Henderson Forsythe Movies

When a taxi driver finds that he has a dead body in the back of his cab, detectives Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Green (Jesse L. Martin) are forced to open up a 60-year-old mystery. At the center of the intrigue is an insurance racket, which may be preying upon survivors of the Holocaust. The D.A.'s office must first tackle the old case before solving the new one. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Teamster Boss: The Jackie Presser Story is a made-for-cable adaptation of James Neff's Mobbed Up, a real-life account about Teamster president Jackie Presser. Brian Dennehy plays Presser, who was Jimmy Hoffa's successor as president of the Teamsters. Like Hoffa, Presser was caught between the Mafia, the FBI, and his own ambitions, and the film follows his rise to power, as well as all the trials and tribulations that arose while he was president of the Teamsters. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

Flamboyant Broadway renaissance man Peter Sellars was the director of The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez. This freewheeling musical horror spoof isn't meant to be taken seriously, so don't be fooled by those Karloffian trappings. Ron Vawter plays the title character for all it's worth. He has to, with such formidable competition as Joan Cusack, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Werner Klemperer, the latter cast as "Fat Man Searching for a Tax Break." There's also a "Beaver Gourmet" in the cast of characters, which should clue you in as to the level of subtlety here. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Handsome young Washington attorney Louie Jeffries (Chris McDonald) has it all: a promising career, a beautiful wife, and a baby on the way. But after discovering a local judge is in cahoots with the Mob, Louie bites it in a car crash and finds himself in Heaven. Unsatisfied with the customer service he's receiving, Louie jumps the gun and gets himself reincarnated -- before being administered the magic injection that will remove his memories of his former life. For the next quarter-century, Louie's museum curator wife, Corinne (Cybill Shepherd), remains true to her husband's memory, ignoring the frustrated devotion of Louie's best friend, Philip Train (Ryan O'Neal). Meanwhile, Louie's soul grows up in the body of Alex Finch (Robert Downey Jr.), an aspiring journalist. Alex's memories of his life as Louie return after he becomes romantically involved with Miranda (Mary Stuart Masterson) -- the daughter he never got to meet. Soon, Alex/Louie is romancing his wife, spurning his daughter's advances, and frustrating Philip's attempts finally to woo Corinne. Written by Mystic Pizza scribes Perry and Randy Howze and directed by Emile Ardolino of Dirty Dancing fame, Chances Are didn't score as well at the box office as those earlier comedies. Its soundtrack, however, generated the hit Peter Cetera and Cher ballad "After All." ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

Based on a true story, Silkwood begins and ends with Karen Silkwood (Meryl Streep) driving along a lonely road in 1974, heading to a meeting with a New York Times reporter to deliver evidence of negligence at the Kerr-McGee Plant in Cimarron, Oklahoma. The balance of the film flashes back to Karen's ribald private life with her lover (Kurt Russell) and her loose-living friends (Cher and Diana Scarwid). This is in contrast to her humdrum job at Kerr-McGee--or it least it was humdrum until Karen and several other employees become contaminated by radiation. The higher-ups want to sweep this incident under the rug, but Karen thinks that something's fishy, and informs the union of that fact. X-rays of the faulty fuel rods and written proof of the inadequate safety measures that caused Karen's illness are tampered with, forcing Karen to conduct her own private investigation. As she gathers evidence, Karen becomes a pariah to her boyfriend because of her obsession. She finally organizes the evidence into a briefcase, and heads off to her meeting with the Times reporter. She never makes it; the "official" report on her fatal auto accident is that Ms. Silkwood had been drinking and was under the influence of tranquilizers. Kerr-McGee was eventually forced to pay the Silkwood family an enormous settlement because of her contamination, but the full facts behind her convenient accident have never been revealed (though the filmmakers clearly indictate whom they hold responsible). Director Mike Nichols and screenwriters Nora Ephron and Alice Arlen surround this true story with a lively, improvisational atmosphere that gets the best out of Streep, Russell, and Cher, while providing perhaps the fullest on-screen realization of Nichols' theater-based techniques of realistic, character-centered, dialogue-driven filmmaking, as well as one of the first movie screenplays from future director Ephron. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Alex Karras and Susan Clark produced but did not star in the TV movie Word of Honor. Karl Malden plays a small-town newspaper reporter who receives a tip from a woman about the kidnap-murder of a teenaged girl. The woman implicates local banker Don Crane, but only on Malden's promise that he will never divulge the woman's identity. When it looks as though Crane will beat the rap, Malden steadfastly refuses to go back on his word, which earns him the enmity of everyone except his wife (Rue McClanahan) and a visiting "liberal" Manhattan journalist. The stack-the-cards setup of Word of Honor is just on the verge of credibility when the film blows the works with a too-convenient ending. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Diane Keaton, Kristin Griffith, and Mary Beth Hurt play Renata, Flyn, and Joey, the grown daughters of wealthy Arthur (E.G. Marshall) and his emotionally disturbed wife, Eve (Geraldine Page). When Arthur leaves Eve, her three daughters rally around her. As it turns out, none of the daughters are ideally suited to provide an "anchor" for their distracted mother, but all four women are strengthened by their renewed relationship. Interiors received five Oscar nominations, including Best Director for Woody Allen, Best Original Screenplay for Allen, Best Actress for Geraldine Page, Best Supporting Actress for Maureen Stapleton (who plays Arthur's new love), and Best Art Direction for Mel Bourne and Daniel Robert. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This dark, brooding low-budget effort opens in Vietnam, where young infantryman Andy Brooks (Richard Backus) is struck down by a sniper's bullet. At the same time in Andy's hometown, his poor mother is uttering a desperate prayer for Andy to come home... and shortly thereafter, he does. Despite Mrs. Brooks' exultation at her son's safe return, it becomes apparent to the rest of the family that there's something terribly wrong with Andy; he won't do much more than sit in a chair, staring blankly at the walls of his room... that is, until nightfall, when he prowls the town in search of human blood, which he extracts from his victims through a syringe and injects into his own veins. The first horror effort from director Bob Clark, who followed with Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things! and the effective thriller Black Christmas, this haunting film (released as The Veteran in 1972) functions as a Vietnam-era variant on the classic story of "The Monkey's Paw" and was one of the first films of the genre to address the stateside reactions to the horrors of that war. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi