David Rosemont Movies

In this made-for-TV movie from the Lifetime Channel, Rosie O'Donnell stars as Dr. Maureen Brennan, a child psychiatrist who helps a 16-year-old boy named America (Philip Johnson) overcome years of childhood trauma, including growing up with a crack-addicted mother and being shuffled through a series of foster homes. The teleplay is based on a novel by E.R. Frank, who used her real-life experiences as a social worker as the basis for this tragic but ultimately hopeful story of transformative healing. ~ All Movie Guide

An elite police squad tracks a volatile killer through the streets of Los Angeles in this urban thriller featuring Keith David. They are our first line of defense against the most dangerous criminals in the city. If they do their job right, the average citizen never knows that they even exist. But now, a murderous psychopath is on the loose, and in order to stop him the S.I.S. will have to use every trick in the book to catch a killer, and maintain a low-profile. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Executive produced by Steven Spielberg, the sprawling six-part, 12-hour TV miniseries Into the West covers 65 years of American history, from the first major migration westward in the mid-1820s to the massacre at Wounded Knee in the early 1890s. The story is largely seen through the eyes of two protagonists (and their families): Jacob Wheeler (Matthew Settle), a wheelwright who leaves his Virginia hometown and his family's business in 1827 to seek his destiny in the company of legendary mountain man Jedediah Smith (Josh Brolin); and Loved by the Buffalo (George Leach), a Lakota Sioux holy man who spends a lifetime seeking the answers to his profound and disturbing images about the future of his country -- and his people. Eschewing the usual "old-age makeup" route often pursued in epic tales of this nature, the main characters are played by progressively older actors in the course of the story: for example, Loved by the Buffalo is portrayed by no fewer than four different performers! In a more traditionalist How the West Was Won vein, the miniseries is festooned with major stars, some cast in very brief roles: among these are Josh Brolin, Keri Russell, Matthew Modine, Beau Bridges, Gary Busey, Tom Berenger, and Judge Reinhold. Nor is How the West Was Won the only inspiration for the multi-plotted storyline: other films echoed and emulated throughout the saga include The Iron Horse, The Big Trail, Westward the Women, The Searchers, and Dances With Wolves. As mentioned, the story is divided into six parts: "Wheel to the Stars," in which the fates of Jacob Wheeler and Loved by the Buffalo become forever intertwined; "Manifest Destiny," chronicling the first major trek to California; "Dreams & Schemes," wherein the Lakota lands are despoiled by Gold Fever and war breaks out between the North and South; "Hell on Wheels," chronicling the postwar chaos and the coming of the railroad; "Casualties of War," wherein the conflict between Native Americans and the white man results in wholesale bloodshed -- and, surprisingly, a "counter-revolution" of compassion and understanding; and "Ghost Dance," the last great stand of the Lakota, which brings the story full circle. Largely filmed in the Canadian Rockies over a six-month period, and utilizing the talents of six directors, Into the West premiered June 10, 2005, on the TNT cable network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Door to Door is the inspirational true story of a man who refused to let severe physical debilitation get in the way of his life's goal. William H. Macy (who also co-wrote the script) stars as Bill Porter, a Portland, OR, native born with cerebral palsy. Despite his spastic walk and oddly shaped countenance, Bill intends to succeed in life on ability rather than the pity of the unafflicted. Thus, in 1955, he manages to land a job as a door-to-door salesman for the Watkins Company. At first, Bill meets with nothing but slammed doors, hostile dogs, and unashamed hostility from "normal" people; but after making his first sale to a reclusive alcoholic named Gladys (Kathy Baker), there is literally no stopping him. For next 40 years, Bill walks some eight to ten miles per day plying his trade, winning one "salesman of the year" award after another. Also in the cast is Helen Mirren as Bill's supportive but aphasic mother, and Kyra Sedgwick as Bill's young assistant, Shelley, whose Herculean efforts to get the hero to "modernize" his tried-and-true methods invariably come a cropper. Door to Door debuted July 14, 2002, over the TNT cable network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This made-for-TV fantasy was based on Rod Serling's "A Stop at Willoughby," a 1960 episode of Serling's classic anthology series Twilight Zone. The story begins in the year 2000, with advertising executive Charles Lattimer (Mark Harmon) escaping his hectic professional life and increasingly dissatisfying marriage to wife Kristen (Catherine Hicks) by obsessively tinkering with his elaborate model-train set. Through the aid of a magic stopwatch, Charles boards a real train and is whisked back to 1896, where he inaugurates a romance with attractive widow Laura Brown (Mary McDonnell). Traversing back and forth through the years, Charles ultimately finds that he will never truly be happy until he chooses between the "real" world and the world fashioned by his nostalgic imagination. Filmed in Alberta, For All Time made its CBS network debut on October 18, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Set in the institutionally segregated New Orleans of 1965, the made-for-cable Passing Glory is the story of black priest Father Joseph Verrett (Andre Braugher) and his efforts to arrange the first integrated high-school basketball game in the city's history. Against the wishes of trepid white parish leader Father Robert Grant (Rip Torn), Fr. Verrett encourages the team members of the all-black -- and undefeated -- St. Augustine High School basketball team to prepare to play the equally successful all-white team of Jesuit Prep. Throughout it all, Fr. Verrett must learn to curb his own impatience over the racial status quo, and to keep his own faith afloat. Although some of the scenes are drawn in broad, unsubtle strokes -- especially those involving the bigoted father of Jesuit Prep's best player -- the film is thoroughly credible, right down to the last-second winning basket. Earning extra points for having its heart in the right place, Passing Glory made its TNT cable network bow on February 21, 1999. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

"It makes Fatal Attraction seem like a walk in the park." Thus did ABC herald the three-hour TV movie Virtual Obsession when it first aired on February 26, 1998. Set in Salt Lake City sometime in the future, the story, based on a novel by Peter James, concerns a scientist named Joe Messenger (Peter Gallagher), who has created a super-computer in charge of all the city's power. In the course of his research, Joe has also developed a "post-biological" man in the form of Albert (Tom Nibley), the holographic A.I. manifestation of his computer. Enter Juliet Spring (Bridgette Wilson), a beautiful computer tech who becomes Joe's assistant. Incurably ill, Juliet hopes to keep herself alive by downloading her brain and personality into Joe's computer system. To expedite this, Juliet seductively steals Joe away from his long-suffering wife, Karen (Mimi Rogers). Ultimately, Joe breaks off with Juliet and returns to Karen, thereby incurring the terrible wrath of the now-computerized Juliet -- who is not only deadly, but virtually unstoppable. Almost as confusing to watch as it is to describe, Virtual Obsession has been rerun on cable TV under the title Host. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Shirley Maclaine stars as a reclusive piano player in this made-for-television movie based on the play by Ernest Thompson. Maclaine plays Margaret Mary Elderdice, a loner-type who befriends her next-door neighbor and violinist Cara Varnum (Liza Minnelli) only so the two can play music together. Margaret's life takes a turn into new territory and expands beyond its small confines though, with the addition of her young, aspiring-actress housemaid (Jennifer Grey). ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide

A bright girl finds mystery, adventure, and excitement when she takes up residence at an art museum in this made-for-TV adaptation of the award-winning book for young people by E.L. Konigsburg. Claudia (Jean Marie Barnwell) is the middle child in a busy family. She's bright, dependable, and her mother often counts on her to help around the house. But Claudia gets the feeling she's being taken for granted and with the help of Jamie (Jesse Lee), her younger brother who has a small stash of money he won playing cards, she runs away from home. Claudia and Jamie take up residence in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which not only satisfies her sense of adventure but her desire from something grander than life in suburban Connecticut. Claudia soon finds something to occupy her time at the museum -- one Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (Lauren Bacall) has donated a striking statue to the museum which might be the work of none other than Michaelangelo. However, none of the experts are certain one way or the other, and Claudia takes it upon herself to solve this mystery -- with a little help from Mrs. Frankweiler. This marked the second time From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler has been brought to the screen; a theatrical film adapted from the book was released in 1973 with Ingrid Bergman in the title role. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This made-for-cable Civil War tale chronicles the famous naval battle between the Confederate Army's Merrimac and the Union's Monitor. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

In this holiday drama, a widowed architect tries to mix business with pleasure when he takes his daughter on a business trip to a strange town in Colorado. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide