Joseph Chapman Movies
- 1993
A week overdue, Vivian (Janet Hubert-Whitten) finally goes into labor. Unfortunately, no one but her daughter Ashley (Tatyana Ali) and her butler Geoffrey (Joseph Marcell) are around to help her--and after Geoffrey's hand is crushed by the latest of Viv's VERY violent labor pains, only Ashley (Tatyana M. Ali) is of any use. Trouble, Viv must be driven to the hospital right away...and Ashley can't drive! (Perhaps someday, somewhere, a TV-sitcom birth will go off without a single crisis--but not during February Sweeps Week). Without killing the suspense, it can be revealed that this episode introduces the character of Nicholas Andrew Banks. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1991
In this fact-based made-for-cable docudrama, Leonard Nimoy stars as Mel Mermelstein, a Nazi death camp survivor who wages a court battle against the revisionist Institute for Historical Review over their claims that the Holocaust never occurred. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leonard Nimoy, Dabney Coleman, (more)
This sci-fi tearjerker has the distinction of being one of the most obviously commercial films ever made with constant plugs for MacDonalds, Coca-Cola companies, candy and other products. These not so subtle endorsements are woven into the story of a wheel-chair bound boy and the stranded alien MAC (not as in "Big" but rather Mysterious Alien Creature) who become friends and help each other with their family problems. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jade Calegory, Christine Ebersole, (more)
Billionaire Boys Club is the two-part TV adaptation of a book by Sue Horton (unpublished at the time of the film's first telecast). In flashback form, the story recounts the murder of Beverly Hills con artist Ron Levin (Ron Silver). The culprit is yuppie Joe Hunt (Judd Nelson), a sharp young commodities trader who has organized an investment firm with several of his prep school buddies, known as the Billionaire Boys Club. Part one, originally telecast November 8, 1987, traces Hunt's meteoric rise to wealth and power, and the means by which Levin worms his way into Hunt's confidence. In part two, shown the next evening, Hunt has already murdered Levin and carefully disposed of the body. The next step of the scheme is take over where Levin left off by conning an Iranian millionaire out of a huge sum of money. Meanwhile, other members of the Club begin to have qualms over Hunt's finagling. Their whistle-blowing leads to Hunt's arrest and convinction for murder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Judd Nelson, Ron Silver, (more)
- 1986
Real-life married couple Cindy Williams and Bill Hudson star as New York yuppies Lisa and Tom Burke, who moved to Arizona when both are hired by a new ad agency. The couple's boss is big on "family values" and encourages his employees to project an appropriate image. Unfortunately, the Burkes are childless, and for a while it looks as if their fabulous new job will end before it begins. But not to worry: Lisa and Tom hit upon a foolproof scheme to create an "instant" family by advertising for a pair of rambunctious youngsters to pose as the Burkes' children. Since this film originally aired as an installment of ABC's Disney Sunday Movie anthology, one can easily guess the outcome from the moment the opening credits fade from view. Help Wanted: Kids debuted on February 2, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cindy Williams, Bill Hudson, (more)
- 1986
A devoted nun endeavors to create a halfway house for female convicts on parole in this drama. To achieve her goal, she must face a daunting series of obstacles. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bonnie Franklin
- 1986
Season three of Hunter starts with a bang--actually several bangs--as police detective Rick Hunter (Fred Dryer) manages to shoot down one of two escaping murderers. Alas, the other killer gets away thanks to the interference of "gonzo" TV reporter Raoul Mercado (a thinly disguised "Geraldo" type played by Michael Wren). After Hunter has Mercado arrested, the reporter launches a personal vendetta against the detective, publicly raking him over the coals for his violent arrest record. Thus it is that when Mercado is killed by a car bomb, Hunter is Suspect Number One. With this episode, Captain Wyler (Bruce Davidson) is promoted to Deputy Chief; and Garret Morris becomes a regular in the formerly recurring role of street hustler Sporty James. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Joanna Crane (Kathleen Turner) is a cold, workaholic sportswear designer, divorced and dedicated only to her job. Once strapped into that role, Joanna looks for an "out" and finds it by donning a wig and hitting the pavement as a $50/trick hooker named China Blue. Explicit scenes show her at work on her night job, including a long S and M segment with a policeman. While making money as China Blue, Joanna runs into a menacing, fanatic preacher (Anthony Perkins) who is out to save her from this life of sin, but in the meantime, he is also busy watching nude girly shows. As China Blue and the sexually ambivalent Reverend heat up their relationship, he becomes difficult to read: is this psycho reverend a killer? While China Blue is plying her trade, Bobby Grady (John Laughlin) has finally realized after 12 years of marriage that his wife Amy (Annie Potts) is frigid and just as he has this remarkably delayed insight, he is assigned by Joanna's boss to find out if she is stealing designs or not. By tracking Joanna, Bobby sees her transformation as China Blue and as might be expected, sex is not far behind. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kathleen Turner, Anthony Perkins, (more)
- 1984
Attack on Fear was based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning series of newspaper articles by Dave and Cathy Mitchell. Paul Michael Glaser and Linda Kelsey play the Michaels, who labor away at a tiny California daily. Upon hearing of iniquities at the famed Santa Monica drug-rehab center Synanon, the Michaels begin publishing their evidence. Despite legal pressure from Synanon and bizarre anonymously mailed threats, the Mitchells' story results in a major investigation of the revered institution. Completed in 1982, the made-for-TV Attack on Fear was not telecast until October of 1984, and then only after (presumably) being reshaped to satisfy Synanon's battery of attorneys. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1982
Quincy (Jack Klugman) prepares to provide expert testimony in the murder trial of mob boss Victor Ramsay (Tige Andrews), determined to prove that Ramsay pressured his victim into having a heart attack. Unfortunately, Ramsay's son Joseph (Peter Virgo Jr.) has carefully arranged for Quincy to be discredited by planting phony evidence near the dead body of the only witness to the crime. Now Quincy has a scant three weeks to restore his reputation and nail the bad guys. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1981
Jaclyn Smith trades the flimsy costumes of Charlie's Angels for the pink pillbox hat and white gloves of the former First Lady of the Land in the made-for-TV Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. The daughter of socialites "Black Jack" Bouvier (Rod Taylor) and Janet Lee (Claudette Nevins), Jackie spends her early adulthood at the posh Newport estate of her stepfather, Louis Auchincloss (Donald Moffat). In 1953, 24-year-old Jackie marries Senator John F. Kennedy (James Franciscus), himself a child of privilege. The film follows the King and Queen of "Camelot" through Kennedy's 1960 election as President, the tragedy of Jackie's highly publicized miscarriage in the summer of 1963, and the JFK assassination in the fall of that year. All things considered, Jaclyn Smith does a pretty creditable job capturing the "public" Jackie Kennedy, even if the "private" Jackie remains as elusive as she was in real life. (Sidebar: Though "Camelot" is heard on the soundtrack, the real Jackie Kennedy would later note that it was not her husband's favorite song, never mind the legend-weavers in the Kennedy camp). Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy was first broadcast October 14, 1981. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1980
More formally known as Father Damien: The Leper Priest, this made-for-TV biopic stars a heavily-wigged Ken Howard in the title role. Father Damien was a Belgian priest who, in 1873, was assigned a far-from-desirable congregation: the leper colony of Molokai in the Hawaiian islands. At first appalled by the colony and its denizens, Damien devoted his life to administering to their needs and improving their living conditions. He died in 1889 at the age of 49, having long earlier contacted leprosy himself. When originally telecast October 27, 1980, Damien: The Leper Priest was dedicated to the memory of David Janssen, who before his death was slated to portray Father Damien. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
Charleston is a brazen rip-off of Gone with the Wind which premiered over NBC on January 15, 1979--one month before CBS' planned telecast of Wind. Delta Burke, who was an unknown in 1979, very nearly remained that way in the role of post-Civil War Southern belle Stella. As Stella fiddle-dee-dees around in an effort to raise the tax money to maintain her mansion, her faithful ex-slave Minerva (Lynne Moody) runs the household with an iron hand (that must hurt). Also lurking about is Stella's cousin Valerie (Patricia Pearcy), who squanders her own savings in an effort to find her missing husband. This is the sort of film in which the aggressively urbanized actor Mandy Pantinkin plays a corn-fed character named Beaudine Croft. Martha Scott, the only "name" actor in Charleston, is wasted in a peripheral role as Stella's mom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
