Jack Hallett Movies

Two women on different ends of the spectrum of corporate power come together with explosive results in this drama. Julie Styron (Stockard Channing) is a successful executive with a major international corporation who is starting to feel the pressure of her position; she has few friends and no family to buffer her from the responsibilities of her work, and she suspects that the company's CEO is thinking about replacing her. Trying to get one step ahead, she meets with the slightly manipulative headhunter Nick Harris (Frederick Weller). Julie's anxieties come to a head when she has to give a major out-of-town presentation without the help of her assistant Paula Murphy (Julia Stiles), who failed to show up on time. Furious, Julie gives Paula a severe dressing down before firing her, but then Julie is called into a meeting with Nick in which she gets some unexpected news -- she's going to be taking over his job. Eager to celebrate, Julie runs into Paula, and tries to apologize for their earlier encounter by offering her a hotel room for the night and a few drinks. In time, Nick also turns up at the hotel and the women - upon running into him - realize that he is a mutual acquaintance. Later, Paula shares a secret with Julie -- Nick raped one of her friends while they were in college, and since then Paula has pondered taking revenge against him. Julie is eventually drawn into Paula's plan when they encounter Nick later that evening. But there may be more to Paula than meets the eye. The Business of Strangers was the first feature from writer and director Patrick Stettner; the film was shown in competition at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Bloodstains reveal that a model was murdered by one of her closest relatives. The detectives nail a suspect, the model's illegitimate daughter -- who promptly reveals that the chief witness to the crime is her own lawyer. This opens a legal can of worms when the lawyer argues that any communication between himself and the suspect is privileged, and cannot be used in court. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When young Nicky Guzman (Enrique Monez) is accused of killing a drug dealer, public sympathy is very much on his side. This makes it difficult for the D.A.'s office to mount a successful case against Guzman. But things really get beyond the control of assistant D.A.'s Stone (Michael Moriarty) and Robinette (Richard Brooks) when Guzman engages the services of Chet Burton (J.D. Cannon), a flamboyant Texas defense lawyer with a long and unbroken string of courtroom victories. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Joe Pesci stars as Louie Kritski, a heartless landlord who has been so negligent in keeping up his ghetto apartment that he is threatened with jail time. The judge gives him another option, which he accepts -- he must live in his rat-infested hell hole until he brings it up to liveable standards. The judge gives him 120 days, during which time Louie meets many of his tenants, including drug dealer Marlon (Ruben Blades). Over time, Louie grows more sympathetic with their problems and sees the results of his own greediness. Unfortunately, Louie's father, Big Lou Kritski (Vincent Gardenia), is the real owner of the property, and he resists his son's entreaties to spend money to clean up the place. Famed screenwriter Nora Ephron co-scripted the story with Sam Simon. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

This made-for-cable biopic originally went out under the simpler title Margaret Bourke-White. Farrah Fawcett stars as the famed photojournalist, whose work for Life magazine from 1936 onward gained her worldwide celebrity. The best scenes, showing the dauntless Bourke-White (Fawcett) at work in the most grueling and perilous of situations, are all too fleeting. The filmmakers evidently believed that the audience would be more intrigued by Bourke-White's stormy relationship with her husband, novelist Erskine Caldwell (played with a fluctuating Southern accent by Frederic Forrest). The film's chief assets are the well-focused performance of Farrah Fawcett, and the lensed-on-location sequences in Louisiana and Moscow. Margaret Bourke-White premiered over the TNT cable channel on April 24, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This is the true story of Los Gatos (California) high school football coach Charlie Wedemeyer (Michael Nouri). At 31, onetime football pro Wedemeyer is living the American dream; a winning team, a happy marriage and public adulation. Then in 1977, Charlie is diagnosed as suffering from ALS, a degenerative neurological ailment better known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Given only one year to live, Charlie determines to continue leading his Los Gatos Wildcats to a state championship -- which he eventually does, despite losing all powers of speech and movement. Several notches above the usual "disease of the week" TV movie, Quiet Victory: The Charlie Wedemeyer Story was directed by Roy Campanella II -- himself the son of a physically disabled pro athlete, baseball star Roy Campanella. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Pudd'nhead Wilson, Mark Twain's attack on racial prejudice in the guise of a mystery tale, was adapted for television in 1984 by Philip Reisman Jr. Ken Howard plays lawyer "Pudd'nhead" Wilson, so named because of his silly behavior and foolish appearance. Wilson, however, has a lot more on the ball than anyone suspects. He proves as much by unraveling a murder case that begins taking shape when mulatto slave Roxane (Lisa Hilboldt) switches her baby with one belonging to a prominent white family. Filmed on location at Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, Pudd'nhead Wilson premiered January 24, 1984, on PBS television's American Playhouse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A former FBI agent is recruited to root out the gangsters who killed a fellow agent's son in this Arnold Schwarzenegger action film. After being booted out of the bureau for excessive violence, Kaminski (Schwarzenegger) lives in small-town exile with his bitter wife, Amy (Blanche Baker). He gets the chance to return to the big city, however, when Chicago mobsters murder the son of his old colleague Shannon (Darren McGavin), as well as scads of prosecution witnesses against them in an impending court case. Shannon promises to reinstate Kaminski if he'll help engineer the downfall of gang leader Max (Robert Davi). Working undercover and without government sanction, Kaminski infiltrates the mob by posing as a bodyguard/assassin. Along the way, he tussles with beautiful gambling addict Monique (Kathryn Harrold), who starts off as an enemy but ends up more. The action comes to a head when Kaminski's mob bosses send him to kill none other than Shannon. Released post-Terminator and pre-Predator, Raw Deal is one of several non-science fictional action flicks that cemented Schwarzenegger's '80s box-office appeal. Director John Irvin would return the following year with the gritty Vietnam drama Hamburger Hill. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide