Kevin McCarthy Movies
Kevin McCarthy and his older sister Mary Therese McCarthy both found careers in the entertainment industry, though in very different arenas -- Mary became a best-selling novelist, and Kevin became an actor after dabbling in student theatricals at the University of Minnesota. On Broadway from 1938 -- Kevin's first appearance was in Robert Sherwood's Abe Lincoln in Illinois -- McCarthy was critically hosannaed for his portrayal of Biff in the original 1948 production of Death of a Salesmen (who could tell that he was but three years younger than the actor playing his father, Lee J. Cobb?) In 1951, McCarthy re-created his Salesman role in the film version, launching a movie career that would thrive for four decades.The film assignment that won McCarthy the hearts of adolescent boys of all ages was his portrayal of Dr. Miles Bennell in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). Bennell's losing battle against the invading pod people, and his climactic in-your-face warning "You're next!, " made so indelible an impression that it's surprising to discover that McCarthy's other sci-fi credits are relatively few. Reportedly, he resented the fact that Body Snatchers was the only film for which many viewers remembered him; if so, he has since come to terms with his discomfiture, to the extent of briefly reviving his "You're next!" admonition (he now screamed "They're here!" to passing motorists) in the 1978 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
He has also shown up with regularity in the films of Body Snatchers aficionado Joe Dante, notably 1984's Twilight Zone: The Movie (McCarthy had earlier played the ageless title role in the 1959 Zone TV episode "Long Live Walter Jamieson") and 1993's Matinee, wherein an unbilled McCarthy appeared in the film-within-a-film Mant as General Ankrum (a tip of the cap to another Dante idol, horror-movie perennial Morris Ankrum). Kevin McCarthy would, of course, have had a healthy stage, screen and TV career without either Body Snatchers or Joe Dante; he continued showing up in films into the early 1990s, scored a personal theatrical triumph in the one-man show Give 'Em Hell, Harry!, and was starred in the TV series The Survivors (1969), Flamingo Road (1981), The Colbys (1983) and Bay City Blues (1984). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
As originally screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, at the Cannes Film Festival, and on Turner Classic Movies, the mammoth, epic-length documentary Brando chronicles in encyclopedic detail (and with a consistently reverent overtone) the life and career of the man widely regarded as the most formidable American actor of the 20th century - famous for not only reshaping, but reinventing the craft of film acting and teaching audiences how to view a motion picture performance. Divided into chronological, thematically-unified segments, the film first treats Marlon Brando's dysfunctional upbringing - his alcoholic mother, his abusive father, his stint at a military academy - before charting his acting tutelage at the behest of Stella Adler and his early cinematic and theatrical roles, including work for Elia Kazan, who famously made many aggressive (and unsuccessful) attempts to discipline the headstrong actor onscreen. Throughout this segment, many Hollywood A-list actors appear - among them, Al Pacino, Johnny Depp and Robert Duvall - expostulating at length on Brando's influence over their approaches to performance, and attempting with great effort to define the elusive style known as "method acting" that Brando helped to create. The second half of the documentary moves into Brando's career during the '70s, '80s and '90s, covering the production of The Godfather, the actor's noteworthy political activism, and his tumultuous personal life. Francis Ford Coppola, who of course teamed with Brando for the first Godfather installment and for Apocalypse Now, is noticeably absent from the proceedings. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Al Pacino, Johnny Depp, (more)
- 2007
Aesthetically and thematically, director Larry Blamire's outrageous camp-fest Trail of the Screaming Forehead resuscitates and satirizes bottom-of-the-barrel 1950s sci-fi movies such as X the Unknown and The Creeping Terror. Blamire's tale revolves around the scientific discovery that foreheads (and not brains) house human intelligence. In a misguided attempt to prove this axiom, scientist Dr. Sheila Bexter (Fay Masterson) injects a serum called "Foreheadazine" into the cranium of her colleague, Dr. Phillip Latham (Andrew Parks) -- whose head rapidly balloons to the size of a watermelon. Meanwhile, a spaceship packed with "furrowed brows" crash-lands on Earth, and the brows promptly attach themselves to every human in sight. To complicate matters, dozens of locals also get wind of the scientists' project and decide to investigate; before long, the entire seaside community is swarming with addicts of the Foreheadazine drug, a problem that doubles in size when two liquor-happy sailors arrive in town with a boatload of frozen human bodies. Blamire re-creates the visual look of '50s sci-fi films such as The Blob by shooting in shockingly bright rotogravure colors -- a photographic process he dubbed "Crainioscope." Stop-motion demigod Ray Harryhausen -- who reportedly inspired this work thanks to such classics as Jason and the Argonauts and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad -- is listed as "presenter," and his influence can be seen via the special effects of the ballooning heads. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brian Howe, Dan Conroy, (more)
Writer/director Katherine Brooks adapts the classic lesbian drama Mädchen in Uniform with this tale of a precocious senator's daughter and Catholic boarding school student who falls desperately in love with her beautiful poetry teacher. Simone Bradley (Diane Gaidry) is a teacher who finds peace within the walls of Saint Theresa's school, and purpose in bringing the wonders of poetry to her young female students. Though newly arrived student Annabelle (Erin Kelly) has notable intelligence and charisma to spare, her fiery disobedience finds the stern headmistress imploring Simone to reign in the young rebel. But Annabelle's insubordination is about to become the least of Simone's concerns, because when the advances of the passionate young woman reveal her teacher's innermost desires, the devoted teacher will be forced to choose between her career and an affair that could quite possibly destroy her livelihood. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Erin Kelly, Diane Gaidry, (more)
A grim discovery in the basement of a crumbling prison reformatory reveals a demonic secret that cuts to the very base of mankind's struggle against sin in this supernatural thriller starring Michael Berryman, Bill Moseley, Michael Dorn, Adrianne Curry, and Kevin McCarthy. Far beneath the west cellblock of a turn of the century prison lies a malevolent secret that has lain dormant for one hundred years - a sub-basement structure with only one entrance and one exit. When the skeletal remains of seven brutalized children are discovered inside, a special CSI team is quickly brought in to conduct a more thorough investigation. What they find may change the entire way mankind views the wages of sin, for there dwell seven fallen angels; each responsible for one of the deadly sins and each determined to show mankind just how many ways there are to pass from this mortal realm into the next. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1998
In this made-for-TV sequel to the popular films, the Addams set out to find some of their weirder relatives. Tim Curry and Darryl Hannah star. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim Curry, Daryl Hannah, (more)
- 1995
The life of Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor is told in this made-for-television drama. Sherilyn Fenn stars as Oscar-winning actress Liz Taylor, whose career began when her mother pushed her into acting as a child in the 1940s. Her tumultuous career ups and downs, and her turbulent personal life are chronicled in the film, which was based on the book by C. David Heymann. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
- 1995
Sociopathic Rae Phillips (Kate Vernon) lives only to avenge the past wrong in her life that made her the monster she is today. Stealing the identity of a woman named Kelly Richards, our "heroine" persuades Kelly's wealthy Southern in-laws that she is the genuine article, and is invited to move in with them permanently. What follows is a steady progression of lies, betrayals and suspicious "suicides", the like of which give a whole new meaning to the phrase "blood relative." Filmed on location in North Carolina, the surprisingly sanguine cable movie The Sister-in-Law made its first USA network appearance on July 12, 1995. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kate Vernon, Shanna Reed, (more)
- 1994
A judge is set up for murder in this suspenseful thriller. Criminal court judge Gwen Warwick is about to be appointed to the Michigan Supreme Court. One night she engages in sex with law clerk Martin in his office. They begin a torrid affair. A colleague of Gwen's, Charles Matron, is discovered murdered in his office. She is asked to judge the case. However, increasing evidence points to her as the prime murder suspect. Now she must prove that she is being set-up. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bonnie Bedelia, Will Patton, (more)
- 1994
Filmmaker Robert Rodriguez (El Mariachi) was a last-minute replacement for Showtime's Rebel series and after the first viewing, his Roadracers was immediately bumped to the top of the list. This melodramatic tale of rebel youth fighting to get out of a dead-end town is often times enjoyable and disturbingly humorous but lacks the break-neck pacing of Rodriguez' other films. ~ Sean D. MacLaggan, All Movie Guide
- 1992
A woman loses her son and brother in a mysterious accident which yielded no bodies. Understandably distraught, she is hardly prepared to confront her "dead" brother, now hale and hearty. But the man insists that he's never seen her before. Together with her husband, our heroine investigates this puzzler, uncovering an insidious plot to create a "new" race of humans by wiping out their memory banks. Kim Griest, Gregory Harrison, Cicely Tyson and Kevin McCarthy star in the made-for-TV Duplicates, which made its debut over the USA Cable Network on March 18, 1992. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1992
"Curiosity Killed" concerns Dan (Kevin McCarthy) and Cynthia (Margot Kidder), a couple whose marriage is a shadow of its former self. Dan's pal, Billy (J.A. Preston), offers some friendly advice on how to get Cynthia out of his life once and for all; however, Cynthia has plans of her own for Dan. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1991
Plot twists abound in this suspenseful made-for-television thriller as a beautiful actress tries to save her cousin from the schemes of a conniving murderer who just may be her lover. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Corbin Bernsen, Amanda Pays, (more)
- 1991
Jerry Orbach makes a return appearance as Boston private eye Harry McGraw. Deep in Kentucky Horse Country, Harry investigates the murder of horse owner Randolph Sterling (Kevin McCarthy), who had been embroiled in a feud with his neighbor Lamar Morgan (Gregory Walcott) concerning a stud fee and two unexpected foals sired by one of Sterling's thoroughbreds. Real-life attorney Melvin M. Belli is appropriately cast as a judge. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1990
This made-for-TV adventure dramatizes the courage of Allan Pinkerton, who founded the famed detective agency, and a blue-blooded Southern belle, as they team up to keep the Union intact during the Civil War. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Reeve, Carrie Snodgress, (more)
The four-hour TV movie Passion and Paradise traces the rise and fall of real-life British playboy Alfred de Marigny (Armand Assante). Little better than a gigolo, de Marigny finds himself in the Bahamas during World War II, where he romances the daughter (Catherine Mary Stewart) of fabulously wealthy Sir Harry Oakes (Rod Steiger). None of the "right people" can stomach de Marigny, but they're stuck with him once he marries Oakes' daughter. During the next few years, de Marigny manages to antagonize the Duke of Windsor (Andrew Ray), who is governor of the Bahamas; he also alienates local businessmen and infuriates a group of mobsters who want to set up a gambling casino in Nassau. As Part One of Passion and Paradise draws to a close, Sir Harry Oakes is murdered--and Alfred de Marigny is the most convenient (though not most likely) suspect. Part Two opens with the murder of Oakes in 1943. The higher-ups of the Bahama Islands sincerely hope that de Marigny is the killer, if only to get rid of the dreadful man. So anxious are certain parties to hang de Marigny that an official conspiracy to cover up vital evidence takes shape. De Marigny's only hope for salvation is an American private eye (Wayne Rogers). Filmed in Jamaica, Passion and Paradise painted so damning a portrait of Bahaman high society that several scenes (including most of those featuring the Duke of Windsor) had to be rewritten and reshot before the film's British television release. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Armand Assante, Catherine Stewart, (more)
- 1988
The made-for-TV Once Upon a Texas Train offers us the once-in-a-lifetime teaming of Richard Widmark, Willie Nelson and Angie Dickinson. Nelson plays a veteran outlaw who robs a bank less than 6 hours after being paroled from jail. He uses the money to reunite his old gang, then sets about to repeat the train robbery that had gotten him arrested 20 years earlier. This time, however, Nelson is himself targetted for theft by a young, hungrier band of desperadoes. Widmark plays the lawman who caught Nelson before and intends to do so again. Written and directed by the reliable Burt Kennedy, Once Upon a Texas Train premiered January 3, 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
In one of their last professional appearances together, David and Meredith Baxter Birney star in the made-for-TV The Long Journey Home. David plays a Vietnam MIA, declared legally dead; Meredith plays his wife, who after an eight-year waiting period has decided to marry again. Two days before the wedding, David emerges from an underground garage and re-enters Meredith's life. He relates several incredible stories of his experiences, all of which convince Meredith that she's dealing with a dangerous paranoiac. It turns out, however, that one of his "tall tales"-the one concerning an assassin who's been stalking David since his return-is all too terribly true. Essentially a chase-and-pursuit melodrama, The Long Journey Home is a throat-grabber from start to finish. The film originally aired November 29, 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
- Add Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story to QueueAdd Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story to top of Queue
Originally shown in two parts, this massive TV movie adaptation of C. David Heymann's biography stars Farrah Fawcett as Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton. With two failed marriages to her credit, 29-year-old Barbara marries film idol Cary Grant (James Read), the first man who loves her for herself and not her millions. This alliance goes the way of all of Barbara's romances; there will be four more marriages, the last when Ms. Hutton is 50-years-old. Shutting herself away in her Tangiers mansion, Barbara begins her long descent into the world of booze and drugs. Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story merely skims the surface of its subject's stormy life, but Farrah Fawcett's performance commands the audience's attention throughout the film's daunting 240 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Farrah Fawcett, James Read, (more)
- 1987
Tim Shaw (Kevin McCarthy) is a retired army officer enjoying the life of a farmer on a ranch in South Africa. When a plane bound for Nairobi is hijacked by Arab terrorists, he calls on military veterans to intervene on behalf of the airborne hostages. Karen Black and Wings Hauser co-star in this routine action thriller. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wings Hauser, Karen Black, (more)
- 1986
As a high-school prank, several high-school students unwittingly release an ancient witch and her demons in this made-for-TV comedy-thriller. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shari Belafonte, LeVar Burton, (more)
- 1986
Bob Hope makes his first starring film appearance in 14 years in this made-for-TV movie. Hope stars as a seedy private eye, hoping to get one last good case before calling it quits. Don Ameche, a retired art thief reduced to working as a chauffeur, teams with his old friend Hope to solve the mystery of a missing painting. The unknown criminal has a murderous streak, resulting in a few close calls for the octogenarian heroes. Masterpiece of Murder is murder, all right, but definitely no masterpiece. Bob Hope appears to be sleepwalking, while Don Ameche does his utmost to breathe life in the tiresome proceedings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1986
Randy Quaid avoids caricature and cliché in his multifaceted portrayal of Lyndon Baines Johnson in LBJ: The Early Years. This made-for-TV film chronicles the years 1934 through 1963, tracing the beginnings of Johnson's public career, chronicling his reputation for down-and-dirty politicking, and following his progress from congressman to senator to majority leader to vice president. Staunchly at LBJ's side through thick and thin is faithful-wife Lady Bird (Patti LuPone), whose fidelity remains unshaken even while Johnson dallies with other women. Charles Frank co-stars as John F. Kennedy, whose assassination catapults the reluctant Johnson into the presidency that he'd always wanted to win on his own merits. Less than six days before LBJ: The Early Year premiered on February 1, 1987, author Larry L. King picked apart the film's inaccuracies in a TV Guide article. Audiences cared not for absolute truth, and had a grand old time watching Randy Quaid impersonate the amazing Mr. Johnson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1986
Face (Dirk Benedict) is given a trial membership at an exclusive country club, an honor that proves to be a mixed blessing when he finds out that Murdock (Dwight Schultz) is already a guest at the club--and that the A-Team's perennial nemesis Fullbright (Jack Ging) is a fully paid-up member. But that's not the worst of it; another member, crooked bank executive McKeever (Kevin McCarthy), is masterminding an elaborate counterfeiting scheme right on the club grounds. Ingredients vital to the action are a deadly golf game, an escape on a private jet, and a most unusual celebrity "roast." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
Involved in a minor accident at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport, Jessica (Angela Lansbury) ends up with a fractured leg. Over her protests, she is whisked off to a nearby hospital for treatment. You guessed it: A murder occurs--the victim is the head of the hospital--and Jessica must spend most of her forced confinement doing her trademarked amateur sleuthing. 1940s film favorites Martha Raye and Eddie Bracken show up in featured roles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
