Mady Kaplan Movies
- 1993
A wealthy older woman is found murdered in her apartment. By the time the police and the D.A.'s office catch up with the likeliest suspect -- the woman's much-younger lover, Steven Gregg (Richard Cox) -- he is fully prepared to accept a plea bargain. But the case proves to be far from cut-and-dried when further investigation reveals that Gregg was lying about the last time he saw the victim alive. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1989
After they're framed for murder, a young couple must outrun the police--and a one-eyed hit man--in order to find the real killers. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
- 1987
There were two rival TV dramatizations of the sensational murder case involving "monster Mom" Frances Schreuder. Stephanie Powers was the star of the two-part 1987 TV movie At Mother's Request. Part One details the events leading to the murder of Frances' multimillionaire father Franklin Bradshaw (E.G. Marshall). Though Frances' complicity was well known at the time of Part One's first telecast on January 4, 1987 (in fact, she was already serving a life sentence in the Utah State Prison), the case is treated like a whodunit.
Part Two demonstrates how Frances' teen-age son Marc (Doug McKeon) was coerced into committing the deed by his manipulative Mom. Though lacking depth, At Mother's Request is still a powerful re-enactment of what was once considered "The Crime of the Century" (O.J. hadn't happened yet). The second half of this two-part TV-movie debuted on January 6, 1987. For the record, Lee Remick starred in a like-vintage TV adaptation of the same story, Nutcracker. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Part Two demonstrates how Frances' teen-age son Marc (Doug McKeon) was coerced into committing the deed by his manipulative Mom. Though lacking depth, At Mother's Request is still a powerful re-enactment of what was once considered "The Crime of the Century" (O.J. hadn't happened yet). The second half of this two-part TV-movie debuted on January 6, 1987. For the record, Lee Remick starred in a like-vintage TV adaptation of the same story, Nutcracker. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Project X is a top-secret government undertaking involving trained chimpanzees. Grounded pilot Matthew Broderick, assigned to teach the chimps how to operate a flight simulator, discovers that his charges are to be subjected to high levels of radiation to test potential human endurance. Risking a court martial, Broderick links up with Helen Hunt, the researcher who has taught the chimps sign language, to save the simians from destruction. The serious subtext of Project X is forgotten during a Disneyesque comic finale, wherein the lovable chimps nearly trigger a nuclear meltdown! Without taking anything away from human stars Matthew Broderick and Helen Hunt, we must note that the most engaging performance in Project X is delivered by Willie the Chimp, who essays the challenging role of Virgil the Chimp. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Matthew Broderick, Helen Hunt, (more)
John Schlesinger directed this fact-based drama - adapted from Robert Lindsay's bestseller of the same title -- about two Californians, friends since boyhood, who are caught selling government secrets to the Soviet Union. Christopher Boyce (Timothy Hutton) is an all-American boy, studying for the priesthood in a seminary. But Boyce decides to drop out of school, and with the help of his father (Pat Hingle), a FBI agent, he gets a job working for the CIA in a message-routing center. While reading the messages, Boyce is shocked to learn that the CIA is involved in fixing Australian elections. Watching the Watergate hearings on television, he feels an ever-mounting sense of outrage at the arrogance of the U.S. government and decides to do something about it. Deciding to supply the CIA messages to the Russians, he enlists his childhood friend Daulton Lee (Sean Penn) to help him. Lee is to deliver the CIA secrets to a Russian operative (David Suchet) at the Soviet Embassy in Mexico City. But Lee is an unreliable drug dealer, and his sloppy spy trail leads the two old friends into more trouble than they bargained for. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Timothy Hutton, Sean Penn, (more)
- 1982
In this drama, two young lovers break out of a mental hospital to try to find love in the outside world. The young man escapes first and gets a menial job working at a carnival. Later he returns to help Jennifer escape. They then begin living together to create their own sane haven in an insane world. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert Hays, Kathleen Beller, (more)
The made-for-television Playing for Time debuted on September 30, 1980. Vanessa Redgrave stars as Fania Fenelon, a Jewish cabaret singer working in Paris at the time of the Nazi invasion. Shipped to the Auschwitz death camp in 1944, Fenelon is certain that she is as doomed as all the other prisoners. But SS camp matron Shirley Knight has other plans: she orders Fenelon and several other female inmates with musical ability to form themselves into a prisoner's orchestra. They are to perform for the benefit of those who are herded into the gas chambers--a "humane" means of easing the condemned into the next world. As much as she despises her work, Fenelon and her fellow musicians continue to play, lest they too be exterminated. The film raises several questions about courage, guilt and survival at any price, but the most controversial aspect was the casting of anti-Zionist Vanessa Redgrave as Fania Fenelon. Like many others, the real-life Fenelon (who died in 1988) was vehemently opposed to Redgrave's appearance in the film. Playing for Time won Emmy Awards for Redgrave, scriptwriter Arthur Miller, supporting actress Jane Alexander, and as Outstanding Dramatic Special. Redgrave's husband Tony Richardson was the original director, but he bowed out and was replaced by Joseph Sargent., who himself was replaced by Daniel Mann (the only one credited) ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Vanessa Redgrave, Jane Alexander, (more)
One of several 1978 films dealing with the Vietnam War (including Hal Ashby's Oscar-winning Coming Home), Michael Cimino's epic second feature The Deer Hunter was both renowned for its tough portrayal of the war's effect on American working class steel workers and notorious for its ahistorical use of Russian roulette in the Vietnam sequences. Structured in five sections contrasting home and war, the film opens in Clairton, PA, as Mike (Robert De Niro), Nick (Christopher Walken), and Stan (John Cazale, in his last film) celebrate the wedding of their friend Steve (John Savage) and go on a final deer hunt before the men leave for Vietnam. Mike treats hunting as a test of skill, lecturing Stan about the value of "one shot" deer slaying and brushing off Nick's urgings to appreciate nature's beauty. As Mike ruminates post-hunt, the film cuts to the horror of Vietnam, where the men are captured by Vietcong soldiers who force Mike and Nick to play Russian roulette for the V.C.'s amusement. Mike turns the game to his advantage so they can escape captivity, but the men are permanently scarred by the episode. Steve loses his legs; Nick vanishes in the Saigon Russian roulette parlors. Mike returns alone to Clairton a changed man, as he rejects the killing of the deer hunt and finds solace with Nick's old girlfriend Linda (Meryl Streep). Disgusted by the antics of his male cohorts at home, Mike decides to bring Steve back from a veterans' hospital, and he returns to Saigon to find Nick. As Saigon falls, Mike discovers how far gone Nick is; the survivors gather in Clairton for a funeral breakfast, singing an impromptu rendition of "God Bless America." ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert De Niro, John Cazale, (more)
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