Cheryl Pollak Movies

Richard Murphy made his feature directorial debut with this drama about sexy Hollywood film star Betty Monday (Cheryl Pollak) who walks away from a $70-million movie during production. In search of a more meaningful way of life, she drives to Palm Springs, rents a condo from slightly unreal real estate agent Vincent Lord (Udo Kier), and pursues her quest for "the truth" by delivering groceries and cleaning pools -- despite pressure from her manager, Crystal Ball (Holland Taylor), who wants her back in front of the cameras. Shown at the 1998 Palm Springs Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

William Russ, Cheryl Pollak, and Esai Morales star in this made-for-TV movie about a young television reporter's adventures in San Francisco. Also shown as Bay City Story. Direction credited to Alan Smithee. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This suspenseful drama tells the chilling true story of up-and-coming model Marla Hanson who was viciously attacked by a make-up man after she rejected his advances. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The made-for-TV Perfect People is an engaging rehash of a plot device that has been surefire since the 1925 Charley Chase two-reeler Mighty Like a Moose. After several years of marriage, Perry King and Lauren Hutton have turned into plump, boring middle-agers. With their sex life in shambles, the couple decides to turn their lives around with dieting, exercise, plastic surgery and "tummy tucks." In recapturing their youth, King and Hutton very nearly lose each other. The makeup artists in Perfect People do such a remarkable job in turning the dazzling Lauren Hutton and Perry King into baggy old frumps that, once the characters return to their "normal" selves, interest in the story lags and the film loses its comic momentum. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A reporter discovers both his writing and his sexual appetites can have deadly consequences in the thriller No Strings Attached. Vincent Spano plays Mark Demetrius, a journalist who is pressuring his editor, Elliot (Michael McKean), to run an investigative piece he's written on a psychiatrist with some very nasty habits. It seems one Dr. Singer (David Ackroyd) has a history of getting female patients addicted to drugs and then abusing them sexually. Elliot is reluctant to run the story, fearing legal reprisals, but agrees under the condition that Mark help him out by writing a puff piece on women's sexual fantasies. The magazine has set up a phone line for women to call in and discuss their desires, and one day Mark takes a call from Nicole (Cheryl Pollak). Mark becomes fascinated with Nicole, and is obsessed with meeting her, despite a happy, long-term relationship with his fiancée Sarah (Traci Lind). Mark eventually meets Nicole and she seduces him (not that he minds), but Mark soon discovers Nicole is not all she seems to be as his life and career are both placed in grave danger. Displaying a bit more style and smarts than the average erotic thriller, No Strings Attached was directed by Josef Rusnak, who later went on to make The Thirteenth Floor. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Teenage angst finds a new voice in this drama. By day, Mark Hunter (Christian Slater) is a quiet, studious student at an ordinary suburban high school in Arizona. But at night, Mark creeps down into his basement, fires up his pirate radio transmitter, and broadcasts to the community as Hard Harry, a sexually obsessed social commentator who passes along angry philosophy about the state of teenage life when not blasting punk rock or gangsta rap cuts. Hard Harry's sworn nemesis is high school principal Mrs. Cresswood (Annie Ross), who keeps SAT scores up at the expense of her students' dignity and individuality by eliminating "troublemakers" from the student body. Hard Harry's broadcasts, however, have become a rallying point for the school's misfit underclass, and Mrs. Cresswood is determined to track down the mystery student and bring him to justice (broadcasting without a license, he's not merely an annoyance, but a criminal). The war against Hard Harry intensifies when he broadcasts data from confidential school board reports; Mark's father is a school commissioner, but he has no idea what his son is doing in the basement. Meanwhile, Mark gains the attentions of Nora (Samantha Mathis), who has figured out who he becomes at night. More serious and intelligent than the average teen film, Pump Up the Volume was written and directed by Allan Moyle, who previously dealt with disaffected, music-obsessed teens in Times Square and would return to them with Empire Records. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A youthful Brad Pitt stars in this drama about a man looking for the cure to a rare skin disease who discovers love on the way. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

In this romantic comedy fantasy, an angel (Emmanuelle Beart) with a heavenly body falls into the swimming pool of Jim Sanders (Michael E. Knight). Hung over from his bachelor party, his encounter with the angel has Jim questioning his upcoming marriage to Patty (Phoebe Cates), the daughter of a wealthy cosmetics mogul (David Dukes). After he helps the injured celestial being, Jim must protect her from his lecherous friends and his curious fiance. Beart's beauty and performance is the highlight of the film even though she does not speak. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide