Leila Danette Movies

Season 12 of Law & Order featured a new face in the D.A.'s office: feisty young A.D.A. Serena Southerlyn, played by Elisabeth Rohm. The opening episode, based on a real-life California case, gets under way when a jogger and her pet terrier are mauled by a vicious pit bull. Further investigation reveals that the attack dog's original owner, now serving two life terms in Attica, bred the animal for illegal dog fights. It is up to the D.A.'s office to prove that the pit bull's current caretakers, Sherri and Roger Quinn (Melissa Leo, Bruce McCarty), were fully aware of how dangerous their "pet" was when they bought it. Originally slated to air on September 19, 2001, this episode was moved forward to the following week. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

There is no shortage of suspects when a high-profile lawyer is murdered. Among the likeliest "candidates" are Willard Tappan (Michael Zaslow), a crooked financier who specializes in fleecing wealthy women, and John Curren (Jonathan Hogan), the now-impoverished son of Tappan's most recent victim. Edie Falco of The Sopranos fame appears as defense attorney Sally Bell, who'd once been "serious" with Assistant D.A. McCoy (Sam Waterston). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this family drama from director Sidney Lumet, Judd Hirsch and Christine Lahti play Arthur and Annie Pope, a pair of '60s radicals who have eluded the FBI for 16 years after bombing a napalm laboratory as a Vietnam War protest. This lifestyle involves continually moving their base of operations and establishing new identities, which is especially hard on their children, 18-year-old Danny (River Phoenix) and 10-year-old Harry (Jonas Abry), who can never amass a group of friends or an academic record. This last problem comes to the fore when they arrive in a New Jersey town where the high school music teacher (Ed Crowley) takes an interest in Danny's piano playing, encouraging him to apply early admission to Juilliard. Danny yearns to follow this dream, but knows that separating from his parents would be a permanent break -- the aging hippies rarely even see their own parents, and can never inform anyone where they've moved. Arthur can't stand the idea of breaking up the family unit, which has provided the support that's allowed him to tolerate life on the move, but Annie sees her own sacrificed dreams in her son's prodigious musical talents, and begins pressuring Arthur to grant the boy his independence. Complicating factors, Danny has fallen in love with the daughter of his music teacher (Martha Plimpton), but can't allow himself to get too close to her, because he may have to leave again at any moment. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide

A star-studded cast portrays political movers and shakers in this drama about politics and the media. Richard Gere is Pete St. John, a gilt-edged "image" advisor to the likes of powerful and often crooked politicians -- including a South American candidate for the top office in his country and, reluctantly, a conservative industrialist named Jerome Cade (J.T. Walsh). Cade is after a Senate seat vacated by Sam Hastings (E.G. Marshall), a liberal politician who fits in with the views that Pete once upheld. When things start to go wrong, it looks like Cade's gruff advisor Arnold Billings (Denzel Washington) might hold one of the keys to Pete's discovery of the truth about Cade -- and may be the reason why Hastings is leaving his job. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The First Deadly Sin was Frank Sinatra's final starring movie vehicle. Based on a novel by Lawrence Sanders, it casts Sinatra as Edward Delaney, a big-city detective on the verge of retirement. Beset with profound personal problems--including a gravely ill wife (Faye Dunaway)--Delaney nonetheless tackles the case of an axe murderer who seemingly strikes at random. Be on the lookout for an unbilled Bruce Willis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide