Scott Glenn Movies

Produced for cable's ESPN network, Codebreakers dramatizes a real-life cheating scandal that rocked the foundations of West Point in 1951. Cadet Brian Nolan (Zachery Ty Bryan) is the roommate of varsity football players George Holbrook (Jeff Roop) and Bob Blaik (Corey Sevier), the latter being the son of West Point's colorful football coach Earl "Red" Blaik (Scott Glenn) -- the man who, according to legend, coined the phrase "winning isn't everything, it's the only thing" (significantly, Blaik's assistant coach was Vince Lombardi). Through casual conversation, young Nolan discovers to his horror that several of Blaik's players have taken the coach's philosophy literally, to the extent of cheating on exams to keep up their required GPAs. Their assumption -- not borne out by fact, as it turns out -- is that the coach will never find out, and if he does, he won't care. The ensuing scandal plays right into the hands of West Point's hard-nosed Commandant Paul D Harkins (Jude Ciccolelle), who, long resentful of the prominence of football at the academy, has eagerly awaited the opportunity to topple Coach Blaik from his throne. Ultimately, 83 cadets, including Bob Blaik, are implicated in the scandal -- and the penalty for breaking the Point's sacred Honor Code is a terrible one indeed. The most intriguing aspect of the film is the portrayal of whistleblower Brian Nolan, who though he has technically done the Right Thing is not a particularly likable person; indeed, certain viewers may well be swayed to the side of the disgraced football players as they make Nolan's life Hell on earth for telling what he knows. Filmed in Toronto, Codebreakers was first telecast on December 9, 2005. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The psychological thriller Gone But Not Forgotten concerns a serial killer who leaves behind a black rose and a note that reads "Gone But Not Forgotten" every time he claims a new victim. The murders were never solved, but years later when a crime fitting the same MO occurs in Oregon lives are forever changed. A detective, an attorney, and a missing private eye all know part of the truth, but any of them may become the next victim. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Failure is Not an Option is a two-hour documentary based on the memoirs of former NASA flight director Gene Kranz. Culled from miles and miles of archival government and TV-network footage, the film covers the history of manned space flight from the early missions of Alan Shepherd and John Glenn to the Apollo 13 crisis of 1970 (Kranz was played by Ed Harris in the filmed re-creation of that incident). As in the book, the special's focus is on Mission Control's emotional responses to momentous historical events, never more movingly than during the fatal capsule fire that claimed the lives of three astronauts in 1967. Among those interviewed in Failure is Not an Option are ex-astronaut Jim Lovell and Kranz's fellow flight director Chris Kraft. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This PBS documentary covers the daring 1945 commando raid to free 513 survivors of the 1942 Bataan death march in the Japanese-occupied Philippines. Penned up in the hellish Cabanatuan concentration camp for three years, the emaciated, disease-ridden prisoners (originally tens of thousands in number) were certain that America had forgotten them, and that they were doomed to be executed by their Japanese captors the moment that U.S. troops arrived to liberate them. But members of the 6th Ranger Battalion, parachuting 30 miles behind enemy lines, were determined to keep their rescue mission a secret from the enemy until the very last minute -- and, with the aid of hundreds of intrepid Filipino resistance fighters, they were able to successfully carry off their assignment. The story is told via eyewitness interviews, letters written by the prisoners, newsreel footage from both sides of the conflict, and dramatized reenactments. Narrated by Scott Glenn, "Bataan Rescue" was originally shown as an episode of the PBSanthology The American Experience. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Greg Smith directed and stars in this road movie that begins off the coast of Baja when the sailing trip of Ray Goodley (Smith) suddenly becomes landlocked: Looking for his lost dog in El Rosario, Ray sucks on a six-pack, awakens in a Mexican jail, and is given a odd sentencing requiring him to transport a cargo from LA to El Rosario. When he makes it to LA, he learns that the "cargo," presented to him by nutty Senor Grem (Scott Glenn), is an old ambulance he has to drive back to Baja. Fast-talking actress wannabe Crystal Shaw (Rio Glenn) hitches a ride, and the two take an interest in each other as they head south of the border. The screenplay is by Dakota Glenn, daughter of Scott Glenn and the sister of Rio Glenn. Shown at the 1998 Palm Springs Film Festival. The soundtrack features David Abir's score and both American and Mexican songs. Produced by Dakota Glenn and Smith. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Women and Men 2 is the second installment of HBO's short-story anthology series. In the first episode, Carson McCuller's "A Domestic Dilemma," Ray Liotta plays a husband who has to cut back on his work in order to care for his children, since his alcoholic wife (Andie MacDowell) cannot be trusted. In Irwin Shaw's "Return to Kansas City," a boxer (Matt Dillon) is unwilling to take risks in order to win love. In Henry Miller's "Mara," Scott Glenn plays Miller in a story about his love for a Parisian prostitute. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

A spy is tracked down in this made-for-television espionage thriller. When a secret agent goes in search of his former mentor -- who has since defected -- he finds that the man wants come back to the United States. They go on the lam and try to escape the KGB and CIA, who aren't through with the master spy just yet. ~ Bernadette McCallion, Rovi

Countdown to Looking Glass was a Canadian-produced, 90 minute dramatic special, first telecast in the States over the HBO pay cable service on October 14, 1984. In the tradition of the earlier Special Bulletin, the story frames a nuclear-holocaust threat in the form of an ongoing news broadcast. The setup: A group of South American nations have defaulted on a loan, forcing every bank in America to collapse. The US is thus unable to help Oman when the middle-Eastern nation is invaded by Soviet operatives. This culminates in a Persian-gulf showdown, while all the major cities in the US are evacuated. Scott Glenn plays an anchorman for the fictional CVN news service, while Helen Shaver costars as the CVN Washington correspondent, who is prevented from getting on the air with a potentially world-saving bulletin. Written by MIT professor Lincoln Bloomfeld, Countdown to Looking Glass features real-life newscasters Eric Sevareid, Nancy Dickerson, Patrick Watson and Don Tobin. Note to political-trivia buffs: Appearing briefly as themselves are former Presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy, and a pre-"Contract With America" Newt Gingrich. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

When a serial killer continues his killings in New York City, a small town cop follows him to the big city. ~ Rovi

Incorporating themes from horror films of both the '50s and the '70s, this suspenseful TV movie stars Cornel Wilde and Jennifer Salt as an archaeologist and his daughter, who discover a strange skull on display at a roadside tourist trap. After the museum owner is killed during an attack from an unseen foe, the pair are subsequently pursued across the American Southwest by a tribe of humanoid creatures that bear a striking resemblance to the gargoyles of myth, leading to a manic game of cat-and-mouse across the desert. This enjoyably spooky film essentially riffs on this one-note premise for over 70 minutes -- sort of an inversion of Night of the Living Dead's claustrophobic scenario -- and fortunately comes off quite well thanks to superb use of the desert locations, an eerie score, uniformly good performances, and Emmy award-winning monster costumes from Stan Winston. A young Scott Glenn appears as a roguish biker who throws in with the good guys after taking a shine to the professor's daughter. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

Ironside's associates Ed (Don Galloway) and Eve (Barbara Anderson) are dispatched to Mexico, there to interrogate onetime murder suspect Lonnie Burnett (Scott Glenn) as a part of an investigation of a strikingly similar killing. In the course of events, the two detectives are persuaded that Burnett is innocent. As a result, when Burnett escapes police custody, the hostile local authorities accuse Ed and Eve of acting as the man's accomplices! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Hands on a Hard Body director S.R. Bindler directs this wave-twisting tale of a soul-searching surfer (Matthew McConaughey) in the midst of an existential crisis. Steve Addington (McConaughey) is an herb-toking long-boarder with a keen sense of balance and a mellow outlook on life. Upon returning to his hometown of Malibu to spend the summer with old friends, Steve begins to sense that the good vibes he remembers as a boy have been hopelessly corrupted by the powers that be. When the earthen surfer is faced with the prospect of expanding into virtual-reality video games and reality television or risk being rendered irrelevant, he opts to keep riding the majestic Southern California waves rather than participate in this new digital reality. Fate seems to intercede, however, when the ocean simply ceases to produce any suitable waves. His finances dried up, his sponsored expense accounts suddenly canceled, and his friends flocking off to bluer pastures, the surfer without a wave suddenly realizes that he has but two choices in life: he can either sit tight and try to keep his sanity until the waves come rolling in again, or finally give in to the Man and his intoxicating world of artificial amusements. Perhaps with a little wisdom from his trusted manager (Woody Harrelson), his aging mentor (Scott Glenn), his guardian angel (Willie Nelson), and his newfound muse (Alexie Gilmore), Addington can somehow manage to maintain his mellow just long enough to put it all into perspective and get back to the basics. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The NBC made-for-TV movie Homeland Security endeavors to put a human face on the events leading up to 9/11, and the post-tragedy formation of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. On the verge of retirement, FBI agent Joe Johnson (Scott Glenn) is brought back to help organize the department, in concert with Admiral McKee (Tom Skerritt). Also on the ground floor of the department is feisty female CIA operative "Jungle Jane" Fulbar (Marisol Nichols) who has enjoyed (if that is the word) a long-standing friendly rivalry with the FBI. The "conscience" character hereabouts is security expert Sol Binder (Leland Orser), who blames the failure to "connect the dots" in the months prior to 9/11 on the lack of cooperation between the two major governmental peacekeeping agencies. Adding a dash of suspense to the otherwise predictable proceedings is the presence of McKee's daughter Melissa (Stephi Lineburg), who, along with her Arab boyfriend, is booked on the ill-fated Flight 29. Likewise enlivening things a bit is the lively-if-traditional villainy of all-purpose terrorist Saif Khan (Nicholas Guilak). The uneven, sometimes incoherent story structure can be attributed to the fact that Homeland Security was the heavily re-edited combination of two pilot episodes for a never-sold TV series. The "finished" product originally aired on April 11, 2004. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi