Will Nye Movies
Director Ron Underwood follows up his crowd-pleasing hit City Slickers (1991) with this likable, feel-good comedy drama about a selfish businessman who discovers that he's permanently being followed by a group of ghosts. In 1959, a bus accident links the spirits of four fatally injured passengers to a newborn baby whose birth is caused by the crash. For 25 years, Milo (Tom Sizemore), Harrison (Charles Grodin), Penny (Alfre Woodard) and Julia (Kyra Sedgwick) remain bound to Thomas Reilly (Robert Downey Jr.), who believes the quartet to be imaginary childhood friends that have long since disappeared. When the four spooks suddenly realize that they are meant to use Thomas as a conduit to bring closure to their unfinished corporeal lives, they reemerge, causing Thomas to think that he's gone insane. As he becomes reattached to his supernatural companions, however, Thomas' innate decency asserts itself and he begins helping them to right the wrongs in their lives, allowing them to possess his body to achieve their goal of settling accounts and moving on into the afterlife. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Downey, Jr., Charles Grodin, (more)
- 1992
Although his Mother denies his involvement in a brutal attack that left her critically injured and her husband dead, a college student is forced to deal with his guilt. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sharon Gless, William McNamara, (more)
- 1991
Kevin Dobson stars in the made-for-TV melodrama Fatal Friendship. Playing the longtime best friend of Gerald McRaney, Dobson is somewhat taken aback when he learns that McRaney is a contract killer. This revelation puts a crimp in their relationship, and also drains Dobson's energies as he tries to catch McRaney in the act. Yes, we know: the audience didn't swallow this one either. Fatal Friendship was first telecast (with an ominous lack of network promotion) on December 1, 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1991
In the seventh-season finale of Murder She Wrote, Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) joins forces with her old friend, Boston PI Harry McGraw (Jerry Orbach), to solve a murder. The victim was Nick Culhane (Pat Harrington Jr.) a former writer turned spokesman for a major beer manufacturing firm. It turns out that at the time of his death, Nick had been working on an expose of dirty doings within the powerful brewing family who had hired him! Featured in the cast is former US Postmaster General Anthony Frank...as a mailman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1991
Long believed to be dead, bank robber Ned Jinks (Donnelly Rhodes) returns to Cabot Cove after twenty years in hopes of visiting his daughter Bonnie (Claudia Christian). Not only must Ned face the hostility of the local citizenry, but he is also slapped with a murder charge when one of his oldest enemies is knocked off. Exercising her prerogative as Bonnie's friend and neighbor, Jessica (Angela Lansbury) attempts to find out who is really the guilty party. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1990
The ladies of Cabot Cove are enchanted by a newcomer to the community, handsome gym instructor Wayne Bennett (Jason Beghe). Especially fascinated by Bennett is Eve Simpson (Julie Adams), who naturally is an old friend of Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury). When Bennett's onetime partner, con artist Fred Kepper (Hugh O'Brien), turns up dead in Eve's bedroom, Jessica can't bring herself to believe that her friend had anything to do with this awkward turn of events--and as always, Jessica knows best. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1990
Saddled with a broken arm, Jessica (Angela Lansbury) hires a temporary typist named Melissa (Lise Cutter) to help her meet a deadline. "Dead" is right: It turns out that Melissa is a virtual mystery novel all in herself, as proven when she inveigles a moonstruck cub reporter into helping her tamper with some evidence at a murder scene. The victim is Melissa's loutish husband (Cliff Potts), whose body is moved to his own lumberyard as an efforts to keep Melissa from being implicated--but things don't quite work out as planned, obliging Jessica to play detective yet once more. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1989
Purchasing an antique bureau at a furniture store rummage sale, Jessica finds an old, undelivered letter in one of the drawers. For reasons made clear in the episode, she turns the letter over to a local volunteer fireman (Jonathan Goldsmith)--who later perishes in a blaze that was deliberately set at the very same furniture store. Want to bet that the letter and the murder are somehow linked, and that Jessica will find that link before episode's end? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1989
Father Barnes (Hunt Block), a young Cabot Cove priest, refuses to reveal the words spoken by a parishioner during Confessional. It doesn't matter that the parishioner has confessed to killing a person in self-defense: Father Barnes is bound by the rules of his order, and remains mum. The situation gets worse when another person is accused of the killing, at which point Jessica Fletcher, bound by no rules other than her own, decides to intervene. This episode marks the first of several series appearances by Madlyn Rhue, an actress who had been forced into virtual retirement by multiple sclerosis, but who was able to pay her medical bills by occasionally appearing on Murder She Wrote through the auspices of her friend Angela Lansbury. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1989
In the conclusion of Murder She Wrote's two-part Season Five finale, Jessica (Angela Lansbury) is still contending with her witchy rival mystery writer Eudora McVeigh Shipton (Jean Simmons). Although the duplicitous Eudora confesses that she has stolen the notes for Jessica's latest novel, she denies that she tried to do her rival in with a poisoned apple--and even more emphatically denies murdering the detective who has trailed Eudora all the way to Cabot Cove. The two amateur sleuths decide to briefly bury the hatchet and solve the mystery...provided that Eudora can be trusted any farther than she can be thrown! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1989
In the first episode of Murder She Wrote's two-part Season Five finale, Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) crosses swords with rival mystery writer Eudora McVeigh Shipton (Jean Simmons). Envious that Jessica's star has risen while hers has fallen, Eudora publicly declares that she intends to murder our heroine! But when Eudora shows up in Cabot Cove, she couldn't be more friendly or effusive towards Jessica. In fact, Eudora is even bearing a gift...a basket of big juicy apples.(Check the title of this episode and you'll see where this is going!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1989
The citizens of Cabot Cove are terrified by the arrival of young Irene Terhune (Julian Donald), an apparent practitioner of black magic. Rumors are rife that Irene is actually the ghost of Annie Gorman, a local witch who had supposedly died centuries ago. Inevitably, murder rears it ugly head and Irene (or Annie) is held responsible, but Jessica (Angela Lansbury) refuses to hum along with the old song "It's Witchcraft." And yes, that's future political satirist Bill Maher in the role of Rick Rivers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1988
In this droll derivation of "Arsenic and Old Lace", former 1940s film ingénues Teresa Wright and Joan Leslie are cast as the spinsterish Appletree sisters, Cabot Cove's resident eccentrics. With the annual flower show coming up, it looks as though dear old Helen and Lillian Appletree are going to win first prize with their chrysanthemums, which have bloomed beautifully and beyond all expectations. What no one else in town knows is that the ladies have come upon a wonderful new "fertiziler"--namely, the body of one Morris Penroy (Henry Jones), whom they have buried beneath their flower bed. When a second corpse pops up at the Appletree house, Cabot Cove's new sheriff Mort Metzger (Ron Masak, making his first appearance in this recurring role) cannot help but suspect that the old biddies have committed murder--but as usual, Jessica (Angela Lansbury) has concluded that someone else is responsible. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
Intending to complete a master's thesis about the sexual relationships between men and women, sociology student Paul Barton sets off to capture examples on videotape. Paul's viewfinder takes him around campus and into rooms of a sleazified Hollywood motel to get first-hand study sessions. During his adventure, he meets and falls for fellow student Jeanne and begins a more personal exploration in the Love Zone. This comedy drama contains sex, nudity, and profanity. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stephen Shellen, Marie Laurin, (more)
First shot as "Up the Pentagon," this comedy is about a sexy worker who shuns the quick-handed advances of her Pentagon boss and gets fired. To pay him back for her unjust dismissal, she and two other gals manipulate their way back into Pentagon jobs and go about setting up a bunch of top-level male lechers for early unscheduled retirements. This is a lady-payback type film with plenty of dirty talk, but not much else. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anne Dusenberry, Rhonda Shear, (more)
In this spoof of McCarthy-era paranoia and 1950s wholesomeness, the characters and plot are drawn from the popular Parker Brothers board game of the same name. On a dark and stormy night in 1954, six individuals with ties to Washington are assembled for a dinner party at the swanky mansion of one Mr. Boddy (Lee Ving). Boddy's butler, Wadsworth (Tim Curry), assigns each guest a colorful name: Mr. Green (Michael McKean), Col. Mustard (Martin Mull), Mrs. Peacock (Eileen Brennan), Professor Plum (Christopher Lloyd), Miss Scarlet (Lesley Ann Warren), and Mrs. White (Madeline Kahn). Two additional servants, the Cook (Kellye Nakahara) and Yvette, the maid (Colleen Camp), assist Wadsworth as he informs the guests that they have been gathered to meet the man who has been blackmailing them: Mr. Boddy. When Boddy turns up dead, however, the guests must try to figure out who killed him so they can protect their own reputations and keep the body count from growing. Three separate endings were filmed for Clue and shown in different theaters; all three are collected for the video edition. Although the film is set in the 1950s, the original Clue game was actually devised by Anthony Pratt, a clerk in Leeds, England, to pass the time during World War II air-raid drills. First released in 1946 under the name Cluedo by British manufacturer Waddington's, Clue was renamed and released in the U.S. in 1949. Today, Clue/Cluedo is marketed in 70 countries around the world and has been adapted into a British game show and an off-Broadway musical. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eileen Brennan, Tim Curry, (more)
- 1985
Fed up with David's childish behavior, Maddie (Cybill Shepherd) bets him that he can't act in a mature manner throughout their next case. David (Bruce Willis) does his best, even though the case at hand--delivering the ransom money for a kidnapped concert pianist--offers ample temptation for him to cut up. By the time the situation is resolved, however, Maddie kind of misses the "old" David and would like to have him back. This is the episode with the infamous (and much-copied) "office limbo" scene. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
In this made-for-television romantic comedy, a book editor (Tim Matheson) falls for a co-worker (Kate Jackson) and has difficulty balancing his career with his love life. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kate Jackson, Tim Matheson, (more)
- 1982
Sitcom stalwart Valerie Harper trades jokes for the judiciary in Farrell: For the People. Valerie stars as New York attorney Elizabeth Farrell ("All she wants to be is a DA", declared the TV Guide ad copy, "but her toughest case is being a woman!"), whose case load runs the gamut from rapists to killers. This TV movie borrows a page from current events by fictionalizing the notorious Norman Mailer/Jack Henry Abbott contretemps. Farrell takes on an ex-convict who has become a best-selling author thanks to the intervention of the Manhattan intellectual elite--and whose latest creative achievement is murder. Farrell: for the People was the pilot for a projected TV series, but the central character was too bland and confining for Valerie Harper's talents. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
