Michael Preston Movies

A "black widow killer" is at the center of this episode. First, detectives Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Curtis (Benjamin Bratt). Next, A.D.A.'s McCoy (Sam Waterston) and Carmichael (Angie Harmon) shed the spotlight of suspicion on Dennis Pollock (Matt Keeslar), a young man who is romantically involved with two considerably older women. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After they're framed for murder, a young couple must outrun the police--and a one-eyed hit man--in order to find the real killers. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Writer/director John Sayles' dramatization of the most infamous episode in professional sports -- the fix of the 1919 World Series -- is considered by many to be among his best films and arguably the best baseball movie ever made. This adaptation of Eliot Asinof's definitive study of the scandal shows how athletes of another era were a different breed from the well-paid stars of later years. The Chicago White Sox owner, Charlie Comiskey (Clifton James), is portrayed as a skinflint with little inclination to reward his team for their spectacular season. When a gambling syndicate led by Arnold Rothstein (Michael Lerner) gets wind of the players' discontent, it offers a select group of stars -- including pitcher Eddie Cicotte (Sayles regular David Strathairn), infielder Buck Weaver (John Cusack), and outfielder "Shoeless" Joe Jackson (D. B. Sweeney) -- more money to play badly than they would have earned to try to win the Series against the Cincinnati Reds. Sayles cast the story with actors who look and perform like real jocks, and added a colorful supporting cast that includes Studs Terkel as reporter Hugh Fullerton and Sayles himself as Ring Lardner. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide

In one of their last professional appearances together, David and Meredith Baxter Birney star in the made-for-TV The Long Journey Home. David plays a Vietnam MIA, declared legally dead; Meredith plays his wife, who after an eight-year waiting period has decided to marry again. Two days before the wedding, David emerges from an underground garage and re-enters Meredith's life. He relates several incredible stories of his experiences, all of which convince Meredith that she's dealing with a dangerous paranoiac. It turns out, however, that one of his "tall tales"-the one concerning an assassin who's been stalking David since his return-is all too terribly true. Essentially a chase-and-pursuit melodrama, The Long Journey Home is a throat-grabber from start to finish. The film originally aired November 29, 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Independent filmmaker John Sayles creates one of his more artistic works with this period feature about a volatile 1920s labor dispute in the town of Matewan, West Virginia. Matewan is a coal town where the local miners' lives are controlled by the powerful Stone Mountain Coal Company. The company practically owns the town, reducing workers' wages while raising prices at the company-owned supply and grocery. The citizens' land and homes are not their own, and the future seems dim. When the coal company brings immigrants and minorities to Matewan as cheaper labor, union organizer Joe Kenehan (Chris Cooper) scours the town to unite all miners in a strike. As the crisis grows, strikers and their families are removed from their homes by two coal company mercenaries (Kevin Tighe and Gordon Clapp, both also featured in Sayles' Eight Men Out (1988)), and the situation heads toward a final shootout on Matewan's main street . Sayles' simple but telling screenplay brings to light the treatment of immigrants and minorities in the early 20th century South, and it draws sharp parallels between the Matewan labor battle and the Civil War some 50 years earlier. The visual feel of the film is real West Virginia backwoods, with much of the credit going to legendary cinematographer Haskell Wexler, whose warm, rustic lighting belies the anxiety and terror felt by the oppressed townspeople. ~ Norm Schrager, All Movie Guide

While playing the monster in the low-budget horror flick "Gatorella", Hannibal (George Peppard) scouts around for appropriate South American locations on behalf of his producer friend Jerry Isaacson (Michael Lerner). With the help of fellow A-Teamer Face (Dirk Benedict)--who is promised a leading role in the film for his efforts--the ideal location is found near the Argentinian estate of Ramon De Jarro (Walter Gotell). Unfortunately, the minute the A-Team arrives on the scene, De Jarro betrays them to Col. Decker (Lance LeGault). But De Jarro isn't the villain of the piece: he has taken this action to save the women and children of a local village from the wrath of a fugitive gangster (who, of course, soon becomes the A-Team's prime target!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the first episode of a two-part story (originally telecast as a single two-hour "special"), Barry Van Dyke plays Brian Leftcourt, archaeologist boyfriend of journalist Tawnia Baker (Marla Heasley). When Brian disappears during an expedition through the Brazilian rain forest, Tawnia persuades the A-Team to go to his rescue. Despite the strong possibility that if the snakes and monkeys don't get 'em, the malaria will, the Team agrees to this assignment. In due time, our heroes (and heroine) run afoul of a fierce river pirate known as "The Coffin" (Sergio Calderon)--but he isn't the real villain of the piece! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The classic tale of a kind-hearted princess stalked by a jealous stepmother is brought to life in this early episode of Faerie Tale Theatre. Elizabeth McGovern is Snow White, the princess whose stepmother, the queen, banishes her because she is jealous of the girl's beauty. She takes up residence with a septet of friendly dwarfs in the woods, but eventually falls victim to a poisoned apple delivered by the queen in disguise. Only a kiss from a prince (Rex Smith) will awaken her. Veteran actress Vanessa Redgrave portrays the insanely wicked queen, and Vincent Price lends his incomparable voice and screen presence to the film as the queen's omnipresent magic mirror. ~ Carrie Downes, All Movie Guide

When a Melbourne toy manufacturer discovers his wife is having an affair, he can't really get too distressed. After all, he's having an affair as well. However, when his mistress decides she wants to get married, his life becomes complicated and his business affairs have to be put on hold. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

Director George Miller's follow-up to his own 1979 hit Mad Max is proof that not all sequels are inferior to their originals. If anything, this brutal sci-fi action film is even more intense and exciting than its predecessor, although the state of its post-apocalyptic world has only become worse. Several years after the deaths of his wife and child, Max (Mel Gibson) has become an alienated nomad, wandering an Australian outback that has fallen into tribal warfare conducted from scattered armed camps. After a road battle with psychotic villain Wez (Vernon Wells), Max meets up with the odd Gyro Captain (Bruce Spence), who takes him to the camp of a sympathetic group led by Pappagallo (Mike Preston). As Pappagallo's people are camped at a refinery, Max plans to take their oil -- more precious than gold in this world -- but eventually joins them to fight a band of marauders led by the evil Humungus (Kjell Nilsson). The stunning climax features a heart-pounding chase scene involving an oil tanker-truck and a frenzied rush for the coast, with Humungus and his forces in hot pursuit. Nilsson is a scary villain, with huge muscles and a sinister pre-Jason hockey mask, but the stunt work is the key here, and it is more flamboyantly dynamic than ever, edited at breakneck pace and staged with manic fury by Miller and stunt coordinator Max Aspin. Savage and kinetic, Mad Max 2 is a must-see for action buffs. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Two gunrunners' hunt for buried treasure in Java is disrupted by the quest for the same woman. ~ All Movie Guide