Allan Rich Movies
Not every blacklistee spent his or her life as a victim -- some of them, such as Lionel Stander and Selena Royale, ended up pursuing successful second careers, and a few, including Stander and Jeff Corey, went on to very busy late-in-life acting careers. Allan Rich fits into both categories. Born in New York in 1926, he aspired to a performing career at an early age, and came of age in the midst of the Second World War. Rich got to work on-stage with the likes of Edward G. Robinson, Ralph Bellamy, Kim Hunter, and Henry Fonda, and seemed poised to make the jump to movies when the Red Scare swept over Hollywood. Like a lot of other New York-based actors who had made no secret of their belief in liberal values, Rich was blacklisted from the end of the 1940s. He followed a route, which was also followed by Lionel Stander, to Wall Street; though he was too "Red" to work in movies, Rich was sufficiently capitalist to succeed as a stock broker, and he eventually opened his own firm. He was successful enough to pursue his other great love -- contemporary art -- by opening a gallery on New York's Upper East Side.By the early '70s, however, Rich was drawn back into acting, in a stage production of Journey of the Fifth Horse, with Dustin Hoffman. In 1973, he made his long-delayed screen debut as District Attorney Herman Tauber in Sidney Lumet's Serpico. The following year, he was in The Gambler, and in 1975, he appeared in episodes of Baretta and Kojak. Over the decades since, Rich has appeared in movies as different as The Frisco Kid (1979), Frances (1982), Betsy's Wedding (1990), Highlander II: The Quickening (1991), Quiz Show, Disclosure (both 1994), and Amistad (1997), and in television productions ranging from Kojak and CHiPs in the 1970s through Hill Street Blues and Barney Miller in the 1980s, The Nanny and CSI in the 1990s to NYPD Blue and The Division in the 21st century. Playing featured and supporting roles as desk sergeants, attorneys (crooked and honest), judges (crooked and honest), college professors, doctors, and other professionals, Rich has used his resonant voice and skilled portrayals to evoke respect, contempt, cynicism, and laughter from audiences. Fans of Happy Days who lingered to the late seasons may remember Rich best for his role in the episode "Potsie Quits School," as the mean-tempered, cynical Prof. Thomas. He showed something more of his full range, however, in the 2004 NYPD Blue episode "You Da Bomb," portraying an aging Russian immigrant. Rich has also authored more than a half-dozen screenplays and had a film about Salvador Dali (based on his own friendship with the artist), in production as of 2004. Equally adept at comedic and sinister roles, Rich is one of the busiest character actors of his generation, which is poetic justice of a sort -- he was still earning a good living in his chosen profession (after having proved to be a better capitalist than most of his political foes), decades after those foes were in the ground and all-but-forgotten. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi
For Lukas (Mark Webber), an ambitionless, socially isolated tollbooth worker, each day is indistinguishable from the next -- filled, from the onset of work until the end of shift, with thousands of cars that slide through his station. Day in and day out, he must contend with the monotony of the work, the rage of the drivers, and the nauseating stench of exhaust. Lukas' life turns an odd corner when a bigoted driver haphazardly tosses a copy of Hitler's Mein Kampf into his booth in lieu of a fare; curious, Lukas retrieves the book and begins to comb through it, which catches the eye of yet another driver, this one a Holocaust survivor. Mistakenly inferring that the boy is a neo-Nazi, the gentleman passes Lukas a videocassette of his testimony about the Holocaust, produced by an organization that specializes in creating such films. Lukas not only takes this as a cue and seeks out the said organization to learn more about it, but (devoid of memories from his own past) begins to acquire a persistent delusion that he himself is both Jewish and a Holocaust survivor; in time, he becomes deeply emotionally involved and smitten with Mira Zweig (Rachel Miner), the attractive daughter of an actual survivor (Jerry Adler). ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mark Webber, Rachel Miner, (more)
A young man learns something about making his fantasies into reality from an older man who has already been there in this coming-of-age drama. Cameron (Michael Angarano) is a teenage film buff living in Los Angeles who dreams of making movies himself someday, an ambition that doesn't impress his parents very much. Cameron doesn't have many friends beyond fellow outcast Murphy (Joshua Boyd), and wealthy and popular classmate Brett (Taber Schroeder) takes great pleasure in making Cameron's life miserable. A major film school in L.A. has announced a competition for young filmmakers, but while Cameron has talent and ideas, Brett has the money to buy film stock and rent equipment, and Cameron wonders if he stands any chance at all. One evening, while attending a screening of Orson Welles' Touch of Evil at a revival theater, Cameron sees an elderly man who shouts at the screen about his old pal Orson. Cameron is thus introduced to Flash Madden (Christopher Plummer), who worked as a lighting man during the Golden Age of Hollywood and really did work with some of the most respected names in the business, including Welles. While cranky Flash doesn't much care for Cameron at first, in time he sees a kindred spirit in the movie-mad teenager, and offers his technical know-how and sources of equipment to the would-be director. Flash also introduces Cameron to Mickey Hopkins (M. Emmet Walsh), a former screenwriter who helped script a number of silver-screen classics but is now living in a shabby old folks' home, and in Hopkins, Cameron finds the inspiration for just the sort of movie he wants to make. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Christopher Plummer, Michael Angarano, (more)
A woman who joins the undead against her will seeks vengeance against the ghouls who transformed her in this thriller. Sadie Blake (Lucy Liu) is a journalist who becomes acquainted with a group of beautiful but doomstruck partiers while following a story, led by the charismatic Bishop (James D'Arcy). While Sadie is taken with Bishop's good looks and sinister charm, she senses there's something dangerous about him, but it's not until she wakes up in the city morgue that she learns his secret -- Bishop is a vampire, and Sadie has joined his underlings as one of the undead. Angry and betrayed, Sadie is determined to stop Bishop and his compatriots, and she prowls the city with bow and arrow, ready to stake them from a distance when she spies them. Sadie finds an unlikely ally in her crusade in Detective Rawlins (Michael Chiklis), a police investigator whose daughter was transformed into a night creature by Bishop. However, Sadie is finding it increasingly difficult to resist her growing thirst for the blood of the living, becoming the sort of being she has grown to hate. Also featuring Carla Gugino, Robert Forster, and Nick Lachey, Rise: Blood Hunter received its world premiere with a special midnight screening at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lucy Liu, Michael Chiklis, (more)
When a reformed grifter currently running a prosperous alibi service for adulterous husbands inadvertently becomes an accessory to murder, he is forced to execute one last, well-timed con as a means of clearing his name in this lightning fast caper comedy starring Steve Coogan, Rebecca Romijin, Selma Blair, and Sam Elliot. Ray (Coogan) is a smooth operator with a special knack for helping his fellow man dodge the proverbial bullet. When a married man simply can't resist the urge to have a bit of fun on the side, Ray is the man they call to ensure that word of their infidelity never gets back to their unsuspecting wives. When the spoiled son of a high-profile client accidentally kills his clandestine lover on the eve of his wedding, Ray is shocked to discover that he has been implicated in the crime. With a small-town cop targeting him on one side and a mysterious assassin known as "The Mormon" locking him into his sights from the other, desperate Ray must now enlist the aid of his beautiful new recruit Lola (Romijin) in carrying out one last con designed to both clear his name, and save his life. The debut feature from co-directors Matt Checkowski and Kurt Mattilda, Lies and Alibis also features performances by James Brolin, Henry Rollins, James Marsden, Debi Mazar, Jerry O'Connell, and John Leguizamo. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Steve Coogan, Rebecca Romijn, (more)
A man is forced to examine his headlong dive into chemically induced oblivion when he starts dragging someone else along with him in this independent drama. Dorian (Kirk Harris) is a gifted surgeon who has a severe problem outside the operating room -- he is an alcoholic and cocaine abuser who is quickly losing his grip on his habit. Stumbling from all-night benders and reckless sexual escapades into surgery, Dorian's habits have begun to worry his on-and-off girlfriend, Megan (Laurie Baranyay), and even his drug dealer, Teddy (Eric Roberts). Megan introduces Dorian to her close friend Anna (Camilla Overbye Roos), who recently lost her son in an auto accident. Anna immediately falls for Dorian and willingly follows him into his netherworld of decadence, but before long, Dorian begins to see where his lifestyle is taking both Anna and himself, and he realizes they both need to change before it's too late. Intoxicating was scripted by leading-man Kirk Harris and was adapted from a story written by Harris and director Mark David. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kirk Harris, Eric Roberts, (more)
In Paul Duran's witty comedy-drama, down-and-out Jerry (Will Stewart) chances upon an old woman Alma (Carol Gustafson) walking her dog. The lucky encounter leads to a job when Alma's daughter Helen (Stepfanie Kramer) hires him to look after her mother and the dog. Jerry quickly realizes that the job is more complicated than he originally surmised. Alma is foul tempered, and a trio of wizened bridge-play suitors make increasingly bizarre demands on Jerry, while Helen and her vivacious teenaged daughter both make sexual advances on him. Later, when he enlists the help of his African-American friends, an unfortunate clash ensues resulting in tragedy. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- Starring:
- Will Foster Stewart, Stephanie Kramer, (more)
- 2000
In the premiere episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Jim Brass (Paul Guilfoyle), head of the Las Vegas PD's forensic team, resents the presence of novice team member Holly Gribbs (Chandra West). Brass' efforts to scare Holly result in tragedy, but not before the unit investigates a disturbing variety of crimes: overnight-shift head man Grissom (William L. Petersen) looks into a suspicious suicide, number-two team member Catherine Willows (Marg Helgenberger) joins Warrick Brown (Gary Dourdan) in probing the death of a not-so-homeless drunk, and Warrick's friendly rival Nick Stokes (George Eads) searches for a woman who drugged and robbed a hapless tourist. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Where does a seven-ton elephant sleep? That's the question four kids ask when they find themselves looking after a pachyderm in this family adventure. Malaika the elephant is captured by a mean-spirited hunter, but when she escapes, several children find her and try to help her get well as well as return her to safer circumstances. But a full-grown elephant is not the sort of secret that's easy to keep hidden. The cast includes Karen Black, R.D. Call, and John Laughlin. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Karen Black, John Laughlin, (more)
- 1996
- R
Also known as Hello, She Lied, this made-for-cable drama stars Kathy Ireland as Marsha Thomas, a professional con artist with a conscience and a surprisingly strong sense of scruples. Be that as it may, Marsha is heavily in debt to a crooked lawyer who had saved her brother Frankie (Shareef Malnik) from a prison term, thus she reluctantly agrees to participate in a scheme to cheat an innocent young woman out of a multimillion-dollar inheritance. As luck would have it, the "innocent" in question is a blonde striptease artist named Jean Ivers (Audie England) -- and in order to learn all she can about Jean to impersonate her for the purposes of the scheme, Marsha is obliged to get a job at the same strip club where Jean works. Rather surprisingly, Kathy Ireland doesn't bare all in this R-rated opus, though we see plenty of co-star Audie England and the rest of the "peelers." Miami Hustle premiered July 21, 1996, on the Showtime channel. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kathy Ireland, John Enos, (more)
- 1996
- PG13
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In this film by director Francis Ford Coppola, Robin Williams stars as Jack, a boy who is growing normally, but at many times the normal rate. In a bizarre flashback, we see that he was born when his mother was only ten weeks pregnant. Kept out of school for years, the neighborhood children consider him a freak, and generally avoid him. He is finally required to go to public school, and we catch up to him as he enters the fourth grade for the first time, a 10-year-old boy who appears to be a fully grown man in his 40s. His classmates tease him mercilessly until they begin to see the advantages of having him around. He must also have some grown-up feelings to go along with his grown-up body, because he asks his teacher out for a date. When she refuses him, he goes off into town and gets into adult-type trouble as he courts nightclub denizen Dolores Durante (Fran Drescher) over the objections of her boyfriend. Teacher Lawrence Woodruff (Bill Cosby) tries (with some success) to help Jack cope with his situation. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robin Williams, Diane Lane, (more)
This Spanish-American production stars Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith, whose romance on the set helped the film set box-office records in Spain. Director Fernando Treuba, who won an Oscar for Belle Epoque, made his English-language debut with Two Much, an updated screwball comedy. Banderas plays a con artist appropriately named Art Dodge. Joan Cusack plays his assistant, Gloria. They specialize in convincing recently widowed women that their husbands ordered an expensive painting before their death. One day, Art tries to work his scam at the funeral of mobster Gene Paletto's (Danny Aiello) father. Gene is outraged by Art, even more so after he steals away his ex-wife, Betty Kerner (Melanie Griffith). Betty quickly falls for the handsome Art and plans to marry him, but he is soon distracted by her beautiful sister, Liz (Daryl Hannah). In order to woo both women, Art disguises himself as fictional brother Bart by removing his ponytail and putting on glasses. Art/Bart switches identities and hops from bed to bed while being pursued by Gene and other mobsters. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi
- Starring:
- Antonio Banderas, Melanie Griffith, (more)
It's 1958, and the producers of the quiz show 21 have a problem. Their current champ, Herbert Stempel (John Turturro), has a phenomenal memory and a broad range of knowledge. He's also a pudgy loudmouth with a grating personality, so Herbert is encouraged to "take a dive" and allow Charles Van Doren (Ralph Fiennes), a handsome and charming college professor, to become the show's new champion. Audiences like Van Doren, and he's certainly not averse to the money he's winning, but the ethics of the situation begin to trouble him, especially when the show's producers begin to give him the questions in advance. Director Robert Redford and writer Paul Attanasio paint a telling portrait of how the network heads and advertising men who manipulated the quiz shows were also able to manipulate the responsibility for the scandal away from themselves. While on the surface a story about the scandal itself, Quiz Show is just as importantly about a turning point in the 1950s when TV and advertising began to change American character and culture. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Turturro, Rob Morrow, (more)
Michael Douglas runs afoul of a treacherous supervisor in this film version of Michael Crichton's novel. Douglas plays Tom Sanders, an executive at DigiCom, a leading computer software firm. DigiCom is about to launch a new virtual reality-based data storage system that is expected to revolutionize the industry, and Bob Garvin (Donald Sutherland), the owner of the company, is in the midst of negotiating a merger that could bring $100 million into the firm. However, while Tom is expecting a promotion, he discovers the position has been given instead to a new hire, Meredith Johnson (Demi Moore), with whom Tom had an affair years ago, before he was married. After her first day of work, Meredith invites Tom up to her office and makes a concerted attempt to seduce him; while Tom doesn't fight off her advances with very much gusto at first, eventually he decides things have gone too far and leaves in a huff. The next morning, Meredith accuses Tom of sexual harassment, and he realizes this was merely a power ploy to get him out of DigiCom for good; Tom, determined to fight, files a counter-suit, which makes him no friends at the company, since rocking the boat too hard could very well scotch the merger. Dennis Miller also appears as one of Tom's wise-cracking co-workers. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Michael Douglas, Demi Moore, (more)
- 1992
- PG
In this drama, the ingenious and lucrative scam of an excellent con artist comes crashing down when the IRS catches on. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- C. Thomas Howell, Wallace Shawn, (more)
- 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, Rovi
- Starring:
- Corbin Bernsen, Amanda Pays, (more)
Not to be confused with the 1994 exchange-of-murders melodrama Dead On, this 1991 film was originally shipped out under the title Relentless 2: Dead On. You may recall that in the first Relentless in 1989, Judd Nelson starred as a serial killer. Nelson isn't around for the sequel, though two of his near-victims, a mother (Meg Foster) and her son (Leo Rossi), make return appearances. Relentless 2 elaborates on the possible aftereffects of Nelson's psychotic behavior, as manifested in young Rossi. Could the kid have learned too much about the inner workings of a murderer's mind? The premise is a workable one, and the film makes the most of it, with several genuinely frightening setpieces. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
At the end of Highlander, Juan Ramirez (Sean Connery) died and Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) was rendered mortal. "Highlander 2: The Quickening begins in 1999 when Connor solves the problem of an ever-depleting ozone layer on the earth by devising a giant shield around the entire planet. The earth is saved, except for the fact that it is now a continual 99 degrees, and the earth is plunged into 24 hours of darkness. 40 years later, Connor is an elderly man with liver spots, heading out for the opera. Then there is a flashback of Connor recalling his halcyon days on the planet Zeist hundreds of years earlier. Back on Zeist, Connor and Ramirez led a futile coup against the ruling dictator, Katana (Michael Ironside), that caused them to be banished to Earth. Back in the future, Katana sends a pair of wacky goons to kill Connor. When Connor lops off their heads, he is now young again...and immortal. Just the right time to meet the attractive scientist Louise Marcus (Virginia Madsen), who has discovered that the shield around the earth is no longer needed since the ozone layer has repaired itself. But, unfortunately, the shield is in the clutches of an evil cartel who wants to control the earth's resources. Connor and Louise team up to battle the cartel while Katana sends out more emissaries to get Connor. Ramirez, although supposedly dead, also makes an appearance in the 21st century -- garbed in full Scottish regalia. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery, (more)
The directorial debut of producer Irwin Winkler, Guilty by Suspicion is a sobering account of one movie executive's woes in dealing with the political fallout from the McCarthy Era Hollywood blacklist. Robert De Niro stars as David Merrill, a film director in the 1950s whose obsession with his burgeoning career has estranged him from his wife Ruth (Annette Bening) and their son. When he returns from a trip to Paris, Merrill is surprised when told by his boss, Darryl F. Zanuck (Ben Piazza) that he's been summoned to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee, which is investigating Communist ties to Hollywood. Although Merrill once attended a meeting years before, he's not a Communist, and he refuses to help the committee wreck the career of his friend Bunny Baxter (George Wendt). Merrill becomes blacklisted, unable to find work even in menial positions or under assumed names as the editor of a B-movie or the director of a low-budget Western. Reconciled with his family, Merrill caves in and agrees to testify, but as he prepares to "name names," his conscience plagues him. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert De Niro, Annette Bening, (more)
- 1990
Based on The Country of the Heart by Barbara Wershba, this cable-TV film concerns a young pianist (Christopher Gartin) who falls in love with an older musician (Jane Seymour). ~ John Bush, Rovi
Offbeat fashion student Betsy Hopper (Molly Ringwald) and her straight-laced investment-banker fiancé, Jake Lovell(Dylan Walsh), just want an intimate little wedding reception, but Betsy's father, Eddie (Alan Alda), a Long Island construction contractor, feels so threatened by Jake's rich WASP parents (Nicolas Coster and Bibi Besch) that he blows the ceremony up into a bank-breaking showpiece, sending his wife, Lola (Madeline Kahn), into a financial panic. Pressure from Betsy's extended family to include their joint Jewish and Italian-Catholic heritage in the ceremony doesn't do much to assuage the title character's worries, nor does the lovelorn bitterness of her older sister, Connie (Ally Sheedy), who's single, her parents assume, because she has the audacity to pursue the unfeminine profession of police officer. With all of his funds tied up into the money pit of a house he's building, Betsy's dad has to turn to his crooked brother-in-law, Oscar (Joe Pesci), for financial assistance, and soon a soft-spoken but menacing young mobster named Stevie Dee (Anthony LaPaglia) is supervising Eddie's construction project and casting his romantic aspirations toward the clueless Connie. Underworld hijinks and unconventional matrimonial practices ensue in this broad domestic comedy written and directed by star Alan Alda. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
- Starring:
- Alan Alda, Madeline Kahn, (more)
Jeff Daniels stars in this tedious situation comedy concerning the middle-aged terror of illness and mortality. Scripted by Joe Eszterhas, Daniels plays Southern Californian Ray Macklin, who thinks he will live forever but realizes the fallacy of his idea when his best friend drops dead in front of him after issuing the set-up to the old joke, "Why don't Italians like barbecues?" (Which begs the question, "Why can't Joe Eszterhas write funny scripts?" The answer: "He did. Showgirls.") Anyway, after that shock trauma, Macklin becomes convinced that he is set to suffer the same fate and, as a result, becomes a raving hypochondriac. As Macklin continually clutches his chest and checks his heart monitor, he sinks himself deeper and deeper into the mindset that he is doomed, even though his tests turn out fine. All of this comes to a head in a bizarre dream sequence in which Macklin imagines Heaven as a Hawaiian resort populated by extras from a Federico Fellini picture. At that point, he wills himself to return to consciousness after surgery to remove his appendix. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jeff Daniels, Melanie Mayron, (more)
- 1988
In this lively comedy, a womanizing actor dies and is granted a second chance at life on the condition that he remain faithful to only one woman. That's easier said than done, and once he's back on Earth he must choose between a virtuous lass and a shady lady. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bruce Greenwood, Vanessa Angel, (more)
- 1987
When a mangy street dog saves his life in a fire, Harry (Harry Anderson) brings the mutt to the courtroom as a pet. Almost immediately, the dog takes a dislike to Dan (John Larroquette) and bites him--then runs off into the night. Now a desperate Harry must scour the city to locate the dog in order to determine if Dan has contacted rabies! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Alan Alda wrote, directed, and starred in this satirical film about the corruption of the film industry's approach to history. Alda plays Michael Burgess, a college professor who has written a historical novel about the American Revolution. The book has been turned into a script, and a Hollywood film crew descends on his North Carolina hometown to make the movie. Predictably, the director and actors make a mess of his concept, and Burgess becomes frustrated as the town is turned upside down. Desperately, he tries to salvage his concept with some last-minute script changes. To make things more complicated, Burgess falls in love with the glamorous female lead in the film, Faith Healy (Michelle Pfeiffer). Meanwhile, his long-time girlfriend, Gretchen (Lise Hilboldt) is pressuring him to get married. The film's male star, Elliott James (Michael Caine), finally shows up in town and becomes Burgess's rival for Faith's affections. Silent film star Lillian Gish appears as Burgess's smother. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi
- Starring:
- Alan Alda, Michael Caine, (more)
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