Robert Katims Movies
- 1998
In the first half of Seinfeld's controversial series finale, Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld) receives word that NBC is very interested in his concept of a sitcom "about nothing."Almost immediately, Jerry and George (Jason Alexander) draw up plans to move to California -- but not before taking fiendish delight in refusing to take Newman (Wayne Knight) along. Things come to a head in a private jet, as Jerry, George, Kramer (Michael Richards), and Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) are forced down in Latham, MA...and then.... ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1996
A group of female impersonators witness a murder committed by a child-killer who is supposedly serving hard time. When Fancy's (James McDaniel) former foster son is brought up on heroin charges, help comes from an unexpected source. Bobby Simone (Jimmy Smits) and Diane Russell (Kim Delaney) rekindle their relationship, while Medavoy (Gordon Clapp) is stopped from romantically pursuing Abby Sullivan (Paige Turco) by a surprising revelation. And while working undercover, Diane is placed in grave danger by handsome hood Jimmy Liery (Christopher Meloni). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1992
President Abraham Lincoln leads the Union in the fight to end the awful bloodshed of the Civil War. The year is 1863. The president had a continuous struggle with the commanders of his army, and the bloodshed from the fighting at Antietam and Fredericksburg distressed him greatly. 1863 was the year of his Emancipation Proclamation and Gettysburg Address. Listen to the story of the events that led to the amazing address at Gettysburg. Actor Jason Robards brings to life the voice of President Lincoln. PBS originally aired this program, the second of a four-volume set narrated by actor James Earl Jones. ~ Linda J. Shriver, All Movie Guide
- 1992
A shrewd politician, Abraham Lincoln had the intelligence, ambition, and principles to grow into his job as president. This is the first of four videos in the Lincoln series, which originally aired on PBS. Produced and directed by Peter W. Kunhardt, this program is narrated by renowned actor James Earl Jones, and features award-winning actor Jason Robards reading from letters, speeches, and diaries. Highlights include period photographs. The other three programs in the series are titled Lincoln: The Pivotal Year, 1863, Lincoln: I Want to Finish This Job, 1864, and Lincoln: Now He Belongs to the Ages, 1865. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide
- 1992
This video is the fourth installment of the Lincoln series, originally aired on PBS. This volume focuses on the last days and hours of Abraham Lincoln's life. Viewers watch as Lincoln's enemies plot their final revenge on the man they believed had dishonored their heritage. The video also reveals how Lincoln's own dreams foreshadowed his murder and how the series of public funerals, following his death, helped fuel his legendary status that has only grown with time. ~ Karla Baker, All Movie Guide
- 1992
By the third year of the Civil War, personal and national tragedy had worn down President Lincoln. However, he focused on his job tenaciously, having a strong sense of history. This is the third of four programs in the Lincoln series, which originally aired on PBS. Produced and directed by Peter W. Kunhardt, this program is narrated by renowned actor James Earl Jones and features award-winning actor Jason Robards reading from letters, speeches, and diaries. Highlights include period photographs. The other three programs in the series are titled Lincoln: The Making of a President, 1860-1862, Lincoln: The Pivotal Year, 1863, and Lincoln: Now He Belongs to the Ages, 1865. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide
- 1992
A pregnant Nigerian woman dies while carrying 20 heroin-filled condoms in her stomach. In seeking the person or persons responsible for the woman's grisly demise, the detectives and the attorneys come up with two possibles: engineer Phillip Marietta (Andrew Robinson) and African tribal chieftain Ola-Gimju Nawaka (Wendell Pierce). Featured in the cast is Beverly Johnson, then the girlfriend of series regular Chris Noth. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1991
After being mugged, pregnant legal secretary Amy Newhouse (Molly Price) loses her unborn baby. The police suspect that the mugging was not random, and that someone -- perhaps Amy, perhaps her lover Christopher Baylor (Reed Diamond), perhaps her boss David Alcott (Nicholas Surovy) -- wanted the child dead. The problem: Can the D.A.'s office argue that the killing of an unborn fetus qualify as a murder? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1990
In this drama a bride, widowed on her wedding day when her husband was shot, investigates her late groom's past. She soon discovers why he was killed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susan Lucci, David Soul, (more)
Rusty Sabich (Harrison Ford) is a bland, oppressed man who burns with a quiet, corrosive intensity that can flare uncontrollably. A Philadelphia prosecutor, Sabich's fire seems to have one outlet: his job. He loves prosecuting people. Otherwise, his life is dead-ended. He has a loveless marriage to a neurotic woman (Bonnie Bedelia) and an overbearing boss (Brian Dennehy) in a labyrinthine law enforcement world of corruption and twisted relationships. Then Carolyn Polhemus (Greta Scacchi) comes into his life. Lovely and seductive, Polhemus easily entices him to break his marital vows, but she schemes to get him to try for his boss' job. When he refuses, she leaves him. When she turns up dead, the victim of an apparent rape-murder, clues begin to point to Sabich. His blood type almost perfectly matches that in the semen found in the victim, carpet fibers at the crime scene match those found in his house, and most damning, his fingerprints are found on a beer glass in Polhemus' apartment. His protestations of innocence ignored, Sabich is put on trial for the murder and hires his biggest adversary (Raul Julia) to defend him. ~ Nick Sambides, Jr., All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harrison Ford, Brian Dennehy, (more)
- 1989
This made-for-cable biopic originally went out under the simpler title Margaret Bourke-White. Farrah Fawcett stars as the famed photojournalist, whose work for Life magazine from 1936 onward gained her worldwide celebrity. The best scenes, showing the dauntless Bourke-White (Fawcett) at work in the most grueling and perilous of situations, are all too fleeting. The filmmakers evidently believed that the audience would be more intrigued by Bourke-White's stormy relationship with her husband, novelist Erskine Caldwell (played with a fluctuating Southern accent by Frederic Forrest). The film's chief assets are the well-focused performance of Farrah Fawcett, and the lensed-on-location sequences in Louisiana and Moscow. Margaret Bourke-White premiered over the TNT cable channel on April 24, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Writer/director/producer James L. Brooks scores on all counts with this clear-eyed look at the television news business and the dysfunctional types who work in it. Brooks' intelligent script introduces us to Jane Craig (Holly Hunter), an ambitious producer at the network news division's Washington D.C. branch, who is calm under fire yet has a good cry at her desk every morning over her empty personal life. Jane works well with Aaron Altman (Albert Brooks), an excellent reporter who lacks the visual charisma to make him a star. Into their lives comes Tom Grunick (William Hurt), a regional newscaster who admits he can't write news and doesn't understand many of the events he's covering, but has the presence and physical appeal that the increasingly entertainment-oriented network wants for its news programs. Jane is also physically attracted to him, which drives her crazy, because Grunick stands for everything she's fighting against in the news business, while Altman is devastated by her attraction because he secretly yearns for Jane. As Grunick becomes a rising star at the network, and layoffs of the old guard loom, the three leads deal with their feelings for each other, their careers, and their values. Hunter, Hurt, and Brooks are all superb, as is the excellent supporting cast (including an unbilled turn by Jack Nicholson as the network's smarmy national anchor). Brooks' script is funny, poignant, gritty, and brutally honest in its examinations of the television industry and the ways in which professionals interact on and off the job. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Hurt, Albert Brooks, (more)
