30 Movies Starring Ellen Burstyn

Alex in Wonderland

Alex in Wonderland

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1971-02-01

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

110 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

5.2 (573 Reviews)

Director:

Paul Mazursky

Genres:

ComedyDrama

Fullplot:

Bohemian Alex Morrison has just finished directing his first feature length movie. In its previews, the movie is considered a critical, artistic and surefire commercial success. As such, Alex seemingly has his choice of what his next project will be. Alex has a few thoughts in his mind, such as a biopic of Lenny Bruce, or a movie about a black uprising in Los Angeles. As he makes the rounds both in the Hollywood community and European movie centers for ideas, he fantasizes about movie scenarios of those everyday situations he is in. These fantasies are influenced by his movie idols, some who he meets such as Italian director Federico Fellini and French actress Jeanne Moreau. Concurrently, he is considering what to do about his personal life. He, his wife Beth and their two daughters live a middle class lifestyle. He is wondering whether it makes sense to "move up", which means that movie making not only has to achieve his main purpose of saying something meaningful, but also has to be commercially successful. That need for commercial success may ultimately take artistic control out of his hands.

The Exorcist

The Exorcist

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1973-12-26

Languages:

English, Latin, Greek, French, German, Arabic

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

122 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

(264509 Reviews)

Genres:

Horror

Cast:

Writer:

William Peter Blatty (written for the screen by)

William Peter Blatty (novel)

Fullplot:

A visiting actress in Washington, D.C., notices dramatic and dangerous changes in the behavior and physical make-up of her 12-year-old daughter. Meanwhile, a young priest at nearby Georgetown University begins to doubt his faith while dealing with his mother's terminal sickness. And, book-ending the story, a frail, elderly priest recognizes the necessity for a show-down with an old demonic enemy.

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1975-05-30

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

112 min

Rated:

PG

IMDB Ratings:

7.4 (14297 Reviews)

Director:

Martin Scorsese

Genres:

DramaRomance

Fullplot:

Despite admitting that she was scared of him in her never-ending quest to please him, thirty-five year old housewife and mother Alice Hyatt is devastated when her husband Donald is killed in an on the job traffic accident. With few job skills except that as a singer, Alice, along with her precocious eleven year old son Tommy, decides to move from their current home in Socorro, New Mexico to her home town of Monterrey, California, the only place she has ever felt happy. She plans on getting singing gigs along the way to earn money to get back to Monterrey by the end of the summer and the start of Tommy's school year. Alice's quest for a job at each stop leaves Tommy often to fend for himself, which may make Tommy even more precocious. His behavior is fostered by Alice, as their relationship is often more as trouble-making friends than mother and son. Alice's plans often do not end up as she envisions, especially as she is forced to take a waitressing job at Mel and Ruby's Diner in Tucson, Arizona, which entails working with a disparate group, including Mel, the establishment's gruff owner/short order cook, and her fellow waitresses, the wisecracking, foul mouthed Flo, and the naive and shy Vera. Alice also falls into old habits, namely relying on men to make her feel fulfilled, specifically the much younger Ben, and farmer David. Those relationships may also provide her with a better perspective on her life and her bad choice of Donald as a husband.

Providence

Providence

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1977-02-09

Languages:

English

Countries:

France, Switzerland, UK

Runtime:

104 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

7.9 (2087 Reviews)

Director:

Alain Resnais

Genres:

Drama

Fullplot:

Clive Langham (Sir John Gielgud) spends one tormenting night in his bed suffering from health problems and thinking up a story based on his relatives. He is a bitter man and he shows, through flashbacks, how spiteful, conniving and treacherous his family is. But is this how they really are or is it his own vindictive slant on things?

Same Time, Next Year

Same Time, Next Year

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1979-04-23

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

119 min

Rated:

PG

IMDB Ratings:

7.2 (4251 Reviews)

Director:

Robert Mulligan

Cast:

Writer:

Bernard Slade (play)

Bernard Slade (screenplay)

Fullplot:

A man and woman meet by chance at a romantic inn over dinner. Although both are married to others, they find themselves in the same bed the next morning questioning how this could have happened. They agree to meet on the same weekend each year. Originally a stage play, the two are seen changing, years apart, always in the same room in different scenes. Each of them always appears on schedule, but as time goes on each has some personal crisis that the other helps them through, often without both of them understanding what is going on.

Resurrection

Resurrection

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1980-09-26

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

103 min

Rated:

PG

IMDB Ratings:

7.4 (2056 Reviews)

Director:

Daniel Petrie

Genres:

DramaFantasy

Fullplot:

Edna Mae Macaulay experiences the afterlife for a brief time after a car accident that kills her husband. As she begins her long process of physical healing, she discovers that she has the ability to heal physical infirmities. While most people simply accept her gift, her lover (Sam Shepard) becomes mentally unbalanced and dangerous because she does not place the healings within a religious context.

Twice in a Lifetime

Twice in a Lifetime

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1985-10-23

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

111 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

6.5 (736 Reviews)

Director:

Bud Yorkin

Genres:

DramaRomance

Fullplot:

A middle-aged steelworker is content with his job and his family, but feels that something is missing in his life. On his 50th birthday, he stops in at a local bar for a drink to celebrate. He finds himself attracted to the young, very sexy barmaid--and, to his surprise, he finds that she is also very attracted to him.

Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam

Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1988-09-01

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

84 min

Rated:

PG-13

IMDB Ratings:

7.9 (1428 Reviews)

Director:

Bill Couturiè

Cast:

Writer:

Bill Couturiè (screenplay)

Richard Dewhurst (screenplay)

Fullplot:

Feature-length documentary film featuring real-life letters written by American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines during the Vietnam War to their families and friends back home. Archive footage of the war and news coverage thereof augment the first-person "narrative" by men and women who were in the war, some of whom did not survive it.

Grand Isle

Grand Isle

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1991-11-15

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

94 min

Rated:

UNRATED

IMDB Ratings:

5.2 (146 Reviews)

Director:

Mary Lambert

Genres:

Drama

Cast:

Writer:

Kate Chopin (novel)

Hesper Anderson (screenplay)

Fullplot:

A married woman in 1890s Louisiana meets a handsome Creole, reawakening her sexual desires, and is tempted into an affair with the man.

Mrs. Lambert Remembers Love

Mrs. Lambert Remembers Love

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1991-05-12

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

100 min

IMDB Ratings:

6.7 (83 Reviews)

Director:

Charles Matthau

Genres:

Drama

Fullplot:

The Cemetery Club

The Cemetery Club

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1993-02-03

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

106 min

Rated:

PG-13

IMDB Ratings:

5.9 (616 Reviews)

Director:

Bill Duke

Genres:

Comedy

Cast:

Writer:

Ivan Menchell (play)

Ivan Menchell (screenplay)

Fullplot:

This comedy with much Jewish humor is about the widows Doris, Ester and Lucille, who's husbands died one after another in just a few years. The 3 friends in their 50s react quite differently on the deaths. But they make it a habit to meet every year at the graves of their husbands and talk about perspectives in their lives.

When a Man Loves a Woman

When a Man Loves a Woman

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1994-05-13

Languages:

English, Vietnamese

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

126 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

6.5 (15911 Reviews)

Director:

Luis Mandoki

Genres:

DramaRomance

Cast:

Writer:

Ronald Bass

Al Franken

Fullplot:

An airline pilot and his wife are forced to face the consequences of her alcoholism when her addictions threaten her life and their daughter's safety. While the woman enters detox, her husband must face the truth of his enabling behavior.

Roommates

Roommates

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1995-03-03

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

108 min

Rated:

PG

IMDB Ratings:

6.4 (1419 Reviews)

Director:

Peter Yates

Genres:

ComedyDrama

Cast:

Writer:

Max Apple (short story)

Max Apple (story)

Max Apple (screenplay)

Stephen Metcalfe (screenplay)

Fullplot:

Michael Holeczak has a most unusual roommate, his grandfather, Rocky. Now Rocky's a bit strange but loves Michael and only has his best interest. Michael would live with Rocky after his parents died. Michael would grow up go to school, become a doctor, Rocky would live alone abut when Rocky's about to be thrown out and placed in a retirement home, he refuses. Michael then takes him in. They would stay together even when Michael got married and had a family. And Rocky would always be there for Michael and Michael for him.

The Spitfire Grill

The Spitfire Grill

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1996-08-23

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

117 min

Rated:

PG-13

IMDB Ratings:

6.9 (4749 Reviews)

Genres:

Drama

Fullplot:

Percy, upon being released from prison, goes to the small town of Gillead, to find a place where she can start over again. She is taken in by Hannah, to help out at her place, the Spitfire Grill. Percy brings change to the small town, stirring resentment and fear in some, and growth in others.

Requiem for a Dream

Requiem for a Dream

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2000-12-15

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

102 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

8.4 (516397 Reviews)

Genres:

Drama

Cast:

Writer:

Hubert Selby Jr. (based on the book by)

Hubert Selby Jr. (screenplay)

Darren Aronofsky (screenplay)

Fullplot:

Drugs. They consume mind, body and soul. Once you're hooked, you're hooked. Four lives. Four addicts. Four failures. Despite their aspirations of greatness, they succumb to their addictions. Watching the addicts spiral out of control, we bear witness to the dirtiest, ugliest portions of the underworld addicts reside in. It is shocking and eye-opening but demands to be seen by both addicts and non-addicts alike.

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2002-06-07

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

116 min

Rated:

PG-13

IMDB Ratings:

5.9 (14595 Reviews)

Director:

Callie Khouri

Genres:

Drama

Cast:

Writer:

Rebecca Wells (novels)

Mark Andrus (adaptation)

Callie Khouri (screenplay)

Fullplot:

Siddalee, a famous New York playwright, is quoted in Time magazine and infuriates her dramatic, Southern mother. A long-distant fight wages until her mother's friends (and members of the Yaya Sisterhood) kidnap Siddalee and take her "home" to the South, where they hope to explain her mother's history and to patch up the rift between mother and daughter.

The Five People You Meet in Heaven

The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2005-04-24

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

180 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.4 (4684 Reviews)

Director:

Lloyd Kramer

Genres:

DramaFantasy

Cast:

Writer:

Mitch Albom (teleplay)

Mitch Albom (book)

Fullplot:

The Fountain

The Fountain

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2006-11-22

Languages:

English, Maya

Countries:

USA, Canada

Runtime:

96 min

Rated:

PG-13

IMDB Ratings:

7.3 (179334 Reviews)

Cast:

Writer:

Darren Aronofsky (screenplay)

Darren Aronofsky (story)

Ari Handel (story)

Fullplot:

Three stories - one each from the past, present, and future - about men in pursuit of eternity with their love. A conquistador in Mayan country searches for the tree of life to free his captive queen; a medical researcher, working with various trees, looks for a cure that will save his dying wife; a space traveler, traveling with an aged tree encapsulated within a bubble, moves toward a dying star that's wrapped in a nebula; he seeks eternity with his love. The stories intersect and parallel; the quests fail and succeed.

The Wicker Man

The Wicker Man

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2006-09-01

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA, Germany, Canada

Runtime:

102 min

Rated:

PG-13

IMDB Ratings:

3.6 (50196 Reviews)

Director:

Neil LaBute

Cast:

Writer:

Neil LaBute (screenplay)

Anthony Shaffer

Fullplot:

While recovering from a tragic accident on the road, the patrolman Edward Malus receives a letter from his former fiancèe Willow, who left him years ago without any explanation, telling that her daughter Rowan is missing. Edward travels to the private island of Summerisle, where Willow lives in an odd community that plant fruits, and she reveals that Rowan is actually their daughter. Along his investigation with the hostile and unhelpful dwellers, Edward discloses that the locals are pagans, practicing old rituals to improve their harvest, and Rowan is probably alive and being prepared to be sacrificed. When he locates the girl, he finds also the dark truth about the wicker man.

Interstellar

Interstellar

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2014-11-07

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA, UK, Canada

Runtime:

169 min

Rated:

PG-13

IMDB Ratings:

8.7 (699518 Reviews)

Cast:

Writer:

Jonathan Nolan

Christopher Nolan

Fullplot:

In the near future, Earth has been devastated by drought and famine, causing a scarcity in food and extreme changes in climate. When humanity is facing extinction, a mysterious rip in the space-time continuum is discovered, giving mankind the opportunity to widen its lifespan. A group of explorers must travel beyond our solar system in search of a planet that can sustain life. The crew of the Endurance are required to think bigger and go further than any human in history as they embark on an interstellar voyage into the unknown. Coop, the pilot of the Endurance, must decide between seeing his children again and the future of the human race.

The Stone Angel

The Stone Angel

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2008-07-11

Languages:

English

Countries:

Canada, UK

Runtime:

116 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

6.3 (1474 Reviews)

Director:

Kari Skogland

Genres:

Drama

Cast:

Writer:

Kari Skogland

Margaret Laurence (novel)

Fullplot:

In Manitoba, Hagar Shipley is nearing 90. She has little, she tells us, but her memories. Over several weeks, during which she runs away from her son and daughter-in-law who want to place her in a nursing home, returning to the small town where she grew up and the now-derelict farmhouse where she was married and raised two sons, we follow Hagar in the present and in memories that trace her childhood, marriage in defiance of her father, and later losses. She's fiercely even foolishly proud. Can she make peace with anyone she loves, or is she left to rage against the dying of the light?

The Velveteen Rabbit

The Velveteen Rabbit

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2012-12-31

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

97 min

Rated:

G

IMDB Ratings:

6.2 (463 Reviews)

Genres:

Family

Cast:

Writer:

Cindy Kelley (screenplay)

Michael Landon Jr. (story)

Margery Williams (book)

Fullplot:

Sensitive young Toby is deeply saddened when his doted father John, who buried himself in work when widowed, dumps the boy for weeks, including Christmas, on his stern old mother, grim widow Ellen. Beside the stuck-up lady's driver-butler Henry, Toby finds comfort only with a velveteen cuddly rabbit and other animal toys in his father's childhood room, which come to life in his mind when he plays with them. Drama over rabbit and boy stirs crucial emotions in both family and fantasy toy land.

Lovely, Still

Lovely, Still

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2010-03-27

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

92 min

Rated:

PG

IMDB Ratings:

7.2 (1423 Reviews)

Genres:

DramaRomance

Cast:

Writer:

Nicholas Fackler

Tim Kasher (additional writing)

Fullplot:

A holiday fable that tells the story of an elderly man discovering love for the first time.

Main Street

Main Street

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2012-07-26

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

92 min

Rated:

PG

IMDB Ratings:

4.7 (2056 Reviews)

Director:

John Doyle

Genres:

Drama

Fullplot:

Several residents of a small Southern city whose lives are changed by the arrival of a stranger with a controversial plan to save their decaying hometown. In the midst of today's challenging times, each of the colorful citizens of this close-knit North Carolina community, will search for ways to reinvent themselves, their relationships and the very heart of their neighborhood.

The Age of Adaline

The Age of Adaline

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2015-04-24

Languages:

English, Portuguese, Italian

Countries:

USA, Canada

Runtime:

112 min

Rated:

PG-13

IMDB Ratings:

7.3 (45693 Reviews)

Genres:

DramaRomance

Cast:

Writer:

J. Mills Goodloe (screenplay)

Salvador Paskowitz (screenplay)

J. Mills Goodloe (screenplay)

J. Mills Goodloe (story)

Salvador Paskowitz (story)

Fullplot:

After miraculously remaining 29 years old for almost eight decades, Adaline Bowman has lived a solitary existence, never allowing herself to get close to anyone who might reveal her secret. But a chance encounter with charismatic philanthropist Ellis Jones reignites her passion for life and romance. When a weekend with his parents threatens to uncover the truth, Adaline makes a decision that will change her life forever.

The Calling

The Calling

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2014-08-05

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA, Canada

Runtime:

108 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

5.8 (4789 Reviews)

Director:

Jason Stone

Genres:

Thriller

Cast:

Writer:

Scott Abramovitch (screenplay)

Inger Ash Wolfe (novel)

Fullplot:

Detective Hazel Micallef hasn't had much to worry about in the sleepy town of Fort Dundas until a string of gruesome murders in the surrounding countryside brings her face to face with a serial killer driven by a higher calling.

Another Happy Day

Another Happy Day

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2011-12-08

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

119 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

(3058 Reviews)

Director:

Sam Levinson

Genres:

ComedyDrama

Fullplot:

A family weekend is fraught with emotional landmines for mercurial and sensitive Lynn (Barkin) as she arrives at her parents' Annapolis estate for the marriage of her estranged eldest son Dylan (Michael Nardelli), accompanied by her three younger children (Ezra Miller, Kate Bosworth, Daniel Yelsky). Lynn's hopes for a joyful reunion are crushed as her wry but troubled middle son Elliot (Ezra Miller) lobs verbal grenades at his mother and her relatives while daughter Alice (Kate Bosworth), a fights valiantly to keep her longtime demons under control. The weekend quickly unravels as Lynn demands to be heard by her aloof, disdainful mother (Ellen Burstyn), ailing, distant father (George Kennedy) and ever-judgmental sisters (Siobhan Fallon, Diana Scarwid), but most especially by her ex-husband Paul (Thomas Hayden Church) and his hot-tempered second wife Patty (Demi Moore). Confronted with the deeply painful, half-buried truths that have given rise to the family's primal web ofresentments and recriminations, Lynn struggles to maintain her equilibrium as her best attempts at reconciliation veer quickly off-course.

Love, Marilyn

Love, Marilyn

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2013-05-16

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA, France

Runtime:

107 min

Rated:

NOT RATED

IMDB Ratings:

7.3 (1119 Reviews)

Director:

Liz Garbus

Cast:

Writer:

Truman Capote (excerpts from memoirs)

Liz Garbus

Ralph Greenson (personal papers)

Elia Kazan (excerpts from memoirs)

Natasha Lytess (excerpts from memoirs)

Norman Mailer (excerpts from book)

Arthur Miller (excerpts from play)

Marilyn Monroe (personal papers)

Norman Rosten (excerpts from poem)

Gloria Steinem (excerpts from book)

Billy Wilder (excerpts from letters)

Fullplot:

Of all the stars in Hollywood's history, no one had a more potent mix of glamor and tragedy than Marilyn Monroe. Through performed readings of her personal papers, this film explores the life and personal thoughts of this seminal movie star and how she achieved her dream with determination and audacity. Furthermore, through additional readings and interviews of her colleagues and acquaintances, we also follow her emotional self-destruction under the sexist pressures of Hollywood until her premature death in 1962.

Two Men in Town

Two Men in Town

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2015-03-06

Languages:

English

Countries:

France, Belgium, Algeria, USA

Runtime:

120 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

5.6 (1038 Reviews)

Genres:

Drama

Cast:

Writer:

Olivier Lorelle (adaptation)

Yasmina Khadra (adaptation)

Rachid Bouchareb (adaptation)

Josè Giovanni (original screenplay)

Daniel Boulanger (original screenplay)

Fullplot:

Forest Whitaker plays a parolee, who finds Allah inside, and tries to get his life on track after 18 years. He's off to a good start with a job, a bank account, and a good woman. Of course his old partner in crime tries hard to get him to come back to his old ways, but the real problem is the sheriff in town who won't let him forget his dark past.

Flowers in the Attic

Flowers in the Attic

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2014-01-18

Languages:

English

Countries:

Canada, USA

Runtime:

86 min

Rated:

TV-14

IMDB Ratings:

6.1 (5402 Reviews)

Director:

Deborah Chow

Cast:

Writer:

Kayla Alpert (teleplay)

Virginia C. Andrews (based upon the novel by)

Fullplot:

Based on V.C. Andrews' controversial cult-classic novel, "Flowers in the Attic" tells the story of the Dollanganger kids who, after the unexpected death of their father, are coerced to stay hidden in the attic of their ruthless grandmother.

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