92 in the Shade 1975  R, 93 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Thomas McGuane
Cast: Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, Margot Kidder, Burgess Meredith, Harry Dean Stanton, Sylvia Miles, Elizabeth Ashley, William Hickey, Louise Latham, Joe Spinell
Set in Key West, this is the film adaptation of Thomas McGuane's novel about competition between captains of fishing boats.
|  | |
Any Man's Death 1988  R, 110 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Tom Clegg
Cast: John Savage, William Hickey, Mia Sara, Ernest Borgnine, Michael Lerner, James Ryan, Nancy Mulford, Robin Smith, Claudia Udy, James Whyle
While investigating a strange photograph, a reporter (John Savage) travels to Africa and discovers a former Nazi war criminal living among the natives.
| | |
Bright Lights, Big City 1988  R, 110 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: James Bridges
Cast: Michael J. Fox, Kiefer Sutherland, Phoebe Cates, Swoosie Kurtz, Dianne Wiest, Frances Sternhagen, John Houseman, Jason Robards, Tracy Pollan, William Hickey, Charlie Schlatter, David Warrilow, Alec Mapa, Sam Robards, Gina Belafonte
Based on Jay McInerney's insightful novel, this is the story of Midwesterner Jamie Conway (Michael J. Fox) who heads for New York City to become an author. James has suffered tragedies when his mother (Dianne Wiest) died, and his wife Amanda (Phoebe Cates) left him. He starts working for a major magazine and becomes deeply involved in drugs and alcohol with his friend Tad (Kiefer Sutherland). Jamie is fired from his job, and now has only Tad's cousin Vicky (Tracy Pollan) to come to his much-needed aid.
| | |
Da 1988 PG, 105 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Matt Clark
Cast: Martin Sheen, Barnard Hughes, William Hickey, Karl Hayden, Doreen Hepburn, Hugh O'Conor, Ingrid Craigie, Joan O'Hara, Frank(2) McDonald
When an Irish-American playwright returns to Ireland to attend his father's funeral, he is confronted by his father's ghost and memories of himself as a young lad. This film is sentimental but enjoyable fare.
| | |
 Forget Paris 1995 PG-13, 101 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Billy Crystal
Cast: Billy Crystal, Debra Winger, Julie Kavner, Joe Mantegna, Cynthia Stevenson, Richard Masur, Cathy Moriarty, William Hickey, Robert Costanzo, Tom Wright
NBA referee Mickey (Billy Crystal) heads for Paris to bury his father. Along the way the airline loses the casket, and Ellen (Debra Winger) is given the assignment of helping Mickey find his lost "luggage." Romance follows and comedy continues as the couple tries to live happily ever after.
| | |
Izzy and Moe 1985  TV, 92 min.
Genre: Comedy / Drama
Director: Jackie Cooper
Cast: Jackie Gleason, Art Carney, Cynthia Harris, Zohra Lampert, Drew Snyder, Nicholas J. Giangiulio, Dick Laressa, William Hickey, Rick Washburn, Jesse Doran
Ex-vaudevillians Izzy (Jackie Gleason) and Moe (Art Carney) find work during the 1920s as prohibition enforcement agents. Using their acting talents, they become highly effective in their work–enough to get the attention of the Mob (and corrupt cops). This made-for-TV film is based on a true story.
| | |
Little Big Man 1970  PG, 150 min.
Genre: Drama / Comedy / Adventure / Western
Director: Arthur Penn
Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway, Martin Balsam, Chief Dan George, Richard Mulligan, Jeff Corey, Aimee Eccles, Kelly Jean Peters, William Hickey, Jesse Vint, Carole Androsky, Robert Little Star
Jack Crabb (Dustin Hoffman) is 121-years old and is the only survivor of Custer's (Richard Mulligan) last stand at Little Big Horn. Through his eyes, the history of the Old West is told, providing insight into the plight of Native Americans as America moved west.
| | |
Love Is All There Is 1996 R, 104 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Joseph Bologna, Renee Taylor
Cast: Lainie Kazan, Joseph Bologna, Barbara Carrera, Renee Taylor, Paul Sorvino, Angelina Jolie, Nathaniel Marston, William Hickey, Dick Van Patten, Abe Vigoda, Connie Stevens, Joy Behar
The relationships of feuding families–rival caterers: Sadie and Mike Capomezzo (Lanie Kazan and Joseph Bologna) and Maria and Piero Malacici (Barbara Carrera and Paul Sorvino)–are thrown into a tailspin when their children (Angelina Jolie and Nathaniel Marston) fall in love while starring in their school production of "Romeo and Juliet."
| | |
Maddening 1995 R, 94 min.
Genre: Horror / Thriller
Director: Danny Huston
Cast: Angie Dickinson, William Hickey, Josh Mostel, Burt Reynolds, Mia Sara, Brian Wimmer, Kayla Buglewicz, Candace Hutson, Angela Bomford, Darrell Fetty
This is a suspense thriller about a crazed couple who lock up a mother and her daughter in a secluded home where the victims are abused as they await rescue.
| | |
Major Payne 1995 PG-13, 97 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Nick Castle
Cast: Damon Wayans, Karyn Parsons, William Hickey, Michael Ironside, Albert Hall, Steven Martini, Andrew Harrison Leeds, Orlando Brown, Damien Wayans, Joseph Blaire, R. Stephen Wiles, Patrick Rodney Barnes, Ross Bickell, Peyton Chesson-Fohl, Chris Owen
Major Benson Winifred Payne (Damon Wayans) takes on the job of training R.O.T.C. cadets at Madison Academy and ends up learning more than he ever suspected about himself. Actually, Major Payne turns out to be a "major pain."
| | |
Mikey and Nicky 1976 R, 118 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Elaine May
Cast: Peter Falk, John Cassavetes, Ned Beatty, Carol Grace, Joyce Van Patten, M. Emmet Walsh, Rose Arrick, Sanford Meisner, William Hickey, Sy Travers
Mikey (Peter Falk) and Nicky (John Cassavetes) have been friends since childhood. Now, as adults, they are involved in small-time crimes and are evading the eye of a hit man who has Nicky lined up as his next target.
| | |
Mouse Hunt 1997 PG, 95 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Gore Verbinski
Cast: Nathan Lane, Lee Evans, Christopher Walken, Maury Chaykin, Eric Christmas, William Hickey, Michael Jeter, Vicki Lewis, Debra Christofferson, Camilla Soeberg
The Smuntz brothers, Ernie (Nathan Lane) and Lars (Lee Evans), inherit a run-down mansion that just happens to be occupied by a clever mouse that does not fit into their resale-for-profit plans for the house.
| | |
My Blue Heaven 1990 PG-13, 95 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Herbert Ross
Cast: Steve Martin, Rick Moranis, Joan Cusack, Melanie Mayron, Carol Kane, Bill Irwin, William Hickey, Ed Lauter, Colleen Camp, Daniel Stern
Vinnie (Steve Martin) is part of the Witness Protection Program because of his pending testimony against the mob. FBI agent Coopersmith (Rick Moranis) is assigned the job of relocating Vinnie and keeping him out of trouble. This proves easier said than done. Goldie Hawn was the Executive Producer of this film.
| | |
The Name of the Rose 1986 R, 128 min.
Genre: Action
Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud
Cast: Sean Connery, Christian Slater, F. Murray Abraham, Elya Baskin, Feodor Chaliapin Jr., William Hickey, Michael Lonsdale, Ron Perlman, Dwight Weist, Volker Prechtel
Murders are occurring in a 14th-century monastery, and a Franciscan monk (Sean Connery) sets out to solve them.
| | |
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 1989 PG-13, 97 min.
Genre: Comedy
aka: Christmas Vacation
Director: Jeremiah S. Chechik
Cast: Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Randy Quaid, Diane Ladd, Miriam Flynn, Juliette Lewis, E.G. Marshall, John Randolph, Johnny Galecki, Doris Roberts, Cody Burger, William Hickey, Mae Questel, Ellen Hamilton Latzen, Sam McMurray
One thing you can always say about the Griswolds is that they never give up. This time, instead of leaving home, Clark (Chevy Chase) prepares the family home for an old-fashioned Christmas. Relatives arrive, and pandemonium follows.
| | |
 The Nightmare Before Christmas 1993 PG, 75 min.
Genre: Action / Sci-Fi / Drama / Thriller
aka: Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas
Director: Henry Selick
Cast: Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon, Catherine O'Hara, William Hickey, Glenn Shadix, Paul Reubens, Ken Page, Edward Ivory, Susan McBride, Debi Durst, Greg Proops, Kerry Katz, Randy Crenshaw, Sherwood Ball, Carmen Twillie
This is a delightful Tim Burton film that uses stop-action and replacement animation. Halloweentown's hero, Jack Skellington (voice of Chris Sarandon, singing voice of Danny Elfman), takes a walk in the woods and enters a tree that is the doorway to Christmastown. Jack is overwhelmed with the good will he finds and now wants to take over Christmas by kidnapping Santa (voice of Edward Ivory) and do Christmas as only Halloweentown can. They capture Santa, but boogeyman Oogie Boogie (voice of Ken Page) re-captures Santa along with Jack's girlfriend Sally (voice of Catherine O'Hara), which leads to an inevitable confrontation. By story's end, Jack is riding in the sky in a coffin-like sled pulled by skeletal reindeer ready to deliver presents to the world's children.
| | |
One Crazy Summer 1986 PG, 94 min.
Genre: Comedy / Romance
Director: Savage Steve Holland
Cast: John Cusack, Demi Moore, Bob Goldthwait, Curtis Armstrong, Joel Murray, Tom Villard, William Hickey, Joe Flaherty, Linda Warren, Grenville Cuyler, Kristen Goelz, Taylor Negron, Laura Waterbury, Jeremy Piven, John Matuszak
After graduating from high school, aspiring cartoonist Hoops McCann (John Cusack) spends the summer before college vacationing with his friend George (Joel Murray) on Nantucket where he plans to write a cartoon love story. While traveling to Nantucket, they pick up Cassandra (Demi Moore) who is on her way to her grandfather's funeral. When Cassandra learns that her grandfather's home is going to be turned into a lobster restaurant, Hoops and George, along with their friends Ack Ack (Curtis Armstrong) and the Stork twins (Bob Goldthwait and Tom Villard), come up with a plan to save the home. As the story progresses, occasional cartoon sequences fill the screen illustrating what is going on. Sequel to "Better Off Dead."
| | |
Operation Mad Ball 1957 N/R, 105 min.
Genre: Comedy / Drama
Director: Richard Quine
Cast: Jack Lemmon, Mickey Rooney, Kathryn Grant, Ernie Kovacs, Arthur O'Connell, James Darren, Roger Smith, Dick York, L.Q. Jones, William Leslie, Sheridan Comerate, Jeanne Manet, Richard Bull, William Hickey, Paul Picerni
As a way to raise morale, World War II American soldiers stationed in France plan a big blast of a party and invite the nurses who they work with. But, the nurses are officers, and the soldiers are enlisted men, and they are not allowed to fraternize. Their commanding officer, Capt. Locke (Ernie Kovacs) sticks by the rules, so Pvt. Hogan (Jack Lemmon), with help from Sgt. Yancy Skibo (Mickey Rooney), sneaks around and arranges for the party to be held at a local hotel managed by Mme. LaFour (Jeanne Manet). One of the nurses, Betty Bixby (Kathryn Grant), is Hogan's love interest, and she is not sure that the scheme will work.
| | |
Prizzi's Honor 1985  R, 130 min.
Genre: Comedy / Drama / Romance
Director: John Huston
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Kathleen Turner, Anjelica Huston, William Hickey, John Randolph, Lee Richardson, Robert Loggia, Lawrence Tierney, CCH Pounder, Dick O'Neill, Michael Lombard, Vic Polizos, Raymond Serra, Sully Boyar, Tom Signorelli
Mafia hit man Charley Partanna (Jack Nicholson) falls in love with beautiful Irene Walker (Kathleen Turner). Charley thinks Irene is a tax consultant, but it turns out that she is hit man for a mob, which makes Charley question his loyalty between Irene and the Mafia. As luck would have it, there is a third member, Maerose Prizzi (Angelica Huston), making up this triangle, and she has devious plans for the other two. Angelica Huston won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. There were seven other nominations including Best Picture, Actor (Nicholson), Director, and Supporting Actor (William Hickey).
| | |
 The Producers 1968  N/R, 88 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Mel Brooks
Cast: Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder, Kenneth Mars, Dick Shawn, Lee Meredith, Christopher Hewett, Estelle Winwood, Renee Taylor, Frank Campanella, Andreas Voutsinas, David Patch, William Hickey, Barney Martin, Shimen Ruskin, Josip Elic
Mel Brooks won the Oscar for Best Screenplay in this film about two characters, Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel) and Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder), who con people into investing in a non-existent Broadway show: "Springtime for Hitler." Wilder received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. 2 User Reviews
| User Reviews |
| | Parts of this are the funniest movie ever made | 1fatts 03/27/2007 | Mel Brooks is a cannon on the loose. It is his strength and his weakness. The 2000-year-old man sketches with Carl Reiner are classic for Brooks' unpredictable leaps from political humor to burlesque inuendo to bizarre non-sequitur. At his best, he can take your breath away. At his worst, he is a runaway train.
Stand-up comedy benefits most from this kind of wildness; movies suffer most. Movies need plot and structure and discipline.
Brooks' best film, as a work of cinema, is probably Young Frankenstein because Gene Wilder shared writing credit and imposed some order which Mel Brooks simply cannot supply -- see all the shotgun "sometimes the magic works and sometimes it doesn't" humor of "Robin Hood - Men in Tights", "Spaceballs", et al.
But even in a movie that is all over the map (they pretty much run out of central joke and plot in The Producers after the play is a hit), there are a half a dozen scenes that are perhaps the funniest stuff every put on film. Brooks' writing is certainly a major factor, and the other is the casting. Only Zero Mostel was Zero Mostel. He was a life force, a stampede, a landslide. He defined this role . . . and Tevye in Fiddler . . . and Pseudolus in "Funny Thing Happened. . . " Other people may have played his roles, but they were never near the standared. His Max Biolystock is incomparable. His teaming with the young, intensely neurotic Leo Bloom (Wilder), the outrageous Hold Me Touch Me (Estelle Winwood), Kenneth Mars' Nazi, Christopher Hewitt's gay director ("Max, he's wearing a dress."), etc. are the best scenes Brooks has every directed, the funniest filmwork he has ever done.
The first twenty minutes of the film are incomparable. I forgive Brooks all the dead ends and ramblings that may go on elsewhere. I take it as the price we have to pay to be allowed into the near-perfection of the scenes that work.
You can't call youself knowledgeable in comic film if you haven't studied The Producers. |
| | Outstanding | Googleeyes 03/01/2007 | | One of Mel Brooks finest achievements, maybe the best of his achievements. |
|
| | |
Sea of Love 1989 R, 110 min.
Genre: Mystery
Director: Harold Becker
Cast: Al Pacino, Ellen Barkin, John Goodman, William Hickey, Michael Rooker, Richard Jenkins, Paul Calderon, Gene Canfield, Larry Joshua, John Spencer
The newspaper's lonely-hearts column is somehow connected to a number of serial killings in New York. Two cops, Detectives Keller and Sherman (Al Pacino and John Goodman) are given the case, and Keller, in particular, goes after the solution with a vengeance.
| | |
Something Wild 1961 N/R, 112 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Jack Garfein
Cast: Carroll Baker, Ralph Meeker, Mildred Dunnock, Charles Watts, Jean Stapleton, Martin Kosleck, Clifton James, William Hickey, Diane Ladd, Reid Cruickshanks
This offbeat, dark drama follows Mary Ann (Carroll Baker) who lives with her overbearing mother (Mildred Dunnock). Mary Ann is raped one night and, rather than tell her mother, she runs away, taking a job in a seedy store in Manhattan. Despondent, she finally attempts suicide by jumping off a bridge but is stopped by Mike (Ralph Meeker) who takes her in. While drunk, Mike tries to rape Mary Ann, but she gets away. She soon returns and asks him to marry her.
| | |
Tales from the Darkside: The Movie 1990 R, 93 min.
Genre: Fantasy / Horror / Thriller
Director: John Harrison
Cast: Deborah Harry, Christian Slater, David Johansen, William Hickey, Matthew Lawrence, Robert Sedgwick, Julianne Moore, James Remar, Rae Dawn Chong, Robert Klein, Steve Buscemi, Donald Van Horn, Paul Greeno, Alice Drummond, Philip Lenkowsky
Newspaper delivery boy Timmy (Matthew Lawrence) is imprisoned by mad cannibal housewife Betty (Deborah Harry) who plans to eat him. Timmy tries to forestall his fate by telling three horror stories. The stories include Arthur Conan Doyle's "Lot 249," in which a college student (Christian Slater) is confronted by a mummy he has raised from the dead. Stephen King's "Cat From Hell" features a millionaire (William Hickey) hiring a hit man (David Johansen) to track down a cat that killed his family, and "Lover's Vow" is about an artist (James Remar) who makes a deal with the devil.
| | |
Walls of Glass 1985 R, 97 min.
Genre: Drama
aka: Flanagan
Director: Scott Goldstein
Cast: Philip Bosco, Geraldine Page, Linda Thorson, William Hickey, Olympia Dukakis, Brian Bloom, Steven Weber, Louis Zorich
A cab driver, James Flanagan (Philip Bosco), dreams of becoming a Shakespearean actor but sees it all ending when he learns that he has angered the producer of the Shakespeare festival.
| | |
Wise Blood 1979 PG, 108 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: John Huston
Cast: Brad Dourif, Ned Beatty, Harry Dean Stanton, Dan Shor, Amy Wright, John Huston, Mary Nell Santacroce, William Hickey, Dan Albright, Jerry Rushing, Joe Dorsey
This is the film adaptation of Flannery O'Connor's philosophical novel. The story traces the life of World War II veteran Hazel Motes (Brad Dourif) as he returns to his home in the Deep South and finds his parents' home boarded up. Searching for spiritual meaning, Hazel forms his own Church of Truth and, despite being the grandson of a religious zealot (John Huston), Hazel becomes the preacher in his Christ-less church. Excellent Huston fare.
| | |
| 1. 92 in the Shade (1975)
2. Any Man's Death (1988)
3. Bright Lights, Big City (1988)
4. Da (1988)
5. Forget Paris (1995)
6. Happy Birthday, Wanda June (1971)
7. A Hatful of Rain (1957)
8. Izzy and Moe (1985)
9. The Jerky Boys (1995)
10. Little Big Man (1970)
11. Love Is All There Is (1996)
12. Maddening (1995)
13. Major Payne (1995)
14. Mikey and Nicky (1976)
15. Mouse Hunt (1997)
16. My Blue Heaven (1990)
17. The Name of the Rose (1986)
18. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
aka: Christmas Vacation
19. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
aka: Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas
20. One Crazy Summer (1986)
21. Operation Mad Ball (1957)
22. Pink Cadillac (1989)
23. Prizzi's Honor (1985)
24. The Producers (1968)
25. Sea of Love (1989)
26. Something Wild (1961)
27. Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990)
28. Walls of Glass (1985)
aka: Flanagan
29. Wise Blood (1979)
In The News
|
