Jane Smiley Movies
A gentle man suddenly finds himself at a loss for what to do when he suspects his wife has been unfaithful in this comedy drama from director Alan Rudolph. David and Dana Hurst (Campbell Scott and Hope Davis) are a married couple with three children who also happen to be dentists who share an office. David is a quiet and reserved sort, while Dana has been quietly but obviously unhappy with things recently. Backstage at a community theater production, David sees Dana in the arms of another man and is immediately certain she's having an affair, a suspicion only deepened by her continued dark mood, long periods of silence, and frequent trips out of the house. Slater (Denis Leary) is a disgruntled patient of the Hursts who has gone public with his unhappiness over their work; as David tries to work out Slater's differences, Slater becomes a frequent (and not always welcome) visitor in David's home. As he observes the obvious tension in David and Dana's relationship, Slater begins offering his own gruff brand of advice to David -- including acting cooler and informing Dana "I could kill you" at the dinner table. Co-produced by leading man Campbell Scott, The Secret Lives of Dentists was based on the novel The Age of Grief by Jane Smiley. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Campbell Scott, Hope Davis, (more)
A feminist farm belt version of William Shakespeare's King Lear, this film is based on Jane Smiley's novel about an aging farmer and his three daughters. The Lear-like farmer, Larry Cook (Jason Robards), decides to divide up his thousand-acre farm among his three daughters, but he disinherits his youngest, Caroline (Jennifer Jason Leigh), an attorney, when she expresses hesitancy. The other sisters, Ginny (Jessica Lange) and Rose (Michelle Pfeiffer), take up the offer, even though they were sexually abused by their father as children. They also take up romantically with the hippie son of a neighboring farmer, Jess Clark (Colin Firth), after their own drunken, demented father moves out to live with Clark's father Harold (Pat Hingle). When Rose's husband Peter (Kevin Anderson) learns of her betrayal, he gets drunk, crashes his truck, and dies. Ginny's husband Ty (Keith Carradine) enlists Caroline's help and sues Ginny and Rose on behalf of their father, whom he feels has been treated badly by the daughters. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michelle Pfeiffer, Jessica Lange, (more)
- 1995
When an aging convicted murderer is slated to be executed after 16 years on death row, the condemned man's daughter takes Col. Barnfather (Clayton LeBouef) hostage, demanding that her father's case be reopened. While Bolander (Ned Beatty) races against time to find any shred of evidence that might free the death-row prisoner, Giardello (Yaphet Kotto) and Russert (Isabella Hoffman) try to forget their differences long enough to defuse the hostage crisis. And on a lighter note, new tavern owner Munch (Richard Belzer) may be talked into investing in a microbrewery. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Baldwin, Ned Beatty, (more)
