Michael Copeman Movies

Jovana (Milena Dravic) is a cross-country runner training for the Olympics with the help of a kindly priest. She meets a poor man on one of her journeys but falls for his black brother-in-law, a worker at the local crematorium. The worker is killed by his jealous brother-in-law and the first man is sentenced to death, but the woman continues her running as if nothing had happened in this dark comedy with tinges of satire and slapstick. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this taut action drama, an unbalanced Vietnam vet goes off the beam and takes over Central Park in this made for cable outing that was filmed entirely in Toronto. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Considered fairly gruesome in its day, the original 1958 The Fly looks like Mister Rogers' Neighborhood compared to this 1986 remake. Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis star as Seth Brundle, a self-involved research scientist, and Veronica Quaife, a science-magazine reporter. Inviting Veronica to his lab, Seth prepares to demonstrate his "telepod," which can theoretically transfer matter through space. As they grow closer over the next few weeks, she inadvertently goads Seth into experimenting with human beings rather than inanimate objects. Seth himself enters the telepod, preparing to transmit himself through the ether -- but he doesn't know that he is sharing the telepod with a tiny housefly. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After spending eight years in an insane asylum, Roo (Vernon G. Wells) takes a job in a gym owned by Napoleon (Michael Copeman). Tormented by memories of shock treatments and inhumane conditions, he channels his pent-up aggression and becomes a bare-knuckled street fighter. He soon goes up against the champ Razor (Real Andrews). ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

A priest tries to help a young prostitute escape the life of sex and drugs in this exploitation drama. Father Jack (Chuck Shamata) tries to help 14-year-old Lindsay (Heather Kjollesdal) get off the streets to save her young life. Monsignor O'Brien (Art Carney) becomes concerned when Jack seems to be spending too much time trying to save the girl he believes belongs in a shelter. Lindsay left home after suffering from an incestuous relationship with her father, but now she turns tricks for her sleazy boyfriend Lenny (Daniel MacIvor). Jack hopes to intervene before the young teen ends up dead. Contains nudity and profanity. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Robert Hays stars in Murder by the Book in the dual role of mild-mannered mystery writer D. H. Mercer and his creation, hard-boiled private eye Biff Deegan. While writing his latest book, Mercer becomes so immersed in his material that he inadvertently causes Biff to come to life. Mercer teams up with his Chandleresque doppelganger to solve a genuine mystery involving art fraud, murder, and a beautiful lady in peril (Catherine Mary Stewart). Made for television, Murder By the Book was based on a novel by Mel Arrighi, titled (what else?) Alter Ego. It was filmed late in 1985 and first telecast on March 17, 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though this police and courtroom drama did not do well at the box-office, some reviewers thought that the lead performances by Burt Reynolds and Theresa Russell were first-rate. Joe Paris (Reynolds) is a policeman suspended from active duty. He awakens from an alcoholic binge to discover that he is being charged for a murder he has no memory of. Jenny Hudson (Russell) is his court-appointed defense lawyer, a young feminist eager to prove herself in the courtroom. After some initial difficulties, the two cooperate to unravel the tangled circumstances behind the murder. Michael Crichton directed but did not collaborate on the story or screenplay. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This average Canadian sci-fi actioner concerns the exploits of an intergalactic policeman named Abraxas (Jesse "The Body" Ventura). The space cop comes to Earth to track a rogue alien, Secundus (Sven-Ole Thorsen), who is looking for a woman to bear his child -- a "Comator" with the power to destroy the universe. The sole point of interest may be the method of impregnation -- a single touch. The supporting players include Marjorie Bransfield and James Belushi, cast once again as a school principal. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Goldie Hawn delivers a surprisingly understated performance (allowing the audience to shift their laughter from the usually comic Hawn to the unbelievable storyline) in the unsuccessful thriller Deceived. Hawn plays Adrienne Saunders, a successful art restorer who is married to Jack (John Heard), a devoted husband who is also an expert in the antiques business. Married for six years and parents of a charming 5-year-old daughter Mary (Ashley Peldon), the Saunders appear to have everything going for them. But after a series of odd occurrences that even an idiot would notice, Adrienne finally comes the conclusion that her husband is not the man she thought he was when she married him. After Jack tells Mary that he was in Boston but Adrienne's friend tells her she saw him in New York, the mysterious clues begin piling up and are too numerous to ignore: there's a call from a department store concerning some sexy lingerie that Jack purchased; a friend is found murdered after checking on the authenticity of an Egyptian necklace; and there are indications that Jack was involved with a scheme to steal artifacts from a museum. Adrienne is finally convinced that something is fishy about her husband when he mysteriously dies is an auto wreck, and she discovers that Jack has been using the name of a man who had died 16 years earlier. Adrienne proceeds to polish her magnifying glass and conducts some detective work on her own to find out who her husband really was. This is when the danger really begins. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

A modern cop meets a mythical figure in this action-fantasy. It all begins when a muscle-bound detective is assigned to find the purloined sword of Alexander the Great, which is said to have been a gift to the conqueror from Apollo. As he searches for the perpetrator, a Greek tycoon, the gumshoe begins experiencing strange flashbacks set over 2,000 years in the past in which Alexander battles his envious cousin Herodotus. He seems to get most of these strange visions after handling homicide victims. Eventually he begins to realize that the visions are related to the missing sword. He finally meets his nemesis during fencing practice and ends up getting involved in the magnate's highly illegal swordplay competition using real blades. As he progresses to the finals, the detective finally figures out that he is a reincarnation of Alexander the Great and that the murderous magnate is Herodotus. The only way the detective will be able to stop the visions is to kill the tycoon, but will he be able to do it? ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this made-for-TV drama, a teenage girl named Sarah (Kathleen Robertson) is flying home to see her parents when she falls ill. While Sarah is convinced that she has simply come down with a bad cold, when she keels over and dies while crossing a street, an autopsy reveals that Sarah had in fact contracted the pneumonic plague. Dr. Nora Hart (Kate Jackson), the hospital's authority on epidemics and highly contagious diseases, now must track down as many people as possible who came in contact with the girl before the plague begins to spread -- including Calvin Phillips (Howard Hessman), a congressman Sarah met on her flight. Based on the novel The Black Death by Gweneth Cravens and John C. Marr, Quiet Killer also stars Jerry Orbach, Luis Guzman, and Al Waxman. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In Michael Moore's political satire, the U.S. president (Alan Alda) decides to wage a cold war against Canada in an attempt to reverse his slipping popularity, and, as a result, he drives a small group of incensed Canadians to take matters into their own hands. Alda is the first president in years not to lead his country into war, which naturally means that his approval rating is dangerously low. The sure-fire way to boost his popularity is to start a war and demonstrate American superiority. Unfortunately, as his advisors point out, the U.S. has run out of enemies. That is, until Alda's National Security Advisor Stuart Smiley (Kevin Pollak) happens to catch a segment on the news about a brawl at a Canadian hockey game that began when local American sheriff Bud Boomer (John Candy) made a remark about Canadian beer. This incident gives Smiley the notion to make the public believe that Canada is their new enemy. Determined to demonstrate the mighty power of America to the Canadians, Boomer gets a group of equally angry fellow Americans together to cross the border and perform the most serious of all Canadian crimes -- littering. However, the invasion is foiled and Boomer's numerous blunders threaten to turn a fabricated war into a real one. Written, directed, and produced by Michael Moore, Canadian Bacon takes lighthearted jabs at the differences between the U.S. and Canada, while also satirizing America's obsession with its military strength. The film features John Candy in his last complete screen performance. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

Devoted parents search for their daughter in this strange, fact-based made-for-television movie. Set in the 1850s, Louis Gossett Jr. stars as James Mink, a wealthy Canadian businessman who is married to a white woman (Kate Nelligan). When their daughter is duped into marrying a slave trader, the Minks set out for the American South to track down their missing daughter and bring her back home. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide