David Longworth Movies

Based on Jack Curtis' novel Christmas in Calico, this sentimental TV movie is set in Oregon in the early 1900s. Reba McEntire (who also produced) stars as widowed farmer Rose Cameron, who struggles to save her home from foreclosure, and to make enough money to pay for the medicine necessary to keep her sickly son Toby (Devon Alan). Nor is Rose the only person in town weighed down by problems: a well-organized gang, clearly bankrolled by someone with a lot of political pull, has been systematically stealing cattle, threatening to bankrupt everyone in the community. Enter a mysterious man on horseback named Harry Withers (Thomas Ian Griffith), an ex-outlaw determined to atone for his past by performing random acts of goodwill throughout the west. As Withers grows closer to Rose, she begins to suspect that he is actually someone else, someone far more famous than whom he claims to be (Hint: He's been living in South America for several years, and raindrops kept fallin' on his head). In the hearty spirit of brotherhood and political correctness, the beleaguered townsfolk join forces with a group of Chinese immigrants to help Withers vanquish the villains -- and, it is intimated, to reform Villain Number One. The Secret of Giving was initially telecast by CBS on November 25, 1999. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this combination caper comedy and offbeat romance, Emily (Alicia Silverstone) is a wealthy but petulant young woman desperate to get the attention of her millionaire father, Alexander Hope (Jack Thompson). In fact, she's so desperate that she decides to stage her own kidnapping; she sends a ransom note, ties herself up, and locks herself in the trunk of her BMW, waiting for daddy to come to the rescue; however, Emily's timing is a bit off, because ten minutes later, hunky car thief Vincent (Benicio Del Toro) steals the BMW with Emily still in it. Vincent and his partner in crime, Greg (Harry Connick Jr.), eventually discover the car's trunk has an unexpected surprise. When Emily is unable to convince them to help her with her scheme, she becomes a problem the carjackers can't get rid of, especially after Alexander refuses to pay her ransom, and his creepy right-hand man, Raymond (Christopher Walken), heads out to find her. Of course, losing 200,000 dollars in mob money is not making Vincent's life any easier, nor is having the emotionally problematic Emily fall in love with him. Excess Baggage was the first feature from Alicia Silverstone's production company First Kiss. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this finely crafted Canadian character study, filled with light comic touches, Graham (Kim Coates) is an out of work symphony violinist. About the only job he can find is playing the bass fiddle with the Harmony Cats, a just-barely making it country band, led by Frank Hay (Jim Byrnes). Graham is not the only non-fan of country music in the outfit. For instance, their drummer, Reg, is a loyal jazz afficianado, and their guitarist greatly prefers heavy metal. They are kept on track and on schedule by Alma, who alternately bullies and mothers the band members. Graham's girlfriend goes ballistic when she discovers that the band will be traveling with Frank's daughter Debbie (Lisa Brokop) as a featured singer. Graham is growing just a little too fond of the girl for her comfort, although this is usually expressed as appreciation for her musical gifts. Those same gifts are also appreciated by a Nashville producer (played by country great Hoyt Axton). ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

John Ritter and Pam Dawber star as Roy and Helen Knable, a suburban American couple having marital problems. Roy has become a couch potato, and a resentful Helen wants him to ditch the remote. When the demonic Spike (Jeffrey Jones) offers Roy a deal on the ultimate satellite TV system, Roy doesn't realize that he's just signed away his soul. Roy and Helen are sucked into their own television, where they endure a gauntlet of Hellish television shows such as "Northern Overexposure" and "I Love Lucifer." When their kids Darryl (David Tom) and Diane (Heather McComb) realize that their parents are on the twisted television, they set out to rescue them. Stay Tuned contains several inspired delights, in particular an original cartoon short by Looney Tunes legend Chuck Jones. The film was the debut of writing team Tom S. Parker and Jim Jennewein, who would stay in the wacky comedy genre with a whopping four major releases in 1994. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Set in a 1950s-era American heartland of sprawling wheat fields and lonely old houses, The Reflecting Skin is British director Philip Ridley's fascinating and very strange investigation into the horrors of childhood innocence and fantasy. The film's mixture of gruesome subject matter, morbid sexual perversion, and disarming humor has spawned comparisons to the work of David Lynch, particularly Blue Velvet and the Twin Peaks series. Young Seth Dove (Jeremy Cooper) lives with his mother and father in a ramshackle farmhouse that also serves as the local gas station. After reading one of his father's pulp horror magazines, Seth convinces himself that Dolphin Blue (Lindsay Duncan), the attractive widow who lives nearby, is a vampire. When Seth's friend Eben is found dead (and sexually abused) in the family cistern, Seth is sure that Dolphin is to blame. The authorities, however, point to Seth's father, whose secret homosexuality -- and past affair with a young boy -- is a skeleton in the town's closet. Seth's father refuses to have the affair dragged into public view, and so he burns himself alive at the family gas pump, prompting Seth's older brother Cameron (Viggo Mortensen) to return home from a military tour. Cameron falls for Dolphin, and at the same time he becomes weak and begins losing hair. Seth takes this as a sign that Cameron is being drained of vitality by Dolphin, although it is suggested that his sickness is in fact due to overseeing A-bomb tests while on a ship in the South Pacific. Meanwhile, a roving gang prowls the country roads in a sleek, black Cadillac, and more children are found dead. It is not surprising that writer/director Philip Ridley has also published books for children, since watching The Reflecting Skin is a lot like reading a young adult novel, albeit a horrific one. Presented from a child's strangely warped point-of-view, this film should be appreciated by anyone looking for films far outside the mainstream. ~ Anthony Reed, All Movie Guide

The worst in a string of increasingly pointless sequels to Sean S. Cunningham's crude slasher hit, this installment provided clear evidence that the "slasher" subgenre, already creatively dead, was no longer financially viable. This time around, unstoppable supernatural thug Jason Voorhees -- imprisoned at the bottom of a lake by his telekinetic foe Tina in the previous film -- is reanimated yet again after being goosed by an underwater electrical cable, freeing him to stow away aboard a shipload of standard-issue obnoxious teenagers en route to Manhattan. The title ultimately proves a bit of a cheat, since the majority of Jason's homicidal hijinks take place aboard the ship until the film's final reel, during which he pursues a handful of survivors through the streets of the Big Apple. Thanks to heavy MPAA cuts, the mayhem is more subdued here than in any other films of the series -- splatter fans primed by the previous chapters' copious bloodletting will be left high and dry. Despite a very amusing "teaser" trailer that suggested that the film might be a semi-parody, writer/director Rob Hedden and company play things tediously straight. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Christmas Star is a two-hour whimsy assault, originally telecast December 14, 1986 on The Disney Sunday Movie. Ed Asner plays an escaped convict who adopts a stolen Santa Claus suit as a disguise. Several impressionable youngsters, believing Asner to be the genuine Santa, latch onto him. He decides to use these moppets to help him find his ill-gotten loot, which his partner has hidden in department store Christmas decorations. The ending is as misty-eyed as it is predictable. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This Canadian exploitational actioner offers a remake of the Defiant Ones with a contemporary twist: this time the fugitives are women. The Caucasian girl is a prostitute who was picked up for vagrancy, while the other is a wealthy African-American woman who, with her boyfriend, is arrested for riding in a stolen Jaguar. While both girls are awaiting their incarceration, they get a chance to escape when two gun-toting hookers create a diversion. The two heroines flee and later find that they have been accused of the shootings. Now they must escape from both the cops and drug dealers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide