Michael Champion Movies

In this suspenseful drama, a cozy second honeymoon turns into a nightmare when a compassionate young couple saves a lost hunter from freezing to death. Eric and Alicia's ordeal began months before when Eric was shot in the stomach during a car-jacking. Loyal Alicia helped with every step of his four-month-long recovery. As soon as he is sufficiently healed, the two head to the mountains for their long-awaited vacation. No sooner are they settled in before a cozy blaze when the door knocks and Cale, the lost hunter stands before them. The next morning, Eric goes to his truck so he can take Cale to the hospital, but the truck won't start. Suspiciously, Alicia rifles through Cales's belongings and discovers he carries no identification. Alarmed, the couple copes with the situation as best they can. Matters get worse when Cale makes it clear that he wants Alicia and considers Eric expendable. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Although the corrupt Borough commander Haverell has been forcibly retired, Haverell's replacement, Clifford Bass (Larry Joshua), proves to be just as big a bureaucratic pain in the neck to Lt. Fancy (James McDaniel). Bass' interference bogs down the investigation of a woman's charges that her ex-husband murdered her daughter. On other fronts, Simone (Jimmy Smits) is distressed to learn that a childhood friend is mixed up in a mob-controlled nightclub. And Martinez (Nicholas Turturro) and Lesniak (Justine Miceli) go after a "cosmetic" con artist. Guest star Shirley Knight won an Emmy award for her performance as Agnes Cantwell. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A modern cop meets a mythical figure in this action-fantasy. It all begins when a muscle-bound detective is assigned to find the purloined sword of Alexander the Great, which is said to have been a gift to the conqueror from Apollo. As he searches for the perpetrator, a Greek tycoon, the gumshoe begins experiencing strange flashbacks set over 2,000 years in the past in which Alexander battles his envious cousin Herodotus. He seems to get most of these strange visions after handling homicide victims. Eventually he begins to realize that the visions are related to the missing sword. He finally meets his nemesis during fencing practice and ends up getting involved in the magnate's highly illegal swordplay competition using real blades. As he progresses to the finals, the detective finally figures out that he is a reincarnation of Alexander the Great and that the murderous magnate is Herodotus. The only way the detective will be able to stop the visions is to kill the tycoon, but will he be able to do it? ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Dead Poets Society and Die Hard bash heads in this action drama set in a Northeastern prep school. The film opens as a crazed Central American terrorist, Luis Cali (Andrew Divoff), goes on a shooting spree, attempting to gain his drug baron father's release from extradition to the United States. The following sequence introduces some malcontented rich kids from the prep school --Joey Trotta (Wil Wheaton), the son of a New Jersey mob leader; Billy Tepper (Sean Astin), a reprobate who has been to four boarding schools in as many years; Snuffy Bradbury (Keith Coogan), whose rich banker father is the chairman of the Republican Party; Ricardo Montoya (George Perez), the son of a big-shot lawyer; and Hank Giles (T.E. Russell), whose father is the head of the House Armed Services Committee. The boys disregard their studies and spend their waking hours giving Dean Parker (Louis Gossett Jr.) a hard time. The two storylines collide when Luis, with a group of terrorist goons, make their way across the U.S. border and invade the boarding school, planning to take hostage the son of his father's judge. But the authorities have already removed the boy from danger, so Luis and the terrorists decide to hold the entire student body hostage until their demands are met. Working with the FBI and the special government forces, the rebellious groups of boys have to devise a plan to short-circuit the hostage situation. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Mickey (D.B. Sweeney) is a reformed thief who works construction. He's saved up his money to move out of his small town and get away his criminal past. Before he leaves town, he proposes to Claudi (Bridget Fonda), a friend he's secretly loved for ages. Claudi has a reputation in town and she's also eager to escape. Their plans are spoiled by Dobbs (Cary Elwes), a mutual friend and gang leader who Mickey used to run with. After a botched robbery that ends in murder, Dobbs and his crew are pursued by a Vietnamese gang led by Tron (Craig Ng). But Dobbs still tries to disrupt his friends' wedding plans by telling Mickey that Claudi is a whore. Then, at Mickey's going away/bachelor party, Dobbs hires a couple of strippers (one played by former porn star Ginger Lynn) to entice Dobbs. Things get more complicated when Tron and company crash the party and shoot up the place, shooting Dobbs and killing several members of his gang. Mickey, Dobbs, Claudi, and Big Steve (Chris Penn) hit the road, heading to L.A. to evade the other gang. Along the way, secrets are revealed that change all of their lives, and they find that escaping the past is not so easy. The film was written and directed by Lee Drysdale, who would later write the script for Sweet Nothing. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

