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
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)
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)
On the wild desert planet of Oblivion, a man called Sweeny comes to search for a corporate saboteur. Though deceptively dressed as a greenhorn city dude, Sweeny is the most effective bounty hunter in the galaxy. He stays in the town where she (he knows nothing about her) is supposed to reside. He finds plenty of suspicious women and even gets romantically involved with the widow Mattie Chase, stealing her away from her steady beau Marshal Adams. Like its predecessor, this feature attempts to create a fresh new genre by combining science fiction and western with comic elements. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Meg Foster, Maxwell Caulfield, (more)
- 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)
- 1984
Patty Duke Astin plays the wife of police officer Frederic Forrest, who wants to join a special investigative unit. Forrest is denied this position on the basis of information concerning his wife. The information, which reveals a dicey extramarital affair, was culled from a department surveillance file that was supposed to have been destroyed by court order. Astin battles through legal channels to expose the police force's illegal actions, even as she and her husband suffer the innuendoes and cold shoulders from his fellow officers. The made-for-TV Best Kept Secrets premiered on March 26, 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1993
In Best of the Best 2, Alex Grady and his partner, Tommy Lee, turn their karate talents toward crime fighting. An illegal fighting club, headed by Wayne Newton, is a center for crime and criminals. Alex and Tommy decide to take it down but first they have to fight their way through Brakus, the big evil, and his growth protein-engorged posse. ~ Brian Whitener, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eric Roberts, Phillip Rhee, (more)
Rutger Hauer plays a blinded Vietnam vet who also happens to be an expert swordsman. Twenty years after the war, Hauer finds himself waist-deep in gangsters when he tries to help the son (Brandon Call) of an old army buddy. Along the way, he reforms an ex-comrade in arms (Terrance O'Quinn) who was responsible for the accident that blinded him. Based on a series of Japanese films about a blind samurai (released under the blanket title of Zatoichi). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rutger Hauer, Brandon Call, (more)
- 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)
- 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)
Not to be confused with the 1994 exchange-of-murders melodrama Dead On, this 1991 film was originally shipped out under the title Relentless 2: Dead On. You may recall that in the first Relentless in 1989, Judd Nelson starred as a serial killer. Nelson isn't around for the sequel, though two of his near-victims, a mother (Meg Foster) and her son (Leo Rossi), make return appearances. Relentless 2 elaborates on the possible aftereffects of Nelson's psychotic behavior, as manifested in young Rossi. Could the kid have learned too much about the inner workings of a murderer's mind? The premise is a workable one, and the film makes the most of it, with several genuinely frightening setpieces. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1996
Country-western singer JoAnne Chadway (Molly Gross) is distraught when her mother Renee (Angie Dickinson)--and even more so since the disappearance occurred amidst bitter domestic strife with JoAnne's powerful attorney father Clay Chadway (Richard Crenna). When Clay inevitably becomes a suspect in Renee's possible murder, JoAnne embarks upon her own private investigation to ferret out the truth. What she discovers is horrifying--not so much because of what she now knows, but because of what she never knew before about her parents. "Inspired by actual events", the made-for-TV Deep Dark Secrets was first unveiled by CBS on April 15, 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
John Savage stars as a troubled man with a checkered past in the made-for-TV Desperate. Born into wealth, Savage turns his back on his heritage by heading for the high seas as skipper of an excursion ship. In Lord Jim fashion, he betrays his customers' trust by jumping ship during a storm. Years later, he settles down as a charter boat captain in Key West, where he hopes to make amends for his past sins. He partially realizes that goal by scuttling a gang of gun-runners. Meg Foster costars as Savage's lady friend, while Christopher Burke, the Down Syndrome-afflicted young actor who later starred in TV's Life Goes On, plays Foster's mentally handicapped son. Conceived as the pilot for a weekly series, Desperate debuted September 19, 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 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
- 1991
- R
Bruce Boxleitner plays a second-rate Rambo in the action film Diplomatic Immunity. Boxleitner is grizzled and tight-lipped Vietnam veteran and U.S. Marine instructor Cole Hickel. When his daughter Ellen (Sharon L. Case) begins to date Paraguayan nationalist Klaus Hermann (Tom Breznahan), Cole looks askance at the couple. His suspicions prove correct when Ellen is murdered by Klaus, who uses her body as a subject for his sado-masochistic paintings. The police arrest Klaus but, because of his aristocratic descent, the government refuses to bring him to trial. Cole takes the law into his own hands and, with arms-dealer pal Cowboy (Billy Drago), Cole heads back into Paraguay as a one-man army to exact vengeance upon Klaus and any other Paraguayan who stands in his way. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Boxleitner, Billy Drago, (more)
- 1995
Carol (Julianna Margulies) takes a more than professional interest in Tatiana (Milana Vayntrub), a six-year-old Russian girl with AIDS who has been adopted -- and then abandoned -- by an American family. Overachiever Deb (Ming-Na) accidentally ingests some candy-coated LSD. And despite their volatile professional differences, Kayson (Sam Anderson) asks Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) out for a special Valentine's Day dinner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1991
- R
This sci-fi actioner is set in a future that is ruled by technology and gigantic corporations. It centers on a woman's attempts to solve the puzzling murder of her husband, a prominent engineer who has found out far too much about a company that has been dealing in valuable human body parts. To assist her search, the wife hires kick-boxing "cyberon" (the former android police force that guarded the corporations) bounty hunter Walker to help her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 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)
- 1999
The six-season run of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys comes to a rousing climax involving a genuine, bona fide "monster rally." Perhaps hoping to patch up his differences with his wife, Hera (Meg Foster), the god Zeus (Charles Keating) releases her from bondage. Unfortunately, he also accidentally releases the three Titans -- Helios (Phil Grieve), Oceanus (Andrew Kovacevich), and Atlas (David Press), whose combined powers threaten to destroy both Olympus and the Earth. And there's an added threat in the form of Evander (Joseph Main), the all-powerful son of war god Ares (Kevin Smith). Before our hero Hercules (Kevin Sorbo) is able to bring order out of all this chaos, he finds himself in the thick of his greatest -- and possibly his last -- battle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Sorbo, Michael Hurst, (more)
- 1998
In this follow-up to the previous episode "Top God," Hercules (Kevin Sorbo) accepts the offer of his father, Zeus (Roy Dotrice), to serve as a full god on Mount Olympus. The honor tarnishes when Hercules finds out the real reason Zeus' offer was extended: As his first assignment, Hercules is expected to thwart a power play spearheaded by the evil Ares (Kevin Smith) and Hera (Meg Foster). Along the way, Hera blackmails Zeus into relinquishing his throne, affording him a rare and tantalizing opportunity to experience life as mortal. In the climax of this, the fourth-season finale of Hercules the Legendary Journeys, Hercules engages in a violent, winner-take-all battle with Hera and his half-brother, Apollo (Scott Michaelsen), in the Dark Side of Olympus. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Sorbo, Michael Hurst, (more)
- 1993
Based on Stuart Kaminsky's novel Exercise in Terror, Hidden Fears is about a widow (Meg Foster) who is haunted by memories of her husband's murder. Several years after his death, she approaches the police with new evidence about her husband's death. Unfortunately the perpetrators discover that the case is re-opened, and they set out to kill the eyewitnesses and the widow herself. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1994
- R
Careful, parents: this one's Immortal Combat, not Mortal Kombat. And it's R-rated, too. Even so, the young fans of wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper will probably find some way to get this on their TV screen. Together with the equally musclebound Sonny Chiba, Piper takes on a battalion of seemingly indestructible martial-arts bad guys. The lovely and talented Meg Foster supplies acting relief (well that's not really fair; Piper and Chiba are very good at what they do). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roddy Piper, Sonny Chiba, (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
