Beeson Carroll Movies
Supporting actor Carroll has worked on stage and in television and has been on screen from the '80s. ~ Rovi- 1990
J. Anthony Lukas' 1985 Pulitzer Prize winning book Common Ground served as the basis of the two-part TV movie Common Ground. Jane Curtin plays Alice McGoff, and CCH Pounder plays Rachel Twymon, two Boston housewives and mothers on opposite sides of one of the city's bitterest racial battles. In 1974, the decision is made to improve the level of education received by Boston's black youth. The solution: bus black kids to white schools, and vice versa, on a quota basis. Spearheading the movement is idealistic Harvard-educated attorney Colin Diver (Richard Thomas). Nobody emerges the winner of this debacle, as newly integrated Charleston High School becomes a battlefield. Part one of Common Ground premiered March 25, 1990 (see separate entry for details on part two). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1980
A strong, but at times tempestuous interracial friendship between two Southern boys during the '30s is chronicled in this drama. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1977
The men and women of the 4077th finally get to meet Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan's fiancee, Col. Donald Penobscott (here played by Beeson Carroll). Despite the predictions of sullen Frank Burns (Larry Linville), who still carries a torch for Hot Lips (Loretta Swit) and is convinced that the belated wedding ceremony will never take place, Donald agrees to be married in camp immediately. What follows is a riotous bachelor party and an equally hilarious wedding, replete with hung-over commanding officers, unnecessary body casts, an off-key piano solo, and a gorgeous "ensemble" from fashionable cross-dresser Klinger (Jamie Farr). This was the final episode of M*A*S*H's fifth season--and the last series appearance of Larry Linville. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1975
Most TV movies about obscene phone callers concentrate on the reactions of the victims--and the subsequent dangers they're exposed to. The Secret Night Caller takes a different tack, telling its story from the point of view of the caller. What makes the film doubly disturbing is that the dirty-mouthed phoner is played by Brady Bunch star and TV icon Robert Reed. Reed portrays an IRS agent (and seemingly contented family man) who is overtaken by his compulsion to phone strangers and whisper profanities. Even worse, Reed's access to tax-office records enables him to ring up people all over the country. The drama concentrates on Reed's mounting realization that he has to stop himself before someone else does. Though seedy and manipulative at times, The Secret Night Caller is elevated by the multifaceted performance of Robert Reed. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1975
Darleen Carr is cast as flighty rich girl Sis Bradford, who regards college as just another lark. Having skipped most of her classes, Sis ends up stealing John-Boy's study notes just before an important exam. Meanwhile, Jim-Bob's new friend Danny (Willie Aames), the product of an unhappy home, begins spending all his time at the Walton house. The episode's two subplots collide head-on when Danny is blamed for Sis Bradford's act of thievery--and Danny's cruel father forces him to apologize for his "crime". ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1975
The UFO Incident is a TV movie based on the true-life story of Betty and Barney Hill, the biracial married couple whose alleged abduction by extraterrestrials made headlines. The film is careful not to present the Hills' reminiscences as cold facts; both "remember" the ordeal only when probed under hypnosis by doctor Barnard Hughes. The alien abduction is presented in flashback form, adhering strictly to the Hills' description of the space vessel and crew. Essentially a dual monologue, The UFO Incident is kept alive by the virtuoso performances of stars James Earl Jones and Estelle Parsons. Particularly compelling is the fact that Jones' character resists the memory of his experience because he is afraid of suffering a fatal heart attack--which, we are informed in the epilogue, was indeed the ultimate fate of Barney Hill. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1975
Agents of the FBI descend upon the startled Evans family. It seems that the Feds are convinced that Florida's nephew Cleatus (Jack Baker) has helped to rob a bank in Atlanta. Florida (Esther Rolle) refuses to believe this -- until Cleatus shows up at the Evanses' doorstep, out of breath and with a worried expression...and a bag full of money. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
After being unknowingly inflicted with the bite of a werewolf while on a visit to Europe, White House press secretary Jack Whittier (Dean Stockwell) begins to turn into a deadly beast by night, terrorizing Washington D.C. and presenting a very deadly threat to the President. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi
- 1972
The well-known short-story writer Ring Lardner, Jr. wrote the screenplay for La Mortadella, an Italian/French production with mostly English dialogue. The story concerns the difficulties and reactions of Madelena (Sophia Loren), an Italian visitor to New York City. She has come to the country carrying a huge mortadella sausage which she intends as a gift for her fiancé. U.S. Customs has other ideas, however, and she is detained until she hits upon the idea of sharing the offending foodstuff with the customs officers. Finally allowed entry into the U.S., she grows disenchanted with her fiancé and other men she meets and is only with difficulty able to make her escape to a more agreeable location. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- 1966
James Garner plays a man who awakens in Central Park with no memories at all. This drama chronicles his search for his identity. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- James Garner, Jean Simmons, (more)
Chuck "Tiger" Warsaw (Patrick Swayze) returns to the steel town of Sharon, Pennsylvania hoping to be reunited with his estranged family after 15 years. He spent his time away from home in Miami in a perpetual fog of drugs and alcohol and is struggling to remember what prompted his departure. Tiger eventually remembers seeing his sister Paula (Mary McDonnell) naked. Her premature and hysterical cries of attempted incest prompted an argument with his father Mitchell (Lee Richardson), and in the melee Tiger shot Mitchell and fled. Upon his return home, Tiger finds that as a result of the shooting, his dad's injuries are such that he can't remember anything except his love for high-school sports. Frances (Piper Laurie) is Tiger's sympathetic mother who along with his former high-school sweetheart Karen (Barbara Williams) and buddy Tony (Bobby DiCicco) readily accepts him. His spiteful sister and her yuppie fiancee Roger (James Patrick Gillis) join with other irate relatives to ruin the happy family reunion for Tiger. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Patrick Swayze, Piper Laurie, (more)
- 1985
- R
This uneasy mix between a slasher film and a police story focuses on a series of murders in a luxury Manhattan apartment building and the main suspect in the case, an eccentric doorman (Ian McShane). The chief detective sent to unravel the crimes, Lt. Dinardo (Mike Connors) is involved with Kate (Anne Archer), an undercover cop who installs herself in the apartment building to lure the killer into action. This makes the lieutenant particularly interested in the outcome of Kate's ploy. Although potentially prone to high suspense and dramatic turns, the story is not quite as tension-filled (or gory) as its outlines suggest. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Michael Connors, Anne Archer, (more)
Hal Ashby's 1978 melodrama examines the impact of the Vietnam War on the "war at home" among the men who fought it and the women in their lives. Left alone in Los Angeles when her gung-ho Marine husband Bob (Bruce Dern) heads to Vietnam in 1968, proper wife Sally Hyde (Jane Fonda) decides to volunteer at the V.A. hospital where her new friend Vi (Penelope Milford) works. There she meets Luke Martin (Jon Voight), a former high-school classmate and Marine who has returned from 'Nam a bitter paraplegic. As their relationship grows, Sally sees the effect of the war on the soldiers after they come back, inspiring her to rethink her priorities; Luke's spirits begin to lift, and a hospital tragedy helps focus his anger toward meaningful protest. After a Hong Kong visit with her increasingly withdrawn husband, Sally finds a love and companionship with Luke that she had never known with her husband. Once Bob comes home with his own injury, however, the three must find a way to deal with a changing world and with a system that betrayed the men fighting for it. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jane Fonda, Jon Voight, (more)
Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Beth Henley (who also penned the screenplay), Crimes of the Heart stars three high-powered actresses as three high-strung sisters. Lenny (Diane Keaton), Meg (Jessica Lange) and Babe (Sissy Spacek) gather at Lenny's deep-South home for her birthday. Lenny, the oldest, can't seem to sustain a relationship with a man. Meg is an aspiring actress who hasn't progressed beyond commercial voice overs. And Babe is released on bond from jail after shooting her senator husband. Add to this information the fact that the girls' mother killed herself in Lenny's house, and that when Meg offhandedly expresses the wish that grouchy grandfather Hurd Hatfield would slip into a coma, he does, whereupon the sisters, despite every effort to treat the situation with proper sobriety, burst into helpless laughter over her "psychic" powers. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Diane Keaton, Jessica Lange, (more)
One of Woody Allen's earlier, more slapstick-oriented efforts, Bananas tells the story of Fielding Mellish (Allen), a neurotic New Yorker who follows the object of his affections, Nancy (Louise Lasser), to the fictional Central American country of San Marcos, where she is involved in a revolution. Nancy wants nothing to do with Fielding, but he soon becomes a guest of the country's dictator (Carlos Montalban), before accidentally becoming the leader of San Marcos himself. Fielding is eventually shipped back to the US and tried as a subversive, but being that this is a comedy, and an especially light one at that, everything works out in the end. A far cry from Allen's later, more somber films, Bananas still works as an often hilarious amalgam of sight gags, one-liners, and bizarre asides. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi
- Starring:
- Woody Allen, Louise Lasser, (more)
- 1983
- PG
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In this weakly scripted, dull sci-fi adventure, three women have been shipwrecked somewhere in the galaxy on planet Terra Eleven and now Wolff (Peter Strauss), the pilot of a salvage ship, his friend Washington (Ernie Hudson), and the orphaned Niki (Molly Ringwald) are out to rescue them. Along the way, the trio face several life-threatening situations, and as they escape each danger intact, their final encounter with the evil Overdog McNabb (Michael Ironside) draws ever closer. With a wobbly storyline, one-note theme (people versus machines), and unintentionally funny dialogue, Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone has a few things going for it: quick-paced action scenes, unusual sets, a 3-D format, a good musical score, and creative sound effects. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Peter Strauss, Molly Ringwald, (more)
- 1978
- PG
In this comic mystery, a department store clerk dreams of becoming a famous writer of children's books. He is also having an affair with a lovely patron of the store. The trouble begins when the lovers find that her husband, a pair of neighbors and a bogus detective have been murdered. The lovers decide to solve the case themselves. Mayhem ensues and the story's climax occurs at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jeff Bridges, John Wood, (more)
An expensive war epic, Midway emulates The Longest Day and Tora! Tora! Tora! in attempting to re-create a famous World War II battle from both the American and Japanese viewpoints. The 1942 battle of Midway was the turning point of the War in the Pacific; the Japanese invasion fleet was destroyed, and America's string of humiliating defeats was finally broken. Though the battle itself was sufficiently dramatic to fill two films, Midway also has plotline involving the mixed-race relationship between Ensign Garth (Edward Albert), son of Navy Captain Matt Garth (Charlton Heston), and Haruko Sakura (Christina Kokubo), a Hawaiian girl of Japanese descent. The real-life personages depicted herein include American Admirals Nimitz (Henry Fonda), Halsey (Robert Mitchum) and Spruance (Glenn Ford), and Japanese Admiral Yamamoto (Toshiro Mifune, his voice once again dubbed by Paul Frees, whom Mifune personally selected for the job). For its original road show release, Midway was offered in the "Sensurround" process, which electronically shook and vibrated the audience's chairs during the battle sequences. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda, (more)
This detective-themed action-adventure film spoofs The Big Sleep, which was based on the novel by Raymond Chandler. Burt Reynolds plays McCoy, a hard-nosed private detective. The story has more tangles than a bowl of spaghetti, but it begins when McCoy is called to the house of Hume (Ron Weyand), an eccentric diamond dealer, and is given the task of recovering some stolen gems. McCoy is beaten by a gang of thugs to warn him off the job, and this lets him know that he's onto something really big. By the end of the film, McCoy will have hooked up with a gorgeous blonde (Dyan Cannon), driven a tank through a warehouse wall, and delivered numerous crooks to the police. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Burt Reynolds, Dyan Cannon, (more)
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