Dana Delany Movies

After Griffin Dunne's wife Brooke Adams is injured in a car crash, Dunne begins an affair with Adams' nurse Karen Young. You think that takes gall? Dunne also becomes best friends with Young's boyfriend Marty Watt. Believe it or not, Griffin Dunne is the most likeable character in the movie. After testing poorly at 110 minutes, Almost You was whittled down to 96 minutes. Those who have trouble wading through this prime example of mid-1980s self-indulgence are advised to keep an eye out for the brilliant monologist Spalding Gray in a supporting role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dana Delany guest stars as Gillian Armstrong, a former girl friend of detective David Addison (Bruce Willis). Having previously broken David's heart, she comes back into his life as a client, hoping that he can track down a missing heirloom. Naturally, David jumps at the chance, though his partner Maddie (Cybill Shepherd) is convinced that he is setting himself up for another fall. The plot thickens when Gillian's husband (Joel Colodner) is found murdered. Somehow this situation culminates in a zany chase sequences involving a hearse! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season Seven of Magnum, P.I. begins with a two-part episode (originally telecast in a single two-hour timeslot) largely set in Los Angeles. Magnum (Tom Selleck) arrives in La-La-Land to deliver some legal papers on behalf of Robin Masters. Befriending a comedienne named Marti Jensen (Mona Miller), Magnum ends up a prime suspect when the woman is found murdered in his hotel room. In his subsequent efforts to clear himself and find the real killer, Magnum works side by side (and sometimes closer than that!) with attractive entertainment lawyer Cynthia Farrell (Dena Delany). Meawnhile, back in Hawaii, Rick (Larry Manetti), T.C. (Roger Mosley) and Higgins conduct an intensive search for teenager Kenny (Alfonso Ribeiro), who has witnessed two murders. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Made for television, A Winner Never Quits is the true story of one-armed baseball player Pete Gray. Having lost his arm in a childhood accident, Pete (played by Steve Rees as a child, Keith Carradine as an adult) still insists upon pursuing an athletic career in emulation of his older brother Whitey (Ed O'Neill). When Whitey suffers permanent brain damage in a boxing match, Pete takes up the cudgel and enters the world of professional sports. Hired in 1943 as a "freak attraction" and wartime morale-booster by the Memphis Chicks, Class-A minor league ball club, Gray attains a batting average of .333 and a stolen-base record of 63; as a result, he is appointed his league's MVP. Though a success, Pete maintains a tough, defensive veneer, which is softened only by the love of his wife Annie (Mare Winningham) and the adulation of baseball fan Nelson Gary Jr. (Huckleberry Fox), who has also lost an arm (and who would, in real life, become a top minor-league ballplayer himself). With the war depleting big-league baseball's manpower in 1945, Pete Gray finally achieves his goal of entering the Majors when he is hired by the St. Louis Browns. Dennis Weaver and Fionnulla Flanagan costar as Pete's immigrant parents. Burt Prelutsky's screenplay wisely avoids pathos and sentiment throughout; though humanized by his relationships with friends and family, Pete Gray is accurately portrayed as a brusque, temperamental soul, who neither asks for nor tolerates sympathy from anyone. A Winner Never Quits first aired in April of 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

China Beach was the second and more successful of two Vietnam-era TV dramas of 1987-88 (the other was Tour of Duty). Set at a Da Nang r-and-r center in 1967, China Beach recounts the era as seen through eyes of several women who served. The distaff stars are Dana Delany (the nurse), Nacy Giles (the AFRS disc jockey), Concetta Tomei (the special services officer) and Marg Helgenberger (the civilian volunteer worker). The anecdotal two-hour pilot film for the series was first telecast April 26, 1988. Chloe Webb, who appeared in the pilot and the first few episodes, portrays a buoyant USO entertainer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jack Noah (Richard Dreyfuss) is all actor: Self-possessed, obsessive, vulnerable, and an addict for praise, his soul burns with "the craft." Having just finished a grade-Z straight-to-cable crime thriller in the fictional South American country of Parador, he gets the ultimate acting challenge (though it's more like an offer he can't refuse) from Roberto Strausman (Raul Julia), the Paradorian dictator's chief advisor. The challenge: impersonate the country's dictator, whose just died. Strausman knows just how to manipulate Noah: He takes him to a meat locker, shows him the director's body (actually Dreyfuss' brother, Lorin), threatens to kill him, and he brings clips of Noah's best reviews. Thus enticed, and bearing a striking resemblance to the man, Noah accepts the job. Under the exacting direction of Strausman, he follows the script precisely. Noah immediately enjoys the job's perks, not least of which is the dictator's scorching mistress, Madonna (Sonia Braga), but of course cannot conceal his real identity to her. A close call with Parador's revolutionaries and Madonna's brimming social conscience push Noah to take command of the role. He starts pushing a kinder, gentler social agenda, and incurs Strausman's wrath. It begins to look like Noah will play the dictator's last act, but a chance meeting with a stunt man friend (Michael Greene) inspires a caper that will change all of the characters' fates. ~ Nick Sambides, Jr., All Movie Guide

Dana Delany and William Russ play a poor-but-proud married couple with three children. Dana has made a promise to a dying relative to take care of said relative's four kids. And now, she and her husband are saddled with the additional responsibility, which turns out to be a grueling, rewarding and tear-jerking experience. Promise to Keep was "inspired by a true story," as most TV movies of this ilk claim to be. The film was shot on location in Charleston, South Carolina. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Paul Schrader's brilliant study of another alienated urban denizen skirting the borderline of madness stars Willem Dafoe as John Le Tour, a rich, upscale drug dealer for Manhattan professionals -- "White drugs for white people," as he puts it. John is a recovering addict and for him it's the perfect job, as he can relate completely with the self-absorbed eccentrics he services. But when his boss Ann (Susan Sarandon) tells John that she is planning to abandon the drug business for herbal cosmetics, John's life is thrown into disarray. With no future plans, he sees black clouds heading his way. Coincidentally, he runs into Marianne (Dana Delany), an old girlfriend and former addict who has returned to New York to be with her dying mother. John sees Marianne as his redemption and starts to pursue her, but she doesn't want to be reminded of her past. When the murder of an Upper West Side woman involved in a drug transaction has the police scouring the town for suspects, John thinks they are following him, and the strain upon his life and his hopes for the future become harder and harder to bear. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Sam (Ted Danson) has second thoughts about selling his Corvette and wants to get it back. Unfortunately, the new owner has passed away, prompting Sam to pitch woo at the man's widow (Dana Delany). Back at Cheers, Woody (Woody Harrelson) plans to roast a pig sent to him by his family for Christmas dinner, but sentimental Rebecca (Kirstie Alley) "bonds" with the porker. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A high-energy action adventure based on legend rather than historical fact finds Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell) desiring to retire from law enforcement. With brothers Virgil (Sam Elliot) and Morgan (Bill Paxton), he arrives in Tombstone, Arizona intending to build his fortune. He discovers that long-time friend Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer) is there and that the town is run by a group of brutal outlaws called the Cowboys. Earp, frustrated with his laudanum-addicted wife, begins a romance with traveling stage actress Josephine Marcus (Dana Delany). Meanwhile, the Cowboys terrorize the citizens of Tombstone unchecked.

When the town marshal is killed by a Cowboy, Earp steps in to prevent a lynching by an angry mob. He also refuses to hand the killer over to his fellows, beginning the enmity between the Cowboys and the Earp brothers. Virgil, overcome with guilt at doing nothing to help the Tombstone citizens, accepts the position of town marshal. With Wyatt and Morgan as his deputies, and the help of Doc, Virgil attempts to arrest several Cowboys, resulting in the famous OK Corral shoot-out. The Cowboys take revenge by ambushing two of the brothers and injuring Virgil and killing Morgan. The Earps leave town, apparently cowed. Wyatt returns, wearing the badge of a U.S. marshal, vowing to destroy every last Cowboy. He hunts them mercilessly, until the leader, Johnny Ringo (Michael Biehn) challenges Wyatt to a duel. While not regarded as an artistic masterpiece, "Tombstone" is considered the best of director George P. Cosmatos' prolific films. The all-star cast (including Thomas Haden Church and Billy Bob Thornton in small roles) delivers solid performances. Both William A. Fraker's cinematography and Bruce Broughton's stirring musical score are expertly designed for dramatic effect. Blood is shown liberally in several key scenes, but seems intended to show that there is nothing glorious in Wyatt Earp's actions, only necessity. He and his deputies take on the symbolism of the horsemen of the apocalypse -- dispensing judgement, and the Biblical references form a symmetry at the beginning and end of the film.
~ Lucinda Ramsey, All Movie Guide

This stylish animated adventure is based on the '90s animated television series, which in turn is based on the original comics and Tim Burton's live action "Batman" films. Unlike the campy 1960s version of Batman, this version is half-mad from the superhero's obsession with justice. It is only his unusual sense of ethics that keeps him from becoming a full-blown psychotic. The story describes the origins of Batman as it follows the Dark Knight's attempts to capture the elusive, deadly Phantasm who kills a crime lord and makes it look as if Batman did it, causing a media smear campaign against the Caped Crusader. At the same time, millionaire Bruce Wayne holds a party at his mansion. There he meets Councilman Arthur Reeves, the man behind the accusations. Reeves derides playboy Wayne for allowing his college sweetheart Andrea Beaumont to leave him. Suddenly Wayne flashes back to his pre-Batman days. He remembers how he met her while visiting his parents' graves to renew his vow that he would spend his life fighting crime to avenge their wrongful deaths. He has already devised an early version of his alter-ego Batman, but that is nearly forgotten when he falls in love with Andrea. The story then jumps from past to present and back as the mysterious Phantasm strikes again. Batman continues his investigation and discovers a disturbing link between Andrea, who suddenly shows up after many years absence, and the villain. Meanwhile, the Phantasm, feeling that Batman is too close to learning his/her identity hires the Joker to kill him. But the Joker has his own agenda and much action ensues before the mystery of the Phantasm identity is solved, Batman clears his name, and justice is served. This film was originally made to go straight to video, Warner's studio liked it enough to release it theatrically. Some of the violence may be inappropriate for very young children. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This sexy farce stars Dan Aykroyd and Rosie O'Donnell as Fred Lavery and Sheila Kingston, a pair of cynical detectives investigating the disappearance of a key witness in a diamond-smuggling case. The case leads them to a Club Med-styled S&M resort where dog collars and cat o' nine tails abound; further complicating matters, the smugglers end up on the island as well. The missing witness, photographer Elliot Slater (Paul Mercurio), takes a job as a bondage boy, and he falls in love with the resort manager, Mistress Lisa (Dana Delany. Adapted from Anne Rice's novel of the same name. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide