Zalman King Filmography

In God's Hands

Crew: Director, Executive Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Vincent Klyn, Philip Boston, Mike Decter, Patrick Shane Dorian, Matt George, Matthew Stephen Liu, Shaun Thompson, Maylin Pultar

Synopsis: Zalman King directed this tale of an international quest for the perfect wave by three professional surfers -- Shane (Patrick Shane Dorian), Mickey (co-scripter Matt George), and Keoni (Matty Liu). Starting in the South Seas, they head to Madagascar, Bali, and Hawaii, experiencing a series of Read More

Wind On Water

Crew: Director, Executive Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Bo Derek, Lee Horsely, Lee Horsley, William Gregory Lee, Brian Gross, Jacinda Barrett

Synopsis: This short-lived TV drama series is set in Hawaii where the surfing Connolly clan, headed by widow Ciel Connolly (Bo Derek), has to contend with evil millionaire developer Gardner Poole (Lee Horsley), who's hated by his rebel daughter Kate (Jacinda Barrett). Land-grabber Poole has his eye on Ciel Read More

Shame, Shame, Shame

Crew: Director

Actors: Costas Mandylor, Heidi Schanz, Valerie Perrine

Synopsis: The experiment of a doctoral student that utilizes a video camera causes a release of sexual inhibitions in herself and her study subjects. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Female Perversions

Crew: Producer

Actors: Tilda Swinton, Amy Madigan, Karen Sillas, Laila Robins, Clancy Brown

Synopsis: An outwardly successful woman teeters on the brink of emotional collapse in this psychological drama. Evelyn Stevens (Tilda Swinton) is a skilled and well-regarded attorney who is being considered for a prestigious judicial appointment. However, she's plagued by self-doubt and neurotic obsessions Read More

Delta of Venus

Crew: Director

Actors: Costas Mandylor, Audie England, Rory Campbell, Raven Snow

Synopsis: Somewhat based on the life of author Anais Nin, this beautifully photographed erotic outing from director Zalman King (Wild Orchids, 9 1/2 Weeks) tells the story of an aspiring American writer who comes to Paris to hone her craft and ends up exploring the full extent of her sexuality. Initially Read More

Boca

Crew: Director, Executive Producer

Actors: Rae Dawn Chong, Martin Kemp, Tarcisio Meira, Martin Sheen, Denise Milfont

Synopsis: This Brazilian film, which presents the dilemma of impoverished Brazilian street kids, is a strange mixture of social commentary and soft-core eroticism. It is particularly interesting in that it has no named director and is actually compiled from several other sources. They include a Brazilian Read More

Est & Ouest: Les Paradis Perdus

Actors: Alena Antonova, Phillipe Bergerone, Jacqueline Bisset

Synopsis: In this quasi-semi-documentary, a Russian angel leads viewers in a quest to discover what, if anything, remains of the great, utopian "American Dream" now that the so-called "Worker's Paradise" dream of Russia has passed completely into oblivion. Along the way, real celebrities and working members Read More

Two Moon Junction

Crew: Director, Screen Story, Screenwriter

Actors: Milla Jovovich, Sherilyn Fenn, Richard Tyson, Louise Fletcher, Kristy McNichol, Martin Hewitt, Burl Ives

Synopsis: Zalman King wrote and directed this soft-core Harlequinesque Romance that plays like Tennessee Williams meets Fredericks of Hollywood. April Delongpre (Sherilyn Fenn) is the daughter of a powerful senator and heiress to an old and respectable Southern family. April is engaged to marry the Read More

Wildfire

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Steven Bauer, Linda Fiorentino, Will Patton, Marshall Bell, Sandra Seacat

Synopsis: If it is possible for a film to be "in heat", then Zalman King's Wildfire is that film. Teenagers Steven Bauer and Linda Fiorentino have their wedding plans shelved indefinitely when Bauer is imprisoned for bank robbery. Upon his release, Bauer learns that Linda is a wife and mother, with no Read More

Siesta

Crew: Executive Producer

Actors: Ellen Barkin, Gabriel Byrne, Julian Sands, Isabella Rossellini, Martin Sheen

Synopsis: Sky diver Clare (Ellen Barkin) wakes up disheveled and almost naked in Spain. She has left her husband Del (Martin Sheen) in Death Valley in order to find her former lover Augustine (Gabriel Byrne). She may have committed a murder, or it may all be fantasy. This film, directed by Mary Lambert is Read More

9 1/2 Weeks

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Mickey Rourke, Kim Basinger, Margaret Whitton, David Margulies, Christine Baranski

Synopsis: The title refers to the duration of the relationship between self-absorbed Wall Street shark Mickey Rourke and divorced art gallery owner Kim Basinger. Kim is looking for true love, while Mickey is searching for...gosh knows what. His notions of lovemaking include blindfolds, ice cubes, chocolate Read More

Endangered Species

Crew: Executive Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Robert Urich, JoBeth Williams, Paul Dooley, Hoyt Axton, Peter Coyote

Synopsis: Based on a true story, Endangered Species stars Robert Urich and JoBeth Williams. Urich plays vacationing ex-cop Ruben Castle, while Williams portrays Harriet Purdue, a small-town sheriff. Intrigued by Purdue's investigation of a rash of cattle mutilations, Castle begins following the evidence Read More

Galaxy of Terror

Actors: Edward Albert, Erin Moran, Ray Walston, Bernard Behrens, Zalman King

Synopsis: Also known as Planet of Horrors, this film follows a group of astronauts as they travel into space to retrieve the survivors of a spaceship crash. When they arrive on the planet, the crew runs into some hostile aliens who attempt to gorily wipe them out. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide Read More

Roadie

Crew: Executive Producer, Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Meat Loaf, Kaki Hunter, Art Carney, Gailard Sartain, Don Cornelius

Synopsis: Roadie is a showbiz saga about the working slobs who make live pop-music performances happen. Texas good ol' boy Travis W. Redfish (pop singer Meat Loaf) drives a Shiner beer truck on his appointed rounds, but he becomes smitten with rock groupie Lola Bouillabase (Kaki Hunter), a "roadie" whose Read More

Tell Me a Riddle

Actors: Melvyn Douglas, Lila Kedrova, Brooke Adams, Lili Valenty, Dolores Dorn

Synopsis: Featuring Lila Kedrova and Melvyn Douglas as elderly couple Eva and David who, after forty years of a less-than-satisfying marriage, find the lost love they once had for each other as they travel to San Francisco to visit their grandchildren. Actress Lee Grant's first directorial feature, this Read More

Like Normal People

Actors: Shaun Cassidy, Linda Purl, Hope Lange, Zalman King, James Keach

Synopsis: Based on a true story, the made-for-TV Like Normal People IS the story of a romance between two mentally challenged adults. In his first dramatic acting appearance, Shaun Cassidy plays Roger Meyers, a mildly retarded man who, while living in a home for the handicapped, falls in love with another Read More

Blue Sunshine

Actors: Zalman King

Synopsis: Several former college students find their former drug experiences catching up with them in an unexpected and terrifying manner in this clever horror outing. Jerry Zipkin (Zalman King) is a bright but troubled man in his late twenties who graduated from Stanford University in 1968 but hasn't had Read More

Sammy Somebody

Trip with the Teacher

Synopsis: Four high school girls learn some unpleasant lessons at the hands of a psychotic thug in this exploitation drama. Jay (Robert Gribbin) is a nice guy who likes motorcycles that, while on a road trip, comes to the aid of fellow rider Pete (Robert Porter) and his brother Al (Zalman King). Pete has a Read More

The Passover Plot

Actors: Harry Andrews, Hugh Griffith, Donald Pleasence, Zalman King, Scott Wilson

Synopsis: Was Jesus Christ the son of God -- or a clever political activist who staged his crucifixion and resurrection to help promote his point of view? The latter possibility is proposed in this bit of historical speculation, based on the best-selling novel by Hugh J. Schonfield. Yeshua (Zalman King), as Read More

Smile, Jenny, You're Dead

Actors: David Janssen, Andrea Marcovicci, Zalman King

Synopsis: David Janssen stars as private eye Harry Orwell in the made-for-TV Smile, Jenny, You're Dead. Investigating the murder of his friend's son-in-law, Harry sizes up the dead man's wife Jenny (Andrea Marcovicci) as the most likely suspect. The actual killer--and we're really not giving anything away Read More

Deadly Fieldtrip

Synopsis: A teacher and several students are kidnapped by a group of bikers, only to be held hostage. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide Read More

The F.B.I.: Ransom

Synopsis: Having played a psychotic teenage outlaw in a previous F.B.I episode, Jo Ann Harris is no less vitriolic as a crime victim in this installment. Kidnapped by a pair of young thugs (one played by future "soft-core" filmmaker Zalman King), Tish Lemaire (Jo Ann Harris) hopes to turn the situation to Read More

Ironside: The Hidden Man

Synopsis: Upon his return from Vietnam, ex-POW Mike Doyle (Cliff Potts) is certain that he sees his police-officer father (Warren Kemmerling) waiting for him at the airport--just before disappearing in the crowd. But the Commissioner (Gene Lyons), and everyone else who knows and cares about Mike, insists Read More

Harry-O: Such Dust

Synopsis: When an attempt is made on his life, a private detective must retire due to the bullet lodged in his back. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Some Call It Loving

Actors: Veronica Anderson

Synopsis: After a man living in Los Angeles purchases a sleeping beauty from a carnival, he wakes her and finds she is not what he expected. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide Read More

Such Dust

Synopsis: In this drama, a private eye is shot in the back and forced to partially retire. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Neither by Day nor By Night

Actors: Miriam Berstein-Cohen

Synopsis: This drama follows a young American soldier in Israel who has been blinded and placed in a hospital. The old woman he shares a room with, who is also blind, believes that he is her long-lost lover, giving her an opportunity to relive her youth and helping both deal with their lives better. The Read More

The Ski Bum

Actors: Charlotte Rampling, Zalman King

Synopsis: With master cinematographer Vilmos Zsigismond wielding the lenses, it's surprising that Ski Bum looks as amateurish as it does. Zalman King (yes, the same Zalman King who's since become a purveyor of elegant softcore porn) stars as the title character, a Jean-Claude Killy type who leaves the Read More

You've Got to Walk It Like You Talk It or You'll Lose That Beat

Actors: Bob Downey, Suzette Green

Synopsis: This satire follows the exploits of a young hippy who goes looking for Life's meaning in Central Park. There he is accosted by a corpulent black woman while he watches a young man moon an old woman while she curses at him. He then goes on to have more adventures that lead him to marry a kindred Read More

The Intruders

Synopsis: The year is 1876. The place is Medalia, MN. With the Jesse James and Cole Younger gangs cutting a murderous swath through the land, the citizens of Medalia brace themselves against an outlaw invasion. Normally, the townsfolk could turn to their marshal, Sam Garrison (Don Murray), for salvation; Read More

Adam-12: Log 131: Reed, the Dicks Have Their Job and We Have Ours

Synopsis: On today's docket for officers Jim Reed (Kent McCord) and Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) is a tense kidnapping situation, as a deranged young man (played by future soft-core filmmaker Zalman King) holds a baby at gunpoint while the child's terrified mother (Barbara Baldavin) looks on helplessly. And Read More

Stranger on the Run

Actors: Anne Baxter, Dan Duryea, Henry Fonda, Michael Parks

Synopsis: A prime early example of how to make a truly worthwhile TV movie, Stranger on the Run is a tough, minimalist western in the tradition of the theatrical oaters of director Anthony Mann (one of whose favorite actors, Dan Duryea, has a supporting part in Stranger). Michael Parks is painfully Read More

Bonanza: The Code

Actors: Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, George Montgomery, Robert Ellenstein

Synopsis: An uncharacteristically villainous George Montgomery guest-stars as gunslinger Dan Taggert, who challenges Joe Cartwright to a duel. As an opportunist named Fitts (Robert Ellenstein) begins taking bets on the outcome of the gunfight, Ben and Hoss try to use a soft answer to turneth away Taggert's Read More

The Munsters: Far Out Munsters

Synopsis: The rock group The Standells appear as themselves in this episode. Seeking refuge from their mobs of squealing fans, the Standells arrange to rent the Munster mansion, while the Munsters themselves move to a fancy hotel. Disappointed that their new surroundings aren't up to their exacting Read More

The F.B.I.: An Elephant is Like a Rope

Synopsis: Beau Bridges guest stars as a wounded young man who stumbles into the Justice Department Building in Virginia, carrying half a million dollars in stolen cash. Awakening from a brief coma, the boy can remember nothing about what has happened to him nor how he came into possession of the loot. Read More

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour: Memo from Purgatory

Actors: James Caan, Lynn Loring, Walter Koenig, Tony Musante, Zalman King

Synopsis: For this episode, host Alfred Hitchcock pointedly dispenses with his traditionally humorous prologue and epilogue, explaining that the subject matter is far too serious for any such jocularity. Adapted by Harlan Ellison from his own semi-autobiographical 1961 book Memos from Purgatory, the episode Read More