Marvin J. Chomsky Movies
A prolific television director whose credits range from the original Star Trek to the devastating small-screen feature Holocaust, New York-born Marvin J. Chomsky crafted an impressive TV career. He entered the business as an art director, set decorator, and producer for such efforts as Arch Oboler's The Bubble and the Western series Gunsmoke, and turned out episodes of The Wild Wild West, Mission: Impossible, and Hawaii Five-O, among numerous others, early in his career. He moved into big-screen territory with Evel Knievel in 1971. Although Chomsky occasionally returned to feature work in later years, it was television that defined his career. Nominated for numerous Emmys, Chomsky took home the prize for Holocaust (1978), Attica (1980), Inside the Third Reich (1982), and Peter the Great (1986). In 1995, he teamed with director John Goldsmith for the historical romantic drama Catherine the Great. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Marvin J. Chomsky's sweeping historical drama, Catherine the Great, features Catherine Zeta-Jones as the title character. The film traces how the leader was able to skillfully manipulate both the societal institutions of the day as well as the powerful men who surrounded her in order to gain control over all of Russia. The cast includes such notable performers as Omar Sharif, Jeanne Moreau, and Mel Ferrer. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Zeta-Jones, Paul McGann, (more)
- 1993
Cybill Shepherd takes a ride into the dark side in this two-part TV movie, purported based on a true story. Shepherd is cast as wealthy and seductive Phoenix socialite Faith Kelsey, who opts not to get mad but to get even when her husband, Terry (Christopher McDonald), enters into an affair with Stacey Eckhart (Denise Gentile), herself a married woman with children. When Stacey is brutally murdered, the police have great difficulty linking either of the Kelseys to the crime -- and no one has more difficulty than Detective Jay Jensen (Ken Olin), who, entranced by Faith's beauty and charm, concludes that she is as "much a victim" as the dead woman. But as the story unfolds, it becomes painfully clear that Faith has hatched an elaborate scheme to get away with murder, and to cover her tracks by persuading a number of people -- mostly male people -- to help her cover her tracks and leave the dots unconnected. But will Jensen finally wrest free of Faith's alluring spell and see to it that justice is done? And of more importance, can this be done before Faith makes her good her plan to leave the country and totally escape extradition? Telling Secrets was originally seen over NBC on January 17 and 18, 1993. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1993
In 1992 Hurricane Andrew blew apart the lives of many Florida's. This fact-based drama chronicles the courage of several people as they first brave the storm and then try to reassemble their shattered lives. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1993
When a determined detective proves too dogged to cease his investigation into a murder, a seductress reaches into her bag of sexy tricks in a desperate bid to stop him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1989
Based on a novel by David Morrell, the made-for-TV Brotherhood of the Rose is unabashedly old-fashioned escapist espionage fare. Peter Strauss and David Morse play polar-opposite CIA agents, code names Romulus and Remus. Their superior-and father figure-is crusty CIA official Robert Mitchum. Though Romulus and Remus are devoted to Mitchum, he is only concerned with the greater good of the service-a philosophy that has become despotic over the years. Now Mitchum has determined that Romulus is expendable. Escaping from CIA assassins, Romulus and Remus stumble into a vast rule-the-world conspiracy called The Brotherhood of the Rose. Filmed in New Zealand, this was originally a long miniseries broadcast in two parts, on January 22 and 23, 1989 - and then edited down to feature length. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1988
I'll Be Home for Christmas has the texture of a Norman Rockwell painting and the ambience of William Saroyan's The Human Comedy. Set in Rockport, Massachusetts (where this TV movie was filmed), the story takes place during World War II. Hal Holbrook and Eva Marie Saint are the parents of three grown children, all of whom are involved in some capacity with the defense program. Oldest son Whip Hubley is a bomber pilot, daughter Nancy Travis is a "Rosie the Rivetter," and younger son Jason Oliver has just enlisted. The film doesn't miss a trick, from the presence of the daughter's soldier-boy sweetheart to the crucial wire from the War Department. Its expected cliches aside, I'll Be Home for Christmas is meticulous in its recreation of the Yuletide of 1944; the film is perfect Christmas Eve TV fare, and never mind that it originally premiered on December 12, 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1988
Set in Kenya, this made-for-TV adventure chronicles the courageous attempts of a safari guide to stop avaricious ivory poachers from slaughtering elephants. In order to succeed though, the guide must reconcile with his estranged son who is still angry that his father stole the young man's former wife. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1987
In Angel in Green, an unlikely alliance between a Jesuit missionary and a trained-for-combat Green Beret trooper is formed to help protect the island natives from insurgent-spawned violence. ~ All Movie Guide
Billionaire Boys Club is the two-part TV adaptation of a book by Sue Horton (unpublished at the time of the film's first telecast). In flashback form, the story recounts the murder of Beverly Hills con artist Ron Levin (Ron Silver). The culprit is yuppie Joe Hunt (Judd Nelson), a sharp young commodities trader who has organized an investment firm with several of his prep school buddies, known as the Billionaire Boys Club. Part one, originally telecast November 8, 1987, traces Hunt's meteoric rise to wealth and power, and the means by which Levin worms his way into Hunt's confidence. In part two, shown the next evening, Hunt has already murdered Levin and carefully disposed of the body. The next step of the scheme is take over where Levin left off by conning an Iranian millionaire out of a huge sum of money. Meanwhile, other members of the Club begin to have qualms over Hunt's finagling. Their whistle-blowing leads to Hunt's arrest and convinction for murder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Judd Nelson, Ron Silver, (more)
- 1986
A TV mini-series, this is a visually pleasant movie about the life of Russia's colorful ruler, from childhood on. Big name cast is wasted on small roles, however. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- 1986
Mark Harmon stars as baby-faced serial killer Ted Bundy in this sobering 2-part TV movie. Ostensibly the archetypal All-American boy, Bundy was, from 1974 onward, responsible for the rapes and murders of several young women in the Pacific Northwest. The clues begin to mount when one of Bundy's victims manages to escape; she can only say that her assailant was a fellow named Ted who drives a yellow Volkswagen. Finally arrested after he moves from Seattle to Utah, Bundy is so certain of his superiority over the general run of human beings that he conducts his own defense at his trial; then, when extradited to Colorado, he escapes, triggering a desperate nationwide manhunt. At the time Deliberate Stranger was first telecast on May 5 and 6, 1986, Theodore Bundy was on Death Row, still contesting his sentence and seeking a legal way out. When time came for his execution, Bundy attempted several bizarre last-minute "stays," which would make intriguing subject matter should someone want to make a follow-up film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This two-part TV movie recounts the life of Anna Anderson, who until the day she died at age 82 insisted that she was really Anastasia Romanov, daughter of Czar Nicholas. Anna first makes her claim in 1920, when she is an inmate in a Berlin asylum. Her story of escape from the Bolsheviks who killed the rest of her family in 1918 seems so vivid that many Russian expatriates are willing to believe her. The film concludes in 1928, with Anna restating her claim before the surviving Romanovs living in New York. Amy Irving plays the leading character in a lady-or-the-tiger fashion, so that we never know if she truly swallows her own tale or if she's merely a clever charlatan. Olivia DeHavilland, Rex Harrison, Claire Bloom, Omar Sharif and Susan Lucci co-star in this opulent, location-filmed production, which originally aired on December 7 and 8, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amy Irving
- 1984
This epic docudrama mini-series boasts a stellar cast and a script based on the tell-all bestseller by Kennedy friend Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. Midnight Express' Brad Davis plays Bobby; River Phoenix, Veronica Cartwright, and Ned Beatty all co-star. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
James Garner plays an Army officer who puts his hobby to practical use in Tank. Zach (James Garner) moves to a new post in a backwoods Georgia town. Accompanying him is his family --his wife LaDonna (Shirley Jones) and his son Billy (C. Thomas Howell)-- and his prize recreational activity --a restored Sherman tank. Zach strolls into town one night and engages in conversation with Sarah (Jenilee Harrison), a 17-year-old prostitute, who works for the town crime czar and law enforcement authority, Sheriff Buelton (G.D. Spradlin). When one of Buelton's goons gets rough with Sarah, Zach slaps him down. In retaliation for Zach's infraction, Buelton arranges for Billy to be sent to a brutal prison farm on trumped-up drug charges. Zach tries to get Billy released, but to no avail. So he jumps on his trailer, starts up his Sherman tank and heads into town. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Garner, G.D. Spradlin, (more)
- 1982
Originally telecast as an ABC Theatre of the Month special, My Body, My Child nobly attempts to tackle the abortion issue--but does so with a painfully contrived, mazelike Perils of Pauline script. Irish-American schoolteacher Vanessa Redgrave, married to Italian fireman Joe Campanella and already the mother of three daughters, believes that she's pregnant. Her doctor pooh-poohs the notion and prescribes several forms of drugs to counter her "faux" morning sickness. The effect of the narcotics, coupled with the fact that Redgrave's invalid father (Jack Albertson, in his final role) has been charged with the mercy killing of her mother, lead the poor schoolmarm to attempt suicide. This time the doctor on the scene announces that Redgrave is pregnant, and that her previous drug intake will result in a deformed, retarded child. Now arrive at the abortion issue: With all the cards stacked against her, what will Redgrave do in regards to her body and her child? Unfortunately, after raising so many diverse social issues, My Body, My Child drops many of those issues in order to rush towards its climax. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1982
Determined to prove that the men who answer advertisements for mail-order brides are nothing more than jerks and lechers, Chicago magazine writer Kate Tosconi (Valerie Bertinelli) places a typical "object matrimony" ad and awaits the inevitable drooling replies. Meanwhile, L.A. lawyer Robert Fitzgerald (Ted Wass) has bet his practical-joking friends that if he were to answer such an ad, he could easily remain celibate for two weeks after meeting his "bride." Anyone who can't guess what happens next should be drummed out of the TV room in shame. A fascinating example of what passed for "feminism" and "male compassion" back in the early '80s, the made-for-TV I Was a Mail Order Bride was first broadcast by CBS on December 14, 1982. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1982
The two-part TV movie Inside the Third Reich was based on the extraordinary revelatory (if self-serving) autobiographical book by Albert Speer. Played herein by Rutger Hauer, Speer is a young man of privilege in pre-Hitler Germany who happens to be a brilliant architect. Becoming a member of Hitler's inner circle, Speer is appointed the Nazi regime's master builder. According to this film, Speer is egomaniacal and ambitious, but somewhat blinded to the inherent evils of Nazism. Though he'd later claim to be ignorant of Hitler's horrific policies aimed at the Jews, he was certainly aware of the use of Jewish prisoners as slave labor: as Germany's armaments minister during World War II, Speer exploited these enslaved unfortunates as much as anyone, if not more so. The cast includes Derek Jacobi as Hitler, Blythe Danner as Speer's wife Margarethe, John Gielgud as Speer's father, Ian Holm as Goebbels, Maurice Roeves as Hess, and George Murcell as Goering. Originally running 5 hours, Inside the Third Reich was filmed in Munich; it was first telecast on May 9 and 10, 1982. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1981
Faye Dunaway portrays the Argentinian title character in this four-hour TV biopic. The story traces Evita's rise to power from humble origins; she establishes herself as a radio and film actress, then meets and marries powerful politico Juan Peron (played by James Farentino, a last minute replacement for Robert Mitchum). Peron's iron-fisted rule of Argentina allows Evita to become a political power in her own right. At first she is widely beloved as a "woman of the people", but gradually many of her followers are disillusioned by her use -- and misuse -- of her authority and her influence over Peron. After Evita dies, she is all but canonized by the Faithful, and it becomes more difficult than ever to separate fact from legend. Evita Peron was clearly produced to capitalize on the Broadway musical hit Evita, though the script takes great pains not to copy its theatrical inspiration. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1980
Attica is a probing, no-nonsense TV-movie re-creation of the tragic events which followed the Attica (New York) Correctional Facility rebellion of September 9, 1971. Inmates demanding better food and living conditions used jerry-built weapons to take 38 guards as hostage. Negotiations begin immediately, only to continually break down thanks to uncompromising stubbornness on both sides. Four days into the crisis, the rebellion ends in a bloodbath, with state troopers firing on the prisoners-- killing several of the guards in the process. Based on the eyewitness reporting of the New York Times' Tom Wicker (here played by George Grizzard), who was one of the civilian negotiators during the stalemate, Attica was first telecast on March 3, 1980. (Perhaps significantly, Governor Nelson Rockefeller, whom many hold responsible for the climactic carnage at the prison, is never seen in either factual or fictional form during the film). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1980
This TV movie might just as well have been titled Frankenstein Takes Manhattan. Robert Vaughn stars as Doctor Franken, a dedicated Manhattan medico who becomes obsessed with the theory of artificial life. This is understandable, since the doctor is a descendant of a certain foreign gentleman named Frankenstein. He takes an arm here and an organ there from his hospital's storage bank and tries to repair the cadaver of an unclaimed accident victim. The result is a complex creature named John Doe (Robert Perrault), a reasonably friendly chap who has inherited the character traits and emotions of all those people whose body parts he has "borrowed". To their credit, everyone involved in Doctor Franken takes the script seriously--perhaps too seriously for any network or sponsor to care enough to purchase this pilot film for a weekly series berth. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
Hollow Image is an occasionally overwritten but generally impressive screenwriting debut for Lee Hunkins. Saundra Sharp plays an African-American career woman who has become a success in Manhattan's high-fashion world. She has risen from the grinding poverty of Harlem, but her roots are deeper than she's willing to admit. Dick Anthony Williams plays the new man in Ms. Sharp's new world. His friend (Morgan Freeman) is not supportive concerning the new relationship. Hollow Image was originally telecast as an ABC Theatre special on June 24, 1979. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The now-legendary miniseries Holocaust first aired as a presentation in NBC's Big Event series. Written by Gerald Green, the story begins in the Germany of 1935. We are introduced to the family of Jewish doctor Joseph Weiss (Fritz Weaver) his wife Berta (Rosemary Harris), his brother Moses (Sam Wanamaker), his sons Rudi (Joseph Bottoms) and Karl (James Woods), and his daughter Anna (Blanche Baker). We also meet struggling lawyer Erik Dorf (Michael Moriarity), who is urged by his ambitious wife to join the SS. As the Nazis' persecution of the Jews is stepped up, most of the Weiss family is deported to the Polish ghetto--then to Auschwitz, which is overseen by Erik Dorf. Rudi and his Jewish girlfriend Helena (Tovah Feldsuh) witness the 1941 Baba Yar massacre, then join the Russian partisans in their battle against the Nazis. Also appearing in Holocaust is Meryl Streep as Karl Weiss' Christian wife Inga. The winner of eight Emmy awards, Holocaust was originally telecast in four parts on April 16, 17, 18, and 19, 1978. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fritz Weaver, Rosemary Harris, (more)
- 1977
This pilot film for the TV series Big Hawaii stars Cliff Potts and John Dehner as a wealthy father-and-son team of Hawaiian cattle ranchers. Neither character is a candidate for the "Mister Nice Guy" award, especially the wayward Potts, who's recently been chased out of Vegas for cheating at poker. Even nastier is Potts' beautiful but scheming stepmother (Ina Balin), who plans to bulldoze his ailing dad's estate to make way for those stock 1970s villains, the Evil Land Developers. Despite a total lack of audience sympathy for the people on screen, Big Hawaii premiered as a weekly series in the fall of 1977. There were all of seven episodes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Also known as Little Ladies of the Night, the story focuses on a teenager who runs away from home and finds herself in the sordid world of street-life prostitution. She gains help from a police officer, who is still connected to the underground since he formerly worked as a pimp. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
