Jeb Stuart
Based on the novel by John Katzenbach, author of Just Cause (1995), this prison camp drama combines elements of A Soldier's Story (1984) and the classic Stalag 17 (1953). Colin Farrell stars as Lt. Tommy Hart, a second-year Harvard Law School student who enlists to fight in World War II but ends up being taken prisoner by the Germans. When a murder at the Nazi-run Stalag Luft 13 leaves a black Tuskegee airman named Lt. Lincoln Scott (Terrence Dashon Howard) accused of the crime, high-ranking prisoner (and fourth-generation war hero) Col. William McNamara (Bruce Willis) persuades camp commandant Col. Werner Visser (Marcel Iures) to allow the prisoners to hold their own trial. Hart is recruited to defend his fellow officer, but as he reluctantly investigates, he discovers that not all of his fellow allied soldiers are fighting the same war and that his "client" may well have been framed. In the meantime, it becomes apparent that McNamara is using events to mask his true intent, a mission to destroy a nearby munitions plant that he still intends to carry out despite his incarceration. Hart's War (2002) co-stars Vicellous Shannon, Cole Hauser, Rory Cochrane, and Jonathan Brandis. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Willis, Colin Farrell, (more)
Scripter Jeb Stuart (Die Hard) made his directorial debut with this thriller about an FBI agent in pursuit of a serial killer. Politically ambitious Amarillo police chief Jack McGinnis (William Fichtner) uses a local murder to gain votes in his campaign, a setback for Sheriff Buck Olmstead (R. Lee Ermey), up for re-election. The situation looks better for Olmstead after FBI agent Frank LaCrosse (Dennis Quaid) arrives to track the killer. LaCrosse has a personal agenda: he's convinced this killer is the man who kidnapped his son. Meanwhile, ex-medical student Lane Dixon (Jared Leto), hitchhiking across New Mexico, gets a lift from friendly Bob Goodall (Danny Glover), a former rail worker who later rescues Dixon from menacing miners in a bar. Red herrings throughout conceal the true identity of the killer. Some scenes were filmed at an altitude of 10,000 feet in Red Cliff, Colorado. Working titles include: Going West in America, Going West. Shown at the 1997 Denver Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Quaid, Danny Glover, (more)
Martial arts star Steven Seagal stars in this action drama as Jack Taggart, an undercover agent working for the Environmental Protection Agency. When an EPA representative is murdered in a small Appalachian community, Taggart is sent in -- posing as a handyman working with a Christian relief agency -- to find out what happened. Taggart discovers that Orin Hanner (Kris Kristofferson), a powerful local businessman, has been illegally dumping toxic waste which has been leading to serious health problems among children in the area; it seems that the murdered agent knew too much and was killed to keep him quiet, a scenario the unscrupulous Hanner would be all too willing to repeat. Taggart becomes involved with Sarah Kellogg (Marg Helgenberger), a woman whose father also died under circumstances that trace back to Hanner. Harry Dean Stanton co-stars as Cotton, former member of The Band Levon Helm plays a preacher, and country music stars Travis Tritt and Randy Travis appear as themselves. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steven Seagal, Marg Helgenberger, (more)
- 1995
Al (Ed O'Neill) scoffs when Peg (Katey Sagal) and Marcy (Amanda Bearse) enroll in a self-defense class, dismissing all women as weaklings. But the tables are turned when Peg beats up a pickpocket while Al watches helplessly from the sidelines. Mocked by the media (one headline reads "CHOP-SOCKY MAMA SAVES WUSSY-HUBBY'S WALLET") and treated like a leper by his male buddies, Al takes desperate measures to reassert his manhood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The novel by John Katzenbach becomes this legal thriller starring Sean Connery as Harvard Law School professor Paul Armstrong. A legal expert whose days of trying cases are long behind him, Armstrong is moved by a plea he receives from a Florida death row inmate, Bobby Earl (Blair Underwood). It seems that the educated, upstanding Earl has been railroaded by an overeager sheriff (Laurence Fishburne) zealously trying to solve the kidnapping and murder of a little girl. Once Armstrong arrives in Florida, he is able to locate the murder weapon and cast doubt on Earl's innocence, even identifying a much more likely culprit in the homicidal genius Blair Sullivan (Ed Harris). All is not as it seems in the case of Bobby Earl, however, and Armstrong is going to end up regretting his interest in the case. Ruby Dee, Kate Capshaw, and Ned Beatty costar in this film from producer-turned-director Arne Glimcher. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Connery, Laurence Fishburne, (more)
This 1993 box-office smash partly adheres to the 1960s TV series on which it is based and partly goes off on several tangents of its own. Harrison Ford stars as Dr. Richard Kimble, convicted of murdering his wife. While being transferred to prison by bus, Kimble is involved in a spectacular bus-train collision (one of the best of its kind ever filmed). Surviving the disaster, Kimble escapes, vowing to track down the elusive professional criminal whom he holds responsible for the murder. Dogging the fugitive every foot of the way is U.S. marshal Sam Gerard (an Oscar-winning turn by Tommy Lee Jones), who announces his intention to search "every whorehouse, doghouse, and outhouse" to bring Kimble to justice. Unlike his dour TV-series counterpart Barry Morse, Jones plays the role with a sardonic sense of humor: when a cornered Kimble screams, "I didn't kill my wife," Gerard shrugs and famously replies, "I don't care." Once the premise has been established, scripters Jeb Stuart and David Twohy and director Andrew Davis pull off several audacious plot twists, ranging from Kimble's rendezvous with a sympathetic lab technician to a jaw-dropping dive into a huge waterfall. The second half of the film offers one surprise after another (including the true identity of the murderer), brilliantly avoiding the letdown that plagues many movie adaptations of old TV series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee Jones, (more)
Marisa Silver helmed this tightly directed hospital drama reminiscent of David Swift's 1962 The Interns. Jimmy Smits plays Dr. David Redding, who guides seven student doctors through their third year of residency at Los Angeles Central's medical school. The cast includes Laura San Giacomo as Lauren Rose, a hard-working waitress putting her uncaring husband Kenny (Jack Gwaltney) through medical school; Kenny eventually breaks down the resistance of cool fellow student Gena Wyler (Diane Lane). Kenny is also competing with doctor's son Michael Chatham (Adrian Pasdar), who wants to become the best surgeon at L.A. Central; Michael, however, has to reconsider his goals when he realizes that he also needs Gena's love. Bobby Hayes (Tim Ransom) and Suzanne Maloney (Jane Adams) are also struggling with medical school, but they are a support team who study, work, and even sleep together. Through all the competitions and love affairs it eventually takes the wisdom of a dying cancer patient (Norma Aleandro) to make the medical students realize the important things in life. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adrian Pasdar, Diane Lane, (more)
At times, Another 48 Hrs. seems less like a sequel to than a parody of the first 48 Hrs., especially when Nick Nolte, repeating his role from the earlier film, begins commenting on the cliched absurdity of the goings on. This time, Nolte risks life, limb and career as he obsessively tries to bring an elusive master criminal known as "The Iceman" to justice. Eddie Murphy, who stole the show in the first 48 Hrs. as the wheeler-dealer convict who becomes Nolte's reluctant partner, is brought into the plotline of the second film when a contract is taken out on his life. The adversarial relationship between Nolte and Murphy, supposedly dissipated by the end of the first film, is revivified in the sequel via a couple of plot devices. Still, Murphy rallies to the occasion, in the process saving Nolte from being thrown off the force. Though not as successful as the first film, Another 48 Hrs. proved that there were still enough Eddie Murphy fans around in 1990 to insure a strong box-office showing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Murphy, Nick Nolte, (more)
Sylvester Stallone is a tough but essentially decent convict in a relatively humane prison. He's on such good terms with the authorities that he's occasionally allowed a weekend furlough. This idyllic situation ends abruptly when he's transferred to a nasty prison run by sadistic warden Donald Sutherland (remember way back when Sutherland played good guys and Stallone played secondary hoodlums?) Harboring a grudge against Sly over an unfortunate incident at another prison, Sutherland does everything he can to make Stallone's term a Hell on Earth. But in the end, it is Sutherland who is Stallone's prisoner--and, since Sly's name comes first on the credits, it is Sutherland who blubberingly confesses to a string of crimes perpetrated on the helpless inmates. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvester Stallone, Donald Sutherland, (more)
Leviathan, a sci-fi thriller directed by George Pan Cosmatos, is the story of a group of scientists who discover a sunken Russian submarine which contains a monster that is the product of a genetic experiment. This film, a hybrid of both The Abyss and Alien, has a decent cast, including Peter Weller as Beck, the lead oceanographer. Working with a good budget, action director Cosmatos, should have been able to put together better action sequences and a more frightening monster, but he gives this derivative, silly film below-par special effects and no particular visual style. Leviathan, while it may entertain a less-sophisticated viewer, has little to offer fans of the genre who are looking for thrilling special effects. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Weller, Richard Crenna, (more)
When his brother is murdered, a policeman is caught between his devotion to the law and his family's desire for revenge in this action drama. Patrick Swayze plays Truman Gates, who left his backwoods Appalachian home for life as a Chicago police officer. When his brother is killed by a gangster, Truman is determined to seek legal retribution. His older brother Briar (Liam Neeson) has different ideas, however, and travels to the city to seek old-fashioned vigilante justice. Truman must now choose between his family's belief in mountain justice and the duties of his job. Though the film is not particularly action-packed, director John Irvin does provide the expected gunplay and macho confrontations. However, despite a surprisingly distinguished cast (also including Helen Hunt and Michael J. Pollard), little distinguishes the film from numerous other revenge stories with a similar outline. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Swayze, Liam Neeson, (more)
It's Christmas time in L.A., and there's an employee party in progress on the 30th floor of the Nakatomi Corporation building. The revelry comes to a violent end when the partygoers are taken hostage by a group of terrorists headed by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman), who plan to steal the 600 million dollars locked in Nakatomi's high-tech safe. In truth, Gruber and his henchmen are only pretending to be politically motivated to throw the authorities off track; also in truth, Gruber has no intention of allowing anyone to get out of the building alive. Meanwhile, New York cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) has come to L.A. to visit his estranged wife, Holly (Bonnie Bedelia), who happens to be one of the hostages. Disregarding the orders of the authorities surrounding the building, McClane, who fears nothing (except heights), takes on the villains, armed with one handgun and plenty of chutzpah. Until Die Hard came along, Bruce Willis was merely that wisecracking guy on Moonlighting. After the film's profits started rolling in, Willis found himself one of the highest-paid and most sought-after leading men in Hollywood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, (more)
- 1984
- PG
Tom Schiller, best known for the short subjects he wrote and directed for Saturday Night Live's early seasons, made his feature film debut with this offbeat fantasy. In the future, the city of New York is governed by the Port Authority, and aspiring artist Adam Beckett (Zach Galligan) is depressed because the powers that be refuse to grant him a creative license. Instead, Adam is assigned to direct traffic in the Holland Tunnel, where he meets a woman named Mara Hofmeier (Apollonia Van Ravenstein). Adam offers to show Mara a side of New York's underground that few people know about; however, they mistakenly board the wrong bus and find themselves on a trip to the moon, which has been turned into a shopping center. In time, Adam finds his way back to Earth, where at long last he finds artistic success and the love of his life, Ely (Lauren Tom). Incorporating clips from a number of classic silent films, Nothing Lasts Forever also features an interesting supporting cast, including Bill Murray, Sam Jaffe, Eddie Fisher, Dan Aykroyd, Lawrence Tierney, Imogene Coca, and Calvert Deforest (aka Larry "Bud" Melman). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Zach Galligan, Apollonia Van Ravenstein, (more)
