Todd Rundgren Movies

Harry Dean Stanton narrates this documentary that takes a look at the career of the musical group the Band. The group emerged in the late 1960s and their musical style was something new for the times -- a style that went beyond the psychedelic musical movement of the 60's. Go behind the scenes and see the private and professional lives of the band members. Hear how they became a group and what inspires their musical style. This video highlights music from the albums Music From Big Pink, and The Band. See film footage from performances of: "The Weight, "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," "Up On Cripple Creek," and "Life is a Carnival." ~ Beth Deki, All Movie Guide

Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels play the title roles (though viewers may find themselves debating which is which) in this genially low-brow comedy. Lloyd Christmas (Jim Carrey) and Harry Dunne (Jeff Daniels) are two intellectually-challenged best friends who share an apartment so messy that gangsters aren't sure how to trash the place; the guys also have a certain problem (not difficult to understand) holding on to jobs. Lloyd is working as a limo driver in Rhode Island when he picks up a beautiful and wealthy woman named Mary Swanson (Lauren Holly) who is being taken to the airport. Lloyd immediately falls head over heels in love with Mary, and when she leaves a briefcase at the airport, he's determined to return it in hopes of impressing her. Lloyd isn't able to get aboard Mary's flight (though not for lack of trying). Harry has a van decorated to look like a dog (to promote his failing dog-grooming business), and the pair hop in the Poochmobile to find Mary in Aspen. What Lloyd and Harry don't know is that the briefcase is full of money, which Mary deliberately left at the airport as a ransom payment to save the life of her kidnapped husband. Incidentally, Lloyd's chipped front tooth happens to be real; while Jim Carrey had the injured tooth capped many years ago, he thought a broken smile would suit Lloyd's character and had the cap removed for the duration of filming. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

After a seven year hiatus, the members of Utopia reunited at Tokyo's Gotanda Kani Hoken Hall on May 10th of 1992. The show begins with a live rendition of "Fix Your Gaze" from the band's 1986 compilation album, Trivia, and is followed by "Princess of the Universe," "Hammer In My Heart," "Back on the Street," "Hiroshima," "Love in Action," "Caravan," "Last of the New Wave Riders," and "One World," as well as fan favorites "Love is the Answer," and "Just One Victory." ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

Live from the 1989 concert includes tunes like "Hello It's Me," "The Want of A Nail" and many others. ~ All Movie Guide

A singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, engineer, video artist, and electronic music pioneer, Todd Rundgren is one of rock music's renaissance men and true mavericks, and this home video release finds Rundgren taking his live show to Tokyo's Sun Plaza Hall in 1990, during a world tour in support of his album Nearly Human. Todd Rundgren: Live In Japan features the artist performing seventeen songs, including "Can't Stop Running", "Parallel Lines", "Unloved Children", "Love Of The Common Man", "Can We Still Be Friends", and "Hello It's Me". ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Crime Story was a valiant attempt by Miami Vice producer Michael Mann to present a compelling police drama series in a serialized fashion. Introduced as a two-hour TV movie on September 18, 1986, the weekly, hour-long series was initially set in Chicago in 1963. Dennis Farina, a former cop in real life, starred as Lt. Mike Torello, head of the windy city's Major Crime Unit (MCU), who carried on a blood feud with young, ambitious gangster Ray Luca (Anthony John Denison). Assisting Torello in his efforts was prosecuting attorney David Abrams (Stephen Lang), a mobster's son who had "seen the light" and switched sides. Others on Torello's team included Sgt. Danny Krychek (Bill Smitrovich), and detectives Nate Grossman (Steve Ryan), Joey Indelli (Bill Campbell), and Walter Clemmons (Paul Butler), while Luca was backed up by his faithful but dangerously stupid henchman Paulie Taglia (played by John Santucci, who, in a perverse spin of the Dennis Farina situation, had been a genuine criminal before turning to acting).

Halfway through season one, Luca and Paulie moved to Las Vegas, only to be closely followed by Torello and his men, who had become federal agents. The season ended with literal bang, as Luca and Paulie took refuge in a small house in the Nevada desert that turned out to be smack-dab in the middle of a nuclear testing site. Miraculously, the two gangsters managed to survive an atomic explosion with nary a scratch, and spent the series' second and final season playing a game of hide and seek with the Torello forces. Ultimately, the "good guys" bearded their prey in Mexico. In the course of events, Torello's marriage to his wife, Julie (Darlanne Fluegel, broke up, whereupon he entered into a relationship with Inga Thorson (Patricia Charbonneau). Also, both the cops and the robbers had brief encounters with the mob's "big boys," portrayed by such diverse actors as Joseph Wiseman and Andrew Dice Clay. Although the ratings for Crime Story were mediocre, NBC had faith in the series and kept it alive for two years. Like many other Michael Mann productions, the series was rich with authentic period detail, and came equipped with wall-to-wall vintage music, including the theme tune "Runaway", re-recorded (and recreated) by its original artist, Del Shannon. But for all of NBC's promotional skills and Michael Mann's production expertise, the series never caught on (more's the pity), and last aired on May 10, 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In addition to being one of rock's most interesting and enduring artists, Todd Rundgren was a pioneer in the field of music video, and this program, originally produced for British television, presents Rundgren discussing his personal and spiritual beliefs and his approach to making music, while offering dramatizations of some of his best known songs, including Hello It's Me, I Saw The Light, A Dream Goes On Forever, and An Elpee's Worth Of Toons. Todd Rundgren: The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect (which, incidentally, is not related to the album of the same name) also features one of Rundgren's early video pieces, Videosyncracy, which features the songs Hideaway, Can We Still Be Friends, and Time Heals. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In addition to his work as a solo artist, Todd Rundgren also made a number of groundbreaking albums with the group Utopia. This video collects concert footage shot in 1977 of Rundgren, Roger Powell, Kasim Sulton, and John Wilcox performing material from their album Ra (showing off the group's then state-of-the-art laser-light show), as well as later studio-shot music videos directed by Rundgren himself. Songs include "Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference," "Love of the Common Man," "I Just Want to Touch You," "Cry Baby," and "Feet Don't Fail Me Now." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Tom Christo (Griffin Dunne) is a New York TV writer-director in a dead-end marriage to Leslie (Blanche Baker). He meets the intriguing Marty Fenton (Marissa Chibas), a research scientist, when she attends a party Tom and his wife give at their home. Even though there is an initial attraction between Tom and Marty, their eventual pairing takes a long time to evolve as each have their own partners (Marty has a boyfriend) and first must go through separation and a series of disastrously failed blind dates. Although slow in developing and stereotypical enough to register as banal, the storyline is greatly enhanced by the interpretations of the two leads. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Originally shot in Detroit, Michigan during Utopia's US tour in 1981, Utopia: Live at the Royal Oak features Todd Rundren on guitar, Roger Powel on keyboards, Kasim Sultan on bass, and Willie Wilcox on drums. Garbed in battle fatigues in order to make a statement about the growing Iran-Contra affair, the band delivers a wide variety of songs, including "One World, "Road to Utopia," "Back on the Street," "Caravan," "Lysistrada," "Couldn't I Just Tell You," "Love in Action," and "Love is the Answer." ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide