Biography
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 ...
Known For
Complete Filmography
Big Shot: Confessions of a Campus Bookie
2002
Story
Mother's good boy Benny Silman from Brooklyn becomes an economics student at Arizona State University for the sun and sexy girls- and the proximity of...
The Fantasticks
2000
Director
Widowers Amos and Ben plot to romantically unite Amos' daughter Luiss and Ben's son Matt by pretending to feud and forbidding the teens to associate, ...
Skip Chasers
1998
Director
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 ...
A Simple Wish
1997
Director
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...
Comfort, Texas
1997
Director
The Scout
1994
Director
When his star recruit botches a Major League Baseball debut, humiliated talent scout Al Percolo gets banished to rural Mexico, where he finds a potent...
Cops & Robbersons
1994
Director
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...
Cool Runnings
1993
Story
When a Jamaican sprinter is disqualified from the Olympic Games, he enlists the help of a dishonored coach to start the first Jamaican bobsled team.
The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom
1993
as Minister (voice)
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
Director
A Texas housewife plots hire a hit man to kill the girl who beat out her daughter for a place on the cheerleading squad.
Einstein
1993
Director
Diggstown
1992
Director
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 t...
Fletch Lives
1989
Director
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 ...
The Couch Trip
1988
Director
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 Golden Child
1986
Director
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...
Wildcats
1986
Director
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,...
Fletch
1985
Director
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 bu...
The Survivors
1983
Director
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 again...
Student Bodies
1981
Producer
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...
Divine Madness
1980
Director
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 Island
1980
Director
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 hi...
An Almost Perfect Affair
1979
as Bus Passenger
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 be...
An Almost Perfect Affair
1979
Director, Story
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 be...
The Bad News Bears Go to Japan
1978
Producer
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 spa...
Semi-Tough
1977
Director
A three-way friendship between two free-spirited professional football players and the owner's daughter becomes compromised when two of them become ro...
The Bad News Bears
1976
Director
An aging, down-on-his-luck ex-minor leaguer coaches a team of misfits in an ultra-competitive California little league.
Smile
1975
Director, Producer
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 gi...
The Candidate
1972
Director
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.
Prime Cut
1972
Director
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 ...
Downhill Racer
1969
Director
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 f...
How Fast?
1969
as Self (Archive Footage)
Promotional feature for Michael Ritchie's film 'Downhill Racer'.
The Sound of Anger
1968
Director
Two teenagers who have been engaged in pre-marital sex become the prime suspects when the girl's disapproving father is mysteriously murdered.
The Outsider
1967
Director
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 sta...