Virginia Kiser Movies

Mark Harmon stars as baby-faced serial killer Ted Bundy in this sobering 2-part TV movie. Ostensibly the archetypal All-American boy, Bundy was, from 1974 onward, responsible for the rapes and murders of several young women in the Pacific Northwest. The clues begin to mount when one of Bundy's victims manages to escape; she can only say that her assailant was a fellow named Ted who drives a yellow Volkswagen. Finally arrested after he moves from Seattle to Utah, Bundy is so certain of his superiority over the general run of human beings that he conducts his own defense at his trial; then, when extradited to Colorado, he escapes, triggering a desperate nationwide manhunt. At the time Deliberate Stranger was first telecast on May 5 and 6, 1986, Theodore Bundy was on Death Row, still contesting his sentence and seeking a legal way out. When time came for his execution, Bundy attempted several bizarre last-minute "stays," which would make intriguing subject matter should someone want to make a follow-up film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tom Hanks and John Candy were reunited for the first time since Splash in this period comedy about Peace Corps worker during the optimistic period of the Kennedy presidency. Lawrence Bourne III (Tom Hanks) is an upper-class heel who has to flee the country to escape his gambling debts and so sneaks aboard an airplane filled with Peace Corps volunteers en route to Thailand. On the plane he is befriended by well-meaning Peace Corps worker Tom Tuttle (John Candy). Once in Thailand, the workers become involved with building a bridge, and Lawrence becomes involved with the local Communists, an opium lord, and the CIA. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Micki (Ann Reinking) is the wife of Rob (Dudley Moore), an airheaded TV talk show host. Maude (Amy Irving) is an attractive musician who is unaware of Micki's existence, and with whom Rob falls in love. Rob is a guy who can't say no, thus when Maude announces that she's pregnant, Rob obligingly marries her. Trouble is, he's still married to Micki who is also pregnant. To make matters worse, Rob's wives are due to give birth on the same day, forcing the double dealer to work doubly hard to keep both demanding women happy. Matters reach their comical climax when the Big Day arrives and Rob is expected to attend both births at the same time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Phoebe Cates plays the Baby Sister in this made-for-TV melodrama. A sexually promiscuous college dropout, Cates moves into the home of older sister Pamela Bellwood. Ted Wass, Bellwood's husband, welcomes Cates with open arms...and that's the whole trouble. The original title of this pulpish endeavor was Tainted Love. Baby Sister was first broadcast March 6, 1983. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

With Poltergeist, directed by Tobe Hopper, Steven Spielberg had his first great success as a producer. Released around the same time as Spielberg's E.T., the film presents the dark side of Spielberg's California suburban track homes. The film centers on the Freeling family, a typical middle class family living in the peaceful Cuesta Verde Estates. The father, Steve (Craig T. Nelson), has fallen asleep in front of the television, and the dog saunters around the house revealing the other family members -- Steve's wife Diane (JoBeth Williams), sixteen-year-old daughter Dana (Dominique Dunne), eight-year-old son Robbie (Oliver Robins), and five-year-old Carol Ann (Heather O'Rourke). Soon strange things begin to happen around the house; the pet canary dies, mysterious storms occur, and Carol Ann is summoned to the TV set, where a strange shaft of green light hits her and causes the room to shake ("They're he-e-ere!"). As curious events continue, Carol Ann is repeatedly drawn to the television, where she begins to talk to "the TV people." Soon Carol Ann is sucked into a closet, disappearing from this reality plane. Unable to find his daughter, Steve consults Dr. Lesh (Beatrice Straight), a para-psychologist from a nearby college. Lesh finds that paranormal phenomena is so strong in the Freelong household she is unable to deal with it and sends for clairvoyant and professional exorcist Tangina (Zelda Rubinstein) to examine the house in hopes of finding Carol Ann. Tangina makes a horrifying discovery: Carol Ann is alive and in the house, but is being held on another spectral plane. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

When her adoptive mother Joan Crawford died in 1977, erstwhile actress/author Christina Crawford and her brother Christopher were left out of Joan Crawford's will, "for reasons which are well known to them." Industryites have suggested that it may have been this posthumous act of rejection rather than an alleged lifetime of parental abuse that inspired Christina Crawford to pen her scathing autobiography Mommie Dearest. The 1981 film version of this tome was evidently meant to be taken seriously, but the operatic direction by Frank Perry and the over-the-top portrayal of Joan Crawford by Faye Dunaway (whose makeup is remarkable) has always seemed to inspire loud laughter whenever and where-ever the film is shown. According to the film (and the book that preceded it), Joan Crawford was a licentious, child-beating behemoth, who stalked and postured through life as though it was one of her own pictures-more Strait-jacket than Mildred Pierce. This is the film with the notorious "wire coat hanger" scene, just in case you need a reminder. Surprisingly, one emerges from Mommie Dearest with more sympathy for the monstrous but intensely vulnerable Crawford than for her whining daughter (played as an adult by Diana Scarwid, and as a child by Mara Hobel). Our favorite scene: Joan Crawford dazedly replacing her ailing daughter in the cast of a daytime TV soap opera. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gene Hackman plays a disgruntled suburbanite who manages the Ultra-Sav, an all-night drugstore. He hates his job, hates his debts and responsibilities, and isn't overly fond of his wife (Diane Ladd) and son (Dennis Quaid). Partly as a form of protest, Hackman enters into an affair with Barbra Streisand, one of his wife's distant relatives (don't ask how she's related - it takes Hackman about thirty seconds to explain it to another character). Streisand doesn't belong in this picture at all, but she can be forgiven her acting excesses because she wasn't the first choice for the role anyway (Lisa Eichhorn dropped out just before shooting began). The best moments in All Night Long involve the steady stream of oddballs and losers who trickle into Hackman's establishment. There is also a cute Apocalypse Now parody involving a battery-operated toy helicopter. The principal attraction of All Night Long is Gene Hackman playing an endearingly recognizable modern type. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this dark drama, a woman allows a human embryo to be implanted in her body and then realizes she has made a terrible mistake. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

On the day of Charles and Caroline Ingalls' wedding anniversary, Charles (Michael Landon) is unable to come home on schedule due to a broken wagon wheel. While everyone waits for the festivities to commence, Caroline (Karen Grassle) regales her children with a story about her youthful romance with Charles -- or, to be more specific, Charles' utter refusal to reveal his romantic inclinations. Nicolas Coster is seen as Charles' father, Lansford, a role originated by Arthur Hill in the third-season episode "Journey in the Spring," while Matthew Laborteaux, who would soon appear regularly on the series as the Ingalls' adopted son, Albert, is here cast as the young Charles. Katy Kurtzman, who played Anna Gillberg in the previous season's "The Music Box," appears as the young Caroline. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The action in Death Play takes place during the opening night of a Broadway show. Interestingly enough, the cast is comprised of New York stage performers, including James Keach (Stacy's brother), former Hester Street star Stephen Strimpell, and future Benson co-star James Noble. The notion of a murder taking place while a show is going on is not new, though the depiction of the mystery killer demonstrates a bit of creativity, especially on the sound track. Death Play wasn't widely distriubed in 1976, so tracking down a copy may be difficult. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This documentary about poet Peter Orlovsky's schizophrenic brother, Julius, is a film within a film and is generally regarded as photographer/documentarian Frank's masterwork. Brother Julius spent years in a mental hospital and upon release was put into his brother's care. Frank captures the brothers' day-to-day lives, as well as a road trip with Allen Ginsberg. At times the film breaks into another film about actors working on a film about them; cinematic devices -- including black-and-white, color cutting, and unsychronized sound -- lend an element of visual "schizophrenia" to the work. One of the players is a young Christopher Walken. The emerging document is a testament to the camera's voyeuristic tendencies and a commentary on the mentally ill in society as well as an investigation into the life of the filmmaker himself. ~ Denise Sullivan, All Movie Guide