Jeffrey Marcus Movies
- 2001
The men of the 15th precinct come to the aid of troublesome cop Szymanski (Christopher Stanley) when his cousin is mixed up in a bar brawl that ends in tragedy. Diane (Kim Delaney) investigates when the wife (Cordelia Richards) of Capt. Bass (Larry Joshua) is the victim of a stabbing. As Bass puts pressure on Fancy (James McDaniel) to track down the perp, Diane learns that the case is not as cut-and-dried as it seem. Gay cop John Irvin (Bill Brochtrup) may be able to sell an item from his toy collection for a hefty sum. And after hours, Andy (Dennis Franz) again goes out with Cynthia (Juliana Donald), while Baldwin (Henry Simmons) and Valerie (Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon) embark upon a "doo-wop" date. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
Based on Dick Goldberg's play, the made-for-TV Family Business stars Milton Berle as wealthy, truculent and dying toy manufacturer Isaiah Stern. Once more Stern has gathered together his grown sons to once more revise his will. Three of the four boys are used to these idiosyncratic changes, and have come to accept them: the fourth son (David Rosenbaum), a married psychologist, is heavily in debt and doesn't like his thin share of the pie, which sparks the play's second act confrontation. The remaining sons, for the record, are a bachelor who runs the family store (Richard Greene), an indecisive sort who still lives at home (David Garfield), and daddy's favorite, a closet homosexual (Jeffrey Marcus). Milton Berle, whose skills as a straight actor should be a "given" by now, is as brilliant as ever in this 1983 PBS American Playhouse presentation. Also in the cast is Brian Benben, billed curiously as Ben-Ben. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Milton Berle, Jeffrey Marcus, (more)
- 1982
Jean Stapleton stars as Eleanor Roosevelt in this made-for-TV biography, first telecast May 12, 1982. The film recounts Mrs. Roosevelt's life after the 1945 death of her husband, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. At the request of new president Truman, Eleanor serves as a United Nations delegate, spending much of her time tilting with dedicated anti-FDR politico John Foster Dulles (E.G. Marshall). She goes on to spearhead the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, proving to Dulles--and to Soviet delegate Freddie Jones--that she's anything but soft on Communism. The winning teleplay for Eleanor: First Lady of the World was by Caryl Ledner and Cynthia Mandenberg. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1981
The final made-for-TV movie of the calendar year 1981 (it was originally telecast on December 30), Senior Trip combines music, comedy and pathos to tell the story of a group of graduates from a staid Ohio high school. Though tightly chaperoned on their titular trip to New York City, the kids intend to cut loose and go crazy, or at least to pursue their hearts' desires (in fact, the only two students who actually want to do some sightseeing before returning home are treated like social pariahs). Among the principal characters are would-be business tyro, Roger (Scott Baio); wannabe singer, David (Randy Brooks); aspiring actress, Judy (Liz Callaway); budding artist, Jon (Jeffrey Marcus); and self-styled Lothario, Fred (James Carroll). It takes a few run-ins with the seamier denizens of the Big Apple to convince the teens that maybe the old high school wasn't so bad. Part of the film is an extended plug for the then-current Broadway smash, Sugar Babies, with Mickey Rooney showing up as himself in one of the sequences. Buried among the minor players are two promising young actors named Jason Alexander and Robert Townsend. Senior Trip was a CBS presentation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A couple who live on different sides of the divide of life and death discover just how many boundaries love can cross in this romantic comic fantasy. Elizabeth (Reese Witherspoon) is a hardworking and dedicated medical resident who, after 20 hours on duty, is heading home when she falls asleep at the wheel of her car and is involved in a fatal auto accident. Several weeks later, a man named David (Mark Ruffalo) takes over the lease on Elizabeth's apartment, but he discovers that she hasn't quite vacated the building. Elizabeth's body may be dead, but her spirit is still quite lively, and her ghost is insisting that the apartment is still hers...and that she wants him to move out. David brings in Darryl (Jon Heder), an eccentric man who claims to have psychic powers, to help sweep Elizabeth's spirit out of the apartment, but she refuses to budge, certain that she can't be completely dead, despite all evidence to the contrary. As Elizabeth and David try to share the flat, they discover that their differences aren't as great as they once imagined, and they become attracted to one another. But will Elizabeth's spirit stay in the land of the living long enough for their romance to go somewhere? Just Like Heaven marked Jon Heder's first feature film role after his breakthrough appearance in the independent hit Napoleon Dynamite. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Reese Witherspoon, Mark Ruffalo, (more)
