Ollie Osterberg Movies
This cheerful holiday comedy, a surprise box office smash, featured a generous dollop of raunchy, crude humor and was greatly elevated by the presence of masterful performers in the lead roles. Jack Lemmon is John Gustafson, an ice-fishing Minnesota native who has been feuding with his neighbor and former best friend Max Goldman (Walter Matthau) for decades. The battle of wills between John and Max is characterized by crude name calling and harmless practical jokes. Max is unaware that John is having serious problems, chiefly that his daughter Melanie (Daryl Hannah) is experiencing marital woes and that his house is about to be confiscated by an officious IRS agent (Buck Henry). When it seems that John and Max may finally put aside their childish rivalry, however, sexy new neighbor Ariel (Ann-Margret) arrives and dates both men, pitting them against each other more fiercely than ever before. Despite their mutual loathing, the death of a friend, John's problems, and a budding romance between Max's son Jacob (Kevin Pollak) and Melanie may force the two old friends to reconcile. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, (more)
- 1990
The Stranger Within, a frightening, well-done, made-for-TV thriller with a fine performance by Rick Schroder tell the story of a boy trying to convince a unstable woman that he is her long-lost son. Mare Blackburn (Kate Jackson) is an emotionally traumatized woman whose three-year-old son was kidnapped 12 years before. One day Mark (Rick Schroder) appears on her doorstep claiming to be her lost son who has escaped and returned to her. Mare is at first overjoyed then frightened when it is apparent that her "son" is a sociopathic killer. Rick Schroder shows remarkable range in this change-of-pace performance where he plays an unsympathetic and unappealing character with great energy and intelligence. The Stranger Within is a fine, frightening psychological thriller. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi
- 1987
- PG13
Rachel River is a small town in Minnesota. When local "looney tune" Aileen Cole dies, the town comes to the slow realization that the reclusive Cole has in fact touched the lives of virtually every citizen--and nearly always in a positive manner. That realization is so slow because, immediately after Cole's demise, everyone is more concerned with scrambling to recover a buried treasure rumored to be on the old woman's property. The very thin plotline is fleshed out by individual episodes involving some of the town's more visible denizens: Cole's slobbish nephew Craig T. Nelson, Nelson's viper-tongued sister Jo Henderson, elderly Viveca Lindfors, local radio personality Pamela Reed, covetous undertaker James Olson, and "village idiot" Zeljko Ivanek, whose top billing in the opening credits is justified as the story develops. Rachel River premiered in June of 1989 as a PBS American Playhouse telecast, then enjoyed a brief theatrical distribution. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Zeljko Ivanek, Pamela Reed, (more)
