Reed Diamond Movies

This third-season opener for the ABC Afterschool Special series is based on Betsy Byars' Newbery award-winning book, The Summer of the Swans. Like most 14-year old girls, Sarah Godfrey (Heather Totten) is wrapped up with the usual problems of puberty: she's moody, self-conscious, has trouble making friends, and is averse to thinking about anyone's problems other than her own. But a sudden crisis involving her mentally challenged younger brother (Reed Diamond) shakes Sarah out of her self-involvement and helps her make great strides in emotional maturity. ~ All Movie Guide

Larry Peerce directed this tired disaster movie about a mad sniper loose in a football stadium. At the beginning, the sniper picks off a cyclist for practice and then takes roost in the top tower of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Sent in to stop the terror is Captain Peter Holly (Charlton Heston), who wants to get his hands on the sniper without endangering the lives of the people in the stadium. Unfortunately, there is a second group of law enforcement officers, a tactical commando group, who want to go into the stadium and rush the sniper -- regardless of the danger such an action would cause to the crowd watching the game. The sniper plans to start blasting at the two-minute warning signal of the football game. Holly has to find the sniper before the two-minute warning is given -- not merely to prevent the killings threatened by the sniper but to head off the tactical force before any other unnecessary deaths are incurred by the force's bulldog techniques. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Based on the Willa Cather novel, this Hallmark Hall of Fame telefilm stars Jessica Lange as Alexandra Bergson, a single woman who inherits her family farm, much to the dismay of her siblings. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

This is the third film based on Tom Clancy's high-tech espionage potboilers starring CIA deputy director Jack Ryan. Harrison Ford, returning to the Ryan role after his first go-round in 1992's Patriot Games, is assigned to a delicate anti-drug investigation after a close friend of the President (a Reaganesque Donald Moffat) is murdered by a Colombian drug cartel. When Ryan discovers that the President's wealthy friend was in league with the cartel, the President's devious national security adviser (Harris Yulin) and an ambitious CIA deputy director (Henry Czerny) send a secret paramilitary force into Colombia to wipe out the drug lords. The force is captured and then abandoned by the President's lackeys. It falls to Ryan to enter Colombia and rescue them, aided only by a renegade operative named Clark (Willem Dafoe), with both his life and career on the line. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

Not all is what it seems as the detectives investigate a hate crime perpetrated by skinheads in a gay community. In other developments, Howard (Melissa Leo) displays an unattractive case of envy when Lewis (Clark Johnson) begins to make headway in an unsolved case left behind by the late Steve Crosetti. And actor Max Perlich takes his first steps toward becoming a full-fledged series regular when his recurring character, J.H. Brodie, is hired by Homicide to videotape recent crime scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The homicide detectives team up with the FBI to track down a serial killer who is moving progressively northward on I-95. The combined law officers manage to capture a man (Jeffrey Donovan) who fits the description of the killer perfectly -- only to find out that they might have the wrong person in custody. And in another development, Giardello (Yaphet Kotto) has an awkward meeting with his estranged daughter. The role of TV reporter Dawn Daniels is played by Rhonda Overby, a real-life correspondent for Baltimore's NBC affiliate WBAL-TV. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the concluding episode of Homicide: Life on the Street's two-part season-four opener, the discovery of a second body at an arson scene suggests that the fire was started to cover up a double homicide. With Bayliss (Kyle Secor) sidelined by illness, his partner, Pembleton (Andre Braugher), is reluctantly teamed with brash arson detective Kellerman (Reed Diamond), who continues to rub the homicide squad the wrong way when he turns down a transfer offer extended by Giardello (Yaphet Kotto). Meanwhile, Munch (Richard Belzer) and Howard (Melissa Leo) compete for a coveted promotion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Kellie Martin stars as a teen wrongly accused of setting a deadly arson fire in this made-for-television drama. Martin plays Billie Calhoun, a girl who has been held in a juvenile detention facility since being accused of killing her mother and sister in a fire. Up for a possible early release on her 18th birthday, Billie is again denied her freedom. Steadfastly denying any involvement and determined to find out the truth on her own, Billie escapes from the center. Out on her own, she disguises herself and befriends a young cop named Matt Samoni (Antonio Sabato Jr), and together they set out to uncover the truth. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide

Jay Leno makes a brief uncredited appearance in this first episode of a two-part story , in which the homicide unit "celebrates" the new year by going after a serial sniper who strikes every eight hours. Having already claimed nine victims, the elusive killer taunts the cops by leaving behind cryptic clues based on the old game hangman. While investigating the case, Bayliss (Kyle Secor) is hampered by back pains, leading to a potentially dangerous dependency on medication. And Barnfather (Clayton LeBouef), frustrated by the lack of progress in tracking down the sniper, takes out his frustrations on Russert (Isabella Hoffman), leading to a momentous showdown. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This episode of Homicide: Life on the Street is the conclusion of "Charm City," a two-part story introduced on the TV series Law & Order. Baltimore homicide detectives Pembleton (Andre Braugher) and Bayliss (Kyle Secor) have gone to New York to investigate a subway bombing which may be linked to a similar case that occurred in their own city five years earlier. It soon becomes clear that their investigation is being thwarted by a widespread official coverup. Also involved in the case are three Law & Order regulars: detectives Rey Curtis (Benjamin Bratt) and Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach), and ADA Claire Kincaid (Jill Hennessy). The presence of Briscoe ticks off Baltimore detective John Munch (Richard Belzer); it seems that Lennie was once intimate with John's ex-wife. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An ER doctor (Mimi Kennedy) is suspected of withholding vital evidence in the mysterious shooting of a burglar. An enormous man who has gone on a rampage proves to be a major challenge for Lewis (Clark Johnson) and Kellerman (Reed Diamond) -- and also indirectly exposes a number of skeletons in the closet of Lewis' family. And Munch (Richard Belzer) is continually frustrated in his efforts to find out whom Howard (Melissa Leo) is dating. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lewis (Clark Johnson) and Bayliss (Kyle Secor) investigate the murder of a 15-year-old student at an exclusive prep school. Complications arise when the prime suspect turns out to be the son of a powerful Baltimore judge -- and the detectives can't shake the feeling that the boy is guilty even after another student confesses. Back at the squad room, Pembleton (Andre Braugher) is allowed to return to active duty, though he is still pretty shaky after his stroke; and Kellerman (Reed Diamond) continues to be victimized by the ongoing federal investigation of corruption in the arson unit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The fiancée of assistant district attorney Ed Danvers (Zeljko Ivanek) is shot and killed while shopping for her wedding ensemble. Already unnerved by the killing, and by his own self-doubts regarding his opposition to the death penalty, Danvers is none too happy that his perennial nemesis Pembleton (Andre Braugher) has been assigned to investigate the murder. Elsewhere, Kellerman (Reed Diamond) receives some disheartening news just before he is to testify before the federal grand jury; and while trying to help Kellerman defend himself against corruption charges, Giardello (Yaphet Kotto) learns the real reason that he was not promoted to captain. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide