Elizabeth Cheshire Movies
Built in 1848, Midway Plantation was for many years one of the most celebrated homes in the Raleigh, NC area -- an antebellum mansion that stood as a reminder of the style and traditions of the old South. However, in late 2003, Charlie Silver, who had inherited the estate, made a decision that took many by surprise -- troubled by the encroaching urban sprawl, Silver decided to move the mansion and its outbuildings to a new and more peaceful location. Charlie and wife Dena planned to finance the relocation by selling roughly a third of vacant property to developers, but not everyone in his family supported this notion; the land had been owned by Silver's kin since 1740, and some relatives felt Midway should remain on its native soil. Film critic Godfrey Cheshire, who is Charlie's cousin, decided to make a film about the role of Southern plantations in American history, popular culture, and society, as well as the difficult project of moving the mansion. While documenting the relocation, Charlie and Godfrey became aware of a previously unknown chapter in their family's history; their great-great grandfather Charles Lewis Hinton, who built Midway, fathered a child with an African-American slave living on the property. As a consequence, Cheshire discovers the existence of dozens of African-American cousins who have their own perspective on Midway's legacy. Moving Midway offers a look at the nuts and bolts of moving a piece of North Carolina history, as well as the people whose lives are rooted in its past, and includes extensive interviews with Robert Hinton, Associate Director of African-American studies at New York University, whose family has roots in Midway. Moving Midway received its world premiere at the 2007 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Dead Kids, aka Strange Behavior, is a creepy exercise from director Michael Laughlin--who conceived this as part one of an abortive "Strange Trilogy" which also included 1983's Strange Invaders. Although lensed in New Zealand, the film is set in a sleepy American town, in which a series of gory murders committed by local teenagers are linked to a twisted brainwashing scheme by a deranged behavioral psychologist (note irony please). Despite some humorous details (e.g. one killer dons a Tor Johnson mask) and a nostalgia for '50s pulp horrors (not to mention a fondness for splattery death scenes), the disparate plot elements don't come together as well as they should, failing to live up to the premise's potential for guilty chuckles or gasps of horror. Fiona Lewis is sexually menacing as the mad doc's assistant, but Louise Fletcher's wasted role may make viewers pine for Nurse Ratched. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Murphy, Louise Fletcher, (more)
- 1981
This TV film is spawned by a true story where a marauding fisherman accosts a pair of newlyweds in the Northwest wilderness. He kills the young groom, rapes the bride, and then forces her to live with him as he attempts to convince her that it was just an unfortunate accident. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Blanche Baker, Cliff De Young, (more)
Jonathan Demme's breakthrough movie featured the shaggy energy and affection for marginal American eccentrics that marked his earlier Citizens Band (1977) and such later films as Something Wild (1986) and Married to the Mob (1988). Melvin Dummar (Paul LeMat) is a barely-getting-by Nevada milkman. One day in the early 1970s, while driving down a lonely highway, Melvin picks up a shaggy, bearded bum (Jason Robards Jr.) and offers him a ride into town. Melvin gives the bum a quarter at the end of the ride, and that, so far as Melvin is concerned, is that. The story goes off on a new tangent, involving the on-and-off marriage between Dummar and his contest-happy wife Lynda (Mary Steenburgen). During one of the multitude of financial crises endured by the Dummars, Melvin discovers that the tramp he picked up was none other than billionaire Howard Hughes -- and when Hughes dies, Melvin inherits $150 million. The movie's wide acclaim included Oscars for Steenburgen and Goldman's script and New York Film Critics Awards in almost all major categories, including Best Picture and awards for Demme, Goldman, Steenburgen, and Robards. Demme would gain even greater attention in the 1990s as the director of The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and Philadelphia (1993). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Le Mat, Jason Robards, Jr., (more)
- 1980
In this romantic drama, a misanthropic college teacher with a love of solitude ends up falling in love with her married handy man. Though they are in love and want to marry, his wife refuses to divorce him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1978
