Peter Riegert
Set in postwar America, a man watches his seemingly perfect life fall apart as his daughter's new political affiliation threatens to destroy their family.
Mayor Nick Wasicsko took office in 1987 during Yonkers' worst crisis when federal courts ordered public housing to be built in the white, middle class side of town, dividing the city in a bitter battle fueled by fear, racism, murder and politics.
Two parents fall in love over the course of a single day while playing hooky from their children's college tour.
A riveting portrait of the great writer whose stories became the basis of the Broadway musical Fiddler on the Roof. Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness tells the tale of the rebellious genius who created an entirely new literature. Plumbing the depths of a Jewish world locked in crisis and on the cusp of profound change, he captured that world with brilliant humor. Sholem Aleichem was not just a witness to the creation of a new modern Jewish identity, but one of the very men who forged it.
A coming of age story set in 1975 working-class Brooklyn, in which two teenage brothers living with their abusive father and their well-meaning but ineffective mother are caught up in a life of petty crime. Older brother Danny concocts a daring scheme to steal enough money for the two to escape, timed around the chaos of an upcoming Rolling Stones concert. The sensitive younger brother, Brian, ultimately has a choice: remain loyal to the brother with whom he shares a powerful love-hate bond, or use his hidden talent as an artist as his own ticket out of their dead-end existence.
Benjamin has lost his wife and, in a bid to start his life over, purchases a large house that has a zoo – welcome news for his daughter, but his son is not happy about it. The zoo is in need of renovation and Benjamin sets about the work with the head keeper and the rest of the staff, but, the zoo soon runs into financial trouble.
Paul is an ordinary man who is at the end of his rope. He hates his job, his beautiful wife has left him, and his mother and gay, Buddhist-monk brother constantly remind him of his shortcomings. Although Paul doesn't know it yet, his life is about to change in a big way.
From the moment Shakespeare wrote his first fart joke, audiences have loved gross-out humor. In this 'Starz Inside' documentary, take a trip through the history of taboo-busting comedy that began with slapstick and led to the most notorious Internet video in history, with stops at every infamous penis, poo, puke and pie gag in-between. It’s a totally uncensored look at the scenes that make you want to look away.
THE RESPONSE is a courtroom drama based on the actual transcripts of the Guantanamo Bay military tribunals. Conceived in the vein of "12 Angry Men", the film revolves around the trial of a suspected enemy combatant and the military judges who must decide his fate.
Leo Spivak is drifting through life without a compass. His father is aging fast, his teenage daughter is rebelling, his protégé is after his job and his wife is losing her patience. A twist of fate and some bizarre wisdom from a "freelance rabbi" help Leo navigate the murky waters of his life and turn his crisis into a second-chance
A 53-year-old widow believes she's turned into the wrong person in this bittersweet tale based on Anne Tyler's best-seller. Beck's (Blythe Danner) plate is full: She runs a catering business and cares for her large family, but feels lost inside. Determined to find herself, Beck embarks on a journey, starting with her ex-beau (Peter Fonda) and ending with an unexpected soul mate. Jack Palance, Peter Riegert, Faye Dunaway and Ione Skye also star.
A follow up on the lives of the Faber students in Animal House.
The story of Peter McGowan, a chain-smoking, impotent, insomniac playwright who lives in Los Angeles. Once very successful, he is now in the tenth year of a decade-long string of production failures. He finds himself bonding with a new neighbor's lonely young daughter who has mild cerebral palsy; and during one of his middle-of-the-night strolls, he encounters his oddball doppelgänger.
The life of Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, African-American tap-dancing star of stage and screen. In 1916, Robinson was a successful vaudeville performer and considered the finest tap dancer of his generation. At the peak of his career, he was the highest paid Black entertainer, but for all the joy he gave others, his life was anything but happy, there was a great deal of tragedy in himself. He died broke and penniless.
Adapted from a 1979 stage play written by Chicago's Organic Theater Company, BLEACHER BUMS details the exploits of a group of baseball fans as they sit in the bleachers of Lakeview Park watching a game between the hometown Bruins take on the St. Louis Eagles. Marvin (Brad Garrett) and Decker (Peter Riegert) gamble. So does Zig (Wayne Knight), even though his wife constantly nags him about the money he loses. Meanwhile, blind Greg (Matt Craven) enjoys the game through pretty Melody (Sarain Boylan), who describes it to him. A seasoned ensemble case of TV and film veterans create winning chemistry in this slice-of-life comedy.
When Marie, a widow in Provence with two daughters, locks her bedroom door and goes to sleep, she dreams about Marty, a literary agent in Manhattan who dreams equally vividly about Marie. The women look alike. Marie meets William who begins to court her. Marty meets Aaron, an accountant, becomes his friend and then his lover. Both women tell their lovers about their dream life. William is jealous, Aaron is accepting. Even though they've become lovers, Marie won't fall asleep next to William. Marie goes on holiday with William to Paris, and Marty wakes up with an ashtray from the hotel on her night stand. Are they the same person? What will unlock reality
It's Martha's first night as a waitress in an upscale New York restaurant. Veteran Chloe shows her the ropes and introduces her to the lives of the restaurant staff. Adam, a hopeful playwright, suffers for his art while dealing with a very indecisive (ex-?)girlfriend. Marlon is a cocky young actor, certain that his big break is just around the corner. When the restaurant's obnoxious owner, Simon, brings a special client in for dinner, pressures mount until an explosion seems inevitable.
This documentary, created for the Animal House (1978) collector's edition DVD, is composed of a collection of new interviews with the cast and crew behind the making of the film. There's even some archive footage of John Belushi, and many hilarious behind the scenes stories are told. Its evident that they had a great time creating this classic, and memorable comedic landmark of a film.
Drugs, alcohol and controversy mark the author's life.
Tom and Jerry are two hit men, they work by day at a third-rate second-hand car dealership. Tom is a veteran and Jerry is a novice in their business, and their attitude toward their profession differs a lot. It shows when Tom is required to kill his old friend Karl.
Six months pregnant and living in a beat-up tiny mobile home with her family in a grungy trailer park, Wanda Le Fauve thinks she has found the solution to her problems when she reads a newspaper and agrees to meet well-to-do Rachel Luckman and her husband. The childless Luckman's are desperate to raise a baby and Wanda is anxious to find a home for her latest. They strike a deal, and at first things are fine, but as the birth parents and the potential adoptive parents get to know each other, fundamental differences emerge. The birth of the baby brings matters to a painful head.
When blonde bombshell Meredith Lake breezes into his office, New York private eye Bob Signorelli can't resist giving her "personal" attention. But their one-night stand becomes a deadly liaison when they are linked to a homicide; and a night of steamy passion snowballs into a marathon of madness and murder...
Born November 2, 1913, he went from street-wise tough to art-collector liberal-activist, from circus-acrobat hunk to Academy Award winner. Burton Stephen Lancaster - later Burt Lancaster - was one of five children of a New York City postal worker. Burt recalled family life as warm and mutually supportive. At the Union Settlement House, he and boyhood friend Nick Cravat formed an acrobatic team. By eighteen, Burt was 6'2" and blessed with the athletic physique and dynamic good looks that helped make him famous. A basketball scholarship was not enough to keep him in NYU beyond his sophomore year. That's when he and the 5'2" Cravat joined a circus, earning $3 weekly between them. A stint in the Army introduced Burt to acting and led him to Hollywood where his first release, The Killers (1946), propelled him to stardom at age 32. He took control of his own career and seldom faltered.
Pie in the Sky is a 1996 American romantic comedy film about a young man obsessed with traffic gridlock who falls in love with an avant-garde dancer.
Cosmo, an affectless mob bookie who lives in the basement of a retirement home, is promoted to hitman. He learns his new trade from Steve, a seasoned killer. He falls in love with a yoga teacher, Jasmine, and must figure out a way to leave the mob so they can be together.
A beautiful woman uses her charms to dupe her new sweetheart and his buddies.
When timid bank clerk Stanley Ipkiss discovers a magical mask containing the spirit of the Norse god Loki, his entire life changes. While wearing the mask, Ipkiss becomes a supernatural playboy exuding charm and confidence which allows him to catch the eye of local nightclub singer Tina Carlyle. Unfortunately, under the mask's influence, Ipkiss also robs a bank, which angers junior crime lord Dorian Tyrell, whose goons get blamed for the heist.
A television movie based upon the book by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar, about the leveraged buyout (LBO) of RJR Nabisco.
Gypsy is a 1993 American made-for-television adaptation of the classic Broadway musical. The teleplay by Arthur Laurents is an adaptation of his book of the 1959 stage musical Gypsy, which was based on Gypsy: A Memoir by Gypsy Rose Lee. Gypsy Rose Lee's son, Erik Lee Preminger, was instrumental in getting the film in production and was the main source for research. He had tried to get the musical filmed 10 years earlier with Bette Midler the principal role, but it required the approval of five entities to obtain the rights. One of the obstacles had been Arthur Laurents himself, who wrote the book for the musical based on Lee's memoirs. He had hated the 1962 film version and was initially opposed to a remake. "Not for all the money in the world will we let them make another film version of Gypsy," he had said.
Middle Ages is an American comedy-drama television series that aired from September 3 until October 1, 1992.
Hugh Whitemore adapted Bruce Chatwin's novel for this tale of a New York antique dealer who travels to Prague to buy the porcelain collection of the late Baron Utz, only to become embroiled in the wreckage of the dead man's unusual life history after he discovers that the collection is missing.
American couple Jake and Tina are living in an expensive London hotel above their means, incurring a sizeable debt. When they are asked to pay a lavish dinner bill and Jake's card is declined, he suggests they sell Tina's tiny, expensive Henry Moore sculpture to cover the debt. After they hatch a scheme to claim the sculpture was stolen in order to collect insurance on it, the sculpture mysteriously goes missing.
A Norse runestone is discovered in Western Pennsylvania. The prophecy upon it tells of the Norse great wolf Fenrir (Fenris), and that its release from the stone will bring about Ragnarok --- the end of the world. Archaeologist Sam Stewart and wife Marla find it has some connection to their friend Martin. A young boy named Jacob is haunted by terrifying nightmares of what is to come, and his family explains these dreams through stories from Norse legend, which says that the only one who can destroy Fenrir is Tyr, the Norse god of war, who is prophesied to return to fight the creature.
Madison Avenue executive Graham Marshall has paid his dues. A talented and devoted worker, he has suffered through mounting bills and a nagging wife with one thing to look forward to: a well-deserved promotion. But when the promotion is given to a loud-mouthed yuppie associate, Graham unleashes his rage on an overly aggressive panhandler, who he accidently kills by pushing him into the path of an oncoming subway train. He re-thinks his problems with an entirely new solution. First, he arranges an "accident" for his annoying wife. Then he creates another "mishap" for his boss. It seems like the world is once more Graham's oyster…but a missing cigarette lighter and a prying police detective may change all that.
As nearly as anyone can figure, this first-time directorial effort by the American actor Ben Gazzara was never released in the United States. It was produced in Italy, shot in England, and uses a large cast of big-name American actors. However, reviewers have said that its style owed a bit too much to the meditative, home-video style of the director's friend John Cassavetes. In the story, a big-time businessman (Gazzara) throws in the towel on his company and high-tails it out to Bali just as its stock is about to be publicly offered. There, he tries to avoid the insistent phone calls coming from Manhattan and records his philosophical ponderings about this mid-life crisis on videotape. Before long, he is partying with another burnt-out businessman (Treat Williams) and avidly avoiding the attentions of colleagues (including Jill Clayburgh who have come to Bali to try and get him to come back to Manhattan.
This mockumentary about fictional movie studio Adequate Pictures boasts an interesting cast. Tony Randall hosts, and James CoCo (practically on his deathbed) stars as head of the studio. Includes parodies of everything from silent comedies to porn, including an ultra violent "three stooges" style comedy team who put a new spin on the eye poking gag.
Isabelle's life revolves around the New York bookshop she works in and the intellectual friends of both sexes she meets there. Her grandmother remains less than impressed and decides to hire a good old-fashioned Jewish matchmaker to help Isabelle's love-life along. Enter pickle-maker Sam who immediately takes to Isabelle. She however is irritated by the whole business, at least to start with.
An American film-star and an unknown British actress meet on set in Rome. She is angry when he refuses to speak to her journalist father, but later they have a passionate relationship.
Bonnie Bedilia stars in this psychological thriller about a woman who witnesses a murder and then flees. During her escape, she has a car accident. She becomes an amnesia victim and although, she doesn't know her own identity, is able to describe the murder, but doesn't remember where it occurred or who was involved.
When television news director Eric Ross pressures esteemed senior anchor Frank Kenley to sensationalize the news, Kenley isn't pleased -- and the conflict comes to a head when a local high school sex scandal hits the news. As Ross pushes him to play up the story, Kenley wrestles with the moral complexities of the situation and tries to find the balance between the public's need to know and the individual's rights.
A female photographer who is engaged to a businessman investigates a cult in the local club scene. By living out some of her sexual fantasies, she faces the truth about her life and helps one of the cult's victims escape.
An American oil company sends a man to Scotland to buy up an entire village where they want to build a refinery. But things don't go as expected.
A parody of film genres composed of three shorts, spoofing personal growth films, glossy soap operas, and police stories.
In a story told in narrative flashbacks, a young TV consultant is hired by the President of a bankrupt USA to organize a telethon in order to prevent the country from being repossessed by wealthy Native Americans.
Charles is a bored civil servant struggling through a harsh Utah winter. He spends most of his time reflecting on his romance with Laura, a coworker who left Charles to return to her husband, an A-Frame salesman.
At a 1962 College, Dean Vernon Wormer is determined to expel the entire Delta Tau Chi Fraternity, but those troublemakers have other plans for him.
The war in the South Pacific, a country doctor in Colorado, victims of industrial pollution in a Japanese village — all were captured in unforgettable photographs by the legendary W. Eugene Smith. This program showcases over 600 of Smith’s stunning photographs and includes a dramatic recreation in which actor Peter Riegert (Crossing Delancey, Local Hero) portrays the artist using dialogue take from Smith’s diaries and letters. Interwoven through the program are archival footage and interviews with family and friends of this brilliant, complicated man, whose work developed from twin themes of common humanity and social responsibility.
