Earl Hindman Movies

Campbell Scott is both star and co-director of this elaborate (albeit economically produced) four-hour TV version of Shakespeare's immortal tragedy Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. The film is based on Scott's earlier theatrical production of the same play, with several of the same actors repeating their same roles. Updated to 1900 New York, the text remains substantially the same as it has always been: Hamlet (Scott), the "melancholy" Danish prince, discovers to his horror that his late father, the King, was murdered by his brother (and Hamlet's uncle) Claudius (Jamey Sheridan), who upon ascending to the throne, added insult to injury by wedding Hamlet's mother, Gertrude (Blair Brown). Though his desire for revenge is strong, Hamlet does not want any more bloodshed, and concocts an elaborate scheme to "catch the conscience" of Claudius and force him into a confession. Part of this scheme involves Hamlet's feigned descent into madness -- which, as interpreted by Scott, may not be as "feigned" as he thinks it is. Caught in the middle of this intrigue is Hamlet's lady love, Ophelia (Lisa Gay Hamilton), daughter of Claudius' chief consul, Polonius (played in the manner of a protocol-conscious Victorian diplomat by Roscoe Lee Browne). Some of the choices made by Scott in adapting Hamlet to the screen -- the turn-of-the-century setting; the utilization of black actors in the roles of Polonius, Ophelia, and Laertes (who is played by Roger Guenveur Smith); the casting of Byron Jennings to play both the Ghost of Hamlet's father and the Player King, who pretends to be the father -- were applauded by the critics. Other innovations, notably the use of slow jazz music throughout the action, and Hamlet's violent treatment of poor Ophelia during the "Get thee to a nunnery" scene, were not so enthusiastically received. Whatever the case, Scott does a remarkable job with a tiny budget and a slim 29-day shooting schedule. In addition to the actors' lilting interpretation of the Shakespearean dialogue and soliloquies, the film boasts a truly exciting climactic duel, shot in long takes without the use of stunt doubles. Initially produced for a theatrical release, this Hamlet made its American debut as a cable TV miniseries on the Odyssey Channel, beginning December 10, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Home Improvement begins its eighth and final season with one fewer regular than in previous seasons. Jonathan Taylor-Thomas, who since the series' debut had been seen as Randy Taylor, the middle child of cable-TV star Tim Taylor (Tim Allen) and his wife, Jill (Patricia Richardson), had decided to briefly quit acting to devote himself to his college studies. Thus, it was explained on the series that Randy had left home in the company of his socially conscious girlfriend, Lauren, to go to Costa Rica in hopes of rescuing the rain forest. However, Brad's brothers, Randy (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) and Mark (Taran Noah Smith), remained in the family fold. The series' final episode is truly one for the ages. After yet another fight with his sponsor, Binford Tools, Tim quits his TV show "Tool Time" cold, and prepares to move to faraway Bloomington with wife Jill, who has landed a job at a medical clinic. Since they cannot bear to leave their old house behind, the only solution is to take it with them -- which they do! Elsewhere, Tim's assistant, Al (Richard Karn), heartbroken since the breakup of his engagement to Ilene Markham, finds a happily-ever-after in the arms of his new bride, the pleasantly plump Trudy (Megan Cavanagh). And, in a moment the world has been waiting for, we finally get to see the complete face of Tim's philosophical neighbor, Wilson Wilson (Earl Hindman)! Finally, the terminal season of Home Improvement won an Emmy award for the series' lighting director Donald A. Morgan -- his seventh such Emmy in eight years! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Beginning with the sixth season of Home Improvement, Tim Allen could not only be seen each and every week as Tim Taylor, affable host of the cable TV do-it-yourself series "Tool Time," but was also kept busy behind the scenes as one of Home Improvement's executive producers. One imagines that such a job requires a lot more skill than was exhibited by poor Tim Taylor whenever he tried (and failed) to fix some appliance or other in his own home, while wife Jill (Patricia Richardson) looked on in stoic silence (until she started complaining, that is). While Tim and Jill look none the worse for wear after being in the public eye for six years, their sons continue to grow apace: Brad (Zachery Ty Bryan) is beginning his sophomore year in high school, Randy (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) is pursuing a very serious relationship with a socially conscious girl named Lauren (Courtney Peldon) (who, much to Tim's delight, is a car enthusiast!), and youngest son Mark (Taran Noah Smith) has developed a taste for "grunge" music. Speaking of developments, there are plenty of them this season, beginning with Tim's boss, Bud (Charles Robinson), breaking up with his wife. Also, the Taylor household is besieged by Jill's loony sisters, Linda (Carlene Watkins), Tracy (Maryedith Burrell), Carrie (Tudi Roche), and Delores (Shirley Prestia), on the occasion of their parents' 50th anniversary; "Tool Girl" Heidi (Debbe Dunning), pregnant for months and months, goes into labor during an awards ceremony; we find out that Tim's never-seen neighbor Wilson Wilson (Earl Hindman) is related to the Beach Boys (no kidding); and after three seasons of emotional hills and valleys, Tim's assistant, Al (Richard Karn), and his girlfriend, Ilene (Sherry Hursey), break off their engagement -- on the eve of their wedding. The season finale finds former Tool Girl Lisa (Pamela Anderson) making an encore appearance. For the first time in six years, Home Improvement's lighting director, Donald A. Morgan, did not win an Emmy award, though he'd make up for this lapse the following year. Home Improvement itself fared pretty well ratings-wise, ending up as the ninth top-rated show in America. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Home Improvement enters its fourth season with do-it-yourself expert Tim Taylor (Tim Allen) continuing to hold court on the cable-TV show "Tool Time," but with his wife, Jill (Patricia Richardson), being laid off from her job. Jill subsequently decides to go back to college, opening a whole new realm of story possibilities as Tim begins to worry that his wife will become "too smart" for him (which, truth to tell, she's been all along!). In other developments, Blake Clark becomes a semi-regular in the role of Harry, a hardware-store owner whose heart attack at age 40 sets his contemporary Tim a-worrying about his own wellbeing. Eventually, Harry sells his store to Tim's TV assistant, Al (Richard Karn), who becomes so obsessive about his job that he nearly breaks up his engagement to Ilene Markham (Sherry Hursey). In previous years, Home Improvement's season finale would concern itself with the ongoing rivalry between Tim Taylor and real-life home-improvement expert Bob Vila. This year, however, the season's last episode involves Tim's always-heard, never-seen neighbor Wilson Wilson (Earl Hindman), who upon deciding to go on his first date in 20 years, falls into the clutches of irrepressible matchmaker Jill Taylor. Ranking number three in the Nielsen ratings throughout its fourth season, Home Improvement also brought home a fourth Emmy award for the series' lighting director, Donald A. Morgan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

"Based on the Georgia case that shocked the country" (or so said its ad copy), the made-for-TV Stay the Night was originally telecast in two parts in April of 1992. Part One introduces Barbara Hershey as a predatory middle-aged woman who seduces feckless teenager Morgan Wessler. Before this two-hour installment has run its course, Barbara has talked Morgan into murdering her husband and taking sole blame for the deed. In part two, first seen April 27, 1992, Morgan's mother Jane Alexander turns the tables on Barbara, using several of the villainess' own dirty tricks. While Stay the Night is rough sledding during the first half, its denouement is well worth the wait. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The first season of Home Improvement drew heavily upon the standup comedy routines of series co-creator Tim Allen, herein cast as Tim Taylor, star of the Detroit cable-TV series "Tool Time" -- sort of a low-rent version of Bob Vila's do-it-yourself opus This Old House (Vila in fact guest-starred on the episode titled "What About Bob"). Allen's humor relied upon barbed but affectionate digs at his wife and kids, and his ever-increasing ineptitude in dealing with the follies and foibles of everyday life. In Home Improvement, Tim Taylor was affirmatively master of his domain on "Tool Time" -- even though he relied a bit too extensively on his all-purpose solution to any mechanical problem, "More Power! More Power!" -- but at home he was all thumbs with the household appliances, and a stumbler-bumbler supreme when dealing with his wife, Jill (Patricia Richardson), and three sons, Brad (Zachery Ty Bryan), Randy (Jonathan Taylor Thomas), and Mark (Taran Noah Smith). As for Jill, she spent much of season one fighting a losing battle to imbue her oafish husband with sensitivity and culture (specifically, trying to get him to accompany her to the opera), but loved him all the same. Jill also yearned to find a job of her own, finally landing a position on a high-profile magazine.

The Taylor youngsters were typically mischievous and sometimes irksome but basically good kids, though youngest son Mark (age 6) tended to be victimized by the prankery of ten-year-old Brad and nine-year-old Randy. During the first season, Brad began squiring a classmate named Jennifer Sudarsky (Jessica Wesson), resulting in a variety of amusing and all-too-human "puppy love" situations. Also in the cast was Earl Hindman as the Taylors' philosophical, advice-dispensing neighbor Wilson, whose face was never clearly seen behind the backyard fence that separated the two neighbors' houses. Showing up on a recurring basis was Tim's long-suffering "Tool Time" assistant, Al Borland (Richard Karn), and the show's pulchritudinous "tool girl" Lisa (Pamela Anderson). Likewise making sporadic "Tool Time" appearances were Rock (Casey Sander), Peter (Mickey Jones), and Dwayne (Gary McGurk), the guys from K&B Construction. Initially telecast on ABC's Tuesday evening schedule, Home Improvement ended its first season as the nation's fifth highest-rated program. The series also earned an Emmy award for Achievement in Lighting Direction (the statuette went to director of photography Donald A. Morgan). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Brian Dennehy stars in this made-for-cable drama about a blue-collar family man laid off from his auto-industry job who learns that his resentful son plans to drop out of medical school. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Robert Conrad stars in One Police Plaza as a New York homicide detective. A case on which he's working, involving the murder of a beautiful woman, is ordered closed by Conrad's superiors. Refusing to give up, the detective probes deeper, and unearths a hotbed of crooked cops, dirty "brass" and illegal weapons. Made for television, One Police Plaza was initially telecast on November 29, 1986, easily outrating a Jack Paar "comeback" special. The film was based on the bestselling novel by William J. Caunitz. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Pueblo is a 2-hour videotaped special, originally telecast March 29, 1973 on ABC Theatre. Hal Holbrook stars as commander Lloyd M. Bucher, who in January of 1968 was forced to surrender the USS Pueblo to North Korea. The drama is staged in an impressionistic manner, with dramatized transcripts from Bucher's subsequent Naval Review Board testimony flashing back to isolated moments of terror and torment during the Pueblo crew's 11-month sojourn in a North Korean prison camp. Despite network restrictions of the era, Pueblo is refreshingly frank, right down to the first-ever TV display of a familiar obscene gesture (which the American prisoners explain away to their captors as a "salute"!) Written by Stanley R. Greenberg, Pueblo was later adapted to a stage play, starring Shepperd Strudwick as Bucher. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A Cuban woman who escapes to America finds herself in political, financial, and romantic jeopardy in this taut drama. Cuban refugee Isabel (Greta Scacchi) flees her country and makes her way to Miami after her husband, Nestor (Jimmy Smits), a political activist, is sentenced to a long stay in a Cuban jail. In their dangerous voyage to the United States, Isabel and her daughter are rescued by Sam (Vincent D'Onofrio), a fisherman from Miami; Sam helped Isabel find her way in her new home, and a romance blossoms between the two. However, when Nestor is finally released from prison eight years later and escapes to Miami to be with his wife, he discovers that Isabel's affections are now divided between himself and Sam, while his daughter barely remembers or recognizes him. Danger faces all three sides of this romantic triangle; Sam is asked to use his boat to smuggle Cuban dissidents into Miami, Nestor falls in with a radical fringe group hoping to stage an armed invasion of Cuba, and Isabel, who has become involved with a numbers racket, is in deep trouble after several massive payments were made to someone who never placed a bet. Fires Within was also shown under the title Little Havana; it premiered in Miami, appropriately enough, in its short-lived theatrical release. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

On a quiet midday in New York, along the Lexington Avenue subway line, the train designated "Pelham One Two Three" -- so named for its station of origin and time of departure -- makes its way down the East Side of Manhattan. One by one, three men board the train, and at 28th Street, a fourth man approaches the motorman (James Broderick) and points a pistol at him, ordering him to unlock the door to his cab and admit the man waiting there; meanwhile, another man points a gun at the conductor and threatens to kill him unless he holds the doors open and then closes them when the man talking to the motorman is aboard. Once on board, "Mr. Blue" (Robert Shaw) and "Mr. Green" (Martin Balsam) halt the train between stations, while "Mr. Brown" (Earl Hindeman) and "Mr. Gray" (Hector Elizondo) seal off the lead car. With Mr. Green at the controls, the front car is separated and isolated in the tunnel with 17 passengers aboard, and then Mr. Blue presents their demands over the radio: one million dollars in cash, within one hour, or they will start shooting one passenger each minute. On the other end, Transit Police Lieutenant Zachary Garber (Walter Matthau) must overcome his initial disbelief to deal with this threat, amid the confusion of a subway system that's chaotic even when it's running normally. With the mayor reluctantly aboard to pay the ransom, Garber must keep the hijackers from carrying out their threat while the money is transported, and keep the hotheads around him and on the police force under control -- and figure out how they intend to get away with a million dollars from inside a subway tunnel with police on all sides. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

While the Watergate scandal filled the headlines, Alan J. Pakula's 1974 thriller took its inspiration from the conspiracy theories surrounding the Kennedy assassination. Journalist Joe Frady (Warren Beatty) misses witnessing the assassination of a senator at Seattle's Space Needle, but his newswoman former girlfriend Lee Carter (Paula Prentiss) was there. Even after a government commission concludes that it was a freak lone assassin, Lee tells Joe that she fears for her life since other witnesses keep dying. After she too turns up dead, Joe investigates, travelling to the small town where another witness has mysteriously expired. Stumbling on a corporate identity for the killers, Joe decides to dig deeper by infiltrating the Parallax Corporation as one of their hired assassins. As Joe becomes increasingly isolated in his assumed identity, he discovers what Parallax is all about -- but Parallax knows all about Joe too. Made between Klute (1971) and All the President's Men (1976), The Parallax View was the second film in Pakula's "paranoia" trilogy; it proved too dark even for a 1974 audience that embraced such other challenging films of that year as The Godfather, Part II and Chinatown, making The Parallax View the sole flop of Pakula's trilogy. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide