Timothy Carey Movies
In films since 1952, character actor Timothy Carey gained a cult following for his uncompromising portrayals of sadistic criminals, drooling lechers, and psycho killers. His definitive screen moment occurred in Stanley Kubrick's The Killing (1955), in which, as two-bit hoodlum Nikki Arane, he gleefully shot down a race horse. Kubrick used Carey again in Paths of Glory (1957), this time in the sympathetic role of condemned prisoner Private Ferol. Equally impressed by Carey's work was director John Cassavetes, who gave the actor a leading role in Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976). In 1963, Carey spoofed his unsavory screen image in Beach Blanket Bingo, playing leather-jacketed cyclist South Dakota Slim, who expresses his affection for leading lady Linda Evans by strapping her to a buzzsaw. He went on to menace the Monkees in Head (1968), bellowing out incomprehensible imprecations as Davy, Mike, Micky, and Peter cowered in confused terror. One of his juiciest film roles was as a rock-singing evangelist in The World's Greatest Sinner (1962), which he also produced, directed, and wrote. In his later years, Timothy Carey occasionally occupied his time as an acting teacher. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This bittersweet comedy looks at the denizens of Echo Park, a decaying section of Los Angeles popular with struggling actors and musicians, largely because of its (relatively) low rents. May Greer (Susan Dey) is a single mother and aspiring actress who makes ends meet by tending bar (the most lucrative job she's been offered in show biz is as a combination stripper and singing telegram girl). Her neighbor August (Michael Bowen) is a body-builder from Austria who dreams of becoming a movie star like Arnold Schwarzenegger, though these days he's supporting himself by doing low-budget TV commercials for deodorant. May and August have an on-again, off-again relationship, which has more to do with sex and loneliness than love. Hoping to stretch her budget a bit, May rents out a room to Jonathan, a wannabe singer/songwriter who makes his money delivering pizzas. May takes a liking to Jonathan, and her son Henry (Christopher Walker) sees Jonathan as the benevolent father figure that's been missing from his life. The supporting cast includes cult figure Timothy Carey and Cassandra Peterson, best known as princess of the dark Elvira. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
In this casual, uninvolved comedy running on a low-octane script, a scruffy taxi company is about to be wiped out when its owner Harold (Max Gail) exhorts his cabbies to do what they can to help save the company -- and what they can do turns out to be a surprise to everyone concerned. Saving the day (and the film) are the likeable, eccentric drivers, introduced by means of a new trainee (Adam Baldwin) who rides around with each in turn. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adam Baldwin, Charlie Barnett, (more)
- 1982
- R
James Woods plays "Fast-Walking" Miniver, a strikingly amoral prison guard, in this dark, hard-hitting comedy/drama. When not smoking dope or scaring up customers for Evie (Susan Tyrrell), the proprietor of the local house of prostitution, Fast-Walking tries to keep order in an Oregon prison. Fast-Walking is looking for a big payday so he can quit his job and get into something less stressful, and he thinks he may have found it when William Galliot (Robert Hooks), a black political activist who has just landed behind bars, offers him $50,000 to help him escape. Fast-Walking thinks this sounds fine with him, until he finds out that his cousin Wasco (Tim McIntire) is part of a plot to kill Galliot and wants his help. Fast-Walking's dilemma is intensified by his affair with Wasco's girlfriend, Moke (Kay Lenz). Fast-Walking was written, produced, and directed by James B. Harris, who as a producer helped bring several early Stanley Kubrick films to the screen. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Woods, Tim McIntire, (more)
The 1955 film version of John Steinbeck's East of Eden will always be popular because of the presence in the cast of James Dean. Even so, the film covered only a small portion of the original novel. For those Steinbeck completists who prefer a more thorough treatment, we submit for your approval the TV miniseries adaptation of East of Eden, which first aired February 8, 9 and 11, 1981. This eight-hour dramatization begins in the years following the Civil War. Braggadocio union officer Cyrus Trask (Warren Oates) is the father of gentle, loyal Adam (Timothy Bottoms) and hellraiser Charles (Bruce Boxleitner). Enter the bewitching, mean-spirited Cathy Ames (Jane Seymour), who leads both brothers on and causes an irreparable rift between them. Eventually, Adam marries Cathy, taking her and their twin sons to a 900-acre farm in California's Salinas Valley. Cathy rebels against this cloistered existence and runs off to work in a house of ill repute. In Part Three, we finally meet the "James Dean" character: Cal Trask (played by Timothy Bottoms' brother Sam), who can never hope to come up to the standards of his "good" twin brother Aron (Hart Bochner) in the eyes of his father. Cal's "bad" reputation obscures his good intentions, but by film's end he is compelled to reveal to brother Aron that their mother had not died as father Adam has claimed, but in fact has become a hard-bitten bordello "madam". Adapted for television by Richard Shapiro, East of Eden was part of ABC's informal "Novels for Television" series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Timothy Bottoms, Jane Seymour, (more)
- 1977
The title character in this episode is Sister Barbara (Edith Diaz), a feisty and fearless nun who works in a barrio street clinic. Undercover cop Tony Baretta (Robert Blake) admires the way in which Sister Barbara is able to reform the various drug addicts in her care. Less admiring is an unknown assailant who murders one of the nun's patients -- then prepares to kill her off as well. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Blake, Edward Grover, (more)
- 1977
The Angels return to their police department roots in order to find out who has been tipping off prostitutes and pimps during a city-wide police crackdown. Sabrina (Kate Jackson) is assigned to the vice squad, Kelly (Jaclyn Smith) poses as a police-academy cadet, and Jill (Farrah Fawcett-Majors) goes undercover as the owner of the Paradise massage parlor, where two murders have recently occurred. Unfortunately, the crooked vice cop who is undermining the department gloms onto the Angels' true identities with the unwitting assistance of Sabrina's ex-husband, Bill (Michael Bell). This final episode of Charlie's Angels' first season also represented the last "regular" appearance of Farrah Fawcett-Majors, though the actress would return in future seasons as a guest star. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Farrah Fawcett-Majors, Kate Jackson, (more)
Sequel to the 1970 Chesty Anderson sex comedy by the same director, this lame story with jokes to match focuses on the aptly-named Chesty (Shari Eubank), still a WAVE in the U.S. Navy, but now she is after the Mafioso who killed her younger sister. Chesty's allies are three of her similarly-proportioned friends in the Navy, and her enemies are the Baron (Frank Campanella) and his pal Vincent (Timothy Agoglia Carey) -- Vincent carries the show with his invented, eccentric way of walking and the pseudo-Italian he spouts at a moment's notice. Meant to be a conveyance for stunts and gags, and a showcase for the women, this film does introduce a government agent (Fred Willard) who ultimately pays more attention to the resolution of the plot than anyone else around. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shari Eubank, Dorri Thompson, (more)
- 1976
- R
John Cassavetes takes a contemporary film noir turn (which he would return to in Gloria) after exploring domestic melodrama in A Woman Under the Influence with The Killing of a Chinese Bookie. Ben Gazzara plays Cosmo Vitelli, the owner of a sleazy Los Angeles strip joint, who loses $20,000 at a mob gambling club owned by a small time gangster (Seymour Cassel). Since Cosmo doesn't have the $20,000, he is forced to murder a Chinese bookie in order to clear his debt to the mob. What Cosmo doesn't know is he's part of a set-up. The bookie is actually a West Coast mob boss protected around the clock by bodyguards. The mobsters figure that Cosmo will be killed in an impossible hit and they can take over his nightclub. But Cosmo proves luckier than the mobsters think -- he manages to kill his target, and now the mobsters have to track down Cosmo and kill him. Initially, at 133 minutes, the movie was subsequently re-edited by Cassavetes to 109 minutes. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Gazzara, Timothy Carey, (more)
- 1975
Charles Durning guest stars as Hatch, a veteran safecracker whom undercover cop Tony Baretta (Robert Blake) sent to prison. When a series of jewelry store robberies hits his district, Baretta realizes that there is only one man who can help him bring the perps to justice. Need it be added that the man in question is none other than the hapless Hatch? Former B-Western leading lady Peggy Stewart appears in a cameo role as a teacher. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Blake, Edward Grover, (more)
In this comedy drama that spoofs detective pictures from the 1940s, Tucker (Michael Caine) is a private eye hired by Anglich (Michael Constantine), a wealthy man who is trying to find the whereabouts of his long lost daughter. Tucker's sleuthing leads him to Ellen (Natalie Wood) and Mianne (Kitty Winn), two members of the decidedly unusual Prendergast Family. So far as Tucker can tell, either Ellen or Mianne is Anglich's missing child, but he's not quite sure which. The supporting cast includes Timothy Carey, Thayer David, Liam Dunn, and Liz Renay; Humphrey Bogart impersonator Jerry Lacy appears in the opening credits. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Caine, Natalie Wood, (more)
- 1975
In this first episode of Baretta, gonzo undercover cop Tony Baretta sets up a phony numbers bank to trap prominent mobster Frank Cassell (Joseph Mascolo). In his off hours, Baretta romantically pursues the lovely Sharon Fowler (Madlyn Rhue), whom he wants to marry despite her protests that living together is the way to go. Tragically, their relationship is literally terminated when Sharon is killed by Cassell's hired thugs. Throwing "police procedure" in the wastebasket, the grieving Baretta vows to take his own personal revenge against Cassell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Blake, Dana Elcar, (more)
- 1973
- PG
A two-bit criminal takes on the Mafia to avenge his brother's death in this drama based on a novel by Donald E. Westlake. Earl Macklin (Robert Duvall) is a small time criminal who is released from prison after an unsuccessful bank robbery only to discover that a pair of gunmen killed his brother. As it turns out, the bank that Earl and his brother hit was controlled by gangster Mailer (Robert Ryan). Macklin learns that he's on the mob's hit list as well, so he teams up with his old partner Cody (Joe Don Baker) to take on Mailer and his second in command, Jake Menner (Timothy Carey). The Outfit also features a top-notch supporting cast, including Karen Black, Sheree North, Joanna Cassidy, Richard Jaeckel, and Anita O'Day; Marie Windsor and Elisha Cook, Jr. also appear, 18 years after their memorable turn together in The Killing. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Duvall, Karen Black, (more)
- 1972
Donna Mills was still in her "imperiled heroine" career stage when she starred in the made-for-TV The Bait. Mills is a policewoman who goes incognito to solves a baffling series of rape-murders. Almost as deadly as the rapist is the sexism Mills must suffer from her superior officer (Michael Constantine)--which at times is played for laughs. Based on a novel by former policewoman Dorothy Uhnak, who must have been appalled at the liberties taken with her work by this film, The Bait was the pilot for an unlaunched weekly TV series. Sidenote (courtesy of TV-movie historian Lee Goldberg): Noam Pitlik, a guest star in The Bait, would later direct several episodes of the police sitcom Barney Miller. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
- R
In this comedy, young Donald Beeman (Tom Smothers) becomes disillusioned with his business career and quits to become a tap-dancing magician. However, the grass isn't always greener, and Donald soon discovers that the money-oriented aspects of his former career are starting to creep into his new life. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1971
Can a straight-laced woman find happiness with a scruffy hippie who has a bad habit of getting beaten up? Minnie Moore (Gena Rowlands) was a prom queen in high school but has become disillusioned with life now that she is a divorcée who has just turned 40. Her marriage ended badly, and her current relationship with her boyfriend Jim (John Cassavetes), who is inconveniently married to another woman, is hardly going any better. Jim treats Minnie with little respect, but she tries to calmly soldier on with her work as a curator at a museum. When Jim's wife threatens to commit suicide if he doesn't break off his affair with Minnie, he agrees to stop seeing her. He goes to museum where Minnie works, bringing along his two children to serve as witnesses, and he tells her that they're through. Emotionally shattered by this experience, Minnie blankly and uncomprehendingly accepts a blind date with a loud-mouthed boor named Zelmo Swift (Val Avery), who proposes marriage only an hour after they've met. Angered by her lack of enthusiasm for this proposal, Zelmo angrily follows Minnie to a nearby parking lot, where the attendant, Seymour Moskowitz (Seymour Cassel), comes to her rescue, though he hardly emerges victorious in battle. Shaggy-haired and steadfastly bohemian Seymour has just arrived in Los Angeles from New York City looking to make some changes, and after a few minutes with Minnie, he's convinced that he's met the love of his life. Minnie isn't buying it, but she eventually agrees to go out on a date with him, and before long, these two polar opposites find that they're attracted to each other after all. A typically low-budget labor of love from writer/director/actor John Cassavetes, Minnie and Moskowitz features John's wife Gena Rowlands as Minnie, his mother Katherine Cassavetes as Seymour's mom, his brother-in-law David Rowlands as a minister, and several of his children in a party sequence; John's friend and frequent collaborator Timothy Carey also appears in a small role. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gena Rowlands, Seymour Cassel, (more)
- 1971
- PG
Though it bears more than passing resemblance to his macabre hits Hush ... Hush, Sweet Charlotte and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, this lesser-known outing from screenwriter Henry Farrell takes a more satirical turn, skewering the eccentricities of the Hollywood studio system. The story opens during the advent of talking pictures, where a school for would-be child stars is opened by voice coach Helen Hill (Shelley Winters) and dance instructor Adelle Bruckner (Debbie Reynolds). Haunted by a dark secret -- each of the women's sons was convicted of murder -- Hill and Bruckner are pursued by a cloaked interloper whose incessant snooping leads to a fatal altercation. Suspicion builds between the two until the expected climax, where it is revealed that one of the two women is even more lethal than her homicidal son. Though the film's absurdist tone is a harsh about-face from the deadly deadpan camp of Farrell's Gothic 1960s thrillers, the period flavor is a nice touch, and accomplished director Curtis Harrington frequently achieves the right balance of horror and humor. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Debbie Reynolds, Shelley Winters, (more)
- 1970
- R
Chesty (Shari Eubank), a member of the U.S. Navy, is notified that her sister has been found dead in a garbage chopper. She suspects the head of the local trash-hauling company is responsible. She enlists three of her fellow female sailors (who are also kung fu experts) to go after him and get proof that he was the killer. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide
The Monkees -- Micky Dolenz, Mike Nesmith, Davy Jones and Peter Tork -- didn't really enjoy being labelled the Prefab Four back when their TV series was all the rage in 1966. With the help and support of Bob Rafaelson (co-producer, co-writer and director) and Jack Nicholson (co-producer, co-writer, and, if you look closely, bit player), the Monkees expressed their displeasure over being packaged for popular consumption in the non sequitur masterpiece Head. At least, it seems that the film is an indictment of the merchandising of pop stars. It's hard to tell at times, because Head literally has no plot; it is instead a patchwork of loopy sight gags, instant parodies, "camp" cutups, musical numbers and wry inside jokes. Clips of such old movies as the 1934 Karloff-Lugosi epic The Black Cat pop up every so often, as does an impressive lineup of pop-culture icons: Victor Mature, Annette Funicello, Sonny Liston, Frank Zappa (he's the one leading a cow) and Ray Nitschke, as well as such movie-trivia "answers" as Timothy Carey, Vito Scotti, Teri Garr, Percy Helton, Logan Ramsey, Carol Doda, and pre-Divine cross-dresser T.C. Jones. The best bits include a lengthy Golden Boy parody which does double duty as a lampoon of the network's efforts to create "personalities" for the individual Monkees, and a psychedelic buck-and-wing performed by Davy Jones. One gag, in which Micky Dolenz blows up a Coca Cola machine, is usually excised from TV showings. Head did zero business when it first came out thanks to poor distribution, but it has since become a fixture of midnight-movie showings and campus cinema classes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Tork, Davy Jones, (more)
"A rootin', tootin', but sincere picture" was the advertising tag for the comedy western Waterhole No. 3. James Coburn plays the likeably amoral hero, who'll go to any lengths to get his mitts on a treasure map. Like his principal rival, renegade confederate cavalryman Claude Akins, Coburn knows that a fortune in gold bullion is hidden near a desert waterhole; the trick is finding the damned thing. Along the way, Coburn humiliates redneck sheriff Carroll O'Connor and "has his way" with O'Connor's far from unwilling daughter Maggie Blye. When Blye, cast aside by Coburn in favor of his treasure quest, screams rape, Coburn replies that his only crime is "assault with a friendly weapon." Just try to get that bit past an audience in 1996. Supervised by Blake Edwards, Waterhole No. 3 is agreeably irreverent, though a little editing here and there wouldn't have hurt. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Coburn, Carroll O'Connor, (more)
- 1967
The Long Ride Home is the British title for the Columbia Civil War western A Time for Killing. The stars are Glenn Ford, a regular of sagebrushers, and Inger Stevens, a relative newcomer to the genre who between 1967-1970 made up for lost time with such films as Hang 'Em High and Firecreek. Ford is Union POW camp commander Major Walcott who rides out to capture escaped Confederate prisoner Captain Bentley (George Hamilton). Bentley and his men have kidnapped Walcott's fiancee Emily Biddle (Stevens) to assure themselves safe passage, but several of the escaped Rebs hope to divest themselves of Bentley and have their way with their beautiful captive. Among the troops is a very young Harrison Ford, collecting his meager Columbia contract paycheck and hoping for better days. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenn Ford, George C. Scott, (more)
Part of American-International's "Beach Party" series, Beach Blanket Bingo was directed by William Asher. Frankie (Frankie Avalon) briefly deserts Dee Dee (Annette Funicello) in favor of pop star Sugar Kane (Linda Evans). Also around and about is a mermaid, appropriately named Lorelei (Marta Kristen). Scurrilous cycle gang leader Eric Von Zipper (Harvey Lembeck) finds time to sing a tune, while Paul Lynde sneers a lot, Don Rickles insults a lot, Buster Keaton mimes a lot, and columnist Earl Wilson lets everybody know who he is by exclaiming "That's Earl, brother." The whole cast rushes to the rescue when South Dakota Slim (Timothy Carey) binds the lovely Sugar Kane to a buzzsaw. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, (more)
- 1964
A huge shipment of rifles are stolen in Texas sometime shortly following the close of the Civil War. It turns out the rifles are going to Apaches who are being recruited by a disgruntled Rebel officer (Edmond O'Brian) who wishes to resurrect the war. Richard Boone and company are sent to reclaim the rifles and apprehend the scheming thieves. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Boone, Stuart Whitman, (more)
- 1964
The Beach Party gang is back in this third episode. This time out, the gang is visited by the handsome British pop star Potato Bug (Frankie Avalon in a dual role) who has come to CA for a little r&r. When Potato Bug sees the perky Dee Dee (Annette Funicello), he falls head over heels. This doesn't set well with her boyfriend, Frankie. Later the kids all join forces to keep aged developer Harvey Huntington Honeywagon from buying their beach and using it to build a senior citizen's resort. Honeywagon is assisted by Brandoesque biker Eric Von Zipper while the kids are helped out by the adolescent supporter Big Drag. Songs include: "Bikini Drag", "Love's a Secret Weapon", and "Because You're You". Special guest artists include Little Stevie Wonder, the Exciters and the Pyramids. Boris Karloff has an un-credited cameo. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, (more)
- 1964
In this offbeat melodrama, a crazed gardener is relegated to a mental hospital after he goes berserk and beheads his wealthy boss. The scuttlebutt in the courtroom is that the killer has stolen over a million dollars from his former employer and has hidden it on the estate. A professional actor is hired to feign insanity to get into the home, befriend the maniac, and find out where he hid the cash. Once he is admitted, the hapless actor encounters bedlam as he meets the patients, undergoes electroshock therapy, and suffers through several injections. Eventually he finds himself falling for a manic-depressive woman. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stuart Whitman, Lauren Bacall, (more)
