25 Movies Starring Alan Bates

Whistle Down the Wind

Whistle Down the Wind

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1962-01-15

Languages:

English

Countries:

UK

Runtime:

99 min

Rated:

UNRATED

IMDB Ratings:

7.9 (2171 Reviews)

Director:

Bryan Forbes

Genres:

Drama

Cast:

Writer:

Mary Hayley Bell (original novel)

Keith Waterhouse (screenplay)

Willis Hall (screenplay)

Fullplot:

Little Kathy discovers a man wanted for murder hiding in her family's barn. When she asks him who he is, he says Jesus Christ just before he goes unconscious. Kathy and her siblings are convinced that he is Jesus and try to hide him from grown-ups.

A Kind of Loving

A Kind of Loving

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1962-10-01

Languages:

German, English

Countries:

UK

Runtime:

112 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.4 (909 Reviews)

Genres:

DramaRomance

Cast:

Writer:

Willis Hall (screenplay)

Keith Waterhouse (screenplay)

Stan Barstow (novel)

Fullplot:

A young man, inching his way up from working-class traditions via a white-collar job, finds himself trapped by the frightening reality of his girlfriend's pregnancy and is forced into marrying her and moving in with his mother-in-law due to a housing shortage in their Northern England town.

Zorba the Greek

Zorba the Greek

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1964-12-14

Languages:

English, Greek

Countries:

Greece, USA

Runtime:

142 min

Rated:

UNRATED

IMDB Ratings:

7.8 (14384 Reviews)

Cast:

Writer:

Nikos Kazantzakis (from the novel by)

Mihalis Kakogiannis (screenplay)

Fullplot:

An aimless Englishman finds he has a small inheritance on a Greek island. His joyless existence is disturbed when he meets Zorba, a middle aged Greek with a real lust for life. As he discovers the earthy pleasures of Greece, the Englishman finds his view on life changing.

Nothing But the Best

Nothing But the Best

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1964-07-13

Languages:

English

Countries:

UK

Runtime:

99 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.1 (208 Reviews)

Director:

Clive Donner

Genres:

Comedy

Cast:

Writer:

Frederic Raphael (screenplay)

Stanley Ellin (story)

Fullplot:

Success has James Brewster's name written all over it, and he also has his heart set on his boss's daughter. A con artist hires him to help out on a bank scheme, but then again, James will do anything to get rich and be the most successful businessman in Britian-even if it means murder!!!

Georgy Girl

Georgy Girl

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1966-10-17

Languages:

English, Italian

Countries:

UK

Runtime:

99 min

Rated:

APPROVED

IMDB Ratings:

6.9 (2578 Reviews)

Cast:

Writer:

Margaret Forster (novel)

Margaret Forster (screenplay)

Peter Nichols

Fullplot:

A homely but vivacious young woman dodges the amorous attentions of her father's middle-aged employer while striving to capture some of the glamorous life of her swinging London roommate.

Far from the Madding Crowd

Far from the Madding Crowd

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1967-10-18

Languages:

English

Countries:

UK

Runtime:

168 min

Rated:

PG

IMDB Ratings:

7.2 (3518 Reviews)

Cast:

Writer:

Thomas Hardy (from the novel by)

Frederic Raphael (screenplay)

Fullplot:

Based on Thomas Hardy's 19th century novel, Bathsheba Everdene is a willful, passionate girl who is never satisfied with anything less than a man's complete and helpless adoration. And she captures the lives and loves of three very different men: Gabriel Oak, a sheep farmer who is captivated by her beauty and proposes marriage; William Boldwood, a prosperous man in his early forties and a confirmed bachelor; and Sergeant Frank Troy, a handsome, reckless swordsman given to sudden fits of violence.

The Fixer

The Fixer

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1968-12-08

Languages:

English

Countries:

UK

Runtime:

132 min

Rated:

M

IMDB Ratings:

(857 Reviews)

Genres:

Drama

Cast:

Writer:

Bernard Malamud (novel)

Dalton Trumbo (screenplay)

Fullplot:

Set in tsarist Russia around the turn of the century and based on a true story of a Russian Jewish peasant Yakov Bok who was wrongly imprisoned for a most unlikely crime - the "ritual murder" of a Gentile child in Kiev. We witness the unrelenting detail of the peasant-handyman's life in prison and see him gain in dignity as the efforts to humiliate him and make him confess fail.

Women in Love

Women in Love

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1970-03-25

Languages:

English

Countries:

UK

Runtime:

131 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

7.6 (4817 Reviews)

Director:

Ken Russell

Genres:

DramaRomance

Cast:

Writer:

D.H. Lawrence (novel)

Larry Kramer (written for the screen by)

Fullplot:

The battle of the sexes and relationships among the elite of Britian's industrial Midlands in the 1920s. Gerald Crich and Rupert Berkin are best friends who fall in love with a pair of sisters Gudrun, a sculptress and Ursula Brangwen, a schoolteacher. Rupert marries Ursula, Gerald begins a love affair with Gudrun, and the foursome embarks upon a Swiss honeymoon. But the relationships take markedly different directions, as Russell explores the nature of commitment and love. Rupert and Ursula learn to give themselves to each other; the more withdrawn Gerald cannot, finally, connect with the demanding and challenging Gudrun.

The Go-Between

The Go-Between

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1971-06-18

Languages:

English

Countries:

UK

Runtime:

118 min

Rated:

GP

IMDB Ratings:

7.5 (3268 Reviews)

Director:

Joseph Losey

Genres:

DramaRomance

Cast:

Writer:

Harold Pinter (screenplay)

L.P. Hartley (based on the novel: "The Go-Between" by)

Fullplot:

Summer 1900: Queen Victoria's last and the summer Leo turns 13. He's the guest of Marcus, a wealthy classmate, at a grand home in rural Norfolk. Leo is befriended by Marian, Marcus's twenty-something sister, a beauty about to be engaged to Hugh, a viscount and good fellow. Marian buys Leo a forest-green suit, takes him on walks, and asks him to carry messages to and from their neighbor, Ted Burgess, a bit of a rake. Leo is soon dissembling, realizes he's betraying Hugh, but continues as the go-between nonetheless, asking adults naive questions about the attractions of men and women. Can an affair between neighbors stay secret for long? And how does innocence end?

A Day in the Death of Joe Egg

A Day in the Death of Joe Egg

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1972-06-04

Languages:

English

Countries:

UK

Runtime:

106 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

6.9 (275 Reviews)

Director:

Peter Medak

Genres:

ComedyDrama

Cast:

Writer:

Peter Nichols (play)

Peter Nichols (screenplay)

Fullplot:

A couple uses extremely black comedy to survive taking care of a daughter who is nearly completely brain dead. They take turns doing the daughter's voice and stare into the eyes of death and emotional trauma with a humor that hides their pain.

The Shout

The Shout

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1978-06-16

Languages:

English

Countries:

UK

Runtime:

86 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

6.8 (2134 Reviews)

Genres:

HorrorDrama

Cast:

Writer:

Robert Graves (story)

Michael Austin (screenplay)

Jerzy Skolimowski (screenplay)

Fullplot:

Bored while officiating a cricket match at a psychiatric hospital, Crossley tells Graves (a visitor) the tale of a mysterious stranger (also named Crossley) who invades the lives and home of a local musician and his wife. The stranger claims knowledge of real magic, which he uses to displace his host and dominate his wife. The musician must find a way to combat Crossley and his seemingly implacable powers. Graves doubts Crossley's claim that the story is true, and begins to believe that Crossley is actually one of the patients.

