Ann Hearn Movies
- 2005
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The documentary Stephen Tobolowsky's Birthday Party stars the well-respected character actor as a camera crew follow him around on his birthday, He shares numerous stories about his adventures in Hollywood, and relates a number of strange anecdotes from his remarkable life. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stephen Tobolowsky
Successful television director and film producer Michael Pressman sets off with high hopes when he decides to helm a film production of Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune. He believes the experience of directing a film starring his struggling actress of a wife (Lisa Chess) will be a fun and relatively easy way to revitalize their marriage. Unfortunately, the decision to cast Alan Rosenberg to play Johnny proves disastrous -- Rosenberg is incredibly difficult to work with and Pressman's already tense relationship becomes steadily worse as the horrific rehearsal and filming process intensifies. The situation looks bleak when, after a devastating preview, Pressman is forced to shut down the play, relinquish his investment, and possibly lose his wife. Of course, the aggrieved director has one option: to take over the role of Johnny. The stakes have never been higher for the married couple, considering their future together appears to hinge on the final outcome of the film. Frankie and Johnny Are Married was directed in real life by the protagonist, Michael Pressman. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lisa Chess, Michael Pressman, (more)
- 1997
Greene (Anthony Edwards) treats mentally incompetent Sherry Dunleavy (Ann Hearn) without getting her consent. Benton (Eriq La Salle) publicly berates Gant (Omar Epps), an incident that will have long-ranging tragic consequences. Before leaving for Pakistan, Keaton (Glenne Headly) makes a parting shot at her most egocentric colleague. Carol (Julianna Margulies) is forced by budget cuts to dismiss two of her nurses. And when homeless teenager Charlie (Kirsten Dunst) pops up again at the ER, she accuses Ross (George Clooney) of beating her up. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Jeremy Collier (Emilio Estevez) is the army veteran who returns home after his harrowing experiences in battle. His father Bob (Martin Sheen) is the emotionally detached parent who insists Jeremy put his unpleasant memories behind him and get on with his life. His mother (Kathy Bates) is the unusually cheerful woman who pretends nothing is wrong. The troubled Jeremy finds almost as much fighting at home as he did in the military in this powerful drama of a young veteran's adjustment to civilian life. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kathy Bates, Martin Sheen, (more)
- 1995
Jessica (Angela Lansbury) arrives at the headquarters of a prominent ice cream manufacturing firm in order to collect a promised donation for her literacy foundation. It soon develops that the company has created a brand-new flavor--but not for public consumption. How else to explain the mysterious death of one of the company's top executives...a death quickly followed by another one that is equally mysterious? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Disney not only recycled the French farce Mon Pere, Ce Heros but brought back the lead actor of the original, Gerard Depardieu, for the Americanized remake My Father, the Hero. Depardieu plays Andre, the loving but neglectful French father of fourteen-year old Nicole (Katherine Heigl), who now wants to be called Nicky. To make up for lost time, Andre picks up Nicole from the condo of his ex-wife Megan (Lauren Hutton) to take her on a vacation to the Bahamas. Nicole, bitter at her father's frequent absences and embarrassed to be seen with him in the Bahamas, concocts a tale in which she tells her fellow vacationers that Andre is her lover -- and an ex-con to boot. Andre, oblivious to whom everyone thinks he is, tries to act like a father taking his daughter on a trip, shocking everyone with unintentional double entendres. At the same time, Nicole is making eyes at the handsome Ben (Dalton James). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gérard Depardieu, Katherine Heigl, (more)
- 1994
The people of Cabot Cove are thrown for a loop when Seth Hazlitt (William Windom) suddenly disappears. Making matters all the more disturbing are the blood stains in his office, and the evidence that Seth's body was dragged somewhere by parties unknown. All the same, Jessica (Angela Lansbury) can't quite dismiss her intuition that Seth is still alive (and no fair peeking at the cast lists of future episodes to figure out what happens next!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1993
- PG13
In this road movie, the motorists are a pair of preteens--brothers Josh (Jacob Tierney) and Sam (Noah Fleiss)--who hit the highway after their parents announce their pending divorce. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jacob Tierney, Noah Fleiss, (more)
This 1993 remake of the 1950 film Born Yesterday (based on the 1946 Garson Kanin stage play) was retooled as a star vehicle for then-marrieds Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson. Roughneck self-made millionaire Harry Brock (John Goodman) wants to become a powerful Washington lobbyist. Brock's efforts to hobnob with DC uppercrust are compromised by his brash, embarrassingly vulgar mistress Billie Dawn (Melanie Griffith). He'd like to unload the ex-chorus girl, but he thinks he's in love: besides, she knows too much about his crooked dealings to be running around loose. Thus, Brock hires bookish Paul Verrall (Don Johnson) to educate Billie. Verrall does his job amazingly well, awakening Billie to her responsibilities as a loyal, honest American: along the way, the two fall in love. Featured in the cast are Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee and his star reporter (and wife) Sally Quinn, cast as DC power brokers. Also appearing in a small role is 1960s starlet Celeste Yarnell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Melanie Griffith, John Goodman, (more)
Susan Sarandon and Nick Nolte give brilliant performances as parents trying to save the life of their son in George Miller's harrowing and heartbreaking Lorenzo's Oil. Based on a true story, the film begins as bright young Lorenzo (Zack O'Malley Greenburg) is leading a pleasant life on the Comoro Islands. But things start to go wrong with him -- he collapses, he raves, and he loses his hearing -- so his concerned parents, Augusto (Nick Nolte) and Michaela Odone (Susan Sarandon), take him to a doctor. The diagnosis is a death warrant; they are told that Lorenzo has been diagnosed with adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), an rare and incurable nerve disease that is always fatal. When Augusto and Michaela are told to be patient as they watch their son sink further into the debilitating illness, they take matters into their own hands and start their own investigation of the disease. Using rapeseed oil, they find their own treatment for ALD. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nick Nolte, Susan Sarandon, (more)
John Hughes re-works his already over-used formulas from Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, and Uncle Buck in this bald-faced rip-off directed by Peter Faiman. Ed O'Neill stars as working stiff Dutch Dooley. Dutch is in love with Natalie (JoBeth Williams), who is recovering from a failed marriage to the priggish Reed (Christopher McDonald). Her 13-year-old son Doyle (Ethan Randall) blames Natalie for the break-up of the marriage. Doyle is an effete and snobbish rich kid betraying inflections of William F. Buckley. When he refuses to join his mother for Thanksgiving, Dutch heads off to Doyle's Atlanta boarding school to kidnap him and force him to go on a ride to Chicago to spend Thanksgiving with his mother. Doyle hates Dutch for his loutish working-class ways, but when the vengeful teenager destroys Dutch's car, the two must join forces to get to Chicago by any means necessary. Along the way the two learn to love and respect each other. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ed O'Neill, Ethan Randall, (more)
In this made-for-TV apocalyptic horror saga, the deceptively adorable daughter of late devil-boy Damian is adopted by a kindly couple who have no idea who she is. The husband is a politician and the daughter decides that the best way for her to spread evil around is to boost his career at every opportunity. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Faye Grant, Michael Woods, (more)
- 1990
Visiting a jewelry store to buy a present for Whitley's father, Whitley (Jasmine Guy) and Freddie (Cree Summer) are subjected to the casual racism of a snooty saleswoman, who automatically assumes that the girls won't be able to afford any of the "better" merchandise (this humiliating incident was based on an actual experience of episode director Debbie Allen). Elsewhere, Dwayne (Kadeem Hardison) and Ron (Darryl M. Bell) attend an ROTC retreat, supervised by Col. Taylor (Glynn Turman). Not surprisingly, the event turns out to be one of the biggest military fiascoes since Napoleon's invasion of Russia. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1990
- R
In this straightforward horror film, a new widow (Karen Black) and her daughter (Rainbow Harvest) have just moved into a new home. They don't discover until much later that the previous owner was mad, mad, mad. By then, the mirror that the woman left behind in the house has served its purpose as a gateway to demonic worlds, and the evil ones have wreaked havoc in this one. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Karen Black, Rainbow Harvest, (more)
- 1989
- PG
The three-hour TV docudrama The Final Days was based on the Bob Woodward/Carl Bernstein chronicle of President Richard M. Nixon's last months in the White House. Given his behavior during the entire Watergate imbroglio, Nixon cannot help but come off as a paranoid power-abuser. As played by Lane Smith, however, Nixon also seems all too human--a confused, pathetic individual who cannot fully comprehend how, in less than one year, he can lose everything he has worked for in life. Theodore Bikel co-stars as Henry Kissinger, while other participants in the events of August 1973 through August 1974 are played by David Ogden Stiers (as Alexander Haig), Gregg Henry (John Dean), Susan Brown (Pat Nixon), Ann Hearn (Julie), Amanda Wyss (Tricia), Ramon Bieri (John Sirica), Diana Bellamy (Rose Mary Woods) and Alan Fudge (Gerald Ford). Adapted for television by Hugh Whitemore, The Final Days premiered on October 29, 1979. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Based on a real-life 1983 incident, The Accused tells the story of Sarah Tobias (Jodie Foster), a working-class party girl who likes to live it up with her friends and flirt hard with the guys. After a fight with her boyfriend, she heads to a local bar to cool down -- and after a few drinks, plus some dancing and flirting, she finds herself thrown on top of a pinball machine and gang-raped by a bunch of locals, while others watch and cheer the proceedings. District attorney Kathryn Murphy (Kelly McGillis) takes Sarah's case but quickly negotiates a plea bargain in which the attackers' charges are reduced to reckless endangerment. Her reason: defense attorneys could use Sarah's not-so-pretty past to paint her as "asking for it," getting their clients off completely. But a stunned Sarah accuses Murphy of selling her out, and when the lawyer sees how the incident continues to destroy Sarah's life, she decides she must seek true justice. This time, she goes after the crowd of onlookers for "criminal solicitation" -- those who were egging the rapists on. Foster won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kelly McGillis, Jodie Foster, (more)
- 1987
The made-for-TV Deadly Care stars Cheryl Ladd as an intensive-care nurse. The pressures of her job, coupled with problems at home, lead Cheryl to resort to desperate "coping" measures. She develops an addiction to drugs and liquor, a deadly combination for anyone in the medical profession. Only after a near-disaster during a delicate heart transplant operation does she realize she needs help, and needs it fast. Written by Lane Slate, Deadly Care was originally telecast March 22, 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
This final episode of Moonlighting's third season begins the morning after the BIG MOMENT, wherein David (Bruce Willis) and Maddie (Cybill Shepherd) finally consummated their romance. Now, the time has come for the proverbial "second thoughts"--which spill over into the protagonists' latest detective case, in which wealthy heiress Margaret Kendall (Ann Hearn hires them to find out if her current lover is sincere, or merely a fortune hunter. Episode highlights include a scene between David and Maddie in which they argue that having a "real" romance would ruin Moonlighting, ultimately exiling the series to a suicide timeslot on Sunday nights (which, as it turned out, is exactly what would happen two years later!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This sharp drama is about the trials and tribulations of a young woman defeated by her past, yet tempted to overcome it through a meaningful relationship. Cassie (Rosanna Arquette) works as a waitress in a southwestern town. Not that long ago, she stabbed her lover (and the father of her baby) in public, and even though he recovered, she did not. The most immediate result of her action is that she gave away her baby, and the next, more severe result is that she lost all of her self-respect. Now she takes care of her mother and younger, offensive brother and also dallies on and off with her ex-lover -- who is married. Then Riley (Eric Roberts) comes into town for awhile with a theatrical troupe and he falls for Cassie. He is only in town for a short period of time and that may or may not be enough to convince Cassie to leave with him when he goes. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rosanna Arquette, Eric Roberts, (more)
- 1984
Jane Fonda stars in this made-for-TV movie, which uses the backdrop of World War II and urbanization to tell the story of one woman's fight to keep her family together. Gertie Nevels (Fonda), the wife of a Kentucky sharecropper, wants nothing more than to one day own her own farm. Thriftily hiding her savings from husband Clovis (Levon Helm), she prepares to make her dream come true -- until Clovis summons her to come join him in Detroit, where he's gone to work in a factory to help with the war effort. Arriving with her children in tow, Gertie finds Clovis all settled into a tenement-like block house and living the life of a union man. Soon, though, the downside of urban life -- from monstrous neighbors and repressive schools to the pitfalls of the industrial landscape itself -- threaten Gertie's family both individually and as a whole. Despite Clovis' freewheeling way with money and his propensity to blame her for the family's problems, Gertie continues to save money. A lifelong whittler, she begins selling hand-crafted wooden dolls, and when the union goes on strike, Gertie finds herself supporting the family. Adapted from Harriet Arnow's novel by Hume Cronyn and Susan Cooper, who would go on to collaborate on the similarly themed Foxfire in 1987, The Dollmaker was directed by feature and TV veteran Daniel Petrie. It debuted on ABC on May 13, 1984, and earned Fonda an Emmy for her work. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
