John Diehl Movies

Director Tim Hunter and co-screenwriter James Crumley go back to the basics for this rough and tumble western that proves the ladies can shoot just as straight as the men. The deadliest gang in the west has been captured and strung up. Now the law is desperate to find out where the recently departed had hidden their substantial plunder, and they're dead sure that the men's widows have the answer to that question. With the corrupt sheriff (Patrick Bergin) closing in on one side, a homicidal preacher (James Gammon) fast gaining ground on the other, and scores of hostile Indians, Pinkerton agents, and even a few gruff ghosts to contend with in between, these three desperate women (Judith Bernett, Suzanne Andrews, and Lissa Negrin) will have to keep on their toes if they have any hope of living to find the treasure and escape to freedom. John Diehl and C. Thomas Howell co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A romance between a teenage girl and a thirtysomething drifter takes the young woman down a dangerous and unexpected path in this independent drama. Tobe (Evan Rachel Wood) is a pretty 18-year-old whose father, Wade (David Morse), is the sheriff of a town in California's San Fernando Valley. Tobe is driving to the beach with some friends when she stops at a filling station and meets gas jockey Harlan (Edward Norton), who dresses like a cowpoke and claims to have recently relocated to Los Angeles from South Dakota. Harlan is immediately and obviously taken with Tobe, and when she asks him to tag along for the day, he impulsively quits his job to follow her. Tobe and Harlan soon become a couple, but Wade is convinced Harlan is not all he claims to be, and Tobe begins to wonder if her father might be right when Harlan takes her horseback riding and their date is cut short after police inform them the horses have been stolen from an rancher (Bruce Dern) whom Harlan claims is a friend - and who promptly turns up with a gun to confront both of them, insisting that he has never seen Harlan before. Tobe's suspicions grow when Harlan offers to teach her little brother, Lonnie (Rory Culkin), how to shoot using a pair of real .45 revolvers, as his actions become less charming and more worrisome. Leading man Edward Norton also served as producer on this project. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

An aspiring rapper learns that it takes more than pure talent to succeed in the cutthroat recording industry in this hip-hop drama from writer/director/star GQ. There's no question that Stix (GQ) has the rhyming abilities to make it as a star, but when it comes to life choices he seems to be torn. Will Stix be able to sacrifice the party lifestyle that he and his friends have enjoyed in his quest to the top -- or will the temptations of the industry be too much to bear for the wannabe superstar? ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The first season of The Shield almost instantly establishes Detective Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis) as "Not Your Typical TV Cop." The leader of the Farmington District Strike Force, Mackey is mean, profane, violent, and some distance removed from honest. And it is not simply that Mackey is willing to beat a confession out of a perpetrator or plant false evidence to get a conviction: Our "hero" and several of his subordinates have strong ties with the Underworld -- and, as vividly demonstrated in the opening episode, Vic is perfectly capable of shooting down a "snitch" in cold blood to keep his peccadilloes from becoming public. Throughout season one, Mackey wages a battle of nerves with his superior officer, Captain Aceveda (Benito Martinez), who regards the detective as nothing more than a hoodlum with a badge and is determined to gather enough evidence to bring Mackey down for good. At the same time, Acevada knows that Mackey is "good copy" for the pro-police press, and he isn't about to ruin his most successful detective's career at the risk of destroying his own political ambitions.

Also introduced during The Shield's Emmy-winning inaugural season are Cathy Cahlin Ryan as Vic Mackey's wife, Corrine, and Joel Rosenthal as his austitic son, Matthew; Walton Goggins as Mackey's unpredictably dangerous second-in-command Det. Shane Vendrell; Kenneth Johnson as Det. Curtis "Lemonhead" Lemansky, who never speaks when cracking skulls will do; no-nonsense veteran detective Claudette Wyms (CCH Pounder) and her trepidatious partner Holland "Dutch" Wagenbach (Jay Karnes); Officer Danielle "Danny" Sofer (Catherine Dent), an ally and sometimes "mole" for Captain Aceveda; Sofer's gay partner Officer Julian Lowe (Michael Jace); and long-suffering Assistant Chief Ben Gilroy (John Diehl), whose principal job seems to be to cover Mackey's butt. Season one ends with the Farmington PD under siege from ambush shooters after a riot, forcing Mackey and Aceveda to work together to locate the assailants -- while the fed-up Gilroy schemes to use the situation to rid himself of both men! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The sophomore outing for Mark Illsley, the writer and director of 1999's Happy Texas, Bookies is a return to the crime comedy genre of the filmmaker's first project. Starring Nick Stahl, Lukas Haas, and Johnny Galecki as college buddies Toby, Casey, and Jude, the film begins with the trio upset over a substantial gambling loss. After paying up, they decide that they are on the wrong side of the transaction and concoct a plan to become bookies themselves. Working in the shadows so as not to let on that they are anything but professionals, the young entrepreneurs devise a system that involves leaving money in unpopular books at the library where Jude works. Before they know it, the guys are rolling in the dough. Casey buys a bunch of computer equipment, Jude gets himself a drug habit, and Toby uses his newfound wealth to impress Hunter, a fellow student played by Rachael Leigh Cook. But just as fast as things started to go well, they take an unexpected turn. The boys are making so much money that they're cutting into the business of the local mafia. As one might expect, the thugs don't take too kindly to competition. Also starring John Diehl and David Proval, Bookies premiered at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

Director Joe Johnston takes over the creative reins from Steven Spielberg for this third installment in the thriller franchise. Sam Neill returns as Dr. Alan Grant, a scientist who's tricked by wealthy couple Paul and Amanda Kirby (William H. Macy and Tea Leoni) into a fly-over of Isla Sorna. The object of their sightseeing tour is one of the Costa Rican islands populated by ferocious, genetically bred dinosaurs and the "site B" setting of Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World (1997). After their plane crash-lands, it's revealed that the Kirbys are actually seeking their teenage son, lost on the island after a paragliding accident. Trapped on Isla Sorna, Grant and his companions discover some painful truths the hard way. Among their discoveries: some of the scaly monsters possess more advanced communicative abilities than previously believed, the dreaded Tyrannosaurus Rex has a larger and more lethal competitor, and flying Pteranodons pose an even graver threat than some of their land-locked brethren. Jurassic Park III is the first in the series not to be based upon a novel by original author Michael Crichton. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

An off-center comedy composed mostly of actors from the popular troupe the Actor's Gang in California, this picture follows Joe (Mackenzie Astin), a young man who is told some unusual and unsettling news. His doctor has informed him that he has a virus spreading in his body and has only a few weeks left to live. After being prescribed painkiller lollipops, Joe decides to leave his desolate Texas existence to go on a quest to search for his grade-school sweetheart, Joyce (Jennifer Morrison. On the road, Joe encounters a series of eccentric people, including religious-cult runaway Seth (John Ales); a Gulf War vet/ventriloquist (Kyle Gass) whose wooden dummy is penning a novel; Fanny (Rachel Wilson), who owns a racy karaoke strip club and roller disco; and Durango (Sam Vlahos), a garbage entrepreneur who shoots farm animals for fun. Joe races through a bizarre, semi-futuristic landscape in attempt to find his beloved before he runs out of time. ~ Jason Clark, All Movie Guide

A woman who has survived the touch of ultimate evil must now save one man from the same fate in order to protect the world in this supernatural thriller. Maya Larkin (Winona Ryder) is a devout Catholic who is said to have been possessed by a demon as a child; she now works with Father Lareaux (John Hurt) and John Townshend (Elias Koteas), fellow believers who perform exorcisms on troubled souls they believe are controlled by Satan. While performing an exorcism on a mass murderer, Henry Birdsong (John Diehl), Maya, and her cohorts come in contact with Peter Kelson (Ben Chaplin), a journalist and noted authority on the criminal mind who believes the notion of "evil with a capital E" is absurd. Peter is an agnostic despite being raised by a Catholic priest; his uncle, Father James (Philip Baker Hall), raised Peter after the death of his parents while he was still a child. During their failed exorcism, Birdsong tells Maya that Satan will return to Earth, inhabiting the body of a man in order to reclaim this world. As Maya attempts to unravel the code of who the devil's victim will be, she comes to the awful realization that the most likely candidate is Peter Kelson. Lost Souls marked the directorial debut of cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, whose camera credits include Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, and Jerry Maguire. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Shot in 33 days, this $9.6 million biographical drama of behind-the-scenes interactions within the Rat Pack group of Frank Sinatra (Ray Liotta), Dean Martin (Joe Mantegna), and Sammy Davis Jr. (Don Cheadle) is set against the political backdrop of the '60s, establishing links of singers, gangsters, actors, and politicans (sometimes brushing shoulders in the same rooms). The film also explores Sinatra's relationship with John F. Kennedy (William Peterson). Deciding to support Kennedy, Sinatra patches up his feud with Peter Lawford (Angus Macfadyen), since Lawford's wife, Pat (Phyllis Lyons) is JFK's sister -- and a Sinatra-Kennedy friendship soon follows. However, when Joe Kennedy (Dan O'Herlihy) decides Sinatra's nightclub, mob and commie connections are a no-no for JFK, the patriarch's interference angers Sinatra. Meanwhile, Sammy Davis Jr. enters into an interracial liaison with May Britt (Megan Dodds), and the dynamics of the situation are visualized in an imaginative musical fantasy sequence in which Davis sees himself singing and dancing for an unresponsive line of white supremacists. Broadway's Savion Glover stepped in with the film's choreography. Substitute singers featured the voice of Michael Dees for Sinatra and Mantegna duplicating Dino. Also covered here are the events that led to the filming of Ocean's Eleven (1960). For an actual Rat Pack stage performance, see The Rat Pack Captured (1965). Filmed in LA, the TV movie premiered August 22, 1998 on HBO. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Wim Wenders directed this allegorical drama about the emotional impact of violence in our culture, set against the backdrop of California's entertainment business. Mike Max (Bill Pullman) is a Hollywood producer who has earned a great deal of money and power in the film industry through his success with a series of brutally violent action pictures. While Max can juggle any number of tasks while working, he can't find time for his wife Paige (Andie MacDowell), and when she announces that she's divorcing him, he admits to himself (but not to her) that he deliberately put her through emotional trauma; Paige leaves to do volunteer work in the Third World, hoping to bring new meaning to her life. Very little reaches Max on an emotional level until Cat (Traci Lind), a stunt performer, is seriously injured on the set of Max's latest project. Not long after, Max is first car-jacked, then kidnapped by a pair of desperate thugs. He escapes and is given shelter by a group of Mexican-American gardeners. Wanting to retreat from the physical and spiritual violence that has become a key part of his life, Max opts to work with the gardening crew and stay away from his old life, remaining "missing" in the eyes of the world as he searches for a new life. Meanwhile, Max and his secretary Claire (Rosiland Chao) become aware of a secret plan that Ray Bering (Gabriel Byrne) has prepared for the city of Los Angeles, which will essentially put the entire town under constant surveillance, with the goal of ending violent crime once and for all. Frederic Forrest, Udo Kier, and legendary director Samuel Fuller also star; Ry Cooder composed the film's striking original score. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Fresh from the recently closed South Side hospital, new ER chief of staff Anspaugh (John Aylward) imperiously asserts his authority by imposing patient quotas on each doctor. Though they resent Anspaugh, the staff is more politely inclined to the other South Side expatriates, doctors Abby Keaton (Glenne Headly) and Maggie Doyle (Jorja Fox). Elsewhere, Jeanie (Gloria Reuben) has trouble keeping her HIV-positive status a secret from Weaver (Laura Innes), while Benton (Eriq La Salle) is uncertain that Jeanie should even continue working; and Greene (Anthony Edwards) is taken aback when Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) suggests that they both take a vacation to Hawaii. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Sensing that his rodeo career is waning, rangy Joe Wade increasingly seeks solace with booze. His life is rapidly going down the chutes until the day he picks up teenage hitcher Ruby Jean. During the brief time they are together, the two form a lasting friendship and discover the possibilities of love. Drawing inspiration from each other, each leaves the relationship a stronger and better person. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide