Ava Gardner Movies
Ava Gardner began her career first as a model, then as a contract player at MGM, where her gawky, unsophisticated demeanor was totally made over by the studio into an image of inaccessible glamour. Gardner toiled in tiny bit roles, finally getting a worthwhile one on loan-out to Universal in The Killers (1946). MGM was never very comfortable with the bad-girl persona she... (read more) displayed so well in this film, and, thus, most of her starring appearances at her home studio were relatively sympathetic roles in The Hucksters (1947) and Show Boat (1951). Her cinema reputation as The World's Most Beautiful Animal (in the words of a '50s publicity campaign) was once again manifested in loan-out movies like Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951) and The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952).
MGM eventually came to terms with the elements that made Gardner popular, notably in the gutsy Mogambo (1953), in which she made an excellent partner to the equally earthy Clark Gable. Director George Cukor was much taken by Gardner and cast the actress in her best and most complex MGM role in Bhowani Junction (1956), in which she was torn not only by love but also clashing East Indian cultural values. Gardner was equally well served in The Barefoot Contessa (1954), which, in many ways, was a replay of her own rags-to-riches personal story. The actress was cast in some of her best parts during the '60s, notably in Seven Days in May and Night of the Iguana (both 1964), but the pace of her jet-setting lifestyle and increasing personal problems began to show. With roles and public appearances steadily decreasing, she died on January 25, 1990. She was married and divorced three times -- to Mickey Rooney, Frank Sinatra, and Artie Shaw. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Ava Gardner
1990
This biographical documentary depicts the life and loves of Ava Gardner, a country girl who took Hollywood by storm. Interviews, film footage and commentary on her marriages to...
Harem
1986
The classy made-for-TV Harem managed to get away with plot devices that dated back to the days of Rudolph Valentino. Nancy Travis heads the cast as Jessica Gray, a...
The Long, Hot Summer
1985
The made-for-TV The Long Hot Summer was based on the 1958 theatrical film of the same name-which, in turn, was based on two William Faulkner short stories. Don Johnson...
A.D.
1985
Filmed in Tunisia on a budget of 30 million dollars, the five-part, 12-hour miniseries A.D. was the final installment in a historical trilogy which included Moses the...
Regina
R 1983
Ava Gardner made her last theatrical film appearance in the German-Italian Regina. Gardner is cast as the Smothering Mom to end them all, determined to keep her...
Priest of Love
R 1981
The later years of the life of author D.H. Lawrence are dramatized in this screen biography. Following the controversial reception of his novel The Rainbow, David Herbert...
The Kidnapping of the President
R 1980
After Third World terrorists abduct the Commander-in-Chief, it's up to Secret Service head William Shatner to get him back in this thriller based on a novel by Charles...
City on Fire
R 1978
City on Fire, a disaster thriller filmed in Canada with dialogue in both French and English, tells the story of an oil-refinery explosion in a small town. Dr. Frank Whitman...
The Cassandra Crossing
R 1976
This bizarre entry into the disaster film genre concerns a group of hapless passengers aboard a transcontinental luxury train who are infected with a viral plague by a group of...
The Sentinel
R 1976
In the wake of such Satanic-themed thrillers as Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist and The Omen comes The Sentinel. When New York fashion model (Cristina Raines) splits...
The Blue Bird
1976
The first official co-production between the United States and the Soviet Union, The Blue Bird was the third screen adaptation of the children's story by Maurice Maeterlinck...
Gator
PG 1976
Having created the character of Gator McKlusky in 1973's White Lightning, Burt Reynolds reprises the role in the appropriately titled Gator. Once again, ex-convict...
Permission to Kill
PG 1975
Yet another in the stable of spy movies which depict espionage as a dirty business. Here, we have Dirk Bogarde heading the "Western Intelligence Liaison" his specific task is...
Earthquake
PG 1974
Los Angeles is the natural site for a film about earthquakes: they happen there frequently, and the landscape is familiar to moviegoers from thousands of films. A huge number of...
The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
PG 1972
Paul Newman plays the title role in John Huston's surreal, revisionist western as the infamous Texas hanging judge. Upon arriving in the tiny West Texas town of Vinegaroon,...
The Devil's Widow
PG 1971
In this interesting horror movie, a pleasure-seeking noblewoman uses contemporary black magic to toy with the young lovers who surround her. The story is also known as The...
Mayerling
1968
This romantic tragedy concerns the Archduke Rudolf (Omar Sharif) and his mistress, the Baroness Maria Vetsera (Catherine Deneuve), and their untimely demise at Mayerling,...
The Bible: In the Beginning
G 1966
The Bible was intended by producer Dino De Laurentiis as the first in a series of films which would eventually cover the Old and New Testament in their entireties. The many...
Seven Days in May
1964
Adapted by Rod Serling from the best-selling novel by Fletcher Knebel and Charles Waldo Bailey II, Seven Days in May was allegedly inspired by the far-right ramblings of one...
The Night of the Iguana
NR 1964
Filmed on location in Mexico by John Huston, Night of the Iguana stars Richard Burton as Rev. Shannon, an alcoholic defrocked minister, who scratches out a living as a...