An Unmarried Woman

An Unmarried Woman

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1978-05-26

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

124 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

7.2 (3067 Reviews)

Director:

Paul Mazursky

Fullplot:

Erica is unmarried only temporarily in that her successful, wealthy husband of seventeen years has just left her for a girl he met while buying a shirt in Bloomingdale's. The film shows Erica coming to terms with the break-up while revising her opinions of herself, redefining that self in its own right rather than as an extension of somebody else's personality, and finally going out with another man. Erica refuses to drop everything for Saul, an abstract expressionist painter, simply out of love for him because he expects her to. It is not so much loneliness that is her problem, and the problems that men, flitting around this newly "available" woman like moths round a flame, bring to her sense of independence.

The Rose

The Rose

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1979-11-07

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

125 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

6.9 (5729 Reviews)

Director:

Mark Rydell

Cast:

Writer:

Bo Goldman (screenplay)

Bill Kerby (screenplay)

Bill Kerby (story)

Fullplot:

Bette Midler plays The Rose, a female rock star strikingly similar to Janis Joplin. The film follows Rose's career during her last tour, as she's determined to return to her Florida hometown. Although a success, she's exhausted and lonely but continued working by her gruff and greedy manager. Through loud and brassy, Rose is an insecure alcoholic and former drug user who seems to crave approval in her life. She begins a romance with a limousine driver, who's actually an AWOL sergeant from the United States Army. Her rock and roll lifestyle of Drugs, Sex, and Rock and Roll and constant touring lead her to an inevitable breakdown.

Quartet

Quartet

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1981-10-25

Languages:

English, French

Countries:

UK, France

Runtime:

101 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

6.3 (784 Reviews)

Director:

James Ivory

Genres:

DramaRomance

Cast:

Writer:

Jean Rhys (novel)

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (screenplay)

Michel Maingois (French dialogue)

Fullplot:

It's 1927 Paris. Following the conviction of her art dealer husband, Stephan Zelli, for theft for which he was handed a one-year prison sentence, Marya Zelli, originally from West India, moves in with her acquaintances, expatriate Brits H.J. and Lois Heidler. Marya knows that H.J. in particular has more in mind than just providing her lodging out of the goodness of his heart. From behind bars, Stephan encourages Marya to move in with them not knowing H.J.'s intentions. Marya agrees in part because she, being a foreigner, cannot get work and would thus become destitute otherwise. She learns she is the latest in a long line of lodgers. She also learns that H.J. and Lois' marriage is not all that it appears on the surface. The Heidler's hold on Marya becomes stronger when they convince her that Stephan not only has no money but has no future in France after his release. Their collective lives become more complicated when Stephan is released from jail and tries to figure out what he's going to do with his life to regain the high standard of living to which he became accustomed.

The Return of the Soldier

The Return of the Soldier

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1985-02-14

Languages:

English

Countries:

UK

Runtime:

99 min

Rated:

PG

IMDB Ratings:

6.9 (299 Reviews)

Director:

Alan Bridges

Genres:

Drama

Cast:

Writer:

Rebecca West (novel)

Hugh Whitemore

Fullplot:

Kitty Baldry (Julie Chirstie) is a haughty society queen with a tunneled view of life. Kitty's complacency is rocked when her husband, Captain Chris Baldry (Alan Bates), returns from the front during the First World War shell-shocked and suffering amnesia, not knowing who she is and determined for a reunion with Margaret Grey (Glenda Jackson), a working class lover from his past. Kitty employs psychiatrist Dr. Gilbert Anderson (Ian Holm), to help unscramble her husband's feelings for the women in his new disoriented life including his all-too caring cousin Jenny (Ann-Margret), but ultimately comes to realize that the man she knew is unreachable, as dead as the past he pines for.

An Englishman Abroad

An Englishman Abroad

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1984-09-02

Languages:

English

Countries:

UK

Runtime:

60 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.8 (312 Reviews)

Genres:

Drama

Fullplot:

Actress Coral Browne travels to Moscow, and meets a mysterious Englishman. Turns out he's the notorious spy, Guy Burgess. Based on a true story, with Ms. Browne playing herself.

A Prayer for the Dying

A Prayer for the Dying

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1987-09-11

Languages:

English

Countries:

UK

Runtime:

107 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

6.4 (3219 Reviews)

Director:

Mike Hodges

Cast:

Writer:

Jack Higgins (novel)

Edmund Ward (screenplay)

Martin Lynch (screenplay)

Fullplot:

Martin Fallon is an IRA bomber who tries to blow up a troop truck but instead kills a bus load of school children. He loses heart and quits the movement and goes to London trying to leave the U.K. and start a new life. The IRA wants him back (he knows too much) and the local crime boss, Meehan, will only help him if he performs one last hit, on a rival crime boss. When Fallon does perform the hit, he is seen by a catholic priest. He refuses to kill an innocent again and must find a way to escape the police without killing the priest who can identify him.

Hamlet

Hamlet

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1991-01-18

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA, UK, France

Runtime:

135 min

Rated:

PG

IMDB Ratings:

6.8 (16689 Reviews)

Genres:

Drama

Cast:

Writer:

William Shakespeare (play)

Christopher De Vore (screenplay)

Franco Zeffirelli (screenplay)

Fullplot:

Hamlet returns to Denmark when his father, the King, dies. His mother Gertrude has already married Hamlet's uncle Claudius, the new King. They urge Hamlet to marry his beloved Ophelia. But soon the ghost of Hamlet's father appears and tells Hamlet that he was murdered by Claudius and Gertrude. Hamlet must choose between passive acquiescence and the need for a vengeance which might lead to tragedy.

Silent Tongue

Silent Tongue

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1995-01-27

Languages:

English

Countries:

France, Netherlands, UK, USA

Runtime:

102 min

Rated:

PG-13

IMDB Ratings:

5.2 (816 Reviews)

Director:

Sam Shepard

Fullplot:

It's 1873, Indian Territory. Talbot Roe is going mad with grief over losing his Indian wife, Awbonnie. In an effort to save him, his father, Prescott Roe, seeks to purchase the dead wife's sister, Velada, from the same traveling carnival he acquired Awbonnie. The girls' father, carnival master Eamon McCree, is willing to do business, but her step-brother, Reeves, protests, putting an end to the negotiation. Desperate, Prescott kidnaps Velada and promises her the means to be rid of her father in return for comforting Talbot out of his obsession. In Talbot's madness, he guards his wife's corpse, preventing her from passing to the beyond. As a result, Awbonnie's ghost begins haunting and cursing everyone involved in the transaction of selling her as a wife. Meanwhile, Reeves and Eamon search the prairie for Velada. Drunken Eamon several times wants to turn back and leave his daughter to her own devices, but Reeves refuses. At the site of a hunting party of Indians, Eamon panics and loses his mount. Reeves continues the search alone, leaving behind the drunk, rapist father who only cared for himself, with whom he has always been disgusted. Meanwhile, the other carnival members pack up and head back east, glad to be rid of the unreasonable carnival master. At the grave-site, Talbot is distrustful of everyone who tries to separate him from Awbonnie's corpse. Her angry ghost causes a commotion with runaway horses and Prescott manages to throw what's left of the corpse on the fire. As soon as he does, Talbot seems to come to his senses, and Velada sees Awbonnie's spirit appear in the flames, finally at peace. Talbot and Prescott are able to walk away from the grave-site somewhat resigned to Awbonnie's death, and Velada presumably collects the horses and gold from her agreement with Prescott. Eamon is eventually captured by Indians and looks to be headed for an ill-fated ending.

The Cherry Orchard

The Cherry Orchard

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2000-01-12

Languages:

English, French

Countries:

Greece, France, Cyprus

Runtime:

141 min

Rated:

NOT RATED

IMDB Ratings:

6.5 (485 Reviews)

Genres:

Drama

Cast:

Writer:

Anton Chekhov (play)

Mihalis Kakogiannis (screenplay)

Fullplot:

Madame Ranevskaya (Rampling) is a spoiled aging aristocratic lady, who returns from a trip to Paris to face the loss of her magnificent Cherry Orchard estate after a default on the mortgage. In denial, she continues living in the past, deluding herself and her family, while the beautiful cherry trees are being axed down by the re-possessor Lopakhin (Teale), her former serf, who has his own agenda.

The Cherry Orchard

The Cherry Orchard

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2000-01-12

Languages:

English, French

Countries:

Greece, France, Cyprus

Runtime:

141 min

Rated:

NOT RATED

IMDB Ratings:

6.5 (485 Reviews)

Genres:

Drama

Cast:

Writer:

Anton Chekhov (play)

Mihalis Kakogiannis (screenplay)

Fullplot:

Madame Ranevskaya (Rampling) is a spoiled aging aristocratic lady, who returns from a trip to Paris to face the loss of her magnificent Cherry Orchard estate after a default on the mortgage. In denial, she continues living in the past, deluding herself and her family, while the beautiful cherry trees are being axed down by the re-possessor Lopakhin (Teale), her former serf, who has his own agenda.

Arabian Nights

Arabian Nights

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2000-04-30

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

175 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.5 (3856 Reviews)

Fullplot:

Long ago, the Sultan Schariar has gone mad after his traumatizing near assassination in which his wife collaborated and died at his hands as a result. Now he has a paranoid suspicion of women which he plans to express in a diabolical plan, and that is to marry a woman from the harem and then have her executed the very next morning. To prevent this, the Grand Vizier's daughter and a childhood friend of the Sultan, Scheherezade, offers herself to be that bride. Now, she must gamble that her plan will work as she tries to cure his madness by telling him story after wondrous story which include the tales of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp. All the while, the Sultan's villainous brother is making plans of his own and Scheherezade's stories are more useful against him than anyone can anticipate.

Hollywood North

Hollywood North

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2004-01-12

Languages:

English

Countries:

Canada

Runtime:

89 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

5.5 (345 Reviews)

Director:

Peter O'Brian

Genres:

Comedy

Cast:

Writer:

Barry Healey

John Hunter

Tony Johnston

Fullplot:

Former lawyer Bobby Myers recounts his first foray in the Canadian movie business circa 1979, when the then burgeoning Canadian movie industry was going through some growing pains. He wanted his first project as producer to be told by Canadians about issues close to the Canadian heart. As such, he acquired the rights to Lantern Moon, a beloved Canadian novel written by Lindsay May Marshall. He quickly realized that producing a movie in Canada, especially in acquiring financing, required much compromise, most specifically casting a big name Hollywood star in the leading role. The star he signs, Michael Baytes, comes with much baggage. Those compromises lead to many problems between the Canadian vision and the want by some to make the movie more "American", especially by ultra-patriotic and paranoid Baytes. Through it all, filmmaker Sandy Ryan films it all, good and bad, for a "making of" documentary. But Sandy has her own agenda as she concurrently films her own lower budget movie called Human Voices.

The Statement

The Statement

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2004-02-27

Languages:

English, German, Italian, Latin, French

Countries:

Canada, France, UK

Runtime:

120 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

6.2 (4126 Reviews)

Director:

Norman Jewison

Cast:

Writer:

Ronald Harwood (screenplay)

Brian Moore (novel)

Fullplot:

Tale of a former Nazi executioner who becomes a target of hit men and Police investigators.

Spartacus

Spartacus

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2004-04-18

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

174 min

IMDB Ratings:

6.8 (4587 Reviews)

Director:

Robert Dornhelm

Cast:

Writer:

Howard Fast (novel)

Robert Schenkkan (teleplay)

Fullplot:

Sentenced to spend out the rest of his adult life laboring in the harsh deserts of Egypt, the Thracian slave Spartacus gets a new lease on life when he is purchased by the obese owner of a Roman gladiator school. Moved by the defiance of an Ethiopian warrior, Draba, Spartacus leads a slave uprising which threatens Rome's status quo. As Spartacus gains sympathy within the Roman Senate, he also makes a powerful enemy in form of Marcus Lucinius Crassus, who makes it a matter of personal honor to crush the rebellion.

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