Mel Harris Movies

The media's tendency to favor youth and cosmetic perfection over experience and intelligence is the gist of this mildly trenchant TV movie. Mel Harris stars as Diana, a top TV news anchor who is summarily dumped from her lofty perch in favor of a younger and prettier journalist named Amber (Julianne Morris). Partly to get even, but mostly to prove something to herself, Diana undergoes plastic surgery, changes her name, and takes an entry-level job in a small TV market, intent upon building her stellar career all over again. Diana's saga is complemented by the story of her middle-aged newsperson colleague Michael (Perry King), who likewise faces competition from an up-and-coming pretty boy. It is somewhat ironic that one of the supporting characters in this film is played by Corey Donaldson, whose chief claim to fame was his participation in Survivor: Australia, one of many TV reality series in which the race is more often won by the good-looking than by the swift. Another Pretty Face debuted November 8, 2002, over the PAX network. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Director Armand Mastroianni's last horror feature before building a more solid reputation as a director of TV movies and series, Cameron's Closet tells the tale of a bright young boy with innate telekinetic powers whose gifts were exploited by his father (Tab Hunter) in a series of controlled experiments. After his father's grisly death, Cameron's powers seem to have abated -- but as any horror aficionado can predict, they have increased exponentially, opening a gateway in the title walk-in for a powerful demon to emerge. The usual band of paranormal experts (including the oddly-cast Chuck McCann) arrive to do battle with the closeted beast and are dealt with in the usual gory ways, until it becomes apparent that only Cameron himself is psychically equipped to deal with the demon one-on-one. What might have been a taut supernatural thriller with good performances is undone by its crude treatment of Carlo Rambaldi's makeup-effects: the lurking demon -- which at one point is merely pulled along on a dolly -- ends up resembling a guy in a dime-store Batman costume. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

First telecast May 8, 1987, Harry's Hong Kong was the pilot film for an unsold TV series. The title character, played by David Soul, was a soldier of fortune at-large in the titular port city. The owner of an elaborate offshore casino, Harry Petros solves mysteries and straightens out other people's problems with the help of his Chinese-American secretary Sally (Jan Gayn Boyd) and police superintendent Max Trundle (Mike Preston). In his first, and last, adventure, Harry tackles a murder case with organized-crime overtones. Harry's Hong Kong was later syndicated as China Hand. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

When Hurricane Bob roars over a sailboat and the boat capsizes, a pregnant women and a few hostile survivors are set adrift, and they must somehow work together until they are rescued. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Walter Baltzer's thriller Family Under Siege stars Mel Harris as Fay Baxter, a mother who must defend her family after they are taken hostage by three bad guys. Daniel Baldwin and Melinda Clarke play two of the criminals who kidnap Fay's husband while keeping her and her kids tied up. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

A made for TV, two-part series, this is the story of a Southern attorney who suddenly finds himself embroiled in politics, a particularly controversial murder trial and a public battle with a vindictive journalist -- all at the same time. ~ Tana Hobart, Rovi

Having endured a lifetime of strange allergic reactions, 16-year-old Melinda (Michelle Trachtenberg) is placed in a scrupulously sterile environment after undergoing a heart transplant. Why, then, has Melinda gone into an apparently allergic shock at home and suffered heart failure at the clinic? Foreman is puzzled by this situation, but House (Hugh Laurie) thinks that the reason may have something to do with Melinda's fiercely protective mother (Mel Harris). Meanwhile, House and Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) try to live under the same roof without either one of them resorting to murder! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Dooley and Jerry Lee are at it again. The day after Dooley (James Belushi) retires as a detective from the police force, he finds himself -- and his faithful canine companion Jerry Lee -- chasing high-tech burglars who have stolen a valuable prototype computer chip. Trouble is, Jerry Lee has eaten one of the chips, and the other three won't work without it. Meanwhile, Dooley is convinced to breed Jerry Lee and winds up with a crush on the female dog's owner (Barbara Tyson), however, a mysterious and beautiful client looking for her missing boyfriend has breeding ideas about Dooley of her own. Once again, Dooley needs Jerry Lee to rescue him from danger and straighten out his love life. ~ Buzz McClain, Rovi

Three years after the cancellation of her popular series Murder She Wrote, Angela Lansbury returns for the first of several TV-movie followups to that selfsame series. Once again, Lansbury is cast as Jessica Fletcher, best-selling mystery writer and amateur sleuth. As indicated by the film's title, Hitchcock references abound in the plotline, beginning when a lady vanishes on the train that Jessica is taking to El Paso to deliver a lecture. Helpful Jessica accepts a message for the mystery woman, whereupon she is attacked by an assailant in search of "it." Our heroine is rescued by a journalist who may not be a journalist, then when attempting to ascertain the missing woman's whereabouts Jessica is warned to mind her own business by a guy identifying himself as an FBI agent. Inasmuch as such warnings have never stopped Jessica in the past, she follows the trail of clues to the desert town of Agua Verde, Arizona, adopting a few aliases alng the way. The climax is an echo of Hitch's The 39 Steps, wherein Jessica not only solves the mystery but also unmasks the Least Likely Suspect (or in this case, Least Likely Suspects). Produced and directed by Angela Lansbury's sons, Murder She Wrote: South by Southwest first aired November 2, 1997 on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Ernest Thompson, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play and Oscar-winning film On Golden Pond, was both director and co-writer of the cable-TV film Out of Time. The story begins in Oregon in 1980, when Jack Epson -- a young business owner, family man, and dedicated environmentalist -- discovers that he has leukemia. While ruminating over his fate, Jack is beckoned into the forests near his home by what seem to be the ghosts of his ancestors, who lure him into a deep sleep. Jack awakens 20 years later, only to find his home town in the grip of an evil land developer, who is now the husband of Jack's "widow" Annie. With the help of his ten-year-old grandson (who gives the "old man" a crash course in 21st century pop culture), Jack tries to make amends for his lengthy absence, and to set things right in his community. It hardly takes a rocket scientist to recognize Out of Time as an update of Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle; and indeed, Irving is given a posthumous "writing" credit, just in case anyone missed the connection. Co-produced by Tony Danza and starring NYPD Blue's James McDaniel, Out of Time first aired June 18, 2000, on the Showtime network. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

William Sadler and Ed Lauter star in this war drama about a Marine sniper who is captured by the Iraqi government while on a covert mission to assassinate Saddam Hussein, and the threat he faces from his own superiors after he returns to the United States and escapes the psychiatric hospital where he is being held for evaluation. Epsilon Force is a shadowy military unit created for the sole purpose of assassinating foreign leaders who are thought to threaten the interests of the United States. In 2003, just prior to the United States' invasion of Iraq, Epsilon Force leader Colonel Allen (Sadler) recruits twenty-four year old Marine Corps sniper Oscar Padilla (Demetrius Navarro) for the mission of assassinating Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Shortly after Padilla arrives in Iraq prepared to carry out his orders, however, he is captured by the enemy and tortured in a Baghdad prison. Miraculously, Padilla is eventually freed by his captors and returned to the United States, though the psychological scars he bears run deeper than any of his notable physical wounds. Upon his return home, Padilla is taken to a military hospital for psychiatric evaluation. When he escapes, the powers that be deem him an unacceptable risk due to the fact that the very existence of Epsilon Force goes in direct opposition to an Executive Order outlawing the assassination of foreign leaders. Now, as Padilla runs for his life, Colonel Allen is assigned the task of eliminating that risk before the entire classified operation comes crashing down all around him. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Intended as a five-times-weekly presentation of MyNetwork's "Secret Obsessions" package, the English-language telenova Saints and Sinners was based on the TV Azteca prime-time soaper La Calle de las Novias ("Bride's Avenue"). An updated rehash of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet", the series focused on the bitter rivalry between the Capshaws and the Martins, rival hotel owners in Miami Beach. Widowed Sylvia Capshaw (Mel Harris) was determined to break up the romance between her daughter Julia (Tyler Kain) and young Roman Martin (Scott Bailey), son of unscrupulous hoteliers Diana and August Martin (Maria Conchita Alonso, Charles Shaughnessy). It was not merely hatred of the Martins which motivated Sylvia: Roman had been arrested on the charge of murdering Julia's father. Acquitted of the crime, Roman endeavor to save his family from financial ruin by opening his own nightclub, "The Verona" (!) He also hoped to win back Julia from her current beau Richard Vargas (Chris Engen), the son of shady business mogul Antonio Vargas, who may or may not have actually been the infamous underworld boss known as "The Guerrero." Weaving in and out of the proceedings was the series' "Friar Lawrence" counterpart, a handsome bogus priest named Marcus (Ryan Scott Greene), and New York fashion designer Kelly Mitchell (Robin Givens), who wanted Robin all too herself. This series was originally filmed under the title "A Dangerous Love"; in the early developmental stages, the warring families were named Olivera and Manzini, Kelly Mitchell's name was Kelly Dodd, Maria Conchita Alonso's character had been conceived as the starring role. With the overall ratings for MyNetwork's various "original" telenovas plummeting precipitously, by the time Saints and Sinners debuted on March 14, 2007 the series had been reconfigured as a weekly rather than a nightly offering, with two episodes shown back-to-back each week. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi