John Dennis Johnston Movies
- 2000
This episode introduces Nicole Bilderback as Blin, Max and Zack's genetically engineered "sister" from Manticore. En route to a secret meeting with her siblings, Brin is kidnapped -- and Max (Jessica Alba) and Zack (William Gregory Lee) naturally assume that the abductor is none other than their mad-scientist nemesis, Lydecker (John Savage). As it turns out, however, Lydecker is not the culprit -- and Max and Zack are forced to work together with their enemy to save Brin from being chopped up and sold as parts. Alas, one of the trio makes a false move which plunges everyone into the direst jeopardy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1999
Teenage patients pour into the ER after a suspicious explosion in a high school science class. Lawrence (Alan Alda) becomes erratic and violently angry, leading the staff to wonder if the veteran doctor is functioning at full capacity. Elaine (Rebecca De Mornay) hopes to "connect" with her former brother-in-law, Carter (Noah Wyle), before heading to Europe. Dr. Dave (Erik Palladino) gets another much-needed lesson in humanity and humility. Carol (Julianna Margulies) is outraged to discover that pregnant waitress Meg (Martha Plimpton) is shooting heroin. And Jeanie (Gloria Reuben) is finding it increasingly difficult to juggle her workload with her domestic duties. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1995
In this made-for-TV sci-fi-drama, the world has entered into an age when travel between the planets has become an everyday event, and Driscoll Rampant (Neal McDonough), a medical student, finds himself taking an internship on the distant planet of Rusta. Unlike Earth, Rusta does not turn on its axis as it orbits through space, with one half of the planet in constant daylight and the other in permanent nighttime; as a result, Rusta has two very different civilizations, one a genteel land of ladies and gentlemen, the other a feudal kingdom. As Rampant travels between the two sides of Rusta, he struggles to build a bridge between both sides in a world where the essential duality of man is brought clearly to the forefront. White Dwarf also stars Paul Winfield, C.C.H. Pounder, and Ele Keats. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Winfield, Neal McDonough, (more)
- 1994
In this satirical political thriller, detective Arthur Decowitz (John Dennis Johnston), better known as Art Deco, is a hard-boiled private eye. A dangerous international criminal genius, The Hyena (Stephen McHattie), plans to blow up Los Angeles, and the CIA have gotten wind of his plan. However, they need a fall guy for their plot to foil the Hyena's scheme, and they set up Art Deco as a possible conspirator. Cult figure Brion James appears in the supporting cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Dennis Johnston, Stephen McHattie, (more)
- 1992
After being released from an institution, a manic-depressive attempts to get custody of her 5 children and struggles with the opposition of her oldest daughter and the foster parents. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sarah Jessica Parker, Sally Struthers, (more)
- 1992
In this feature-length episode of the long-running television show, America's canniest Southern lawyer (Andy Griffith) and his faithful assistant and daughter Leanne (Brynn Thayer) discover a disturbing link between Matlock's dead father and a four-decade-old unsolved murder. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brynn Thayer, Clarence Gilyard, Jr., (more)
- 1992
Overkill: The Aileen Wuornos Story stars Jean Smart as the title character. One of the rare female serial killers on record, Wuornos was eventually charged with murdering seven men on lonely Florida roads. The killing spree took place between 1990 and 1991, thus this 1992 TV movie could pat itself on the back for its timeliness. At the time Overkill was made, there was some public doubt concerning Wuornos' guilt (she was then on death row). The script suggests that her crimes were a by-product of childhood sexual abuse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Smart, Park Overall, (more)
- 1992
Tessa (Alexandra Van Der Noot) is kidnapped by three survivalists and bundled off to a remote cabin somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. As Duncan (Adrian Paul) desperately searches for his lost lady love, one of the mountain men, Caleb (Marc Singer), begins to fall in love with his captive. As it turns out, Caleb, like Duncan, is an Immortal; this sparks a climactic duel to the death with axe and sword. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adrian Paul, Alexandra Van Der Noot, (more)
- 1991
Derived from Paul Gallico's novella The Snow Goose, this Christmas fable stars Kris Kristofferson as Jericho Adams, a one-time Indian fighter. On Christmas Eve, he, his wife (Kim Cattrall) and their child are kidnapped by a band of revenge-minded Blackfeet warriors being hunted by the U.S. Cavalry. After Jericho's violent escape plans go awry, it's up to his wife to earn their freedom through more peaceful means: by telling the Nativity store to a tribe who has never before heard it. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
Nearly three decades after climbing the top-ten charts with his ballad "Big Bad John", Jimmy Dean stars in a film version of the song. Dean doesn't play the title character, though; that honor goes to ex-footballer Doug English. After killing a man who needed killing, Big Bad John loses himself by going to work in a treacherous Colorado coal mine. A whole slew of plot complications later, the film finally gets around to the gist of the song, with Big Bad John saving the lives of his fellow miners at the price of his own. For the record, Dean plays a sheriff who reluctantly pursues the fugitive John all over the country. Also in the cast is Ned Beatty, playing an abusive father to end all abusive fathers, and Jack Elam and Bob Hopkins, doing their usual. Big Bad John was directed by Burt Kennedy, an old hand at backwoods melodramas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Made for television, Murder in Mississippi covers the same historical ground that was fictionalized in the theatrical film Mississippi Burning (89). The film recounts the murders by the Ku Klux Klan of three civil rights workers in 1964. Rather than detail the subsequent FBI investigation, the plotline follows the life of one of the white murder victims, Mickey Schwerner (Tom Hulce), who gave up a comfortable lifestyle in the North to struggle alongside African-American freedom fighters in the South. Jennifer Grey portrays Schwerner's wife, while Josh Charles and Blair Underwood portray the other two martyred activists, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney. Filmed in Georgia, Murder in Mississippi was produced by David L. Wolper of Roots fame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Hulce, Blair Underwood, (more)
- 1988
In this pilot for a TV series that was not to be, a young rebel becomes town hero when he unintentionally thwarts a raid on the local bank, and on the strength of this, he is offered the job of sheriff, which of course only leads him into more trouble. ~ Mark Hockley, All Movie Guide
- 1987
This week, Kelly Bundy's boyfriend is a jerk named Brian (Kris Kamm), who demands that she prove his love by getting a tattoo. Meanwhile, Kelly's dad Al (Ed O'Neill) insists that his wife Peg (Katey Sagal) improve her softball skills, lest she be dumped from his team. These two plot strands will ultimately converge as Peggy and Kelly (Christina Applegate) wreak vengeance upon the men in their lives. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1986
Somewhere in the Deep South, young singer Matt Burns (Brian L. Green) has been arrested for the murder of local bully Ed Bonner (Jeffrey Osterhage), son of the town's most influential citizen (Stuart Whitman). Innocent bystanders to this developing drama are Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) and her friend and fellow writer Ames Caulfield (Craig Stevens), one of whose former students happened to be Matt's mother. At the request of Matt's girl friend (and the dead man's sister) Linda (Cindy Fisher), Jessica does her best to prove Matt's innocence--while an angry lynch mob begins to swarm around the town jail. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
The Speedy Delivery Company, a firm run by former Army pilot A.J. (Joseph Hacker) and his blind sister Lisa (Stacey Nelkin) is being forced out of business by a band of baddies led by Ike Hagen (Mitchell Ryan). When the A-Team arrives on the scene, they quickly deduce that Hagen is in league with crooked chemical company executive Durcell (Richard Herd) to set up a site where they can illegally dump toxic waste. Horror movie fans will enjoy the "teaming" of two veterans from the Halloween series, Mitchell Ryan (Dr. Wynn in Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers) and Stacey Nelkin (Ellie in Halloween 3: Season of the Witch). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
This made-for-TV biopic chronicles the exciting (at times scandalous) life and career of Eroll Flynn, Hollywood's most popular swashbuckling rake. Much of the information comes from Flynn's autobiography. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Duncan Regehr, Barbara Hershey, (more)
In this docudrama, Ellen Burstyn stars as the mother of a Canadian teen who mysteriously vanishes while traveling to school in Colorado. Robert Prosky portrays the detective who leads the search for the boy's whereabouts. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1983
In Black Rock, California, a seriously wounded B.A. (Mr. T) is tended to by Dr. Maggie Sullivan (Tricia O'Neil), who suspects that her patient is a member of a biker gang that is poised to raid the town and release its leader from prison. As a result, Black Rock's sheriff Hank Thompson (Ed Lauter) places B.A.'s fellow A-Teamers Hannibal (George Peppard) and Face (Dirk Benedict). Ultimately, however, Thompson and his prisoners join forces to protect the town from the savage biker hordes--while Murdock (Dwight Schultz) rushes to the scene in hopes of providing B.A. with a blood transfusion before it's too late! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
The moonshining Beaudry clan, who'd previously tried to force Daisy Duke (Catherine Bach) into a shotgun wedding at the end of The Dukes of Hazzard's fifth season, return to Hazzard Country for more mischief. This time out, the Beaudrys intend to steal Boss Hogg's still--and to get Boss (Sorrell Booke) out of the way, they frame him for sabotaging the car owned by Jesse Duke (Denver Pyle) just before an important "old-timers" race. Featured as Milo Beaudry is Richard Moll, soon to be costarred as "Bull" on Night Court. (Note: some sources list the air date of this episode as November 4, 1983.) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
Fed up by the interference of her overprotective cousins Bo (John Schneider) and Duke (Tom Wopat), Daisy (Catherine Bach) moves out of the Duke farmhouse. Our heroine's new independence lasts only long enough for her to be kidnapped by Milo Beaudry (played by future Night Court regular Richard Moll), the son of a Tennessee moonshiner in league with Boss Hogg (Sorrell Booke). Unless her cousins can engineer a rescue, Daisy will soon be Mrs. Milo Beaudry--and there's a brace of shotguns backing up the boy's proposal! This is the final episode of The Dukes of Hazzard's fifth season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1982
Tom Burman's innovative prosthetic special effects (used to greater effect in later horror films) are the saving grace of The Beast Within. The premise concerns a couple honeymooning in Mississippi. Caroline (Bibi Besch) is brutally raped by a hairy, sub-human monster and gives birth to a child named Michael (Paul Clemens), who appears normal until he hits his teens. At 17, Michael begins to feel strange, and his parents take him back to Mississippi to find out if his problems are related to Caroline's long-ago rape. Once in Mississippi, Michael transforms into a ravenous insect-like creature that roams the countryside, disemboweling innocent victims and feasting on their torsos. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ronny Cox, Bibi Besch, (more)
- 1982
In the first episode of a two-part story, James (Jason Bateman) heads to the Sleepy Eye bank to make a deposit. The bank is robbed and James is shot, leaving him comatose. Seething with grief and rage, James' adoptive father, Charles (Michael Landon), persuades his friend Mr. Edwards (Victor French) to help him track down the outlaws. As they set out on their mission, Charles and Edwards order Albert ( Matthew Laborteaux) to stay behind -- an order he disobeys. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Landon, Karen Grassle, (more)
A variation on the "buddy-cop" hybridized genre, 48 HRS. greatly bolstered the career of Nick Nolte and made comedian Eddie Murphy a bonafide box-office sensation. When a pair of reckless cop-killers break out of prison, grizzled detective Jack Cates (Nolte) is left no alternative but to spring fast-talking hustler Reggie Hammond (Murphy) from the penitentiary in order to find the criminals. The catch: the pair only have 48 hours to complete their assignment before Hammond must return to prison. Naturally, the two despise each other and even engage in fisticuffs, but eventually the danger facing them proves a strong enough common bond for them to play on the same team, and even achieve a little mutual admiration. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nick Nolte, Eddie Murphy, (more)
- 1982
The fact-based TV movie The Ambush Murders was adapted from a book by Ben Bradlee Jr. Dorian Harewood plays an African-American political activist who is loyal to his ideals and faithful to his friends and family. After two white policemen are killed, Harewood is charge with the crime. 49 months and two mistrials later, Harewood remains in prison. When lawyer James Brolin offers his services, Harewood doesn't trust him any more than any of the other self-serving white attorneys who've "helped" him in the past. But Brolin digs a little deeper than his predecessors, uncovering facts and evidence that may at long last spring his client. Ambush Murders was first telecast January 5, 1982. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
