Richard Shapiro Movies
Writer-director Michael Kang makes his feature debut with the coming-of-age comedy, The Motel. Newcomer Jeffrey Chyau stars as Ernest Chin, a chubby 13 year-old Chinese-American boy whose mother (Jade Wu) runs a sleazy motel in upstate New York. The clientele of The Motel are predominantly prostitutes and their johns, which spurs Ernest's budding sexual curiosity. When he's not cleaning rooms, eavesdropping on guests, avoiding the local bully, or tormenting his little sister Katie (Alexis Chin), Ernest harbors a crush on Christine (Samantha Futerman), who works at a nearby Chinese restaurant. Ernest has entered a writing contest at school with a story about his unhappy life at The Motel, and won an honorable mention. His scornful mother thinks his writing is a waste of time, and Ernest doesn't want her to see the story for fear that it will anger her. He's a social misfit, so he's intrigued when Sam Kim (Sung Kang of Better Luck Tomorrow), a Korean-American guest who frequently brings home prostitutes, befriends him. Sam takes Ernest under his wing, teaching him to drive and offering him his wisdom regarding women. Of course, Sam turns out to have his own serious issues with the opposite sex, and his advice to Ernest about Christine may not be exactly what the boy needs. Kang won the Asian American International Film Festival screenwriting competition with his script for The Motel in 2001, and the completed film was shown at the festival in 2005. The script was workshopped at the Sundance labs, where filmmaker Miguel Arteta (The Good Girl) signed on as a producer. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeffrey Chyau, Kang Sung, (more)
Set in a high-price Malibu community, this made-for-TV drama wallows in a multitude of extramarital affairs, corporate intrigue and elegant back-stabbing, with murder the logical extension to all the hanky-panky. Characters crucial to the plotline are a cop posing as an auto mechanic, and a sexy nanny who intends to break up her best friend's marriage. The ending is abrupt and unsatisfying, a sure sign that the film was actually the pilot for an unsold series. Written and produced by Dynasty veterans Richard Shapiro and Esther Shapiro, The Colony was originally consigned to a "dog day" timeslot on July 4, 1996, by its parent network ABC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Paré, Brian Bloom, (more)
- 1991
When the two-part Dynasty: The Reunion first aired, it rated a cover on TV Guide. The photo depicted Dynasty regulars Linda Evans (Krystal) and Joan Collins (Alexis) grinning at one another, while their true feelings were conveyed in comic-strip thought balloons reading "Hussy" and "Hag." This pretty much sums up the overall ambience of Dynasty: The Reunion. In part one, first telecast October 20, 1991, oil mogul Blake Carrington (John Forsythe) is released from prison. Hoping for a reunion with estranged wife Krystal -- and, incidentally, to recoup his financial empire -- Blake must now deal with a shady international consortium, headed by old nemesis Alexis. Part two, first telecast October 22, 1991, gets off to a good start with a desperate escape from the henchmen of an international consortium. The big money act, however, is the long-awaited catfight between Alexis and her longtime foe, goody two-shoes Krystal Carrington (Linda Evans). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The 1955 film version of John Steinbeck's East of Eden will always be popular because of the presence in the cast of James Dean. Even so, the film covered only a small portion of the original novel. For those Steinbeck completists who prefer a more thorough treatment, we submit for your approval the TV miniseries adaptation of East of Eden, which first aired February 8, 9 and 11, 1981. This eight-hour dramatization begins in the years following the Civil War. Braggadocio union officer Cyrus Trask (Warren Oates) is the father of gentle, loyal Adam (Timothy Bottoms) and hellraiser Charles (Bruce Boxleitner). Enter the bewitching, mean-spirited Cathy Ames (Jane Seymour), who leads both brothers on and causes an irreparable rift between them. Eventually, Adam marries Cathy, taking her and their twin sons to a 900-acre farm in California's Salinas Valley. Cathy rebels against this cloistered existence and runs off to work in a house of ill repute. In Part Three, we finally meet the "James Dean" character: Cal Trask (played by Timothy Bottoms' brother Sam), who can never hope to come up to the standards of his "good" twin brother Aron (Hart Bochner) in the eyes of his father. Cal's "bad" reputation obscures his good intentions, but by film's end he is compelled to reveal to brother Aron that their mother had not died as father Adam has claimed, but in fact has become a hard-bitten bordello "madam". Adapted for television by Richard Shapiro, East of Eden was part of ABC's informal "Novels for Television" series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Timothy Bottoms, Jane Seymour, (more)
- 1979
Based on the best-selling novel by Joyce Rebeta-Burditt, the made-for-TV Cracker Factory originally aired on March 16, 1979. Natalie Wood stars as alcoholic Cleveland housewife Cassie Barrett, who after attempting suicide is shipped off by her family to a psychiatric ward. It's not the first time Cassie has been in "the cracker factory", but the doctors continue to hope that she'll eventually learn to grasp reality and stop hiding behind her boozing and blustering facade. As before Cassie resists the trappings of normality; this time, however, she may end up in the "factory" to stay if she doesn't at least try to help herself. Alternating sombre tragedy with moments of raucous comedy, Cracker Factory is an outstanding tour de force for Natalie Wood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
This grim made-for-TV domestic drama examines the terrible effects caused by spousal abuse. The story centers on the mental and physical battering endured by a wife at the hands of her troubled husband. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1977
Not to be confused with a 1945 film musical of the same title, Minstrel Man is a made-for-TV chronicle of two African-American entertainers, played by Glynn E. Turman and Stanley Clay. Confined to racist show-biz tradition of the early 20th century, dancer Turman is permitted to perform only if made up in traditional blackface--white lips and all. Clay, Turman's brother, is a Scott Joplin style composer whose outspokenness brings down the wrath of white producers. But his music helps foment a revolution in black entertainment, the first step in allowing performers of his race to express themselves on their own terms, not as a reflection of Caucasian stereotypes. Enchanced throughout by genuine ragtime tunes of the era, Minstrel Man is rousing, thought-provoking entertainment. The film was originally aired as a Mobil Showcase special in March of 1977. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
- PG
In this broad comedy-western set in 1908 Colorado, Lee Marvin and Oliver Reed team up as Sam Longwood and Joe Knox, two con-men who once worked as a team. They reunite in order to get revenge upon their third partner, Jack Colby (Robert Culp), who used the trio's ill-gotten gains to become a high society big shot. Oliver Reed's ridiculously stereotypical portrayal of an Indian goes down in film history as the most absurd casting of a Native-American role since Howard Keel's "distinctive" portrayal of Levi Walking Bear in The War Wagon. Kay Lenz also appears as the sexy prostitute Thursday, who has an affair with Sam. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lee Marvin, Oliver Reed, (more)
- 1975
Fresh from her success in The Exorcist (and several years away from her tenure as queen of the women in prison flicks), Linda Blair stars in this searing TV movie. Sarah (Blair), a normal teenaged girl, begins drinking socially at high school parties. She soon finds that she can't stop--and even worse, she can't keep her boozing a secret. After a near-tragic baby-sitting episode, Sarah decides to attend Alcoholics Anonymous, but soon she's back on the hard stuff. Only when Sarah causes the death of a horse does she strengthen her resolve to remain "clean and sober." Sarah T: Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic tempers the more sensational aspects of the subject matter with some unforgettably poignant vignettes--including the A.A. testimony of a boy who's even younger than Sarah. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
Ironside (Raymond Burr) and his team are assigned to escort Soviet spy Hruska (Diana Hyland) to Mexico to exchange for an American scientist (John Archer) held by the Russians. En route, Ironside and Hruska a kidnapped by a gang of Mexican activists. As Ed (Don Galloway) struggles to stall the Russian officials, Ironside endeavors to formulate a plan of escape--all the while becoming increasingly fond of his beautiful prisoner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1969
In a small desert town, Ed (Don Galloway) is kidnapped by D.W. Donnelly (Clu Gulager), an escapee from a local prison farm. Ed soon figures out that the real villain of the piece is not Donnelly, but instead corrupt Sheriff Poole (Steve Forrest), who with his vicious deputy Hoag (William Smith) is using the farm to cover up his own criminal exploits. Filmed on location at Temecula, California, this episode is highlighted by the spectacular demise of Ironside's celebrated, state-of-the-art police van! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1966
A wounded Littlejohn (Dick Peabody) awakens to find that he's been kidnapped by four scruffy French children. As a means of survival, the enterprising youngsters intend to "sell" Littlejohn to the highest bidder, just as they've done with several other American and German prisoners in the past. Despite its title, this is not a "cute" episode by any means: the scene in which one of the children grabs a gun and kills an intruder is one of the most harrowing in the series' history. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1964
Pulp novelist Tobias Finch (Walter Brooke) wants to write "The Saga of the Courageous Cartwrights"-but the courageous Cartwrights want no part of such an exploitive project. Undaunted, Finch decides to pen the life story of over-the-hill lawman Reed Laramore (Bruce Cabot), who revels in being "glorified." Inevitably, Laramore causes trouble for everyone concerned when he tries to live up to his own legend. Cowritten by Richard and Esther Shapiro, "A Dime's Worth of Glory" was first shown on November 1, 1964. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, (more)
