Tony Richardson Movies

Blue Sky was the last film directed by Tony Richardson (Tom Jones) before his death in 1991 and one of the last releases from once-thriving Orion Films, whose bankruptcy kept the picture on the shelf for several years. It also features two career-high performances by Tommy Lee Jones and Jessica Lange, who won the Best Actress Oscar for this role, as Hank and Carly Marshall, a military couple whose marriage unravels under the pressure of his job and her mental instability. Hank is an Army captain at odds with his superiors over the wisdom of nuclear testing. Carly is a free spirit spiralling into a dangerous depression after the family's move from Hawaii to a nowhere base in Alabama alarms the couple's older daughter (Amy Locane) and sends Carly into an affair with the base commander (Powers Boothe). ~ Don Kaye, Rovi

Originally aired on HBO, Women and Men: Stories of Seduction is a short-film anthology that brings to life three famous short stories. Mary McCarthy's "The Man in the Brooks Brothers Shirt" stars Elizabeth McGovern and Beau Bridges. The second, Dorothy Parker's "Dusk Before Fireworks," features Peter Weller and Molly Ringwald. The third, "Hills Like White Elephants," stars Melanie Griffith and James Woods as a couple trying to convince themselves that her abortion will not affect their relationship. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

Tony Richardson, who in his days of prominence directed the Oscar-winning Tom Jones (1963), demonstrated in 1986's Penalty Phase that the intervening years did not dim his talent in the least. Peter Strauss stars as a liberal judge, in the midst of a re-election campaign. Strauss has been under fire from his enemies for being too soft on criminals. He intends to prove otherwise while presiding over the case of a vicious mass murderer and rapist (Richard Chaves). Shortly after a guilty verdict is reached, Strauss is tipped off anonymously that the defendant right's may have been violated during interrogation. While the jury enters "the penalty phase" wherein they must decide on proper punishment, Strauss undergoes a profound moral dilemma: Should he honor the letter of the law, thereby incurring public wrath and losing all hopes for being re-elected? Scripted by former lawyer Gail Patrick Hickman, the made-for-TV Penalty Phase was originally telecast November 18, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Tom Jones director Tony Richardson might seem a curious choice to direct the contemporary western The Border, but he does his best to emulate Sam Peckinpah. Jack Nicholson stars as an El Paso border guard, saddled with avaricious wife Valerie Perrine. Hoping to stifle her nagging about money matters, Nicholson begins accepting payoffs to allow Mexican aliens to cross the border without interference. This leads to a relationship with a young Mexican mother Elpidia Carillo. Harvey Keitel and Warren Oates lend strong support to this atmospheric tale. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Tony Richardson attempts to re-create the glory days of Tom Jones in this adaptation of the 1742 Henry Fielding novel. Peter Firth stars in this picaresque tale as Joseph Andrews, a young servant switched at birth who undergoes a series of romantic escapades. Joseph even has the fortune of becoming the personal footman to Lady Booby (Ann-Margaret). Joseph's romantic peccadilloes cause consternation among a collection of stuffy noblemen and women in 18th-century England. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

A Delicate Balance is the 1973 film adaptation of Edward Albee's Pulitzer Prize-winning play. Katharine Hepburn and Paul Scofield play an old married couple, Agnes and Tobias, who much prefer to be alone. Each time someone visits them, their "delicate balance" is threatened. The first intruder is Agnes' inebriated sister, Claire (Kate Reid). The next is their much-divorced daughter, Julia (Lee Remick). The limit is reached when well-meaning friends Harry (Joseph Cotten) and Edna (Betsy Blair) show up unexpectedly and threaten to stay forever. In keeping with the austerity of the other American Film Theatre presentations, director Tony Richardson eschews his usual cinematographic pyrotechnics here. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Perhaps the reason there are so many filmed versions of Hamlet is that in each decade every great Shakespeareian actor, and almost any movie actor with a yen to prove his versatility wants to tilt at this particular thespian windmill. Aside from the much more difficult King Lear, it is also one of the few plays by the master that can serve as a star vehicle. This 1969 version of the Bard's great play features the ardent mumblings of the actor Nicol Williamson, who brought his non-Standard British to the role. Williamson's esoteric enunciations were all the rage at the time of this film's revision of Shakespearian tradition, and his vocal mannerisms were arguably more authentic than usual. Scholars tell us that the English of Londoners in Shakespeare's time sounded very much like that spoken by Highland Scots today. Despite his stage success in the role, the vastly capable actor's magnetism was insufficient to make a popular success of this particular version. All the same, it is worth viewing on its own merits, and for supporting performances by future stars Anthony Hopkins and Anjelica Huston. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

During the ill-fated charge of British troops at Balaclava in the Crimean War, loyal soldiers who blindly followed orders were led to certain death. This is the fifth time the story has been told on film, but the actual event is an afterthought to the main plot. Snobbish aristocrats and ineffectual politicos combine with pompous blue-bloods to make decisions affecting 600 men thousands of miles away. A decidedly anti-war and satirical slant is presented, as inept generals stand knee-deep in bodies, each blaming the other for the fiasco. Vividly underscored here is the fanaticism, dedication, and blind loyalty which caused the total annihilation of hundreds of soldiers. This 5-million-dollar epic film recouped only 1 million after the initial release, leaving critics to compare the real-life disaster with the financial one suffered by the producers. Trevor Howard, John Gielgud and Vanessa Redgrave head the excellent cast. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

The satire in Evelyn Waugh's darkly comic novel The Loved One was originally double-edged. The book was not only an attack on the Southern California funeral industry but also a lampoon of Hollywood's "British colony," those clannish, cricket-playing English actors of years gone by who bemoaned the artificiality of Tinseltown while eagerly accepting the demeaning and insignificant movie roles they were offered. The film version of The Loved One, anxious to live up to its ad-campaign promise of containing "something to offend everybody," downplays the British-colony business (save for the presence of the magnificent Robert Morley) and pumps up the "death" gags. Innocent British poet Dennis Barlow (Robert Morse) falls in love with funeral-home cosmetician Aimee Thanatogenos (Anjanette Comer), who in turn is loved by prissy funeral director Mr. Joyboy (Rod Steiger). The latter lives with his obese mother (Ayllene Gibbons), whose eating sequence is far more hilarious (and more tasteless) than many of the film's calculatedly "black" jokes. A huge guest-star cast is headed by Jonathan Winters in a dual role as a funeral home manager and his covetous twin brother, who operates an elaborate pet cemetery. Musician Paul Williams is also on hand as a 13-year-old aeronautics genius who develops a method of sending corpses into "eternal orbit" (a plot device that Waugh neglected to include in his novel). Film historian William K. Everson has commented that The Loved One is one of the best and most underrated comedies of the 1960s. For others, especially those who might feel guilty chuckling at the sight of Anjanette Comer committing suicide with an embalming needle, it's purely a matter of taste...or lack of same. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Tony Richardson's adaptation of Henry Fielding's classic novel was one of the most critically acclaimed and popular comedies of its time, winning four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The film follows Tom Jones (Albert Finney), a country boy who becomes one of the wildest playboys in 18th century England, developing a ravenous taste for women, food, and rowdy adventures. Over the course of the film, Jones tries to amass his own fortune and win the heart of Sophie (Susannah York). Not only does John Osborne's Oscar-winning screenplay stay true to the tone of the novel, but the cast -- including Lynn Redgrave in her first screen role -- tears into the story with spirited abandon, making the movie a wildly entertaining and witty experience. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

"All I want is a good time. The rest is propaganda." That's the philosophy of archetypal British "angry young man" Arthur Seaton (Albert Finney). A middle-class working stiff in a dead-end job, Arthur's principal goal in life is to survive the work week, then spend the weekend raising as much hell and drinking as much beer and other liquor as possible. Since pleasure is all that Arthur lives for, he thinks nothing of starting up an affair with the wife (Rachel Roberts) of one of his co-workers (Bryan Pringle). His efforts to secure her an abortion when he gets her pregnant stem not out of concern for her but out of his own selfishness: why should he be tied down with a squalling brat? Despite his carousing and his ongoing desire to escape the dull routine of his weekday existence, Arthur is doomed to perpetuate that routine via his marriage to a complacent "nice" girl (Shirley Ann Field) from his own neighborhood. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Director Tony Richardson adapted the screenplay of A Taste of Honey from the "kitchen sink" stage play by Shelagh Delaney. Rita Tushingham plays a working-class British teenager, living with her drink-sodden, libertine mother Dora Bryan. Denied affection by her selfish mother, Tushingham is pushed further in the background when Bryan impulsively marries her latest boyfriend Robert Stephens. The girl takes a job at a shoe store, then moves in with her kindly homosexual employer Murray Melvin. The two lost souls live in harmony until Tushingham becomes pregnant after a casual affair with black sailor Paul Danquah. Melvin comes to the rescue by offering to look after the baby. This relatively blissful state of affairs is short-lived; before long, Tushingham's hateful mother, having been kicked out by Stephens, descends upon her daughter and her "family," with all her debilitating emotional baggage intact. A poignant denouement caps this riveting slice-of-life drama. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi