Richard Spence Movies

The true story of the formation of the Texas Rangers provides the backdrop for this youth-oriented Western. In 1875, after the Civil War, Leander McNelly (Dylan McDermott) organizes the Texas Rangers to battle the outlaws terrorizing Texas, notably crime kingpin John King Fisher (Alfred Molina). With a team of experienced gunmen (Robert Patrick and Randy Travis) and enthusiastic but green recruits (James Van Der Beek, Usher Raymond, and Ashton Kutcher), McNelly and his Rangers bring law and order to the wild Texas plains; McNelly must also keep order among his charges when two rangers fall in love with the same woman, Caroline Dukes (Rachael Leigh Cook). Tom Skerritt and Vincent Spano are also featured in the supporting cast; the screenplay, adapted from a script by John Milius, was at one time set to be filmed by Sam Peckinpah, shortly before the legendary Western director's death in 1984. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this high-tech thriller, David Marx (Rutger Hauer), a take-no-prisoners homicide detective, is teamed with computer expert Kris Paddock (Tara Fitzgerald) to track down Kurt Bishop (Andrew McCarthy), a software pirate who has been trying to steal a valuable encryption security program. Bishop will stop at nothing, even murder, to get the codes, but when he kidnaps Paddock, he finds out the hard way how Marx gained the nickname "The Coroner." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This film offers a glimpse into the abuse of disabled people in residential homes while also offering a look into the human spirit. The Skallagrigg is said to be "the mythical protector of disabled people," and 16 year old Esther who suffers from cerebral palsy wants to find him. Esther had lived most of her life in a rehab center for the handicapped. When her widowed father John, finally comes to take her out, Esther is bitter until she convinces him to help her quest for the Skallagrigg. They are accompanied by Esther's friends Raj, a cynical young man in a wheelchair, and Tom who suffers from Down's syndrome. Esther and John become closer as they discover that the Skallagrigg is a really a palsied fellow named Arthur who has been horribly abused in a nursing home. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The five Catholic youths in this grim story live in Northern Ireland, surrounded as they are by the armed-camp mentality of their adults. They steal a car for a bit of fun, and when they get back, the local IRA chapter sets out to teach them civic responsibility, IRA-style, by breaking one of gang's fingers. They aren't particularly impressed with this lesson and decide that it's the IRA that needs some lessons. This leads to an ever-increasing scale of confrontations between the reckless youths and various authorities and would-be authorities, leavened only by the youngsters' grim, graveyard humor. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this whodunit based on a novel by Agatha Christie, Hercule Poirot (David Suchet) is delighted to be entertaining a lovely Belgian film star one evening, while Chief Inspector Japp (Philip Jackson) is hot on the trail of a master jewel thief. When the actress confesses she's been receiving threatening letters since she came into possession of a valuable diamond called "The Western Star," Poirot and Japp join forces to find the offending party, though they also have to keep a close eye on the actress, who intends to wear her prize diamond for a major social event. oirot: The Adventure Of The Western Star was produced by the British network Granada Television, and later aired in the United States as part of the PBS series Mystery!. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide