Carmen Argenziano Movies

Made for cable TV, Against the Wall represents filmmaker John Frankenheimer's return to the small screen. This in-your-face reenactment of the 1971 Attica prison riots is jam-packed with political and sociological implications. Refreshingly, none of the participants -- the prisoners, the guards, the high-profile mediators, the New York powers-that-be-are rendered in strictly good-guy or bad-guy terms by screenwriter Ron Hutchinson. Anyone old enough to have witnessed the original live TV coverage of the riot, however, will be able to discern who was truly responsible for its tragic outcome. While the 1971 TV-movie Attica was told from a journalist's point of view, Against the Wall is filtered through the eyes of idealist young prison guard Kyle MacLachlan. Director Frankenheimer (who in 1962 helmed the vastly different prison picture Birdman of Alcatraz)stage-manages the proceedings with his usual aplomb, though he uncharacteristically leans towards B-flick melodrama in some scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Made for the TNT cable channel, this lengthy docudrama records the harrowing conditions at the Confederacy's most notorious prisoner-of-war camp. The drama unfolds through the eyes of a company of Union soldiers captured at the Battle of Cold Harbor, VA, in June 1864, and shipped to the camp in southern Georgia. A private, Josiah Day (Jarrod Emick), and his sergeant (Frederic Forrest) try to hold their company together in the face of squalid living conditions, inhumane punishments, and a gang of predatory fellow prisoners called the Raiders. After an unsuccessful escape attempt, the Massachusetts men help to put an end to the Raiders' activities. With the permission of the camp's commandant, Captain Wirz (Jan Triska), the Raiders are tried by their peers (with newly arrived prisoners as the impartial jury) and punishment is meted out. The men eagerly greet each new batch of arrivals to the overcrowded camp, hoping to hear some news of prisoner exchange, but as the months drag on and more of the men succumb to disease, that hope begins to flicker. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide

Captain Sheridan is subject to bizarre hallucinations while visiting the Gray Corridor. Seeking solutions to these strange visions, both Dr. Franklin and Garibaldi risk their own lives. And Londo plays host to Urza Jaddo (Carmen Argenziano), an old friend who has been accused of treason by the Centauri government. Written by Lawrence G. DiTillio, "Knives" made its first American TV appearance on May 17, 1995. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Patty Duke Astin plays the wife of police officer Frederic Forrest, who wants to join a special investigative unit. Forrest is denied this position on the basis of information concerning his wife. The information, which reveals a dicey extramarital affair, was culled from a department surveillance file that was supposed to have been destroyed by court order. Astin battles through legal channels to expose the police force's illegal actions, even as she and her husband suffer the innuendoes and cold shoulders from his fellow officers. The made-for-TV Best Kept Secrets premiered on March 26, 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The old reliable movie title Between Two Women was activated once more for this made-for-TV film. Farrah Fawcett and Colleen Dewhurst star as, respectively, a domineering ex-opera star and a shy schoolteacher. The ads for the film suggested that Michael Nouri played the apex of a romantic triangle between the older Dewhurst and the younger Fawcett. In truth, he plays Dewhurst's son, incurring his mother's wrath when he marries Fawcett. Dewhurst's unwarranted interference destroy her son's marriage--but it is Fawcett who compassionately rushes to her mother-in-law's bedside when the older woman suffers a debilitating stroke. First telecast March 10, 1986, Between Two Women was based on Gillian Martin's novel Living Arrows. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hong Kong director John Woo's second U.S. film (his first was Hard Target) delivers a number of exciting action sequences but is let down by a credibility-straining plot. John Travolta plays Vic Deakins, an Air Force pilot on what is supposed to be a routine night flight mission with his co-pilot, the younger Riley Hale (Christian Slater), whom Deakins constantly kids for lacking the "will to win." Deakins is actually a traitor who crashlands their Stealth Bomber in Death Valley so that he can steal two nuclear warheads onboard and sell them to terrorists who plan to blackmail the government. Deakins meets up with his cohorts, who have been waiting in the park, while Hale survives and teams up with a young, attractive park ranger (Samantha Mathis) to foil Deakins's plans. Plenty of action ensues, with car chases, collapsing mine shafts, fights on burning trains, and even the underground detonation of a nuclear device. Despite the script's implausibilities and inconsistencies, Woo amply displays the expertise with action sequences and man-to-man conflict that has made his Hong Kong films cult favorites. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

CSI: NY, the third incarnation of the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation franchise and the spin-off of CSI: Miami, is a crime drama about forensic investigators who use high-tech science to follow the evidence and solve crimes in The Big Apple.

Ben Gazzara stars in this low-level depiction of legendary gangster Al Capone, who rose to command the mob underworld in 1920's Chicago. Born in Brooklyn, Capone joins his first gang at the age of 11. From there, he graduates to the infamous "Five Points Gang" run by Johnny Torrio (Harry Guardino). After moving to Chicago a few years later and wiping out Torrio's crimeboss uncle, Capone becomes Torrio's right hand man. Capone becomes head of the area's prostitution and racketeering business, but, as his mind deteriorates from syphillis, so does his empire. There's not much to recommend here, aside from a surprisingly good appearance by Sylvester Stallone as fellow gangster Frank Nitti. Gazzara is frankly awful in the title role and producer Roger Corman uses stock shootout footage from other gangster films, including footage of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre from his own, earlier movie on the subject. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

Beverly Hills 90210 star Tori Spelling and Star Trek: Voyager actress Jeri Lynn Ryan headline this made-for-TV movie about a hardworking college student who thinks she's found the answer to her financial and self-esteem issues when she falls into the lifestyle of a high-priced escort. Lonely, plain-Jane, cash-strapped Joanna Halbert (Spelling) attends university classes while also helping out at the bakery run by her no-nonsense, widowed mother, Teri (Susan Blakely). When her classmates jokingly leave Joanna's name and number on the voicemail of a Malibu escort service, Joanna finds her curiosity piqued. After finding a new best gal pal in the form of the vivacious escort Kimberly (Ryan), Joanna soon finds herself working for Kimberly's boss, Ron Tamblin (Scott Plank), who promises her that she doesn't have to sleep with the clients she "dates." Soon, Joanna is dressing like a grown-up, stepping out with fabulous men -- and getting paid hundreds of dollars a night for her trouble. This secret double life soon, however, takes a toll on Joanna's relationships with her mother, her friends and her would-be beau, Jack (Barry Watson). Although Joanna chooses to sleep with one of her clients, she refuses to sleep with another. But when Ron threatens to fire her, she acquiesces, and soon Joanna finds herself going on more dates where the sex is not only compulsory, but kinky. When she tries to quit, violence ensues, ultimately leading Joanna to criminal court, where she must defend herself against a charge of attempted murder. After first airing on CBS in 1996, Co-Ed Call Girl enjoyed a second life on cable, including the Lifetime network. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

In this drama, worried parents fight to find their pregnant runaway daughter and prevent her from selling her unborn baby to sleazy baby brokers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Cloris Leachman stars as Melba, a woman with whom violence is a way of life, in Jonathan Demme's high-pitched "B"-movie Crazy Mama. The film spans three decades in the violent life of Melba, beginning in Jerusalem, Arkansas in 1932, when law enforcers kill her father (Clint Kimbrough), turning her mother Sheba (Ann Sothern) into a bitter widow. Mother and daughter take off to Long Beach, California, and the time jumps to 1958, when the two are thrown out of their beauty salon for non-payment of back rent. Melba now has an attractive (and pregnant) teenage daughter Cheryl (Linda Purl). The three generations take to the road, stealing cars and creating general mayhem across the United States, robbing a motorcycle racetrack box office and a bank. But in 1959, Melba and Cheryl are picked up again, running a Miami Beach snack bar, their lives wasted in free-living terror. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide