Sandy Bull Movies

Curiously listed as a 1991 theatrical production in some sources, Eye on the Sparrow was actually a made-for-TV movie, which first aired December 7, 1987. Mare Winningham plays a blind Missouri woman who marries sightless teacher David Carradine. He is resigned to a world of darkness, but she is bitter over her lot in life, especially after an operation all-too-temporarily restores her sight. Unable to conceive children, the couple tries to adopt: but this is the mid-1960s, and agencies are unwilling to entrust "normal" children to the visually impaired. The only children permitted into their household are the handicapped rejects from foster homes. During their 12-year struggle to prove themselves acceptable as adoptive parents, the woman grows spiritually, learning to shelve her own self-pity by caring for those less fortunate than herself. Based on fact, Eye on the Sparrow was written for television by Barbara Turner (the mother, incidentally, of actress Jennifer Jason Leigh). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A husband goes middle-age bonkers and leaves his wife in this comedy. Now she is determined to show him that she doesn't need him anyway. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

History tells us that would-be automobile mogul Preston Tucker was a silver-tongued con man, who misappropriated his investors' money and played fast and loose with ethics and legalities in the pursuit of his dream. Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola isn't buying this: to hear Coppola tell it, Tucker was "Mr. Smith Goes to Detroit," a sincere visionary who tried and failed to buck the Big Three auto manufacturers. Moreover, he was a staunch defender of family values, as witness his inseparable relationship with his loyal wife (Joan Allen) and adoring children. It was for his family's sake, rather than any dreams of financial gain, that Tucker created the oddball three-headlight vehicle which he envisioned as the "car of the future". Naturally, the corporate fat cats of 1947 can't abide competition from a rugged individualist; thus, with several politicos in their pockets, they crush the Tucker and the man who built it. We'd have been more inclined to believe the story had Coppola adopted a straightforward Capraesque approach and not utilized all sorts of complicated camera trickery. Somehow, by presenting Tucker in so showoffy a directorial manner, the character comes off more as a sleight-of-hand artist than a bastion of sincerity. Even so, Jeff Bridges does a nice job as Tucker, as does Martin Landau as Tucker's incongruous business partner. Jeff's dad, Lloyd Bridges, appears in an uncredited role as a "bought" senator. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In a symbolic journey to nowhere, though ironically from a large West-coast city in the U.S. to a town called "Truth or Consequences" in New Mexico, a group of people in a Yellow Cab define the malaise to be found in late 20th-century America. Paul is a handicapped teen who seems to be a victim of social stigma. He is joined in the cab by a few other people, including a Japanese woman who rarely speaks -- but when she does it is in perfect English and a Mexican cab driver -- another woman who falls in the same "minority" category as the Japanese. Paul says both are his sisters. As the cab wanders through the desert, isolation is brought solidly into view as a player in this drama. The talkative American cowboy also on this trip does not have a clue as to where they are, and he carries a suitcase that contains mysterious "information" on the U.S. This incongruous group of wanderers is joined by a Native American who reaches out to Paul by telling him an allegorical story about a mouse who was transformed by his aspiration to become an eagle. Enhanced by visually poetic images that match the clear symbolism in each characterization, this film may not be for all audiences, but it will be appreciated by most. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi