Adam Arkin Movies

Based on a novel by Donald E. Westlake, this seriocomic tale of murder and manipulation stars William H. Macy as nerdish but powerful movie critic Terry Thorpe. During an argument with his lover, Terry accidentally kills the woman, forcing him to go great lengths to cover up his crime. Unfortunately, the dead woman was being tailed by smarmy private eye John Edgerson (James Cromwell), who suspects foul play and blackmails Thorpe accordingly. Meanwhile, the case is being officially investigated by police detective Fred Stapelli (Adam Arkin), an aspiring screenwriter who hopes that Thorpe will help him make a Hollywood sale. Playing Stapelli like a fine piano, Thorpe not only shifts suspicion from himself to a third party, but also begins an affair with Stapelli's wife Patricia (Julia Campbell). And how does Thorpe's current girlfriend Kit (played by Macy's real-life spouse Felicity Huffman) figure into all this intrigue? Also known as A Travesty, A Slight Case of Murder made its TNT cable network debut on September 19, 1999. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this WWII-era drama, Jan-Michael Vincent plays Marion Hedgepeth, a young Marine who fails out of a boot camp in 1943 and gets sent home wearing a baby blue suit to symbolize shame and dishonor. In Los Angeles, he runs into a veteran who -- eager to be discharged -- k.o.'s him and switches their uniforms. When Marion regains consciousness, he's clad in a hero's uniform. He begins hitching his way toward his home in St. Louis, dreading the prospect of confessing to his folks, but stops for a time in a small town where he's mistaken for a hero and immediately falls in love with a waitress, Rose (Glynnis O'Connor). Meanwhile, as the truth threatens to emerge and bring disgrace raining down onto his head, several residents of a Japanese internment camp escape. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

This two-hour TV entertainment special takes a surface skim (95 minutes minus commercials and promos) over the history of CBS, quickly skipping past decades of CBS radio to concentrate on CBS television from the late '40s to the present. It features more than a dozen hosts (Adam Arkin, Ed Bradley, Carol Burnett, David Copperfield, Roma Downey, Fran Drescher, Don Johnson, Angela Lansbury, David Letterman, Cheech Marin, Mary Tyler Moore, Dan Rather, Della Reese, Ray Romano, Jane Seymour) introducing a parade of primetime clips covering a variety of shows, events, and people -- Ed Sullivan, The Carol Burnette Show, 60 Minutes (Mike Wallace interviewing Barbra Streisand), Gunsmoke, The Honeymooners, Edward R. Murrow (his oft-seen editorial on Joe McCarthy), I Love Lucy, The Twilight Zone, The Waltons, Dan Rather reporting from Vietnam, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Green Acres, Dallas, Petticoat Junction, The Beverly Hillbillies, M*A*S*H, The Andy Griffith Show, Murphy Brown, the JFK assassination, and more -- with reminiscences from Tom and Dick Smothers, David Letterman (on Ed Sullivan), Larry Hagman (on "Who shot J.R.?"), Alan Alda, Ron Howard, Walter Cronkite, and others. At 95 minutes, these nostalgic nods, truncated tributes, and familiar faces might leave many viewers yearning for an archeological dig through the little-seen rarities and antiquities buried in the Museum of Television & Radio collection while waiting for the major networks to cover broadcasting history in depth. Premiered May 20, 1998 on CBS. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Mark Osborne directs this dark Hollywood satire about TV, suicide, and good lighting. L.A. couch potato Emile (Kent Osborne) gets so much satisfaction from television -- particularly sitcoms and nature documentaries -- that it borders on the indecent. While not watching the telly, he plots his own demise. One day, in the throes of a messy suicide attempt, he gets a call informing him that he landed a job at a nearby motel. Emile is soon assigned the nightshift with dour, officious Henry (David Koechner). While on break, he ventures into a massive, fluorescent supermarket where he slips into a bizarre state of consumeristic bliss, drifting among the aisles. But like his TV binges, this trip soon devolves into thoughts of offing himself. He resolves videotape the deed and send the tape to the girl who jilted him. Unfortunately, such a task cannot be done alone, so Emile soon enlists the help of Henry, who in turn brings in self-proclaimed movie expert Andrew (Vince Vieluf). Before long, Emile's simple desire to record his final act has turned into a full-scale production, complete with gaffers, make-up artists and Hollywood types traipsing about with their cell phones. In the midst of all this, Emile is rethinking the whole deal, especially the part about him committing suicide. His handlers, however, are less than eager for him to stray from the script. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Bill Gates guest stars on this, the 200th episode of Frasier. It so happens that this landmark event occurs on the same day as the 2000th radio broadcast of Frasier's radio call-in show. Having accumulated all but one of his broadcast tapes, Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) must now negotiate with the overly obsessive fan (Adam Arkin) who owns the only surviving copy of the missing show. This episode orginally ran 35 minutes and was shown in tandem with a special comprised of clips from previous Frasier seasons. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cristina (Sandra Oh) agrees to keep secret the fact that Burke (Isaiah Washington) has been suffering from hand tremors since his surgery. Izzie (Katherine Heigl) pays a visit to the hospital for the first time since she walked out. Alex (Justin Chambers) is perplexed by his latest patient, a foster child named Megan (Abigail Breslin) who seems unfazed by her many injuries. Another patient's wife (Lanai Chapman) vents her wrath at her husband (Gabriel Casseus) over his repeated surgeries. Addison has a tense, terse meeting with Mark (Eric Dane). And George (T.R. Knight) insists that Callie (Sara Ramirez) find somewhere else to live (guess where!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama, a detective investigating the murder of a state trooper finds himself caught up with terrorists. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Ken Burns continues his exploration of massive, sweeping subjects with his 15-hour documentary The War; in this case, the conflict in question is World War II. Yet within the scope of that gargantuan subject, Burns and co-director Lynn Novick narrow their scale of emphasis, honing in on four "average" American towns and charting the experiences of individual young men who enlisted to go overseas and fight against the encroaching shadow of fascism. The film covers each major "region" of the U.S. by transporting audiences to the west coast (Sacramento, California); the south (Mobile, Alabama); the east coast (Waterbury, Connecticut) and the Midwest (the farming community of Luverne, Minnesota). Within that geographic framework, Burns uncovers a series of astonishing tales about bravery in the midst of adversity - from the story of a young man who transported 12 American soldiers from the Normandy beach on D-Day, to the accounts of innumerable young men who falsified their ages and enlisted early. Burns and Novick thus repeatedly emphasize the human side of war - an aspect all too often glossed over when documentarians treat WWII on a broader scale. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Monk (Tony Shalhoub) suspects that 800-pound tycoon Dale "The Whale" Biederbeck (Adam Arkin) is the murderer of one Judge Lavinio. But how can this be? Dale the Whale is so obese that he can't even get out of his bed, much less leave his room. Also, it looks as though Monk is acting on a personal vendetta against Biederbeck, stemming from a devastating lawsuit a few years before. Even so, Monk is obsessed (surprise, surprise!) with proving Biederbeck's guilt, and his nurse-assistant Sharona (Bitty Schram) offers her services to prove Monk right--even if it kills her. With this episode, Max Morrow joins the cast as Sharona's son Benjy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A young girl learns a difficult lesson about the bonds of family in this drama based on the novel for young adults by Kimberly Willis Holt. Tiger Ann Parker (Kelsey Keel) is a girl growing up in the small rural community of Saitter, LA, and she's not especially happy with her life. Her mother (Amelia Campbell) suffered brain damage after a childhood accident that significantly reduced her IQ, and her father (Chris Owens) is "slow" and has trouble reading and writing, which has made Tiger Ann the subject of a lot of cruel taunting from her classmates at school. When Tiger Ann's Aunt Dorie (Juliette Lewis) offers to let her stay with her in the "big city" of Baton Rouge, the young girl is eager to see what the world has to offer beyond the city limits of Saitter. But Tiger Ann soon discovers that leaving her home and family behind is not as simple as she imagined. My Louisiana Sky also features Shirley Knight; actor Adam Arkin directed, in what was his first feature-length project. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide