Peter Horton Movies

The Bad Old Days of Dallas and Dynasty were gloriously resurrected in this over-the-top ABC drama series about the impossibly wealthy, incredibly dysfunctional Darling family of New York. After the death of his father Dutch George (Trevor St. John) in a suspicious plane crash, straight-arrow attorney Nick George (Peter Krause) inherited the responsibility of looking after the Darlings--a job that largely consisted of keeping their names out of print and the family members out of prison. Actually, Nick was bribed into assuming his new responsibilities by patriarch Tripp Darling (Donald Sutherland), who offered the young attorney a $10 million annual retainer. Nick accepted only on condition that he never be required to tell lies on the family's behalf (something his less ethical father had no qualms about). Even so, it seemed at times that Nick would be corrupted in spite of himself, and the possibility of this occuring put something of a strain on the relationships between Nick, his wife Lisa (Zoe McLellan), and their impressionable daughter Kiki (Chloe Moretz). To be sure, the Darlings were quite a piece of work. Despite his protestations of respectability and fidelity, Tripp had no qualms about cheating on his imperious wife Letitia (Jill Clayburgh) with her ex-friend Natalie (Tamara Feldman). Their eldest son Patrick (William Baldwin) found his political aspirations threatened by his affair with transgendered Carmelita (Candis Cayne). Another son, Rev. Brian Darling (Glenn Fitzgerald), was saddled with an illegitimate child and weighed down by a long-standing hatred for the comparatively virtuous Nick. Daughter Karen, an unregenerate boozehound, loved to tell everyone within earshot (including her various husbands) that she had lost her virginity to Nick years earlier. And as for twin siblings Juliet (Samaire Armstrong) and Jeremy (Seth Gabel), she was a spoiled-brat pill-popper with vague aspirations of movie stardom, while he was an overage slacker with a gift for wreaking havoc and destruction wherever he went. Incredibly, there were even worse examples of humanity on the series, notably Tripp Darling's deadly rival Simon Elder (Blair Underwood). Dirty Sexy Money premiered September 26, 2007. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the first episode of a two-part story, Burke (Isaiah Washington) orders a "Code Black" when a WW2 re-enactor is brought in with a homemade bomb embedded in his chest. There's tension aplenty as the man is brought into surgery while young paramedic Hanna Davies (guest star Cristina Ricci) nervously holds the explosive in place and bomb-squad detective Dylan Young (Kyle Chandler) tries to maintain order and calm. Elsewhere, Alex (Justin Chambers) and Izzie (Katherine Heigl) undergo life-altering experiences that neither could ever have dreamed of; and Bailey (Chandra Wilson) finally goes into labor--while her husband is nowhere to be found. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Having proven that it could stand on its own two feet without Desperate Housewives as its lead-in, Grey's Anatomy remained in its new Thursday-night slot as the seriocomic medical series entered its third season. In addition to established stars Ellen Pompeo (intern Meredith Grey) Patrick Dempsey (Dr. Derek Shepherd), Katherine Heigl (intern "Izzie" Stevens), Isaiah Washington (Dr. Preston Burke) et. al.. former recurring players Eric Dane (as plastic surgeon Mark Sloan) and Sara Ramirez (Dr. Callie Torres) have now been promoted to "regular" status. The season begins as the Seattle Grace Hospital medical team's favorite bartender Joe (Steven W. Bailey) provides those who came in late with a quick run-down of the events of the previous two seasons. Meredith is now torn between two lovers, Derek Shepherd and Dr. Finn Dandridge (Chris O'Donnell). The prickly relationship between Derek and his estranged-wife Dr. Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) is made even more so by the reappearance of their daughter. Intern Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) has decided to remain with her current amour, Preston Burke. And after seriously considering giving up the medical profession after the death of her beloved heart patient Denny, Izzie changes her mind when the Denny Duquette Memorial Clinic is established. The first of the season's two most crucial story developments occurs when Chief of Surgery Richard Weber (James Pickens) announces his impending retirement, sparking a tense competition amongst Derek, Burke, Addison and Mark to take Weber's place. The apparent dark horse in this competition is Dr. Colin Marlow (Roger Rees), though Marlow makes his mark on the proceedings by coming between Cristina and Burke. Another major plot deveopment involves a disastrous collision between a cargo ship and a ferryboat, which threatens to claim the life of protagonist Meredith Grey (it also provides Izzie's former beau Dr. Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) the opportunity to become overly involved with an unidentified accident victim, played by Elizabeth Reaser). At season's end, Dr. Weber's successor is announced, Cristina and Burke are about to be wed, Callie demands that her husband George O'Malley (Sara Ramirez) make a commitment, and the interns sweat out the results of their first-year medical exams. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The OR staff has its hands full with the victims of a spectacular car crash caused by flagrantly careless driver Bob Seibert. In the course of events, it is revealed that Seibert is a drug abuser, wife beater and all-around louse--and he is also in desperate need of a liver transplant. Ironically, the perfect donor turns out to be the very man whom Seibert killed on the road, placing the surgical interns smack in the middle of a major ethical dilemma. Elsewhere, George (T.R. Knight) is forced to work side by side with the same nurse who gave him syphillis; Webber (James Pickens Jr.) gets what-for from his wife (Loretta Devine) for having brain surgery without her knowledge; Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and Cristina (Sandra Oh) do their best to lose themselves in their work and forget their romantic travails; and we finally find out the reason for the rift between Derek (Patrick Dempsey) and Addison (Kate Walsh). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Following its nine-episode inaugural season, the seriocomic medical series Grey's Anatomy returns with a full complement of episodes for its second year on the air--indeed, five of the unaired installments from Season One are added to the 22-episode manifest of Season Two, with even more to follow after the series begins offering two episodes per week at season's end. Picking up where the previous season left off, we find the romance between Seattle Grace Hospital intern Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) and handsome neurosurgeon Derek Shephard (Patrick Dempsey) coming to an abrupt halt when Shepherd's estranged wife, neonatal physician Addison Montgomery, joins the staff. Likewise, intern Isobel "Izzie" Stevens (Katherine Heigl) leaves her boyfriend Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) in the lurch (despite the heating up of their romance during a "Code Black" emergency at the hospital) when she falls for heart-transplant patient Denny Duquette (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). Meanwhile, another intern, Dr. Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh), deepens her relationship with cardiothroacic specialist Preston Burke (Isaiah Washington), but that doesn't constitute a full commitment by any means; and senior surgical resident Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson), aka "The Nazi", also finds herself Great With Child, and as such is briefly replaced by a woman who is her temperamental polar opposite. Other season highlights include an earth-shattering visit from Meredith's celebrated surgeon mother Dr. Ellis Grey (Kate Burton); an emotionally disastrous one-night stand between Meredith and intern George O'Malley (T.R. Knight); and a bittersweet story arc involving premature quintuplets. As the season approaches its climax, both Alex and Izzie are serious questioning their dedication to the medical profession; and there may be a change in the weather so far as Chief of Surgery Richard Weber (James Pickens) is concerned. When Emmy Awards time rolled around in the spring of 2006, the producers of Grey's Anatomy went home with a stauette in the "outstanding casting for a drama series" category. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After considering several candidates, Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) decides who will be her roommates during her first-year internship. Back on the job, she butts heads with a pediatric intern to save the life of a newborn child, and also claims temporary possession of a gruesome "souvenir" left behind by the man who raped her patient Allison (Alex Thayer). Meanwhile, Cristina (Sandra Oh) and Alex (Justin Chambers) get their act together, so to speak; George (T.R. Knight) spends a few disheartening hours with the Seattle Grace code team; and Izzie (Katherine Heigl) copes with a patient who speaks no English. In other developments, Burke (Isaiah Washington) finds out why Derek (Patrick Dempsey) may be chosen as chief of surgery over hm; and Webber (James Pickens Jr.) remains close-mouthed over how well he knew Meredith's mom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A suspense novel by Sue Miller was the source for the made-for-TV While I Was Gone, which made its CBS network debut on October 10, 2004. Boston veterinarian Jo Beckett (Kirstie Alley) feels trapped in her marriage to kindly but unexciting minister Daniel Beckett (Bill Smitrovich). Then, one day, a dog that may have to be put down is brought into Jo's office. The dog's owner turns out to be her old college friend Eli Mayhew (Peter Horton), with whom Jo shared a hippie pad along with several other shaggy students back in the 1960s. As she waxes nostalgic over her carefree youth, Jo considers leaving staid Daniel for footloose Eli, and goes so far as to set up a clandestine meeting with him. But Jo's dream romance turns into a nightmare with the revelation of a horrible secret from her past -- and the fulfillment of a strange "out-of-body" premonition which Jo had experienced in the opening scenes of the film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Aceveda (Benito Martinez) gives Mackey (Michael Chiklis) a medal after the Fleetwood Walker bust. It turns out it was Lanie's (Lucinda Jenney) idea. The cops at "The Barn" also add a new twist to their annual "Toys for Guns" drive -- a raffle, which also gets them the address of everyone who turns in a gun, so they can trace back the guns that have been used to commit crimes. One is linked to an old unsolved murder case of Claudette's (CCH Pounder), and the trail eventually leads to Manny Sandoval (Jonathan Neil Schneider), a lowlife loan shark Claudette's been after for years. But Dutch (Jay Karnes) is having doubts about his own investigative instincts. Someone steals a bunch of diamonds using Shane's (Walton Goggins) badge, which was stolen in Tijuana. Mackey finds out they belonged to the Armenian mob, and convinces Aceveda to let him and Shane "pretend" to be corrupt cops and run a sting operation. But Aceveda wants Shane transferred off the Strike Team to make room for a minority applicant, in order to help the team's public image. Mackey and Shane find out that the "money train" of urban legend, through which the Armenian mob launders all the money they make in the western United States, actually exists, and Mackey decides to start planning the Strike Team's robbery. The Arab woman, Yahssira Al-Thani (Veena Bidasha), whose husband Danny (Catherine Dent) shot, claims that she has another witness to Danny's alleged racial insensitivity, but Aceveda continues to support Danny. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

On the night of her prom in 1994, teenager Freya McAllister (Navi Rawat) suddenly begins hearing strange voices. As a result, Freya is diagnosed as schizophrenic and squirreled away in a mental hospital, where she remains for the next eight years. Along comes psychologist Michal Welles (Peter Horton), who while treating Freya calmly informs her that she is not insane, but instead telepathic: the voices she'd heard were the thoughts of the people around her. What Dr. Welles doesn't tell Freya--at least not at first--is that he is in the employ of the National Security Agency, which hopes to use Freya's special talents to hunt down potential terrorists! Something of a cerebral La Femme Nikita, Thoughtcrimes may have been intended as the pilot for a television series, but was released on home video before making its USA network TV bow on October 15, 2004. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Brett Leonard directed this 3-D Imax short feature (running 45 minutes) about a famous paleontologist's teen daughter, who's able to enter into the world of the dinosaurs. In Alberta, Canada, Dr. Donald Hayden (Peter Horton) and his assistant Elizabeth (Kari Coleman) find a Tyrannosaurus egg. Donald's daughter Ally (Liz Stauber) hopes the egg will prove her theory that dinosaurs were ancestors of present-day birds. Back at their museum, Ally knocks the egg on the floor, loosening some strange dust. At night, a T-rex skeleton springs to life, and Ally discovers she can use museum exhibits as a springboard for time travel, encountering famed dinosaur illustrator Charles Knight (Tuck Milligan) and paleontologist Barnum Brown (Laurie Murdoch). She also sees a flying Pteranodon, an Ornithomimus and other creatures -- which all become extinct in the meteoric conclusion. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Based on Jon Krakhauer's harrowing account of folly and tragedy on the slopes of the world's highest mountain, this made-for-TV movie re-enacts that fateful excursion. Christopher McDonald and Peter Horton star. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Wim Wenders directed this allegorical drama about the emotional impact of violence in our culture, set against the backdrop of California's entertainment business. Mike Max (Bill Pullman) is a Hollywood producer who has earned a great deal of money and power in the film industry through his success with a series of brutally violent action pictures. While Max can juggle any number of tasks while working, he can't find time for his wife Paige (Andie MacDowell), and when she announces that she's divorcing him, he admits to himself (but not to her) that he deliberately put her through emotional trauma; Paige leaves to do volunteer work in the Third World, hoping to bring new meaning to her life. Very little reaches Max on an emotional level until Cat (Traci Lind), a stunt performer, is seriously injured on the set of Max's latest project. Not long after, Max is first car-jacked, then kidnapped by a pair of desperate thugs. He escapes and is given shelter by a group of Mexican-American gardeners. Wanting to retreat from the physical and spiritual violence that has become a key part of his life, Max opts to work with the gardening crew and stay away from his old life, remaining "missing" in the eyes of the world as he searches for a new life. Meanwhile, Max and his secretary Claire (Rosiland Chao) become aware of a secret plan that Ray Bering (Gabriel Byrne) has prepared for the city of Los Angeles, which will essentially put the entire town under constant surveillance, with the goal of ending violent crime once and for all. Frederic Forrest, Udo Kier, and legendary director Samuel Fuller also star; Ry Cooder composed the film's striking original score. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide