Dick Shawn Filmography

Rented Lips

Actors: Martin Mull, Dick Shawn, Jennifer Tilly, Edy Williams, Robert Downey, Jr.

Synopsis: A pair of naive documentarians find themselves in over their heads when they agree to finish an "art film" for the head of a local public television station in exchange for a chance to direct a documentary on Indian farming techniques. Comical situations ensue when they discover that "Halloween in Read More

Maid to Order

Actors: Ally Sheedy, Beverly D'Angelo, Michael Ontkean, Valerie Perrine, Dick Shawn

Synopsis: Rich but repulsive teenager Jessie (Ally Sheedy) can't stand the notion that the whole world doesn't jump to the crack of her whip. Her overindulgent father, millionaire Charles Montgomery (Tom Skerritt), wishes he could teach his daughter a lesson, but can't bring himself to deny his little Read More

Slapstick Studio

Synopsis: This delightful video is designed for children and features children doing music, comedy, and educational things. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Water

Actors: Michael Caine, Valerie Perrine, Brenda Vaccaro, Billy Connolly, Leonard Rossiter

Synopsis: Meant to be a parody of the recent invasions of Grenada and the Falkland Islands, this comedy about the laid-back governor (Michael Caine) of "Cascara," a fictional British island somewhere in the Caribbean, and the international parade of characters who come through his territory is a pastiche Read More

Playboy Comedy Roast: Tommy Chong

Synopsis: Designed for adult audiences, this roast includes a collection of celebrities as they insult and abuse comedian Tommy Chong. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

An Evening at the Improv

Synopsis: This hilarious comedy video contains performances from some of the funniest stand-up comedians of the 1980s as they do their schtick at the Improv comedy clubs. Performers include funnyman/magician Harry Anderson, Billy Crystal, and Michael Keaton. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

The Perils of P.K.

Actors: Kaye Ballard, Sheila MacRae, Heather MacRae, Larry Storch

Synopsis: This comedy drama examines a fading film star who divides her time between the couch in her psychiatrist's office and her memories of past glories. The latter are told in a series of episodes with cameo roles by well-known names: Kaye Ballard, Sammy Davis, Jr., Anne Meara, and many others. At one Read More

Captain Eo

Actors: Michael Jackson

Synopsis: Nowadays, many critics feel that most megabudget films seem designed as a potential theme-park ride first and an actual motion-picture second; Captain Eo, however, was designed as a Disney theme-park attraction from the very beginning. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Michael Jackson Read More

Beer

Actors: Loretta Swit, Rip Torn, Kenneth Mars, David Alan Grier, William Russ

Synopsis: The self-aggrandizing world of Madison Avenue advertising is the subject of this clichéd, sexist satire that features a cynical ad executive (Loretta Swit) and her minions who choose three regular Joes to represent the Norbecker Beer company in a new ad campaign. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Read More

The Check is in the Mail

Actors: Brian Dennehy, Anne Archer, Hallie Todd, Michael Bowen

Synopsis: In an unusual comedy by Joan Darling, Brian Dennehy and Anne Archer star as the Richard, a druggist, and his wife Peggy, a pair of debt-ridden parents who rebel against the system. Nothing goes right while they try to uphold the system, then things get even worse when they leave it. Richard Read More

Faerie Tale Theatre: The Emperor's New Clothes

Synopsis: Featuring an all-star cast, this episode from the cable-television series Faerie Tale Theatre tells the tale of how a vain king gets his comeuppance. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

The Secret Diary of Sigmund Freud

Actors: Bud Cort, Carol Kane, Klaus Kinski, Marisa Berenson, Carroll Baker

Synopsis: Supposedly focusing on the life of Sigmund Freud by means of a fictional secret diary, this attempt at satirizing the man from his childhood through his first forays into psychoanalysis is weak on laughter, especially since it is difficult to tell whether a scene is serious or not. Freud (Bud Read More

Angel

Actors: Cliff Gorman, Susan Tyrrell, Dick Shawn, Rory Calhoun, John Diehl

Synopsis: The original "honor student by day, hooker by night" melodrama, Angel stars Donna Wilkes in the title role. During the daylight hours, the 15-year-old Angel is known as Molly, a model prep school student. Devoid of parents, Molly must find some way to keep up the cash flow, so she hits the Read More

The Young Warriors

Actors: Ernest Borgnine, Richard Roundtree, Lynda Day George, James Van Patten, Anne Lockhart

Synopsis: In a conventional teen movie that condemns violence in the dialogue then supplies it in the action sequences, a young woman is gang raped and murdered in a California college town, sparking her brother Kevin (James Van Patten) to take up arms by night with a gang of like-minded vigilantes from his Read More

The Best of Everything Goes

Synopsis: Made for TV and in the style of strip poker, the participants in this game show shed articles of clothing when they do not answer questions correctly. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide Read More

Magnum, P.I.: Squeeze Play

Synopsis: The never-seen Robin Masters declares war on his hated rival, girlie-magazine publisher Buzz Benoit (Dick Shawn). Wagering everything he owns, including his mansion in Hawaii, Masters challenges Buzz to a winner-take-all softball game. If they want to keep their jobs, Magnum (Tom Selleck) and Read More

Goodbye Cruel World

Synopsis: In this dark comedy, an unbalanced TV anchorman delays his suicide in order to record his maddening relatives on film. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide Read More

Live at Harrah's

Laverne & Shirley: Upstairs, Downstairs

Synopsis: Thanks to a corporate clerical error, Laverne (Penny Marshall) and Shirley (Cindy Williams) receive a wrongly issued--and enormous--check. Shirley insists that the girls return the check forthwith, but Laverne draws up plans to spend the unexpected windfall. All this culminates in a wild dream Read More

Fast Friends

Actors: David Letterman

Synopsis: Fast Friends is a lumpy satire set "backstage" at a talk show (imagine what the film would have been like had it been made in 1989 rather than '79). Most of the action centers around egotistical, near-lunatic talk host Dick Shawn. His frantic antics are counterpointed with the story of career Read More

Love at First Bite

Actors: George Hamilton, Susan Saint James, Richard Benjamin, Dick Shawn, Arte Johnson

Synopsis: George Hamilton confounded his detractors by turning in a first-rate comic performance in Love at First Bite. Hamilton plays Count Dracula, who is evicted from his Transylvanian domicile when the Communist government decides to nationalize his castle. With faithful toady Renfield (Arte Johnson) Read More

Looking Up

Actors: Marilyn Chris, Dick Shawn, Doris Belack, Harry Goaz, Jacqueline Brookes

Synopsis: Looking Up is an independently produced domestic drama filmed in New York and drawing its cast from the soap-opera pool. Marilyn Chris plays the daughter of a Jewish seltzer-stand operator. She hopes to pump money into her dad's business by running her own "Burger Crown" franchise. Complications Read More

The Year without a Santa Claus

Synopsis: In Jules Bass' puppet-animated A Year Without A Santa Claus, an elf and a young boy have to rescue Santa from the evil Heat Meiser and Snow Meiser. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide Read More

Evil Roy Slade

Actors: Edie Adams, John Astin, Pamela Austin, Henry Gibson, John Ritter, Dick Shawn, Milton Berle, Dom DeLuise, Penny Marshall, Mickey Rooney

Synopsis: Overlooked when it first aired February 18, 1972, the made-for-TV Evil Roy Slade has gained a loyal and protective cult following in the past 20 years. The film was the second pilot for a never-sold TV western spoof created by Garry Marshall and Jerry Belson, Sheriff Who?. Actually, it was the Read More

The Happy Ending

Actors: Jean Simmons, John Forsythe, Lloyd Bridges, Teresa Wright, Dick Shawn

Synopsis: Suburban housewives console themselves with pills and alcohol to tolerate their spouses' infidelities in The Happy Ending. Mary Wilson (Jean Simmons) is married to Fred (John Forsythe) and she prepares for their 16th wedding-anniversary party with tranquilizers and booze. The guests are clients of Read More

The Producers

Actors: Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder, Kenneth Mars, Estelle Winwood, Renée Taylor

Synopsis: Theatrical producer Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel) was once the toast of Broadway. Now he lives in his seedy office, cadging cash contributions from wealthy old ladies in exchange for sexual favors. Even worse, he's reduced to wearing a cardboard belt. Max's new accountant, Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder) Read More

The Lucy Show: Lucy and the Pool Hustler

Actors: Dick Shawn, Stanley Adams, Herbie Faye, Remo Pisani, Joan Swift

Synopsis: Making her first visit to the local pool hall upon its redecoration, Lucy (Lucille Ball) enters a tournament in hopes of winning the $100 prize. Her main competition is formidable indeed: A heavily rouged and perfumed female pool hustler named Laura Winthrop. Only the audience knows that "she" is Read More

What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?

Actors: James Coburn, Dick Shawn, Sergio Fantoni, Aldo Ray, Giovanna Ralli

Synopsis: In this service comedy set during World War II, Capt. Cash (Dick Shawn) and Lt. Christian (James Coburn) are given orders to invade a small but strategically important village in Sicily. To their surprise, none of the natives offer the slightest resistance to the Americans taking over their town Read More

Penelope

Actors: Natalie Wood, Ian Bannen, Dick Shawn, Peter Falk, Jonathan Winters

Synopsis: Can armed robbery help save a marriage? These and other questions about modern relationships are pondered in this comedy. Penelope Elcott (Natalie Wood) married James (Ian Bannen) after a very brief courtship, and as his star has begun to rise in the banking business, he spends less and less time Read More

Way... Way Out

Actors: Jerry Lewis, Connie Stevens, Robert Morley, Dennis Weaver, Howard Morris

Synopsis: Comical chaos erupts when milquetoast astronaut Peter Mattemore (Jerry Lewis) and his bride-of-convenience and fellow astronaut (the government forced them to marry to avoid scandal) Eileen Forbes (Connie Stevens) are sent to a lunar space station, which they will share with a Russian couple, to Read More

A Very Special Favor

Actors: Rock Hudson, Leslie Caron, Charles Boyer, Walter Slezak, Dick Shawn

Synopsis: A Very Special Favor stars Rock Hudson as a notorious romeo and Leslie Caron as a prudish psychiatrist. At the urging of Caron's lawyer father Charles Boyer, Hudson begins a seduction campaign. Caron resents this intrusion in her private affairs and builds up a wall of resistance against the Read More

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

Actors: Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett, Mickey Rooney, Ethel Merman, Phil Silvers, Dick Shawn, Jimmy Durante, Buster Keaton

Synopsis: With this all-star Cinerama epic, producer/director Stanley Kramer vowed to make "the comedy that would end all comedies." The story begins during a massive traffic jam, caused by reckless driver Smiler Grogan (Jimmy Durante), who, before (literally) kicking the bucket, cryptically tells the Read More

Wake Me When It's Over

Actors: Ernie Kovacs, Margo Moore, Jack Warden, Nobu McCarthy, Dick Shawn

Synopsis: Wake Me When It's Over is a zany service comedy in which Ernie Kovacs plays the latest in his long line of military captains. Kovacs and his men are stationed at a dead-end Japanese island. World War II vet Dick Shawn, redrafted through a clerical error, arrives on the island and decides to liven Read More

The Wizard of Baghdad

Crew: Songwriter

Actors: Dick Shawn, Diane Baker, Barry Coe, John van Dreelen, Robert Simon

Synopsis: In this satirical costume fantasy, a clumsy no-talent genie ends up chastised by the genie king and given one last chance to prove himself. If he fails, he will end up a mere mortal. The hapless genie then heads for Baghdad astride a talking horse to try to become the Wizard of Baghdad. In that Read More

The Opposite Sex

Actors: June Allyson, Joan Collins, Dolores Gray, Jeff Richards, Ann Sheridan, Ann Miller, Leslie Nielsen, Harry James, Dick Shawn, Jim Backus

Synopsis: The Opposite Sex is an opulent musical remake of Clare Booth Luce's The Women (1939). June Allyson stars in the old Norma Shearer role, playing the virtuous wife who loses her husband to scheming Joan Collins (as the Joan Crawford character). At first agreeing to a divorce, June decides to win Read More