David Morse

Based on recently declassified information and the personal wartime experiences of journalist Mark Boal (who adapted his experiences with a bomb squad into a fact-based, yet fictional story), director Kathryn Bigelow's Iraq War drama The Hurt Locker presents the ongoing conflict in the Middle East from the perspective of those who see the fighting firsthand -- the soldiers. As an elite Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal team tactfully navigates the streets of present-day Iraq, they face the constant threat of death from incoming bombs and sharp-shooting snipers. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A grief counselor (Anne Hathaway) begins to suspect foul play when the six airplane crash survivors she is tending to mysteriously begin to disappear and the truth behind the tragedy grows ever more clouded in Nine Lives director Rodrigo García's conspiratorial supernatural thriller. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A precocious but troubled young girl living in 1950s-era Alabama seeks solace in the music of Elvis Presley in director Deborah Kampmeier's controversial tale of childhood trauma and musical healing. An air of repression lingers over the home of spirited youngster Lewellen (Dakota Fanning), who finds both comfort in the music of pop sensation Presley, as well as a place to store her pain and anger. In time Lewellen begins to find her own voice, a voice that will instill her with the strength to move beyond the pain of her past and into a more hopeful future. Piper Laurie, David Morse, and Robin Wright Penn star in a period drama that made its debut at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

House (Hugh Laurie) isn't the only one who feels betrayed when Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) cuts a deal with Detective Tritter (David Morse), whereby all charges against House will be dropped if he agrees to spend two months in drug rehab. Elsewhere, having already cut off House's Vicodin supply, Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein) also takes him off the case of Abigail (Kacie Borrowman), a 15-year-old dwarf suffering from anemia and a collapsed lung. But without House's input, a diagnosis of Abigail's situation won't come easily. And with House unable to reach a détente with the vengeful Tritter, it looks like a Merry Christmas is not in the cards. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After surviving a robbery and physical assault, an interracial couple (Raviv Ullman, Jurnee Smollett) begins suffering from severe abdominal pains. House (Hugh Laurie) suspects that the similarity of symptoms has a special significance, hidden deeply within the couple's complicated past. Elsewhere, House gets sore when Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) begins spending his spare time with a new nurse (Kimberly Quinn). And in a story development with longer-ranging ramifications, Cuddy demands that House apologize for his rude treatment of patient Michael Tritter (David Morse--who turns out to be a police detective with a singular talent for holding a grudge. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A hard-drinking, hard-living cop assigned the task of transporting a small-time criminal to the nearby courthouse finds that a simple, 16-block drive can be the longest ride of his life in director Richard Donner's urban action thriller. Hung-over, has-been cop Jack Mosley (Bruce Willis) has seen better days, and all that the force expects out of him these days is to stay out of trouble while he's on the clock. Eddie Bunker (Mos Def) is set to testify before a grand jury at 10:00 a.m., and it's up to Mosely to make sure that Bunker makes it to the courthouse in one piece -- a job that Mosely estimates will take a maximum of 15 minutes. A black van has been trailing the pair unnoticed, though, and after stopping off at a nearby liquor store to pick up some breakfast, Mosely emerges from the store just in time to save Eddie from the lethal bullet of a determined assassin. When backup arrives in the form of Detective Frank Nugent (David Morse), Mosely quickly realizes that the detective on Nugent's team is the same cop that Bunker is set to testify against. Now faced with the tough task of dodging bullets and eluding a massive onslaught of corrupt cops, Mosely must keep Bunker alive long enough to get him before the judge and ensure that justice is served. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The merciless Tritter (David Morse) turns up the heat on the clinic staff in order to nail House (Hugh Laurie) on drug charges, going so far as to persuade the DNA to revoke Wilson's prescribing privileges. Despite the cut-off of his Vicodin supply, House summons up enough strength to investigate the case of 18-year-old restaurant worker Jack Walters (Patrick Fugit), who has suffered an apparent heart attack while working overtime to support his younger siblings. Though supremely confident that he has correctly diagnosed Jack's condition, House puckishly turns the situation into a game, sealing his findings in an envelope and challenging his coworkers to figure out the case all by themselves (What in the world can the man be up to this time?) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A man and his young daughter face almost impossible odds as they struggle to help an injured horse return to the racetrack in this family-friendly drama. Ben Crane (Kurt Russell) is a horse trainer whose career has gone into a bit of a slump, and after years as his own boss, he's signed on to work for Palmer (David Morse), a breeder whose wealth and success has given him a certain degree of arrogance. While Ben has learned to keep his mouth shut around his boss, he forgets himself when one of his favorite horses, Sonador, breaks its leg during an important race. Palmer insists that the horse should be put down on the spot, but Ben doesn't have the heart to kill the animal, especially since his young daughter, Cale (Dakota Fanning), is in the stands watching. Ben and Palmer have harsh words with one another, and Ben is fired, but is allowed to take Sonador with him when he leaves. Ben has a hard time convincing anyone that the injured horse has any potential, especially his father, Pop (Kris Kristofferson), a fellow trainer who rarely sees eye to eye with his son. But Cale loves the horse, and Ben believes that Sonador can make a comeback with the right care, and together with stable men Balon (Luis Guzman) and Manolin (Freddy Rodriguez), he sets out to put the filly on the road to recovery. As its subtitle suggests, Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story was based on the story of Mariah's Storm, a filly who broke a leg during a race in 1993, but a year later came back to win the Arlington Heights Oaks, and in 1995 won the Turfway Breeder's Cup. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Hack was essentially The Equalizer as Cab Driver. The protagonist was divorced, disgraced ex-Philadelphia cop Mike Olshansky (David Morse). At the end of his financial rope, Mike found steady employment as a cabbie, though he was never completely successful in suppressing his strong sense of justice. Thus, he frequently became involved in the problems of his passengers, usually rounding up and clobbering bad guys in vigilante fashion. Though the series never overlapped into Travis Bickle territory, it did tend to resemble a Western with a ticking meter. So over-the-top that many viewers tuned in just for the (unintentional) laughs, Hack made its CBS debut on September 27, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A teenager at a personal crossroads finds himself questioning the things that have given his life meaning in this independent coming-of-age drama. Roy Chutney (Ryan Gosling) is a high school senior in a small Montana town. Roy doesn't have an especially close relationship with his mother Evangelline (Kelly Lynch), and he hasn't seen his father in years. That doesn't prevent Roy from feeling emotionally devastated when he learns that his father has killed himself, and Roy's self-esteem takes a beating when he's cut from the high school football team shortly afterward. Roy wiles away his time swilling beer with his best friend, Tracy Two Dogs (Eddie Spears), and falling into a romance with Skyla (Clea Duvall), a barmaid at a local tavern, but it seems Roy's short time on the high school gridiron impressed Gideon Ferguson (David Morse), a local character who coaches a semi-pro six-man football team when he isn't delivering newspapers or trying to score a gig singing country songs at nearby honky-tonks. Gid thinks Roy has potential, and asks him to join his team; encouraged by Gid's belief in him, Roy agrees, and he persuades Tracy to tag along. While playing hardscrabble six-man football helps restore Roy's self-confidence, he finds it doesn't answer his questions about his future or his relationship with Skyla, and when Gid's overwhelming interest in Roy begins to lend credence to the rumors that Gid is gay, Roy starts to wonder just why he was asked to join the team. Jay Farrar, founder of the acclaimed alternative country bands Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt, composed the film's musical score. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This is the final part of a three-video, six-hour program that originally aired February 19-21, 2001, as a presentation of the acclaimed PBS series The American Experience. The program focuses on the marriage of Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln, and is one of the first documentaries to do so. In the third part, a series of tragedies overwhelms Mary. Lincoln's urgent need to manage the war hurts the marriage, leaving Mary feeling isolated, especially in light of the death of their son Willie. Often accused of being a Confederate sympathizer, Mary ultimately loses three brothers in battle against the Union. After the president is assassinated, she's devastated. Six years later, after her son Tad dies young of tuberculosis, she loses her sanity and spends the last 17 years of her life institutionalized. Narrated by David McCullough, the program also features interviews with scholars and readings by actors David Morse and Holly Hunter. Highlights include period photographs. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide

A man of faith finds his responsibilities changing with the world around him as he struggles to keep up in this low-key drama. Father John McNamee (David Morse) is a Catholic priest who presides over the St. Malachy parish in north Philadelphia. Over the years, the neighborhood surrounding St. Malachy has undergone a gradual but dramatic transformation, as "white flight" has turned the community from a racially mixed working-class neighborhood into an economically depressed African-American ghetto. With these changes, Father McNamee has seen his responsibility change from overseeing his flock's spiritual needs to helping to feed and clothe the needy and homeless who live around him. Overworked and understaffed, Father McNamee is beginning to fray under the pressure of his responsibilities; he lacks the energy and the resources to do as much as he thinks should be done for the community, he has no time for himself, and he believes that his parishioners see him as a sad and lonely man with little to look forward to. In time, Father McNamee has to look deep inside himself to find the strength and faith to continue his mission. Diary of a City Priest was directed by Eugene Martin, who previously examined life in inner-city Philadelphia (his hometown) in his feature Edge City. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Reportedly the third in acclaimed director Lars von Trier's "Golden Hearts" trilogy (preceded by Breaking the Waves and The Idiots), this film is a hip reworking of the classic Hollywood Musical, starring international pop diva Bjork. Set somewhere in rural Washington state, Czech immigrant Selma (Bjork) works in a pressing plant, struggling to make ends meet for herself and her 10-year-old son, Gene (Vladica Kostic). Her best friend is coworker and fellow European Kathy (Catherine Deneuve). While outside work, she is maintaining a cautious friendship with local yokel Jeff (Peter Stormare). She also landed a starring role as Maria in an amateur production of The Sound of Music. Selma's life would be one of relative contentment if it were not for the ugly secret she harbors -- she is on the verge of blindness due to a genetic disorder, and her young son will suffer the same fate without an operation. Selma has quietly been stashing away money for the surgery and has already amassed $2,000. When her savings, squirreled away in a can in the kitchen, suddenly disappear, she confronts her cash-strapped landlord Bill (David Morse). Of course, like all musicals, the plot periodically takes a backseat to the seven production numbers, including a show-stopping sequence in Selma's factory. Shot entirely on digital video, the film reportedly used up to 100 cameras for each musical number. Dancer in the Dark received top prizes at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival including Best Actress for Bjork and the coveted Palme d'Or for Best Picture. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide