William D. Wittliff Movies

Directed by Jack Bender, Lone Justice 2 centers around the jailed Ned Blessing (Brad Johnson) as he reminisces about his hometown and the skirmishes he had gotten into with the rougher crowd. Ned gets a nasty shock upon his release--not only has the town he remembered so fondly been run down by bandits and racism towards the many black settlers, but his father is missing. Almost immediately, Ned finds himself in a fight with Verlon Borges (Bill McKinney), who, along with his sons, resides over the townspeople with an iron fist. Swearing to end the terror campaign, Ned teams up with a sweet prostitute (Brenda Bake) and hopes for the best. Lone Justice 2 originally aired on CBS. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

In this action comedy, director Gregg Champion relies on the premise that, indeed, "country boys can survive," as Sonny (Kiefer Sutherland) and Pepper (Woody Harrelson, always game) head off to the Big Apple in order to rescue a mutual friend's daughter from the clutches of an evil sweatshop owner. Naturally, there are lots of encounters highlighting the two fishes out of water; there are opportunities to lasso bad guys; there's even a chase on horseback through the city streets after Sonny and Pepper steal a pair of NYPD horses. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide

This six-hour miniseries, based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Larry McMurtry, revitalized both the miniseries and Western genres, both of which had been considered dead for several years. Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones star as fun-loving Gus MacRae and taciturn Woodrow Call, respectively, a pair of longtime friends and former Texas Rangers who crave one last adventure before they bow to their advancing years. Convinced that animals will thrive on the lush grasslands of Montana, Woodrow persuades Gus to undertake the arduous, 3,000-mile cattle drive there. Rounding up over a thousand head from Mexican rustlers south of the border, the men recruit a diverse crew of hands to help them. Among the party are Woodrow's illegitimate son Newt Dobbs (Rick Schroeder), local prostitute Lorena Wood (Diane Lane), and old compatriots Joshua Deets (Danny Glover), Jake Spoon (Robert Urich), and Pea Eye Parker (Tim Scott). Storms, hostile natives, poisonous snakes, and rustlers take their toll on the company before Montana is reached in an adventure that is equal parts Greek tragedy and classic, John Ford-style oater. Originally developed in the 1970s as a script by McMurtry for director Peter Bogdanovich and stars Henry Fonda, John Wayne, and James Stewart, Lonesome Dove earned 18 Emmy nominations and inspired a pair of miniseries sequel as well as two attempts at an ongoing television series. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

What's that wisecracking young black guy (Eddie Murphy) in that beat-up Chevy Nova doing in lily-white Beverly Hills? He's Axel Foley, a Detroit detective who's been sent on involuntary vacation because he refuses to drop his intention of avenging his friend's murder. Warned by Beverly Hills police chief Ronny Cox to stay out of trouble, Foley nonetheless dogs the trail of above-the-law Steven Berkoff, the British crime czar who was responsible for the murder of Foley's friend. With the help of sympathetic local cops Judge Reinhold and John Ashton and lady friend Lisa Eilbacher, Foley attempts to corner Berkoff in his mansion, which leads to a wild slapsticky shootout. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Barbarosa is a western starring the unlikely screen team of Willie Nelson and Gary Busey. Nelson is an outlaw, Busey his country-bumpkin buddy. They decide to ride together, since both are on the run from separate family feuds. Directed by Australian filmmaker Fred Schepisi, the screenplay for Barbarosa was written by William D. Wittliff who would later gain acclaim for his adaptation of Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After displaying his easygoing charm in a number of television appearances and a showy supporting role in The Electric Horseman, Willie Nelson scored his first leading role in this romantic comedy-drama in which he (appropriately enough) plays a musician. Buck Bonham (Nelson) is a country singer/songwriter with a loyal following in his native Texas and the neighboring Western states. However, Buck hasn't yet had the hit record that would make him a star nationwide; in the meantime, Buck and his band keep up a busy tour schedule, much to the annoyance of his wife, Viv (Dyan Cannon), and son, Jamie (Joey Floyd), who would like to see Buck at home every once in a while. As Buck wonders if he should press on with his musical career or call it quits, his close friend and longtime guitarist Garland Ramsey (Slim Pickens) announces he's retiring, and suggests a good replacement -- his daughter, Lily (Amy Irving). Lily had a crush on Buck as a child, and now as a full-grown and very beautiful woman, her infatuation has only increased with time. Consequently, Buck must choose between Viv and Lily as well as his home and his career. Honeysuckle Rose was written specifically for Nelson, and his character bears more than a passing similarity to Willie and his life before the album Red Headed Stranger made him a star; the film also earned Nelson an Academy Award nomination for the film's theme song, "On the Road Again." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This beautifully mounted adaptation of Walter Farley's story for children tells the tale of Alec (Kelly Reno), a young boy touring the world with his adventurous salesman father (Hoyt Axton). While travelling back to the United States by ship, Alec discovers a wild, beautiful Arabian stallion being brought along in the cargo hold. When disaster strikes at sea, the ship sinks, and Alec and the stallion are the only survivors. Alone together on a nearby island, the boy and the horse develop a relationship; wary of each other at first, they learn to trust each other, and they become close friends. When a rescue party finally finds Alec, he refuses to leave the island without the stallion, and the horse goes with Alec to the small town that is his home. Alec's mother (Teri Garr) is at a loss about what to do with this remarkable but difficult animal. Henry Dailey (Mickey Rooney), an elderly horse trainer who lives in the neighborhood, senses a special connection between the boy and his horse; he's soon convinced that with the right training, and the boy as his jockey, the horse could be a champion on the race course. First-time director Carroll Ballard captures the mysterious relationship between humans and animals, treating the stallion with the same intelligence and respect as the rest of his cast; he also draws fine, understated performances from Kelly Reno and Mickey Rooney, and Caleb Deschanel's photography makes this a feast for the eyes. The Black Stallion is that rare contemporary family film that will fascinate adults as much as their kids, if not more so. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide