Cooper Huckabee Movies

Paul McCrane makes his first appearance as the redoubtable Dr. Robert Romano, who in this episode has just returned from a European vacation, his head full of new information about robotics. Elsewhere, Carol (Julianna Margulies) wants to start up a free clinic in the ER. Del Amico (Maria Bello) is in for a surprise when she examines a male patient. After the deposition with the Law family, Greene (Anthony Edwards) demands to know if Chris Law (Joe Torry) had anything to do with beating him up. Jeanie (Gloria Reuben) and Al (Michael Beach) "mix it up" in a bar. And John Carter (Noah Wyle) wonders if he should have stayed in surgery after another doctor steals credit for one of Carter's ER procedures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara becomes this sprawling historical epic. As in Shaara's novel, director Ronald Maxwell focuses on a handful of major players to dramatize the events of July 1863, when the armies of the Union and Confederacy clash at the small Pennsylvania town of the title. Among them are Martin Sheen as General Robert E. Lee, who disagrees with his top advisor, General James Longstreet (Tom Berenger) over battle strategy, and Jeff Daniels as Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, a college professor whose unorthodox techniques save the day (and possibly the war) for his beleaguered army. Other cast standouts include Richard Jordan in his final film appearance as the ill-fated General Lewis Armistead, and cameo roles for Civil War buff Ken Burns and media mogul producer Ted Turner. Filmed on-location at Gettysburg National Military Park, Gettysburg was shot as a television miniseries for Turner's TNT cable channel, but earned a limited theatrical release. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Travis (Harley Cross) is a nine-year-old boy who lives in Oklahoma with his federally protected parents. After the mob kills his parents for ratting on them, the gangleader demands that Travis be brought to Houston. Cohen (Roy Scheider) is the veteran hitman who signs on for one last job. Much to Cohen's dismay, he is paired with the psychopath Tate (Adam Baldwin). When Cohen does nothing to hide his dislike for his new partner, young Travis begins to play one thug against the other in a psychological mind game in hopes their confrontation will lead to his freedom. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

The budget may be loftier, but Eye of the Tiger is essentially an up-to-date AIP motorcycle flick. Ex-convict Buck Mathews (Gary Busey) lives as quietly as possible in his old home town. The corrupt local sheriff (Seymour Cassel) would give anything to drive Buck out of town: thus, the sheriff looks the other way when a motorcycle gang headed by Blade (William Smith, who else?) invades the community and targets Buck for extermination. With no one else on his side, Buck turns to honest cop J.B. Deveraux (Yaphet Kotto), but he's a few days away from retirement and doesn't want to get involved. It turns out that the only "good guy" Buck can depend upon is a "bad guy": A well-connected Latino drug lord who owes Buck a favor. When the chips are down and Buck's daughter is kidnapped, Deveraux joins in the climactic offensive against the bikers--which, of course, boils down to a mano-y-mano struggle between Buck and Blade. You've seen it all before, but in this case familiarity does not breed contempt. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Although the NBC television series Little House on the Prairie ran its course in March of 1983, producer/star Michael Landon managed to extend the property's life for an additional year with the aid of three expensively mounted TV-movie sequels. The first of these was Little House: Look Back to Yesterday, in which 19th century farmer Charles Ingalls (Landon) paid a return visit to Walnut Grove. During his stay, Charles learns to his horror that his son Albert (Matthew Laborteaux), a doctor in training, has contacted a blood disease that nearly always results in a slow and painful death. The other citizens are sympathetic, but have problems of their own -- namely, an economic recession that threatens to destroy the community. Of the original cast members, only Karen Grassle (Caroline Ingalls) was conspicuous by her absence, while Victor French pulled double duty as the film's director and in his familiar role of Isaiah Edwards (NBC publicity at the time suggested that Landon himself directed, though all print ads gave credit where credit was due). Look Back to Yesterday first aired on December 12, 1983. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The life of country singer Tammy Wynette is chronicled in this television biopic. The story begins during her poverty-stricken childhood and ends with her on-again-off-again relationship with singer George Jones. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The mysterious 1971 hijacking of an airliner by a bold thief who parachuted into legend over the Pacific Northwest became fodder for this action comedy that's mostly speculative. Treat Williams stars as Jim Meade, an ambitious former Army man who devises a clever scheme to hold up an airliner for $200,000. Masquerading as "D.B. Cooper," he succeeds, and after landing safely in the deep woods, he seeks out his wife Hannah (Kathryn Harrold), whom he had left months earlier. They reconcile and head for the Mexican border. However, Jim soon has two people hot on his trail. Bob Gruen (Robert Duvall) was Jim's sergeant in the armed forces. Now an insurance investigator, Bob becomes convinced that only his talented former underling could have pulled off the job and sets out to capture him. At the same time, Jim's seedy former Army pal Remson (Paul Gleason) comes to the same conclusion and pursues the Meades, hoping to get a cut of the loot. Based on the book by J.D. Reed, the film failed to ignite interest at the box office, despite a publicity stunt by Universal Pictures offering a million dollars for information leading to the arrest of the real Cooper. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

"You a real cowboy?" John Travolta traded disco for a mechanical bull in this adaptation by James Bridges and Aaron Latham of Latham's article on Western nightlife. Texas country boy Bud (Travolta) moves to Houston to work on an oil rig with his Uncle Bob (Barry Corbin), and he swiftly becomes indoctrinated in the nighttime rituals of drinking, dancing, and showing off cowboy duds at Gilley's, the enormous local honkytonk. There he meets and marries the sassy Sissy (Debra Winger), but the honeymoon quickly ends when Sissy starts spending too much time learning the men-only skill of mechanical bull-riding from ex-con Wes (Scott Glenn); Bud throws her out and hooks up with slumming Pam (Madolyn Smith). Under the paternal tutelage of Uncle Bob, Bud then learns not only how to master the bull but also what it takes to be a real man rather than just an ersatz cowboy. With a story, cast, and setting that were essentially Saturday Night Fever country-style, Urban Cowboy was poised to be a summer 1980 hit. Although its box office did not live up to Fever's legacy, Urban Cowboy did spawn a soundtrack album of country-and-western hits and helped spur a Western fashion vogue; people from all regions began sporting cowboy boots, and mechanical bulls started replacing passé disco floors. The first of Travolta's many comebacks, Urban Cowboy provided the star with a more "manly" image after his Moment by Moment (1978) fiasco, but it was neophyte co-star Winger who got even better notices. With its Western milieu and retro view of relationships, Urban Cowboy stands as a sign of the nascent Reagan era, as '70s icon Travolta learned bull-riding himself and replaced his white polyester with a black Stetson. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

As he did in his screenplay for Silver Streak (1974), writer/director Colin Higgins mixes life-and-death melodrama with broad slapstick in Foul Play. Goldie Hawn stars as Gloria Mundy, a recent divorcée whose attempts to start life anew in San Francisco are bollixed up when she is inadvertently swept up in an assassination plot against the Pope. Offering sometimes dubious aid and comfort to Gloria is bumbling federal agent Tony Carlson (Chevy Chase). The film's comedy ranges from the farcical seduction efforts by musician Stanley Tibbets (Dudley Moore) to the zany, gag-filled car-chase finale. Foul Play features character actors Rachel Roberts and Eugene Roche as villains, Burgess Meredith as a martial arts-happy landlord, and Billy Barty as a long-suffering religious bookseller. It also packs in a memorable "throwaway" gag involving a profane Scrabble game played by sweet little old ladies Queenie Smith and Hope Summers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Thanks to the interference of Mrs. Oleson (Katherine MacGregor), Walnut Grove's schoolteacher Miss Beadle (Charlotte Stewart) is replaced by Mr. Applewood (Richard Basehart), a harsh disciplinarian. Wrongfully convinced that Laura (Melissa Gilbert) is a troublemaker, Applewood (or "Crabapple," as he is known to the kids) mercilessly persecutes and punishes the girl, finally expelling her for the mischief perpetrated by another child. Laura's father, Charles (Michael Landon), takes a hand in matters to prove that the Walnut Grove schoolhouse was better off with Miss Beadle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide