Michael Vincente GazzoFilmography

Last Action Hero

Actors: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austin O'Brien, F. Murray Abraham, Art Carney, Frank McRae, Anthony Quinn, Charles Dance, Mercedes Ruehl

Synopsis: Arnold Schwarzenegger appears as a pumped-up Shakespearian hero while an announcer bellows, "Something is rotten in Denmark -- and Hamlet is taking out the trash!" This gag sets the stage for the post-modernist action epic The Last Action Hero. The film concerns Danny Madigan (Austin O'Brien), a Read More

Cookie

Actors: Peter Falk, Dianne Wiest, Emily Lloyd, Michael Vincente Gazzo, Brenda Vaccaro

Synopsis: Directed by Susan Seidelman and written by Alice Arlen and Nora Ephron, Cookie comes across as an inconsequential piece of fluff, bolstered by a quirky performance by Emily Lloyd. Lloyd is Cookie Capisco, the daughter of mobster Dino Capisco (Peter Falk), who has just finished thirteen years in Read More

Il Cugino americano

Actors: Brad Davis, Tony Lo Bianco, Vincent Spano, Barbara de Rossi, Arnoldo Foa, Ricky Tognazzi, Maria Conchita Alonso

Synopsis: Blood Ties began life as a 4-hour Italian TV movie. The American version, which premiered December 14, 1986 on the Showtime Cable network, runs 125 minutes, and "runs" is the right word. Brad Davis plays an American naval engineer with familial ties to Sicily. Before he can offer a protest, Davis Read More

Fear City

Actors: Tom Berenger, Billy Dee Williams, Jack Scalia, Melanie Griffith, Rossano Brazzi

Synopsis: To paraphrase 1930s wit Wilson Mizner, Fear City is like a trip through a sewer in a glass-bottom boat. In exploitation-flick fashion, the film exposes the seedy "nether world" of contemporary Manhattan. Unsavory Matt (Tom Berenger) and Nick (Jack Scalia) run a topless bar/booking agency, in Read More

Cannonball Run II

Actors: Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise, Shirley MacLaine, Marilu Henner, Dean Martin

Synopsis: (Burt Reynolds) as J.J. McClure takes off across the country again in this rickety sequel to Cannonball Run. A sheik has offered $1,000,000 to the first driver to reach a destination in Connecticut from Redondo Beach, California, inspiring J.J. and others to go for the gold. With cameos from more Read More

Sudden Impact

Actors: Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Pat Hingle, Bradford Dillman, Paul Drake

Synopsis: In this fourth installment of the Dirty Harry series, Harry has been banished temporarily from San Francisco because his superiors are uncomfortable about his feud with a local crime boss. He goes to an oceanside small town for a little rest and recuperation but finds the town has been traumatized Read More

The Winter of Our Discontent

Synopsis: Michael de Guzman scripted this prettified TV-movie adaptation of John Steinbeck's gloomy 1961 novel The Winter of Our Discontent. Donald Sutherland stars as Ethan Hawkley, a solid citizen loved and respected by his family and by the citizens of his town. Ethan's loyalty and ethics will be tested Read More

Blood Feud

Actors: Robert Blake, Cotter Smith, Danny Aiello, Edward Albert, Brian Dennehy

Synopsis: Blood Feud was a two-part TV drama, originally presented as an "Operation Prime Time" special. Robert Blake is disturbingly convincing as labor leader Jimmy Hoffa, engaged in a decade-long war of words with attorney (and later attorney general) Robert F. Kennedy. Cotter Smith makes his TV debut as Read More

Sizzle

Synopsis: In this made-for-TV movie, a singer (Loni Anderson) travels to Chicago during the 1920s to seek revenge against the gangster who killed her boyfriend. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide Read More

Body and Soul

Actors: Leon Isaac Kennedy, Jayne Kennedy, Michael Vincente Gazzo, Peter Lawford, Perry Lang

Synopsis: A medical student decides to enter the world of boxing and dives into a life of superficial values and corruption in this remake of the 1947 classic. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide Read More

Magnum, P.I.: The Ugliest Dog in Hawaii

Synopsis: Higgins (John Hillerman "volunteers" Magnum (Tom Selleck) to act as bodyguard for "Sir Algernon Farnsworth", a disagreeable terrier owned by wealthy Gloria Marston (Kathleen Nolan). Though the last thing Magnum wants to be in the world is a dog-sitter, he agrees to the assignment in exhange for a Read More

Back Roads

Actors: Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones, David Keith, Miriam Colon, Michael Vincente Gazzo

Synopsis: For his follow-up to 1979's Academy Award-winning Norma Rae, director Martin Ritt re-teams with that film's star, Sally Field, for this gritty romantic road comedy. Reportedly Ritt's homage to Frank Capra's films of the 1930s, Back Roads stars Field as Amy Post, a no-nonsense prostitute in the Read More

Cuba Crossing

Actors: Stuart Whitman, Robert Vaughn, Raymond St. Jacques, Caren Kaye, Woody Strode

Synopsis: Assignment: Kill Castro was originally released as Cuba Crossing. Stuart Whitman stars as a mercenary hired to "off" the Cuban dictator. He soon discovers that he will be immediately expendable once the deed is done, and that co-stars like Robert Vaughn should not automatically be trusted. Raymond St. Jacques Read More

Alligator

Actors: Robert Forster, Robin Riker, Michael Vincente Gazzo, Dean Jagger, Perry Lang, Henry Silva

Synopsis: Lewis Teague directed this sly horror-comedy from a script by John Sayles, which plays off the old urban legend about the dangers of flushing one's pet alligator down the toilet. One such unlucky reptile is "Ramon," who survives in the subterranean cesspool by feeding on the steroid-saturated Read More

Beach Patrol

Actors: Robin Strand, Jonathan Frakes, Christine de Lisle, Richard Hill, Michael Gregory

Synopsis: Robin Strand stars as a female narcotics cop transferred to an all-male police squad assigned to patrol the California beaches. Strand's assignment ends almost before it begins when she is targeted for assassination by the Mob. First telecast April 30, 1979, Beach Patrol was supposed to have been Read More

The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh

Actors: Julius "Dr. J" Erving, Jonathan Winters, Meadowlark Lemon, Jack Kehoe, Margaret Avery

Synopsis: The "fish" in the title of this picture refers to the astrological sign Pisces. Not all of Pittsburgh is due to be saved, but the members of a third-rate NBA basketball team could sure use some salvation. When all the team members except for Moses Guthrie (Julius Erving) quit, astrologer Mona Read More

Border Cop

Actors: Telly Savalas, Eddie Albert

Synopsis: The original title of this film was The Border. It tells the story of one border guard's desire to put an end to the practice of hauling truck loads of illegal Mexican workers across the border and into California where they are forced to work for a mere pittance. Mexico provided the background Read More

Beggarman, Thief

Actors: Jean Simmons, Glenn Ford, Lynn Redgrave, Tovah Feldshuh, Andrew Stevens

Synopsis: Beggarman, Thief is the 4-hour sequel to the ratings-busting miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man; both productions were based on the works of novelist Irwin Shaw. For the purposes of the sequel, a new member of the Jordache clan is introduced: filmmaker Gretchen Jordache Burke, played by Jean Simmons. Read More

Gangsters

Synopsis: With that title, the content of Gangsters should be no surprise. A major metropolitan city is in the clutches of a powerful mob. Officials are bribed, police bought off, witnesses sent to the bottom of the river. Can nothing stop this scourge? Yes: the dreaded "Special Squad", a team of Read More

Taxi: The Reluctant Fighter

Actors: Marc Anthony Danza, Armando Muniz, Michael Vincente Gazzo, Gene Lebell, John Dennis

Synopsis: Marc Anthony Danza, real-life son of Taxi co-star Tony Danza (Tony Banta), is cast in this episode as Brian Sims, an invalid child in need of a kidney operation. When Tony is slated to be the opponent of former boxing champ Benny Foster (Armando Muniz) in the latter's comeback attempt, Tony is Read More

Love and Bullets

Actors: Charles Bronson, Rod Steiger, Jill Ireland, Strother Martin, Bradford Dillman, Michael Vincente Gazzo

Synopsis: Charles Bronson is out for revenge (and doesn't that sound familiar) in this action drama. Jackie Pruit (Jill Ireland) is the girlfriend of notorious gangster Joe Bomposa (Rod Steiger). When it looks as if Jackie's life is being threatened by Bomposa's goons, the FBI moves in to protect Read More

Fingers

Actors: Harvey Keitel, Tisa Farrow, Jim Brown, Michael Vincente Gazzo, Marian Seldes

Synopsis: Jimmy Angelelli (Harvey Keitel) wants to be a concert pianist. Jimmy's dad, Ben Angelelli (Michael V. Gazzo), wants his son to go into the family business. So far, so banal. But the "family business" depicted in Fingers is organized crime, and therein lies the film's perverse appeal. Fingers Read More

King of the Gypsies

Actors: Sterling Hayden, Shelley Winters, Susan Sarandon, Eric Roberts

Synopsis: Not surprisingly, this fascinating dissection of Gypsy life in America was vilified by several ethnic special-interest groups, who'd previously delivered their mimeoed missives to novelist Peter Maas, on whose book the film was based. Sterling Hayden is the "king" of a New York-based gypsy tribe Read More

The Godfather Saga

Actors: Al Pacino, Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton, Robert Duvall, James Caan, John Cazale

Synopsis: Originally screened as a mini-series on the NBC television network, this epic-length feature combines the entirety of The Godfather and The Godfather Part II with 15 minutes of outtakes from the two films, recutting the material into chronological order (clarifying the complex structure of The Read More

Baretta: Not on Our Block

Actors: Robert Blake, Edward Grover, Tom Ewell, Michael D. Roberts, Chino "Fats" Williams

Synopsis: An Italian-American neighborhood is in the clutches of a swaggering Mafia don. By holding the residents in a grip of terror, the don manages to extort a great deal of money -- and undercover cop Tony Baretta (Robert Blake) is helpless to do anything about it, thanks to the refusal of the locals to Read More

Black Sunday

Actors: Robert Shaw, Bruce Dern, Marthe Keller, Fritz Weaver, Steven Keats

Synopsis: Bruce Dern is ideally cast as Lander, a crazed Vietnam veteran, in Black Sunday. Lander joins terrorists Dahlia (Marthe Keller) and Fasil (Bekim Fehmu) in a plot to create a bloodbath at the annual Super Bowl. Piloting the ubiquitous Goodyear blimp, Lander is to ram the aircraft into the capacity Read More

Alice: The Sixty Minutes Man

Synopsis: Alice sees an episode of 60 Minutes about a famous mobster who dropped out of sight three decades ago. Shortly thereafter, an oldster named Gino (Michael V. Gazzo) makes another of his regular drop-ins at the diner. Taking a closer look at the elderly Gino than she ever has before, Alice is Read More

Brink's: The Great Robbery

Actors: Darren McGavin, Leslie Nielsen, Carl Betz, Stephen Collins, Jenny O'Hara

Synopsis: In this crime drama, two dogged FBI agents are on the case to investigate one of the U.S.'s most infamous bank robberies. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Kojak: A Question of Answers, Part 2

Synopsis: In the conclusion of Kojak's two-part Season Three opener (originally seen as a single two-hour "special" episode), Kojak (Telly Savalas) continues putting pressure on an unjustly jailed man to turn state's evidence against the loan shark who framed him. This is the first step in an overall plan Read More

Kojak: A Question of Answers, Part 1

Synopsis: Season Three of Kojak begins with the first episode of a two-part story (originally seen as a single two-hour offering), in which NYPD lieutenant Theo Kojak (Telly Savalas) is out to get the goods on a mob-controlled loan racket. The hoods specialize in killing those who can't pay up, meaning that Read More

The Godfather Part II

Actors: Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Robert De Niro, John Cazale, Lee Strasberg

Synopsis: Francis Ford Coppola's legendary continuation and sequel to his landmark 1972 film, The Godfather, parallels the young Vito Corleone's rise with his son Michael's spiritual fall, deepening The Godfather's depiction of the dark side of the American dream. In the early 1900s, the child Vito flees Read More

The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight

Actors: Johnny Addie, Leopold Badia, Fat Thomas Rand, Fran Stevens

Synopsis: In this comedy, based on Jimmy Breslin's novel, a bungling gang of hoods make increasingly ludicrous attempts on the life of a Mafia boss. Each attempt ends in failure. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

A Man Called Adam

Actors: Sammy Davis, Jr., Louis Armstrong, Ossie Davis, Cicely Tyson, Frank Sinatra, Jr., Peter Lawford

Synopsis: A star-studded cast invigorates this film of a jazz trumpeter (Sammy Davis Jr.) who experiences both the prejudices of the music industry and terrible guilt following the traffic accident that killed his family, a tragedy he feels personally responsible for. Co-stars include several giants of jazz Read More

King Creole

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Elvis Presley, Carolyn Jones, Walter Matthau, Dolores Hart, Dean Jagger

Synopsis: Elvis Presley delivers one of his finest early performances in King Creole. Elvis plays a teenager named Danny Fisher, who is forced to drop out of school to help support his ineffective father (Dean Jagger). Drawn to trouble like a magnet, Danny is saved from a jail term by New Orleans Read More

A Hatful of Rain

Crew: Play Author, Screenwriter

Actors: Eva Marie Saint, Don Murray, Anthony Franciosa, Lloyd Nolan, Henry Silva

Synopsis: A Hatful of Rain, based on the stage play by Michael V. Gazzo, is the story of a drug addict's debilitating effect on his family. Don Murray has managed to keep his addiction secret from his pregnant wife Eva Marie Saint and his boorish father Lloyd Nolan, but Murray's brother Anthony Franciosa Read More