Christine Lahti Movies

In this family drama from director Sidney Lumet, Judd Hirsch and Christine Lahti play Arthur and Annie Pope, a pair of '60s radicals who have eluded the FBI for 16 years after bombing a napalm laboratory as a Vietnam War protest. This lifestyle involves continually moving their base of operations and establishing new identities, which is especially hard on their children, 18-year-old Danny (River Phoenix) and 10-year-old Harry (Jonas Abry), who can never amass a group of friends or an academic record. This last problem comes to the fore when they arrive in a New Jersey town where the high school music teacher (Ed Crowley) takes an interest in Danny's piano playing, encouraging him to apply early admission to Juilliard. Danny yearns to follow this dream, but knows that separating from his parents would be a permanent break -- the aging hippies rarely even see their own parents, and can never inform anyone where they've moved. Arthur can't stand the idea of breaking up the family unit, which has provided the support that's allowed him to tolerate life on the move, but Annie sees her own sacrificed dreams in her son's prodigious musical talents, and begins pressuring Arthur to grant the boy his independence. Complicating factors, Danny has fallen in love with the daughter of his music teacher (Martha Plimpton), but can't allow himself to get too close to her, because he may have to leave again at any moment. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide

In this made-for-TV movie, a group of lonely, unattached people meet up in a local bar in search of love and friendship. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Subways provide the common setting for this modern anthology comprised of distinct vignettes made by ten of Hollywood's top directors and featuring some of Tinseltown's most popular actors. The episodes are based on real stories submitted by scores of subway regulars. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Shy, self-effacing newlywed Ruth (Nicholle Tom) manages to coerce her husband Artie (Stephen E. Miller) to move into the home of Ruth's domineering mother Maylene (Christine Lahti). Throughout Ruth's life, the bitter, vindictive Maylene has fed into her daughter's insecurities, making the girl feel homely and worthless. Perverse though it may seem, this was the only way that Maylene was ever able to express her love -- and the only way that she has been able to bind her daughter to her so that she herself will never feel lonely and abandoned. As the story progresses, Ruth grows progressively stronger and self-assertive, not only able but willing to heal the wounds of her troubled childhood. Conversely, her supposedly stalwart husband exposes his own weaknesses and failings. Based on the Oprah Book Club selection by Jane Hamilton, the made-for-TV The Book of Ruth debuted May 2, 2004, on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tommy Lee Jones won an Emmy for his searing performance as wanton killer Gary Gilmore in The Executioner's Song. The film covers the last nine months of Gilmore's life, beginning with his release from prison in 1976. Linking up with teen-age divorcee Nicole Baker (Rosanna Arquette), Gilmore makes a half-hearted effort to go straight, but ends up embarking on a robbery spree that culminates in two cold-blooded murders. Arrested and sentenced to be executed, Gilmore insists upon being put to death (Utah law required a firing squad for this); he spends his final days as a poster boy for anti-death penalty activists and as a "client" for an entrepreneur (Steven Keats) who wants to make a film of Gilmore's life. Adapted by Norman Mailer from his own book, The Executioner's Song originally aired in two parts on November 28 and 29, 1982. It has since been boiled down to a 97-minute theatrical film for European consumption, with additional scenes of violence and nudity. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Good Fight is a made-for-cable film about a small-town lawyer (Christine Lahti) who fights a tobacco company when her son's best friend is stricken with mouth cancer, due to his frequent use of chewing tobacco. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Lee Strasberg stars in this made-for-TV movie as a widowed senior citizen who suffers a stroke. Recovering in the hospital, Strasberg wants to return to his home, but refuses to have a housekeeper out of fear of being considered helpless. The notion of moving in with his grown children is also vetoed--by the children themselves, who chafed under Strasberg's arrogance and philandering when they were growing up and now prefer that he'd live elsewhere. The only alternative left is a nursing home, and Strasberg would rather die than resort to that. The Last Tenant was written by ABC Theatre Award-winner George Rubino. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Adapted from the stage comedy by Wendy Wasserstein, the made-for-cable An American Daughter was clearly inspired by the "Nannygate" imbroglio surrounding President Bill Clinton's political appointees Zoe Baird and Kimba Wood. Christine Lahti stars as Lyssa Dent Hughes, the daughter of a prominent U.S. Senator and a descendent of no less than Ulysses S. Grant. Just when it seems as if Hughes' appointment to the office of U.S. Surgeon General is a done deal, her husband Walter (Tom Skerritt) accidentally reveals a skeleton in Lyssa's closet: It seems that, years earlier, she'd had the temerity to ignore a summons for jury duty. This, coupled with several newly exposed inconsistencies concerning Lyssa's "official" biography, seriously jeopardize her political future, leaving her at the mercy of the horrible juggernaut of peer persecution and public opinion. Highlights of this timely tome include a brief spoof of the daytime TV interview series The View. Produced just in time to cash in on the upcoming presidential elections (not to mention the myriad of scandals attending the Clinton administration), An American Daughter (aka Trial by Media) made its Lifetime Network bow on June 5, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After his wife Dana (Christine Lahti) walks out on him, Michael (Joe Mantegna) is visited by his friend, Bruce (Paul Reiser). The two discuss the logistics of the fight, and the state of things between men and women in general. Michael had just given Dana a new Cadillac, and Bruce tells him that Brita (Glenne Headly), his wife and Dana's best friend, and a mental health professional, told him Dana left because, with his cigars and the Caddy, Michael started reminding her of her father. Bruce talks about his own marital problems. Brita recently woke him up in the middle of the night to complain about the hair growing out of his ears. Their friend Nick (Robert Pastorelli) had an epiphany and confessed to his wife that he'd cheated on her, and she left him. After a game of pool, Michael and Bruce decide to go to Motions, a strip club. Dana returns home and sees them driving away, and decides to follow them. She tracks them to the club, and she's appalled as she watches them get lap dances. She leaves the club and calls Brita to tell her all about it. When Michael and Bruce get back to Michael's place, they find the two women waiting there, angry. Dana throws Michael out, and Brita goes along with it. The four of them spend the rest of the evening strategizing with each other, coming together momentarily only to split again, and discussing gender differences. Michael and Bruce visit Nick, who's become a world-class womanizer, while Shelly (Jennifer Coolidge) shows up at the house, and complains about single life to Dana and Brita. Things only get more heated between the two couples as the evening wears on. Women vs. Men was directed by actor Chazz Palminteri. It originally aired on Showtime. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide