David Huffman Movies
David Huffman was a supporting actor and an occasional lead, onscreen from F.I.S.T. (1978). He was married to casting director Phyllis Huffman. His life was cut short in 1985, when he was murdered by a thief. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1999
Treasure Island is an experimental, 16 mm black-and-white drama written, directed, and photographed by producer Scott King. The loosely constructed plot shows the private lives of two British code-crackers (Lance Baker and Nick Offerman) during WWII who decode letters and look for hidden meanings behind the words. As a counterintelligence ploy, they decide to drop a dead body off the coast of Japan before a discovered invasion. The film then turns to these men's personal lives and the problems with the women they love, along with the secrets they hide. Frank is married to two women yet is pursing a third, while Samuel and his wife Penny are in a ménage à trois. As the pressures of their lives begin to eat away at them, the dead body starts to enter Frank and Samuel's subconscious, interacting with the private stories of their lives. The film continually asks the question, "What is real and what is fiction?" Treasure Island won the Freedom of Expression Award at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Arthur Borman, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lance Baker, Nick Offerman, (more)
Children in the Crossfire examines the plight of the youngest victims of Northern Ireland's never-ending religious strife. Amidst the speeding bullets and burned-out buildings, a group of Catholic and Protestant children courageously join the Children's Committee 10. This organization is dedicated to mending age-old political and social chasms by having the children spend a summer together in America with host families. Calling themselves "Summertime Yanks", four Belfast children--two boys, two girls--struggle to meet one another halfway in the safe harbor of Southern California. The authenticity of Children in the Crossfire is enhanced by the decision to cast four genuine Belfast kids, with no prior acting experience, in the principal roles. The first telecast December 3, 1984, Children in the Crossfire was produced by George Schafer, who twelve years earlier painted a bleaker portrait of Northern Ireland's sectarian conflict in the made-for-TV A War of Children. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
The made-for-TV When She Says No takes a prismatic, Rashomon approach to its story of sexual assault. Kathleen Quinlan plays an anthropology professor who, during a roisterous campus party, has sex with three of her colleagues (Rip Torn, Jeffrey DeMunn, David Huffman). She takes the matter to court, insisting that she's been raped. The three men insist that Quinlan led them on--even when saying "no." Both testimonies are presented in flashbacks which substantiate the words of whomever happens to be testifying. When She Says No refuses to cop out with easy answers: the "lady or the tiger" denouement allows the viewer to draw his or her own conclusion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Jane Doe, played by Karen Valentine, is an amnesiac with no clue as to her true identity. She does know that she's recovering from a brutal attempted murder. She also knows that a psychopath--a serial killer known as the Roadside Strangler--is tracking her every move. But why? William Devane plays the detective on the case, David Huffman appears as Doe's husband, and Stephen E. Miller is sufficiently menacing as the Strangler. But don't be lulled into complacency: there's a surprise ending. Originally telecast March 12, 1983, Jane Doe was written by Cynthia Mandelberg and Walter Halsey Davis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Karen Valentine, William Devane, (more)
- 1983
Scriptwriters Robert Malcolm Young, Sue Grafton and Stephen Humphrey transposed the Agatha Christie story Sparkling Cyanide from its veddy British locale to the plush environs of Pasadena for this 1983 TV-movie adaptation. Leading character Anthony Andrews is still a Briton, mingling with the rich and famous. Seeking glamour, Andrews finds only depravity and death as several of the glitterati drop dead due to poisoned champagne. The motives are the oldest and most reliable: avarice and jealousy. Sparkling Cyanide was filmed at the same time as Caribbean Mystery, another Christie adaptation utilizing the same producer, director and scenarists. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
Controversial Nicaraguan leader Somoza is treated with inordinate kindness in the propagandistic adventure The Last Plane Out. As played by Lloyd Battista, Somoza is a pussycat compared to those "nasty" insurgents. The story is based on the somewhat slanted memoirs of former journalist Jack Cox, who produced the film and is personified herein by Jan-Michael Vincent. Even at its best, the film runs a distant second to its obvious inspiration, Under Fire. The Last Plane Out is energetically directed by David Nelson--who, as we all may know, is the non-singing son of Ozzie and Harriet. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jan-Michael Vincent, Julie Carmen, (more)
