Janine Theriault Movies

A hit Broadway musical in 1957 and an equally successful Hollywood film in 1962, Meredith Willson's The Music Man was again brought before the cameras in this lavish made-for-TV adaptation. Standing in for the original's Robert Preston is Matthew Broderick as "Professor" Harold Hill, a glib traveling salesman who descends upon the town of River City, IA, in the weeks just prior to the Fourth of July celebration of 1912. Persuading the populace that the youth of River City is in great danger of being corrupted by the presence of a new pool table, Hill convinces them that their only hope for salvation is the organization of a boy's band, with himself as a leader. Naturally, this will require the parents to shell out good money for band instruments and uniforms, and in exchange, Hill promises to teach the kids how to make music by utilizing his revolutionary "Think System." There's only one problem: Harold Hill is an out-and-out con artist, who doesn't know one note from another. Even so, he manages to win over everybody in town except local librarian/music teacher Marian Paroo (Kristin Chenoweth) and thick-eared Mayor Shinn (Victor Garber). Ultimately, however, Marian joins Hill's camp -- mainly because he has brought her sullen brother, Winthrop (Cameron Monaghan), out of his shell -- but as July Fourth approaches, Hill faces exposure and arrest thanks to a vengeful anvil salesman named Charlie Cowell (Patrick McKenna). A meticulously faithful rendition of the Broadway original, The Music Man happily includes all of the show's wonderful songs, among them "Ya Got Trouble," "Seventy-Six Trombones," "The Sadder-But-Wiser Girl," "Lida Rose," "Marian the Librarian," "Pickalittle," "Til There Was You," and "My White Knight" (which was not used in the 1962 movie adaptation). Though some critics found Matthew Broderick a bit too lightweight and Jeff Bleckner's direction a tad gimmicky, no one could fault the full-bodied vocal renditions, nor the consistently inventive choreography of Kathleen Marshall. Produced by the same team responsible for the 2003 movie smash Chicago, The Music Man debuted February 16, 2003, as an "expanded" episode of ABC's Wonderful World of Disney anthology. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Based on a true story, the Canadian TV movie The Stork Derby begins with the death of wealthy Toronto lawyer and lifelong bachelor Charles Vance Miller (Frank Fontaine). Going through Miller's effects, his lawyers discover that he intended to divide his fortune among the Canadian women who would deliver the most babies within a decade after his birth. Fueled by the circulation-hungry Toronto Daily Star, "The Great Toronto Stork Derby" held the Dominion in thrall throughout the Depression years, with hundreds and thousands of women hoping to escape the ravages of the Depression via mass procreation. The contest boils down to three front runners: French-Canadian Vivanne Kennelly (Pascale Montpetit), whose anxiousness to win at all costs leads to tragedy; Colleen Brant (Janine Thierault), who has multiple babies by multiple fathers; and Gina Bonaggio (Ellen David), an impoverished Italian immigrant. Dutifully chronicling each twist and turn of the contest is Canada's only female journalist Kate Harrington (Megan Follows), who at first regards the whole affair as demeaning to women, but ultimately becomes an ardent crusader for fair play when, during the 1938 court trial that will determine the winner, it becomes painfully obvious that the Canadian government will succumb to traditional colonial bigotry and see to it that no "inferior" women--that is, non-white non-Protestants--will benefit from Miller's legacy. Adapted from a book by Elizabeth Wilton, The Story Derby made its CBC debut on January 8, 2002, and shortly thereafter was shown in the U.S. courtesy of the Lifetime cable network. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

An ailing criminal and his excitement-starved nurse decide to knock over a bank for fun and profit in this comic suspense story. Legendary bank robber Henry Manning (Paul Newman) pushes his luck too far and ends up in prison, where he suffers a massive stroke. He is transferred to a nursing home, in the care of Carol Ann McKay (Linda Fiorentino), a high school prom queen who married her boyfriend Wayne (Dermot Mulroney), the star of her school's football team, and whose glamour days are well behind her. After a few of her personal effects mysteriously disappear, Carol Ann starts to suspect that Henry isn't as sick as he seems, and she and Wayne are soon working with Henry to plan his last and greatest score. The title comes from the remark attributed to the outlaw Willie Sutton, who when asked why he robbed banks, replied, "Because that's where the money is." ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Armistead Maupin calls the three-story wooden house at 28 Barbary Lane in San Francisco "my homestead, my Tara." He began his portrait of Barbary Lane life during the '70s in a daily newspaper serial, expanding the material into a series of six novels. PBS aired the original TV miniseries in 1994, but threats and pressures prompted PBS to drop their plans for a follow-up, leaving an unresolved cliffhanger for four years. Several members of the original PBS cast were reunited for this six-part Showtime sequel (adapted from Maupin's second novel in the series), set in San Francisco of 1977. It picks up the threads of the story six weeks after the point where the PBS miniseries ended. When Mary Ann Singleton (Laura Linney), hoping for romance, and her cynical gay friend Michael (Paul Hopkins) take a Mexican cruise, Mary Ann meets amnesia victim Burke Andrew (Colin Ferguson) and Michael runs into his former lover, Dr. Jon Fielding (William Campbell). Michael's roommate Mona Ramsey (Nina Siemaszko), in a purple haze of pot and angel dust, answers phones at a Reno brothel owned by Mother Mucca (Jackie Burroughs). Mona learns about her lineage and also about Anna Madrigal (Olympia Dukakis), the former Mr. Madrigal. Rich widow Frannie (Diana LeBlanc) finds a cure for her depression at the rural resort Pinus, where society ladies celebrate their 60th birthdays with youthful houseboys. Beauchamp Day (Thomas Gibson) is married to Frannie's pregnant daughter DeDe (Barbara Garrick), but Beauchamp isn't the father. Locations include San Francisco, Montreal (substituting for some areas of San Francisco), and Zihuatanejo, Mexico. Premiered June 7, 1998 on Showtime. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi