Damien Ganczewski Movies

Sideways star Thomas Hayden Church appears alongside Academy Award-winner Robert Duvall in a dramatic mini-series shot in the classic western tradition. The year is 1897. As Print Ritter (Duvall) and his estranged nephew Tom Harte (Church) travel the slow road to reconciliation, they reluctantly find themselves forced to care for five abused and abandoned Chinese immigrants while simultaneously attempting to deliver a herd of horses across the plains. Soon confronted by a gang of malevolent kidnappers who intend to abduct the girls and use them for the own nefarious purposes, Print and Tom determine to keep their young charges out of harms way while ensuring that their valuable delivery reaches its intended destination. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Sopranos ingenue Jamie-Lynn DiScala stars as the infamous Hollywood madam in this made-for-cable bio-flick. Produced without the participation of Heidi Fleiss herself, Call Me traces the Pandering author's progression from pampered daughter of a liberal doctor (Saul Rubinek) to headline-grabbing proprietress of a ring of pricey Tinseltown escorts. Robert Davi and Brenda Fricker co-star as the boyfriend/pimp and the old-guard madam who offer Fleiss her entrée into the oldest profession. Corbin Bernsen plays a big-time movie producer who requires high kink from "Heidi's girls" to sate his jaded sexual appetites. The script, by Norman Snider, covers Fleiss' bust but trails off after her incarceration without covering her subsequent rehabilitation as a legitimate businesswoman. Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss premiered in April 2004 on the USA network. Snider previously worked on the script for another naughty TV flick, Rated X, which starred Charlie Sheen -- one of the few high-flying Fleiss customers to be named publicly during her early-'90s legal ordeals. Fleiss was previously the subject of Nick Broomfield's documentary Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

In the tradition of the previous "backstage" TV movies about such iconic series as Batman, The Partridge Family, Gilligan's Island, and The Brady Bunch, this NBC effort promised to give the lowdown on the long-running (1977-1984) ABC sitcom Three's Company. In truth, there is little in this film that was not already common knowledge when it first aired on May 12, 2003, but it's still fun to see a cast of attractive actors portraying another cast of attractive actors. In case anyone needs reminding, Three's Company was the popular tickle-and-tease comedy series based upon the British Man About the House, in which a virile young heterosexual man was forced to pose as a homosexual so that he could remain the roommate of two sexy young ladies. It was perhaps the quintessential "jiggle" sitcom, thanks primarily to its well-endowed co-star Suzanne Somers (here played by Judy Tylor). Because of its risqué (but basically inoffensive) content, Three's Company was turned down by both NBC and CBS before ambitious ABC CEO Fred Silverman (played by Brian Dennehy) decided to take a chance on the property. The rest, as they say, is history, with Three's Company not only setting ratings records but also establishing a whole new threshold for what was and wasn't acceptable in network prime time. Inevitably, the show collapsed under its own weight, especially after the revolving-door cast changes which followed in the wake of the acrimonious defection of Suzanne Somers, but it was fun while it lasted. For the record, the other Three's Company stars were the multi-talented John Ritter (played by Bret Anthony) and the underrated Joyce DeWitt (Melanie Deane-Moore). The actual Joyce DeWitt also appears as herself in this movie, serving as narrator and sidelines commentator. Though the film often pulls its punches regarding the original series' backstage intrigues and legal entanglements, there is enough authentic detail remaining to satisfy the casual sitcom buff. Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Three's Company was filmed under the title Three's Company Revisited. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This horror-comedy sequel finds the teen protagonist of Fright Night being terrorized by the undead sister of the vampire he killed in the original film. Two years after the death of bloodsucker Jerry Dandridge, young Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale) has settled into life as a college student and rejected his former belief in the existence of vampires. Although he's busy pursuing the affections of determined coed Alex (Traci Lind), Charley soon falls under the spell of the mysterious and alluring Regine (Julie Carmen). Although everything about the woman screams vampire, her feminine charms -- and her claims of being nothing but an outlandish performance artist -- lead Charley to become her unwilling servant. Torn between Regine's enchantments and his loyalty to Traci, the youth again looks for help from Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall), the washed-up horror-show host who assisted him in the first film. Soon, Charley, Peter, and Traci are facing off against a coven of picturesque bloodsuckers led by Regine, who reveals herself to be the ancient sister of Jerry Dandridge. Directed and co-written by John Carpenter colleague Tommy Lee Wallace, Fright Night Part 2 includes a co-writing credit for Pretty Woman scribe Stephen Metcalfe and cinematography from Mark Irwin, who has worked with everyone from David Cronenberg to the Farrelly brothers. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide