Cec Linder Movies

Terminally ill Bernadette Peters develops a deep friendship with psychologist Mary Tyler Moore in this drama. ~ All Movie Guide

This made-for-cable speculative fantasy centers on the illegitimate daughter of Adolf Hitler, who grows up to become a candidate for the United States Presidency. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

This Canadian made-for-TV movie was originally telecast under the title Skate. Should give you a clue as to its content, yes? no? Under any name, the film is a prosaic biopic of Olympic skating-star Lori Larouche. Lynn Nightingale plays the leading role, while the real Lori is seen in longshot. Blades of Courage premiered in the US on cable television. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

At 10:20 PM on June 16, 1985, an avuncular chap named Ray Bradbury, sitting at his typewriter in a room overflowing with clutter, introduced the first of HBO's dramatizations of his off-kilter short stories. Strange Tales: Ray Bradbury Theatre is a videotaped collection of three of those stories (though not the first three telecast, as has sometimes been listed). "The Town Where No One Got Off" stars Jeff Goldblum in the tale of a murder scheme gone awry. "The Screaming Woman," previously (and somewhat clumsily) produced as a made-for-TV movie, stars Drew Barrymore as a little girl whose penchant for lies backfires when she hears the sound of a woman's screams emanating from under her feet. And "The Banshee" features Peter O'Toole and Charles Martin Smith in the story of a roguish old film director whose amorous past comes back to literally haunt him (it is said that Bradbury wrote this story to settle an old score with filmmaker John Huston). Strange Tales is so good that one wishes the rest of Ray Bradbury Theater had come up to its standards. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The fact-based NBC movie The High Price of Passion was adapted by Mel Frohman from the book by Russell M. Glitman. Set in and around Tufts University, this is a sad story of obsession and murder, focusing on middle-aged anatomy professor Williams Douglas (Richard Crenna) and greedy 21-year-old prostitute Robin Benedict (Karen Young). Hoping to literally buy Robin's love, Douglas showers her with money, ultimately squandering 67,000 dollars on the callous young woman. Not surprisingly, Robin plays Douglas for a sucker and laughs in his face, with tragic results. Told in flashback from the luckless Prof. Douglas' point of view, The High Price of Passion made its NBC debut on November 30, 1986 -- instantly stirring up a maelstrom of controversy when Tufts' board of directors strenuously objected to the film's suggestion that the University was located within shouting distance of Boston's red-light district. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In a standard psycho-killer thriller, Cecile (Nathalie Baye) goes from her home in Canada to New York after her boyfriend is thrown in the slammer there for drug-running -- she still wants to be near him. Unable to stay past her visa's limits, Cecile literally contracts a legal marriage to an American via an agency and starts working in a deli to support herself. It is when her totally wacko "husband" shows up that her life goes from terrible to terrorific. His insanity has already slashed up one wife, and he is ready to continue on with Cecile unless the slow-witted female can figure out what to do. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Successfully sustaining its dramatic intensity for 150 minutes, Heartsounds was adapted by Fay Kanin from the autobiographical best-seller by Martha Weiman Lear. James Garner stars as Mrs. Lear's husband, Manhattan urologist Harold Lear. At 53, Lear suffers a debilitating heart attack. His recovery is hampered by a second attack, which necessitates a double-bypass operation. Though the surgery is successful, its long-ranging effects leave Lear with brain damage and a scant few months to live. With the support of his wife Martha (Mary Tyler Moore), who battles tooth and nail with hospital staffers to make certain that her husband receives the best care possible, Lear endeavors to make every moment of his last days on earth count. Originally telecast September 30, 1984, Heartsounds was produced by Norman Lear, the real-life cousin of Dr. Harold Lear. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Somebody should have told the novice filmmakers in charge of this Canadian work to utilize a less critic-baiting title than Something's Rotten. The story is borrowed from such classic forebears as The Corsican Brothers, Prisoner of Zenda and The Iron Mask. A set of twins, one good and one bad, vie for the throne of a mythical European throne. The film's surprise ending saves it from total mediocrity. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama, set in 1975 and based on a true story from Toronto, Canada, the different ways in which a prominent realtor may have had his wife brutally murdered are presented. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Veterans and war-sympathizers get angry when a Canadian professor begins speaking out with his pacifist ideals shortly after World War II. The tension rises as threats and violence soon erupt. ~ All Movie Guide

A stock broker overcomes ennui and finds new meaning in his life when he becomes a long-distance runner. His new obsession has a bad effect on his marriage, but fortunately that is only temporary. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide