Ted Neeley Movies
Lead actor-singer, onscreen from 1971. He is best known as Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar (1973). ~ All Movie Guide- 1987
- PG13
An East Indian evangelist journeys to Amsterdam and helps a junkie to find salvation in this religious tract produced by World Wide Pictures, Billy Graham's film production company. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Shepherd, Amerjit Deu, (more)
- 1986
- PG13
Offering an updated take on William Golding's Lord of the Flies, complete with anti-fascist metaphors, this drama is set at a summer camp where the kids rise up against their counselors and start running things themselves. It is based on a novel by William Butler, The Butterfly Revolution. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chuck Connors, Charles Stratton, (more)
- 1984
In this standard, slightly maudlin drama developed by Mick Jagger and director Gene Taft, Charles (Nick Mancuso) is a rock 'n roll star forced to take on his 13-year-old son Job (Byron Thames) when the boy's mother dies, and a clash of cultures, generations, and backgrounds results. Job was the result of a one-night stand and had never really known his father. That fact coupled with his training in the military academy he attends leaves him unprepared for the world of touring rock musicians. He and his father have a lot to work out together -- and they do so quite predictably, in-between music sets and concerts. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nick Mancuso, Byron Thames, (more)
- 1982
Meat Loaf, the singer is followed around by a fan named Marvin (also played by Meat Loaf) but through concert after concert and song after song, the performer manages to stay one step ahead of his admiring pursuer. The singer's entourage and an out-of-touch television reporter provide some comic relief, in-between the musical numbers. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Meat Loaf, Josh Mostel, (more)
- 1981
This TV movie adaptation of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men was a labor of love for producer-star Robert Blake, who utilized the screenplay from the 1939 Hollywood version as his guide--a screenplay personally presented to Blake by the original film's director, Lewis Milestone. Blake and Randy Quaid play George and Lennie, a pair of itinerant workers who share a dream of saving up enough money for their own ranch. George is smart, resourceful and slight-statured; Lennie has the mind of a child and the strength of Hercules. The two lifelong friends are hired on as hands at a large Salinas Valley spread. Their "best laid schemes" for a place of their own dissolve into a tragic denouement, sparked by the boss' pugnacious son Curley (Ted Neeley) and Curley's bored, faithless wife Mae (Cassie Yates). The 1939 Of Mice and Men is regarded as a masterpiece, though it suffers from the censorship restrictions of the time; curiously, this 1981 film, adapted for television by E. Nick Alexander, makes no attempt to restore the "chancy" elements that had been excised from the earlier film. Of Mice and Men was first telecast on November 29, 1981; a third filmization of the Steinbeck work, starring Gary Sinise and John Malkovich, was released theatrically in 1993. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Jan-Michael Vincent stars as Kyle Richardson, who works at a dead-end job in a Texas chain-link fence factory. In the tradition of such earlier films as Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Richardson enjoys himself only on weekends when he whoops it up with his buddies at the local saloon. His carousing exacts a toll on his relationship with Jodie Lynn Palmer (Kim Basinger, in her film debut). Finally, Jodie delivers an ultimatum: either settle down and get married, or she'll skeedaddle to California, there to try her luck as a country-western singer. Real-life C&W star Tanya Tucker co-stars as Jodie's best friend and role model. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jan-Michael Vincent, Kim Basinger, (more)
- 1979
- PG
Robert Altman cooled his "innovative" jets to make the innocuous romantic comedy A Perfect Couple. Marta Heflin plays a member of a boisterous rock group. Paul Dooley is a bashful bachelor from a tradition-bound Greek family. Heflin and Dooley meet via a computer dating service, whereupon all the expected comedy setups avail themselves, though most of these setups are played as seriously as if this film were MacBeth. The best moments are the scenes with Heflin's musical group, though there are far too many of these. While Perfect Couple didn't make a dime, it still represents one of Altman's better "chamber" films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Dooley, Marta Heflin, (more)
- 1978
- PG
In this adventure set during the Civil War, a traveler and an Irish-Indian named Half Moon O'Brien find a dying man who tells them of a large cache of diamonds he buried somewhere in the mountains. The two, joined by a man and a woman, begin searching for the treasure. Half-Moon senses that they are being followed. The members of their search party begin disappearing one-by-one. Soon they learn that the gems are cursed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1977
- PG
In this supernatural western, Confederate veterans of the last battle of the Civil War set out to find a hidden treasure: a cache of diamonds hidden in a cave. However, the soldiers find out that the cave is guarded by a covey of hawks -- and they begin to suspect that the hawks might actually be agents of the Devil, in disguise. ~ Brian Gusse, 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
- Starring:
- Ted Neeley, Carl Anderson, (more)
