S. Bryan Hickox Movies

In this road comedy, NYC film school grad Leta (Melissa De Sousa) gets a job assisting music-vid director Bleau Kelly (Downtown Julie Brown), and a group of rappers, singers, starlets, and showbiz wannabes sign on for a video to be shot in Florida. The gang gets acquainted on a decaying bus as they travel down the East Coast, encountering barroom fights and other problems en route to the vid gig. Cameo by Snoop Doggy Dogg. Not to be confused with another 1998 release titled The Ride. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

This made-for-TV melodrama is based on an actual event that had been so thoroughly documented by the news services of the day that one is amazed that any suspense could possibly be engendered. In Dade County, Florida, disgruntled taxpayer Harry Kee (Michael Paul Chan) angrily protests a huge IRS bill by wiring up a box of explosives and hijacking a school bus full of special-needs children. Although the kids are terrified, Marta Caldwell (Maria Conchita Alonso), the bus' Cuban-born driver, remains calm and collected throughout the ordeal, not only helping her charges survive the crisis, but also providing comfort and support to a teacher's aide on the verge of a diabetic seizure. But while Marta keeps her head about her, the kidnapper grows more and more unhinged, and the police surround the hijacked bus, ready to shoot to kill if necessary. Though slightly weighed down by a subplot involving the courageous driver's home life, Sudden Terror: The Hijacking of School Bus #17 manages to pack a wallop,even for those who are aware of the outcome. The film made its first network appearance on September 13, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The miserable life and long-overdue death of thrill killer Charles Starkweather is the basis of the two-part TV movie Murder in the Heartland. Over a bloody few months in 1958, Starkweather (Tim Roth), a 19-year-old high school dropout, embarked on a killing spree, snuffing out 11 victims. Along for the ride was Charlie's 14-year-old girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate (Fairuza Balk). The debate still goes on as to whether Caril Ann was a willing accomplice or a reluctant prisoner; as played by Ms. Balk, she comes off as dumb as mud. A shorter, fictionalized account of the Starkweather killings was offered in the critically acclaimed 1973 theatrical feature Badlands, starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek. Murder in the Heartland originally aired May 3 and 4, 1993. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on the factual book by Ann Rule, Small Sacrifices was original telecast in two parts. Farrah Fawcett continues to successfully obliterate the Charlie's Angels onus in the role of real-life US postal worker Diane Downs. Part One of the film was set in Willamete Valley, Oregon, in 1983. Mrs. Downs drives her three children to the local hospital's emergency entrance: one child is already dead, and the other two have been seriously wounded. Diane claims that the killer was a man who'd tried to steal her car. But in Part Two, prosecutor John Shea rips apart Diane's story in court. What comes to surface is a tawdry tale of a neurotic, narcissistic woman who is pushed over the edge when spurned by her lover (played by Ms. Fawcett's offscreen companion Ryan O'Neal). As difficult as Small Sacrifices was to watch during its initial telecast in November 1989, it has since been rendered doubly disturbing by the more recent tragic events surrounding South Carolina housewife Susan Smith. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, an attorney tries to prove that his incarcerated client is indeed innocent of murder. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A young mother looks to her own mother for help when her child begins rebelling, similar to the way she did in the past. Harry Chapin makes a special appearance. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide