David LeReany Movies
Paul Johansson's The Incredible Mrs. Richie stars Gena Rowlands as the title character. The film stars Kevin Zegers as Charlie Proud, a young man on the path to juvenile delinquency. Having had enough of Charlie's troublemaking, school principal Mr. Dewitt issues the boy an ultimatum. Charlie must begin working for Mrs. Richie or be expelled from the school. She puts him to work in her garden, a place she believes is home to the spirit of her late husband. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gena Rowlands, Kevin Zegers, (more)
The backdrop for this epic Western, which aired in August 2002 on the Hallmark Channel, will be familiar to fans of the genre and students of Western history. The Johnson County War took place in northern Wyoming in April 1892, growing out of the familiar story of big-money ranchers who suspected homesteader neighbors of rustling. Screenwriters Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana adapted Frederick Manfred's 1957 novel, Riders of Judgment, which used some of the events and people but changed the names, including the county (which becomes Bighorn) and the main town (from Buffalo to Antelope). Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate (1981) also employed elements of the Johnson County War in its story. Manfred's book and this film center on Cain Hammett (Tom Berenger), a lonesome cowboy who hankers for Rory (Michelle Forbes); she has married his younger brother Dale (Adam Storke) in spite of the fact that she really loves Cain. A third Hammett brother, Harry (Luke Perry), unlike his honest, homesteading siblings, is a rustler who runs afoul of Marshal Hunt Lawton (Burt Reynolds), who is in the employ of wealthy Lord Peter (Christopher Cazenove), an Englishman in cahoots with the owners of big ranches to exterminate all of the homesteaders, guilty or innocent. Cain Hammett's real-life counterpart, Nate Champion, was a prime target of mercenaries hired by the big cattlemen, and the siege of Cain's cabin, which was the opening salvo in the war, provides the film with its climax. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Berenger, Luke Perry, (more)
The made-for-cable drama After the Harvest was based on Martha Ostenso's 1927 novel Wild Geese, and was first broadcast in Canada under that title on March 4, 2001. Sam Shepard heads the cast as ill-tempered Canadian farmer Caleb Gare, who tyrannically treats his family like slaves, forcing them to work sunup to sundown and live in dire poverty so he can selfishly fulfill his dream to grab up all the land surrounding his farm. The only person who might have been able to stand up to Caleb was his long-suffering wife Jude (Nadia Litz), who has long since been cowed into quiet desperation lest her children bear the brunt of her husband's cruelty. But the reign of Caleb Gare is soon to end ignominiously -- that is, if Linda Archer (Liane Balaban), the attractive new schoolteacher in town, has anything to say about it. In the U.S., After the Harvest was first seen May 29, 2001, on the Lifetime channel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sam Shepard, Nadia Litz, (more)
- 2000
This made-for-TV fantasy was based on Rod Serling's "A Stop at Willoughby," a 1960 episode of Serling's classic anthology series Twilight Zone. The story begins in the year 2000, with advertising executive Charles Lattimer (Mark Harmon) escaping his hectic professional life and increasingly dissatisfying marriage to wife Kristen (Catherine Hicks) by obsessively tinkering with his elaborate model-train set. Through the aid of a magic stopwatch, Charles boards a real train and is whisked back to 1896, where he inaugurates a romance with attractive widow Laura Brown (Mary McDonnell). Traversing back and forth through the years, Charles ultimately finds that he will never truly be happy until he chooses between the "real" world and the world fashioned by his nostalgic imagination. Filmed in Alberta, For All Time made its CBS network debut on October 18, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2000
Set in Arizona (but filmed in Alberta), the made-for-TV thriller Children of Fortune stars James Brolin as Navy detective Dave Passenger. Assigned to investigate the murder of a sailor's girlfriend, Dave follows the trail of evidence to a small Arizona community where polygamy is still being practiced. Along for the ride is Passenger's estranged 15-year-old daughter Erica (Amanda Fuller), who has been invited to participate in the investigation by Dave in the hope that he can mend a few family fences while tracking down the culprit. Virginia Madsen appears in the role of the secretive Ingrid Bast, wife of the local sheriff (Michael Moriarty). Children of Fortune made its CBS broadcast debut on November 1, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
