Carol Gustafson Movies

Briefly laid off because of a freak accident at the shoe store, Al (Ed O'Neill) goes to work as a security guard at Polk High School, his alma mater. On the first night of the job, Al must contend with the unexpected appearance of his onetime high school rival Spare Tire Dixon (Bubba Smith), who has broken into the school intending to steal its coveted football trophy. References to such pop-culture classics as the TV series Branded and the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire abound in this episode, which star Ed O'Neill has listed as his favorite. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Still something of a local legend thanks to his gridiron brilliance as a member of the "Polk Panthers", Al (Ed O'Neill) is invited to deliver a speech at his high school homecoming. Elsewhere, Al's daughter Kelly (Christina Applegate) tries to juggle two dates at once, while son Bud (David Faustino) formulates a plan to get even with a girl who once humiliated him in public. The girl in question is played by future Beverly Hills 90210 regular Tiffani-Amber Thiessen (here billed without the "Amber"), while also in the cast is A Different World's Cory Tyler. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The First Deadly Sin was Frank Sinatra's final starring movie vehicle. Based on a novel by Lawrence Sanders, it casts Sinatra as Edward Delaney, a big-city detective on the verge of retirement. Beset with profound personal problems--including a gravely ill wife (Faye Dunaway)--Delaney nonetheless tackles the case of an axe murderer who seemingly strikes at random. Be on the lookout for an unbilled Bruce Willis. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

"His code name is Condor. In the next 24 hours, everyone he trusts will try to kill him." As the ads ominously announced, a low-level spook confronts the unfathomable in Sydney Pollack's 1975 political thriller, adapted from the James Grady novel Six Days of the Condor. CIA researcher Joe Turner (Robert Redford) returns from lunch to find the entire staff of his small New York office assassinated. When he meets his boss (Cliff Robertson) at another location to tell him what happened, someone tries to shoot Turner as well. On the run from the cops and his agency, a desperate Turner resorts to holing up with innocent civilian Kathy (Faye Dunaway), who becomes his only ally. Joe decides to save himself the only way possible -- by going to The New York Times. But will it work? One of a cycle of conspiracy films from the 1970s that also included The Parallax View (1974) and Redford's All the President's Men (1976), Three Days of the Condor pits a working everyman (albeit a CIA everyman) against a far-reaching conspiracy, as it also criticizes the CIA during a period of increasing publicity about federal wrongdoing, from the Pentagon Papers through Watergate and other congressional investigations. The challenge of negotiating New York City, shot on location, becomes one more sign of the forces that Joe must face. With its timely subject matter, taut suspense, and sympathetic Redford hero, Three Days of the Condor became a substantial hit. Balancing the conspiracy cycle's pessimism with a margin of attenuated hope, Three Days of the Condor suggests that one man can still discover the truth, but whether it helps him remains to be seen. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

This trilogy begins with "Miriam" in which the title character (Susan Dunfee) watches as her longtime nanny Miss Miller (Mildred Natwick) slowly sinks into insanity. In "Among The Paths to Eden," Mary (Maureen Stapleton) is a lonely woman searching for a husband among the widowers paying respects to their dearly departed at a local cemetery. "A Christmas Memory" concerns the childhood recollections of a woman who slowly loses her mind. The last segment is narrated by the author and was shown on ABC television, winning both an Emmy and Peabody Award. The success of the program prompted Capote and Eleanor Perry to expand this feature to a trilogy. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi