Michael Ritchie

Directing

Michael Ritchie

Born — Died

1938-11-28 — 2001-04-16

Place of birth

Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA

Known for

Directing

Credits

32 titles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Michael Brunswick Ritchie (November 28, 1938 - April 16, 2001) was an American film director. Ritchie was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin, the son of Patricia (née Graney) and Benbow Ferguson Ritchie. His family later moved to Berkeley, California, where his father was a professor of experimental psychology at the University of California at Berkeley and his mother was the art and music librarian for the city. He attended Berkeley High School before becoming interested in film, and was accepted at Harvard University following high school. Ritchie attracted attention in his senior year at Harvard in 1960 by directing the original production of the Arthur …

Known for

The Golden Child poster
5.9

After a Tibetan boy, the mystical Golden Child, is kidnapped by the evil Sardo Numspa, humankind's fate hangs in the balance. On the other side of the world in Los Angeles, the priestess Kee Nang seeks the Chosen One, who will save the boy from death. When Nang sees social worker Chandler Jarrell on television discussing his ability to find missing children, she solicits his expertise, despite his skepticism over being "chosen."

The Golden Child

1986

Fletch poster
6.8

When investigative reporter Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher goes undercover to write a piece on the drug trade at a local beach, he's approached by wealthy businessman Alan Stanwyk, who offers him $50,000 to murder him. With sarcastic wit and a knack for disguises, Fletch sets out to uncover Stanwyk's story.

Fletch

1985

Wildcats poster
6.2

High school track coach Molly McGrath knows just as much about football as anyone else on the planet. When a football coach's position becomes vacant, she applies for the job, despite snickers from fellow staff members and her former husband.

Wildcats

1986

Fletch Lives poster
6.0

Fletch is a fish out of water in small-town Louisiana, where he's checking out a tumbledown mansion he's inherited. When a woman he flirts with turns up dead, he becomes a suspect and must find the killer and clear his name.

Fletch Lives

1989

Innocent Blood poster
6.2

Marie is a vampire with a thirst for bad guys. When she fails to properly dispose of one of her victims, a violent mob boss, she bites off more than she can chew and faces a new, immortal danger.

Innocent Blood

1992

A Simple Wish poster
5.5

Murray is a male fairy godmother, and he is trying to help 8-year-old Anabel to fulfil her "simple wish" - that her father Oliver, who is a cab driver, would win the leading role in a Broadway musical. Unfortunately, Murray's magic wand is broken and the fairies convention is threatened by evil witches Claudia and Boots.

A Simple Wish

1997

Film credits

Behind the camera

The Golden Child poster
5.9

After a Tibetan boy, the mystical Golden Child, is kidnapped by the evil Sardo Numspa, humankind's fate hangs in the balance. On the other side of the world in Los Angeles, the priestess Kee Nang seeks the Chosen One, who will save the boy from death. When Nang sees social worker Chandler Jarrell on television discussing his ability to find missing children, she solicits his expertise, despite his skepticism over being "chosen."

The Golden Child

1986

Fletch poster
6.8

When investigative reporter Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher goes undercover to write a piece on the drug trade at a local beach, he's approached by wealthy businessman Alan Stanwyk, who offers him $50,000 to murder him. With sarcastic wit and a knack for disguises, Fletch sets out to uncover Stanwyk's story.

Fletch

1985

Wildcats poster
6.2

High school track coach Molly McGrath knows just as much about football as anyone else on the planet. When a football coach's position becomes vacant, she applies for the job, despite snickers from fellow staff members and her former husband.

Wildcats

1986

Fletch Lives poster
6.0

Fletch is a fish out of water in small-town Louisiana, where he's checking out a tumbledown mansion he's inherited. When a woman he flirts with turns up dead, he becomes a suspect and must find the killer and clear his name.

Fletch Lives

1989

A Simple Wish poster
5.5

Murray is a male fairy godmother, and he is trying to help 8-year-old Anabel to fulfil her "simple wish" - that her father Oliver, who is a cab driver, would win the leading role in a Broadway musical. Unfortunately, Murray's magic wand is broken and the fairies convention is threatened by evil witches Claudia and Boots.

A Simple Wish

1997

Semi-Tough poster
5.4

A three-way friendship between two free-spirited professional football players and the owner's daughter becomes compromised when two of them become romantically involved.

Semi-Tough

1977

The Island poster
5.2

David Nau leads a band of modern day pirates who raid yachts and sail boats of people on vacation in the Caribbean. When reporter Blair Maynard and his son arrive to investigate the mystery of the disappearing boats, Nau and his band of raiders decide to induct them into their tribe.

The Island

1980

The Candidate poster
6.5

Bill McKay is a candidate for the U.S. Senate from California. He has no hope of winning, so he is willing to tweak the establishment.

The Candidate

1972

Downhill Racer poster
6.0

An ambitious young skier, determined to break all existing records, is contemptuous of the teamwork advocated by the US coach when they go to Europe for the Olympics.

Downhill Racer

1969

Diggstown poster
6.3

Gabriel Caine has just been released from prison when he sets up a bet with a business man who owns most of Diggstown, a boxing-mad town. The bet is that Gabe can find a boxer that will knock out 10 Diggstown men, in a boxing ring, within 24 hours. Roy 'Honey' Palmer is that man that, at 48, many say he is too old.

Diggstown

1992

The Bad News Bears poster
6.9

An aging, down-on-his-luck ex-minor leaguer coaches a team of misfits in an ultra-competitive California little league.

The Bad News Bears

1976

The Scout poster
5.2

When his star recruit botches a Major League Baseball debut, humiliated talent scout Al Percolo gets banished to rural Mexico, where he finds a potential gold mine in the arm of young phenom Steve Nebraska. Soon, the New York Yankees put a $55 million contract on the table—provided a psychiatrist can affirm Nebraska's mental stability.

The Scout

1994

Smile poster
6.0

It's time again for California's "Young American Miss" beauty pageant, the biggest event of the year for Big Bob Freelander and Brenda DiCarlo, who give their all to put on a successful pageant. But Brenda is having marital difficulties and Bob's son is up to some mischief. Could this year's pageant be in jeopardy?

Smile

1975

Smile poster
6.0

It's time again for California's "Young American Miss" beauty pageant, the biggest event of the year for Big Bob Freelander and Brenda DiCarlo, who give their all to put on a successful pageant. But Brenda is having marital difficulties and Bob's son is up to some mischief. Could this year's pageant be in jeopardy?

Smile

1975

The Couch Trip poster
5.5

The escaped mental patient and delinquent John W. Burns Jr. replaces Dr. Maitlin on a radio show, saying he's the psychiatrist Lawrence Baird.

The Couch Trip

1988

Cops & Robbersons poster
5.2

When the police discover that a mob hitman has moved in next door to the Robbersons, they set up a stakeout in the Robbersons' home. Hard-nosed, tough-as-nails Jake Stone and his young partner Tony Moore are assigned to the stakeout, but now it is a question of whether Jake can last long enough to capture the bad guys. The Robbersons want to help, and by doing so, drive Jake crazy.

Cops & Robbersons

1994

Prime Cut poster
6.5

A group of ruthless Chicago mob enforcers are sent to Kansas City to settle things with the owner of a slaughterhouse who has taken money that is not his to keep.

Prime Cut

1972

The Survivors poster
5.7

Having both lost their jobs, two strangers become unlikely friends after a run in with a would be robber, who is actually a hitman with a grudge against the two.

The Survivors

1983

The Bad News Bears Go to Japan poster
4.8

A small time promotor/hustler takes the pint-sized baseball team to Japan for a match against the country's best little league baseball team which sparks off a series of adventures and mishaps the boys come into.

The Bad News Bears Go to Japan

1978

An Almost Perfect Affair poster
5.0

An idealistic first-time director lives for his art — until he meets a wife of an Italian producer at the Cannes Film Festival. A passionate affair begins, but the couple's romance is tested as they face the temptations of fame and fortune.

An Almost Perfect Affair

1979

The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom poster
6.4

A Texas housewife plots hire a hit man to kill the girl who beat out her daughter for a place on the cheerleading squad.

The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom

1993

Student Bodies poster
5.2

This zany send-up of teen slasher flicks features a maniacal psycho known as the Breather, who stalks –and murders– promiscuous students at a suburban high school. The fanatical killer's unusual weapons include paper clips, blackboard erasers and eggplants.

Student Bodies

1981

The Fantasticks poster
5.5

Widowers Amos and Ben plot to romantically unite Amos' daughter Luisa and Ben's son Matt by pretending to feud and forbidding the teens to associate, knowing they will resist their fathers' interference. As the youngsters fall in love, the fathers plot to end the 'feud' by hiring a travelling showman to fake an abduction and allow Matt to 'rescue' Luisa.

The Fantasticks

2000

Divine Madness poster
6.4

Divine Madness is a 1980 concert film directed by Michael Ritchie, and featuring Bette Midler during her 1979 concert at Pasadena's Civic Auditorium. The 94-minute film features Midler's stand-up comedy routines as well as 16 songs, including "Big Noise From Winnetka," "Paradise," "Shiver Me Timbers," "Fire Down Below," "Stay With Me," "My Mother’s Eyes," "Chapel of Love/Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," "Do You Want to Dance," "You Can’t Always Get What You Want/I Shall Be Released", "The E-Street Shuffle/Summer (The First Time)/"Leader of the Pack" and "The Rose".

Divine Madness

1980

The Outsider poster
8.0

Darren McGavin is David Ross, a private investigator playing a game of follow the money. A simple case of embezzling turns bad quickly when bodies start dropping and the savvy P.I. is the primary suspect in an attractive woman's death. This NBC TV movie served as a pilot for the later series.

The Outsider

1967

The Sound of Anger poster
8.0

Two teenagers who have been engaged in pre-marital sex become the prime suspects when the girl's disapproving father is mysteriously murdered.

The Sound of Anger

1968

Skip Chasers poster
8.0

An unsold CBS pilot about a mailman named Deacon, who gets entangled in a mess involving a team of Bail Enforcement Agents (bounty hunters who chase after people who have ‘skipped’ bail).

Skip Chasers

1998

No artwork available
8.0

No synopsis available yet.

Comfort, Texas

1997

No artwork available
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

Einstein

1993