Joe V. Greco Movies

This family drama by actress and first-time director Anne DeSalvo centers around four adult sisters who are forced to re-evaluate their situations after tragedy strikes. The oldest of the clan, Grace (Mercedes Ruehl), is called upon to be the tower of strength, even though she is widely perceived to be a replica of their mother Dolly (Cloris Leachman), a woman who, like Grace, has unfailingly devoted much of her life to a husband who doesn't appreciate her as he should. Christine (Sean Young) is separated from her job-obsessed husband Paul (Jamey Sheridan), and contemplates divorcing him even though they have a young daughter. Another sister, Denise (Dinah Manoff), rejects the idea of marriage despite the advances of boyfriend Lawrence (Mark Harmon); youngest sister Dolores (Lily Knight) has become mentally challenged due to an accident, and has trouble relating to her older siblings. Dolores has found a romantic interest, but the family feels she is unable to cope with such an attachment at her age. Through the aid of Dolly's sisters Splendora (Lee Grant) and Loretta (Edith Fields), the family tries to retain its bond and deal with unexpected tragedy. ~ Jason Clark, Rovi

Though Janice (Amy Brenneman) has been promoted to the Intelligence division, she must continue biding her time with the 15th precinct detectives. Despite damning evidence, Kelly (David Caruso) feels that his pal Charlie (Charles Haid) is being framed for murder. Fancy (James McDaniel) worries that his wife is in for another very difficult pregnancy. And, while visiting the family of Sylvia Costas (Sharon Lawrence), Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) has several drinks too many. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Howard Franklin wrote and directed this film noir character study based on the famed New York Daily News photographer Weegee. Joe Pesci plays a character named Bernstein, a freelance photographer for the New York City tabloids of the 1940s. His life is dedicated to his work; with a police radio under the dashboard of his car and a darkroom in his trunk, he quickly and efficiently races to the scene of crimes, accidents and murders to snap photographs of gangsters, politicians, cops, and prostitutes, which he promptly delivers to the newspapers. His knack for arriving at a crime scene before the police earns him the nickname the Great Bernzini. The trouble begins for Bernstein when he agrees to look up a gangster for Kay (Barbara Hershey), the sexy owner of a fancy Manhattan nightclub. After making inquiries, Bernstein traces the man Kay is looking for, but he turns up dead. When he informs the police, he becomes a suspect in the murder; it also turns out that the FBI is interested the case. Bernstein then uncovers an elaborate conspiracy concerning gas rationing, the mob, and the government. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Dillinger is a messily directed, haphazardly edited TV movie, which takes a revisionist squint at the criminal career of the 1930s' Public Enemy Number One. Mark Harmon captures some of the charisma but little of the ruthlessness of John Dillinger, while Sherilyn Fenn gives an anachronistic interpretation of the gun moll who eventually betrays Johnny D. to the Feds. Vince Edwards is supposed to be FBI founder J. Edgar Hoover, but comports himself more like a grouchy crossing guard. The film is rife with poorly staged gun battles (including the Biograph Theatre finale), shot in a shivery "MTV" fashion which suggests that the camera operator has St. Vitas' Dance. Most of Dillinger was lensed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; the 1930s-style exteriors were well chosen, though the interior scenes at FBI headquarters look like they were filmed inside the Milwaukee Public Library--which indeed they were. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Package, a thriller involving political assassination and intrigue, is an excellent action feature using a familiar theme and providing good performances by the cast. Boyette (Tommy Lee Jones) is a prisoner entrusted to Gallagher (Gene Hackman) for transportation back to the United States. Boyette escapes and Gallagher must find him. In doing so, Gallagher finds himself getting into far more than he had bargained for as he becomes involved in a political assignation plot that he must stop. Both Hackman and Jones are excellent in reprising familiar roles. Hackman is never better than when portraying the decent man in a precarious position, and Jones plays Boyette with the same cunning and intelligence that he brought to The Executioner's Song. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi

Like the TV series that shared the same title, The Untouchables (1987) was an account of the battle between gangster Al Capone and lawman Eliot Ness, this time in the form of a feature film boasting big stars, a big budget, and a script from respected playwright David Mamet. Kevin Costner stars as Ness, a federal agent who has come to Chicago during the Prohibition Era, when corruption in the local police department is rampant. His mission is to put crime lord Capone (Robert De Niro) out of business, but Capone is so powerful and popular that Ness is not taken seriously by the law or the press. One night, discouraged, he meets a veteran patrolman, Jimmy Malone (Sean Connery), and discovers that the acerbic Irishman is the one honest man he's been seeking. Malone has soon helped Ness recruit a gunslinger rookie, George Stone (Andy Garcia), and, joined by nebbish accountant Oscar Wallace (Charles Martin Smith), the men doggedly pursue Capone and his illegal interests. At first a laughingstock, Ness soon has Capone outraged over his and Malone's sometimes law-bending tactics, and the vain mobster strikes back in vicious style. Ultimately, it is the most unexpected and minor of crimes, tax evasion, which proves Capone's undoing. All of the credits for The Untouchables boasted big names, including music from Ennio Morricone and costumes by Giorgio Armani. Director Brian De Palma continued his tradition of including a homage to past masters of the cinema with a taut stairway shoot-out reminiscent of a similar sequence in Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin (1925). ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

There was once a time within living memory when people eagerly awaited a TV-movie starring Mister T. The Toughest Man in the World casts the former Laurence Turand as nightclub bouncer "Bruise" Brubaker. Marshmallow-soft on the inside, Bruise befriends a group of underprivileged kids at a youth center. The film bears a marked resemblance to Mister T's Saturday-morning cartoon series; whether it is better or worse is left to the viewer. I pity the fool who missed The Toughest Man in the World when it was first telecast on November 7, 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A fast-paced, low-budget, teen sex and action film, this foray into a dysfunctional subculture is directed by Gordon Weisenborn. The focus of the story is a seventeen-year-old young woman who runs away from home more from boredom than any valid reason. What she runs into is a problematical relationship with one of society's dropouts, a supposed artist. Meanwhile, her straight-laced boyfriend and a tough young detective are out hunting her down. Circumstances bring her around into a fractious relationship with the detective, once she is found, that threatens to be much worse than anything she knew at home. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi