Kirstie Alley Movies
Versatile American actress Kirstie Alley has found success in feature films, but is still best known for her portrayal of neurotic Rebecca Howe during the latter years of the television series Cheers. Noted for her unusual beauty, thick, chestnut-colored hair, and whiskey voice, Alley studied drama in her native Kansas and then became an interior decorator. For a while, she went through a wild and crazy phase in which she abused cocaine and hung out with bikers, but when the lifestyle got old, Alley moved to California, underwent drug rehabilitation, and became a devout Scientologist. She made her feature-film debut playing Savic, a Vulcan student of Mr. Spock in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and then played a major role in the television miniseries North and South, but she did not become a real star until she was selected to replace Shelly Long in Cheers in the late '80s. Though the role of Rebecca marked Alley as a comedienne, she is also a talented dramatic actress as she demonstrated in the 1988 outdoor thriller Shoot to Kill. In 1989, Alley had her first box-office hit with Look Who's Talking; that coupled with Cheers made her one of the most popular actresses in Hollywood and the winner of Emmys, a People's Choice award, and a Golden Globe for Look Who's Talking. With the demise of Cheers, Alley's career became more sporadic and the quality of her films uneven. In the fall of 1997, Alley starred in the NBC prime time sitcom Veronica's Closet. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
John Hurt plays the British jockey Bob Champion in this true story of how Champion overcame cancer and the rigors of chemotherapy for an impressive personal and professional comeback. Just as Champion is in the middle of a vacation in Kentucky, he finds out he has cancer, and, like others before him, submits to the full, painful treatments of multiple injections and radiation, suffering as much or more from the cure as from the illness (these treatments are graphic). Gaunt and nauseous, Champion also endures realistic meetings with his doctors that hold forth no guarantee of a cure. His eventual remission leads to yet another grueling physical schedule to get him back into shape for the Grand National Steeplechase -- a 30-fence, well-publicized race that offers difficult hurdles for both the horses and their jockeys. If the 115-minutes running time of this film were cut in places, it would create a better, trim and slim, fast-paced telling of an even more focused tale. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Hurt, Edward Woodward, (more)
- 1984
In this drama, a police officer finds himself in trouble after he is promoted to lieutenant and assigned to investigate the deaths of several ex-prostitutes and finds himself falling in love with a former madam. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1984
Co-writer and director Nico Mastorakis filmed this unusual low-budget thriller in his native Athens, Greece. Timothy Bottoms stars as Jonathan Ratcliff, an American advertising executive who has lost his sight, although the specialist he consults, Dr. Steiger (Keir Dullea), feels that the cause is psychosomatic. Fitted with a camera-like sonar device that allows him to "see," even if in a non-traditional and rather limited way, Ratcliff takes a vacation in Greece. When he witnesses the murder of a woman with his seeing-eye electronic device, he becomes obsessed with tracking down the killer. Ratcliff's quarry turns out to be a taxi driver armed with a scalpel -- and good eyesight. Blind Date (1984) (alternately titled Deadly Seduction) is notable for early appearances by a trio of actresses who would go on to do bigger and better things: Kirstie Alley, Valeria Golino, and Marina Sirtis. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joseph Bottoms, Kirstie Alley, (more)
- 1982
- PG
- Add Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan to QueueAdd Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan to top of Queue
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is fondly regarded as being the closest in spirit to the 1966-69 TV series that spawned it. Admiral Kirk (William Shatner) escapes the tedium of a desk job to join Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy (DeForest Kelley) on another space mission. While boldly going where no man etc. etc., Kirk crosses the path of his old enemy Khan (Ricardo Montalban), who as any die-hard Trekker can tell you, was the chief antagonist in the 1966 Trek TV episode "Space Seed." Leading a crew of near-savage space prisoners, Khan insinuates himself into the Genesis Project, which is designed to introduce living organisms on long-dead planets. Intending to harness this program for his own despotic purposes, Khan engages in battle with the Enterprise crew. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, (more)