Producer/director/star Clint Eastwood takes his sweet time getting Firefox started. Eastwood plays Mitchell Gant, a past-his-prime U.S. pilot, smuggled into the Soviet Union to steal a new Russian supersonic fighting plane. Fortunately the KGB men are as burnt out as Gant, enabling him to abscond with the plane with the greatest of ease. The rest of the film is a protracted chase, pitting Gant against scores of impersonal MIG pilots. Based on a novel by Craig Thomas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clint Eastwood, Freddie Jones, (more)
- 1981
Ernest Pintoff--jazz trumpeter, painter, animated cartoonist, film theorist--directed his first dramatic feature, Harvey Middleman, Fireman, in 1965. Since that time, Pintoff has refused to be stylistically pigeonholed, turning out everything from comedy concerts (Dynamite Chicken) to spoofish T&A exploitation (Lunch Wagon Girls). St. Helens takes Pintoff into the realm of docudrama, using film clips of the May 18, 1980 eruption of the eponymous volcano to lend credibility to his dramatic re-enactments. Art Carney plays Harry Truman--not the President, but a real-life stubborn old codger who refused to leave his St. Helen's vacation cabin despite the oncoming natural disaster. Carney brings so much vitality to the proceedings that it seems a shame Pintoff couldn't alter the facts and provide Truman with a happy ending. Appearing fleetingly in St. Helen's are Ron "Superfly" O'Neal, Albert Salmi and Nehemiah Persoff. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Art Carney, David Huffman, (more)
- 1981
Sun-worshiping Californians are disappearing by the droves at a popular beach hangout, and a pair of extremely gruff detectives (John Saxon and Burt Young) grumble their way through the case until the real culprit is discovered... it seems a giant burrowing sand-monster with a taste for well-tanned human flesh has set up house beneath the surface and has been partaking of beach bums and bunnies, sucking them down to a nasty (but mostly unseen) death. The creature is kept completely concealed until the final minutes, but its triumphant arrival reveals the real reason the filmmakers kept it hidden so long: the dreaded beast looks like a giant artichoke! The potential for campy fun in this premise is defeated by a completely straight, plodding detective story, but at least Saxon and Young turned in enjoyably cranky performances before picking up their checks. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Huffman, Marianna Hill, (more)
- 1981
This TV movie stars Tony Randall as Sidney Shorr, a reclusive, middle-aged commercial artist. Sidney opens himself up a bit to an ebullient young actress (Lorna Patterson)--who shocks the shockable Mr. Shorr by becoming pregnant. If we haven't mentioned the fact that Sidney Shorr is gay, it's because the film itself never spells out the fact; his gayness is conveyed through subtle signs and suggestions. Nonetheless, when Sidney Shorr: A Girl's Best Friend became a weekly series titled Love Sidney, there was such an uproar from various pressure groups (of all persuasions) that Shorr's homosexuality was muted down to virtual oblivion. Tony Randall continued to play Sidney Shorr in Love Sidney, but the live-in actress was portrayed by Swoosie Kurtz rather than Lorna Patterson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1981
The expensive face of the title belongs to Sylvia Kristel, who actually levies a price of $2.5 million upon the fictional cosmetics firm of Glamour Inc. Ms. Kristel's story is but one of the many intrigues within the hallowed halls of Glamour. Tony Curtis stars as the company's CEO, beset with infighting, intrigue and infidelity. Lee Grant costars as a rival cosmetics exec, while Gayle Hunnicutt is Curtis' far from loving young wife. Based on Lois Wyse's novel Kiss, Inc., Million Dollar Face was purportedly the pilot film for an unsold TV series, though one wonders if Tony Curtis would have stuck it out after what he had to put up with in this first (and last) episode. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1980
The sequel to the popular 1979 TV movie And Baby Makes Six, Baby Comes Home reteams Colleen Dewhurst and Warren Oates as middle-agers who find themselves the parents of a newborn child. The first film dealt with the impact of the 47-year-old mother's unexpected pregnancy on her three grown children, as well as on her own well-ordered lifestyle. The sequel concentrates on the alienating effect that Dewhurst's affection towards her baby has on the rest of her family. Both And Baby Makes Six and Baby Comes Home were intended as pilot films for a weekly series, though one wonders if the ever-busy Colleen Dewhurst would have found the time to star in such a project. The point is a moot one: The series never sold. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1980
- PG
The cliches about actors fighting an uphill battle in Tinseltown are all found in this film, its own actors an example of its message. Donny Most stars as Leo, an aspiring thespian with less than an ingratiating manner and Linda Purl is Loree, an actress who just might get her foot in the door because her mother -- an Oscar winner -- has already opened it for her. Loree's ups and Leo's downs do nothing to help their romantic relationship, as careers and professional goals have an impact on their feelings. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Most, Linda Purl, (more)
- 1979
- R
Not only does star Rod Steiger bypass The Honor Guard on his resume; it is also ignored by virtually every chronicler of Steiger's career. Why? Wouldn't you want to see a low-budget Canadian film wherein ex-marine Steiger, unhinged by the death of his son in Vietnam, terrorizes a young couple (David Huffman, Robin Mattson)? Most American viewers didn't catch up with this turkey until it was telecast on the Showtime Cable service in the summer of 1983. Originally titled Wolf Lake, The Honor Guard is rated R for its violence and sex content. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rod Steiger, David Huffman, (more)
Joseph Wambaugh's The Onion Field is based on an actual 1963 case. L.A. plainclothesmen Karl Hattinger (John Savage) and Ian Campbell (Ted Danson) routinely investigate a pair of suspicious types, Greg Powell (James Woods) and Jimmy Smith (Franklin Seales). Unexpectedly, Powell pulls a gun on the cops, then forces them into a deserted onion field, where he kills Campbell in cold blood. Hattinger manages to escape, and through his eyewitness account, Powell and Smith are arrested. But that is not that. Thanks to their knowledge and manipulation of the quicksilver legal system, Powell and Smith manage to evade prosecution for years. Meanwhile, Hattinger goes through hell on earth, tortured with guilt over the fact that he lived while Campbell died so ignominiously. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Savage, James Woods, (more)
In this sports melodrama that boldly illustrates the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, Lynn-Holly Johnson plays Iowa farm girl Alexis Winston, who has a God-given talent for ice skating. With the encouragement and training of the local ice-skating rink operator Beulah Smith (Colleen Dewhurst), she manages to win the first prize trophy at a regional ice-skating competition. At the competition, she is spotted by Olympic coach Deborah Machland (Jennifer Warren), who promotes her as an underdog competitor, and she skyrockets to fame. Her career is going like gangbusters, until she is blinded in a freak accident. But with the help of her caring boyfriend Nick (Robby Benson) and her encouraging father Marcus (Tom Skerritt), she overcomes her depression just in time to prove herself at a major competition. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lynn-Holly Johnson, Robby Benson, (more)
- 1978
This made-for-television film Winds of Kitty Hawk, chronicles the efforts of the Wright Brothers to become the first men to build a functioning, motor-powered airplane, as well as their rivalry with Glenn Curtiss. While the movie is a little too leisurely paced, the aerial sequences are excellent. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
F.I.S.T. is author Norman Jewison's chronicle of an innocent and idealistic young man corrupted by power and success as seen through the rise of the United States labor movement. Sylvester Stallone plays a Jimmy Hoffa-inspired figure who rises through the union ranks during turbulent labor times. The film begins in 1937 during the burgeoning of the labor movement. Johnny Kovak (Sylvester Stallone) works on the dock unloading trucks for Win Talbot's (Henry Wilcoxon) trucking company. He turns to organizing the truckers for union representative Mike Monahan (Richard Herd). When Monahan is killed in a fight by strong-arm men hired by the company, Johnny becomes involved with Vince Doyle (Kevin Conway), the local gangster. After an angry response by the union, culminating in a massive riot, Johnny firmly aligns himself with Doyle, and the mob gets its meathooks further into the union. Thanks to the infusion of mob support, the union grows rich and powerful, along with Johnny. By the end of the 1950s, Johnny has so much power that he even manages to blackmail international union leader Max Graham (Peter Boyle) out of his job. Johnny is sitting on top of the world -- that is, until crusading United States senator Andrew Madison (Rod Steiger) targets Johnny's union for a federal investigation. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvester Stallone, Rod Steiger, (more)
- 1977
The right to die with dignity was at the heart of this fact-based TV movie. After a serious accident, New Jersey woman Karen Ann Quinlan lapses into an irreversible coma. Only a complicated and expensive life-support system forestalls Karen's inevitable death; otherwise, she is brain dead and her prognosis is hopeless. The girl's grieving parents, Joe (Brian Keith) and Julie (Piper Laurie), end up fighting a lengthy legal battle for permission to disconnect Karen from life support and allow nature to take its course. When In the Matter of Karen Ann Quinlan made its first NBC network appearance on September 26, 1977, the real Karen Ann was still alive -- and would remain so, without artificial assistance, until 1985. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
The inaugural presentation of the syndicated "Operation Prime Time" anthology, the three-part, six-hour miniseries Testimony of Two Men was based on the 1968 best-seller by Taylor Caldwell; it originally aired in three separate two-hour installments. Sprawled over the course of several generations following the Civil War, this epic begins in 1865. It covers the saga of idealistic, straight-arrow Pennsylvania surgeon Jonathan Ferrier (David Birney) and his irresponsible, hot-headed and slightly effeminate younger brother Harald (David Huffman). The Ferrier boys battle over professional ethics (Jonathan campaigns for medical reforms, Harald is interested only a quick financial turnover) and personal peccadilloes. The drama heats up when the philandering wife of one of the Ferriers is charged with murder, precipating a scandal that threatens to rock the medical profession to its foundations. In the climax, a group of envious physicians try to destroy Jonathan when he lobbies for antiseptic operating conditions--and the truth comes out about Harald's dalliance with Jonathan's late wife. Made available for syndication in May of 1977, Testimony of Two Men was seen in most markets on May 9, 16 and 23. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
One of four dramatic miniseries carried by NBC under the blanket title Best Sellers, Captains and the Kings was adapted from a novel by Taylor Caldwell. Covering a time span from 1857 to 1912, this was the saga of the Irish-immigrant Armagh clan, with emphasis on the rags-to-riches career of Joseph Armagh (Richard Jordan). Achieving fame and prominence (if not full-fledged social acceptance) through a Byzantine series of investments in the oil industry, the elder Armagh was obsessed with the notion of having one of his sons become the first Irish-Catholic President of the United States (does this story sound vaguely familiar?). Along the way, Joseph and his offspring indulged in innumerable romantic liaisons, extramarital and otherwise. Featured in the all-star cast is Patty Duke Astin, who won an Emmy award for her portrayal of Bernadette Hennessey Armagh. Captains and the Kings was broadcast from September 30 to November 18, 1976 in seven installments, two of which ran 120 minutes, and the other six lasting 60 minutes -- a total of nine hours' air time in all. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
After a two-week preemption for network Olympics coverage, Baretta returned on February 18, 1976 with this episode. The focus is on Billy Truman (Tom Ewell), the manager of the fleabag hotel that undercover cop Tony Baretta (Robert Blake) calls home. The tension begins to mount when Billy is kidnapped, and the ransom demanded is the 500,000 dollars in stolen bonds that Baretta may have recovered after thwarting a robbery. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Blake, Edward Grover, (more)
- 1976
Susan Clark, the queen of the made-for-TV biopic (in 1976, at least), stars as legendary aviator Amelia Earhart. The story begins in 1921, with Amelia's first biplane flight. In 1928, she becomes the first woman ever to fly the Atlantic, albeit not at the controls. She gains international fame with a daring cross-country flight. The film refuses to speculate on the cause of Ms. Earhart's disappearance during a round-the-world trip in 1937, though the clues that do exist are presented in full. Co-starring with Susan Clark are John Forsythe as Amelia's publisher husband (and "exploiter") George Putnam, and Stephen Macht as her purported lover, stunt pilot Paul Mantz. Nearly two decades after Amelia Earhart was first telecast on October 25, 1976, Diane Keaton portrayed Earhart in a made-for-cable biography. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
This sequel to the smash hit chiller Rosemary's Baby (1968) chronicles the childhood of Rosemary's demon spawn. The still distraught mother, whose husband sold his soul, thus allowing Satan himself to father her child, is helped out by her charming neighbors the devil worshippers. The film is also titled Rosemary's Baby II. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
