John Shea (9/82 All the Sad Young Men/Windy City)
Excerpt from Sarasota Herald Tribune 9/14/82: John Shea | Windy City
What's Warren Beatty Up To Now?
Liz Smith
John Shea was excellent as Sissy Spacek's husband in Missing. Now, he will star for CBS Films in All the Sad Young Men, to be written and directed in a first-time outing by Armyan Bernstein, with Allan Greisman producing.
© Sarasota Herald Tribune
Excerpt from New York Times 10/6/82: John Shea
COMPANY NEWS; Warner, CBS Sign Distribution Pact
Published: October 6, 1982
The second will be ''All the Sad Young Men,'' which began shooting Sept. 28, starring John Shea and Kate Capshaw.
© New York Times
Excerpt from Variety 12/31/83: John Shea
Review: ‘Windy City’
December 31, 1983 | 11:00PM PT
Focus is Danny Morgan (John Shea), the most obvious victim of failed ambition among a group of seven men. He’s a writer forced to take odd jobs including delivering mail. In the latter capacity he meets Emily (Kate Capshaw), the woman who finally accelerates his maturation which ironically forces their estrangement. Cast is very strong although Shea is saddled with too much voice-over narration at top of picture.
© Variety
Excerpt from Christian Science Monitor 5/15/84: John Shea
Actor John Shea takes on another 'case' - as nuclear gumshoe
By Louise Sweeney / May 15, 1984
His other credits include the male lead in the Chelsea Theater production of ''Yentl,'' ''Romeo and Juliet'' on and off Broadway, a couple of TV series (''Eight Is Enough'' and ''The Man From Atlantis''), and then a much juicier role in the highly successful Playwrights Horizon Production of A. R. Gurney's ''The Dining Room.'' Next fall his new film, ''Windy City,'' will be released. ''It's about a writer who's down and out and living in Chicago,'' he says. ''He's worshipped movie heroes, action heroes like Errol Flynn, all his life, but finds himself incapable of taking action to save his own life.''
© Christian Science Monitor
Excerpt from Ottawa Citizen 8/21/84: John Shea
Four films instant exposure for Capshaw
by Noel Taylor
Windy City an official competition feature at the World Film Festival which casts Capshaw in a leisurely off-on romance with John Shea.
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And what about her leading men, some of them big names in the business? "They're very different too." She ticks them off one by one, categorizing them in a familial way: John Shea, co-star in Windy City "He's like a buddy, a brotherly buddy, an older brother."
© Ottawa Citizen
Excerpt from Columbia Daily Spectator 9/14/84: John Shea
'Windy City': Trite tale falls short
By Meredith Goldsmith
Both Shea and Capshaw are fine actors, and the chemistry between them gives a big boost to their scenes together; were two lesser actors cast in these roles, the storyline would probably not be believable.
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The acting of Mostel, as well as that of Shea and Capshaw, is unquestionably the high point of Windy City.
© Columbia Spectator
Excerpt from New York Times 9/21/84: John Shea
'WINDY CITY'
By JANET MASLIN Published: September 21, 1984
''GOD knows, we were dreamers,'' recalls the hero of ''Windy City'' in voice- over. ''Everybody was gonna be somebody - me, I was gonna be a great writer.'' In fact, Danny (John Shea) does write a book by the film's end, a tome entitled ''All the Sad Young Men,'' chronicling the rueful good times of Danny and his childhood buddies, who call themselves the Rogues. ''You and me, we could've been the kind of guys they write about in books,'' one Rogue tells another midway through the story.
Armyan Bernstein, who wrote and directed ''Windy City,'' also wrote ''One From the Heart,'' a film best remembered for aspects other than its screenplay. Nevertheless, ''Windy City,'' which opens today at the Gemini, manages to recall the misty uneventfulness of Francis Ford Coppola's much-publicized fiasco. Danny has two major crises to handle during the course of the story: the mortal illness of his best friend (Josh Mostel) and the imminent marriage of his best girl, Emily (Kate Capshaw). Even so, little of any consequence seems to happen. A lot of the film consists of flashbacks to the courtship of Danny and Emily, who look great and trade loads of leaden banter.
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Whenever Danny and Emily meet, on the other hand, she smiles, he melts and the music swells mightily. The romance is entirely pat; as for the old-gang-of-mine gatherings, when Danny compares them to a beer commercial, he's not far off the mark. Mr. Shea has far too much gravity for the superficiality and soddenness of this material; Miss Capshaw is certainly eye-catching, but she brings little more than a one-note vivacity to her role. Neither they nor any other two actors could bring off the fight scene that wrecks their love affair, since the fight is about Danny's writing talents. ''I'm not a writer - I'm kidding myself!'' he shouts.
''Danny, the world needs storytellers! The world needs to be inspired!'' she answers.
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WINDY CITY, written and directed by Armyan Bernstein; director of photography, Reynaldo Villalobos; film editor, Clifford Jones; music by Jack Nitzsche; produced by Alan Greisman; released by Warner Bros.-CBS Theatrical Films. At Gemini, Second Avenue and 64th Street. Running time: 105 minutes. This film is rated R.
Danny . . . . . John Shea
Emily . . . . . Kate Capshaw
Sol . . . . . Josh Mostel
Mickey . . . . . Jim Borrelli
Bobby . . . . . Jeffrey DeMunn
Pete . . . . . Eric Pierpoint
Marty . . . . . Lewis J. Stadlen
Eddie . . . . . James Sutorius
Michael . . . . . Niles McMaster
Sherry . . . . . Lisa Taylor
Mr. Jones . . . . . Nathan Davis
Ernesto . . . . . Louie Lanciloti
© New York Times
Excerpt from Christian Science Monitor 9/25/84: John Shea
Benson's 'Places in the Heart': sound sentiment, clear sincerity. Also, 'All of Me' is silly; 'Windy City' wavers
By David Sterritt September 25, 1984
Of the three leads, only John Shea underplays to the point of passivity.
© CS Monitor
Excerpt from Sun Sentinel 1/30/85: John Shea
Shea`s Not Missing-- He`s Just Fishing
January 30, 1985|By Claude Edmunds, Special to the Sun-Sentinel
John Shea, who starred in the brief run of Windy City, is looking for a new movie to make. ``I`m looking for a script. I`m not sure what it`s going to be, but I`m sure it will come along,`` says Shea, 36, a 1970 graduate of the Yale Drama School. He describes the process of choosing a script as going fishing. ``I cast my line out, hoping to catch a keeper, just like a fisherman,`` he says. ``I just wait for the keeper to come across my desk. I`m patient.``
Shea`s first notices came for his performance in Missing, the 1982 movie about an American couple caught up in a Central American revolution. He co- starred with Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek. Shea says he waited two years after completing Missing before accepting Windy City. ``I spend more time unemployed than I could, simply because I refuse to tell stories that I don`t think are worth telling,`` he says.
When Shea reads a script he says he tries to visualize what the movie will look like and then trusts his instincts. ``Windy City hit me in that same sort of intuitive place that Missing had hit me. I knew it was a story I wanted to tell,`` he says.
Shea thinks that the movie, which co-starred Kate Capshaw, made a successful connection with the audiences` emotions. Though the movie had a disappointing box office, Shea did win the Best Actor Award at the Montreal Film Festival against such competition as Gerard Depardieu and Clint Eastwood. The reception at Montreal, which included a standing ovation for the film at its debut, Shea says ``was a validation of my original intuition about the script.``
Nonetheless, Shea has not had a box-office success to match the critical raves that his career has garnered. He doesn`t seem to worry about it. ``I am in this career for the long run,`` he says. ``I`ve been spoiled by my life and education.``
© Sun Sentinel
Excerpt from Los Angeles Times 11/15/86: John Shea
Shea Fiddles Around To Get Ready For 'Dreamers'
Roderick Mann November 15, 1986
Shea laments that fact that, although he's been busy, he has not made a Hollywood movie since "Windy City" two years ago. "It wasn't a big hit," he said. "And since then, all I'm offered is the stuff other actors have turned down. So rather than make someone else's castoff, I prefer to go to Europe and Israel and make things I care about. But I would like to work here again."
© Los Angeles Times
Excerpt from Toronto Star 5/21/94: John Shea, posted by amac on Lois and Clark Message Board
By Jim Bawden Toronto Star May 21, 1994
Moved to L.A.
For years Shea starred in a succession of often brilliant art house movies. The small audiences who saw him often raved about his quirky performances. How many people caught him with Helen Mirren in Hussy (1979) a film noir love story set against London's underworld of sex clubs and prostitution? What about the even more obscure French thriller Lune De Miel where he stalked Natalie Baye? Or the generational comedy Windy City, which won him a best actor nod from the Montreal Film Festival? ``I chose these roles. I wanted to play them,'' he says. ``I should have been building up my box office clout. Some of the films I turned down because I thought they were lousy made big money. After Missing I perversely did an off-Broadway play and turned down movie follow ups.''
© Toronto Star
Excerpt from Nantucket Today 6/12: John Shea
Army Bernstein Hollywood Producer
by Marianne R. Stanton
Army Bernstein was looking for an actor to star in a film he was producing. Having seen close to 400 people, there appeared to be no one suitable for the role. Finally a friend recommended a new face, an up-and-coming actor who'd just been in the acclaimed Costa-Gavras film "Missing," with Sissy Spacek and Jack Lemmon. Bernstein saw the movie and liked what he saw in John Shea's performance, and offered him the lead role in "All the Sad Young Men." Shea, however, said "No." "It was a great film, a great role, and we were going to shoot it over the summer. I went out to Stockbridge, where John was performing in summer stock, and offered him the role. He said, "I think it's a great script. I'd love to do it, but I have my own group of guys I hang out with every summer, and it's on Nantucket. I don't work in the summer. Nantucket's too important to me," Bernstein recalled. "I was incredulous. Here I was offering this guy a great film, and he was turning it down?"
Bernstein laughs today when he remembers that time, some 30 years ago. "I said, 'Why are you being so difficult? I tried to convince him that this was a great role, that it would be good for his career, but he was adamant. Finally John said to me, "Look. You come spend a weekend on Nantucket with me, and after that if you still think I should give up my summer to do this, I'll think about it," Bernstein said. The Hollywood producer came to Nantucket for a weekend in June and the rest is history.
"We've been friends ever since and I've seen Army evolve into a rare combination of talents. He is a good director and a remarkable producer, one of the most successful in the history of Hollywood. What makes his Beacon Pictures unique is that Army is first and foremost a great writer. He works with every screenwriter and every director on every script, helping hammer the stories into shape. Beacon films are developed over years of thoughtful process until, having run the gauntlet of his intellect, they are ready for production," said his good friend and fellow Sconseter Shea.
The filming of "Windy City," which the film was eventually called, was delayed until September with Shea starring opposite Kate Capshaw. The movie was well-received, and Shea and Bernstein ended up forming a friend that has lasted all these years. No small feat in Hollywood.
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One of the secrets to his success is that he's "genuinely one of the good guys," Shea said. "Investors trust him with their money because he's honest. Movie stars trust him with their careers because he's smart." Friends and lovers trust him with their hearts because he's kind. In another life he walked with Buddha. In this one he works in show business and tries to tell stories with a touch of poetry to them," Shea added.
© Nantucket Today
Excerpt from Tampa Bay Times 1/14/14: John Shea
'Repo Man' tops the list of worst box-office movies of 1984
Steve Spears Tuesday, January 14, 2014 4:00pm
Box Office Mojo tracked 168 movies in 1984, and these eight finished at the bottom at the ticket window.
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160. WINDY CITY ($343,890): John Shea, Kate Capshaw. The lives of a group of young Chicago men, as seen through the eyes of one of them, a writer.
© Tampa Bay Times