Charles Kahlenberg Movies

This Hallmark Channel TV movie is one of a series starring John Larroquette as McBride (no first name), a hard-nosed cop turned compassionate defense lawyer, specializing in "lost causes." This time, McBride's client is Leo Eckert (David Bowe), who is convinced that he accidentally shot and killed his therapist George Prescott (Richard Fancy) after Prescott double-crossed him during Eckert's courtroom efforts to gain custody of his child. Rushing to the "murder scene", McBride finds that Prescott's body has disappeared--and in fact keeps on disappearing no matter where it turns up. Confronted with a plethora of suspects who like Eckert had more than enough reason to want the therapist dead, McBride comes to the conclusion that Eckert may have shot Prescott when the victim was already dead--then fine-tunes his conclusion a bit when it begins to look like Prescott may still be alive! Gigi Rice, who'd costarred with John Larroquette on the latter's eponymous sitcom of the early 1990s, make a significant guest appearance. McBride: The Doctor Is Out...Really Out first aired on June 12, 2005. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

George (Jason Alexander) spends most of this episode thinking of a perfect comeback line for a comment made by his co-worker Reilly (Joel Polis) -- but it may not be delivered to Reilly, or even in New York. Elsewhere, Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld) mulls over the fringe benefits of not exposing a tennis pro as a phony. Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and Kramer (Michael Richards) reap different results from their video picks. And can you really recover from a coma? ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Originally appearing on the Disney channel, this exciting adventure chronicles the courage of both a young WW II-era soldier and the German shepherd he is assigned to control. The boy's phobia of dogs complicates matters, but eventually the two form an undefeatable team. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Nicolas Cage stars in the below-par action film Firebirds -- a dying ember from Reagan-era nationalistic jingoism. In this Top Gun retread, Cage plays Jake Preston, a hotshot Army helicopter pilot who is being trained to use the U.S. Army's Apache aircraft to destroy the drug fields of a South American drug cartel. It up to his taskmaster instructor Brad Little (Tommy Lee Jones) to teach Jake humble lessons before he can be trusted to launch into the skies against the drug dealers. While Jake is trying to tame his egoism, he engages in a torrid love affair with flying ace Billie Lee Guthrie (Sean Young). The film was originally titled Wings of the Apache for the U.S. Army Apache assault helicopters that are prominently displayed in the film. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Based on the life of Sydney Biddle Barrows, this TV movie features Barrows (Candice Bergen) as a former debutante seeking to make money with an escort service for wealthy businessman and foreign dignitaries. ~ John Bush, Rovi

This red-baiting action film stars Chuck Norris as Matt Hunter, a retired CIA agent who lives in the Florida Everglades. A communist invasion of Miami brings Hunter out of retirement to fight the encroaching hordes led by everyone's favorite low-budget bad guy, Richard Lynch. The film is extremely jingoistic, presenting the evil communists staging an invasion on Christmas, demolishing a church, and attempting to blow up a school bus full of children. From the same school of thinking which produced Rambo and Red Dawn, this film at least features some convincing gore by makeup wizard Tom Savini (Friday the 13th), working on his third gig for director Joseph Zito. Zito and Savini returned with Red Scorpion. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

Originally telecast as an ABC Theatre of the Month special, My Body, My Child nobly attempts to tackle the abortion issue--but does so with a painfully contrived, mazelike Perils of Pauline script. Irish-American schoolteacher Vanessa Redgrave, married to Italian fireman Joe Campanella and already the mother of three daughters, believes that she's pregnant. Her doctor pooh-poohs the notion and prescribes several forms of drugs to counter her "faux" morning sickness. The effect of the narcotics, coupled with the fact that Redgrave's invalid father (Jack Albertson, in his final role) has been charged with the mercy killing of her mother, lead the poor schoolmarm to attempt suicide. This time the doctor on the scene announces that Redgrave is pregnant, and that her previous drug intake will result in a deformed, retarded child. Now arrive at the abortion issue: With all the cards stacked against her, what will Redgrave do in regards to her body and her child? Unfortunately, after raising so many diverse social issues, My Body, My Child drops many of those issues in order to rush towards its climax. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Loretta Lynn was one of the first female superstars in country music and remains a defining presence within the genre; with her strong, clear, hard-country voice and tough, no-nonsense songs about husbands who cheat and wives who weren't about to be pushed around, Lynn introduced a feminist mindset to Nashville years before the phrase "women's liberation" became common currency. Coal Miner's Daughter is a screen adaptation of Lynn's autobiography, starring Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn. One of eight children born to Ted Webb (Levon Helm), a coal miner raising a family despite grinding poverty in Butcher's Holler, KY, Loretta married Dolittle "Mooney" Lynn (Tommy Lee Jones) when she was only 13 years old. A mother of four by the time she was 20, Lynn began singing the occasional song at local honky-tonks on weekends, and at 25, she cut (at Mooney's suggestion) a demo tape that earned her a deal with an independent record label. Loretta and Mooney's tireless promotion of the record (including a long road trip through the south in which they stopped at every country radio station they could find) paid off -- Loretta's first single, "Honky Tonk Girl," hit the charts and earned her a spot on the Grand Ole Opry. Stardom called and Loretta never looked back, but success brought with it both joy (a long string of hit records and sold-out concerts and a close friendship with Patsy Cline) and sorrow (a nervous breakdown brought on by overwork and a great deal of stress to a marriage that endured -- but just barely). Sissy Spacek won an Academy award for her vivid, thoroughly natural performance as Loretta (she also did her own singing), and Levon Helm (drummer for the legendary rock group the Band) made an impressive screen debut as her father. Ernest Tubb makes a cameo appearance as himself. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi