J. Don Ferguson Movies

"Her charms deceived him. Her evil betrayed him. Now only the truth can free him." The ad copy for the made-for-cable Linda only scratched the surface, but it did capture the gist of the story. Richard Thomas plays a nebbish who takes a Florida vacation with his restless wife Virginia Madsen. Before they can slap on the sun block, Thomas and Madsen becomes involved with another couple, played by Ted McGinley and Laura Harrington. A murder ensues, and Thomas is fingered as the most likely suspect. There's many a James M. Cain-ish plot twist before Thomas -- and the audience -- learn which end is up. Linda debuted October 8, 1993, on the USA cable network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Nightmare in Columbia County was inspired by a true-life crime which occurred in South Carolina in the 1980s. An elusive psychopath is stalking a beauty contest winner. He kidnaps the girl's sister, then murders several people to cover his tracks. The police are at a loss to find the maniac, who remains in contact with the beauty queen via short, untraceable phone calls. William Devane plays the obsessed police detective who burns the midnight oil to put the clues together. Nightmare in Columbia County refuses to insult the intelligence of its audience with a sugarcoating of the events or with any tacked-on happy endings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy drama, three women meet each other in a divorce attorney's waiting room and soon become fast friends as they try to help each other through the pain of their crumbling marriages. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Windmills of the Gods was adapted for television by John Gay from a best-selling novel by Sidney Sheldon. Jaclyn Smith plays an American college professor, appointed US ambassador to Romania. While attending a peace conference, Jaclyn's life is placed in jeopardy by an all-powerful secret organization. Whom can she trust: American president Michael Moriarty, Rumanian top dog Franco Nero, fellow scholar David Ackroyd, or confrence chairman Ian McKellan? Or none of the above? This wide-ranging romantic adventure was lensed in several exotic locales, from Bucharest to Chile. Originally presented in two parts, Windmills of the Gods debuted February 7, 1988, directly opposite the ratings-busting TV-movie Elvis and Me. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A reporter and his girlfriend do some investigative journalism and discover that a successful actor/businessman who recently returned to Queensland may well be involved in pornography and snuff films. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama, set in 1975 and based on a true story from Toronto, Canada, the different ways in which a prominent realtor may have had his wife brutally murdered are presented. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Bound to the ABC Saturday Suspense Movie 72-minute limitation, Linda could have benefitted from ten or twenty extra minutes' running time. The film, based on a novel by John D. McDonald, stars Stella Stevens as the woman scorned whom Hell hath no fury like. Stevens murders the wife (Mary Robin-Redd) of her lover (John Saxon), then plugs the lover. Stevens' husband Ed Nelson suspects that his wife is responsible for the killings. Stevens responds by framing hubby for the woman's death. John McIntyre plays the aptly named Marshall Journeyman, who methodically ferrets out the facts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Eastern State University isn't particularly notable for anything except its football program. Lately, even that hasn't been doing too well, and the athletic staff led by Coach Winters (James Caan) are under considerable pressure by the administration and alumni to bring in a winning season. To do that, he has to recruit some able, promising young players out of high school. It's not too surprising to learn that he will do almost anything to get these kids, and its even less surprising that, as long as they keep producing on the field, he and the college will overlook almost any obnoxious behavior the boys can perpetrate to the limit of their ability. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

When sweet Northern college kid Bill (Ralph Macchio) and his buddy Stan (Mitchell Whitfield) are picked up and thrown into the slammer in a hick Southern town, at first it looks like no big deal. Then they are informed that they are accused of murder. Penniless and without a single friend in the area, Bill decides to call his goofy cousin Vinny (Joe Pesci), who has somehow recently become a lawyer. Full of family feeling and bravado, Vinny, who has never tried a criminal case in his short life as a lawyer, rides south to defend his trusting relative. He's an expert motormouth and street-level logician from the wilder reaches of metropolitan New York, complete with a thick accent and the attitude to go with it. Otherwise, he's much less well qualified than your average public defender. When he arrives on the scene with his equally brassy girlfriend Lisa (Marisa Tomei), Bill is fairly sure he's going to be sentenced to death. His buddy Stan is even less confident of his legal representative, if that's possible, and the first thing Vinny has to do is to regain the consent of his clients to represent them. The local judge doesn't seem any too sympathetic to Vinny's verbal shenanigans either, and even the most optimistic supporter of the boys would begin to have doubts at this point -- and Vinny's no exception. With the insistent moral encouragement of his girlfriend, Vinny somehow accomplishes the impossible and wins grudging (if very irritated) respect from all concerned, for once studying as if his life depended on it. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Writer-director Stephen King falls short in his debut at the helm with Maximum Overdrive, an absurd tale about a radiation storm that somehow animates machines across the world, causing them to turn on their makers. The film focuses on a group of survivors held captive at the Dixie Boy Diner by a group of bad-tempered semis. Led by Emilio Estevez, the diner-goers do their impression of Ten Little Indians, waiting their turn until each gets bumped off one by one. There are holes in the plot big enough for the semis to drive through; for example, why don't the trucks run over the diner at the start of the film rather than wait for ninety minutes? Maximum Overdrive's only distinction is that it is, without question, one of the worst films released in the '80s. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide

A William Diehl novel was the source of the noirish nailbiter Sharky's Machine. Sharky (Burt Reynolds) is an undercover cop who fouls up an assignment and is kicked downstairs to the vice squad -- a rough-shod bunch of hellraisers who make life miserable. Soon, however, Sharky's life does a 180 when he encounters Dominoe (Rachel Ward) a prostitute seemingly in danger from her interaction with a number of very seedy thugs. To protect her, Sharky lines the high-rise apartment across from her residence with security cameras and surveillance equipment -- which only makes matters sticky as Sharky begins to fall in love with her. The film opened to a very warm critical reception (Janet Maslin observed that "Burt Reynolds establishes himself as yet another movie star who is as valuable behind the camera as he is in front of it"). It also features one of the most dangerous stunts on film, wherein the late stuntman Dar Robinson free falls from 16 stories off the ground. The "machine" of the title refers to Sharky's fellow cops, played by heavyweights Brian Keith, Charles Durning, Bernie Casey, and others. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The hook in Walter Hill's mythic retelling of the James-Younger outlaw legend is in the casting; the James, Younger, Miller, and Ford Brothers are played by a string of acting brothers, the Keachs, the Carradines, the Quaids and the Guests. The film begins as outlaws are robbing a bank. After the robbery, Ed Miller (Dennis Quaid) finds himself kicked out of the gang for needlessly killing a man during the robbery. Jesse James (James Keach) hands over Ed's share of the money and tells him to leave, a feeling held mutually by Ed's brother Clell (Randy Quaid). After the killing the gang decides to split up for awhile. The James boys return to their wives and farms, while Cole Younger (David Carradine) travels to Texas with his prostitute girlfriend Belle Starr (Pamela Reed). After the brief respite, the gang reunites to rob a well-stocked bank in Northfield, Minnesota. The robbery turns out disastrously, with most of the gang either wounded or dying. The James boys are the only ones not seriously hurt, and they leave the rest of the gang behind, escaping while they can. After the James boys leave, the remnants of the gang are captured. But trailing the Jameses is a relentless posse. Frank and Jesse manage to keep one step ahead until the Ford brothers (Christopher Guest and Nicholas Guest) make a deal with the Pinkerton detectives trailing the outlaws. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Two very different men are brought together and learn a mutually important lesson about the real function of a church in this drama. Ethan Jenkins (Michael W. Smith) is a man in his mid-thirties who after years of scuffling as a musician on the West Coast has decided to move back East and work with his father. As it happens, his father is Jeremiah Jenkins (J. Don Ferguson), a well known and respected minister who leads the flock at "The Rock," a massive "superchurch" where worship often looks more like a flashy multi-media presentation than a church service. Ethan becomes an associate pastor at The Rock, but it's clear he views his mission more as a business than service to the community, and Jeremiah decides his son needs to learn a bit more about what work at a church is all about. In the early '60s, Jeremiah helped found the Second Chance Community Church during the height of the Civil Rights Movement. The inner-city neighborhood Second Chance serves is now a crime-ridden slum, and Jeremiah sends Ethan there to assist pastor Jake Sanders (Jeff Obafemi Carr) as he tries to maintain an oasis of peace and hope in the middle of a gang-dominated war zone. Through Jake, Ethan gains some hard-won wisdom about the true nature of faith and service, and he tries to share his new knowledge with his father, whose new congregation is a far cry from where he started his mission for the Lord. The Second Chance marked the first feature film role for award-winning Christian musician Michael W. Smith. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide