Douglas S. Cramer Movies

A priest has been murdered in the neighborhood of Inspector Paul Fein's youth, and it's up to the seasoned cop to crack the case in director David Greene's entry into the tense Family of Cops series. It's not going to be easy going back to the streets of his childhood, but despite the demons that linger in the shadows of every corner, this is one case he's not willing to let slip through the cracks. With all evidence pointing to the Russian Mafia as being responsible for the crime, Inspector Fein searches desperately for a witness who's willing to talk. As fear tightens its grip on the scared Russian community of Milwaukee, bodies continue to pile up and an unspoken code of silence threatens to stonewall the investigation. Now, with both his life and the lives of his family hanging in the balance, Inspector Fein must make the decision to pull back, or press forward and pray that the killer won't get to him before he gets to them. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

In this drama, a German woman treasures a ring, the one tie she has left to her life before WWII. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The happiness and heartbreaks of first-time parenting are lavishly visualized in this TV adaptation of Danielle Steel's novel Mixed Blessings. The teleplay by Virginia L. Browne and Rebecca Soladay evenly divides its time among three newly married couples, each one seriously contemplating parenthood. Though Brad Coleman (James Naughton) has a touchy relationship with his grown daughter from a previous marriage, his younger bride Pilar (Bess Armstrong) wants to experience motherhood firsthand. The relationship between Andy and Diana Douglas (Bruce Greenwood, Gabrielle Carteris) is imperiled when Diana has trouble conceiving. And while Charlie Winwood (Scott Baio) wants a baby in his life, his spouse Beth (Alexandra Paul) is not so easily persuaded. Add to this mixture a heavy dollop of "outside" emotional baggage and a few picture-book happy endings, and you have a typical (and typically well-received) Danielle Steel soufflé. The film initially aired December 11, 1995, on NBC. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this sudsy adaptation of a popular Danielle Steel novel, a beautiful young wife experiences waves of guilt when she finds herself increasingly distracted from caring for her dying, elderly and rich husband by the attentions of a virile stranger named Alex. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this made for TV movie based on Danielle Steele's novel, Cheryl Ladd portrays a successful New York television anchorwoman. When she marries a successful surgeon in Los Angeles, romance becomes difficult with their careers on opposite ends of the country. ~ Tana Hobart, Rovi

Wealthy, but yearning for the family he lost after his parents' untimely deaths, a businessman hires a private eye to locate his three sisters, each of whom was sent to a different foster home following the mysterious accident. One particularly traumatized sister seems to know the truth about the deaths. Her revelations could be catastrophic for the recently reunited siblings. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

A six-hour adaptation of Danielle Steel's best-selling novel, the ABC miniseries Crossings began on board a transatlantic ocean liner in 1938. In the course of a truly eventful sea voyage, a torrid romance developed between powerful American steel magnate Nick Burnham (Lee Horsley) and Liane DeVilliers (Cheryl Ladd), the wife of French ambassador Armand DeVilliers (Christopher Plummer). This indiscretion would ultimately embroil both characters in the political intrigues leading up to WWII, with a rousing denouement in Nazi-occupied France just after America's entry into the war. To give the project a semblance of verisimilitude, several prominent historical figures flitted in and out of the action, notably Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Delano Roosevelt and France's Marshal Petain. Even so, most of the audience's interest was focused on the antics of Nick Burnham's hot-to-trot wife Hilary, played by Jane Seymour. Billed near the bottom of the huge cast was future Cheers and Frasier star Kelsey Grammer as "Craig Lawson." Partially filmed on the old British liner Queen Mary (then dry-docked as a tourist attraction), Crossings originally aired from February 23 to 25, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this made-for-TV movie, two actors who pose as detectives on a television series lose their jobs, only to take up work as real crime fighters. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi

In this soapy drama based on Judith Krantz's novel,, a rather ordinary woman inherits a conglomerate and finds herself embroiled in the glittery but often sleazy world of big business. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Nick (Mike Conners) is the owner of a luxury liner and casino which cruises its way to action and adventure for those on board. Lackluster direction by Don Chaffey is not aided by a cast including Gary Burghoff, Joseph Cotten, Lynda Day George, Bo Hopkins and Robert Loggia, who seem to all be slightly embarrassed to be in the film. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi

The third of ABC's miniseries offerings, The French Atlantic Affair was an expensive but pulpish all-star version of the same-named Ernest Lehmann novel. Chad Everett essays the nominal leading role as Robbins-esque novelist Harold Columbine, one of dozens of wealthy, well-dressed passengers on a luxury ocean liner. Columbine's earlier, sympathetic articles on cult leader Craig Dunleavy (Telly Savalas) may well prove to be life-savers when Dunleavy and his henchmen take over the liner and hold its 3,000-plus celebrity passengers for a 70-million-dollar ransom (that translates to 13 tons of solid gold). The script contrives to include a lavish costume ball wherein most of the younger actresses appear in extremely revealing costumes. Although title designer Phil Norman won an Emmy award for his efforts, viewers and critics were generally cool to the charms of The French Atlantic Affair when the three-part melodrama aired on November 15, 16, and 18, 1979 -- probably because the miniseries' melodramatic convolutions were dwarfed by the real-life hostage drama then unfolding in Iran. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Right after wrapping up her role as Emily on The Bob Newhart Show, Suzanne Pleshette began her reign as "queen of the TV pilot films" with Kate Bliss and the Ticker Tape Kid. Kate Bliss (Pleshette) is a private investigator in the 19th-century West, setting up her shingle in a tough frontier town. The Ticker Tape Kid (Don Meredith) is a onetime stockbroker who has become a Robin Hood-type outlaw. Kate is hired to protect a prissy British land baron (Tony Randall) from the Kid, but soon her loyalties begin to waver. Kate Bliss and the Ticker Tape Kid didn't make it as a series, but allowed Suzanne Pleshette a refreshing change of pace from her usual urban roles. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi