Jeannette Kerner Movies
With a career that spanned over 60 years on stage and screen, Jeannette Kerner did everything from costume design to dancing in addition to her work as an actress. Remaining active well into her later years, Kerner appeared late in her career in such popular films as Less Than Zero (1987) and The Mighty Ducks (1992).A native of Omaha, NE, Kerner moved to Hollywood in order to study costume and fashion design at Art Center College of Design, concurrently beginning voice and dancing lessons and becoming a charter member of SAG in 1936. Married to physician Jerry Kerner three years later, the actress appeared uncredited in 1937's History Is Made at Night. She subsequently gained roles on stage and later in television and film. Her most frequent film work came later in her career and, from 1987 on, she appeared in such made-for-television efforts as Do You Know the Muffin Man (1989), as well as all three Mighty Ducks films and, in 1997, an uncredited role in the live-action adaptation of George of the Jungle. Kerner's son Jordan kept Hollywood in the family with his career as a film producer.
On May 25, 2000, Jeannette Kerner died of natural causes in Los Angeles. She was 85. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1995
The struggle of country music's mother-daughter duo The Judds is told in this made-for-television drama. Kathleen York stars as Naomi Judd (then known as Diana Judd) a single mother of two daughters, who turned to music as way to help positively influence her increasingly belligerent and rebellious eldest daughter Wynonna (then known as Christina). The movie chronicles Naomi's struggle to provide for her daughters (the youngest is actress Ashley Judd), the singing duo's rise from Nashville fame to national celebrity, the ups and downs that accompanied a working family relationship, and Naomi's eventual retirement from the music business. The movie was based on Naomi's autobiography Love Can Build A Bridge. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
In this sequel to the kid-friendly sports comedy The Mighty Ducks, Gordon Bombay (Emilio Estevez) takes one more shot at a career as a professional hockey player, but a severe knee injury sidelines him for good. However, his success coaching a rag-tag pee-wee hockey team in Minneapolis (as chronicled in the first film) has attracted the attention of a major sportswear firm, which hires him to coach the United States team for the Junior Goodwill Games. Gordon reassembles most of the Mighty Ducks along with several new players, including a huge bully who is great on defense (if low on social skills), a figure skater who knows how to move on the ice, and a hotshot goalie who happens to be a girl. However, the excitement of a trip to Los Angeles and a large dose of overconfidence puts the team at a severe disadvantage when they're pitted against the top-ranked Icelandic team. D2: The Mighty Ducks features cameo appearances from hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, champion figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, whose athletic career has never involved ice skating. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emilio Estevez, Kathryn Erbe, (more)
Roseanne Arnold, her then-husband Tom Arnold and Shelley Duvall teamed up to produce the made-for-TV Backfield in Motion. Roseanne plays a widowed real-estate agent who lives with her teenaged son Johnny Galecki. Mother and son have moved to an upstate California town where high school football-and male chauvinism--reigns supreme. When Galecki joins the junior-varsity team, Roseanne, appalled by the subservient behavior of the town wives, organizes a "mothers vs. sons" football game. Tom Arnold costars as the school's vice-principal, who puts his standing in town on the line when he falls in love with Roseanne. Backfield in Motion was originally telecast November 13, 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Set during the Watts riots of the mid-'60s, the made-for-cable Heat Wave follows the story of Los Angeles Times reporter Robert Richardson (Blair Underwood), who was the only journalist on staff able to cover the story, since White reporters were unable to gain access to the area and the rioters. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Blair Underwood, Cicely Tyson, (more)
The once-in-a-lifetime collaboration between star Gene Wilder and director Leonard Nimoy resulted in the charmingly haphazard and anachronistic Funny About Love. Wilder plays political cartoonist Duffy Bergman, who falls in love with much-younger Meg (Christine Lahti) during a book-signing session. Once married, the old "clash of careers" bugaboo arises: Meg wants to continue working as a chef in a fancy New York restaurant, while Duffy would prefer that she think about starting a family. When it seems as though Meg may be incapable of bearing children, the self-involved Duffy impregnates earthy college coed Daphne (Mary Stuart Masterson). How a happy ending can grow from this complication is a puzzlement. Funny About Love was based--extremely loosely--on a speech once delivered by Chicago Tribune columnist Bob Greene. The laughs tend to be sporadic, though Stephen Toblowsky scores high marks as a jocular fertility doctor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Wilder, Christine Lahti, (more)
Do You Know the Muffin Man? was the first of a brace of TV movies about day-care abuse (see also Unspeakable Acts). Pam Dawber and John Shea play the parents of a preschool child who comes home one day with horrible stories about the staff of his day care center. The owners of the center are two highly respected social pillars, who automatically deny all charges and accuse the parents of fabricating the whole thing. Despite the looming spectres of public ridicule and financial ruin, Dawber and Shea hire lawyers and pursue the case. Once the story switches to the courtroom, the emphasis shifts from the adult litigants to the prosecution's difficulties in coaxing the children to testify without inducing further damage. Do You Know the Muffin Man? is handled with care and discretion, though dramatically it covers more legal and emotional ground than its two-hour length can hold. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This drama about affluent Los Angeles teens is taken from the novel by Bret Easton Ellis. Clay (Andrew McCarthy) is a college freshman who returns home during Christmas break. Clay's old flame Blair (Jamie Gertz) is now more interested in her new beau Julian (Robert Downey, Jr.), the fun-loving party boy with a penchant for drugs. While Clay tries to rekindle a thing with Blair, Julian becomes addicted to cocaine and starts freebasing. Julian's friends try halfheartedly to intervene, with no success. Soon he is so far in debt to drug dealer Rip (James Spader) that Julian becomes a male prostitute, whoring for enough money for his next fix. Michael Bowen co-stars with Tony Bill and Nicholas Pryor in this trip into the seamy world of darkness in sunny California. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andrew McCarthy, Jami Gertz, (more)
