Leigh McCloskey Movies

Summoned by Captain Lochley, Psi Cop Bester (Walter Koenig) attempts to bring the telepath crisis under control. Garibaldi's unexpected response to Bester's presence becomes a moot issue when he and Franklin are trapped by Byron's more violent disciples. This is one of those Babylon 5 episodes which asks far more questions than it answers. Written by J. Michael Straczynski, "Phoenix Rising" was originally telecast on April 1, 1998. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The crew of the U.S.S. Voyager must confront a despotic leader who is also a psychological parasite in this episode of the television series Star Trek: Voyager. The Voyager rescues three Ilari aliens from a malfunctioning spaceship about to blow up: a man named Adin (Anthony Crivello); a woman named Nori (Galyn Gorg); and Nori's husband, Tieran (Leigh J. McCloskey). Shortly after the castaways are brought onboard, Tieran dies, and Kes (Jennifer Lien) begins acting strangely, assassinating a Ilari leader during a routine stop, and fleeing in a shuttle craft with Adin and Nori. The crew of the Voyager soon learn that Tieran was a former Ilarian leader who was overthrown years ago, and now sends his spirit on to inhabit new bodies and carry on his mission of hate. Can Tieran be removed from Kes' body and the Ilarians be freed from his evil power? Star Trek: Voyager 52: Warlord first aired on November 20, 1996. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

As Dallas enters its 13th season on the air, only actors Larry Hagman and Ken Kercheval, cast respectively as ruthless oil tycoon J.R. Ewing and his lifelong enemy, attorney-executive Cliff Barnes, have been seen in every season. Though rumors occasionally spread that Hagman was poised to leave the show, the fact that he had been appointed one of the executive producers pretty much put the kibosh on such talk. The season opens as a Ewing Oil tanker collides with a tanker from rival Westar Oil, thereby laying the groundwork for a full-scale government investigation of the Ewing empire, spearheaded by the vengeful Cliff Barnes. With the assistance of high-pressure PR agent Stephanie Rogers (Lesley-Anne Down), Barnes is elected United States energy czar -- all the more reason for J.R. to spite Cliff and step up his efforts to bring about his enemy's downfall. Meanwhile, J.R.'s brother Bobby (Patrick Duffy), reconciled to the fact that his wife Pamela is dead (Victoria Principal had long since exited the series), proposes to April Stevens (Sheree J. Wilson). This turn of events permits the writers to introduce a new character, April's younger sister Michelle, played by Kimberly Foster. Also making their first appearances this season are Gayle Hunnicutt as J.R.'s former lover Vanessa Beaumont, and Sasha Mitchell as James Richard Beaumont, J.R. and Vanessa's illegitimate son. A true chip off the old block, 20-year-old James bids fair to be even more conniving, underhanded and untrustworthy than his father. But even as "new blood" is pumped into Dallas, we lose an old favorite: namely, J.R.'s mom, Miss Ellie, played by Barbara Bel Geddes. As the season rushes to a close, James conspires with J.R.'s new wife, Cally (Cathy Podewell), to gain full control of Ewing oil -- while J.R., having fraudulently committed himself to a mental institution in order to get a controlling interest in Westar Oil from Jessica Montford (Alexis Smith), the insane sister of J.R.'s stepfather, Clayton Barlow (Howard Keel), finds that he is unable to leave the institution, and may spend the rest of his life in a padded cell! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this black comedy about cannibalism, an overweight man (Joe Alaskey) is thrilled when a beautiful woman (Donna Dixon) invites him to her family's home for Christmas dinner. Little does he know that he's slated to be the main course. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi

Jessica (Angela Lansbury) attends a cosmetics convention, where her nephew Grady (Michael Horton) has landed a job with supremely bitchy perfume manufacturer Lila Lee Amberson (Jayne Meadows). Also present is Liz Gordon (Ann Dusenberry), who had been one of Jessica's most promising writing students before she abruptly dropped from sight. When Liz turns up murdered, Jessica takes a personal interest in tracking down the culprit--and also learning the terrible secret that Liz was so obviously covering up at the time of her death. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Delivering no more and no less than what its title suggests, this teen movie is about three frat brothers chasing down sex and women in Palm Springs for a long weekend escape from blizzard conditions at Iowa State. Wendall (Stephen Geoffreys) is the requisite nerd of the group whose heart throbs for a certain young woman, unfortunately, she is the daughter of Police Chief Ferret (John Vernon), an aptly-named tough cop who is hardly going to welcome anyone who is after his daughter. Wendall's two buddies (Cameron Dye and Leigh McCloskey) are hot on the heels of the beauteous Ashley (Sheree J. Wilson), but so are a few others, and she does not necessarily bestow her favors indiscriminately -- and so they are having a difficult time of it. Between the music, the locations, and the lightweight plot to match the clothing, this is a typical teen comedy, for and about teens, and aimed at a young teen audience. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

In this espionage adventure, four beautiful aerobics instructors (government spies in disguise) try to stop villains from stealing the newest nuclear weapon. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Having closed its fourth season with the unidentified body of a young woman floating in the Ewing family swimming pool, Dallas launches its fifth season by casting suspicion of murder on both of the series' chief antagonists: the cunning, consciousless Texas oil tycoon J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman) and J.R.'s lifelong enemy, attorney Cliff Barnes (Ken Kercheval). For a while, it appears as though J.R. is the guilty party, since he had the most motive. The dead girl turns out to be Kristin Shepard (Mary Crosby), the same person who had shot J.R. full of holes at the end of season three. Once this matter is settled, there are plenty of other crises to dwell upon. On the verge of breaking up her marriage with J.R., Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) sues for custody of her son, John Ross, at the behest of her current lover, Dusty Farlow (Jared Martin). This results in a confrontation between J.R.'s mother, Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes), and Dusty's millionaire dad, Clayton Farlow (Howard Keel) -- though this adversarial relationship will eventually dissolve in a surprising matter. Meanwhile, J.R. schemes to get even with Sue Ellen by temporarily shacking up with Serena Wald (Stephanie Blackmore)and scheming to financially ruin the Farlows; but at the end of the day, he relents and embarks upon a campaign to win Sue Ellen back (not for her sake, but so that he can wrest away custody of his son).

Elsewhere, the marriage between J.R.'s niece Lucy (Charlene Tilton) and medical student Mitch (Leigh McCloskey) comes to an end. Unable to have children of their own, J.R.'s brother Bobby (Patrick Duffy) and his wife, Pam (Victoria Principal), adopt a child named Christopher -- without revealing the fact that the child's biological parents are the late Kristin Shepard and her blackmailing paramour Jeff Farraday (Art Hindle). Cliff Barnes goes to work for his entrepreneur mother, Rebecca Barnes Wentworth (Priscilla Pointer), hoping to beat J.R. at his own game in the marketplace -- and in the process becoming almost as greedy and duplicitous as his rival! Conspicuous by his absence this season is Miss Ellie's husband, Jock Ewing. Although actor Jim Davis had died the previous season, the producers decided not to completely write out Davis' character of Jock Ewing, instead contriving a scenario whereby Jock is in South America on a mission for the government. Ultimately, Jock perishes in a helicopter crash, whereupon a grieving Miss Ellie finds solace in the arms of her former enemy, Clayton Farlow. In the series' traditional cliffhanger ending, Cliff Barnes, financially ruined and in disgrace thanks to the machinations of J.R., tries to commit suicide -- and if he dies, it will mean disaster for several of the main Dallas characters. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A combination of alchemy, architecture, and horror, director Dario Argento's Inferno is a pulsing thriller filled with murder and supernatural mayhem. The peculiar proceedings are set into motion in both New York and Rome when two young women, Sara (Eleonora Giorgi) and Rose (Irene Miracle), find a book called The Three Mothers, a tome of alchemy written by an architect named Varelli. According to the book, Varelli built a trio of resting places for the Three Mothers, an evil trio whose identities remain at the core of the film's mystery. Rose's brother and Sara's boyfriend is Mark (Leigh McCloskey), a music student in Rome who jets to New York after Sara is murdered and Rose disappears. He follows up Rose's research on The Three Mothers and, with the help of his sister's neighbor, Elise (Daria Nicolodi), comes to the realization that the building they are in is one of Varelli's. Along the way, Mark encounters a variety of quirky characters including Elise's butler (Leopoldo Mastelloni), the building's maid (Alida Valli), a cat-hating bookseller named Kazanian (Sacha Pitoeff), and the infirm Professor Arnold (Feodor Chaliapin) and his nurse (Veronica Lazar). After a series of murders and a revelation that the butler and the maid have been plotting to steal Elise's jewels, Mark discovers a secret series of passages within the building. They lead him to its core where he finds the wheelchair-bound Professor Arnold, who explains that he is really the architect Varelli. After a violent struggle, the dying old man confesses to Mark that he is merely a servant to the Mothers. The building begins to burn out of control, but before Mark can escape, he discovers the shocking identity of the Three Mothers. ~ Patrick Legare, Rovi

Doctors' Private Lives was the 2-hour pilot film for the shortlived TV series of the same name. Ed Nelson and John Gavin star as, respectively, chief surgeon Dr. Michael Wise and cardiovascular unit chief Dr. Jeffrey Latimer. The drama arises from the ongoing clash of egos between these two medical giants. Nelson and Gavin were carried over to the series, as was Randolph Powell as Dr. Rick Calder. The guest cast includes Bettye Ackerman, who had ironically costarred in an earlier hospital series, Ben Casey (Ackerman was the wife of Sam "Dr. Zorba" Jaffee). Doctors' Private Lives premiered March 20, 1978; the series itself ran from April 5 to 28, 1979. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

More ambitious and expensive than ABC's first "novel for television" miniseries QB VII, the eight-episode, 12-hour Rich Man, Poor Man was the one that truly put the genre on the map, its phenomenal success in the ratings making possible the even more spectacular Roots. Adapted from the mammoth novel by Irwin Shaw, the miniseries covers the years from WWII to the 1960s, detailing the vacillating fortunes of the immigrant Jordache brothers. "Rich Man" Rudy Jordache (Peter Strauss) is determined to use his hard-earned education -- and his inherent ruthlessness -- to carve out a business and political empire not unlike that enjoyed by Joseph P. Kennedy and his progeny. "Poor Man" Tom Jordache (Nick Nolte), a quick-fisted hothead, goes an entirely different route, first as a professional boxer, then as a functionary of the evil gangster chieftain Falconetti (William Smith). Naturally, both brothers become entangled in romance along the way, with Julie Prescott (Susan Blakely) ending up as Rudy's benighted spouse. Originally telecast on February 1, 2, 9, 16, 23, and March 1, 8, and 15 in 1976, Rich Man, Poor Man earned 20 Emmy nominations and led to a weekly sequel, Rich Man, Poor Man -- Book 2, in the fall of 1976 (this version necessitated a title change for the original, which was rebroadcast as Rich Man, Poor Man -- Book 1 in the spring of 1977). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi