Meg Foster Movies
American actress Meg Foster was trained at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse, a rigorous and exacting establishment that lets practically everyone in for one year and practically no one in for their second year. Foster survived the entire program with the steely-eyed grit that characterized her best film and stage roles. With such notable exceptions as The Osterman Weekend (1983) and The Emerald Forest (1986), many of Foster's films have been cheapjack exploitation efforts unworthy of her skills. She has racked up her most impressive credits on TV, including the lead role of Hester Prynne in the 1979 PBS multi-part adaptation of The Scarlet Letter. In 1982, she was cast as Chris Cagney opposite Tyne Daly's Mary Beth Lacey on the TV series Cagney and Lacey. When the series went into its second season, Foster was replaced by Sharon Gless; the official reason was that she played her character "too tough, too hard," but unofficial sources noted that audiences perceived Foster's performance as too "butch." This setback slowed down her TV career though she was always welcome (if not always well-served) on the big screen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Looking like a high-school junior, Michael Douglas plays a college professor in Adam at 6 AM. Tired of academia, Douglas opts for the supposed tranquility of rural Missouri. After working as farm hand for a few weeks, he realizes that his "normal" neighbors are as screwed up as any of his more sophisticated friends. To punch up the film's leisurely screenplay, a great deal of sex talk is injected, which may have sounded daring in 1970 but which plays like an episode of Married: With Children nowadays. Adam at 6 AM is blessed with a superb supporting cast: among the secondary actors is 1940s leading lady Anne Gwynne, making a one-time-only film comeback. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Douglas, Lee Purcell, (more)
- 1971
- R
Also known as A Dangerous Friend, this real-life-based drama tells of a young man with a penchant for sex and violence. In addition, he seems to possess a kind of mental control over a group of peers who protect the charismatic murderer from authorities. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- 1971
The Death of Me Yet opens in a typical American small town that turns out to be in the middle of the Soviet Union. As we all know from those Jack Webb-narrated documentaries of the 1950s, the rascally Russians have set up these ersatz American communities in order to train their agents to subtly infiltrate the good ol' USA. The agent of choice in this TV movie is Doug McClure, who poses as a supposedly respectable newspaper editor in a genuine American small town. Darren McGavin plays the US government agent who arrives in town and shakes things up by asking all sorts of probing questions about the above-suspicion Mr. McClure. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
"The Silent Killer" is the deadly influenza epidemic that has swept through the territory around the Ponderosa. To combat the disease, tradition-bound Doc Martin (Harry Holcombe) and Harriet Clinton (Louise Latham) set up an emergency hospital on the Cartwright spread. Further complications ensue when Mrs. Evangeline Woodtree (Meg Foster), the wife of a progressive young physician (Ion Berger) who'd been jailed on Doc Martin's say-so, defiantly challenges Martin's old-fashioned methods. Written by John Hawkins and Edward DeBlasio, "The Silent Killer" was first telecast on February 28, 1971. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, (more)
- 1972
- R
In this adventure, a stereotypical hippie couple hitchhikes around California and meets various odd people ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- 1972
Described in the original TV Guide listings as "a young movie and TV comer", Martin Sheen essays another bad-guy role for producer Quinn Martin in this episode. Sheen is cast as Steve Chandler, a novice contract killer who goes into hiding from both the FBI and the Mob after bungling a job. On the verge of starting life anew with girlfriend Marcy Brandon (Meg Foster), Chandler realizes with startling suddenness that his days of freedom (and on earth!) might be numbered. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
In a better than average TV melodrama, Patricia Neal is the mother of a Wisconsin farm family who has just discovered that she has leukemia and it is terminal. Her goal for the remainder of her life becomes keeping those around her as happy as possible, making them realize what they have to live for. Neal is excellent, with a good supporting cast. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- 1974
- R
The consumption of human flesh is the main course of this off-beat horror movie that centers on a war veteran who returns to California a cannibal. His sister likes peopleburgers too. The trouble begins when a gentle hippie chick encounters the hungry duo enthusiastically eating their latest meal. The terrified girl heads for the police, but they refuse to believe her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1974
Reverse sexism-sort of-is the theme of Promise Him Anything. Ever on the lookout for new conquests, bachelor Frederic Forrest signs on with a computer dating service, exaggerating his attractiveness on his resume. He is matched up with secretary Meg Foster, whose own resume promises that "anything goes." When he learns that "anything" really means "nothing", he hauls the girl into court! Veterans Eddie Albert, Tom Ewell, William Schallert and Aldo Ray costar in the forgettable made-for-TV fluff. Promise Him Anything was originally telecast May 14, 1975. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
Hoping to escape the country, syndicate hit man Ben Silliman (Gary Lockwood) needs a lot of money in a hurry. To raise the cash, he blackmails William Braden (Peter Mark Richman), the "respectable" businessman who has enabled Silliman to rise to the top of his profession. Not to be confused with the same-named 1966 episode starring Charles Bronson, "The Animal" marks the final appearance of series regular William Reynolds as FBI assistant director Arthur Ward. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
Undercover cop Tony Baretta (Robert Blake) investigates when a blind hot dog vendor is murdered. The only witness is a hungry little girl named Molly (Elizabeth Cheshire), who got a good look at one of the killers. Unfortunately, both of the perpetrators got a very good look at Molly, meaning that her life won't be worth a bottle of mustard unless Baretta comes to the rescue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Blake, Edward Grover, (more)
- 1975
Tony Baretta (Robert Blake) investigates when the wife of a high-profile attorney is found murdered. It turns out that the dead woman was once a "lady of the evening" -- and that she made several enemies amongst the Syndicate while plying her trade. Hoping to trap the killers, Baretta enlists the aid of his elderly landlord, ex-cop Billy Truman (Tom Ewell). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Blake, Dana Elcar, (more)
- 1975
This made-for-TV biography, based on the memoirs of onetime James Dean roommate William Bast, stars Stephen McHattie in the title role of the Hollywood rebel. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1975
A gang of scurrilous sailors go into the smuggling business, bringing some valuable jade into the country by illegal means. When a jewelry-store owner balks at the sailors' monetary demands for the contraband jade, the sailors kill the man and begin stalking the only witness, the victim's daughter Meg Foster). Keller (Michael Douglas) is likewise targeted for extermination when he is assigned to escort one of the criminals to prison. The episode's highlight is a bravura display of villainy from a young, pre-stardom James Woods. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
In this drama, a widower takes his adopted daughter for an old-fashioned Texas-style Christmas at his parent's house. While back home, the father meets his childhood love and romance ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Paul Aaron directed this early exploration of homosexuality, starring Meg Foster and Perry King. King plays Albert, an illegal alien dumped by his filthy-rich boyfriend, who makes a home for himself as a squatter in an empty mansion. Foster plays Stella, a lesbian real estate agent who comes upon Albert as she is showing the house to a prospective buyer. Taking a shine to Albert, Stella takes him home to stay with her until he gets back on his feet. Hanging out with Stella, one thing leads to another, and soon they end up in the master bedroom, making mad, passionate love to each other, and they both discover that heterosexuality is not as bad as they thought. So much so, in fact, that Stella and Albert agree to marry, and they become a nice, cute middle-class couple. But then, as the two love birds settle into married life, Albert's ex suddenly returns to reek havoc upon their staid existence ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Perry King, Meg Foster, (more)
- 1979
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a 1979 made-for-TV adaptation of Washington Irving's classic ghost story. Humor is the drawing card in this version, with Jeff Goldblum a delightfully nerdish Ichabod Crane, Dick Butkus an appropriately nasty Brom Bones, and Meg Foster as spirited Katrina van Tassel. Angered that Katrina has grown fond of schoolmaster Crane, Brom Bones determines to scare off the interloper by filling his head with spooky tales of a Headless Horseman. Crane pooh-poohs the legends, until one fateful ride home in the dark of night. Filmed not in Upstate New York but in Park City, Utah, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow premiered on October 31, 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This production closely follows Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter. In Boston, shortly after its founding in 1630, the Puritan citizenry order Hester Prynne (Meg Foster), a beautiful young woman, to wear a scarlet letter "A" (signifying "adulteress") on her dress for life after she bears a child in the absence of her husband, who has delayed his trip to the New World to conclude business. Despite intense questioning, Hester refuses to identify the father, Arthur Dimmesdale (John Heard), a respected minister who cannot muster the courage to acknowledge his sin in public. After Hester's husband (Kevin Conway) arrives unrecognized by anyone but Hester, he, too, fails to extract the name from her. So he assumes another identity, calling himself Roger Chillingworth, in order to ferret out the wrongdoer and gain revenge. Meanwhile, Hester, a seamstress, bears up with dignity even though she and her child, Pearl (Elisa Erali), suffer continual ridicule. Dimmesdale, on the other hand, suffers gnawing guilt, and his health declines. Chillingworth, a scholar familiar with medicinal remedies, provides potions to Dimmesdale while gathering clues that evenutally implicate the reverend as the culprit. All the while, Chillingworth, monomanical in his quest for revenge, becomes corrupt, and Dimmesdale, distraught with remorse, develops heart problems. But Hester, stronger and wiser for her experience, carries on and earns the respect of the people. When Hester and Dimmesdale meet alone, they agree to set sail together and begin anew. But after Dimmesdale delivers a rousing sermon on a holiday, his guilt causes him to mount a scaffold to speak to the people Viewers then learn whether he has finally gathered the courage to reveal himself as Pearl's father. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Meg Foster
- 1980
- R
In Robert Kaylor's Carny, the world of the carnival is an illusion manipulated by the carnies to fleece the suckers. The marks generally deserve what they get, because of their greed, corruption, or just plain stupidity. It's share and share alike for Frankie (Gary Busey) and Patch (Robbie Robertson), partners in a dunk-the-bozo act in a carnival travelling through the American South. At one of the small-town stops, Donna (Jodie Foster), an alienated teenager, dumps her obnoxious boyfriend and, with Frankie's encouragement, joins up and moves into their trailer (and Frankie's bed). Feeling displaced, Patch schemes to get Donna out of the carnival. However, the carnival's owner needs Donna to foil a loathsome pair of local officials who demand payoffs. She plays her part perfectly and is accepted by all, although she moves into another trailer. ~ Steve Press, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Busey, Jodie Foster, (more)
- 1980
- Add Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones to QueueAdd Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones to top of Queue
This two-part TV movie was, of course, sparked by the November 1978 mass suicide of 913 people at the South American religious "colony" of Jonestown. The catalyst for this tragedy was cult-leader Reverend Jim Jones (played by Powers Boothe, who won an Emmy for his performance), head of the so-called People's Temple. The film traces the life of Jones from his days as an idealistic 1960s activist. He drifts into penny-ante confidence scams and bed-hops from woman to woman, before electing to pass himself off as a modern messiah--eventually believing his own feverish sermons. The climactic scenes are chillingly staged in a near-documentary fashion, with Puerto Rico and Georgia substituting for Guyana. Ned Beatty plays the ill-fated Representative Leo Ryan, while James Earl Jones has a cameo as 1930s religious-leader Father Divine; most of the other main characters are composites of real people. Originally broadcast April 15 and 16, 1980, The Guyana Tragedy was adapted by Ernest Tidyman from the Washington Post and Charles A. Krause's Guyana Massacre: An Eyewitness Account. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Powers Boothe, Veronica Cartwright, (more)
The "Moonie" cult of the 1970s and '80s has been cited as the principal inspiration for the 1981 Canadian production Ticket to Heaven. Nick Mancuso plays impressionable youth David Kappel, who, after breaking up with his girlfriend, tries to find an emotional balm by joining a religious sect. The first portion of the film details David's indoctrination into the group. The remaining portion concerns the efforts made by his parents to locate their thoroughly brainwashed son. R.H. Thomson dominates the final scenes as a "deprogrammer" hired to shake David out of his religious euphoria. Ticket to Heaven was based on Moonwebs, a novel by Josh Freed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nick Mancuso, R.H. Thomson, (more)
- 1983
In the early 1980s, Procter and Gamble teamed with Commworld Productions for a series of taped two-hour TV movies, to be syndicated throughout the US. The Commworld Prime Time Showcase yielded only two efforts: Emergency Room and Desperate Intruder. The latter film was the old chestnut about a blind woman (Meg Foster) at the mercy of two escaped convicts (Claude Akins and Nick Mancusco). The handsomer of the two fugitives falls in love with the woman and endeavors to keep her from being murdered. Desperate Intruder made its first appearance in most markets on July 31, 1983. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A man discovers that his best friends are actually spies -- or are they? -- in this thriller based on Robert Ludlum's best-selling novel. John Tanner (Rutger Hauer) is the host of a television news show who once a year spends a long weekend with three of his best friends from college, Bernard Osterman (Craig T. Nelson), Joseph Cardone (Chris Sarandon), and Richard Tremayne (Dennis Hopper). Tanner is approached by Lawrence Fassett (John Hurt), a CIA agent who has evidence proving that his three pals are actually agents working with the Soviet Union. With Tanner's reluctant approval, his house is wired with video surveillance equipment so that the CIA can monitor what Osterman, Cardone, and Tremayne say and do over their weekend together in hopes of putting the traitors behind bars. However, Tanner soon realizes that Fassett's agenda is not all that it appears to be. The Osterman Weekend was directed by Sam Peckinpah; it proved to be his last film, as he died a year after its release. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rutger Hauer, John Hurt, (more)
