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Updated 21 August 2005
CELEBRATING JOHN RITTER'S CAREER IN MOVIES: PAGE 2
MARTIN BREGMAN, producer of so many movies including "Serpico", "Dog Day Afternoon", "The Four Seasons", "Scarface" etc. etc. also served as producer on "Real Men": Of his star he says: "Ritter is one of the most gifted people with whom I've ever worked. He's a fine actor and a brilliant comedian."
John's youthful appearance served him well in the 1989 film "My Brother's Wife" as the story was told in flashback over a period of 25 years. Barney Rusher is the rebellious, unconventional son of a wealthy, straight-laced and undemonstrative man who has never been able to communicate with his elder son. The movie is as much about the difficult relationship between the two men as it is about that between Barney and Eleanor. In the 5th photo we see Barney arriving at the airport for his father's funeral. He is met by his sister-in-law, played by Mel Harris, who Barney met first when they were about twenty, and with whom he has been in love ever since, despite her subsequent marriage to his boring and unpleasant brother Billy.
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The couple are reunited at various times through the years...Barney appears unexpectedly at the wedding in an attempt to disrupt it, and by request as godfather at the christening of Eleanor and Billy's third baby...but the meetings are usually strained and end in a row because of Barney's resentment of the situation and the fact his love for her remains unchanged. To everyone in the family's surprise, Barney eventually makes a success of his life and ultimately holds the power over their comfortable lifestyle in the family home and private country club.
In Real
Men, John is the mild-mannered family man
(who just happens to look like a murdered C.I.A. Agent) taken
advantage of by most people, while James Belushi is the cocky,
streetwise C.I.A. man sent to recruit Bob
Wilson in this 1987 comedy. Their mission is
somewhat whacky, involving aliens, a glass of water and a magic
pen, but the actors are perfect in their roles, bouncing the
dialogue and action off each other in hilarious fashion. John has
the best line in the film - when the pair are trapped in an alley
planning their next course of action, Bob
spots trouble. "Who are those clowns?" he asks. I won't
spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen the movie, but it amused me,
because what happened was unexpected. As the film progresses, the
characters begin to change. As Bob's
self-confidence grows, so does his partner's respect and the two
learn different things from each other. Belushi's character, Nick
is foiled by a woman and might have jeopardised the whole mission
but for Bob's sense of
duty and integrity. The two end up friends and Bob
returns home a wiser, braver man whom his
family respect a whole lot more than when he left.
The
prospect of leaving a dangerous city to live in a luxurious,
protected community proved seductive for Rick
Knowlton and his wife in "The
Colony" , but the magic rapidly began
to wear off when it became clear that it could be even more
dangerous within the gilded cage than outside it. In this 1995
thriller John played an architect who needed to call upon all his
resources, including his teenage computer 'hacker' daughter in
order to save the lives of his family.
Perhaps
in order not to permanently identify himself as "Jack
Tripper", John chose to play a very different character from
his popular TV alter-ego in "Three's Company" despite
the fact that in 1978 when "Leave
Yesterday Behind" was made, the TV
series was only in its second year. Paul Stallings was an athlete
who career was cut tragically short by an accident that
thereafter confined him to a wheelchair. The film explores the
plethora of emotions experienced by Paul when he falls in love
with a girl (played by Carrie Fisher) who is engaged to a man who
appears to have everything (Robert Urich). This is a tender,
poignant love story and your heart breaks for 'Paul' as he
battles with his feelings of inadequacy in every area of his
life. It's a powerful, emotive performance by John which should
have banished all connection with "Jack Tripper" and
established him firmly in the Hollywood mindset as a serious
dramatic actor.
In
Chance of a Lifetime, writer, Tom
Maguire and his editor, Irene
(Katey Sagal) have worked together for 7 years and are close
friends, so when her car gets stuck in mud one evening, Maguire
naturally offers to help by pushing. Unfortunately this injures
his back, and since he's barely able to move, and lives in a
fourth floor apartment with no elevator, Irene
takes him home with her. She's feeling bad for him because he
lost his job that morning so can't afford hospital treatment and
doesn't even have health insurance. At first both assume Maguire
will only be staying overnight, and Irene
leaves the next morning to spend the day with her family. Her
mother is a loving but overbearing woman, frustrated that her
elder daughter hasn't yet married, firmly believing this is
because she's not wafer thin and wears glasses. Dismayed as
always after a visit with her mother, Irene
returns home to find Maguire
has been stuck in the bath all day, unable to get out. It's clear
his back is much worse than they thought, and since neither have
any savings, Irene comes
up with a plan. Soft-hearted and wanting to help, she marries
Maguire in what is probably the screen's
most unromantic wedding ever, in order that he can have back
surgery and claim on her own insurance. The movie is a charming
romantic comedy, and if I tell you that the couple fall in love
for real by the end, I'm sure it won't come as too much of a
shock.
"Dr
David Farris" was a poisoner in the 1999 "Lethal
Vows", and John portrayed him
beautifully. He was charming, silkily evil and
(naturally!)...sexy. Based on a true story, his first wife began
to fear for the life of her successor when she began to show the
same symptons of illness from which she'd suffered for many
years. When wife No. 2 dies in suspicious circumstances, David's
ex sets out to prove that he's a killer - something wife No. 3
really should bear in mind in case there's a sequel!
An
violent action movie is perhaps not the genre of film generally
associated with John Ritter, but in 1997 he again chose to
demonstrate his versatility in "Mercenary".
He played Jonas Ambler, the influential and wealthy head of a
major organization whose beloved wife is murdered and is bent on
revenge. Recovering from his own injuries sustained in the
gruesome attack, he recruits Hawk (Olivier Gruner), a
semi-retired professional mercenary who is unimpressed by
Ambler's money and even less by his insistence on accompanying
Hawk and his men on the mission. Battling vertigo, ridicule and
an unspoken accusation that he was responsible for the arrest of
Hawk's old (dying) friend and mentor, played by Robert Culp,
Jonas Ambler emerges, at the end of the film if not exactly a
hero, then at least earning the grudging respect of both men. The
film portrays violence, torture and betrayal, and may not please
all John's fans, but it serves again to remind anyone who still
doesn't know...duh...that he can expertly handle any role
required of him and should never, ever be typecast as a
"light romantic leading man".
The 1998
TV movie "Dead Husbands"
starred John as a doctor turned celebrity/TV personality and
author, opposite Nicollette Sheridan as his screen wife, and Amy
Yasbeck (his real wife) as his editor (who was also secretly in
love with him). It's a black comedy about a bored, rich wife
whose comfortable social life is under threat when her husband
decides to return to practising medicine in her home town. Other
women might consider divorce if they were desperate, but 'Alex
Elston' has something far more sinister in mind. The final scene
in the movie implies there may just be a sequel, although
hopefully this will not now be the case. I don't know the genre
allocated to this film in the USA, but in the UK it is
incorrectly dubbed a 'thriller' when it is quite obviously a
black comedy. For trivia buffs: Amy was pregnant with their
daughter Stella during the making of this film.
Peter
Bogdanovich's 1976 movie, "Nickelodeon",
was a highly entertaining romp through early film-making and
boasting an all-star cast. Ryan O'Neal (pictured left with John
and Stella Stevens) is a script-writer who travels across country
for a job only to find, on arrival, that the Director has
disappeared on a drinking binge, abandoning his cast and crew.
Burt Reynolds undertakes a similar trip, during which both men
meet an aspiring actress. Burt arrives on set as the star of the
movie, and an understandable rivalry begins between them when
they discover their leading lady is the girl they each met and
were attracted to en-route. John, in a major supporting role,
plays the rather odly named Franklin (Frank)
Frank, the affable camerman, who persuades
Ryan O'Neal to direct the picture because "all
you have to do is tell me where to put the camera and call
'cut'". Brian Keith, George Gaines and
Tatum O'Neal (pictured right with John) also have roles in the
movie.
"It
Came From The Sky" is, in my opinion,
a hugely enjoyable movie. Made in 1999 during John's slew of
'indie' films, its true depth and quality may not even be fully
realised on the first viewing, but with each time I see it, I
appreciate it more and more. John looks fantastic and puts in a
brilliant performance as the dispirited, unhappy and somewhat
embittered father of a 13 year old son whose tragic accident at
home eight years previously has left him physically and mentally
disabled. The tragedy has driven a wedge between Donald
Bridges and his wife, Alice
(Jo-Beth Williams) who devotes all her time
and energy to caring for her son and has none left for her
husband. The two basically blame each other for what happened and
each has grown so accustomed to the lack of emotional support or
physical affection between them that they have forgotten how much
they used to 
love each
other. With the arrival of a middle aged man and his beautiful
young fiancee (played by Christopher Lloyd and Yasmine Bleeth)
who, quite literally, drop in on the family from out of the sky,
Donald and Alice are
forced to confront their relationship as painful memories are
reawakened. Not only do they learn a lot from the quirky couple,
but eventually discover their feelings for each other are not so
very different after all, if they can just learn to forgive each
other and work together. It's an unusual film, bittersweet and
poignant, with good performances from all four actors.
"Tripfall"
(left) stars John opposite Eric Roberts and the ex Mrs Rod
Stewart and model, Rachel Hunter. It's a good thriller, very
violent, and shows just how difficult it is for a middle-aged
corporate executive family man to protect his family against
people bent on destroying their comfortable lifestyle, and who
kill just to get their kicks. Tom Williams
has to call on all his physical and mental resources to try and
outwit the vicious trio.
"Terror Tract"
(horror), I would presume to say, is not one of John's best films
and I understand the 'newbie' film producers were
(understandably) ecstatic when he agreed to star in it for them.
I suspect John was being kind and trying to give them a hand by
getting them a start in their career. It's the story of a real
estate agent who takes a couple around 3 houses on his books in a
last desperate attempt to sell them. 'Desperate' because he is
under huge pressure from his bosses and these houses had all
witnessed gruesome deaths in the past. One of the stories is
actually quite original and the ending of the film is quite
unexpected.
A
ruthless and powerful head of a criminal organization, John finds
himself on both ends of a gun in "Montana",
an extremely violent 1997 thriller starring Kyra Sedgwick,
Stanley Tucci and Robbie Coltrane.
In the
1988 "Tricks Of The Trade"
John's character was - strangely - uncredited.
It's true 'Donald Todsen'
only lasted about 15 minutes before being murdered quite
shockingly (although his character continues to be pivotal to the
whole movie), but those 15 minutes include what is probably the
'hottest' scene I have ever scene in a John Ritter movie. There
was no pretence of actually having sex; the heat came from the
fact that John was paired with the perenially beautiful Markie
Post (his co-star in "Hearts Afire") the lady with whom
I personally believe he has the greatest screen chemistry of all
his leading ladies. She stars as 'Marla' a hooker to whom
'Donald' goes for his extra 'goodies' (I think he got them for
free!) and Cindy Williams stars as his sweet, naive wife. It's
not until 'Donald' is
murdered that she discovers her husband's infidelity. The irony
of the rest of the movie - and the comedy element - is that the
two women eventually decide team up in order to find the
murderer.
"I Woke Up Early The Day
I Died" (2000?) is a very strange
film. It is the last to be directed by the often maligned film
director Ed Wood. There is virtually no dialogue and a host of
familiar names and faces. The storyline (and that's being
generous) is basically about a young man who engineers his escape
from prison and follows his subsequent adventures. I had a
problem with the lead character killing people in cold blood in a
bid for laughs and to be honest I'd love to know why John and
other talented actors wanted to be part of this movie. It was fun
to see John in a sexy suede, fringed western jacket, but for me,
that was the highlight of a very odd movie.
The
'little' low-budget movie that John made with Sigourney Weaver in
9 days in January 2002 while he was in New York, was "Tadpole"
and turned out to be quite a surprise to everyone involved. Not
only did Gary Winick's charming film win a prize at The Sundance
Film Festival, but it was bought by Miramax for US$5 million for
limited distribution in movie theatres! The story is quite a
simple one; student son falls in love with stepmother (Weaver)
and doesn't know how to tell her...or, indeed his father, played
by John. The boy's dilemma is hampered by the nymphomaniac friend
of his stepmother, played by Bebe Neuwirth.
'Man
of the Year', one of John's last
movies, this is a real oddball. It was filmed over a single 24
hour period with 20 digital cameras located in different rooms of
a luxury property. There was no formal script, and the actors -
who were handpicked for their improvisational skills - were given
a detailed roadmap of their characters and the storyline and then
just allowed to get on with it. John is Bill,
an engineering mogul whose success in business has resulted in
him being named 'Man of the Year'.
On his arrival at the party thrown in his honor, he appears to be
charming and fun, but over the course of the evening he is
revealed to be a much less attractive personality, although to be
frank, probably no worse than hundreds of other successful
businessmen in the world today. He has impregnated his married
PA, run up debts with a man threatening reprisals if he's not
repaid immediately and behaved appallingly with the daughter of a
potential foreign customer. While it's an entertaining film, it
would have been much better, and far less distracting if the
director (obviously a fan of the excellent 60's 'The Boston
Strangler') hadn't overused the split screen technique, which I
found not quirky as he obviously intended, but irritating and
confusing. I felt he was saying to the audience, 'aren't I
clever?' Well, actually...no. The party guests are as unusual as
the film itself, and we are given glimpses into their lives.
Because of the nature of filming, the dialogue sometimes
overlaps, but the actors did a good job with what must have been
a difficult shoot. Whether you like the movie or not, it's
obviously vital to add it to your collection of John's work,
since everything is more precious than ever now...and he's
great...as always.
