Richard Vetere Movies

After twenty years spent literally waiting in the wings, perpetual off-Broadway understudy Ann (Andrea Powell) has reached the end of her emotional tether. If her professional existence is headed down the fast track to nowhere, her private life teeters on the verge of destruction, given her decision to nurture an ill-fated marital engagement to thesp Guy (Jonathan Marc Sherman). Ann's current stage work posits her as an understudy to diva-hopeful K.C. (Melissa Leo of Henry Jaglom's Always), and the former spends most of her days in the green room, killing time with understudies Shelly (Richard Vetere) and Russell (Zack Griffiths). The production takes an unusual and unanticipated twist, however, when Russell is thrown into the production to replace one of the actors, and must perform a scene that requires him to simulate the rape of K.C.'s character. The confused K.C. simultaneously believes she's falling in love with Russell, and believes that he is actually sexually abusing her during the sequence; the combined effect rips her apart emotionally and ultimately requires Ann to replace her in the production - which moves Ann's multilayered relationship with Russell center stage. Debra Eisenstadt (Daydream) directs, and co-authored the original screenplay with Jill Eisenstadt. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Adapted by Richard Vetere from his own play, the made-for-TV The Marriage Fool served to reunite Walter Matthau and Carol Burnett, the stars of the 1972 theatrical feature Pete 'n Tillie. Matthau is cast as widowed septuagenarian Frank Walsh, whose sedentary lifestyle is shifted into third gear by the arrival in his life of flamboyant, sixtyish widow Florence (Carol Burnett). Falling in love, Frank and Florence try to convince Frank's son Robert (John Stamos) to tie the knot with his own girlfriend, Susan (Teri Polo). Robert not only resists the entreaties of his father, but he also refuses to give his consent to Frank and Florence's planned marriage. Charles Matthau, son of star Walter, directed the film and has a cute cameo role. First telecast on CBS on September 20, 1998, The Marriage Fool has since been released on cable and video as Love After Death. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A priest finds his faith tested when he's assigned to investigate a possible case of divine intervention. Rev. Frank Shore (Ed Harris) is a Catholic priest who works as a postulator, a church official who investigates reports of holy miracles to determine their veracity. Some time back, one of Shore's investigations had ugly repercussions, and now he devotes his time to running a soup kitchen. But he's called back to service by Bishop Cahill (Charles Haid) when a number of Catholics begin calling for the canonization of the late Helen O'Regan, who is alleged to have performed miracles and whose statue is said to weep tears of blood. Shore begins digging into O'Regan's life and the miracles she is supposed to have performed; in his travels, he meets Maria (Caterina Scorsone), a teenage girl who was supposedly healed by O'Regan, and Roxane (Anne Heche), O'Regan's daughter, who was abandoned by her mother, wants nothing to do with her story, and has given up her belief in God. While investigating the miracle of O'Regan's statue, Shore witnesses the bleeding himself and tells the church that he believes the claims are legitimate. However, this view leads to angry reprisals from Archbishop Werner (Armin Mueller-Stahl); Shore's story is not given any greater credence when he become romantically involved with Roxanne. The Third Miracle was released only a few months after Stigmata, another story of Catholic priests investigating allegations of a modern-day miracle, not the sort of subject one might have expected to become a trend. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide