Alf Humphreys Movies

While volunteering at the local nursing home, Clark Kent (Tom Welling) meets an elderly blind woman named Cassandra (Jackie Burroughs). The old lady lives up to her mythological cognomen when she announces that she can "see" into the future. Piecing together Cassandra's fragmentary premonitions, Clark desperately races against time to rescue his adoptive mother, Martha (Annette O'Toole), from a grisly fate at the hands of another nursing home resident, whose newfound youthfulness has transformed him into a killing machine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This fact-based TV movie stars John Ritter as Ed Chandler, whose life is torn asunder when his daughter Missy (Anna Chlumsky) is diagnosed with cancer. The nature of Missy's illness obliges Ed to spend many hours away from his job as a car salesman to commiserate with her daughter's doctors at the hospital. Then one day, Ed shows up at work to be coldly informed that he has been fired--and there is no one to whom he can go to plead his case. The plight of the Chandler family ultimately leads to the creation of the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act, which allows persons up to six weeks' leave from their jobs when their family members are suffering from serious illnesses. Telecast by CBS on January 21, 1997, Child's Wish (cable title: Fighting for Justice made headlines when it first aired because of the appearance of President Bill Clinton in the final scene--the first time that a sitting President ever starred as "himself" in a dramatic film (as well as the first such scene to be lensed on location in the Oval Office!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The late Robert Urich completed work on this cable-TV movie only a few days before undergoing cancer surgery. Set in the early months of the Great Depression, the story involves Angus Feagan (Urich), a Detroit family man who has lost both his job and his freedom. Arrested for a crime he didn't commit, Feagan finds that his fate is in the hands of his three children, who in their efforts to get their dad sprung before Christmas are set upon enlisting the aid of no less than President Herbert Hoover (Thomas Peacocke). In this spirit, the youngsters set out for Washington DC--and when their mother (Diane Scarwid) finds out, a frantic thousand-mile chase ensues. In fine old Frank Capra tradition, the kids encounter a variety of eccentric characters en route to the White House, all played by actors whose faces are reassuringly familiar, even if their names are not. The Angel of Pennsylvania Avenue premiered over the Family Channel on December 15, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Accompanied by Richie (Stan Kirsch), Tessa (Alexandra Van Der Noot) storms down to the courthouse to argue about her recent parking tickets. Almost immediately, both Richie and Tessa are taken hostage by a gang trying to free their leader, Bryan Slade (Andrew Divoff), who has just been sentenced to life imprisonment. In his efforts to rescue his friends, Duncan (Adrian Paul) is "killed" right before the eyes of a SWAT team. To avoid being exposed as an Immortal, Duncan is forced to carry out the rest of his rescue mission in secret, aided by feisty janitor's daughter Belinda (Andrea Libman). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In a standard psycho-killer thriller, Cecile (Nathalie Baye) goes from her home in Canada to New York after her boyfriend is thrown in the slammer there for drug-running -- she still wants to be near him. Unable to stay past her visa's limits, Cecile literally contracts a legal marriage to an American via an agency and starts working in a deli to support herself. It is when her totally wacko "husband" shows up that her life goes from terrible to terrorific. His insanity has already slashed up one wife, and he is ready to continue on with Cecile unless the slow-witted female can figure out what to do. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this slapstick chase-adventure, some unlikely heroes try to outwit each other for possession of a huge stash of cash hidden on the train they are all riding together. The comedy is a little uneven here or at least not to everyone's taste, and the pace is fast-forward frantic. Josef (Ed Lauter) and Georgiana (Pamela Stephenson) manage to break into her father's estate and swipe $5 million in cash from the safe, with plans to spirit the money across country on a train. Meanwhile, Michael (Michael O'Keefe) is a con man being chased by irate women on a roller derby team who have reason to be angry with him. He zips into a second-hand clothing store and dons the disguise of an army uniform, hoping to board a train for New York unnoticed. But when an officer gets suspicious at the station, Michael retorts that he is escorting a nearby coffin -- a coffin that actually contains the stolen $5 mil. The thieves are also nearby, but for reasons of their own, they go along with Michael's charade. Along for the ride are a neurotic woman (Beverly D'Angelo), an eccentric train conductor (David Wayne), a stowaway Vietnam defector, a blond woman of the underworld, a nymphomaniac, and briefly, a crafty con man (Louis Gosset Jr.). From that point onward, episodic vignettes are tossed here and there as the train moves ever closer to New York, and the protagonists try to outmaneuver each other for the money. Viewers may note that along for his fourth cinematic ride is Jim Carrey in a bit part. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

First Blood is the Sylvester Stallone film that unleashed "Rambo" onto an unsuspecting world. Wandering into a small, hostile town, ex-Green Beret John Rambo (Stallone) is targeted for persecution and abuse by potbellied Sheriff Will Teasle (Brian Dennehy). When he can stand no more, Rambo goes bonkers, killing a deputy and heading into the surrounding hills, armed to the teeth. Only after Rambo has picked off practically every law enforcement officer within a radius of 50 miles do the local authorities bring in his former commanding officer, Trautman (Richard Crenna), for advice. Trautman's response -- that the locals had better get a lot of body bags ready -- is hardly encouraging. First Blood proved to be one of Stallone's biggest non-Rocky hits. Kirk Douglas had originally been cast as Trautman, but he quit the project when the producers refused to cave in to his demand that Trautman kill Rambo in the finale. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A low-key, atmospheric Canadian production, Funeral Home (aka Cries in the Night) makes effective use of the title setting, which has been converted into a bed & breakfast by Maude Chalmers (Kay Hawtrey) after the demise of her less-than-popular husband -- known throughout the town as "Chalmers the Embalmer." Maude's pretty granddaughter Heather (Lesleh Donaldson) arrives for a summer visit, and soon begins to hear weird, guttural moans and sobs from the padlocked cellar; before long, assorted obnoxious guests at the inn find their welcome revoked -- violently. Despite a nerdy deputy's obvious crush on her, Heather is unable to convince him that evil forces are lurking beneath the Chalmers house, and she decides to investigate on her own (instead of just hitting the road like any sane individual). What she finds there will come as no surprise to anyone paying attention, since this quaint little inn is clearly modeled after a certain well-known Hitchcockian motel... Despite this obvious twist, this is not a bad little suspenser, with effective camerawork and good performances, especially from Hawtrey and Donaldson (who resembles a buxom Ally Sheedy). ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

When the money-hungry Duke Stuyvesant (Sterling Hayden) orchestrates a phony gas shortage, chaos ensues in a small Midwestern town. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide