Woody Watson Movies
- 1992
Two rich boys decide to try their hands at manual labor and so get summer jobs working on a Texas offshore oil rig in this taut thriller. They look forward to it until they encounter a mean-spirited boss who resents them because of their wealth. He mercilessly picks upon them and they wonder if they will survive until helpful Bo Landry shows up. Bo seems to be such a good person and the boys are glad to have him on their side. Unfortunately, things are not what they seem and soon their lives are really in danger. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1991
Mario Van Peebles stars as football play Ricky Bell in this made-for-TV biopic. The film touches upon Bell's gridiron accomplishments, then concentrates on the athlete's final years, when he falls victim to a terminal illness. As Bell's physical state deteriorates, he forges a strong friendship with a young handicapped man, played by Lane Davis. Their relationship provides courage and determination for both men, encouraging Davis to make the most of his life after Bell dies at age 29. Substituting bathos for pathos, Triumph of the Heart: The Ricky Bell Story is not the Brian's Song it desperately wants to be. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1986
Adam: His Song Continues is a sequel to the highly regarded fact-based 1983 TV movie Adam. The first film was the heartrending story of Floridians John and Reve Walsh (Daniel J. Travanti, JoBeth Williams) whose six-year-old son Adam was kidnapped and murdered in 1981, whereupon the Walshes lobbied for creation of the Federal Missing Child Act, which allowed public access to FBI files of other lost youngsters. The sequel, also starring Travanti and Williams, doesn't have the emotional drive of the original, but is still absorbing in its chronicling of John Walsh's efforts to create a advocacy service for missing kids--and the pressures brought to bear on Reve, who is expecting another baby. Both Adam films end with a roll call of missing children, with His Song Continues listing those children who'd been found since the first movie. The real-life John Walsh later became the host of a Fox "reality" series America's Most Wanted. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1991
Since graduating from Happy Days, Anson "Potsie" Williams has carved himself a comfortable Hollywood niche as a prolific director of straight-to-video movies. In Williams' All-American Murder, Charlie Schlatter stars as a James Dean-ish young troublemaker. When a beautiful college coed is murdered, Schlatter tops the suspect list. Cop Christopher Walken doubts Schlatter's guilt; he gives the suspect 24 hours to prove his innocence. But when more murders occur, we are forced to ask ourselves: Just what is Schlatter's agenda? It may seem like an exercise in the Obvious, but All-American Murder keeps you guessing right up to the end. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Walken, Charlie Schlatter, (more)
For his follow-up to 1979's Academy Award-winning Norma Rae, director Martin Ritt re-teams with that film's star, Sally Field, for this gritty romantic road comedy. Reportedly Ritt's homage to Frank Capra's films of the 1930s, Back Roads stars Field as Amy Post, a no-nonsense prostitute in the deep South struggling with the fact that she gave up her only child for adoption. When Amy first encounters the recently unemployed Elmore Pratt (Tommy Lee Jones), she is anything but fond of the drifter. But after taking to the road together with dreams of California, the two societal misfits find themselves falling for each other. Ritt and Field would team together once again four years later in another romantic comedy set in the South, Murphy's Romance. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones, (more)
- 1993
Based on a true story, the made-for-TV Fugitive Among Us stars Peter Strauss and Eric Roberts. Strauss plays Max Cole, a police detective obsessed with tracking down a rapist. Cal Harper (Roberts), who is as outgoing and uninhibited as Cole is buttoned-up and repressed, is the number-one suspect. After a two-year pursuit across the Southwest, Cole is close to cornering his quarry--at great personal and emotional expense. Suddenly he is seized with the notion that Harper may not be the man he's looking for, sparking yet another deluge of angst. Full of surprising plot twists and offbeat characterizations, Fugitive Among Us debuted February 4, 1992. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
Based on a true story (it says here), He's Not Your Son is another variation on the old "switched at birth" plot device. Donna Mills and Ken Howard play Kathy and Michael Saunders, who are forced to face the possibility that their new baby may not be their new baby. It's a possibility that the hospital made a mistake, and that the Saunders infant was switched with the newborn son of Holly and Ted Barnes (Ann Dusenberry, John James). The ramifications of this error result in emotional disaster for both couples. Twin babies Drew and Preston James play the child in question. Filmed on location in Dallas, the made-for-TV He's Not Your Son debuted October 3, 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1995
Filmed on location in the Lone Star State, the made-for-TV In the Name of Love: A Texas Tragedy could be described as a modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet, except that its perverse plot twists are more reminiscent of Jacobean than Shakespearean tragedy. After being rendered paraplegic in an accident, wealthy young Luke Constable (Michael Hayden) is deserted by his socialite girlfriend. In an extremely vulnerable state, Luke falls in love with Laurette Wilder (Laura Leighton), the daughter of a working-class family. Determined to prove that she isn't merely a golddigger, Laurette encourages Luke to break away from his family and turn his back on their fortune. Her stubborn pride ultimately shatters their marriage, but the couple remains in love--so much so that the now-impoverished Luke, determined to "make good" for his wife's sake, is willing to commit murder. Produced for the Fox network, the fact-based In the Name of Love: A Texas Tragedy debuted September 12, 1995. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Crenna
- 1991
The made-for-television film Sarah, Plain & Tall is a Hallmark Hall of Fame production about a single New England schoolteacher (Glenn Close) who responds to an advertisement by a Midwestern widower, who is asking for a bride to help him raise his two children. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Walken
- 1993
Hallmark Hall of Fame's success with Sarah, Plain and Tall inspired the making of this sequel, with the entire cast back for the second production. Initially a mail-order bride, Sarah (Close) now loves Jacob (Walken) but still wants to return to Maine. When danger threatens, she and the family finally go back to Maine. This is the story of that visit back East. With the same nostalgia value as that which kept Little House on the Prairie on the air for years, it is another irresistible Hallmark production. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenn Close, Christopher Walken, (more)
- 1991
When a pair of teen-aged boys break away from their summer camp to lose their virginity to an infamous hooker (Sonia Braga), they discover that she's since gone straight to become a rancher. After hiring on as stable boys, they learn about the real meaning of love and sex. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1992
Based on Clifford Irving's novel Trial, this 2-part TV movie is set amongst the Texas elite. Peter Strauss plays Warren Blackburn, a brilliant but discredited trial lawyer. His career seems due for redemption when judge Louise Parker (Jill Clayburgh), formerly Blackburn's bitterest foe, appoints him to defend a homeless man charged with murder. Simultaneously, Blackburn is hired to defend flashy nightclub entertainer Faye Boudreau (Beverly D'Angelo) in a separate murder trial. While investigating his clients' background, Blackburn uncovers several unsavory facts. Should he reveal what he knows and thereby risk everything -- including his life? Part one of Trial: The Price of Passion was first telecast May 3, 1992; part two was shown the following evening. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Rutger Hauer plays a blinded Vietnam vet who also happens to be an expert swordsman. Twenty years after the war, Hauer finds himself waist-deep in gangsters when he tries to help the son (Brandon Call) of an old army buddy. Along the way, he reforms an ex-comrade in arms (Terrance O'Quinn) who was responsible for the accident that blinded him. Based on a series of Japanese films about a blind samurai (released under the blanket title of Zatoichi). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rutger Hauer, Brandon Call, (more)
- 1989
- R
The good people of Milo, Kansas (pop. 1,972) combine forces to battle against the evil agribusiness Farmco that conspires to drive up the price of bread to six dollars a loaf. Farmer Jeff Parker (Sonny Gibson) and the crusading journalist Charlie Stevens (Buck Henry) recruit former Farmco executive James Kirkland (Doug McClure) who resigns when his conscience bothers him too much. Reporter Roger Crandall (Paul Newson) uncovers the plot to inflate the price of grain and sends it to colleague Jessica Stanton (Reparata Mazzola) before he is killed. Jessica investigates Roger's "accidental" death and the shooting of a federal grain inspector. Jeff saves Jessica after she is kidnapped and drugged with ether. Ben Johnson plays the local sheriff in this message drama. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sonny Gibson, Doug McClure, (more)
Hexed is a lame, low-budget comedy spoof of Basic Instinct and Fatal Attraction -- both of which are funnier than Hexed. The film concerns Matthew Welsh (Ayres Gross), a scheming hotel clerk at the Holiday Park Hotel whose life changes for better and worse when famed super-model Hexina (Claudia Christian) checks into the hotel. Matthew manages to lure Hexina back to his apartment for what he thinks will be an uninhibited night of sex -- but Hexina has other things on her mind. It turns out that she is being blackmailed over a series of murders committed in her youth when she was fat and dumpy. Hexina, whose psychological profile hasn't changed since she began to grace fashion-magazine covers, is still a raving paranoid schizophrenic who thinks that Matthew is her blackmailer. So, she acquiesces to bed down Matthew in anticipation of murdering him in the afterglow. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arye Gross, Claudia Christian, (more)
- 1990
- R
I Come in Peace is a silly, derivative science fiction exploitation thriller which is a triumph of style and skillful direction, despite a plot that steals elements from numerous good films and mixes them with some appallingly bad acting. Jack Caine (Dolph Lundgren) is a not-by-the books police officer investigating the death of several people, including his partner, by a gang called the "White Boys." All the victims seemed to have died of drug overdoses, but Jack thinks that there is something more sinister afoot. His investigation reveals a plot by aliens who use the bodies to extract a chemical that is sold to addicts on their home planet. Originally entitled Dark Angel, I Come in Peace, while silly and confusing, has great production values and some excellent special effects. The main reason to see this film is because of the expert direction by former stunt-man Craig Baxley who manages to keep the action moving at a fast pace and tie up the loose ends of the threadbare story. The cinematography by Mark Irwin is outstanding and shows that imagination and a good visual sense can overcome a limited budget and a bad plot. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dolph Lundgren, Betsy Brantley, (more)
- 1985
- R
In this martial-arts actioner, a gentle Japanese immigrant endeavors to quietly run a business in America. Unfortunately, gangsters refuse to leave them alone. Finally the quiet storekeeper has enough and reveals that he is in reality, a highly skilled Ninja master. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sho Kosugi, Donna Kei Benz, (more)
The serialized story structure and barbed social commentary from comic book creator and co-writer Frank Miller earned critical respect in this satirical science fiction sequel directed by Irvin Kershner. Peter Weller returns as RoboCop, a futuristic cyborg fashioned from cutting-edge technology and the biological remains of slain Detroit police officer, Alex Murphy. Still patrolling the city streets, RoboCop is scheduled by his creator, Omni Consumer Products, to be replaced by a new "superior" model, RoboCop 2, that according to designer Juliette Faxx (Belinda Bauer), will contain the human remains not of a cop but a criminal. In the meantime, an instantly addictive drug called Nuke is sweeping through Detroit thanks to a kingpin named Cain (Tom Noonan). Taking Cain to task, RoboCop is captured and dismantled. When he's put back together, the cyborg is reprogrammed with a series of socially conscious commands (in a sly mocking of the then relatively new concept of "political correctness") that render him impotent as a law enforcer. Taking charge by rewiring himself with an electrical overload, RoboCop arrests Cain, who is injured in the process. Faxx secretly takes Cain's brain and inserts it into RoboCop 2, turning the robot immediately into a law-breaking murder machine and leading to a violent showdown between two generations of robotic crime-fighters. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, (more)
- 1991
- R
In the made-for-cable film Without Warning: The James Brady Story, Beau Bridges stars in the true-life story of the Ronald Reagan press secretary who was critically wounded in the 1981 assassination attempt on Reagan by John Hinckley. Brady was left crippled by the shooting, and the film follows his recuperation process, as well as his fight for more stringent gun control. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Beau Bridges, Joan Allen, (more)
Clint Eastwood, hot off of his Academy Award win for Unforgiven, directed this small character study, appearing in the guise of a cops-and-robbers action picture. The film takes place during the fall of 1963. Eight-year old Phillip Perry (T.J. Lowther), the son of a devout Jehovah's Witness mother, is staying home while all the other children are out trick-or-treating. But then prison escapee Butch Haynes (Kevin Costner) appears in his kitchen. Needing a hostage to aid him in his escape from jail, he grabs Phillip. Phillip curiously looks up to Butch and willingly accompanies him. Butch gets rid of his fellow escapee after he tries to molest the child, and Butch and Phillip take to the Texas highway, on the run from the cops. The cop in pursuit in this instance is Police Chief Red Garnett (Clint Eastwood), riding in his sleek Populux Airglide trailer -- his "mobile command headquarters." On the road with Garnett is Sally Gerber (Laura Dern), a pushy pre-feminist criminologist, along with a creepy federal agent who is an expert sharpshooter. Butch is not particularly anxious to make it to the Texas borderline, and neither is Garnett in any particular hurry to catch Butch. As Butch and Phillip form a father-son attachment, the paths of Butch and Garnett gradually come together, in time for a final confrontation, after which Garnett confesses, "I don't know nothing. I don't know a damn thing." ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Costner, Clint Eastwood, (more)
This unusual modern-day fable concerns a super-powered teenager who inspires nothing but hostility in the small-minded folk of his hometown. Sean Patrick Flanery stars as Jeremy Reed, nicknamed "Powder" because he is an albino. Powder has been living his entire 16 years in his grandparents' basement, but they have both passed away. The boy is removed from his home and placed in a school. There, science teacher Ripley (Jeff Goldblum) and psychologist Jessie Caldwell (Mary Steenburgen) discover that in addition to being an albino, their new student is the smartest person who ever lived with an IQ off the charts -- and that he is electrically super-charged, which renders him hairless. Powder also has miraculous powers of perception, ESP, and healing, which he uses to ease the death of the terminally ill wife of local Sheriff Barnum (Lance Henriksen) and to give a bigoted redneck hunter (Brandon Smith) a firsthand demonstration of the pain suffered by a deer he's just shot. Powder's gentle nature attracts a pretty coed, Lindsey (Missy Crider), but in spite of his Christ-like demeanor, Powder's abnormalities inspire hatred on the part of many bigoted citizens, especially school bully John Box (Bradford Tatum). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Steenburgen, Sean Patrick Flanery, (more)
- 1994
- PG13
Like the feature film Network (1976), this made-for-television drama scathingly satirizes an amoral, avaricious media. The story is set in 1999, a time the pay-per-view television industry is in a tailspin. It seems with over 500 available channels, audiences have become jaded with movies and sports. Enter up-and-coming executive Jessica Traynor (Sean Young) a member of the Tycom network team. It is her brilliant idea that her company can attract new customers by offering them a chance to witness a real execution on live television. Once her company approves and she untangles all the government red-tape, Jessica is left with the task of choosing an appropriately photogenic and charismatic death-row inmate. Trouble brews when Jessica begins suspecting that the man she selected may be innocent. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Young, Tim Daly, (more)
- 1983
- PG
The film may be called Eddie Macon's Run, but the title character (John Schneider) takes a back seat during most of the proceedings. Most of the footage is devoted to Eddie's chief nemesis, small-town lawman Marzack (Kirk Douglas). Arrested on a trumped-up charge, Eddie breaks out of prison and takes to the road, with Marzack in hot pursuit. The lion's share of the film is a tire-screeching chase through Mexico. John Goodman makes his film debut in this lively (if pointless) adaptation of James McLendon's novel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kirk Douglas, John Schneider, (more)
William Petersen's High Horse Films produced this romantic comedy that endeavors to recall the glory days of Cary Grant and Irene Dunne. Petersen stars as Joey Coalter, a roving adventurer who has been married to his wife Chris (Sissy Spacek) for almost thirteen years but has rarely been home. During that time Chris has become fed up with Joey's cavalier ways. But it comes as a complete shock to Joey when, while talking to a group of cowpokes about Tahitian women somewhere on the prairie, he receives a wedding invitation sent by his daughter Beth (Olivia Burnette) that announces the wedding of Chris to dull business man Walter Humphrey (Brian Kerwin). Beth hopes the surprise wedding invitation will prod Joey to try to get back together with Chris. Chris hopes so too, as Joey drops what he is doing and takes off to stop Chris's pending nuptials. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William L. Petersen, Sissy Spacek, (more)
