisingly, since it cost almost nothing to make), Twelve Angry Men holds up beautifully when seen today. It was remade for television in 1997 by director William Friedkin with Jack Lemmon and George C. Scott. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, (more)
In the late '60s, American culture experienced a period of change as the youth movement challenged conventional attitudes about politics, sex, drugs, and gender issues, while the advancement of the Vietnam War found many citizens questioning the actions and wisdom of their government for the first time. As American attitudes continued to evolve, so did the American film industry; as costly big-budget blockbusters nearly brought the major studios to the brink of collapse, smaller and more personal films such as Bonnie and Clyde, Easy Rider, and Five Easy Pieces demonstrated there was a ready audience for bold and challenging entertainment. As the '60s faded into the 1970s, American cinema moved into an exciting period of creativity and stylistic innovation, which led to such landmark films as The Godfather, MASH, The Last Picture Show, Shampoo, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Chinatown, and Taxi Driver, and new freedom for directors and screenwriters. Ironically, however, it was another pair of big-budget blockbusters directed by students of the new wave of filmmaking -- Jaws and Star Wars -- which brought the studios back to power and put an end to Hollywood's flirtation with offbeat creativity. A Decade Under the Influence is a documentary which explores the rise and fall of new American filmmaking in the 1970s, and features interviews with many of the key directors, screenwriters, and actors whose work typified the movement, including Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Altman, Martin Scorsese, Paul Schrader, Roger Corman, Dennis Hopper, Jon Voight, and Julie Christie. A Decade Under the Influence received its world premier at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival, and an expanded version of the film was later shown on the premium cable outlet The Independent Film Channel; the documentary was the final work of co-director Ted Demme, who died shortly before the film was completed. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, (more)
When a Jewish jeweler is found dead and his store is missing more than one million dollars in diamonds, a New York police detective (Melanie Griffith) goes undercover in a community of Hasidic Jews to find the criminal. Once she is immersed in the community, she falls in love with one of the most devout members, who helps her find the criminal. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Melanie Griffith, Eric Thal, (more)
- 1962
A View from the Bridge is set in New York, but the alleged political undesirability of playwright Arthur Miller dictated that this film be lensed in France. Director Sidney Lumet shot the film in both English and French, with the English version sounding more recited than acted at times. Raf Vallone plays Eddie Carbone, a tough Italian-American longshoreman living in Brooklyn with his wife Beatrice Carbone (Maureen Stapleton), and her comely niece, Catherine (Carol Lawrence) -- to whom he feels an overwhelming yet undeclared attraction. Then two illegal immigrants, Rodolpho and Marco (Jean Sorel and Raymond Pellegrin), turn up, and rage builds in Eddie when he senses a burgeoning, mutual attraction between Rodolpho and Catherine. To divert suspicions of his own incestuous desires, he first declares Rodolpho a homosexual, then does everything in his power to ensure that Rodolpho and Marco are deported - thus setting the film up for a surprisingly grisly and shocking climax. The film is more commonly remembered today for a "shocking" set piece, in which Eddie kisses Rodolpho full on the lips to "prove" that the boy is gay. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Raf Vallone, Jean Sorel, (more)
- 2007
- R
- Add Before the Devil Knows You're Dead to QueueAdd Before the Devil Knows You're Dead to top of Queue
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Albert Finney, and Marisa Tomei star in director Sidney Lumet's thriller concerning two brothers who hatch a plan to rob their parent's jewelry store. When the job goes awry, the entire family is set on a collision course with tragedy. Andy (Hoffman) is an overextended broker in desperate need of some cash. His brother, Hank (Hawke), isn't much better off, so when Andy hatches a plan to rob their parent's modest jewelry store, it seems like a foolproof way to make a quick buck. But Andy's trophy wife, Gina (Tomei), is secretly sleeping with libidinous younger brother Hank, and when the robbery proves a complete disaster it isn't long before loyalties start to shift. Now Andy and Hank's father, Charles (Finney), is determined to make the unidentified robbers pay for their crime. What's a father to do when he discovers that the ones he loves have become his worst enemies? ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, (more)
- 1968
Bye Bye Braverman is a bittersweet adaptation of Wallace Markfield's coldly cynical novel To an Early Grave. Braverman, an idealistic minor author, dies; his four best friends, writers who in one way or another have all sold out, decide to attend his funeral. The foursome includes a disenchanted magazine writer (George Segal), a poet (Jack Warden), a book reviewer (Sorrell Booke), and an embittered bellyacher (Joseph Wiseman). Taking a picaresque journey from Greenwich Village to Brooklyn, the quartet never quite gets to the funeral, but their odyssey unearths many a self-revelation and previously unspoken truth. Like its four leading characters, Bye Bye Braverman loses its way towards the end, bringing this otherwise insightful comedy/drama to a muddied conclusion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Segal, Jack Warden, (more)
- 1972
- PG
Leon Prochnik adapted the evocative Robert Moresco play Child's Play for the screen, with Sidney Lumet assuming directorial duties. Beau Bridges stars as a young teacher at an exclusive Catholic boy's boarding school named Paul Reis. An outbreak of violence and brutality among the students has Reis perplexed. He suspects that one of the older professors is responsible for inciting the mayhem. The two most likely suspects, played by James Mason and Robert Preston, are long-standing rivals who blame each other for the student turmoil. One of the old enemies goes so far as to discredit the other -- but his motives are at great odds with the religious doctrine taught within the school's walls. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Mason, Robert Preston, (more)
Sidney Lumet filmed this hospital satire at a Canadian studio. Alcoholic Dr. Butz (Albert Brooks in old-age makeup) advises younger Dr. Werner Ernst (James Spader) to only treat patients with much insurance. "When the lawyers start crawling all over you," says Butz, "that's when you know you're a doctor." Ernst, a second-year resident working in the ICU with head nurse Stella (Helen Mirren), winds up in the middle of a dispute between two sisters (Kyra Sedgwick and Margo Martindale). One wants to pull the plug on their wealthy father; the other demands that he remain alive (at a cost of $112,800 a month). Soon events swivel from the money-mad medical mire to equally murky legalistics. Steven Schwartz's screenplay was adapted from the novel by Richard Dooling. Shown at the 1997 Chicago Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Spader, Kyra Sedgwick, (more)
- 1952
This Trilogy, Danger originally created for television by Sidney Lumet consists of three individual episodes, all in the film noir thriller style The Lady on the Rock, Death Among the Relics, and The System. The cast includes Kim Stanley and Eli Wallach. Director Lumet began his filmmaking career in television, directing episodes for Omnibus, Alcoa Theater, and Goodyear Playhouse. Despite several blacklisting attempts, his career, based on his excellent television work, thrived and he went on to make feature films. This fine trilogy includes the some of the best of his early work. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
Sidney Lumet directed this film version of E.L. Doctorow's novel The Book of Daniel (scripted by Doctorow) that deals in a thinly veiled (although dispassionate way) with the Rosenberg spy case of the 1950s, as seen through the eyes of their children. The Rosenbergs are the Isaacsons here, and the first image of the film is a close-up of their son Daniel's (Timothy Hutton) eyes as he recites a dictionary definition of the word "electrocution." Daniel becomes a detective as he seeks out friends and relations of his parents -- Paul (Mandy Patinkin) and Rochelle (Lindsay Crouse) -- to discover some meaning from his parents' conviction as Russian spies and their execution in the electric chair during the communist paranoia of the 1950s. Daniel is prompted to investigate the past by the near-suicide of his hysterical sister Susan (Amanda Plummer). The film weaves back and forth in time, recalling the period from the 1930s to the 1950s. In a strangely uninvolving way, Lumet's film takes no point of view, the only emotion derived from the almost continuous sounds of Paul Robeson's singing on the soundtrack. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Timothy Hutton, Mandy Patinkin, (more)
Sidney Lumet provides another of his film adaptations of Broadway successes -- in this case Ira Levin's 1978 clever Broadway murder mystery that starred John Wood in a triumphant turn as down-on-his-luck playwright Sidney Bruhl. Wood's brittle airiness is replaced in the film version by Michael Caine's smoldering bitterness. Sidney Bruhl is a successful writer of Broadway mystery plays who was at one time considered the Neil Simon of Broadway mystery writers. Unfortunately, Bruhl is now struggling to live up to his own reputation, suffering through a series of four consecutive flops. But then Bruhl comes upon the manuscript of a brilliant suspense drama written by unknown writer Clifford Anderson (Christopher Reeve). Bruhl, desperate for a hit play, invites Clifford to come to see him, telling him that he is interested in collaborating with him on the play. Actually, Bruhl plans to murder Clifford and pass off Clifford's play as his own. What Bruhl doesn't know, however, is that Clifford has some surprise plot points of his own up his sleeve. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Caine, Christopher Reeve, (more)
Based on a true 1972 story, Sidney Lumet's 1975 drama chronicles a unique bank robbery on a hot summer afternoon in New York City. Shortly before closing time, scheming loser Sonny (Al Pacino) and his slow-witted buddy, Sal (John Cazale), burst into a Brooklyn bank for what should be a run-of-the-mill robbery, but everything goes wrong, beginning with the fact that there is almost no money in the bank. The situation swiftly escalates, as Sonny and Sal take hostages; enough cops to police the tristate area surround the bank; a large Sonny-sympathetic crowd gathers to watch; the media arrive to complete the circus; and police captain Moretti (Charles Durning) tries to negotiate with Sonny while keeping the volatile spectacle under control. When Sonny's lover, Leon (Chris Sarandon), tries to talk Sonny out of the bank, we learn the robbery's motive: to finance Leon's sex-change operation. Sonny demands a plane to escape, but the end is near once menacingly cool FBI agent Sheldon (James Broderick) arrives to take over the negotiations. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Al Pacino, John Cazale, (more)
Richard Burton plays a psychiatrist who attempts to discover why young Peter Firth has taken to mutilating live horses. In probing Firth's psyche, Burton discovers that the source of the boy's obsession is his mother, Joan Plowright, who has raised Firth with a convoluted set of values. Even as he gets closer to the reason behind Firth's horrendous acts, Burton discovers many previously locked-away secrets within himself. Equus was based on the play by Peter Schaffer who received an Academy Award Nomination for his adapted screenplay. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Burton, Peter Firth, (more)
Based on the novel by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler, Fail-Safe is set for the most part at Strategic Air Command headquarters, where a misguided transmission sends a squadron of bombers hurtling towards Russia, fully prepared to drop their atomic weaponry on Moscow. Air Force commander Frank Overton desperately tries to establish radio contact with the bombers, but once the pilots have passed the "fail safe" point, they've been instructed to disregard any reversal of orders. Racing against time, US President Henry Fonda, through his interpreter (Larry Hagman), informs the Russian premiere of the impending nuclear disaster. Working in concert with SAC, the Russians send up interceptors to shoot down the American bombers, while some of the planes run out of fuel and crash. Unfortunately, one aircraft, piloted by Edward Binns, manages to escape destruction and continues on its fatal mission. Realizing that Moscow is doomed, the President must decide how to avert World War III. Featured in the cast of Fail Safe are Walter Matthau as a hawkish scientist, Fritz Weaver as a round-the-bend colonel, and Dom DeLuise (billed as "DeLouise") as a weeping sergeant. Fail-Safe is followed by a government-dictated disclaimer insisting that the events leading up to the nuclear disaster depicted in the film could not possibly happen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry Fonda, Walter Matthau, (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)
A wise guy turns his own trial upside down by serving as his own lawyer in this comedy drama based on a true story. In 1987, an extensive investigation into the activities of the Lucchese crime family led to charges being filed against most of the key members of the gang, leading to the prosecution of 20 different men, each represented by their own council. That is, except for Giacomo DiNorscio, aka Jackie Dee (Vin Diesel), a longtime Lucchese family "mechanic" implicated in everything from kidnapping to drug dealing. While Jackie Dee is obviously a common criminal and guilty of all he's charged with, he also has a fierce sense of loyalty to his colleagues, despite the fact his cousin Tony Companga (Raul Esparza) previously tried to kill him out of fear he might talk. Sean Kierney (Linus Roache), the prosecutor tackling the Lucchese Family case, tries repeatedly to persuade Jackie Dee to testify against his partners in exchange for leniency, but he stubbornly refuses. Tired of the way things are being handled, Jackie Dee informs family attorney Ben Klandis (Peter Dinklage) that he intends to represent himself in court; this seemingly suicidal move turns into an unexpected success as Jackie Dee's sense of humor and streetwise charm has a remarkable impact on the judge and jury. Find Me Guilty also stars Ron Silver, Alex Rocco, and Annabella Sciorra. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vin Diesel, Peter Dinklage, (more)
- 1984
- PG13
This bittersweet comedy is, among many other things, a tour de force for the marvelous Anne Bancroft. The star is cast as Estelle Rolfe, an unconventional divorcee who resides in New York, in close proximity to her grown son Gilbert (Ron Silver) and his wife Lisa (Carrie Fisher). Though his wife yearns to move back to her home state of California, Gilbert cannot quite cut the silver cord that binds him to his mother. Upon learning that Estelle is dying, her dutiful son offers to honor her last request to meet the reclusive actress Greta Garbo. The rest of the film plays wonderful variations on this theme, involving such peripheral characters as a gay Garbo fan (Harvey Fierstein), an elderly Shakespearean actress (Hermione Gingold), a "female Joe Papp" director (Denny Dillon), and an ageing papparazzi (Howard Da Silva). Without giving away the ending, it is worth noting that the divine Garbo shows up in the person of playwright/lyricist/ performer Betty Comden. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anne Bancroft, Ron Silver, (more)
- 2009
His mind locked into a perpetual state of confusion thanks to both the prison psychiatrist and the woman he loves, a desperate convict vows to regain his freedom before events take a deadly turn in this psychological thriller from writer/director Sidney Lumet. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Director Sidney Lumet has remade the 1980 movie by his contemporary, John Cassavetes, casting Sharon Stone in the role of Gloria (portrayed in the original by Cassavetes' wife, Gena Rowlands), a street-toughened woman sliding into middle age. When the neighbors are murdered by a group of mobsters, one of which is a former boyfriend, Gloria takes the couple's seven-year-old son (Jean-Luke Figueroa) on the run. In time, she learns why the boy's parents were killed, and maybe just a little about herself. Sidney Lumet, director of '70s classics Network and Dog Day Afternoon, focuses more on the relationship between Gloria and the boy than did the original. Coincidentally, this would make the film very similar to the Brazilian Central Station, released at virtually the same time. ~ Ron Wells, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sharon Stone, Jean-Luke Figueroa, (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)
- 1958
Adapted by Sally Benson (Meet Me in St. Louis) from the novel by Mary Mapes Dodge, this dazzling musical version of Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates) stars 1950s Hollywood heartthrob Tab Hunter in the title role (as Hans, not the Skates). Living in a small Dutch village, Hans yearns to compete in an upcoming ice-skating competition, for a grand prize of 500 guilders and a gleaming new pair of silver skates. Also, all poor Hans and his sister Trinka (Ellie Sommers) have to their name is two pair of crude wooden skates. Making matters worse, the Brinker family has been living in poverty ever since Hans' father (Ralph Roberts lost his mind while trying to save the local population from a burst dyke. But though Hans is certain that things will never get better, his erstwhile sweetheart, the wealthy Rychie Van Gleck (Peggy King), has faith in both Hans and his future. While the songs in this production, written by Hugh Martin, are rather unremarkable and a bit silly at times (notably the production number "Clop, Clop, Clop", wherein the chorus does a dance in wooden shoes), Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates" is redeemed by a talented supporting cast, including Basil Rathbone (complete with German accent) as the crusty-but-lovable Dr. Boekman, opera diva Jarmila Novotna as Hans' mother, and Olympic skating champ Dick Button as Rychie's brother Peter (in fact, it is Button who steals the show with some astonishing figure skating). Originally telecast live and in color, this 90-minute extravaganza was presented as a Hallmark Hall of Fame special. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tab Hunter, Peggy King, (more)
- 1992
Fonda on Fonda offers an intimate look at one of America's most highly regarded megastars, the Academy and Tony award-winning film and stage actor, Henry Fonda. Daughter Jane Fonda hosts this account of the elder Fonda's life and career. Fonda's work spanned the golden years of Hollywood in which he appeared in 90 films. Fonda on Fonda traces the actor's stellar career using interviews and clips from his best-known films, including The Grapes of Wrath, Young Mr. Lincoln, Mister Roberts, and On Golden Pond, in which he shared the screen with Jane. The video offers rare insight into the world of one of Hollywood's most important performing families.
~ Sally Barber, All Movie Guide
~ Sally Barber, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Fonda
- 2004
- Add Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust to QueueAdd Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust to top of Queue
The American film industry took it upon itself to act as a cheerleader for United States and Allied military interests during World War II, but Hollywood was initially reluctant to directly condemn Nazi anti-Semitism, and it wasn't until years after the war ended that American filmmakers began offering a realistic, dramatic look at the horrible toll of Hitler's "final solution." Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust is a documentary which examines how filmmakers reacted to German scapegoating of Jews before, during, and after the war, ranging from the boldness of Confessions of a Nazi Spy and The Mortal Storm (both of which were produced before America entered the war) to more oblique statements during the war itself, and then finally leading to an honest portrayal of the full consequences of the Holocaust beginning in the '50s. Produced for the cable television network American Movie Classics, Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust was premiered at the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Hackman, Sidney Lumet, (more)
- 1980
- R
In this Sidney Lumet romantic comedy, Max Herschel (Alan King) is a powerful businessman who keeps a bevy of beauties for pleasure to escape his alcoholic wife, Connie (Dina Merrill). His main minx is Bones Burton (Ali MacGraw), a successful television producer who is tiring of Max's lack of commitment. When she takes up with Steven (Peter Weller), Max does everything in his power to win her back. Silent screen star Myrna Loy plays Max's faithful secretary, in her last big-screen role, and steals the show. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan King, Ali MacGraw, (more)
