Nick Angotti Movies

Unique among the many made-for-TV dramas about spousal abuse--most of which are about women victimized by men--Men Don't Tell dramatizes the true story of a loving husband who is terrorized by the violent behavior of his wife. Ed MacAffrey (Peter Strauss) has long endured the physical and emotional abuse heaped upon him by his neurotic wife Laura (Judith Light), not only because he loves her and is concerned over the welfare of his daughter, but also because men are traditionally regarded as weaklings if they allow themselves to be battered by their wives. Even worse, after one of Laura's destructive tantrums brings the attention of the police, Ed is suspected of being the aggressor! Finally, Laura goes too far and Ed tries to defend himself--whereupon Laura crashes through the front window of her home and is rendered comatose, and Ed is arrested for attempted murder. Although the ending of the story could be considered positive and upbeat, it is painfully clear that there are many issues that will never be resolved. First telecast by CBS on May 14, 1993, Men Don't Tell was never rebroadcast on over-the-air television, reportedly because it incurred the wrath of several women's groups. However, the film has since been shown a number of times on cable's Lifetime channel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

"Another basement, another elevator...how can the same thing happen to the same guy twice?" asks John McClane (Bruce Willis), in what is doubtless the key question of this film. A year after foiling the terrorist takeover of a high-rise office building in the first movie, McClane is waiting to pick up his wife, Holly (Bonnie Bedelia), at Dulles International Airport just outside Washington, D.C., on Christmas Eve. Scheduled to arrive the same evening is Ramon Esperanza (Franco Nero), a South American political figure who is being brought to the United States to stand trial for his role in a drug-smuggling ring. However, a group of terrorists, led by renegade American military officer Col. Stuart (William Sadler), take control of the airport, scuttling radio transmissions and placing their own men in the control tower. Stuart and his men ensure that Esperanza's plane lands safely, and then demand that Stuart and his men be given a fully-fueled 747 and free passage wherever they choose to go. Otherwise, they will guide the many circling jets waiting for landing instructions into definite crash landings, killing the many passengers on board. Not willing to stand aside as terrorists once again threaten his wife's life, the wise-cracking McClane once again leaps into action to foil Stuart's plans and bring the passenger jets safely to the ground. William Atherton, John Amos, Dennis Franz, and John Leguizamo highlight the supporting cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In June of 1985, TWA Athens-to-Rome flight 847 was seized by two fanatical, grenade-wielding Hezbollah Moslems. The hijacking was dragged out for 17 days, during which time several of the terrified passengers were beaten and one was killed. Written by Norman Morrill, the made-for-TV The Taking of Flight 847: The Uli Derickson stars Lindsay Wagner as courageous American purser Uli Derickson, whose knowledge of German enables her to communicate with the chief hijacker, a Shiite Lebanese who calls himself Castro (Eli Danker). When the ordeal was over, Derickson was credited with saving many lives and preventing the crisis from becoming far worse than it already was. It is a tribute to Lindsay Wagner's acting talent that, although most of the film's dialogue is spoken in German, the audience never has any difficulty following the story. The Taking of Flight 847 first aired May 2, 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the first episode of a two-part story, McCall (Stepfanie Kramer) and an informant are gunned down during a police investigation of a prostitution ring operating out of RV's on the Los Angeles Freeway. Working on available evidence, Hunter (Fred Dryer) becomes convinced that a notorious pimp named Big Jack Hemmings ordered the hit. As McCall hovers between life and death, Hunter heads to Mexico in search of Big Jack--and it seems a certainty that only one of the two men will come back alive! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Crime is the disease and Sylvester Stallone is the cure in Cobra, a high-octane rehash of the Clint Eastwood/Dirty Harry films, burnished to a 1980s action sheen. Stallone is Marion Cobretti, a cop called in when regular police methods have failed. Cobra is sent to get a cult of Charles Manson-like serial killers and to protect Ingrid (Brigitte Nielsen), a beautiful, statuesque witness who is set to testify against them. Cobra deposits Ingrid in an out-of-the-way town for safe-keeping, but a mole in the police department tips off the killers. The gang comes racing into town to get Ingrid, but Cobra is there waiting for them, ready to spring into action. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

In the conclusion of a two-part story, Hunter (Fred Dryer) continues to search for the link between a Russian defector and the woman he found murdered in his home (whose body immediately disappeared after its discovery!) When a gang of thugs attack him and steal a valuable piece of evidence, Hunter knows he's on the wrong track. The problem now is to stay alive long enough to prove it--and this means butting heads not only with Russian secret agents but also the representatives of a shady Federal spy agency. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Maddie (Cybill Shepherd) and David (Bruce Willis) are hired by a collection agency to go after a deadbeat debtor named Roy Hirsch. Not long afterward, the detectives come across Hirsch's dead body--which promptly disappears. What does the mystery Man With the Mole have to do with all this? The final episode of Moonlighting's first season, "The Murder's in the Mail" features the series' first "aside" to the audience, wherein David sly breaks down the forth wall and directly addresses the viewer; it is also the LAST time that the series would ever feature a climactic pie fight! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The election of Sandra Day O'Connor to the Supreme Court rendered the premise of First Monday in October anachronistic before the picture was even released; ignoring this, however, the film is supremely entertaining (no pun intended). Jill Clayburgh stars as Ruth Loomis, the first lady justice ever appointed to the Court. She's a conservative, while her principal foe on the bench, Dan Snow (Walter Matthau), is an old-line liberal. The film glides along on a predictable Tracy-Hepburn course until Snow comes to Loomis' defense when her late industrialist husband is accused of improprieties which might compromise Loomis' effectiveness. First Monday in October was adapted by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee from their own Broadway play, which starred Henry Fonda. Actress Martha Scott co-produced the film, while several other Hollywood veterans, including Herb Vigran and Ann Doran, dot the supporting case. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide