movies

MOVIES (Page 1)

Edward made his very first movie - and in a leading role - at the tender age of eleven. Despite having the comforting presence of his mother with him for the shoot, he didn't enjoy the experience and consequently didn't make another for several years. In "The Foolkiller" he plays George Mellish, who runs away from his foster home. Hopping freight trains, he soon meets and befriends Milo (Anthony Perkins) an amnesiac Civil War veteran and drifter. The question is, could George's new friend be the mythical axe murderer everyone's afraid of? This tense thriller was shot in black and white, adding to its atmospheric quality. Sadly this movie is almost impossible to track down now.

'Butterflies Are Free' is probably still Edward's best known film. He was just twenty one years old in 1972...it was his first film as an adult, and yet he made such an impact in his leading role as 'Don' the blind man who fell in love with Goldie Hawn's quirky, beautiful character, that he won a Golden Globe for 'Most Promising Newcomer'. In typically generous spirit, Edward always reminds people who still compliment him on his performance in that movie, that he couldn't have been so convincing without the other three actors. He once said he had a lot of fun pretending he couldn't see sexy Goldie running around in the briefest of bikinis!

As his follow-up film, Edward chose to star with Swedish actress, Liv Ullman in the romantic drama "40 Carats". It's fairly well documented that this is not one of Edward's favourite movies, simply because he was injured on the first day's shooting and spent the rest of the production in agony with a badly broken shoulder. This is so sad because it's a lovely film. He is adorable in it, and it's just the sort of film I'd personally love to see him star in again very soon. The scenery is wonderful too; as someone who's vacationed on several of the beautiful, romantic Greek Islands, I honestly don't know how Liv Ullman resisted Edward as long as she did!

In the psychological thriller, "Mindgames" Edward plays 'Dana Lund', a devoted husband and father whose trusting nature is abused by his beautiful but bored wife. On a 'make or break' trip to save their marriage, Dana makes the mistake of picking up a hitchiker whom his young son has befriended. At first, 'Eric' (Maxwell Caulfield) appears to be a normal, happy-go-lucky young man but it quickly becomes apparent there's a much darker side to his nature. He soon reveals his psychotic personality to Dana's son; tempts Rita into being unfaithful to her husband, and even encourages her to leave Dana. It is only when Eric tries to kill Dana that Rita truly begins to understand the power of Eric's influence over people and comes to her senses. She had grown bored with her role as wife and mother and was planning to leave Dana to pursue an abandoned career, but realises, almost too late, that what she saw as weakness and lack of ambition in her husband, was actually contentment with his life. Dana is forced into a cat and mouse game of life and death to save his family.

In "Hostage Dallas" (aka "Getting Even") Edward played action hero 'Tag' Taggar, an agent forced reluctantly into teaming up with a former love (Audrey Landers) in order to root out an evil meglomaniac out to destroy the world with toxic chemicals. Edward got a chance in one scene to briefly demonstrate his skill at swordplay; not fighting, but twirling it for fun and it was very impressive (so was seeing his sweaty, rippling biceps in a singlet!).

In the 1993 "The Ice Runner" Edward was 'Jeff West', an American Agent who, betrayed by his compatriots when an assignment goes wrong, is sentenced to spend the rest of his days in a remote Siberian gulag. A freak train crash enables him to steal the identity of a dead thief and lands him in a minimum security camp where he plans his escape over many months. Unlikely as it would seem, West finds romance with the widow of the dead man whose identity he has assumed, when the suspicious camp commander invites wives to visit the camp. Still, however, West is determinded to escape, and when the obsessed commander takes him to an even more remote spot in the frozen wastes of Siberia, there is only the two of them and the game of cat and mouse is well and truly on. When West finally makes his bid for freedom he cannot possibly imagine the dangers and hardships he will have to face, not only from his human pursuer but from the unforgiving elements of the environment.

Another action role in "Terminal Entry", with Edward as world-weary SAS veteran 'Captain Danny Jackson' leading a group of soldiers, including John Rhys-Davies, to try and find a teenage hacker who's accidentally tapped into a secret computer file and, as a prank, programmed it to kill certain individuals, including Danny's long-suffering girlfriend. The teenager and his friends believe the whole thing is a game...until they see on the TV news that the first name on the list is dead. One could be coincidence, but when the next death occurs they realise this is no game. They have no idea how to stop the program and it's a race against time for Danny's team.

In "The Domino Killings" (aka "The Domino Principle") Edward played Pine, one of the Agents (headed by Richard Widmark) who release leading man Gene Hackman (Tucker) from prison in order to carry out an assassination for them. He refuses at first but there's a catch. The Agents have kidnapped his beloved wife and will only release her after the hit is made...a course of action they will come to regret.

In "The Secret Agent Club", a romp for kids, you could say Edward has a bit of an identity crisis. To say more would spoil the film. Suffice to say the plot concerns the recovery of a top secret weapon by Hulk Hogan, toy seller by day, secret agent by night, and the scrapes his son and buddies get into when they try to rescue him. A great romp for 10-13 year olds.

Punchy, Edward's character in "Fistfighter" was an ex-champion fighter who was left slightly disabled and forced to retire after a particularly vicious bout. His life has gone steadily downhill since then and, always with an eye to the main chance, he takes it upon himself to manage and train another man, partly for the money he thinks it will bring in and partly to try and re-invent himself and win back some respect from the local head honcho, the shady fight promoter. If you don't like seeing Edward get hurt, you might want to cover your eyes as he gets viciously beaten and kicked by the fight promoter's henchmen. The scene makes for tough viewing for people who abhor violence.

There's an unexpected twist in "Out of Sight, Out of her Mind" and it has nothing to do with the fact that Edward is stunningly handsome with a beard and long hair! He plays a detective investigating a murder and is brought into contact with a woman who has been institutionalised by her husband. He feels sorry for her and suspects she isn't crazy at all so he resolves to help her in any way he can. It's not an Oscar winning movie but it makes for scary viewing.

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