Stephanie Faracy Movies

A woman is forced to prove her own sanity to save the life of her daughter in this taut thriller. Kyle Pratt (Jodie Foster) is a successful aircraft designer who has recently been dealing with the traumatic death of her husband. After traveling to Berlin on business with her six-year-old daughter, Julia (Marlene Lawston), Kyle falls asleep on their flight back to New York, only to discover that her daughter has gone missing. While not knowing where Julia has gone is troubling enough, even more disturbing is the insistence by sky marshal Gene Carson (Peter Sarsgaard) and Captain Rich (Sean Bean) that no records indicate that the child ever boarded the jet. As Kyle becomes increasingly desperate to find her daughter, she must prove to the men in charge that her daughter did in fact board the plane with her, and that this turn of events is not a product of her imagination. But if Julia has gone missing, who has taken her and why? Also starring Erika Christensen and Kate Beahan, Flightplan was the first English-language feature from German director Robert Schwentke. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Directed by Alexander Payne, Sideways follows Miles (Paul Giamatti), who is distressed about his lack of success as a novelist, and Jack (Thomas Haden Church), an equally unsuccessful actor with a rapidly approaching wedding. In a last-ditch effort to sow their wild oats, Jack and Miles take off on a final road trip to California's wine country the week prior to Jack's wedding. Both men have goals for the vacation -- Miles wants to turn Jack on to the art of wine tasting, while Jack is concerned with exploiting his last days as a bachelor -- but when the two men come across two fascinating women (Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh), the duo is forced to examine their morality, and if maturity isn't such a depressing prospect -- at least, for one of them. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

James Garner is reunited with several of his fellow cast members from the Rockford Files series in this made-for-TV sequel. It all begins when schoolteacher Ernie Landale (Hal Holbrook), the husband of private eye Jim Rockford's ex-prostitute friend Rita Kapkovic (Rita Moreno), is accused of child molestation. Never mind that the evidence is circumstantial at best, flimsy at worst: The Media have already tried and convicted Landale, irresponsibly whipping up a journalistic frenzy that turns all of the benighted teacher's associates and friends against him. All, that is, except Jim Rockford (Garner), who, together with Landale's attorney Beth Davenport (Gretchen Corbett) and police lieutenant Dennis Becker (Joe Santos), is prepared to move heaven and earth to find the actual pedophile and clear Landale's name. Filmed in 1997, The Rockford Files: If It Bleeds, It Leads made its CBS debut on April 20, 1999. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Corky (Faith Ford) lets slip that Walter Cronkite responded with an enigmatic grunt when asked about Murphy (Candice Bergen). As as result, Murphy drives herself crazier than usual trying to figure out what Cronkite really meant by that grunt. Among those offering aid and support (but not much comfort) to our heroine are tavernkeeper Phil Jr. (Pat Finn) and TV talk host Tom Snyder (as himself). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Insisting that he has voluntarily turned his back on his Hollywood career, ex-soap opera star Joel Redding (Ted Shackelford) becomes a drama professor at a small-town college. Though Joel's son Marshall (Harley Cross) idolizes his dad, the same cannot be said for Joel's wife Sally (Stephanie Faracy), who is all too aware of her husband's philandering--and of his current affair with a pretty co-ed. Ultimately, the relationship between Joel and Marshall also collapses when the elder Redding directs the younger in a fund-raising play. If Monica (Roma Downey) hopes to remedy this situation, she'll have to work quickly; Sally is now gravely ill. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy romp around like coked-up versions of The Three Stooges in the frantic Disney romp Hocus Pocus. The film begins in 1693 where three witches -- Winifred (Bette Midler), Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker), and Mary (Kathy Najimy) -- are preparing a potion that will grant them immortality and eternal youth. But before they finish mixing their cocktail, the people of Salem capture them and execute them for practicing witchcraft. Before their deaths, they vow to return to Salem 300 years hence on Halloween to exact their revenge. Three hundred years later, a skeptical, newly transplanted Californian, Max (Omri Katz), explores the ruins of the legendary witches' house and dares the witches to manifest themselves. Disregarding the warnings of his sister Dani (Thora Birch) and girlfriend Allison (Vinessa Shaw), Max lights the Candle of Black Flame. With that, the witches reappear to wreak havoc on the town. The kids take off with the witches' spellbook and a musty tome of hexes and recipes. The sorceresses, who will die by the morning light if they don't recite the incantation for immortality, have to get the books by whatever means they can. So, Winifred, Sarah, and Mary hop on their broomsticks for a chase through Halloween night. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Four women, all high school best friends, are reunited in Minnesota at the wedding of a fifth friend. On the eve of the nuptials, the foursome discuss their lives, their loves and their innermost secrets. Adultery and a surprise pregnancy are choice ingredients added to this TV-movie brew. For the record, the four female chums are played by Shelley Hack, Sela Ward, Stephanie Faracy and Brooke Adams. Bridesmaids was originally telecast February 21, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the John Hughes-scripted The Great Outdoors, John Candy stars as Chet Ripley, an oafish paterfamilias who takes his family on a vacation at a lakeside resort. Their enjoyment is seriously compromised when brother-in-law Roman Craig (Dan Aykroyd) shows up with his wife and kiddies. The rest of the film is an ongoing war between Ripley's carefree aggregation and Craig's obnoxiously prissy brood, and making things worse, a driving rainstorm forces both families to remain under one roof well-past their threshold of patience. Annette Bening makes her film debut as Aykroyd's ill-tempered wife. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Angela Lansbury guest stars as crime novelist and amateur sleuth Jessica Fletcher in this crossover episode with Lansbury's own series Murder, She Wrote. When one of Robin Master's guests (Dorothy Loudon) is marked for murder, Magnum finds himself working with--and against--the redoubtable Ms. Fletcher to root out the killer. A man who likes to deal in facts and logical deductions, Magnum is continually flustered by Jessica's intuitive approach to crime-solving, much to the (presumed!) delight of the viewer. Ending on a cliffhanger, this episode was originally Part One of a two-part story which concluded with the Murder She Wrote episode "Magnum on Ice"; however, a new ending which neatly wraps up the storyline was filmed for the Magnum, P.I. syndication package. (Curiously, the story remains open-ended in the DVD version of "Novel Connection".) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This episode is the conclusion of a two-part "crossover" story, which began as "Novel Connection", an episode of Magnum PI. While in Hawaii to help one of her myriad of friends, Jessica (Angela Lansbury) crosses paths with freewheeling private detective Thomas Magnum (Tom Selleck) and Magnum's mysterious boss Jonathan Higgins (John Hillerman). Although he's reluctant to do so, Magnum accepts Jessica's help when he is accused of murdering a hit man whose target remains unknown--and then is tagged for a second murder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Arthur Hailey's novel Hotel had already served as the inspiration for a 1967 theatrical film when this TV pilot came along on September 21, 1983. Bette Davis stars as Laura Trent, the entrenched owner of the Hotel St. Gregory (moved from the novel's New Orleans to San Francisco, to allow for location filming at San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel). In true Love Boat fashion, Ms. Trent and hotel manager Peter McDermott (James Brolin) oversee four separate plot strands. A hooker (Morgan Fairchild) is raped in the hotel by a bunch of preppies who'd hired her for "just talk". A neurotic aspiring singer (Erin Moran) tries to interrupt the act of the hotel's lounge entertainer Mel Torme (himself). A very-married lady (Shirley Jones) checks in to conduct an illicit affair. And a feisty young woman (Connie Sellecca, a regular on the subsequent series) shows up unhired as McDermott's assistant manager. The Hotel series ran from 1983 to 1988, during which time an ailing Bette Davis was replaced by Anne Baxter; in the early 1990s, reruns of the series popped up rather incongruously on cable's E! Entertainment Network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This made-for-TV comedy postulates that, someday, members of carpools will be selected by computer. The four so anointed herein are Harvey Korman, Peter Scolari, T.K. Carter and Stephanie Faracy. Their lives go along in their usual luckless fashion until the quarter of mismatched "poolers" find themselves in possession of a million dollars that has fallen from an armored car. But ex-cop Ernest Borgnine has his eyes on the loot as well, and the chase is on. Basically a bargain-basement It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, Carpool first aired October 5, 1983. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide