Tracy Fraim Movies
- 2005
Desperate Housewives takes a breather from its hectic (and highly rated) first season to offer this retrospective episode, originally telecast as a special. In lieu of the series' traditional narrator, the late Mary Alice Young (Brenda Strong), actress Tracy Fraim provides the blow-by-blow commentary. In addition to choice film clips from previous episodes, "Sorting Out the Dirty Laundry" provides tantalizing clues to the various and sundry mysteries introduced in the narrative -- and also a few all-too-brief glimpses of what is to come during the remainder of season one. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Devastated by the death of their overprotective mother and unsure how to carry on without a loving parental figure to guide them, a pair of dim-witted brothers set out to find a suitable replacement in directors Michael Covert and Tracy Fraim's screwball crime comedy. Despite the fact that they've grown well into adulthood, coddled mama's boys Junior (Covert) and Scooter (Fraim) are incapable of caring for themselves. When their smothering mother moves on to meet her maker, the desperate duo decides to search the West Texas plains for a woman capable of catering to their peculiar needs. Soon setting their sights on kindly Piggly Wiggly employee Dede (Tara Chocol), Junior and Scooter kidnap their newfound parental substitute and quickly incur the wrath of her abusive Texas Ranger husband (played by Patrick Warburton). Now, with a new mother in tow and a vengeful Texas Ranger hot on their tracks, Junior and Scooter agree to help Dede sneak back to her home and rescue her real son so that all four can start their new life together. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 2001
- R
Home is where the kidnap victim is in this darkly comic farce. Scooter (Trace Fraim) and Junior (Michael Covert) are a pair of exceptionally dim-witted brothers from West Texas who are left high and dry when their mother passes away. The brothers aren't much good at taking care of themselves (and they know it), so they set out to find a woman who will take mom's place in their house. The hapless pair start by approaching a prostitute (Jennifer Tilly), who after taking $35 from the boys leaves them just where they started, and after a few similarly disastrous attempts at finding a new maternal figure, Scooter and Junior decide to take a more aggressive approach. They abduct a woman named DeDe (Tara Chocol) from the parking lot of the supermarket where she works, but as it turns out, DeDe doesn't really mind -- the dumb but good-natured brothers are actually a pleasant change of pace compared to her husband, a violent and ill-tempered Texas Ranger named Vincent (Patrick Warburton). DeDe agrees to be the brothers' new "mom," but on one condition -- they have to help retrieve her baby daughter. Scooter and Junior are willing, but Vincent isn't willing to let DeDe go, and the brothers soon find that Vincent is not a good man to have on one's bad side. Dirt was directed by Michael Covert and Trace Fraim, who also star as Junior and Scooter; it's the second feature as director for Covert, who also wrote the screenplay, and Fraim's debut behind the camera. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Covert, Tracy Fraim, (more)
A woman faces some difficult choices when she's forced to live in a whole new way in this independent drama. With her family in the midst of a crisis, Kelley (Ria Pavia) sets out to find her brother Dennis (Tracy Fraim), a ne'er do well drifter who is currently living on a tiny island of the coast of Chile. Dennis, who has fallen in with a pack of fellow nomads, isn't interested in going back to California, and tricks Kelley into missing her flight off the island, which means she'll be stranded there for another three weeks, much to her annoyance. But as the days go by, Kelley begins to warm to the carefree vibe of the island, and she becomes infatuated with Craig (Eddie Matos), one of Dennis' new friends, forcing her to decide if she should look to her own desires or the needs of her family. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Former music-video director Tamra Davis (Guncrazy) created strong characters in this bank-robbery tale, a crime/comedy/drama somewhat reminiscent of the anti-establishment attitudes seen in early '70s films. After three years in a California prison, Jesse (Luke Wilson) is ready to marry his girlfriend Hope (Drew Barrymore) in the town of Independence (the original working title of this film). Joining Jesse is a odd assortment -- the buzzcut ex-Green-Beret Buzz (Dean Cain); ex-lawyer Sol (Mitchell Whitfield); geeky Teddy (Andy Dick); and Shakespeare-quoting Billy (Sean Patrick Flanery), aka Hamlet on the FBI's most-wanted list. Then they're off to the wedding. Billy, however, asks to be dropped off at a nearby bank, and after it's evident that Billy is pulling off another Hamlet heist, the others join him inside. Billy's father, Sheriff Phillips (Fred Ward), up for re-election, begins hostage negotiations, but the media arrives, along with psycho FBI agent Hoover (Raymond J. Barry) and his partner Carter (Art Edler Brown). Wearing her wedding dress, Hope goes inside the bank. Soon various friends and locals gather outside to offer support as the hostages take the side of their captors. In addition to portraying agent Carter, Art Edler Brown is the film's co-producer and co-scripter. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- 1996
Aspiring actress Julia's career prospects look dismal and her roommates are preparing to marry each other and move to Boston. When she receives a marriage proposal on the back of a post card from her ex-flame Mark, who feels that he can finally support her after getting a job with a law firm, she leaves her San Diego apartment to travel up to Spokane, WA to become his bride. This bittersweet comedy chronicles her many misadventures she takes her northward journey. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Mark Wahlberg stars in one of his first features as a hoodlum drug dealer from the wrong side of the trackswho falls in love with Nicole Walker, an upper-middle-class high school girl (Reese Witherspoon). In this psycho-drama (with the emphasis on psycho), Nicole happily loses her virginity to her first love, but, when she begins to doubt the relationship, his tenderness turns to violence, as he stalks and terrorizes her and her friends and family. The girl's father never trusted him in the first place, but his reservations about his daughter's first serious boyfriend are interpreted as Oedipal paranoia, until the boy and his drug-dealing, date-raping buddies besiege the overly fortified house in a twisted attempt to win back Nicole's love. The Seattle setting juxtaposes a grunge rock underworld with an over-privileged suburban household, and includes a very sexual ride on a roller-coaster. And yes, former underwear model Wahlberg appears shirtless several times. ~ Laura Abraham, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mark Wahlberg, Reese Witherspoon, (more)
- 1991
- PG
In this comedy, college student Barry Davis (Corey Haim) longs to be able to afford a really great car to impress the coeds. However, when Barry receives a beautiful Porshe as an unusual gift, he discovers that his dream car isn't all it is cracked up to be, especially with a dead body in the trunk. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1991
- R
In this horror film, malicious toymaker Joe Petto (Mickey Rooney) and his creepy son, Pino (Brian Bremer), terrorize the residents of a small town with the deadly toys they create. After her husband is killed by one of Petto's toys, Sarah (Jane Higginson) and her troubled son Derek (William Thorne) set out to stop the evil toymaker. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1990
A mother is determined to keep her daughter from the seedy world of prostitution in this made-for-television movie. Jane Alexander stars as Peggy Ryan, a busy single mom who doesn't have much time for her daughter Charly (Roxanna Zal). Lacking guidance, Charly drifts from the wrong crowd into prostitution. Realizing what Charly has gotten herself into, Peggy refuses to accept this as her daughter's fate and sets out to get her back home. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Alexander, Roxana Zal, (more)
- 1990
Hoping to prevent his brother's Vietnam death and to prevent the JFK assassination, a time-travelling college professor goes back to the '60s but can't find his way out. Trapped in a time warp, he can't effect a change because he can't return to his present time. This made-for-cable movie is adapted from Stanley Shapiro's A Time to Remember. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1989
Evil land developers, those most ubiquitous of 1980s movie villains, are the chief antagonists in the made-for-TV Mothers, Daughters and Lovers. Helen Shaver plays a truckstop/motel owner in the rural Northwest. She manages her business with the help of her two budding teenaged daughters--one studious (Perrey Reeves), one a rebel (Marcianne Warman). All three ladies ward off unwanted lotharios, entreat the attentions of those whom they care about, and band together to stop a new real estate development from eliminating their place of business. Mothers, Daughters and Lovers was written by Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, the team responsible for American Graffiti (73). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