This TV movie dramatizes a catastrophic event of April 26, 1976. A plane carrying Lauren Elder (Blair Brown), and two other passengers, crashes into Mount Bradley in the Sierra Nevadas.12,000 miles above sea level, the survivors are tortured by their injuries and battered by the elements. Eventually, only Lauren is left alive after a valiant effort to save her comrades. With a broken arm and injured knee, she trudges across the merciless mountain terrain in the fading hope of reaching safety. The location-filmed And I Alone Survived was first telecast on November 27, 1978. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
After several years of marriage, suburban housewife Andrea Fleming (Susan Blakely) realizes that she has never truly been happy. This is particularly galling in that Andrea's repressive mother (Joanne Linville) instilled within her the desire to find the "secret of happiness" before reaching adulthood--but never told her how to go about this. Upon her mother's death, Andrea is possessed by desires she can neither understand nor control, and begins seeking out the aforementioned "secret" by promiscuously embarking upon several casual affairs. Star Susan Blakely also wrote and performed the theme music for Secrets, which was first telecast by ABC on February 20, 1977. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
- R
Adapted from Judith Rossner's best-selling novelization of a true story, Richard Brooks's melodrama turns one woman's search for a liberated life into a cautionary tale about promiscuity. After an affair with her college professor, no-longer-good Catholic girl Theresa Dunn (Diane Keaton) follows the lead of her hedonistic sister (Tuesday Weld) and moves out of her oppressive family home to forge a life of her own. A compassionate teacher of deaf children by day, Theresa metamorphoses into a sexually free cruiser of singles bars by night. She prefers the satisfying attentions of unpredictable, danger-tinged stud Tony Lopanto (Richard Gere) to the more noble intentions of social worker James (William Atherton), but she ditches anyone who prevents her from being her "own girl." As Theresa's life threatens to spin out of control, she makes a vow to clean up her existence once and for all. But before she makes the break, she goes to one more bar and brings home one more man (Tom Berenger). ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Diane Keaton, Tuesday Weld, (more)
- 1977
In this drama, a widower takes his adopted daughter for an old-fashioned Texas-style Christmas at his parent's house. While back home, the father meets his childhood love and romance ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Stretching the Airport concept as far as it will go, this third film in the series sticks a jet full of old actors 50 feet underwater in the Bermuda Triangle. Oxygen (and credibility) grows short, and Jimmy Stewart plays an art collector targeted for a heist. Jack Lemmon is the unfortunate pilot, and Christopher Lee shows up along with Brenda Vaccaro, Joseph Cotten, and Olivia de Havilland. Jerry Jameson, auteur of The Bat People, was selected to helm this entry featuring that film's star, Michael Pataki. George Kennedy, the only man to appear in all four Airport films, is along for the ride as well. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Lemmon, Lee Grant, (more)
- 1976
One of four dramatic miniseries carried by NBC under the blanket title Best Sellers, Captains and the Kings was adapted from a novel by Taylor Caldwell. Covering a time span from 1857 to 1912, this was the saga of the Irish-immigrant Armagh clan, with emphasis on the rags-to-riches career of Joseph Armagh (Richard Jordan). Achieving fame and prominence (if not full-fledged social acceptance) through a Byzantine series of investments in the oil industry, the elder Armagh was obsessed with the notion of having one of his sons become the first Irish-Catholic President of the United States (does this story sound vaguely familiar?). Along the way, Joseph and his offspring indulged in innumerable romantic liaisons, extramarital and otherwise. Featured in the all-star cast is Patty Duke Astin, who won an Emmy award for her portrayal of Bernadette Hennessey Armagh. Captains and the Kings was broadcast from September 30 to November 18, 1976 in seven installments, two of which ran 120 minutes, and the other six lasting 60 minutes -- a total of nine hours' air time in all. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
Undercover cop Tony Baretta (Robert Blake) investigates when a blind hot dog vendor is murdered. The only witness is a hungry little girl named Molly (Elizabeth Cheshire), who got a good look at one of the killers. Unfortunately, both of the perpetrators got a very good look at Molly, meaning that her life won't be worth a bottle of mustard unless Baretta comes to the rescue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Blake, Edward Grover, (more)
