John Hammond Movies

The Search for Robert Johnson explores for the first time the troubled life and mysterious death of this legendary bluesman. Drawing on the research of blues scholars Mack McCormick and Gayle Dean Wardlow, the film pieces together documentary footage, interviews, and music to tell the story of an elusive spirit who, according to folklore, sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads. Fellow bluesmen Jonny Shines, Honeyboy Edwards, and Eric Clapton share interviews, as does Johnson's girlfriend Willie Mae Powell. Classic tunes "Crossroads Blues," "Hellhound on My Trail," "Terraplane Blues," "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom," and many more are included. Narrator John Hammond leads the search for answers by retracing the steps of the original researchers -- crisscrossing the Delta, introducing viewers to the man who may be Johnson's long-lost son, touring the sites of Johnson's only two recording sessions in 1936 and 1937, and finally investigating the circumstances of Johnson's murder on August 16, 1938.
~ Betsy Boyd, All Movie Guide

Do You Know the Muffin Man? was the first of a brace of TV movies about day-care abuse (see also Unspeakable Acts). Pam Dawber and John Shea play the parents of a preschool child who comes home one day with horrible stories about the staff of his day care center. The owners of the center are two highly respected social pillars, who automatically deny all charges and accuse the parents of fabricating the whole thing. Despite the looming spectres of public ridicule and financial ruin, Dawber and Shea hire lawyers and pursue the case. Once the story switches to the courtroom, the emphasis shifts from the adult litigants to the prosecution's difficulties in coaxing the children to testify without inducing further damage. Do You Know the Muffin Man? is handled with care and discretion, though dramatically it covers more legal and emotional ground than its two-hour length can hold. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Highway to Heaven closes out its first season with episode one of a two-part story. Angel-in-training Jonathan Smith (Michael Landon) is assigned to a horse-breeding farm, owned by fabulously wealthy Mr. Armstrong (Stephen Elliott). The good news is that Armstrong's playboy son Garth (John Hammond) has fallen in love. The bad news, at least so far as Mr. Armstrong is concerned, is that Garth's sweetheart is Lizzy MacGill (Helen Hunt), the daughter of the farm's "lowly" horse breeder. Two regulars from Michael Landon's previous series Little House on the Prairie, Richard Bull and Noble Willingham, appear in supporting roles. ~ All Movie Guide

Director Martin Ritt's bucolic rural environments of Norma Rae, Conrack, and Sounder, are re-visited once again in Cross Creek, based on author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' memoirs of her times on a remote Florida bayou. Mary Steenburgen plays Rawlings, author of The Yearling, who, in 1928, makes the abrupt decision to leave her husband and move to an isolated orange grove to concentrate on her writing. Rawlings buys a run-down house covered with cobwebs that she restores with quick dispatch. In these desolate surroundings, Rawlings pauses in her housecleaning to listen reflectively to the otherworldly noises of the swamp. But suddenly out of this loneliness, people emerge. There is Geechee (Alfre Woodard), Rawlings' devoted servant; Marsh Turner (Rip Torn), a liquor-guzzling swamp rat; Floyd Turner (Cary Guffey), a cute harmonica-playing boy; and Ellie Turner (Dana Hill), a little girl whose fawn becomes the basis of Rawlings' Yearling book. Rawlings becomes involved with Norton Baskin (Peter Coyote), the owner of the local hotel, and, as she settles into life on the bayou and her friendship with Norton and Geechee, she is inspired to begin writing. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Not much time is actually spent in Weasel Creek in this made-for-TV movie, despite its title. Essentially, this is a semiserious "road" picture concerning the misadventures of a rambunctious young girl (Mare Winningham). Linking up with a runaway farm boy (John Hammond), the girl heads to California with only the clothes on her back and the few possessions from her house trailer. En route, the boy stops over in the aptly named Weasel Creek to visit his aunt (Colleen Dewhurst). The film is populated with such familiar rustic types as Barry Corbin, Richard Farnsworth and Trey Wilson. A Few Days in Weasel Creek first aired October 21, 1981. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this low-budget drama, Eddie (John Jenkins) and Billy (Chris Mulkey) are two regular-guy mechanics whose ambitions in life don't go far beyond drinking a few beers and shooting a few rounds of pool. However, both sometimes think that something is missing from their existence, and they occasionally talk about leaving their old lives behind and starting over. One night, Eddie buys a Great Dane as a pet for his young son, which sparks an argument with his wife; Eddie packs a bag and decides to stay with Billy for a while, and before long, the two decide that they should pull up stakes and move to another town. Loose Ends began as a student film co-directed by David Burton Morris and Victoria Wozniak, both of whom went on to careers working in television; Morris also directed the well-regarded independent film Purple Haze. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide