Top 250 Movies Like The Comeback Kids

A film of the life of the renowned musical composer, playwright, actor, dancer and singer George M. Cohan.

For over 40 years Val Kilmer, one of Hollywood’s most mercurial and/or misunderstood actors has been documenting his own life and craft through film and video. He has amassed thousands of hours of footage, from 16mm home movies made with his brothers, to time spent in iconic roles for blockbuster movies like Top Gun, The Doors, Tombstone, and Batman Forever. This raw, wildly original and unflinching documentary reveals a life lived to extremes and a heart-filled, sometimes hilarious look at what it means to be an artist and a complex man.

Italian immigrant Rudolph Valentino makes it big in silent Hollywood, but he ends up struggling between his career and the woman he loves.

Winfield College students rebel against a stodgy professor who won't permit "swing" music be played in their varsity show. They appeal to a big Broadway alumnus and have him direct their show. What they don't know is that this "star's" last three shows were flops.

A group of soldiers in a café watch a dancer as she entertains them, but later two of them become rivals over her.

A picture depicting the engrossing adventures of a small town youth in Hollywood and showing the intimate home life of some of the screen's greatest stars.

An investigation into accusations of teenagers being sexually abused within the film industry.

An amoral lowlife accidentally stumbles into an acting career that sets him on a trajectory to Hollywood stardom. But everyone on whom he steps on the way to the top remembers when he is nominated for an Oscar and he runs a dirty campaign in an attempt to win.

Gavin Stone, a washed-up former child star, is forced to do community service at a local megachurch and pretends to be Christian so he can land the part of Jesus in their annual Passion Play, only to discover that the most important role of his life is far from Hollywood.

Released two years after James Dean's death, this documentary chronicles his short life and career via black-and-white still photographs, interviews with the aunt and uncle who raised him, his paternal grandparents, a New York City cabdriver friend, the owner of his favorite Los Angeles restaurant, outtakes from East of Eden, footage of the opening night of Giant, and Dean's ironic PSA for safe driving.

In this sequel to The Jolson Story, we pick up the singer's career just as he has returned to the stage after a premature retirement. But his wife has left him and the appeal of the spotlight isn't what it used to be. This time Jolson trades in the stage for life in the fast lane: women, horses, travel. It takes the death of Moma Yoelson and World War II to bring Jolson back to earth - and to the stage. Once again teamed with manager Steve Martin, Jolson travels the world entertaining troops everywhere from Alaska to Africa. When he finally collapses from exhaustion it takes young, pretty nurse Ellen Clark to show him there's more to life than "just rushing around".

A roving bachelor gets saddled with three children and a wealth of trouble when the youngsters stumble upon a huge gold nugget. They join forces with two bumbling outlaws to fend off the greedy townspeople and soon find themselves facing a surly gang of sharpshooters.

A shocking examination into Las Vegas fertility specialist, Dr. Quincy Fortier, who assisted hundreds of couples struggling with conceiving. Decades later, many children born from his interventions discover through DNA and genealogical websites, that Dr. Fortier had used his own sperm to impregnate their mothers without their knowledge or consent.

After one of his class papers is stolen and turned into a movie, a young student and his best friend exact a hilarious, slapstick revenge on the Hollywood hot shot who has taken credit!

Danny, an ambitious singing and dancing cat, goes to Hollywood and overcomes several obstacles to fulfill his dream of becoming a movie star.

The story of teen heartthrobs Corey Feldman and Corey Haim, whose lives were forever changed by the glitz, glamour, and the darker side of show business.

Once a famous Ziegfeld star, Dodo Delwyn, is reduced to playing clowns in burlesque and amusement parks as a result of his drinking. His son Little Dink idolizes Dodo and faithfully believes in a comeback. He persuades "Uncle" Goldie, Dodo's agent in the good old days, to find a booking for Dodo. He can't, and Dink is sent to live with his remarried-and-wealthy mother, Paula. The unhappy Dink runs back to his father. His welcome return gives Dodo the courage needed to try a knockabout TV show offered by Goldie

A disgraced reporter investigates an abandoned luxury hotel where five people mysteriously disappeared sixty years earlier.

Former child star Joe Davis, reduced to living in a cheap Hollywood motel while struggling for acting jobs, is lusted after by nearly every woman he meets, including Jessica Todd, a tightly wound feminist who has recently come out as a lesbian. When Jessica's mother, Sally, an emotionally needy has-been actress, meets Joe, she moves him into her enormous, tacky mansion as her new boy toy and attempts to get him acting work.

A hack screenwriter writes a screenplay for a former silent film star who has faded into Hollywood obscurity.

Los Angeles, 1969. TV star Rick Dalton, a struggling actor specializing in westerns, and stuntman Cliff Booth, his best friend, try to survive in a constantly changing movie industry. Dalton is the neighbor of the young and promising actress and model Sharon Tate, who has just married the prestigious Polish director Roman Polanski…

San Francisco businessman Harry Graham and his wife and business partner, Eve, are in the process of adopting a child. When private investigator Mr. Jordan uncovers the fact that Graham has another wife, Phyllis, and a small child in Los Angeles, he confesses everything.

Gigolo and drifter Chance Wayne returns to his home town as the companion of a faded movie star, Alexandra Del Lago, whom he hopes to use to help him break into the movies. Chance runs into trouble when he finds his ex-girlfriend, the daughter of the local politician Tom "Boss" Finley, who more or less forced him to leave his daughter and the town many years ago.

Two quirky, cynical teenaged girls try to figure out what to do with their lives after high school graduation. After they play a prank on an eccentric, middle aged record collector, one of them befriends him, which causes a rift in the girls' friendship.

TV child star of the '70s, Dickie Roberts is now 35 and parking cars. Craving to regain the spotlight, he auditions for a role of a normal guy, but the director quickly sees he is anything but normal. Desperate to win the part, Dickie hires a family to help him replay his childhood and assume the identity of an average, everyday kid.

Thornton Sayre, a respected college professor - secretly formerly a silent films romantic action hero - is disturbed, feeling his privacy has been violated, and his professional credibility as a scholar jeopardized, when he learns his old movies have been resurrected and are being aired on TV. He sets out to demand this cease. However, his former co-star is the hostess of the TV show playing the films, and she has other plans.

The story of Leon Vitali, who surrendered his promising acting career to become Stanley Kubrick's devoted right-hand man.

An intergalactic dog pilot from Sirius (the dog star), visits Earth to verify the rumors that dogs have failed to take over the planet.

A dictatorial film director hires an unknown actress to play the lead role in a planned movie biography of a late, great Hollywood star.

Michael Chapman, a former child TV star, runs a struggling talent agency specilizing in child acts. When a young girl off the street puts on a real performance after he catches her picking his pocket, he may have just found the next big thing.

A girl on the road to stardom fights the dehumanizing effects of Hollywood life.

Growing up in a rural town filled with violent delinquents, Jack has learned to do what it takes to survive, despite having an oblivious mother and no father. After his aunt falls ill and a younger cousin comes to stay with him, the hardened 15-year-old discovers the importance of friendship, family, and looking for happiness even in the most desolate of circumstances.

Hollywood drama loosely based on the life of film actress Jean Harlow, with Carroll Baker in the title role. One of two feature film biographies, both released in 1965 and both with the same title, about the '30s platinum blonde movie star.

Woody Allen stars as Val Waxman, a two-time Oscar winner turned washed-up, neurotic director in desperate need of a comeback. When it comes, Waxman finds himself backed into a corner: Work for his ex-wife Ellie or forfeit his last shot. Is Val blinded by love when he opts for the reconnect? Is love blind when it comes to Ellie's staunch support? Literally and figuratively, the proof is the picture.

A grocery clerk, longing to become a cowboy actor, goes to Hollywood in search of fame and fortune. Unfortunately, his acting ability is non-existent.

With his life already in shambles -- his girlfriend just dumped him, he's lost his acting gig, and his cat is seriously ill -- sad-sack Jimmy Zoole (Steve Guttenberg) comes home New Year's Eve to find a gay burglar (Lombardo Boyar) looting his apartment. Taking the intruder hostage, Jimmy threatens to unleash his pent-up rage on the would-be thief but instead begins to bond with his captive.

A Swedish princess boards an ocean liner in Europe en route to an acting career in America and finds herself getting inconveniently attached to a bandleader returning home. To complicate matters, a blackmailer on board apparently knows she is not who she claims to be - and he has his sights set on other passengers with secrets of their own. In the meantime an escaped killer has stowed away under someone else's identity, and is killing again to cover his tracks; five international police detectives on board are heading the investigation to find him. When evidence points to the princess and bandleader, they must find the killer themselves - before he finds them.

Now a pre-teen, Junior has fallen head over heels for a classmate who doesn't even notice him, but does notice three other boys – a child star, a hockey player and a Boy Scout – who are rivals to Junior. This means war!

A high-school gym teacher has big plans for the summer, but is forced to cancel them to teach a "bonehead" English class for misfit goof-off students. Fortunately, his unconventional brand of teaching fun field trips begins to connect with them, and even inspires ardor in some.

In an attempt to sign a Hollywood starlet, struggling talent agent and former child star Howard Holloway must contend with her volatile father, a scheming long-time rival, and a producer and casting director who despise him.

Tongue-in-cheek account of a private eye hired to find a young porn actress.

A 16 year old girl turns to prostitution to support her baby and encounters a treacherous underworld of pimps, hookers and johns while doing her best to maintain her hopes and dignity.

An Eddie Cantor look-alike organizes an all-star show to help the war effort.

Down-on-his-luck film director Jimmie Dale takes a job at a fly-by-night acting school. He is drawn into the plans of the school's owner to bilk a wealthy young man out of the funds he has supplied to shoot a movie starring pretty student Alice Perkins. But Jimmie hopes to bilk the bilkers by actually completing the movie as ostensibly planned.

Sam, a young man in a small town, is accused of being a thief. Unable to prove his innocence--and not knowing that he's being framed by a local villain to keep him away from pretty young Mary, the town beauty whom the villain wants for himself--he leaves town and goes to Hollywood to become an actor. He eventually returns home to town as a star, but once again finds himself the victim of the town villain, who this time abducts sweet young Mary. Sam must use all his acting skills to track down the villain and save Mary.

Sheridan O'Connor and Riccardo Rossi were destined to meet on the set of their first big movie together when barely out of their teens. What they didn't know was that their on-screen chemistry would translate into a hot and heavy off-screen romance destined only for disaster. Now, living continents apart and a lifetime later, expecting their paths never to cross again, they are thrown back together to star in an updated version of their original film. The studio has high hopes that they will be able to attract the same audience who loved them the first time around. But working together again could demand greater acting skills than either ever imagined: long hours filming awkward romantic scenes, reliving the past and coming face to face with what fate has in store for them. Only slightly shaken and gently stirred by family and friends, Sheridan and Riccardo must find a way to make the perfect martini out of life so as not to waste a single drop of happiness.

A young actor's fascination with Rober De Niro's TAXI DRIVER persona leads him into a morass of strange and obsessional behaviors.

The story of a child star attempting to mend his relationship with his law-breaking, alcohol-abusing father over the course of a decade, loosely based on Shia LaBeouf’s life.

Andy Taggert set out for Hollywood to pursue acting, but years later finds himself working in adult films. Disillusioned and trapped, Andy walks off the set and lands himself in a mental hospital. His estranged parents pick him up and take him to their Arizona retirement community where Andy’s troubles seemingly all but disappear until his past unexpectedly comes back to haunt him.

A poor young man is finally able to achieve his dream of running a horse at the track, but when he starts becoming successful, he begins to lose sight of what mattered to him before.

First Down. Second Chance. Skylar is a star quarterback of his football team. He's got the skills, the looks, and the girls. His next-door neighbor, Walter is a loving husband, good father and all-round decent family man. When their worlds start to crumble they find themselves in jail together and suddenly these former enemies must rely on each other to rebuild their lives...

Fabricating credentials to score a last-ditch job as a high school guidance counsellor, a boozing, drug-addled former child star becomes an improbable hit with his students by dispensing the worst advice possible, in this hilarious reprobate comedy from writer-director-star Pat Mills.

A singer holes up at a sinister estate to write new songs for his act. The ghost of his murdered wife begins to haunt him, then the person who actually killed her shows up at the mansion.

Lucy Freers has a long-standing marriage, a nine-year old daughter, and a great family life in the suburbs of Hollywood. Great, that is, until the Hollywood set decides that motherhood is the newest way to go. When local neighbor Julia Prentice, the wife of a famous movie actor, adopts a baby in full view of the show-business media, the parenthood craze hits its peak. Soon after, Julia is found lying dead in Lucy's swimming pool, with Lucy and her husband labeled as suspects. Now Lucy must determine the truth to clear the name of both herself and her family.

A Hollywood filmmaker (Mike Jittlov) makes a short for an evil film studio. Unbeknownst to him, the producer has placed a bet of $25,000 that he won't come up with anything with a use. Luckily, our film creator gets the help of his friends.

Anita is the new girl at school. When Steve gets one look at the voluptuous transfer, it sets his girlfriend Donna into a tailspin and she'll stop at nothing to make sure these two never unite.

Abelard, a famous teacher of philosophy at the cathedral school of Notre Dame, falls in love with one of his students, Héloïse d'Argenteuil. A sixteen-year old girl raised in a convent, Héloïse has an intellectual curiosity and rebels against the status of women in 12th century Europe. When others begin to suspect their relationship, Heloise's uncle Fulbert and the bishop of Paris work together to put a stop to it. Héloïse becomes pregnant with Abelard's child, and they are married in secret. Abelard struggles for acting against the will of God, yet is unable to escape his love for Heloise.

A flunky for a porno movie ring starts murdering the smut films' lead actresses.

Saul Schwartz, a married successful businessman, is bored with his life and decides he has had enough. So he gets a divorce, quits his job, and goes off to pursue his dream, in Hollywood to be a movie star. Only becoming a movie star isn't as easy as he thought. Nobody wants an overweight, 50 year old, New Yorker who looks like a lawyer. He's going to have to make a few adjustments.

An 11 year old radio star decides to throw in her scripts and go undercover to get a better feel for her roles, but when she is kidnapped, trouble soon follows in this comedy.

Virginia Perry, a former movie star, leaves her family and returns to Hollywood to make a comeback, but age has taken its toll and she is cast in small character roles. Meanwhile, her daughter, Betty Ann, has won a beauty contest, and heads for Hollywood. They end up in the same, film, with Mom playing her Mom. Marshall tries to take advantage of the naive Betty. Somebody gets shot. Somebody is put on trial.

Three sisters come to Hollywood to be movie stars. Complications arise when two of them fall in love with the same man.

This shocking documentary chronicles a happy-go-lucky nomad's ascent to viral stardom and the steep downward spiral that resulted in his imprisonment.

A U.S. soccer star suffers a career-threatening injury in the run-up to the World Cup, and during his recovery, embarks on an epic romance with a Russian single mom.

In this documentary on the life of Joan Crawford, we learn why she should be remembered as the great actress she was, and not only as "mommie dearest." caricature she has become. Friends, fellow actors, directors, and others reminisce about their association with her, and numerous film clips show off her talent from her start in silents to bad science fiction/horror movies at the end of her career.

Marguerite Sydney is a celebrated Hollywood star attempting a comeback after a stay in a mental hospital, as well as trying to re-establish a relationship with her teenage son, and risking a romance with a mysterious stranger.

When Hollywood film studios reject her because she's too young, an Arkansas woman sets out to build a career as an actress on her own.

The Christmas Kid stars Craig Roberts (Red Oaks, Submarine,) in a warm-hearted comedy from writer/director Jamie Adams (Black Mountain Poets), about a former child star who learns what’s really important at Christmastime. Anthony Richards (Roberts) – you know, the Anthony Richards, The Actor – is depressed. His agent (Dolly Wells) has just dropped him, he’s unemployed, and he has little choice but to go home for Christmas - home to his doting mother, his jealous brother and a claustrophobic Welsh community that still reveres him as the home town boy who made it big. Back in his childhood home Anthony has demons to confront. But when Patricia (Erin Richards), the Head of Drama at the area’s most prestigious stage school, presents Ant with an offer to write and direct a play, Anthony finally has the chance to leave his Christmas Kid’s baggage in the past, once and for all.

An account of the rise and fall of a silent film comic, Billy Bright. The movie begins with his funeral, as he speaks from beyond the grave in a bitter tone about his fate, and takes us through his fame, as he ruins it with womanizing and drink, and his fall, as a lonely, bitter old man unable to reconcile his life's disappointments. The movie is based loosely on the life of Buster Keaton.

Bank clerk John Hart is about to marry Mary Kelly, but she insists that before that happens he must grow a mustache. The idea of that shakes him up so much that he gets distracted at work, comes up short in his accounts and gets fired. Unable to find another job, he begins to work as an extra at a nearby film studio to earn money. One day the leading man of a picture John is working on gets into an argument with the director and storms off the set. Angered, the director sees John and, deciding that he'll show his arrogant star that he can make a movie idol out of just about anybody, picks John to replace him. As it turns out, John has a real talent for acting and before he knows it he becomes a star. Unfortunately, "stardom" isn't what John thought it would be.

Following a terrible car accident, a child tells a lawman that the woman claiming to be her mother is an impostor.

In 1955, young photographer Dennis Stock develops a close bond with actor James Dean while shooting pictures of the rising Hollywood star.

The Humphrey Bogart story from the early '30s until his death, covering the period as a struggling young actor through movie stardom and his marriages to Mayo Methot and Lauren Bacall.

Since the early days, Jerry Lewis—in the line of Chaplin, Keaton and Laurel—had the masses laughing with his visual gags, pantomime sketches and signature slapstick humor. Yet Lewis was far more than just a clown. He was also a groundbreaking filmmaker whose unquenchable curiosity led him to write, produce, stage and direct many of the films he appeared in, resulting in such adored classics as The Bellboy, The Ladies Man, The Errand Boy, and The Nutty Professor.

Biographical documentary about the life and career of the film star. What lies behind the extraordinary success of a man sometimes described as a nice guy who came first.

The gang travels to Los Angeles, California as they attempt to live out their dreams.

A silent Western star has trouble adjusting to the coming of sound.

Sketchy producers hire an ailing movie star, hoping to cash in on the insurance when he dies.

Two married, down-on-their-luck, actors decide to put on a site-specific play about their unsuccessful life in Hollywood.

Levi Collins' future is looking great. He's set to attend the local university on a tennis scholarship, but there s just one small problem, he didn't graduate. Now he s got to take summer school before his parents find out he failed senior science, and a budding romance with a classmate may show him there's more to education than grades.

Over the hill film starlet Gaye Roman lounges around her rundown Hollywood home and ekes out a living coercing innocent young men into taking her carnal acting courses. Meanwhile, smarmy con artist photographer Rodney Lecoq manipulates lovely and naive hippie girls into doing revealing poses for him.

Former child star Jackie Cooper headlines this sentimental behind-the-scenes comedy drama. He plays an ex-child star who now jerks sodas for a living in Hollywood. He gets back into the movie business when he overhears a conversation between producers discussing their newest prodigy. Cooper butts in and suggests the producers remake Skippy (a real-life 1931 film that made young Cooper a star). The bigwigs like the idea and then hire Cooper to become the boy's acting coach. Once back on the backlot, Cooper finds both trouble and romance while helping the young boy adjust to life as a movie star.

This one-hour film, narrated by Actor BURT LANCASTER, explores the lingering effects of The Hollywood Blacklist, which occurred in the late forties and early fifties as part of the Anti-Communist witch-hunts that terrorized the nation. This film is seen through the eyes of the wives and children of the now deceased Hollywood figures whose careers were destroyed when studio bosses, along with guild and union officials capitulated to the demands of the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Following the life of Marlene Dietrich through her films (including home movies) and interviews with family, friends, co-workers, acquaintances, and presumed lovers. From the cabaret scene in 1920's Berlin, silent films in Germany, her triumph in _The Blue Angel_ in 1930 (for which her screen test is included in this film), to Hollywood with Josef von Sternberg. The highest paid female star of her time, the luster dimmed by 1935. and in the later part of the decade she might be the most valuable actress in the world but also the most unemployable. But with _Destry Rides Again_ Marlene became a sex symbol who could play comedy and the most remarkable comeback in Hollywood was a reality. She was one of the most active entertainers of the allied troops during WW II. After the war movies were infrequent, but a new career on the stage continued for another 20 years, until she retired into seclusion for the last decade of her life.

Documentary charting the contribution to Hollywood movies made by writer Joseph Campbell, whose ideas about mythic structure helped shape Star Wars.

Nick is a successful executive with a picture-perfect family, loving wife and adorable daughter. It looks like he has it all to his boss, Lisa, who desperately wants a child of her own. Lisa seduces Nick in his moment of weakness, hoping to remove his wife from the picture so she can fill her role as wife and mother. When Nick tries to break things off with Lisa, he finds himself in a dangerous game with her that threatens his job, his family and his life. Stars Laurie Fortier, Marc Herrmann, Kristi Murdock, and Matthew Pohlkamp

A former Imperial Russian general and cousin of the Czar ends up in Hollywood as an extra in a movie directed by a former revolutionary.

Based on Tim Realbuto's critically acclaimed Off-Broadway play, YES tells the story of washed up child star Patrick Nolan who decides to mentor 17-year-old Jeremiah Rosenhaft. What begins as an innocent acting lesson turns into something much more intimate between two surprisingly common minds.

As NBC's hit sitcom "Diff'rent Strokes" proves a long-running hit for a network desperately in need of one, its young stars: Gary Coleman, Todd Bridges, and Dana Plato face all sorts of trouble off-camera. Gary battles with his parents over the management of his salary, Todd runs into trouble with the law countless times, and Dana's career after the show meets with despair and tragedy.

Forced out of home by his religious mother for being gay, Ethan leaves Michigan for Hollywood to pursue his acting dreams. But he soon finds himself spiraling into drugs, prostitution, and homelessness.

A once-famous blues singer whose career has taken a downturn tries to get back on top.

Murphy ("Just Jesse the Jack") is a mega-famous canine TV star who is fed up with being treated like a 'cashmachine' by Hollywood executives. He escapes and a group of loving kids save him.

Jessica is one of the most famous actresses in the world, leading a glamorous – if tabloid worthy – life. But all that is thrown for a loop when she goes on location to shoot a holiday themed film in the Christmas-obsessed town of Homestead, Iowa. While a romance brews between her and Matt, a local inn keeper who is a single dad, she also gets a taste of small-town life and rediscovers the true meaning of Christmas.

A short kid from a Canadian army base becomes the international pop culture darling of the 1980s—only to find the course of his life altered by a stunning diagnosis. What happens when an incurable optimist confronts an incurable disease?

His love of film began as an escape from a rocky childhood. From underdog to Hollywood legend, Sylvester Stallone tells his story in this documentary.

Mike Epps, Richard Pryor Jr. and others recount the culture-defining influence of Richard Pryor - one of America's most brilliant, iconic comic minds.

Using the book 'Fragments', which collects Marilyn Monroe's poems, notes and letters, and with participation from the Arthur Miller and Truman Capote estates who have contributed more material, each of the actresses will embody the legend at various stages in her life.

Widowed Lisa's stable life unravels when her aspiring teen actress daughter falls under a suspicious Hollywood acting coach's spell. Lisa embarks on a desperate mission to Hollywood to rescue her daughter before it's too late.

This documentary traces the life and work of the legendary "America's Sweetheart" Mary Pickford, silent film star, movie pioneer and keen businesswoman. Pickford's life also parallels an even larger story, telling of the birth of the cinema itself.

In the 1980s, Andrew McCarthy was part of a young generation of actors who were set to take over Hollywood after a string of successful teen movies. However, when the New York magazine cover story in 1985 dubs them the Brat Pack, stars in the making suddenly find themselves losing control over the trajectory of their careers. Now, almost forty years later, McCarthy looks to reconnect with peers and co-stars — Emilio Estevez, Jon Cryer, Lea Thompson, Rob Lowe, Ally Sheedy, and Demi Moore — so that together they can reflect on their respective legacies.