Paul Le Mat Movies
A one-time boxer and a veteran of the Vietnam War, actor Paul Le Mat made a career out of playing gruff, rugged male characters. After attending San Diego City College, Cypress Junior College, Chapman College, and L.A. Valley College following graduation from Newport Harbor High School, the New Jersey native became a war hero after winning a National Defense Medal, a Vietnam Service Medal, and a George Washington Honor Medal for his heroic wartime actions. Though he considered a career in the ring after winning the L.A. Diamond Belt and Southern Pacific Boxing Championship in the early '70s, Le Mat decided on a less physically-intensive career path, and studied acting at the Mitchell Ryan Actors' Studio and San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater. His role as a tire-squealing drag racer in George Lucas' American Graffiti earned the actor a Most Promising Newcomer award at the 1974 Golden Globe Awards, but Le Mat's star waned after a memorable role as a CB coordinator in Jonathan Demme's Handle With Care (1977). He reprised his American Graffiti role in the film's 1979 sequel, but after appearing in Demme's underappreciated Melvin and Howard and a menacing, Golden Globe-winning performance in the harrowing domestic drama The Burning Bed, good parts became scarce. By the 1990s, Le Mat's roles had gone from leading to supporting, and aside from American History X (1998), most of his roles were in bottom-of-the-barrel, B-grade schlock. Genre fans still relished in his performances in such fare as Grave Secrets and Puppet Master (both 1989), but the most exposure Le Mat received in the '90s was his role as the mayor in the Western series Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years. In 2001, Le Mat received his most substantial dramatic role in years as the best friend to a troubled Vietnam veteran in Arliss Howard's Big Bad Love. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Produced for cable's Hallmark channel, The Long Shot stars Julie Benz as expert equestrienne Annie Garrett. Forced by her demanding mother, Bonnie (Laura Johnson), to live under the shadow of her sister, Katie, who won 37 blue ribbons for her horsemanship before her death in a freak accident, Annie is further burdened when her no-good husband, Ross (John Livingston), deserts her. With her seven-year-old daughter, Taylor (Gage Golightly), in tow, the cash-strapped Annie accepts a very difficult job as a groomer and trainer on the Colorado horse farm owned by the no-nonsense Mary Lou O'Brien (Marsha Mason). Despite her heavy workload, Annie thrives in her new environment, forming a strong "friendship" with a horse named Tolo, whom she hopes to ride to victory in a high-stakes contest. Alas, Annie's opportunity to finally live up to the accomplishments of her late sister Katie may be permanently scuttled when Tolo is suddenly struck blind. The Long Shot was first broadcast on April 18, 2004. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julie Benz, Marsha Mason, (more)
Actor Arliss Howard made his debut as a director with this emotional drama adapted from a handful of short stories by Larry Brown. Barlow (Arliss Howard) is a deeply troubled Vietnam veteran who has been chasing a career as a writer, with little success; when he isn't struggling with his typewriter, he's usually drinking, and his wild mood swings and alcoholic fits of rage have driven away his wife Marilyn (Debra Winger), who has taken their son Alan (Zach Moody) and daughter Alisha (Olivia Kersey) with her. Barlow would like to see his children, but Marilyn refuses to allow it until he catches up on his alimony and child support payments; one of Barlow's few loyal friends, Monroe (Paul LeMat), a buddy from his Army days, is able to get him work as a house painter. With steady paychecks, Barlow is finally able to clear his debts to Marilyn, but she refuses to acknowledge that he's made much progress in turning his life around, and he doesn't get much more emotional support from his ailing mother (Angie Dickinson) or his friend Velma (Rosanna Arquette). Big Bad Love marked the second screen pairing for husband-and-wife Arliss Howard and Debra Winger; it was also Winger's first screen appearance in six years. Acclaimed songwriter Tom Waits composed the film's original score. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arliss Howard, Debra Winger, (more)
Novelist Reverge Anselmo makes his directorial debut with this comedy about two inept brothers trying to run the family's ranch. After spending several years in Mexico, P.D. Mitjans (Danny Nucci) returns to the States following the death of his father. He's giving thoughts to the notion of getting the family ranch back on its feet until he sees the mess his brother A.J. (Del Zamora) has made of the place. P.D. decides to give the place a try anyway, and the Mitjans Brothers attempt several schemes to raise cash, all of which prove to be spectacular failures. P.D. still has a reason to stick around, however -- his ex-girlfriend Cat (Dana Delany), who runs the neighborhood watering hole. Unfortunately, Cat has a new boyfriend these days, a cop with a less-than-stable constitution (Paul LeMat). The Outfitters was shown as part of the American Spectrum series at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danny Nucci, Del Zamora, (more)
Tony Kaye made his feature directorial debut with this dramatic exploration into the roots of race hatred in America. In a shocking opening scene, teen Danny Vinyard (Edward Furlong) races to tell his older brother, neo-Nazi Derek (Edward Norton), about the young blacks breaking into his car in front of the house, whereupon Derek gets his gun and with no forethought shoots the youths in their tracks. Tried and convicted, Derek is sent away for three years in prison, where he acquires a different outlook as he contrasts white-power prisoners with black Lamont (Guy Torry), his prison laundry co-worker and eventual pal. Meanwhile, Danny, with a shaved head and a rebellious attitude, seems destined to follow in his big brother's footsteps. After Danny writes a favorable review of Hitler's Mein Kampf, black high-school principal Sweeney (Avery Brooks) puts Danny in his private "American History X" course and assigns him to do a paper about his older brother, who was a former student of Sweeney's. This serves to introduce flashbacks, with the film backtracking to illustrate Danny's account of Derek's life prior to the night of the shooting. Monochrome sequences of Derek leading a Venice, California gang are intercut with color footage of the mature Derek ending his past neo-Nazi associations and attempting to detour Danny away from the group led by white supremacist, Cameron (Stacy Keach), who once influenced Derek. Director Tony Kaye, with a background in TV commercials and music videos, filmed in L.A. beach communities. Rated R "for graphic brutal violence including rape, pervasive language, strong sexuality and nudity." ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, (more)
- 1994
Based on a true story, Woman with a Past is about a prosperous real estate agent whose hidden life is revealed when federal agents arrest her for her past crimes. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pamela Reed, Dwight Schultz, (more)
- 1994
- R
In this taut erotic chiller, a professor's pretty assistant has no idea that her involvement in his investigation of ESP will put her life in danger. The problem stems from her own natural psychic ability, one that it is so strong that she can pick up the distress and memories of others, even dead people. The assistant's troubles really begin when she begins identifying with a recently slain coed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eric Roberts, Kari Wuhrer, (more)
- 1994
- R
A homeless teenager in Los Angeles manages to wind up sharing an apartment in a ritzy complex. One night he sees a beautiful neighbor swimming nude in the pool, when she is suddenly attacked by her crazed, insanely jealous husband. As he is drawn into his neighbor's life, what he doesn't realize is that he is being set up. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide
- 1992
This 1970s true story features a fanatically religious woman and her son-in-law who hold her children prisoner while waiting for her late husband's resurrection in Utah. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1992
A deuce coupe is a vintage 1930s or '40s two-door sedan, and in the 1950s these were the favored possessions of improvement-minded hot-rodders everywhere. In the '60s, the two-door 1954 and '55 Chevrolet Bel-Aire fell into the same category. These days, examples of these cars are for the most part ruinously expensive. In this nostalgia-laden movie, set in a small town in Virginia in the 1950s, Eddy, a hero-worshipping young man is helping his older brother Brian soup up his car for a long-awaited drag race. After winning the race and defeating (temporarily) the local champion, Brian goes off to enter the Air Force, leaving his precious car with Eddy. Before long, Marie Vitelli shows up on Eddy's doorstep looking for Brian. This pretty girl with a bad reputation is claiming to be pregnant with Brian's child. What's worse, she's currently going out with his drag-racing rival. Feelings of betrayal vie with rage and jealousy in the confused young man, who fancies Marie himself, and he challenges the rival to another racing duel. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kieran Mulroney, Brian Bloom, (more)
- 1989
- R
Advertised as a parody of cheapo-sleazo biker flicks, Easy Wheels looks so much like the real thing that one wonders whether or not we were originally supposed to take the whole megillah seriously. Biker Bruce (Paul Le Mat) and She Wolf (Eileen Davidson) forget their mutual animosity long enough to plan a mass abduction of female babies. The idea is to create a race of super biker chicks, who will enslave mankind and set up a leather-jacketed matriarchy. Bruce isn't completely sold on this idea and bides his time until he gets a chance to undermine She Wolf. Filmed in glamorous Des Moines and Dubuque, Easy Wheels makes all those American-International flicks of the 1960s look like the collected works of Antonioni. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Le Mat, Eileen Davidson, (more)
