Carmen Culver Movies
This speculative TV movie is set in the year 2008, as grief-stricken married couple Skye (Elizabeth Perkins) and Rick (Bradley Whitford) struggle bravely to overcome the death of their son. "Shock" is hardly the appropriate word to describe the couple's reaction when they meet another child who looks exactly like their own boy. It soon develops that Skye and Rick's son was the product of "Baby 2000," a top-secret -- and highly illegal -- cloning experiment conducted at a fertility clinic. Will the couple blow the whistle on the clinic's crooked activities, or will they be mollified into silence by being given an exact duplicate of the son they have lost? Refreshingly, the man responsible for the experiment, Dr. Wesley Kozak (Alan Rosenberg) is not portrayed as a Frankensteinish villain, but instead as a compassionate, concerned scientist who truly believes that "Baby 2000" has been conceived for the benefit of humankind. Cloned originally aired September 28, 1997, on ABC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this drama, a German woman treasures a ring, the one tie she has left to her life before WWII. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nastassja Kinski, Linda Lavin, (more)
- 1996
- Add Seduced by Madness: The Diane Borchardt Story to QueueAdd Seduced by Madness: The Diane Borchardt Story to top of Queue
Inspired by a true story, director John Patterson's made for television thriller stars ageing screen siren Ann-Margaret the titular black widow, a deeply-disturbed, part-time Wisconsin schoolteacher who manipulates her students into killing her husband under the false pretences that he is an abusive tyrant who is about to end their marriage and send her packing from their lavish suburban home. The truth, however, is that Diane's husband Ruben (Peter Coyote) is just a regular guy who realized that his marriage was a mistake when his irrationally jealous wife fails to prevent signs of her acute instability from bubbling to the surface. While Ruben staunchly opposes divorce, he is increasingly drawn to the beautiful Claire (Leslie Hope), a married woman who effectively signs his death warrant after luring him into an adulterous affair. Meanwhile, back in study hall, Diane plies impressionable sixteen year-old student Doug Vest (Christian Campbell) with elaborate yarns of abuse and mistreatment, eventually spurring him into action lest she lose everything in the impending divorce. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann-Margret, Peter Coyote, (more)
- 1996
It's Fatal Attraction with a bit of gender and age fine-tuning in this made-for-TV melodrama. Bonnie Bedelia stars as Dr. Diane Weston, a professor in Shakespearean studies who has a brief fling with graduate student Jeff (Brian Austin Green). Once she has gotten over her attraction to Jeff, Diane tries to break off the romance, only to find out that he is obsessed with her. To win back Diane's "love", Jeff contrives to seduce the prof's daughter Tess (Gina Philips). And of course, when all else fails, things really get nasty (though no rabbits are boiled during the making of this picture)! Her Costly Affair made its NBC network debut on October 28, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1986
Not to be confused with the 1971 TV movie of the same name, the three-part CBS miniseries If Tomorrow Comes was based on the best-selling novel by Sidney Sheldon. At the center of all the intrigue is an attractive pair of jewel thieves, rank amateur Tracy Whitney (Madolyn Smith), and slick professional Jeff Stevens (Tom Berenger). Having failed on their own to secure wealthy marriages, Tracy and Jeff bury their rivalry and turn to each other for romance -- provided that they're given a few moments to themselves by their great nemesis, the dangerously single-minded insurance investigator Daniel Cooper (David Keith). Standing out in the huge cast is Richard Kiley as international con artist Gunther Hartog, who endeavors to teach Tracy all the tricks of big-time larceny while passing herself off as a variety of different women. Presented in three installments, If Tomorrow Comes was originally telecast on 1986 on March 16, 17, and 18. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
This three-part, seven-hour TV adaptation of Edgar Bulwer-Lytton's 1834 best-seller The Last Days of Pompeii was arguably more faithful to its source than any of the earlier film versions -- and inarguably the most expensive version of all, boasting a 19,000,000-dollar budget and a truly spectacular cast. In recounting the events leading up to the cataclysmic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D., the film, like the novel, introduces a veritable coliseum full of colorful fictional characters: stalwart Athenian Glaucus (Nicholas Clay), religious-zealot Egyptian Arbaces (Franco Nero), and mighty gladiator Lydon (Duncan Regehr), all of whom vie for the affections of high-born Ione (Olivia Hussey) and lowly, sightless slave girl Nydia (Linda Purl). Also around and about are Ned Beatty as wealthy merchant Diomed, Lesley-Anne Down as belly-dancing courtesan Chloe, and a handful of theatrical stalwarts like Laurence Olivier and Anthony Quayle. Mercilessly drubbed by the critics, who chortled at such dialogue as "Turn the other cheek, Christian lover!" and "Christians. They're everywhere I go. They're spreading through the empire like a pox!," The Last Days of Pompeii nonetheless garnered healthy ratings when it aired over ABC from May 6 to 8, 1984, despite the formidable opposition of the NBC blockbuster miniseries V: The Final Battle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This mammoth TV miniseries, based on the best-selling novel by Colleen McCullough, proved to be a ratings bonanza; indeed, its viewership was surpassed only by the 1978 blockbuster Roots. Set in Australia, the story covers 42 years in the life of Ralph de Bricassart (Richard Chamberlain), a Roman Catholic priest engaged in a constant struggle between his calling and his carnal desires. The women in de Bricassart's life include Meggie Cleary (Rachel Ward, in her first American TV role) and Meggie's iron-willed grandmother Mary Carson (Barbara Stanwyck). Also in the cast are Jean Simmons and Richard Kiley as the Clearys, Sydney Penny as the young Meggie, Bryan Brown as Luke O'Neill, Mare Winningham as Justine (Meggie's daughter) and Christopher Plummer as the Archbishop. This 4-part, 10-hour presentation earned an Emmy award for Barbara Stanwyck, and Golden Globes for Stanwyck and Richard Chamberlain. Originally telecast March 27 through March 30, 1983, The Thorn Birds was followed 13 years later by The Thorn Birds: The Missing Years, again starring Richard Chamberlain. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Chamberlain, Rachel Ward, (more)
- 1980
The autobiography of Harold Krent, Butterflies Are Free, is the basis for this made-for-television drama about a blind collegian and his struggle to be treated like any other law student. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- 1979
This speculative made-for-TV drama examines the courtship and early marital life of Mary and Joseph before the birth of their remarkable son, Jesus. The film is also known as the Beginning Was Love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Blanche Baker, Jeff East, (more)
- 1978
NBC correspondent Betty Rollin's book about her own mastectomy, First You Cry, was adapted for television by Carmen Culver. Mary Tyler Moore plays Ms. Rollins, who discovers after her breast surgery that her "loving" husband (Anthony Perkins) is a cad who can't withstand the pressure of living with a woman in dire need of emotional support. Thankfully, Ms. Rollins is able to begin a new life with the tender, compassionate man (Richard Crenna) who's loved her all along. Unfortunately, the rest of the film is just as simplistic as its romantic angle. Despite Mary Tyler Moore's consummate performance, First You Cry (originally telecast November 8, 1978) is better read than seen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
