Mermaids

Richard Benjamin

Charlotte (Winona Ryder) is an awkward teenager torn between her passion for a boy...and her desire to be a nun. And her quirky little sis (Christina Ricci) and flamboyant mom (Cher), who routinely moves them from town to town, only make things worse. These three couldn’t be more at odds, but when the going gets tough, they find that there’s nothing they can’t face as long as they have each other.


The Pentagon Wars

Richard Benjamin

Truth is stranger than fiction in this satiric comedy about an honest Air Force officer's attempt to expose a case of government spending gone mad! How could the government spend 17 years and $14 billion developing a simple troop carrier? Colonel Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride) is determined to find out...and Pentagon general Kelsey Grammer (TV's Frasier) is just as determined to stop him! Directed by Richard Benjamin; teleplay by Jamie Malanowski and Martyn Burke, based on the book by James Burton.


Made In America

Richard Benjamin

When 18-year-old Zora (Long), the daughter of a very independent, single mother and proud African American (Goldberg), learns from a blood test that she is not related to the long-deceased, well-respected black man she had believed to be her parent, she searches a sperm bank's records for her biological father.


How to Beat the High Cost of Living

Robert Scheerer

Funny-women Susan Saint James and Jane Curtin and Oscar® winner* Jessica Lange "are a pleasure to watch" (The Film Journal) in this hysterically funny film about a trio of housewives whose desperate need for money delivers a sizable "supply of laughs" (Boxoffice)! Jane, Elaine and Louise are three women on the verge of a financial breakdown until they spot the "Money Ball," a game involving a six-foot sphere and tons of whirling cash. But Jane, Elaine and Louise don't want to play Money Ball'they want to steal it! Will these inexperienced thieves soon be "rolling in it" or will this first attempt at crime spin them right into jail?*1994: Actress, Blue Sky; 1982: Supporting Actress, Tootsie


Mrs. Winterbourne

Richard Benjamin

This fast-paced comedy follows the story of eighteen-year-old Connie Doyle an expectant mother with no money and an uncertain future. In a screwball case of mistaken identity, a grieving Mrs. Winterbourne takes the girl to live with her in the stately Winterbourne mansion, believing she is the wife of her deceased son.


The Goodbye Girl (2004)

Richard Benjamin

Romance blooms between two complete opposites forced to share a New York apartment in this contemporary remake of Neil Simon's classic comedy The Goodbye Girl. Elliot Garfield arrives in Manhattan to take the acting role of his life only to find that ex-chorus girl Paula McFadden and her young daughter, Lucy, occupy the apartment he's renting. Paula's ex-boyfriend has abandoned her, sublet their apartment--to Garfield--and left Lucy and Paula without a job or a place to live. Although Garfield has legal claim to the apartment, he can't throw the mother and daughter out. So, despite Garfield's eccentric ways, the three form a home and soon discover that love means never saying good-bye.


The Money Pit (1986)

Richard Benjamin

Oscar® winner Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips) stars with Shelley Long in this hilarious comedy from executive producer Steven Spielberg. Walter (Hanks) and Anna (Long) believe they’ve arrived “home sweet home” when they buy the house of their dreams. But life quickly becomes a nightmare as their dilapidated mansion falls apart around them, and they struggle to stay together even as they slide further into The Money Pit. It’s outrageous entertainment for anyone who’s ever been deeply in love… or deeply in debt… or both!


The Sunshine Boys (1975)

Herbert Ross

George Burns ("Oh, God!") won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor as one of two feuding vaudevillian actors who are reunited for a television comeback. Co-starring Oscar-winner Walter Matthau ("Grumpy Old Men") and Richard Benjamin ("Goodbye Columbus"). Based on award-winning playwright Neil Simon's play. Nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Matthau received an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe Award for his performance.


Portnoy's Complaint

Ernest Lehman

Oscar-nominee Jill Clayburgh ("An Unmarried Woman," "Starting Over") and Richard Benjamin ("Love at First Bite," "First Family") star in the hilarious film based on the sexy Phillip Roth bestseller -- about the not-so-warm relationship between a Jewish boy and his mother -- that started the sexual revolution. Co-starring Oscar-nominee Karen Black ("Easy Rider," "Nashville") and Oscar-winner Lee Grant ("Shampoo," "Defending Your Life").


First Family (1980)

Buck Henry

When the First Daughter is kidnapped by an African tribe, the President must do what he can to keep them from sacrificing her. A political satire about an inept U.S. President, his dysfunctional family, and his scheming advisors.


City Heat

Richard Benjamin

Award-winning superstars Clint Eastwood ("Unforgiven," "Million Dollar Baby") and Burt Reynolds ("Dukes of Hazzard," "The Longest Yard") join forces for the very first time in an action comedy set in the 1930s. Clint is a hard-nosed cop, Burt's a wisecracking gumshoe, and both are on the trail of some bad news gangsters. Though the two don't exactly get along, the mob still had better watch out! Co-starring Academy Award-nominees Madeline Kahn ("A Bug's Life," "Young Frankenstein") and Jane Alexander ("The Ring," "Cider House Rules"), Academy Award nominated and Emmy-winner Rip Torn ("Dodgeball," "Men in Black"), and Academy Award and Golden Globe-winning pop star Irene Cara ("Fame"), and directed by Golden Globe-winner and Emmy-nominated Richard Benjamin ("Mermaids," "Made in America").


Downtown

Richard Benjamin

In Downtown, Police Officer Alex Kearney (Anthony Edwards) works in a rich suburb of Philadelphia, where nothing bad ever happens. Alex enjoys his relaxed job, but when he stops a VIP for speeding, the police top brass send him to the Philly police version of purgatory, downtown. Downtown is the most brutal and crime-ridden district in Philadelphia. No cops downtown want to be Alex's partner. Because of his pampered, Boy Scout image, everyone is certain that Alex is going to get himself and his partner killed. Detective Dennis Curren (Forest Whitaker) gets the unlucky partner assignment. Dennis and Alex get off to a bad start, but we find out that Dennis is reluctant to become friends with Alex because he has lost a partner before, and does not want to get too close again. When Alex's best friend is murdered while investigating a car theft, Alex surprises everybody and breaks all the rules to track down the killer. Now, Alex also knows the feeling of losing a partner, and the two cops combine forces to take down a luxury car smuggling ring.


Little Nikita

Richard Benjamin

A timely espionage thriller which stars River Phoenix as a seemingly average teenager, except in one respect--his real name is Nikita. River Phoenix has been living a dangerous lie and Sidney Poitier is the secret agent who forces him to face the hard truth about his parents' true identity in this riveting spy thriller.


My Favorite Year

Richard Benjamin

It's 1954 - the era of live television. A hapless production assistant is given the formidable assignment to keep his movie star idol, the alcoholic womanizing Alan Swann, out of trouble long enough so Swann can appear on the popular network show, "King Kaiser's Comedy Hour." Oscar-winner Peter O'Toole ("Lawrence of Arabia," "Goodbye, Mr. Chips," "The Stuntman") received his seventh Oscar-nomination for his hilarious portrayal of the Errol Flynn-like Swann. Mark Linn-Baker (TV's "Perfect Strangers") plays the production assistant while Joseph Bologna ("Citizen Cohn," "The Woman in Red") gives an outstanding performance as the Syd Caesar-like King Kaiser. With Jessica Harper ("Pennies from Heaven") and Laine Kazan ("Beaches"). Directed by Richard Benjamin ("Mrs. Winterbourne," "Racing with the Moon").


The Last of Sheila

Herbert Ross

An all-star cast headlines this witty mystery-thriller about a movie producer who invites six friends to a cruise aboard his yacht, the "Sheila," named after his late wife who died in an unsolved hit-and-run accident a year ago that day. As the ship sets sail, those aboard begin to realize that their host has more than innocent parlor games in mind as he pits each against the other, taunting them with the knowledge that his wife's killer is among them. Written by Oscar- and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and lyricist -- and puzzle-fanatic -- Stephen Sondheim ("Dick Tracy," "West Side Story") and actor-writer Anthony Perkins ("Psycho"). Directed by Oscar-nominee Herbert Ross ("Boys on the Side," "Steel Magnolias"), and starring Raquel Welch ("Naked Gun 33 1/3), Oscar-winner James Coburn ("Maverick"), Richard Benjamin ("Goodbye, Columbus"), and Academy Award-nominees Dyan Cannon ("Heaven Can Wait"), Joan Hackett ("Only When I Laugh") and James Mason ("The Verdict").


My Stepmother Is an Alien

Richard Benjamin

Dan Aykroyd explores the possibilities of a very modern marriage when Kim Basinger orbits into his world in MY STEPMOTHER IS AN ALIEN. Basinger stars as Celeste, a sexy extra-terrestrial with a mission: seduce the sweetly unsuspecting Steve Mills (Aykroyd), a recently widowed astrophysicist, and get her hands on his research which may hold the key to saving her planet.


Westworld

Michael Crichton

In a futuristic resort, wealthy patrons can visit recreations of different time periods and experience their wildest fantasies with life-like robots. But when Richard Benjamin ("Goodbye, Columbus") opts for the wild west, he gets more than he bargained for when a gunslinger robot, portrayed by Academy Award-winner Yul Brynner ("The King and I", "The Magnificent Seven"), goes berserk. Written and directed by "Jurassic Park" author and "E.R." creator Michael Crichton. With Emmy-winner James Brolin ("Marcus Welby, M.D.", "Hotel") and Dick Van Patten (TV's "Eight is Enough"). Followed by a sequel, "Futureworld".


Racing With the Moon

Richard Benjamin

Artfully directed by Richard Benjamin, Racing with the Moon is a film so tender, so insightful, so full of heart that you'll never quite forget it. This is the story of Henry "Hopper" Nash (Sean Penn) and his buddy Nicky (Nicolas Cage) enjoying their last boyish exploits before they enter the Marines. Elizabeth McGovern portrays Penn's mysterious girlfriend. What ensues is a tender, bittersweet tale of lost innocence and the trauma of growing up too fast. The result is a magic moment, brilliantly captured within the emotional crosscurrent of America's most dramatic time.


Goodbye Columbus

Larry Peerce

Based on author Phillip Roth' novella, Goodbye Columbus stars Richard Benjamin as Neil, a young man of humble means who falls in love with Jewish-American-princess Brenda (Ali MacGraw). Their romance is out of the question, as far as Brenda's suburbanite parents are concerned, so Neil and Brenda go to great lengths to keep their whirlwind romance under wraps. The trendy, New Wave-influenced direction by Larry Peerce gained a great deal of critical attention in 1969, but far more memorable is Peerce's amusingly straight-on depictions of upper-class Jewish/American social functions.