Jill Hennessy Movies

A man has to give up a life of lifting amps and chasing groupies to take on the challenges of the real world in this independent drama. Jimmy Testagross (Ron Eldard) was a teenage rock & roll fan when he was growing up in Queens, and a couple years out of high school, he landed what seemed like the perfect job -- joining the road crew of hard-rock icons Blue Oyster Cult. After spending 20 years on the road, Jimmy is cut loose when economics force the band to streamline their operation, and at the ripe old age of 40, he has no idea what to do with his life. Needing some time to regroup, Jimmy returns home to visit his elderly mother (Lois Smith), only to discover she's growing senile and may need him to move in and look after her. As he struggles with the notion of facing adult responsibilities for the first time, he also crosses paths with Randy (Bobby Cannavale), who bullied him in high school and still acts like a spoiled brat, and Nikki (Jill Hennessy), Randy's wife, who dated Jimmy in high school and is still holding on to a fading dream of making it as a singer/songwriter. Jill Hennessy, an accomplished musician as well as an actress, wrote the songs she performs in character in the film. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A man at war with his soul and his nature is led into a situation that turns his few friends against him in this psychological drama from Canada. Walter (Peter Stormare) is a policeman who was born and raised in a small Mennonite community, where he still lives and serves. Walter has a violent streak that he struggles to keep in check, and when he badly beat a man in the line of duty, his girlfriend Rita (Jill Hennessy) left him and many of his friends and family turned their backs on him. Walter has immersed himself in his faith to keep his demons at bay, and he has begun dating Sam (Martha Plimpton), a deeply religious woman, while Rita has taken up with ne'er-do-well Steve (Stephen Eric McIntyre). When the body of a woman who was raped and murdered is found in a nearby lake, Walter has to investigate the crime, and discovers that Steve found the body and Rita reported it to the police. As evidence begins to point to a man some see as Walter's rival, many of the townspeople lose their trust in Walter, and he finds himself stretched to the breaking point as he is torn between his duty, his reputation, and the people he cares about. The second feature film from writer and director Ed Gass-Donnelly, Small Town Murder Songs was an official selection at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A mismatched group of bored suburbanites longing to escape the stress of their daily lives and embrace the freedom of the open road finds that it takes more than polished chrome and leather jackets to truly experience the biker lifestyle in this revved-up road comedy starring John Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence, and William H. Macy. Upon trading the comfort of their couches for the thunderous rumble of two-wheeled street machines, these four adventurous riders cross paths with the notorious Del Fuegos -- an authentic biker gang that doesn't take kindly to the weekend warrior type. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

In response to the public's insatiable fascination with the Kennedy family, the NBC network brought forth this two-part miniseries, based on a book by Randy Taraborelli. Described by the author as "Knot's Landing goes to Capitol Hill," Jackie, Ethel, Joan: The Women of Camelot covers a time span of 25 years, from the marriage of John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier to the 1980 presidential bid of JFK's brother Teddy. To many observers, the film seemed to consist primarily of TV news bulletins announcing various and sundry Kennedy tragedies, punctuated by long, long discussions between the wives of JFK, Bobby, and Teddy regarding their husbands' various infidelities. Some of the intrigues are based on fact, notably the uneasy relationship between Jackie and Bobby's wife Ethel, and the drinking problems shared by Teddy and his wife Joan. Other segments, however, fall back on rumor and hearsay, notably the scenes involving Marilyn Monroe. At the very least, the three actresses chosen to play the title roles -- Jill Hennessy (Jackie), Lauren Holly (Ethel), and Leslie Stefanson -- looked, sounded, and behaved exactly like their real-life counterparts. Jackie, Ethel, Joan: The Women of Camelot originally aired on March 4 and March 5, 2001. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This TNT miniseries stars Alec Baldwin as Robert Jackson, the Supreme Court justice who served as the head prosecutor for the war crimes tribunal that took place in Nuremberg after the horrors of WWII and the Holocaust. The film follows Jackson from his preparations for the trial to the outcome of the trial itself, paying particular attention to the interplay between Jackson and the Nazi thugs he is trying to prosecute. Brian Cox co-stars a Hermann Goering, Hitler's right-hand man, while Christopher Plummer plays British prosecutor Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe, and Jill Hennessey portrays Elise Douglas, Jackson's invaluable secretary and sometime lover. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi

An man gets an unexpected lesson in love and life from a much younger woman in this romantic drama. Will Keane (Richard Gere) is a wealthy 50-year-old restaurant tycoon who has a knack for wooing beautiful women, but is unable to commit to a lasting relationship. On day Will meets a beautiful woman in her early-20s named Charlotte Fielding (Winona Ryder); he turns on the charm in an effort to impress her, and soon the two are having an affair. But what Will thought would be a brief, casual fling proves to have far deeper repercussions when he learns that Charlotte is suffering from a serious illness and does not have long to live. Autumn in New York was directed by actress-turned-filmmaker Joan Chen and co-stars Anthony LaPaglia, Elaine Stritch, and Jillian Hennessy. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

After a long lonely period of involuntary celibacy, Marty Sachs decides that he has had enough of New York and wants to pack up and run the family business in Maine. Yet before he leaves, he meets two available, attractive women, both named Nina. Nina Cohen shares many of the same eccentric interests as Marty, but she has grow gun-shy from one too many bad relationships. Blonde bombshell Nina Harris literally knocks Marty off his feet in an ill-fated attempt at snagging a cab. Two Ninas was screened at the 1999 Boston Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Michael Lantieri made his reputation in film as a special effects man, helping to create the dinosaurs for Jurassic Park, so for his directorial debut, it's only fitting that he should find himself working with big lizards again. In Komodo, teenager Patrick (Kevin Zegers) is visiting an island off the coast of North Carolina when his parents (and his dog) are attacked and killed by a pack of large Komodo dragons. The reptiles were brought to the island by workers from an oil company, who foolishly allowed them to breed at will and run free. A psychiatrist treating the boy (Jill Hennessy) tells him (in one of the most poorly considered bits of advice in medical history) that he must face his fears by returning to the place where his mom and dad were attacked. With his aunt (Nina Landis) in tow, Patrick returns, only to discover that the dragons are out in force -- and quite hungry. As in Lantieri's previous work, the killer lizards were actually the product of the special effects department -- not real Komodo dragons (who might not be inclined to kill on command). ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Actor-comedian-talk show host Keenen Ivory Wayans stars in his own action thriller screenplay about a war hero who becomes the fall guy in a frame-up. During the Persian Gulf War, U.S. Marine Sgt. James Dunn (Wayans) refuses to shoot a young shepherd, struggles with a superior officer, and winds up with a murder conviction. Sentenced to death in a military prison, Dunn is rescued from a prisoner-transport bus and selected for a special covert "Black Sheep" unit commanded by Lt. Col. Grant Casey (Jon Voight). Casey offers Dunn freedom if he will aid their battle against corrupt industrialist Donald Bickhart (Robert Culp). During the dedication of a Los Angeles medical research building, the First Lady is assassinated, and Dunn discovers that he has been set up as the trigger-man. Caught in a conspiracy, Dunn relies on his own survival skills and expert military training to elude those in pursuit, including corrupt Army superiors plus police and government agents. To clear his name and expose the real killers, Dunn kidnaps Dr. Victoria Constantini (Jill Hennessy), an eyewitness who made a videotape of the assassination. Now he has the evidence he needs and an uncooperative hostage, but after a $10 million bounty is announced, his situation gets even more desperate as he finds himself chased through the streets of Los Angeles by an immense money-hungry crowd hoping to collect the reward. The freeway filming of this chase featured an unprecedented stunt -- 16 stunt people simultaneously hit by 20 cars. Another stunt required a leap from a 45-story building. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

The true story of Valerie Solanas, the radical feminist who became notorious after shooting art world icon Andy Warhol, is portrayed in this fact-based drama. In an attempt to present a fair assessment of her actions, writer-director Mary Harron focuses on Solanas' troubled life, from her childhood as an abuse victim to her life as teenage prostitute in New York City. These experiences left Solanas (played by Lili Taylor) deeply scarred, contributing to a hatred of men that later found full flower in her famous "SCUM Manifesto," an extremist tract calling for the establishment of a "Society for Cutting Up Men." Deeply troubled, she nevertheless briefly finds hope after befriending young transvestite Candy Darling (played by Stephen Dorff) and discovering herself on the fringes of the wild, colorful world surrounding the eccentric Warhol. She becomes obsessed with the idea that Warhol's support could change her life, only to become violently enraged when the artist and his friends begin to turn away from her. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi

Law & Order launched its sixth season with the addition of yet another new character, Detective Rey Curtis, played by Benjamin Bratt. As the replacement for Mike Logan (Chris Noth), previous partner of Detective Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach), Curtis exuded enough youthful idealism and self-consciousness to counterbalance Briscoe's hard-boiled, world-weary persona. Ever so carefully, and without disturbing the plot-driven ambience of the series, the producers continued to provide quickie glimpses of the private lives of the six principal characters. The various casual affairs indulged in by Executive Assistant DA Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) in the years before his association with DA Adam Schiff (Steven Hill) occasionally come back to haunt him, and never so dramatically as in the episode "Trophy," in which he is forced to prosecute a former lover whose false testimony in an earlier case had enabled him to advance professionally. Another episode, "Charm City," represents the first of three Law & Order crossovers with another NBC crime series, the Baltimore-based Homicide: Life in the Street. This required several Law & Order regulars to make guest appearances on Homicide, and vice versa, thereby opening old wounds between New Yorker Lennie Briscoe and his Baltimore counterpart, John Munsch (Richard Belzer). Inevitably, the 1995-1996 season of Law & Order ended with the departure of one of the regulars, in this instance Jill Hennessy as Assistant DA Claire Kincaid. Onscreen, Kincaid was seriously injured in an auto accident; in truth, Hennessy chose not to renew her contract with the series, leaving her free to pursue other roles. The question of whether Kincaid survived the accident would not be fully answered until well into season seven. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The biggest news surrounding Law & Order's fifth season was the acrimonious exit of series regular Michael Moriarty, who, since the program's inception, had upheld the "Order" part of the program as Executive Assistant DA Ben Stone. According to the script, Stone quit the DA's office in disgust and despair after a witness to whom he'd promised protection was murdered. In truth, Moriarty had long been dissatisfied with the diminishing amount of screen time afforded the DA's office -- and he was also worried that then-U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno would make good on her promise to purge network TV of "excessive violence," a move he felt would emasculate reality-based series like Law & Order. With the departure of Ben Stone, a new face was added to the series' judicial lineup: Assistant DA Sam McCoy, played by Sam Waterston. Like his colleagues, McCoy was a basically decent, but decidedly imperfect, human being; famous for walking a very thin line between ethics and legal flim-flammery, he was also a renowned womanizer, having slept with virtually all of his former law partners -- a fact that added a fascinating dimension to his relationship with State's Attorney Claire Kincaid (Jill Hennessy). Despite its so-so ratings, Law & Order had enough viewer support and industry clout to survive its fifth season, passing the 100-episode mark with "Progeny" (although NBC, refusing to acknowledge the existence of the series' 1990 pilot episode because it had been commissioned by CBS, insisted that "Rage" was Number 100). One indication that the series was supported by its network was the fact that the producers were given enough production money to complete 23 episodes, rather than the standard 22. In what was rapidly becoming a Law & Order tradition, the 1994-1995 season ended with the exit of still another character. In the season finale, "Pride," Detective Mike Logan Chris Noth was yanked from homicide and reduced to pounding a beat on Staten Island after punching out a homophobic councilman. In real life, producer Dick Wolf decided not to renew Noth's contract, feeling that the actor had reached the limits of his character -- and that the world-weary Mike Logan did not provide enough contrast with his equally hard-bitten, acerbic partner Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach). Although Noth never returned to the weekly version of Law & Order, he was able to persuade the series' producers to fashion a spin-off TV movie, 1998's Exiled, which tied up the loose ends of Logan's career. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi