Rance Howard Movies
Encouraged by better-than-average success as a stage performer in such plays as Mister Roberts and The Seven Year Itch, American actor Rance Howard decided to try his luck in Hollywood. Talent, however, meant less than star appeal in Tinseltown, thus Howard was confined to small roles which took only minimal advantage of his abilities. Howard's wife Jean was also an actress, but retired to raise their son Ron (both mother and child appeared in the 1956 Western Frontier Woman). Ron was photogenic enough to attain supporting parts on various TV shows and films, leading to a regular role as Opie on The Andy Griffith Show (1960). Those cynics who believe that Rance Howard forced his son into acting in order to create a meal ticket are referred to a well-known anecdote concerning the earliest years of the Griffith program. Little Ron decided to test his value by throwing a temper tantrum -- whereupon Rance took the boy aside, gave him a spanking, and told his son that if he didn't want to act like a professional he'd have to go home and forget about acting. While Rance certainly did not rely on Ron's fame alone to get work (he remained a busy stage actor), it is true that Ron recommended his dad for supporting roles in such films as The Music Man (1962) and The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963), both of which featured the younger Howard. When child star Ronny Howard became A-list film director Ron Howard in the '80s he continued casting both dad Rance and younger brother Clint Howard in Splash (1984) and other films. Rance Howard remained a reliable general purpose actor well into the 2000s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Angels and Demons re-teams director Ron Howard and star Tom Hanks for the sequel to their international blockbuster adaptation of Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code. Although the book Angels and Demons was written before the novel The Da Vinci Code, the movie transpires after the events of the earlier movie. Hanks stars as professor Robert Langdon, the most respected symbologist in the United States, who uses his knowledge in order to decode a symbol on the skin of a murder victim. The clues put him on the trail of an international conspiracy involving the Catholic Church. Ewan McGregor and Ayelet Zurer also star in the Sony Pictures production. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Hanks, Ayelet Zurer, (more)
- 2008
Former 21 Jump Street heartthrob Richard Grieco directs and stars in this supernatural western set in the late 1800s and concerning a group of outlaws who are violently killed and return back from hell to terrorize the small western town of Tularosa. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Grieco, Jeffrey Asch, (more)
- 2008
- PG13
A handsome young ladies' man attempts to teach his widowed grandfather the finer points of dating in the new millennium in this comedy featuring beloved television icons Andy Griffith, Doris Roberts, and Liz Sheridan. When it comes to meeting women, David knows every trick in the book. Lately, David (Paul Campbell) has noticed that his grandfather Joe (Griffith) seems more lonely than usual. Joe lives in a retirement community, and though he longs for companionship, it's been so long since he's dived into the dating pool that he's forgotten how to swim. As David begins instructing Joe in the finer points of impressing the ladies, the spry retiree becomes the most popular bachelor in the retirement community. Unfortunately, the girl of David's dreams sees right through his transparent techniques, leaving the young Don Juan to wonder if he's lost his magic touch. Before long, the tables have turned, and Grandpa Joe teaches David that sometimes the best way to win in the game of love is to stop playing games altogether. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Campbell, Andy Griffith, (more)
According to Appalachian folklore, in the year 1856 a man emerged from the mountain wilderness around Cold Springs, North Carolina to avenge his father's death. His vengeance was so powerful that by the time he was finished, nothing was left but a ghost town. Twenty years later, when his daughter's honor is brought into question, the mysterious avenger returns to ensure that justice is served. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 2007
Michael Rooker and Rance Howard star in co-directors Terry Leonard and Thadd Turner's take on the adventures of a legendary old-west gunfighter and his quick-draw compatriots. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Rooker
When disaster strikes and necessity dictates that the festering rivalry between the Franklin and Red Eagle families be set aside in the name of survival, the resulting tale of brotherhood gives testament to mankind's remarkable power for forgiveness in this family-oriented Western starring David Carradine and Wes Studi. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Parkes
- 2005
- PG
- Add Sister Aimee: The Aimee Semple McPherson Story to QueueAdd Sister Aimee: The Aimee Semple McPherson Story to top of Queue
Richard Rossi's low-budget, direct-to-video feature Sister Aimee dramatizes the life of controversial American evangelist McPherson (here portrayed by Mimi Michaels). One of the leaders of the prohibition movement of the 1920s (alongside Billy Sunday) and the sort of person for whom the term "fire and brimstone" was invented, Aimee drew a wealth of media attention not only for her behind-the-pulpit antics, but thanks to a rocky personal life that witnessed her marrying and divorcing three separate men. Particularly strange was a 1927 incident, when Semple visited the beach - and promptly disappeared - only to turn up not long after and insist that she had been kidnapped. Rossi chronicles these events with the assist of a cast that includes Rance Howard and Joe Gonzalez. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mimi Michaels, Rance Howard, (more)
Writer/director Michael Clancy makes his feature film debut with the black comedy Eulogy. Zooey Deschanel plays Kate Collins, an unhappy college student who is made even more unhappy when her grandfather (Rip Torn) dies. Even though the entire family hates each other, they reunite at the home of Grandma Collins (Piper Laurie). Among other family members, Kate observes a war between her washed-up actor dad, Daniel (Hank Azaria); her lesbian Aunt Lucy (Kelly Preston); her wound-up Uncle Skip (Ray Romano); and her strict Aunt Alice (Debra Winger). Tensions escalate and family secrets are ultimately revealed. Kate is also inundated with the eulogy-writing duties, as she's the only one capable of such a task. Meanwhile, she reunites with old flame Ryan Carmichael (Jesse Bradford). Eulogy premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hank Azaria, Jesse Bradford, (more)
Death & Texas mixes humor and drama in order to tell the story of a football player who ends up on death row. However, when his team begins to lose without him there is a movement to get him released. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Durning, Steve Harris, (more)
Tobe Hooper, who directed one of the truly iconic American horror films of the 1970s, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, offers his take on another well-remembered scare-fest of the era with this remake. Steve (Brent Roam) and Nell (Angela Bettis) are a young couple living in Los Angeles who are short on money -- she's just started work as a teacher, while he's a medical student doing his internship. They rent a flat in the Lusman Arms, a once beautiful but now decaying (and therefore affordable) apartment building managed by the sleazy Byron McLieb (Greg Travis), who tries to pass off the ramshackle accommodations as "charming" and "historic." Watching over the Lusman Arms beside Byron is Ned (Adam Gierasch), a greasy simpleton who serves as the building's handyman. Steve and Nell haven't been living at the Lusman especially long when she notices that a growing number of young women living in the building have been meeting a violent death, and with some help from good-hearted part-time actor "Jazz" Rooker (Rance Howard), she begins looking into the murders and makes some disturbing discoveries about both the building management and her fellow tenants. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Angela Bettis, Brent Roam, (more)
Director Ron Howard turns to the Western genre in this tale of a father and daughter who are brought together under difficult circumstances. Samuel Jones (Tommy Lee Jones) is a man living in New Mexico in the 1880s. He had abandoned his family years before to live and travel with a band of Apaches, but his conscience has finally gotten the better of him and he's decided to return home. Jones, however, does not receive a warm welcome upon arrival -- his wife has died and his daughter Maggie Gilkeson (Cate Blanchett), now grown and raising two children with her husband Brake (Aaron Eckhart), has no desire to see the man who left her mother to fend for herself. As Jones prepares to depart on a note of bitterness, a band of ruthless bandits, let by Army deserter Chidin (Eric Schweig), descends upon the homestead, murdering Brake and kidnapping his 15-year-old daughter Lily (Evan Rachel Wood). While Maggie feels no desire to forgive her father, she realizes he's her best hope to track down the criminals who took her child, and Jones and Maggie team up to find the bandits before they can disappear into Mexico. The Missing was based on the novel The Last Ride by Thomas Eidson. Val Kilmer and Jenna Boyd highlight the supporting cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tommy Lee Jones, Cate Blanchett, (more)
- 2001
Old duffer Marcus Rosco (Rance Howard) loathes his life in a nursing home, so he bones up on his magic and learns to switch bodies with younger folks -- a process that proves fun for him but extremely hard on his host bodies. Of course, a vampire body is immortal, so Angel (David Boreanaz) turns out to be the ideal candidate for a switcheroo. Unaware that the vampire hero has been evicted from his own body, Angel's friends and foes alike suffer through Marcus' escapades. He toys with the affections of Fred (Amy Acker) and then crushes them with relish -- and engages in fun and games of a more physical nature with evil lawyer Lilah Morgan (Stephanie Romanov). Eventually, Marcus realizes that he can live forever in Angel's body if he just kills his own aging vessel. The gang intervene, however, saving their boss' spirit and sending it back to its proper receptacle. Originally broadcast October 15, 2001, on the WB network, "Carpe Noctem" marked season three, episode four of the supernatural comedy drama. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Some young people lost in the woods pick the wrong cabin while looking for help in this story of horror and suspense. Jeremiah (Rodger Hewlett) was raised by his mother (Tracy Scoggins), a woman with a paranoid fear of strangers and outsiders, in a small cabin in a remote woodland community. Mother's fears became all too real one day when an intruder broke into her home, raping and murdering her as Jeremiah looked on. Since then, Jeremiah, deeply disturbed, has never left the house and has had almost no contact with the outside world. A group of college students led by Lehman (Mario Lopez) set out on a weekend of hiking and camping when they encounter a few rather eccentric locals, and before long they find themselves lost. They discover a small cabin in the woods, and decide to take a look inside, where they discover Jeremiah -- and find he doesn't take kindly to strangers. Crack in the Floor also features Gary Busey, Rance Howard, Bo Hopkins, and David Naughton. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mario Lopez, Gary Busey, (more)
- 1999
- PG
Reminiscent of David Lynch's acclaimed The Straight Story, this drama focuses on forgiveness, redemption, and a rider lawnmower. Ernest Borgnine stars as aging war veteran Hotis Brown, who learns that his brother -- to whom he has not talked in 50 years -- is dying. Too proud to accept a police escort from well-meaning local sheriff Bernie (James Morrison), Hotis points his lawnmower West and starts driving. In spite of the veteran's grumpy rebuffs, Bernie checks up on him and brings him food. Slowly Hotis begins to accept the sheriff's kindness, and the two develop an odd sort of friendship. Hotis confides in Bernie the terrible secret that ended his relationship with his brother, allowing the ornery old man to heal his wounds. Meanwhile, sister-in-law Emmeline (Kim Hunter) dutifully watches over her husband. Abilene was screened at the 1999 San Sebastian Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ernest Borgnine, Kim Hunter, (more)
- 1998
Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen, star in this TV sitcom as the Burkes, twin daughters with a widowed dad, college science prof Kevin Burke (Christopher Sieber). Tomboy Mary-Kate and sis Ashley don't like the babysitter dad hired, so they scheme to replace her with college student Carrie (Sally Wheeler), who's enrolled at dad's science lab. So will dad date her or hire her? Filmed in Burbank, this series premiered September 25, 1998 on ABC. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary-Kate Olsen, Ashley Olsen, (more)
Independent film director Gus Van Sant attempts a first in American film history: a shot-by-shot remake of the classic 1960 Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho. With a few minor, modern-day changes (including filming it in color), his version is essentially the same film with a different cast and the same Bernard Hermann music. Psycho was and still is the story of Marion Crane (previously played by Janet Leigh and now by Anne Heche), an adulterous woman who steals a stack of money from her boss and hits the road hoping for financial freedom. Pulling over in an old motel for the night, she meets the creepy owner of the Bates Motel, Norman Bates (Vince Vaughn doing his best Anthony Perkins), who lives with his jealous nagging mother. Most people know the film Psycho for what happens next -- the shower scene, where Marion is brutally stabbed in the most over-analyzed scene in movie history. The money, the car, and Marion's remains are quickly sunk in a nearby swamp. As a detective (William H. Macy) and Marion's sister Lila (Julianne Moore) come looking for her, they begin to uncover the dark mysterious secret lurking in Norman Bates' life. ~ Arthur Borman, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vince Vaughn, Anne Heche, (more)
- 1997
President Clark is dead, and the civil war on Earth is over. Delenn triumphantly stage-manages the convergence of the Earth, the Minbari and the Narn into a new alliance. Captain Sheridan's role in the Alliance must, however, wait until the Earthgov decides his ultimate fate. Elsewhere, Ivanova grieves over the apparent death of Marcus --- and what has become of Lise? First seen in America during the week of October 20, 1997, "Rising Star" was written by J. Michael Straczynski. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Boxleitner, Claudia Christian, (more)
- 1997
Although dimwitted Lonnie (Charles Esten) has only recently held the Bundy family hostage, Kelly Bundy (Christina Applegate) has fallen madly in love with him--and in fact wants to become his bride. Al (Ed O'Neill) is dead set against the union, rightly summing up Lonnie as a faithless fool, but he changes his mind when he discover that the boy's father (Gordon Jump) is a millionaire. Originally telecast back-to-back with the previous episode "The Desperate Half-Hour", this final-first run Married. . .With Children installment has all the earmarks of a pilot for a spinoff starring Christina Applegate and Charles Esten--until Al throws a monkey wrench in the works in the last few seconds! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1997
Three years after the cancellation of her popular series Murder She Wrote, Angela Lansbury returns for the first of several TV-movie followups to that selfsame series. Once again, Lansbury is cast as Jessica Fletcher, best-selling mystery writer and amateur sleuth. As indicated by the film's title, Hitchcock references abound in the plotline, beginning when a lady vanishes on the train that Jessica is taking to El Paso to deliver a lecture. Helpful Jessica accepts a message for the mystery woman, whereupon she is attacked by an assailant in search of "it." Our heroine is rescued by a journalist who may not be a journalist, then when attempting to ascertain the missing woman's whereabouts Jessica is warned to mind her own business by a guy identifying himself as an FBI agent. Inasmuch as such warnings have never stopped Jessica in the past, she follows the trail of clues to the desert town of Agua Verde, Arizona, adopting a few aliases alng the way. The climax is an echo of Hitch's The 39 Steps, wherein Jessica not only solves the mystery but also unmasks the Least Likely Suspect (or in this case, Least Likely Suspects). Produced and directed by Angela Lansbury's sons, Murder She Wrote: South by Southwest first aired November 2, 1997 on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1997
A pair of not-so-happily married academics confront their various emotional problems as temptations appear on all sides in this comedy. Mary Jane Dankworth (Sally Kellerman) teaches film at the same university where her husband Harvey (Ed Begley, Jr.) teaches Russian literature. Their relationship has been in rough waters for some time now; Harvey is no longer sexually attracted to M.J., and she feels as though she threw away her career as a documentary filmmaker in exchange for a marriage that doesn't make her happy. Mary Jane begins seeing a therapist, Dr. Guttmacher (Tyne Daly), and she discusses with her the Walter Mitty-esque daydreams that have lately been pervading her thoughts. Harvey, on the other hand, is also seeing an analyst, Dr. Brown (Rance Howard), and as he tries to regain his lost youth after turning 50, he attracts the attentions of Muriel Johansen (Sandra Taylor), an attractive graduate student who is working with Harvey on her masters thesis concerning erotic literature. Suspecting that something is up with her husband, M.J. hires a private detective, Carmine Ficcone (Stuart Margolin), but she soon discovers that he's more interested in chasing her than in following Harvey. Mel Shapiro wrote the screenplay based on his own play, while leading lady Sally Kellerman also served as co-producer, in tandem with her husband Jonathan D. Krane. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally Kellerman, Ed Begley, Jr., (more)
- 1997
Country-western singer LeAnn Rimes plays herself in this made-for-TV adaptation of her autobiographical novel. The film charts LeAnn's Nashville childhood, her rise to fame on the nightclub and honky-tonk circuit, and the fulfillment of her lifelong dream: To sing at the Grand Ole Opry. Alas, on the eve of this triumph, LeAnn is forced to make a difficult decision: Should she perform at the Opry as scheduled, or should she remain at the bedside of her dying grandmother? It is up to legendary country vocalist Faith Shawn (Bernadette Peters to help LeAnn sort out this troublesome dilemma. Naturally, LeAnn Rimes does a lot of singing, including an unforgettable duet with Bernadette Peters. Also known as The LeAnn Rimes Story, Holiday in Your Heart first aired December 14, 1997, on ABC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1996
Appalled by the civil unrest on Earth, Sheridan declares Babylon 5 as an independent state. As President Clark summons his forces to seize control of B5, Delenn asks Minbari for help. A Ranger arrives with news that throws Delenn for a loss. And that is all that can be said without giving away the many plot surprises in "Severed Dreams." Written J. Michael Straczynski, this episode won the 1997 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. In America, it was first made available for syndication during the week of April 1 , 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Boxleitner, Claudia Christian, (more)
- 1996
After several weeks of cat-and-mouse, the Shadows finally make an open attack. Hoping to rally support against the aggressors, Sheridan turns to Kosh for help. And Londo's efforts to patch up his differences with Morden (Ed Wasser) only makes a bad situation worse. Rance Howard, the father of actor/director Ron Howard, shows up briefly as David Sheridan, the Captain's father (it would spoil things to explain the elder Sheridan's surprise appearance). First telecast in America during the week of May 6, 1996, "Interludes and Examinations" was written by J. Michael Straczynski. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Boxleitner, Claudia Christian, (more)
In this martial arts actioner, a tough young fighter risks his life to protect his girl and her family from criminal creeps. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- T.J. Roberts, Jennifer Lyons, (more)
