Kaaren Lee Movies

Curiously listed as a 1991 theatrical production in some sources, Eye on the Sparrow was actually a made-for-TV movie, which first aired December 7, 1987. Mare Winningham plays a blind Missouri woman who marries sightless teacher David Carradine. He is resigned to a world of darkness, but she is bitter over her lot in life, especially after an operation all-too-temporarily restores her sight. Unable to conceive children, the couple tries to adopt: but this is the mid-1960s, and agencies are unwilling to entrust "normal" children to the visually impaired. The only children permitted into their household are the handicapped rejects from foster homes. During their 12-year struggle to prove themselves acceptable as adoptive parents, the woman grows spiritually, learning to shelve her own self-pity by caring for those less fortunate than herself. Based on fact, Eye on the Sparrow was written for television by Barbara Turner (the mother, incidentally, of actress Jennifer Jason Leigh). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In Allnighter, the viewer sees three roommates who are bound and determined to make the most out of their college graduation night. These fluffs go on a sexathon during their last big beach party, apparently trying to make their last fling a he-man thing. ~ All Movie Guide

Post-collegiate angst, '80s style, is the subject of this coming-of-age ensemble piece, which traces the fortunes of a group of Georgetown grads as they enter the real world and grapple with work, infidelity, and adulthood. The most outwardly upscale member of the gang, Jules (Demi Moore), hides a plethora of emotional baggage behind a chic wardrobe, an expensive apartment, a fashionable drug habit, and lots of meaningless casual sex. Her friend Wendy (Mare Winningham) has the opposite problem; a trust-fund baby with body-image issues and little sexual experience, she's hung up on Billy (Rob Lowe), a no-good, sax-playing drunkard who can't face up to his responsibilities in the job market or at home with his wife and young child. Such open infidelity is anathema to Alex (Judd Nelson), who must maintain a sense of propriety even while engaging in compulsive womanizing; after all, the Democrat-turned-Republican's nascent political career requires the sort of picture-perfect relationship he shares with girlfriend Leslie (Ally Sheedy). That doesn't sit too well with tortured writer Kevin (Andrew McCarthy), who toils away at a newspaper job and pines away for the unattainable Leslie. Unrequited love also dogs Kirby (Emilio Estevez), a law-school student whose greatest wish is to romance classy doctor Dale Biberman (Andie MacDowell), who is, alas, way out of his league. Co-written by director Joel Schumacher and his studio intern, Carl Kurlander, St. Elmo's Fire spawned the number one pop hit "St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)," which was credited to John Parr but co-written by music producer David Foster. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Grace Kelly, the high-society beauty who became an Oscar-winning actress and then a European princess, is the subject of this TV biopic. Cheryl Ladd has the looks and poise of the original Grace, though she isn't quite as charismatic. The early portion of the film retraces the stormy relationship between Grace and her gruff Philadelphia millionaire dad, Jack Kelly. The script suggests that Grace went through life looking for a strong father figure, finally finding one in Prince Rainier of Monaco (Ian McShane), whom she weds. Several "celebrity look-alikes" parade through the film, pretending to be the film personalities with whom Ms. Kelly worked during her brief Hollywood career. Grace Kelly tones down the darker aspects of its subject, and the film is infinitely more tasteful than most other TV biographies of the same period, even when dealing with Princess Grace's untimely death. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide