Dean Riesner

Dean Riesner

1918-11-03 New Rochelle, New York, USA 38 Credits

Biography

Dean Riesner (November 3, 1918, New Rochelle, New York – August 18, 2002, Encino, California) was an American film and television writer. Riesner's father, Charles Reisner, was a German American silent film director, and Dean began acting in films at the age of five as "Dinky Dean". His most notable role was in Charlie Chaplin's 1923 film The Pilgrim. His career at this young age ended because his mother wanted her son to have a real childhood. As an adult, his first job in films was as a co-wr...

Known For

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Complete Filmography

Play It Again: A Look Back at 'Play Misty for Me'

Play It Again: A Look Back at 'Play Misty for Me'

2001

as Self

6.7
Acting

Clint Eastwood tells us how he yearned to be a director from the time he was on "Rawhide" to finally obtaining the approval of his mentor, Don Siegel....

Fatal Beauty

Fatal Beauty

1987

Screenplay

5.5
Writing

Detective Rita Rizzoli is accustomed to donning costumes and going undercover to nail crooks. But she'll be required to use all of her get-ups and mor...

Sudden Impact

Sudden Impact

1983

Writer

6.5
Writing

When a young rape victim takes justice into her own hands and becomes a serial killer, it's up to Dirty Harry Callahan, on suspension from the SFPD, t...

The Sting II

The Sting II

1983

Writer

4.7
Writing

Hooker and Gondorf pull a con on Macalinski, an especially nasty mob boss with the help of Veronica, a new grifter. They convince this new victim that...

Das Boot

Das Boot

1981

Screenplay

8.1
Writing

A German submarine hunts allied ships during the Second World War, but it soon becomes the hunted. The crew tries to survive below the surface, while ...

The Enforcer

The Enforcer

1976

Screenplay

6.7
Writing

Dirty Harry Callahan returns again, this time saddled with a rookie female partner. Together, they must stop a terrorist group consisting of angry Vie...

The Keegans

The Keegans

1976

Writer

Writing

A professional football player is accused of murdering the man who attacked his sister. His brother, an investigate reporter, sets out to prove his br...

Charley Varrick

Charley Varrick

1973

Screenplay

7.4
Writing

Charley Varrick robs a bank in a small town with his friends, but instead of obtaining a small amount of money, they discover they stole a very large ...

Dirty Harry

Dirty Harry

1971

Screenplay

7.4
Writing

When a madman dubbed 'Scorpio' terrorizes San Francisco, hard-nosed cop, Harry Callahan – famous for his take-no-prisoners approach to law enforcement...

Play Misty for Me

Play Misty for Me

1971

Screenplay

6.6
Writing

A brief fling between a male disc jockey and an obsessed female fan takes a frightening, and perhaps even deadly turn when another woman enters the pi...

The Intruders

The Intruders

1970

Teleplay

4.5

The James and Younger outlaw gangs ride into town, and it is up to the local marshal, who has lost both his nerve and his gun skills, to stop them.

Lost Flight

Lost Flight

1970

Writer

3.7
Writing

The captain of a downed airliner must help his crew and passengers survive on a deserted jungle island in the midst of a power struggle - an adult ver...

Coogan's Bluff

Coogan's Bluff

1968

Screenplay

6.4
Writing

Coogan, an Arizona deputy sheriff goes to New York to pick up a prisoner. While escorting the prisoner to the airport, he escapes and Coogan heads int...

Stranger on the Run

Stranger on the Run

1967

Teleplay

5.4

A drifter finds himself wrongly accused of murder by a power-crazed sheriff. The sheriff gives him a horse, some supplies, and a one-hour head start i...

The Man from Galveston

The Man from Galveston

1963

Writer

5.2
Writing

Circuit-riding Texas lawyer Timothy Higgins defends a former girlfriend against a murder charge stemming from an extortionist's threat to reveal her s...

The Chaplin Revue

The Chaplin Revue

1959

as Various (archive footage)

7.3
Acting

Three Chaplin silent comedies "A Dog's Life", "Shoulder Arms", and "The Pilgrim" are strung together to form a single feature length film. Chaplin pro...

Paris Holiday

Paris Holiday

1958

Writer

5.2
Writing

Comedian Bob Hunter is aided by his French counterpart Fernydel and two beautiful blondes when he is targeted for death by a powerful European counter...