Despite his protests, the overworked Captain Picard is forced to take a vacation. True to his predictions, however, he doesn't get a moment's rest during his holiday, especially after a pair of Vorgon security agents (Karen Landry) and Michael Champion) persuade him to participate in a search for a missing weapon. Making matters worse, the elusive weapon won't even exist until the 27th century. Written by Ira Stephen Behr, "Captain's Holiday" made its U.S. television debut on April 7, 1990. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this suspenseful drama, an mentally unstable, cynical ex-CIA agent now makes money working as a soldier-of-fortune. His newest assignment is to kill a South American dictator. His world-weary demeanor begins to soften after he meets and falls for an American reporter with political views so different from his own. When he is hired to kill her, the mercenary finds himself faced with a difficult decision. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The Forgotten deserves at least a small niche in TV history as the first-ever TV movie made especially for the USA cable network. Based on a story by Vietnam veteran Paul Staples, the film concerns six American Green Berets, held for 17 years in a Vietnamese POW camp. They are finally released in secret, during a delicate trade-talk session between Vietnam and the United States. Keith Carradine, the ex-prisoners' CO, begins to suspect that government-man Stacy Keach, who is in charge of the debriefing, may be pursuing a hidden agenda that will result in the early deaths of Carradine and the five men under his command. Stacy's brother James Keach directed Forgotten and also co-wrote the script with another of his stars, Steve Railsback. First aired April 26, 1989, The Forgotten set the "viewer discretion" standard for all future USA TV movies with its grim flashback sequences depicting the torture methods of the NVA. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In the conclusion of a two-part story, the Tanners spend Thanksgiving with the Ochmoneks, where they are forced to endure the--er--eccentricities of Trevor (John LaMotta) and Raquel's (Liz Sheridan bizarre relatives. Meanwhile, Flakey Pete (David Ogden Stiers), the tramp to whom ALF gave all of Willie's good clothes, repays the favor by ratting on ALF to the Alien Task Force. This episode was evidently intended to be shown in a single one-hour installment, but was instead telecast as a two-parter on two consecutive evenings. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this prison drama, two adolescent girls are incarcerated with adults by an obsessive judge. There they are terribly exploited and abused. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Mel Brooks produced, directed, wrote, and starred in this episodic comedy in the spirit of Monty Python and the 1957 studio travesty The Story of Mankind. The film is divided into five sequences that play like blue-toned Eddie Cantor vaudeville sketches -- "The Dawn of Man," "The Stone Age," The Spanish Inquisition," "The Bible," and "The Future." Also included is a Brooksian depiction of The Last Supper and a long-winded sequence about the French Revolution. The film starts with a 2001: A Space Odyssey parody, narrated by Orson Welles, in which a collection of ape-men learn to stand erect (in more ways than one). The Stone Age reveals the origins of both the first homo sapien and homosexual marriages. Brooks then appears in an Old Testament sequence as Moses, descending from Mount Sinai with three heavy stone tablets bearing the 15 Commandments; after he drops one of these tablets, the laws of God become 10 Commandments. The Roman period picks up with Brooks as Comicus, attempting to get a gig as a "stand-up philosopher" at Caesar's Palace. The Spanish Inquisition is a musical production number with monks torturing Jews to lively Broadway musical strains. The final French revolution section is a broad parody of The Man in the Iron Mask story. The film closes with coming attractions of "History of the World, Part II" that features a rousing Star Wars parody (anticipating Space Balls) called "Jews in Space" that includes a jaunty theme song. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

A broadly farcical comedy that attempts to ape the wickedly funny, Bible-spoofing humor of the previous year's Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979), this all-star rib-tickler top-lines Dudley Moore as Herschel, a historical also-ran whose life so closely parallels that of Moses that Herschel begins believing that he, not the other guy, is God's chosen prophet, setting out to free his people from slavery even though his services are not required. Herschel's travels are always a step or two behind Moses and bring him into the company of various period personnel, including Egypt's Pharoah (Richard Pryor), the Devil (John Ritter), an angel (Paul Sand), and the beautiful Zerelda (Laraine Newman). He also discovers that his slave, Hyssop (James Coco), is actually his biological father. Herschel eventually becomes the subject of the lost "Book of Herschel," recounted in a scroll discovered by a modern-day couple (also played by Moore and Newman) vacationing in the Holy Land. Wholly Moses (1980) co-stars several other recognizable actors in supporting roles, including John Houseman, Madeline Kahn, and Jack Gilford. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi