Mary Apick Movies
- 1987
- R
It is difficult to pinpoint Iranian-born director Parvis Sayyad's point of view in Checkpoint, but perhaps this is intentional. Set in 1980 during the Iran hostage crisis, the film is set on the U.S.-Canadian border. A busload of college students is detained by the authorities, who take their sweet time checking out the visas of the eight Iranian students on board. As this minor irritation blossoms into a full-scale confrontation, the Iranian students begin taking sides and espousing their individual ideologies. Dogmatic but undeniably involving, the American-financed Checkpoint was first shown at the Locarno Film Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mary Apick, Houshang Touzie, (more)
- 1983
Producer, writer, editor, director, and star Parviz Sayyad has fashioned a story about an Iranian political assassin who comes to know and like his target so much that his own ideology is brought into question. When Iranian Daoud Moslemi (Sayyad) is given the assignment of killing off a political enemy in the U.S. someone else beats him to it, and so he is given another target instead, a former army colonel. But while tracking this man, Daoud inadvertently is on the scene when the former officer is mugged and is forced to help him -- a gesture that gets him an invitation to come to dinner. Once at the ex-colonel's home, Daoud meets his two children and his really attractive sister-in-law -- and after spending some time with these people, the reasons for the assassination start to dissolve in the face of their kindness and humanity. The erstwhile assassin's dilemma is what he should do about this new conflict between his feelings, his old beliefs, and the dangerous men who are his superiors. The story itself -- although filled with a little more political dialogue than would suit some viewers -- outpaces the technical side of the film, limited because of budget restrictions. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Parviz Sayyad, Mary Apick, (more)
Covering some 15 years, The Right Stuff recounts the formation of America's space program, concentrating on the original Mercury astronauts. Scott Glenn plays Alan Shepard, the first American in space; Fred Ward is Gus Grissom, the benighted astronaut for whom nothing works out as planned; and Ed Harris is John Glenn, the straight-arrow "boy scout" of the bunch who was the first American to orbit the earth. The remaining four Mercury boys are Deke Slayton (Scott Paulin), Scott Carpenter (Charles Frank), Wally Schirra (Lance Henriksen) and Gordon Cooper (Dennis Quaid). Wolfe's original book related in straightforward fashion the dangers and frustrations facing the astronauts (including Glenn's oft-repeated complaint that it's hard to be confident when you know that the missile you're sitting on has been built by the lowest bidder), the various personal crises involving their families (Glenn's wife Annie, a stutterer, dreads being interviewed on television, while Grissom's wife Betty, angered that her husband is not regarded as a hero because his mission was a failure, bitterly declares "I want my parade!"), and the schism between the squeaky-clean public image of the Mercury pilots and their sometimes raunchy earthbound shenanigans. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sam Shepard, Scott Glenn, (more)
- 1977
A lonely girl living in Iran concocts a pleasant story about the man she has observed following her. She believes, or wants to believe that he is an admirer of hers, and that it is only his shyness that forces him to turn away when she seeks to approach him. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mary Apick