The Helen Morgan Story

The Helen Morgan Story

1957

Writer

5.3
Writing

Torch singer Helen Morgan rises from sordid beginnings to fame and fortune only to lose it all to alcohol and poor personal choices.

The Big Slide

The Big Slide

1956

Writer

Writing

A down-and-out vaudeville comedian, Buddy McCoy, becomes a successful silent movie star, but experiences tragedy in his personal life. May Marley is a...

So You Want to Know Your Relatives

1954

Story

Writing

Do-gooder Joe McDoakes is the guest on the "Know Your Relatives" TV show where, to his chagrin, many of his black sheep relations reveal the skeletons...

Skipalong Rosenbloom

Skipalong Rosenbloom

1951

Screenplay

Writing

Skipalong Rosenbloom is the star of a heavily commercialized TV kiddie show, presided over by a smarmy announcer. He is at odds with western bad guy B...

Gunfire

Gunfire

1950

as Outlaw Mack

5.0
Acting

Tubercular Frank James has become a born again and retired from his career as an outlaw with his family but a look-a-like outlaw causes suspicion to f...

I Shot Billy the Kid

I Shot Billy the Kid

1950

Dialogue Coach

4.0

Although the Lincoln County War has come to a conclusion, Billy the Kid turns his back on a gubernatorial pardon and continues his lawless career.

Operation Haylift

Operation Haylift

1950

Writer

3.0
Writing

A pilot devises a plan to airlift hay to thousands of ranch cattle stranded and dying due to severe winter weather.

The Traveling Saleswoman

The Traveling Saleswoman

1950

as Tom

4.5
Acting

The daughter of a soap manufacturer heads to the wild and woolly west to sell her daddy's product.

Assigned to Danger

Assigned to Danger

1948

as Dr. Michael Kelly (uncredited)

5.0
Acting

A gang of bank robbers is pursued by an insurance investigator.

The Cobra Strikes

The Cobra Strikes

1948

as Detective Brody

5.0
Acting

A newspaper reporter investigates the near-fatal shooting of a medical scientist.

Bill and Coo

Bill and Coo

1948

Screenplay, Director

6.4
Writing Directing

The feathered residents of Chirpendale are terrorized by an evil black crow by the name of "The Black Menace". But to the citizen's rescue comes a bra...

Tombstone: The Town Too Tough to Die

Tombstone: The Town Too Tough to Die

1942

Story

5.4
Writing

Uneven version of Wyatt Earp vs. the Clanton Gang with a little romance thrown in haphazardly.

A Fugitive from Justice

A Fugitive from Justice

1940

Additional Writing

3.5

Leslie is being chased by the gangsters, the police and the insurance investigators. He is on the run. Falsely accused of a murder, he embarks upon a ...

The Fighting 69th

The Fighting 69th

1940

Screenplay

5.4
Writing

Although loudmouthed braggart Jerry Plunkett alienates his comrades and officers, Father Duffy, the regimental chaplain, has faith that he'll prove hi...

Everybody Dance

Everybody Dance

1936

as Tommy Spurgeon

6.0
Acting

When her sister dies, a nightclub singer is left with her children. In order to raise the children properly, she leaves her singing career and takes h...

It's in the Air

It's in the Air

1935

as Brave (uncredited)

5.0
Acting

Con men Calvin Churchill and Clip McGurk know how to fix a horse-race or boxing match. Calvin wants to go straight and win back his estranged wife, bu...

Square Shoulders

Square Shoulders

1929

as Cadet (uncredited)

Acting

Tad's dream is to attend a military academy so he can grow up to be a great soldier and a war hero, like his father. What he doesn't know is that his ...

Hollywood

Hollywood

1923

as Dean Riesner

8.5
Acting

Angela comes to Hollywood with only two things: Her dream to become a movie star, and Grandpa. She leaves an Aunt, a brother, Grandma, and her longtim...

The Pilgrim

The Pilgrim

1923

as Little Boy

6.8
Acting

The Tramp is an escaped convict who is mistaken as a pastor in a small town church.

Grief

Grief

1921

Acting

Begins with a child-cast parody of "The Kid." The Adams portion finds the guy chased about town because they are looking for some crook in a gray derb...

Peck's Bad Boy

Peck's Bad Boy

1921

3.5
Acting

This portrayal of small town life before the War is based on a small boys determination to get to see the circus, over all obstacles. Escaped lions, l...