Robert Harper Movies

If not the best new drama series of the 2001-2002 TV season, Philly bade fair to be the loudest and most abrasive. NYPD Blue alumnus Kim Delaney stars as idealistic law school graduate Kathleen Maguire, who, after her divorce from assistant DA Daniel X. Cavanaugh (Kyle Secor), put out her shingle as a Philadelphia defense attorney. When Kathleen's partner Marion (Joanna Cassidy) suffers a nervous breakdown, she reluctantly goes into business with highly unethical lawyer Will Friedman (Tom Everett Scott), thereby launching a series-long shoutfest between the two strange bedfellows. If Will weren't headache enough, Kathleen also has to deal with slimy clients, ill-tempered judges, and a seemingly endless parade of eccentric courtroom habitué, most of whom have nothing but sex on their brains. Providing a bit of moral support and affection to the long-suffering Kathleen is her outspoken ten-year-old son Patrick (Scotty Leavenworth). It should be noted that a number of genuine Philadelphia lawyers actively disliked the series, labeling it "unrealistic" and "insulting" -- but they never said it wasn't entertaining. Executive-produced by the prolific Stephen Bochco, the weekly, 60-minute Philly was supposed to have been unveiled by ABC on September 18, 2001, but the network's coverage of the World Trade Center tragedy pushed the debut date up to September 25. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Insider tells the true story of a man who decided to tell the world what the seven major tobacco companies knew (and concealed) about the dangers of their product. Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe) was a scientist employed in research for a tobacco firm, Brown and Williamson. Not long after he was fired by Brown and Williamson, Wigand came into contact with Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino), a producer for 60 Minutes who worked closely with journalist Mike Wallace (played here by Christopher Plummer). Bergman arranged for Wigand to be interviewed by Wallace for a 60 Minutes expose on the cigarette industry, though Wigand was still bound by a confidentiality agreement not to discuss his employment with the company. Despite Wigand's willingness to talk, CBS pulled his interview from at the last minute after Brown and Williamson threatened a multi-billion dollar lawsuit. The staff of 60 Minutes and CBS News were soon embroiled in an internal struggle over the killing of the story, and Wigand found himself the subject of lawsuits and a smear campaign, without his full story reaching the public. The Insider was directed by Michael Mann and also features Diane Venora, Philip Baker Hall, Debi Mazar, Colm Feore, and Rip Torn. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Woody Allen wrote, directed, and stars in this very dark comedy about a novelist, Harry Block, who says with admirable honesty, "I'm a guy who can't function well in life, but I can in art." So far, Harry has made his way through six psychiatrists and three marriages (one, conveniently enough, with one of his psychiatrists), and he has precious few friends whom he hasn't alienated or betrayed. Harry uses the chaos of his life as fodder for his writing, angering his friends, lovers, and family, who find thinly veiled (and rarely flattering) portraits of themselves in his work. Drowning his growing misery in pills and sex, Harry finds himself invited to receive an award at a college in upstate New York which he attended, but never graduated from. However, he has a hard time finding anyone who will attend the weekend-long symposium with him: his girlfriend Fay (Elisabeth Shue) has just left him to marry his friend Larry (Billy Crystal); his best friend Richard (Bob Balaban) is afraid he's about to have a heart attack; his former wife/analyst Joan (Kirstie Alley) refuses to let him take their son, and his one-time sister-in-law Lucy (Judy Davis) is literally ready to kill him. Undaunted, Harry hires a hooker, Cookie (Hazelle Goodman), kidnaps his son, forces Richard to come along, and heads upstate, where disaster awaits. A stellar cast appears in small roles and episodes from Harry's stories, including Robin Williams, Demi Moore, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Eric Bogosian, Amy Irving, Richard Benjamin, Mariel Hemingway, and Julie Kavner. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The tragic story of the Ruby Ridge "massacre" has been so thoroughly covered and disseminated by the mainstream press that to add anything here would be pointless. Suffice to say that the two-part TV movie The Siege at Ruby Ridge uses the facts at hand to show how the tragedy occurred, and how but for a multitude of blunders and miscommunications on both sides, it could all have been avoided. Randy Quaid stars as white separatist Randy Weaver, who for ten terrible days in 1992 barricaded himself, his family, and a number of zealous followers in a tiny refuge on a remote Idaho mountaintop, while 200 government agents surrounded Weaver's headquarters with orders to arrest Weaver's group alive -- if possible. The catalyst for the crisis is of course Randy Weaver himself, though his wife Vicki (Laura Dern) is shown to be just as rigid, stubborn, and foolhardy as her husband -- maybe even more so. Ultimately, blood is shed and lives are lost, the result of such gross ineptitude that the ramifications of the tragedy would reverberate for decades to come. Featured in the cast is Laura Dern's real-life mother, Diane Ladd, and, in the small role of the Weaver's daughter, a very young Kirsten Dunst. The Siege at Ruby Ridge first aired over CBS on May 19 and 21, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the made-for-cable thriller The Wrong Man, an American sailor (Kevin Anderson) is framed for the murder of a Mexican smuggler. The sailor escapes the police by hooking up with a weird couple (John Lithgow and Rosanna Arquette), who drag him into a series of sordid, dangerous affairs. Eventually, the wife falls for the sailor, which leads to even more danger for the fugitive. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Season Nine of Murder, She Wrote gets under way with an episode set at a Milan Film Festival, where Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) is attending the premiere of a movie based on one of her novels. The film's producer Catherine Wayne (Susan Blakely) is as well known for her string of box-office successes as she is for her shabby treatment of underlings; in fact, as the story begins, she is seen refusing to release an up-and-coming young director from his ultra-restrictive contract. Inevitably, Catherine is murdered, and Jessica is obliged to investigate the case. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Marlo Thomas stars as Lucille "Sis" Levin, whose husband Jerry (David Dukes) is an American TV journalist assigned to Beirut in 1984. Jerry is kidnapped by Muslim fundamentalists, a fact kept off the front pages by the State Department, ostensibly because the publicity could cost Jerry his life. Sis doesn't accept this (she suspects that our government doesn't want to offend the Lebanese government), and arranges on her own to communicate with her husband's captors. Israel stands in for Lebanon for the on-location scenes in Held Hostage: The Sis and Jerry Levin Story. This fact-based TV movie is wholly credible in every aspect save Marlo Thomas' uncertain Southern accent. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dr. Crusher falls in love with Odan (Franc Luz), an outwardly handsome ambassador of the Trill race. But Crusher's ardor is put to the test when she discovers that Odan is actually a tiny parasitic creature, using his humanoid body as a host. This situation not only threatens Crusher's emotional stability, but also endangers another crew member who is compelled to become Odan's next host body. Originally telecast May 18, 1991, this episode was written by Michael Horvath. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Three close friends begin to obsess about infants, breast-feeding, disposable diapers and the like in the made-for-TV Babies. Lindsay Wagner plays a thirtysomething career woman who'd like the responsibilities of motherhood without the complication of a man in her life. Dinah Manoff is a married lady who can't conceive; she tries to convince husband Alan Arkin that adoption is the way to go. And Marcy Walker is carrying a baby who may require delicate prebirth kidney surgery. Babies was first telecast September 17, 1990. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the first episode of a new Wiseguy story arc, federal undercover agent Vinnie (Ken Wahl) is summoned to Washington, ostensibly on assignment to four-star general Leland Masters (Norman Lloyd). The General asks Vinnie to help track down a gang of counterfeiters who intend to destroy the economy of Japan by flooding the market with phony yen. The subsequent murder of a top economist, and several other curious events, lead Vinnie to suspect that someone is trying to get even with him for his role in preventing the military takeover of a third-world country a few years back. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Still on the trail of the counterfeiters who plan to destroy the economy of Japan, OCB agents Vinnie (Ken Wahl) and Lifeguard (Jim Byrnes) follow an all-too-conveninet trail of evidence to a ski resort in Utah. Unbeknownst to Vinnie and Washington lobbyist Kay Gallagher (Georgann Johnson), both are being set up for a frame engineering by corrupt General Masters (Norman Lloyd) and his cohort Admiral Walter Strichen (Stephen Joyce). As it turns out, the key to resolving the situation may be in the hands of reclusive billionaire Prescott Wilson (Ford Rainey). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Roseanne decides to host a dinner party for Becky's boyfriend, Chip (Jared Rushton), and his yuppie parents, Bonnie (Andrea Walters) and Edgar (Robert Harper), on the same night that Becky has plans to meet another boy, Johnny (Tony Crane). While the Conners battle with Chip's snobby family, Becky sneaks out to see Johnny. But Roseanne inevitably finds out and puts a stop to it. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Fact-based, made-for-television account of the hunt for a pair of serial killers who slaughtered ten women in the hillsides of Los Angeles between October 1977 and February 1978. (Alternate title: The Case Of The Hillside Stranglers) ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide