Ted Kotcheff Movies

The SVU investigates when graduate student Myra Denning (Shannyn Sosamon) claims that she was raped by college advisor Ron Polikoff (Billy Campbell). A voluntary DNA exam reveals that Polikoff has indeed been intimate with Myra--but he tells a different story of their relationship, insisting that the girl manipulated him into having rough sex. The case results in an emotional schism between Detective Stabler (Christopher Meloni), who believes Polikoff's story, and Detective Benson (Mariska Hargitay), who sides with Myra. When this episode originally aired on November 23, 2004, viewers were invited to cast their votes on NBC.com to determine whether Ron Polikoff was truly a rapist, or if he was an innocent victim of a duplicitous young woman (and no, the results will not be revealed in this synopsis). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This fact-based TV movie begins in 1987, as high-school athlete Alex Kelly (Matthew Settle) awaits his trial for the rape of one girl and the intimidation of several others. Rather than face the justice system, Alex flees to Europe, where he spends virtually the next decade, with covert financial help from his family. Falling in love with a girl in Sweden, Alex builds a whole new life for himself. Ultimately, however, Interpol tracks Alex down, whereupon the story takes a dramatic new turn. Told from the point of view of Alex's female victim, the film does nothing to whitewash its protagonist, even though actor Settle manages to invest his character with a modicum of sympathy; plus, the viewer is left to ponder whether the fault lies entirely with Alex, or with his upbringing. First broadcast by CBS as Crime in Connecticut: The Return of Alex Kelly on March 16, 1999, the film has since been rerun on cable as The Return of Alex Kelly. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit was the first of several successful spin-offs of producer/creator Dick Wolf's long-running NBC series Law & Order. Rather than follow the established Law & Order formula of focusing on the "nuts and bolts" of tracking down a wide variety of criminals and bringing them to trial, the spin-off series, per its title, zeroed in on a single division of the New York City justice system: the Special Victims Unit, or SVU, which dealt primarily with such sex-based crimes as rape, incest, pedophilia, torture, and serial murder. Also, whereas the original Law & Order was essentially a story-driven series, the personalities of the main characters on Special Victims Unit often dictated the direction of the investigation and the outcome of the case. Christopher Meloni headed the cast as Detective Elliot Stabler, who sustained a calm, soft-spoken veneer on the job, and who fought a losing battle to spare his family the sordid details of his work. In contrast, Detective Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) was volatile and impulsive; a child of rape, she tended to overidentify with the victims of the crimes she investigated and often as not had zero tolerance for the suspects, no matter what the evidence said. The two other principals were carryovers from other series: Richard Belzer repeated his Homicide: Life on the Street characterization of Detective John Munch, who leaned toward the cynical and sarcastic, and who was driven by the paranoia arising from his steadfast belief in vast sociopolitical conspiracies; and Dann Florek was seen as the SVU team's no-nonsense skipper, Captain Donald Cragen, a character he'd played for three seasons on the original Law & Order. Also in the cast were Munch's partners, departmental newcomer Detective Brian Cassidy (Dean Winters) during season one, and flippant, streetwise Detective Odafin "Fin" Tutuola (Ice-T) thereafter; another street-smart cop, Detective Monique Jeffries (Michelle Hurd), who appeared in the first season only; forensic psychiatrist Dr. George Huang (B.D. Wong), a regular from the third season onward; Assistant DA Alexandra Cabot (Stephanie March), who after being placed in the Witness Protection Program was replaced by ADA Casey Novak (Diane Neal); and, on a recurring basis, Ken Briscoe, the son of veteran Law & Order detective Lennie Briscoe -- played by Chris Orbach, the son of veteran Law & Order regular Jerry Orbach. Popularly known as Law & Order: SVU, this series debuted September 20, 1999, on NBC. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this made-for-TV thriller, Paul Fein (Charles Bronson) is a veteran police detective whose son Eddie (Sebastian Spence) is also a cop. Paul is assigned to investigate the murder of a prominent businessman, and he soon learns that the field of suspects has been narrowed down to two -- the victim's sexually freewheeling wife Anna (Lesley-Anne Down), and Paul's wild-child daughter Jackie (Angela Featherstone). Neither Paul nor Eddie believe that Jackie could have committed the murder, and soon Paul is using himself as a decoy in a bid to find out more about what Anna does and doesn't know about her husband's death. Family of Cops was followed by two sequels. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

US Marshal Mickey Dane is sent back to his native Prague to investigate the assassination of a Cuban UN ambassador. The prime suspect is professional hit woman Simone Rosset, the lesbian co-owner of a posh restaurant there. The other owner is Simone's girl friend. Mickey catches Simone, but then she escapes. He and his partner CIA-agent Alex Reed, catch her again and take her into the countryside until they can sneak her back into the States. As time passes, Mickey begins suspecting that she is innocent of the crime. Simone swears that she has retired and hasn't left the Czech Republic in over five years. Finally convinced, he and she head back for Prague only to find themselves even more deeply entangled in a complex conspiracy, treachery and violence. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

When two bumbling businessmen, Larry Wilson (Andrew McCarthy) and Richard Parker (Jonathan Silverman), alert their boss, Bernie Lomax (Terry Kiser), to an expensive discrepancy in the company books, he invites them to his home on the beach with the intent to have them murdered. However when they discover that their boss has been murdered prior to their arrival, they attempt to convince people that he is still alive to avoid suspicion for his death, leading to all kinds of wacky mishaps. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi

The 1920s-era play The Front Page was about a Chicago reporter who wants to retire and get married but is tricked by his editor into doing one last story -- which proves to be complicated. It was made into a classic film in 1931 and inspired the 1940 hit movie His Girl Friday, in which the reporter was changed into a woman. Billy Wilder also remade the original film in 1974. Switching Channels is a 1988 remake of His Girl Friday, with Kathleen Turner in the starring role, which has now morphed into that of a cable television network news anchor, Christy Colleran. She wants to marry a rich and handsome sporting goods manufacturer, Blaine Bingham (Christopher Reeve) and move out of town. But her ex-husband, John L. Sullivan IV (Burt Reynolds), who is also her producer and boss, gives her one final assignment to try to keep her around. Her reporting leads her into an investigation of a jail escape that follows a botched-up execution. Writer Jonathan Reynolds updated the original material. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi

In an unusual comedy by Joan Darling, Brian Dennehy and Anne Archer star as the Richard, a druggist, and his wife Peggy, a pair of debt-ridden parents who rebel against the system. Nothing goes right while they try to uphold the system, then things get even worse when they leave it. Richard decides to pull the plug on modernity when he cannot meet his utility bills and creditors are at his door like wolves. He shuts off the electricity and sets up candles, buys a goat, and digs a well in the back yard. He finally does hit water, but it happens to be the city's water main. Peggy is not quite as crazed as her husband so she goes to see a shrink -- who promptly dies on her. If anything can go wrong for Richard and Peggy, it will. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

First Blood is the Sylvester Stallone film that unleashed "Rambo" onto an unsuspecting world. Wandering into a small, hostile town, ex-Green Beret John Rambo (Stallone) is targeted for persecution and abuse by potbellied Sheriff Will Teasle (Brian Dennehy). When he can stand no more, Rambo goes bonkers, killing a deputy and heading into the surrounding hills, armed to the teeth. Only after Rambo has picked off practically every law enforcement officer within a radius of 50 miles do the local authorities bring in his former commanding officer, Trautman (Richard Crenna), for advice. Trautman's response -- that the locals had better get a lot of body bags ready -- is hardly encouraging. First Blood proved to be one of Stallone's biggest non-Rocky hits. Kirk Douglas had originally been cast as Trautman, but he quit the project when the producers refused to cave in to his demand that Trautman kill Rambo in the finale. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In a society in which major league sporting events have replaced Sunday worship as the religion of choice, North Dallas Forty appears like a desecration at the altar. In this film, directed by Ted Kotcheff (The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz), the National Football League is revealed to be more about the money than the game. Nick Nolte is North Dallas Bulls pass-catcher Phillip Elliott, whose cynicism and independent spirit is looked upon as troublesome by team coaches Johnson (Charles Durning) and Strothers (G.D. Spradlin) and team owner Conrad Hunter (Steve Forrest). Elliot, at the end of his career and wise to the way players are bought and sold like cattle, goes through the games pumped up on painkillers conveniently provided by the management. His teammates include savvy quarterback Maxwell (Mac Davis) and lunk-headed defensive lineman Jo Bob Priddy (Bo Svenson), who deal with the impersonality and back-biting of the game through off-field diversions. When the Bulls management benches Elliot after manipulating him to help train a fellow teammate, Elliot has to decide whether there is more to life than the game that he loves. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Dick Harper (George Segal) and his wife Jane (Jane Fonda) have always lived way beyond their means. Just because Dick has just lost his high-paying job is no reason for Jane to stop spending like there's no tomorrow. To make ends meet, Jane takes up a new career: armed robbery. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Though Desi Arnaz plays the title role, Gregory Peck is top billed in Billy Two Hats. Arnaz plays a thief who teams up with Scottish bank bandit Peck. A botched robbery results in a tiny amount of cash and an accidental killing. Peck rescues the captured Billy, enduring a leg wound in the process. While resting in the home of an old rancher, Peck goes off in search of a doctor, while Billy enjoys the sexual favors of the rancher's young wife. This interruption in the bandits' escape enables Indian-hating sheriff Jack Warden to catch up with Arnaz and Peck. A last-reel shoot-out ensues, involving sheriff's deputies, the rancher, and a band of Indian renegades. Billy Two Hats (reissued as The Lady and the Outlaw) was the first American western to be filmed in Israel. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi