Bruce Kirby Movies

In this comedy drama, a winning lottery ticket gives four aspiring actors the chance of a lifetime. The quartet is first seen commiserating over the failure of their latest off-Broadway production in the Cottonwood Diner in Greenwich Village. To ease the sting of a scathing review, the four buy a lottery ticket and promise that they will use the wealth to make a film. Sure enough, they win $3 million. After viewing many popular hit movies including The Godfather, Rocky and When Harry Met Sally, they set to penning a highly derivative script. Trouble comes when one of them, a compulsive gambler, backs out and uses his share to bet the ponies. The remaining trio then bring in a new partner, the daughter of famed vaudevillian Danny Rose. After that they convince a relative to manage them and head off to solicit a hot young director. More trouble comes when the Screenwriter's Guild tries to sue them for plagiarism. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Seth's niece Amy (Cari Shayne) arrives in Cabot Cove, where she plans to hold her wedding. Alas, the happy event is postponed permanently when both a landscaper and attorney die under mysterious circumstances--and one of the two was Amy's fiancé. Another interested party begins asking a few pointed questions, for which Jessica (Angela Lansbury) intends to provide the answers. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This black comedy centers upon the L.A. theater scene. Steve Maletti owns a small struggling theater. He also directs the plays there. He has just secured two popular TV stars to appear in his newest production. Unfortunately, the actors get a movie deal and fly away to Africa leaving the hapless Maletti, who must close the show. His theater will fold if he doesn't come up with a hit show. He finds his chance when he secures the rights to a Broadway hit. Now he must convince the critics that it's a good production. His toughest job will be convincing the curmudgeonly critic Milton Mandler. Maletti decides to scare him into writing a good review, too bad Maletti literally scared the old man to death. Fortunately Mandler had written a rave review of the play before his heart failed. Maletti must then conceal the critic's death until after the review appears in the L.A. Times. It doesn't take long before a suspicious cop is hot on Maletti's trail. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Based on Robert Anderson's novel, the made-for-television Getting Up and Going Home is a drama about a divorced attorney (Tom Skerritt) who copes with a mid-life crisis by having affairs with no less than three women: his ex-wife, a single mother, and a married suburbanite. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

Diana Canova guests as Maggie McCauley, former student of Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) and now the producer of a TV police show. Shortly after a heated argument between Maggie and the network programmer who is planning to cancel the series, the programmer turns up murdered. With herself under suspicion, Maggie draws upon the deductive skills gleaned from her mentor Jessica to find the real killer. Actor-turned-network executive Dwayne Hickman is quite cleverly cast in this episode!. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Veteran Hollywood screenwriter Clyde Ware handled the directing chores in Bad Jim. The film is worth noting as the cinematic debut of John Clark Gable, the son of guess who. Gable, James Brolin, and Richard Roundtree play three soft-hearted bandits who purchase a horse from Billy the Kid. They use the easily recognizable steed to convince their victims that they are members of Billy's gang-thus eliminating the nasty necessity of gunplay. One of the gang members breaks away from the others, taking the horse with him, and pretty soon he's every bit as mean and dangerous as the real Billy. The film's pace may be a bit too measured for some tastes, but the characters are believable and the story has its own peculiar logic. Bad Jim is slightly reminiscent of John Ford's Three Godfathers; both films, in fact, feature Harry Carey Jr. is a supporting role. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In the conclusion of a two part story, Hunter (Fred Dryer) is convinced that the murder of a movie star will be solved the moment he catches up with a Bulgarian hit-man in Mexico. Though Hunter's trip South of the Border clears up the mystery as to why the CIA is so interested in the case, the real killer remains at large--and worse still, the number of likely suspects has now increased considerably! This episode was adapted from a novel by former police detective Dallas L. Barnes. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Al Capone's imprisonment opened the way for mobster Frank Nitti to become the underworld king of Chicago as related in this true story. (AKA Nitti) ~ Rovi

The "exchange murders" plot gambit, played with utter solemnity in Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train, is used as the launching pad for raucous laughter in Throw Momma From the Train. Director/star Danny DeVito plays Owen Lift, a middle-aged bachelor, totally dominated by his gorgon mother, played with hilarious ferocity by Anne Ramsey. Billy Crystal co-stars as Larry Donner, a creative-writing professor, saddled with a vituperative, thoroughly despicable ex-wife, Margaret (Kate Mulgrew). Signing up for Larry's writing course, Owen has trouble at first with character development and construction in his stories. Larry recommends that Owen watch a screening of Strangers on a Train, which he considered a model of tight, concise storytelling. Owen is so entranced by the film that he decides to emulate Strangers star Robert Walker. That is, Owen wants Larry to bump off his mother, in exchange for Owen's murder of Margaret. Without being asked, Owen does away with Margaret (or so it seems), then hounds Larry to the point of killing "Momma." This being a comedy, the actual consequences of the swap-murder plot aren't nearly as calamitous as in the Hitchcock film. Cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld would apply the "black humor" lessons learned in Throw Momma From the Train for his own directorial debut, The Addams Family (1991). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Sweet old Mrs. Rothman (Florence Stanley) dodders into the courtroom to confess the murder of her husband. The motive, opportunity and details are clear--but Judge Harry (Harry Anderson) has trouble believing her. Elsewhere, Dan (John Larroquette) is taken aback when he is rejected as a sperm donor, and a morose detective (Bruce Kirby) spreads his depression throughout the court staff. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In the second episode of a three-part story, the teenage hooker who'd busted a corrupt judge (Robert Reed) is abducted by a band of Satanists. Meanwhile, Rick Hunter (Fred Dryer) is stymied in his efforts to trap a serial rapist by lack of evidence; Dee Dee McCall (Stepfanie Kramer) and undercover cop Kitty O'Hearn are served papers by the lawyer representing the ex-wife of police sergeant Navarro (Erik Estrada); and politically ambitious Commander Cain (Arthur Rosenberg) learns to his chagrin that his friends may do more harm to his career than his enemies. This episode is adapted from a novel by former police detective Dallas L. Barnes. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In Armed and Dangerous, John Candy plays a cop who has been kicked off the force on a trumped up charge. Eugene Levy costars as a disbarred lawyer. The two outcasts take low-paying jobs as security officers at a company controlled by mob boss Robert Loggia. In their own stumblebum fashion, Candy and Levy uncover a smuggling operation masterminded by Loggia. Meg Ryan also shows up in an early leading role. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi