Susan Tyrrell Movies
Susan Tyrrell was still a preteen when she made her Broadway debut in Time Out for Ginger. Tyrrell honed her craft in summer stock and repertory, generally cast as traditional ingenues. It was while at New York's Lincoln Rep that the actress truly blossomed, playing an astonishing variety of trollops, dysfunctionals and drunks. She earned an Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of burned-out alcoholic Oma in Fat City (1972). Seldom bothering with subtlety, Tyrrell has essayed tough-shelled characterizations in films as far-ranging as Andy Warhol's Bad (1977) and Big-Top Pee-wee (1988). By the 1990s, her character range extended from small-town bartenders to big-city mayors. On TV, Tyrrell has played Gretchen Feester in Open All Night (1981) and an abrasive recurring character in MacGruder and Loud (1985). With all her movie and TV activity, Susan Tyrrell has never completely abandoned the stage, periodically trodding the boards in her self-written stage piece My Rotten Life. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Enigmatic rock legend Bob Dylan stars as an enigmatic rock legend (talk about a casting coup!) in this purposefully eccentric satiric comedy. Uncle Sweetheart (John Goodman) is an unscrupulous concert promoter who has figured out a way to cash in on the feelings of doubt and uncertainty that plague his nation, which is being torn apart by civil war and political revolution. Sweetheart has decided he will stage a massive benefit concert, though the unnamed charity would appear to be his checking account. Sweetheart hires television producer Nina Veronica (Jessica Lange) to help promote the show and sell it as a nation-wide cable-cast event, while Sweetheart pulls a few strings to arrange for the perfect headliner -- Jack Fate (Bob Dylan), a legendary songwriter who is currently serving a term in prison. With Fate out from behind bars, Sweetheart and Veronica set out to sell their grand spectacle to the world, though one determined investigative journalist (Jeff Bridges) has set out to throw a spenner into the works of Uncle Sweetheart and his epic fundraiser. Marking the directorial debut of comedy writer Larry Charles, Masked and Anonymous also features Penelope Cruz and Luke Wilson; the film was shown in competition at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bob Dylan, Jeff Bridges, (more)
In this bizarre drama that would seem to have "cult item" written all over it, Francis (Aidan Gillen) is a severely introverted young man with a speech impediment who shares a shabby apartment with his bedridden mother, Sal (Susan Tyrrell). Francis has developed certain voyeuristic tendencies which are satisfied through his job in a photo lab, where he helps process other people's snapshots all day. Soon Sal has a new boarder, a massive plumber named Vic (Mark Boone Junior), and Francis notices that a beautiful woman has moved in across the street -- who, to his delight, never draws her curtains. One day, while walking home, Francis sees the woman being attacked by a mugger, and he's able to rescue her. The grateful woman introduces herself as Gloria (Emmanuelle Seigner) and begins flirting with Francis; the evening ends with Francis in Gloria's bed, hardly able to believe his good fortune. However, he can't help watching her from across the street, and when the staunchly vegetarian Gloria is gobbling down some meat, he begins to suspect that not everything is what it seems to be, leading him into a labyrinth of violence and murder. The score was composed by Michael Brook, with contributions from Brian Eno. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Aidan Gillen, Emmanuelle Seigner, (more)
Tara (Jennifer Tilly) hosts a dinner party. When she discusses the HIV-positive results of her lover's brother, others join in with their opinions on AIDS. Black artist Buzz (T.C. Carson), brought to the party as the date of Vincey (Mitchell Anderson), quickly becomes a twosome with Javi (Eddie Garcia). Megan (Serena Scott Thomas) breaks up with her black lover Sarina (Cynda Williams) after Megan reveals her affair with Sarina's cousin Jered (Billy Wirth). With lesbian, gay, and straight interactions throughout, the film's framework leans toward Schnitzler's La Ronde (1900), as an assortment of characters talk directly into the camera to introduce other characters. Shown at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jennifer Tilly, Mitchell Anderson, (more)
This third installment in the meretricious Poison Ivy series explores a different branch of Ivy family tree. Jaime Pressly stars as Violet, sister of Ivy, who returns to the home of the Greer family. As little girls, Violet and Ivy were traumatized when they were forcibly taken away from the Greer home and their best friend Joy -- after their housekeeper mother was discovered in an affair with the head of the household, Ivan Greer (Michael Des Barres). Now it's eleven years later and the widower Ivan, his grown-up daughter Joy (Trishalee Hardy) and new housekeeper Mrs. B (Susan Tyrrell) welcome the gorgeous, post-adolescent Violet back with open arms. Just like her sister, however, Violet is a scheming tramp and home-wrecker. She quickly shares cocaine and sleeps with Joy's sexually frustrated boyfriend Michael (Greg Vaughan) and seduces Ivan with a topless dip in the pool. When those around her begin to suspect that Violet has less than honorable intentions, she turns homicidal, murdering the Greers one by one, to Joy's horror. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jaime Pressly, Michael Des Barres, (more)
This unusual modern-day fable concerns a super-powered teenager who inspires nothing but hostility in the small-minded folk of his hometown. Sean Patrick Flanery stars as Jeremy Reed, nicknamed "Powder" because he is an albino. Powder has been living his entire 16 years in his grandparents' basement, but they have both passed away. The boy is removed from his home and placed in a school. There, science teacher Ripley (Jeff Goldblum) and psychologist Jessie Caldwell (Mary Steenburgen) discover that in addition to being an albino, their new student is the smartest person who ever lived with an IQ off the charts -- and that he is electrically super-charged, which renders him hairless. Powder also has miraculous powers of perception, ESP, and healing, which he uses to ease the death of the terminally ill wife of local Sheriff Barnum (Lance Henriksen) and to give a bigoted redneck hunter (Brandon Smith) a firsthand demonstration of the pain suffered by a deer he's just shot. Powder's gentle nature attracts a pretty coed, Lindsey (Missy Crider), but in spite of his Christ-like demeanor, Powder's abnormalities inspire hatred on the part of many bigoted citizens, especially school bully John Box (Bradford Tatum). ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mary Steenburgen, Sean Patrick Flanery, (more)
- 1995
- R
Set in a future American metropolis, Metro City, this sci-fi-thriller features a policewoman heroine who like the hero in Robocop was brought back from the dead and turned into a super-human fighter. Unlike the aforementioned robot-man, however, she is brought back not with hardware, but with special drugs and a heavy duty training program. The woman dislikes the drugs because of the nightmares they create, but she is dedicated and so completes her regimen so successfully that she is called the Demolitionist and sent out to clean up the city's crime-fouled streets. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Nicole Eggert, Richard Grieco, (more)
- 1995
- R
Cyberpunk schlockmeister Phillip Roth directs this sci-fi action flick about cool explosions and bad cyborgs. When the army's latest brand of killer robots start killing the wrong people, a band of nubile coed soldiers get sent in to kick a little android keister. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
This allegorical comedy from scriptwriter Joe Minion (After Hours, Vampire's Kiss) offers a unique twist on the standard road movie formula. It tells the story of a young boy named Gus who grows sick and tired of parental squabbles and decides to steal his dad's red Mustang and hit the highway on a cross-country journey. The country presented in this film, however, is not the U.S., but a fictional land with states such as Bergen and Essex - a land with parallels to a giant board game. While on the road, Gus spots a billboard inviting him to play the "Motorama" game, a promotional effort by a major gas station that promises winners $500 million dollars. In order to win, one simply has to collect enough game cards from Chimera gas stations all over the country to spell out the word "Motorama." As Gus approaches his goal of collecting all eight letters, he has assorted adventures, many of them strange and a few that are distinctly unpleasant. The film features cameos from several notable cult favorites, including character players Jack Nance and Dick Miller, actress Drew Barrymore, and even the pop singer Meat Loaf. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jordan Christopher Michael, John Diehl, (more)
John Waters does a quirky spin on '50s nostalgia in Cry-Baby, his musical homage to Rebel Without a Cause and Romeo and Juliet. Set in Baltimore in 1954 at the birth of rock & roll, the film features Johnny Depp as Wade "Cry-Baby" Walker. Depp is pure charisma as a juvenile delinquent with a permanent tear slithering down his cheek, a reminder of his state-executed parents. In the depths of his despair appears goody-goody girl Allison (Amy Locane), who has a sexual crush on Cry-Baby. But Allison's Pat Boone-like boyfriend, Baldwin (Stephen E. Miller), the leader of the squares, is dead set against Cry-Baby and the rest of the juvenile delinquents and leads a revolt against them. In the resultant riot, the juvenile delinquents are blamed for the chaos, and Cry-Baby finds himself dispatched to reform school. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Johnny Depp, Amy Locane, (more)
- 1990
- PG13
This teen-age vampire suffers from an ancient curse preventing him from losing his virginity. The film features music from Bo Diddley who adds the rock to Rockula. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Dean Cameron, Toni Basil, (more)
Former child star and one-time scandal magnet Drew Barrymore had her first teenage role in this offbeat thriller with comic overtones. Charlie Cross (Matt Frewer) is vacationing with his 15-year-old daughter, Joleen (Barrymore). Charlie and Joleen are stranded in an Arizona trailer park when they run out of gas, and they quickly get to know their temporary neighbors, including ill-tempered landlady Agnes Reed (Susan Tyrrell), her son, Jimmy (Andras Jones), friendly but scrambled Vietnam vet Duckett (Richard Masur), fellow travelers Amy (Jennifer Tilly) and Louise (Karen Austin), and geeky Pinky Sears (Anthony Rapp). However, it turns out that a psychotic murderer is in their midst, and Sheriff Bill Childers (Dick Miller) joins with the mobile home dwellers in trying to catch the killer before he can strike again. Far From Home marked the directorial debut of Meiert Avis, while screenwriter Tommy Lee Wallace previously worked with co-star Frewer as a director for the TV series Max Headroom. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Matt Frewer, Drew Barrymore, (more)
Paul Reubens's followup to the box-office hit Pee-Wee's Big Adventure is just as outrageous and cartoonish, though not as good. This time, child-man Pee-Wee runs a colorful farm, chock full of talking animals and outsized produce. On the morning after a tornado of Wizard of Oz dimensions, Pee-Wee awakens to discover that a travelling circus has been deposited in his back yard. Befriended by circus owner Kris Kristofferson, Pee-Wee takes an acrobatic job, hoping to impress lovely trapeze artist Valeria Golino--thereby incurring the jealous rage of his hometown sweetie Penelope Ann Miller. When the circus is faced with bankruptcy, Pee-Wee comes up with a brilliant idea: why not stage a three-ring spectacular celebrating the wonders of agriculture? A partial takeoff of such earlier sawdust-trail flicks as Martin and Lewis' Three Ring Circus and Disney's Toby Tyler, Big Top Pee-Wee is generally entertaining, but goes off in too many directions at once, leaving a lot of loose plot ends and underdeveloped characters. Also, Pee-Wee's overactive libido (at least in this film!) is not all that suitable for his younger fans. Even so, there are plenty of hilarious set-pieces. Big Top Pee-Wee was produced and cowritten by Paul Reubens. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Paul Reubens, Kris Kristofferson, (more)
- 1988
- R
Danny Warren (Edward Albert) is a former minor-league shortstop who becomes a narc to uncover drug dealing in this situation comedy. Investigating at a high-school adult-education class, he falls for the tempting teacher Katherine, played by the exotic Barbara Carrera. Danny forgets the reward of $10,000 per arrest when he elects to continue his "education." He joins a colorful group of characters that includes ex-cons, illegal aliens, and brain-dead baby boomers who cause more trouble than their younger counterparts. Swimming classes and wine tasting serve as background for a series of comic catastrophes. Danny soon suspects Katherine's colleague Mrs. Grant (Susan Tyrell) of being in cahoots with the drug dealers, and Katherine and Mrs. Grant have a prolonged fight scene that is memorably funny. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Edward Albert, Barbara Carrera, (more)
- 1988
Windmills of the Gods was adapted for television by John Gay from a best-selling novel by Sidney Sheldon. Jaclyn Smith plays an American college professor, appointed US ambassador to Romania. While attending a peace conference, Jaclyn's life is placed in jeopardy by an all-powerful secret organization. Whom can she trust: American president Michael Moriarty, Rumanian top dog Franco Nero, fellow scholar David Ackroyd, or confrence chairman Ian McKellan? Or none of the above? This wide-ranging romantic adventure was lensed in several exotic locales, from Bucharest to Chile. Originally presented in two parts, Windmills of the Gods debuted February 7, 1988, directly opposite the ratings-busting TV-movie Elvis and Me. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
In this high-energy satire of the music biz, Ivan Alexov (John Cusack) and Josh Tager (Tim Robbins) lose their jobs as security guards, and they decide to start their own video production company. Their first gigs are less than inspiring, including a rappin' commercial for a chicken-and-waffle place, a living will, and a right-wing Presidential-hopeful's (Clu Gulager) gala dinner. Eventually, they get to direct a heavy-metal music video which becomes a huge surprise success. But now the politician needs to get back a private videotape from the boys, and the Secret Service is put on their trail. This chaotic romp has cameos from more music celebs than you can shake a tape reel at, as well as a hopping little soundtrack by Fishbone. This is also the film that introduced a conservative folksinger/politician character who later got his own movie, Bob Roberts. ~ John Voorhees, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Cusack, Tim Robbins, (more)
- 1987
We've been told that Poker Alice, a Boston-bred lady of means who managed a wild-west gambling hall and bordello in the 1870s, was based on a real person. She certainly seems real as portrayed by Elizabeth Taylor in this made-for-TV film (Taylor's first). After winning her house of ill repute in a five-card stud game, Taylor finds true love in the form of bounty hunter Tom Skeritt. Also in hand is George Hamilton as Taylor's slick partner "Cousin John" (the original ads for this film billed Hamilton and Taylor as "The King and Queen of Hearts"). In addition, Susan Tyrrell shows up for a down-and-dirty cat fight with the feisty Taylor. Poker Alice rode into TV land on May 22, 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Join Alvin, Simon, and Theodore as they graduate from their weekly TV adventures to the big screen in the exciting, feature-length animated tale The Chipmunk Adventure. The three boys use a clever scheme with a tape recorder to trick their babysitter, Rebecca Miller, into letting them out of the house. The Chipmunks con the woman into believing that David Seville has granted them permission to set off on a trek around the world, in pursuit of the diamond smugglers Claudia and Claus. Of course, the boys make a point to solicit help from their female friends, The Chipettes, who excitedly agree to tag along on this globe-charting odyssey. A musical to boot, The Chipmunk Adventure features the boys singing such numbers as "Diamond Dolls," and the rollicking and rousing "Woolly Bully."The Chipettes join in as well, with the memorable tune "The Girls of Rock 'n' Roll." ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ross Bagdasarian, Jr., Janice Karman, (more)
This horror anthology is hosted by Vincent Price and features a quartet of chilling stories, all of which took place in a single town that seems to inspire people to do horrendous things to each other. The stories contain scenes of graphic violence and considerable gore. The film is also known as From a Whisper to a Scream. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Vincent Price, Clu Gulager, (more)
- 1986
A pair of childhood friends meet again after one becomes a convict and the other a law man assigned to transport him to prison. Thompson's Last Run features Robert Mitchum and Wilford Brimley in the lead roles. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi
Not to be confused with the 1971 TV movie of the same name, the three-part CBS miniseries If Tomorrow Comes was based on the best-selling novel by Sidney Sheldon. At the center of all the intrigue is an attractive pair of jewel thieves, rank amateur Tracy Whitney (Madolyn Smith), and slick professional Jeff Stevens (Tom Berenger). Having failed on their own to secure wealthy marriages, Tracy and Jeff bury their rivalry and turn to each other for romance -- provided that they're given a few moments to themselves by their great nemesis, the dangerously single-minded insurance investigator Daniel Cooper (David Keith). Standing out in the huge cast is Richard Kiley as international con artist Gunther Hartog, who endeavors to teach Tracy all the tricks of big-time larceny while passing herself off as a variety of different women. Presented in three installments, If Tomorrow Comes was originally telecast on 1986 on March 16, 17, and 18. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Christmas Star is a two-hour whimsy assault, originally telecast December 14, 1986 on The Disney Sunday Movie. Ed Asner plays an escaped convict who adopts a stolen Santa Claus suit as a disguise. Several impressionable youngsters, believing Asner to be the genuine Santa, latch onto him. He decides to use these moppets to help him find his ill-gotten loot, which his partner has hidden in department store Christmas decorations. The ending is as misty-eyed as it is predictable. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1985
Betsy Russell takes over as part-time prostitute Molly Stewart in this disappointing sequel to the surprisingly good Angel (1984). Old pals Rory Calhoun and Susan Tyrrell are along for the search for the killer of the cop who saved Molly's life in the first film, joined by street magician Johnny Glitter (Barry Pearl). More brutal and hard-edged than the original, this installment is just another violent action movie, despite some slick camerawork and a fast pace. One peculiar touch is the frequent use of Bronski Beat's savage dance hit "Why?" which, although it has appropriately exciting music, it concerns gay-bashing and has no relation whatsoever to the storyline. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
- Starring:
- Betsy Russell, Rory Calhoun, (more)
- 1985
A clandestine marriage between 2 police officers is kept from the department. ~ Rovi
When an attempted political coup in 16th century Northern Italy fails, most of the mercenaries hired by the coup leaders disperse. Not so Martin (Rutger Hauer), who intends to rob his duplicitous former employer Arnolfini (Fernando Hillbeck). Martin is able to raise his own army by using a stolen religious artifact as a talisman. He later kidnaps Arnolfini's prospective daughter-in-law Agnes (Jennifer Jason Leigh), who saves herself from gang rape by feigning eternal devotion to her captor. Weeks of plunder and destruction follow, with a deadly plague thrown into the stew. Flesh and Blood has also been released under the title The Rose and the Sword. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Rutger Hauer, Jennifer Jason Leigh, (more)
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