Peter Coyote Movies

Farrah Fawcett delivers a dramatic tour de force in the title role of the made-for-TV Dalva. As a teenager, Dalva had fallen in love with Native American Duane Stonehorse (Jesse Borrego). Unbeknownst to her, Duane was her half brother -- a fact that came to light when she delivered Duane's baby. The child was forcibly taken from Dalva by the adoption authorities, whereupon Duane committed suicide. Thirty years later, Dalva returns to her home state of Nebraska, hoping to find her long-lost son. Impeding her progress is her growing relationship with dissolute historian Michael (Peter Coyote), whose latest book is based on Great Plains history as set down by Dalva's great grandfather, and another romance, this one with fiercely independent Native American Sam (Powers Boothe). Adapted from a novel by Jim Harrison, Dalva first aired March 3, 1996, on ABC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this suspense drama, journalist Jennifer Kingsley (Alberta Watson) believes that artist Raymond Crawford (Joe Lando) has been railroaded when he's put behind bars for the murder of a model. While Jennifer is convinced of Raymond's innocence and wants her former boyfriend Henry Dexter (Peter Coyote), a detective with the police, to help her prove it, Henry is not as convinced, and Jennifer is forced to do her own research on Raymond. The result is a series of articles that lead to Raymond's release. However, her actions soon have deadly consequences. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The ninth volume of Ken Burns and Stephen Ives' The West covers the years from 1887 to 1914. At the dawn of a new century, after having seen earthshaking changes and terrible strife, the American West was more or less settled -- only five generations had passed since the Louisiana Purchase, and already the lands beyond the Mississippi were dotted with industrialized towns, prosperous farms, and vast herds of cattle. The West still had many surprises up its sleeve, but its fate was now inextricably tied to that of the Eastern states -- the United States had finally become one nation. Specific topics include: the Oklahoma land rush; the Dawes Act and the legal divvying up of Indian land; turn-of-the-century life in towns like Guthrie, Oklahoma and Butte, Montana; Sitting Bull's murder and the massacre of the Lakota; the Columbian Exposition of 1893; the courtship and marriage of homesteaders John G. Love and Ethel Waxham; William Mulholland's aqueduct and the Los Angeles water supply; Mariano Vallejo and his fight to preserve the Mexican legacy in California; Charles Goodnight and the problem of how to record the West's history on film; and the labored process of adaptation and forgiveness among native peoples. Told through first-hand accounts as well as moving testimony from the descendents of the West's greatest figures, this tribute to the dreams and the eternal promise of a nation is both a landmark documentary and an invaluable tool for the teaching of balanced and relevant history. ~ Sarah Welsh, All Movie Guide

While California's Death Valley is an often forbidding environment, it's home to a surprising variety of plant and animal life that has learned to thrive in the valley's hot, arid conditions. Ends of the Earth: Death Valley is a nature documentary that brings a camera crew to the California desert to record the region's flora and fauna, as well as exploring such mysteries as the Moving Mountain Range and Furnace Creek, one of the hottest spots on Earth. Actor Peter Coyote narrates. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A woman dealing with an unexpected death has to help her friends with their own crises in this comedy-drama. Rebecca Lott (Elizabeth Perkins) gets an unpleasant surprise while waiting for her husband to return from his daily jog -- he was hit by a car and instantly killed. A handful of Rebecca's friends and relatives rally around her, including her close friend and neighbor Sylvie (Whoopi Goldberg), her former stepmother Alberta (Kathleen Turner), and her younger sister Lucy (Gwyneth Paltrow), but she has a hard time accepting the fact that she's now a widow (or, as she prefers to put it, "the 'W' word"). It also seems that the women trying to offer Rebecca emotional support could use some of their own; Sylvie's marriage is hanging by a thread, and Lucy is depressed and cynical owing to her inexperience with men. But romance begins to find its way back into Rebecca's life when a handsome younger man (Jon Bon Jovi) -- hired to paint the house -- takes a shine to her. Moonlight and Valentino was based on a play written by Ellen Simon, daughter of comic playwright Neil Simon. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Set in a near-future world in which "cybersex" has become all the rage and in which wealthy men can have women cloned to match their every fantasy, this thriller centers on the exploits of Pamela, one of the most famous actresses in the virtual porn industry. Because she is so popular, many fans want clones of her, and greedy but brilliant bio technologist Dr. Vivyan is hell-bent on getting a sample of her DNA. Determined to remain unique, Pamela attempts to flee but ends up protected by police sergeant Bobby Chase. Despite his efforts, Vivyan successfully abducts Pamela and holds her captive inside a dangerous virtual reality game, To save her, Chase must enter the game and win. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This film, set in a small Australian community, is adapted from a novel of the same name by Tim Winton. It tells the story of a troubled family offered help by a caring stranger whose intentions are not as selfless as they seem. The Flack family lives a peaceful existence on their farm beside a river. They consist of parents Alice and Sam, their two children Tegwyn, an adolescent girl, and Ort, a curious and sensitive 12 year old boy, and the senile grandmother. The family's happiness is shattered when Sam falls into a deep coma following an auto accident. When stranger Harry Warburton suddenly shows up, Alice who has been exhausted by trying to care for her husband and upset family, gladly accepts his proffered assistance. Harry, who claims to be an evangelist, is quickly accepted into the family by all but Tegwyn who questions his intentions. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

National Geographic Video: Survivors of the Skeleton Coast takes viewers on a scenic tour of the mysterious desert region of southwest Africa. Here, on the Skeleton Coast, desert elephants and giraffes make their home, ship graveyards add to the mystique, and sand storms and droughts stir up big trouble. Named after the wrecked hulls of ships that dot the coastline, Namibia's Skeleton Coast is not the most pleasant host to its native species. Des and Jen Bartlett, who have dwelled in this desert for years, document their homeland's unpredictable forces. ~ Betsy Boyd, All Movie Guide

Spanish director Pedro Almodovar returns to his recurring framework of offbeat sexuality and death with this colorful comedy. Kika (Veronica Forque) is a Madrid makeup artist who falls in love with Ramon (Alex Casanovas), a dead man whose face Kika is hired to prepare for a funeral. Kika's attraction resurrects Ramon, and the two begin cohabiting. Kika becomes embroiled in a pair of criminal schemes, one involving her maid Juana (Rossy De Palma) and Juana's amorous, retarded brother Pablo (Santiago Lajusticia), the other involving Ramon's father, Nicholas (Peter Coyote). After Kika is raped by Pablo, she learns the incident was videotaped by Ramon, the footage ending up on a tabloid television program hosted by Andrea Scarface (Victoria Abril). Kika and Ramon split, but the latter discovers his father's complicity in the demise of his mother, leading to a violent confrontation. Because of Almodovar's humorous treatment of the film's rape, Kika was his third feature in a row that resulted in critical accusations of misogyny and exploitation. His subsequent material became more dramatic and less tinged with black humor. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

A perverse, dark-humored comedy drama, Bitter Moon crosses the line into intentional camp more often than not in its tale of a kinky cripple Oscar (Peter Coyote) and his beautiful wife Mimi (Emmanuelle Seigner). Oscar ensnares a proper British man, Nigel (Hugh Grant) on an ocean-liner and makes him listen to the twisted tale of his relationship with Mimi (related in lengthy flashbacks) and how erotic obsession turned to homicidal hatred. Nigel is married to Fiona (Kristin Scott-Thomas), but is captivated by Mimi and listens to Oscar's grotesque stories because of his fascination. Naturally, the whole thing ends in tragedy, but it's wicked fun getting there, as director Roman Polanski paces the film quite well and the cast (particularly Coyote) is wonderful. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

A video review of the sixties with Dennis Hopper, Graham Nash, Peter Fonda, Michelle Phillips and John Paul Jones DeJoria. ~ All Movie Guide

CBS's scheduled resolution of a Murphy Brown cliffhanger (is she pregnant or not?) cut a vital portion of the audience for Living A Lie upon its initial September 1991 telecast. Those who did tune into this TV movie were in for a well-intentioned if preachy anti-prejudice piece. The scene is a rural Southwestern community, where Jill Eikenberry has been happily married to Peter Coyote for years. An Hispanic family moves into the area, and is promptly subjected to violence. The principal suspect is Coyote--who is, as Eikenberry discovers for the first time, a fire-breathing bigot. As the body of evidence increases, she finds it difficult to stand by her husband, as the community expects her to. Ultimately her conscience wins out over misguided matrimonial loyalty. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Adapted from a true story, West German investigative journalist Gunther Wallraff (Jurgen Prochnow) decides to fight sleaze with sleaze as he goes undercover at a tabloid newspaper to dig up the dirt on the paper's own unethical practices. Rising to the top of the hierarchy by working at the kind of journalism he despises, Wallraff soon discovers that the paper is waging a campaign against his true-life self; he must fight to emerge with his identity intact. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide