Wings Hauser
Director Kari Skogland takes the reins for a Buffalo Gals Pictures production starring Academy Award winner Ellen Burstyn as author Margaret Laurence's much-lauded heroine Hagar Shipley. Hagar may by 90, but she not ready to lie down and die just yet. Her decisions stem straight from her heart, and that often alienates her family and friends. When Hagar's son, Marvin (Dylan Baker), takes his mother to look at a nursing home, she takes it as her cue to leave her family behind and set out on one great last journey. Her mission is to locate the seaside home she remembers from her youth, but Hagar's memory is quickly fading, making it difficult for her to distinguish the past from the present. As a young girl, Hagar was set to inherit her father's mercantile empire until she was disowned for marrying a bold young man named Bram Shipley (Cole Hauser). Later, when Hagar's romantic illusions fade and she begins to view her husband with contempt, her decision to deny her children the kind of parental approval that she so badly longed for from her own father provokes a deep hereditary flaw. As she makes her way toward the seashore, Hagar realizes her time is running far too short to make up for a lifetime of unacknowledged mistakes. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ellen Burstyn, Christine Horne, (more)
- 2006
It promises to be a busy week at the Federal courthouse in this final episode of Monk's fourth season. The Feds are prepared to escort "most-wanted" criminal Miguel Escobar (Carlos Gomez) to his long-overdue trial, and Monk (Tony Shalhoub) is summoned to jury duty on a minor robbery case. Though it makes him queasy to be locked in a room with eleven strangers, Monk appears to be in no hurry to leave when he is the only one to vote "Not Guilty." As he tries to sway the other jurors to his way of thinking, Monk finds himself saddled with another legal headache when the body of a dead woman is found stuffed in a dumpster just outside the courtroom. This being Monk, it is virtually a foregone conclusion that our hero's "Not Guilty" ballot, the woman's death, and the impending Escobar trial are all linked together. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2005
House (Hugh Laurie) faces a possible lawsuit after a confrontation with a gay "stalker" named Kalvin (Matthew John Armstrong). It is soon established that Kalvin is a victim of AIDS, but his symptoms are most confusing--as are those suffered by the patient's father (Wings Hauser). The situation reaches the crisis stage when Kalvin coughs blood all over Cameron (Jennifer Morrison), who may become fatally infected as a result. Elsewhere, House finds a rather unorthodox way to spend time with Stacy (Sela Ward) despite her decision to remain with her husband--and his strategy involves "tampering" with Stacy's pet rat! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2000
William Katt directs this indie crime drama about a loser on the run. Buddy (Jack Noseworthy) manages to pull off a drug store robbery but kills a clerk in the process, thanks to his blood-thirsty partner. Now his longtime nemesis and law enforcement officer Wayne (Paul Francis) is hot on his trail. Meanwhile, Buddy's wife Marie (Laura Leighton) and his mentally impaired brother (Wes Culwell) remain in the dark as to his illegal activities. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Noseworthy, Laura Leighton, (more)
The Insider tells the true story of a man who decided to tell the world what the seven major tobacco companies knew (and concealed) about the dangers of their product. Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe) was a scientist employed in research for a tobacco firm, Brown and Williamson. Not long after he was fired by Brown and Williamson, Wigand came into contact with Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino), a producer for 60 Minutes who worked closely with journalist Mike Wallace (played here by Christopher Plummer). Bergman arranged for Wigand to be interviewed by Wallace for a 60 Minutes expose on the cigarette industry, though Wigand was still bound by a confidentiality agreement not to discuss his employment with the company. Despite Wigand's willingness to talk, CBS pulled his interview from at the last minute after Brown and Williamson threatened a multi-billion dollar lawsuit. The staff of 60 Minutes and CBS News were soon embroiled in an internal struggle over the killing of the story, and Wigand found himself the subject of lawsuits and a smear campaign, without his full story reaching the public. The Insider was directed by Michael Mann and also features Diane Venora, Philip Baker Hall, Debi Mazar, Colm Feore, and Rip Torn. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Al Pacino, Russell Crowe, (more)
Larry Cohen, who directed a number of interesting and subversive exploitation films in the 1970s and 1980s, including Black Caesar and Hell Up in Harlem, reunited some of the biggest stars of the blaxploitation era for this tough-minded action opus. John Bookman (Fred Williamson) is a successful football coach who was born in Gary, Indiana but now lives in Los Angeles. When Bookman's father is shot, he returns home for the first time in years to discover that Gary has been all but taken over by a number of brutally violent youth gangs. Bookman learns that his father was shot in retaliation for going to the police after a young man was killed by gang bangers outside his grocery store; even worse, the kid who pulled the trigger was a member of the Rebels, the gang that he helped form as a teenager. Outraged, Bookman joins forces with the boy's parents, who also happen to be old friends: Jake Trevor (Jim Brown) and Laurie Thompson (Pam Grier). John, Laurie, and Jake organize the neighborhood against the gangs, with John's old gang brothers Bubba (Ron O'Neal) and Slick (Richard Roundtree) tagging along to show the young gangstas what the old school can do. If Williamson, Brown, Grier, O'Neal, and Roundtree all look a bit older than they did in their glory days, they all still boast charisma to spare, and anyone who liked their older films will have a good time with this one. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred Williamson, Jim Brown, (more)
- 1996
The setting is a lodge in the Grand Tetons, where Jessica (Angela Lansbury) is a guest of the owner, a retired colonel. It soon develops that the colonel is being blackmailed, and that another of the guests has been involved in diamond smuggling. Somehow or other this all ends up with murder, compelling Jessica to cut her vacation short and clear the reputation of another old friend. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Boyz N the Hood meets Tales from the Crypt in this alternately horrific, funny, and socially conscious anthology film. The four grim vignettes are framed by the tale of three street hoods who break into Mr. Simm's inner-city funeral home to find a stash of drugs. The mortician puts them off, by telling them a few eerie stories about his "patrons." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clarence Williams III, Joe Torry, (more)
- 1994
In this horror movie based on a sci-fi book by Dean Koontz, a brave hero and his regiment head for the jungle to fight a deadly mutant creature. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1993
Jessica (Angela Lansbury) returns home from New York when she finds out that her accountant Samuel Bennett (Wings Hauser) hasn't been paying her bills in Cabot Cove. It turns out that Bennett is deeply in debt to a local illicict gambling casino. Soon after, a crooked deputy (Matthew Flint) is killed--and among the suspects are Bennett, the ex-boyfriend (Adam Trese) of Bennett's daughter (Liz Vassey), and casino owner Caremidi (Richard Beymer). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1993
The Conners and the Tildens go on a trip to Los Angeles, CA, in a motor home. Roseanne wants to go to Hollywood to watch The Jackie Thomas Show (starring her then-husband Tom Arnold). Dan thinks about adding to the family. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- 1993
D.J. gets in trouble at school for bringing a coarse comic book to class, which he got from his sister Darlene. Meanwhile, Dan gets hostile when he finds out that Fisher (Matt Roth) has been physically abusing Jackie. Ed Begley Jr. guest stars as Mr. Alexander. Part one of a two-part episode. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- 1992
Roseanne hosts a surprise party for Darlene's 16th birthday. Darlene is disgusted and dyes her hair jet black, then Roseanne lets her leave while the adults enjoy the party. Meanwhile, the Tildens move in next door to the Conners and Roseanne contemplates joining in on a business opportunity with Jackie. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- 1992
- PG
In this fantasy-drama, three people who have never met before find themselves trapped in a strange house, with no idea of where they are or why they're there. In time, they come to the shocking realization that they've died, and they're stuck in limbo between Earth and the next world. In-Between stars Robert Forster, Alexandra Paul, and Wings Hauser. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alexandra Paul, Robert Forster, (more)
- 1992
Roseanne finally opens her restaurant, the Lanford Lunch Box. After getting threatened by one of her first customers, Roseanne is prompted to take a self defense class with Jackie and Nancy (Sandra Bernhard). Meanwhile, Arnie (Tom Arnold) returns to Lanford to try and get back together with Nancy. Its up to Roseanne to tell him that Nancy is gay. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- 1992
Against Roseanne's better judgment, Darlene goes to a concert in Rockford, IL, to see Daisy Chainsaw with next-door neighbor Molly Tilden (Danielle Harris), only to get deserted when Molly meets up with a boy. When she comes home way past curfew, Dan and Roseanne don't believe her story. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- 1992
Released in 1993, this direct-to-video melodrama is a followup to Frame-Up (1992), with a handful of the same cast members. Wings Hauser returns as Sheriff Baker, who once again butts up against local corruption. The first "frame" didn't work in the first film, so the bigoted, cigar-chomping town boss has to use more drastic measures. Baker's wife is once more played by Frances Fisher, who seems to be marking time between better assignments. The fat-cat villain is played by John Saxon this time, replacing Frame-Up's Dick Sargent. Patty d'Arbanville and the late Margaux Hemingway also appear in Frame-Up 2: The Cover-Up. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1991
- R
Honest small-town cop Wings Hauser is weighed down by personal problems. This fact must be put on the back burner when crooked businessman John Saxon commits murder. Though the identity of the killer is never in question, Saxon manages to buy everybody off except Hauser. In order to collar the criminal, the sheriff must overcome his emotional difficulties-and keep one step ahead of a frame-up concocted by Saxon This modest melodrama offers good work from distaff cast members Frances Fisher, Patty D'Arbanville and Margaux Hemingway. Deadly Conspiracy was also released as Frame Up. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1991
- R
In this violent pseudo-erotic horror outing, a serial killer fancies himself a vampire until his wanton ways attract the attention of a real bloodsucker. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Chakiris, Wings Hauser, (more)
- 1991
- R
A young mens' hazing turns to murder in this crime drama set in a small town run by a powerful businessman. The victim was beaten to death with a monogrammed baseball bat, and later the head-killer tried to make it seem as if the young man was run down by the car of Frank Govers, a traveling salesman. Sheriff Ralph Baker begins investigating and finds his hands figuratively tied at every turn by the town fathers, particularly the powerful Will Curran. Baker does believe that Govers was framed, but the salesman, who has his own dubious past to protect takes off and ends up hiding out in the cabin of a teen-age wife whose husband has left her. Meanwhile Sheriff Baker arrests Will Curran's son Don, the guilty party in the murder. Back at the cabin, two fugitives from prison burst into the cabin and take the hapless salesman hostage. Things look pretty bleak at this point until Curran breaks his son out of jail and heads for the hills to cut a deal with the escaped convicts. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1991
The most fascinating thing about Beastmaster 2 is how well the cartoonish sword-and-sorcery characters blend in to contemporary Los Angeles -- it may as well be documentary. Marc Singer plays Dar, a muscle-headed barbarian whose main claim to fame is his ability to communicate with a wide array of animal friends. Dar is informed that his evil brother Arklon (Wings Hauser) has nefarious designs on the universe. Arklon has teamed up with Lyranna (Sarah Douglas), a sexy witch who cracks wise in Valley Girl vernacular, a parlance picked up during her travels through the portal of time to a netherworld called L.A. Arklon has to find a quick way to decimate the universe, so Arklon and Lyranna travel through the portal to steal a neutron detonator from a military base close to Los Angeles. Dar and Southern California teen Jackie Trent (Kari Wuhrer) -- who had gotten stuck in the portal and ended up in Togaland -- pursue Arklon and Lyranna as they make their way through the time hole. Once in La-La land, Dra and his companion find themselves pursued by the LAPD, which considerably slows up their race to catch Arklon. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marc Singer, Kari Wuhrer, (more)
- 1991
Karen Arthur, the Emmy-winning director of Cagney and Lacey, was in the driver's seat for the made-for-TV psychological terror film Bump in the Night. Meredith Baxter-Birney plays a onetime famous reporter who's drunk herself into near-oblivion. Her turbulent life takes a desperate turn when her 8-year-old son (Corey Carrier) is kidnapped by a dangerous pedophile (Christopher Reeves). The boy has escaped from his captor, and now his mother must find him before the kidnapper does. Richard Bradford plays the cop on the case, who'd rather do without the interference of Ms. Baxter-Birney. Bump in the Night is commendably subtle and straightforward in handling the potentially lurid details of its story. Historical note: In March of 1995, Bump in the Night became the first feature film ever telecast on the E! Entertainment Cable Network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
