Marietta Marich Movies
Written by playwright Bill Bozzone, Full Moon in Blue Water stars Gene Hackman as Floyd, the owner of a small bar in a coastal Texas town. Floyd's emotional baggage is awesome: he has never recovered from the death of his wife, he is saddled with his senile father "The General" (Burgess Meredith), and creditors hound him at his fireside. Good-hearted bus driver Louise (Teri Garr) tries her best to offer moral and financial support, as does Floyd's right-hand man, former mental patient Jimmy (Elias Koteas). Strange and unexpected events follow, the upshot of which may leave Floyd even worse off than before. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Hackman, Teri Garr, (more)
- 1989
Based on a novel by LaVyrle Spenser, this made-for-TV drama was originally titled The Fulfillment of Mary Gray. Cheryl Ladd stars as Mary, a farm woman living in 1910 Minnesota. Mary's husband (Ted Levine) is not only neglectful, but impotent. Anxious to have an heir, he suggests that she allow his brother (Lewis Smith) to impregnate her! Needless to say, love blossoms between Mary and her fertile brother-in-law. Filmed in Texas (which looks like Minnesota if you squint a lot), The Fulfillment of Mary Gray was first telecast February 19, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A pair of brothers dodge the law while trying to locate their long-lost father in this third feature from independent New York filmmaker Hal Hartley. Robert John Burke stars as Bill McCabe, a failed computer thief who's just been doublecrossed by his girlfriend and partner. Vowing revenge on the next beautiful blonde he encounters, Bill meets up with his younger brother Dennis (William Sage), a philosophy student concerned about their father William (John A. MacKay). It seems the McCabe paterfamilias was a former major league shortstop who became an anarchist bomber in the 1960s, nearly blowing up the Pentagon. On the run for twenty-three years, William was recently caught by the FBI but escaped again. Based on information from their mother, the McCabes travel to Long Island, where William may be hiding. Along the way, the brothers meet the epileptic Elina (Elina Lowensohn) and her friend Kate (Karen Sillas), a beautiful blonde with whom Bill is instantly smitten. While Dennis figures out that Elina is somehow connected to William, Bill contends with Kate's ex-con husband Jack (Joe Stevens) and Jack's best friend Martin (Martin Donovan), both of whom are also in love with her. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert John Burke, Bill Sage, (more)
Steve Martin has one of his best roles in Leap Of Faith as Jonas Nightengale, a high-tech faith healer and revival preacher who takes pride in the money he squeezes out of people, convincing himself that he can't deliver hope, but "I give my people a good show." As the film begins, Nightengale's truck caravan breaks down and his troupe finds itself stranded in the backwater town of Rustwater, Kansas. Nightengale figures that as long as he's there, he might as well set up the rubes and put on a performance. With the aid of his assistant Jane (Debra Winger) (who talks to Nightengale through an earpiece, informing him of the physical problems of certain members of his audience), Nightengale puts on a glorious show and rakes in the money. But the local sheriff Will (Liam Neeson) wants to shut down the show because times are bad in Rustwater and he doesn't think folks should waste their money on a charlatan. Nightengale sends Jane to seduce Will, but the sheriff succeeds in getting Jane to fall in love with him. Nightengale also meets someone, Marva (Lolita Davidovich), a local waitress with a crippled brother. The boy thinks Nightengale can heal him. Nightengale tries to make the child understand that he can't help him, but it turns out that Nightengale knows very little about his own faith powers. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve Martin, Debra Winger, (more)
Clint Eastwood, hot off of his Academy Award win for Unforgiven, directed this small character study, appearing in the guise of a cops-and-robbers action picture. The film takes place during the fall of 1963. Eight-year old Phillip Perry (T.J. Lowther), the son of a devout Jehovah's Witness mother, is staying home while all the other children are out trick-or-treating. But then prison escapee Butch Haynes (Kevin Costner) appears in his kitchen. Needing a hostage to aid him in his escape from jail, he grabs Phillip. Phillip curiously looks up to Butch and willingly accompanies him. Butch gets rid of his fellow escapee after he tries to molest the child, and Butch and Phillip take to the Texas highway, on the run from the cops. The cop in pursuit in this instance is Police Chief Red Garnett (Clint Eastwood), riding in his sleek Populux Airglide trailer -- his "mobile command headquarters." On the road with Garnett is Sally Gerber (Laura Dern), a pushy pre-feminist criminologist, along with a creepy federal agent who is an expert sharpshooter. Butch is not particularly anxious to make it to the Texas borderline, and neither is Garnett in any particular hurry to catch Butch. As Butch and Phillip form a father-son attachment, the paths of Butch and Garnett gradually come together, in time for a final confrontation, after which Garnett confesses, "I don't know nothing. I don't know a damn thing." ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Costner, Clint Eastwood, (more)
- 1995
Filmed on location in the Lone Star State, the made-for-TV In the Name of Love: A Texas Tragedy could be described as a modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet, except that its perverse plot twists are more reminiscent of Jacobean than Shakespearean tragedy. After being rendered paraplegic in an accident, wealthy young Luke Constable (Michael Hayden) is deserted by his socialite girlfriend. In an extremely vulnerable state, Luke falls in love with Laurette Wilder (Laura Leighton), the daughter of a working-class family. Determined to prove that she isn't merely a golddigger, Laurette encourages Luke to break away from his family and turn his back on their fortune. Her stubborn pride ultimately shatters their marriage, but the couple remains in love--so much so that the now-impoverished Luke, determined to "make good" for his wife's sake, is willing to commit murder. Produced for the Fox network, the fact-based In the Name of Love: A Texas Tragedy debuted September 12, 1995. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Crenna
- 1996
This fact-based TV movie takes place in Richmond, Virginia, the home of single mother Jody Shaffell (Valerie Bertinelli). Appalled by the fact that Jody has come out of the closet and is living in an openly gay relationship with her female lover, Jody's mother Nancy (Vanessa Redgrave) sues to gain custody of her grandson Zachary (Adam Rehman). A homophobic judge arranges for Zachary to be taken out of Jody's home, whereupon Nancy sets about to thoroughly wipe her grandson's memory clean of his previous "immoral" lifestyle--even unto demanding that the boy refer to her as Momma. The film's script is careful to weigh both sides of the argument equally, demonstrating that for most of her life, Jody was hardly a paragon of responsible motherhood, having supped full of booze and promiscuity before realizing she was gay and promptly cleaning herself up; nor is Nancy depicted as a cold-hearted villain, merely a concerned grandmother who wants what she thinks is best for Zachary. Indeed, if there are truly any "heavies" in the piece, they are the best friend and brother of the beleagured Jody, who callously testify against her in court. Originally seen over the ABC network, Two Mothers for Zachary debuted September 22, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2000
Originally staged on Broadway in 1953 and filmed two years later, William Inge's Pulitzer Prize-winning romantic drama Picnic went before the cameras a second time in 2000 as a made-for-TV movie. Josh Brolin stars as Hal Carter, a handsome and impecunious drifter who shows up in a tranquil Kansas town to pay a visit to his wealthy pal Alan Benson. Hal's arrival coincides with the town's upcoming Labor Day festivities, so naturally he is invited to stay a while. Alan soon regrets welcoming Hal into his community when the charismatic drifter falls in love with Alan's fiancée, Madge Owens (Gretchen Mol) -- and the feeling is definitely mutual. Meanwhile, Hal's presence awakens the dormant passion between two of the town's middle-agers -- spinsterish schoolteacher Rosemary Sydney (Mary Steenburgen) and her erstwhile beau Howard Bevans (Jay O. Sanders) -- and also has a disturbing effect upon Madge's mom, Flo (Bonnie Bedelia), and kid sister, Millie (Chad Morgan). Though lacking the star power embodied by William Holden and Kim Novak in the 1955 movie version of Picnic (and also bereft of that film's Oscar-winning musical score), the TV remake nonetheless possesses its own special charm, thanks to the deft directorial hand of Czech filmmaker Ivan Passer. The "new" Picnic aired over the CBS network on April 16, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bonnie Bedelia, Josh Brolin, (more)
One of the most infamous horror films of the 1970s is revisited in this remake produced by action-spectacle maven Michael Bay. In the summer of 1973, four teenagers -- Erin (Jessica Biel), Morgan (Jonathan Tucker), Kemper (Eric Balfour), and Andy (Mike Vogel) -- are driving through Texas on a road trip when they pick up a hitchhiker, Pepper (Erica Leerhsen), who is on her way to Mexico to score some dope. With Pepper adding to the party atmosphere, the other four decide to join her, but as they're passing through a small town in Travis County, they see a bloody and distraught girl (Lauren German) wandering by the side of the road, and after stopping to help her, they realize she's been involved in something horribly traumatic. As the kids try to help the girl piece together the story of what happened, they find themselves drawn into the web of a murderous family of subnormal cannibals. Inspired -- like the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Psycho, The Silence of the Lambs, and Deranged -- by the crimes of Wisconsin multiple murderer Ed Gein, this remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre also features narration by John Larroquette, who narrated the original film (it was his first screen credit), as well as supporting performances by R. Lee Ermey, Andrew Prine, and Andrew Bryniarski. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jessica Biel, Jonathan Tucker, (more)
- 2006
- R
- Add The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning to QueueAdd The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning to top of Queue
Bear witness to the birth of the most horrifying legend in the history of cinema as director Jonathan Liebesman explores the nightmarish origins of the psychotic Hewitt family in this sequel to director Marcus Nispel's 2003 hit The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The year is 1969, and despite the fact that the Vietnam War is raging halfway across the globe, all is ominously quiet on the back roads of America. Eighteen-year-old Dean Hill (Taylor Handley) has just received his draft notice, and his older brother, Eric (Matthew Bomer), is determined to watch out for his younger sibling by ensuring that Dean enroll in the Marine Corps rather than risking his luck at the local induction center. Dean has other plans, though, and as soon as the pair and their girlfriends, Bailey (Diora Baird) and Chrissie (Jordana Brewster), return from their final fling in sunny Texas, he plans to confront his brother with the prospect of dodging the draft. When an unsettling encounter with malevolent bikers Holden (Lee Tergesen) and Alex (Cyia Batten) results in a serious car accident in which Chrissie is thrown from the vehicle, the arrival of Sheriff Hoyt (R. Lee Ermey) at first appears to be a moment of divine intervention. However, when Sheriff Hoyt murders thieving Alex in cold blood and then shepherds her friends into the back of his police cruiser as Chrissie watches from the brush, their momentary reprieve soon gives way to an unimaginable terror. As Hoyt transports her ailing friends to the Hewitt home, where a childlike man named Thomas is currently undergoing the transformation into cannibalistic madman Leatherface (Andrew Bryniarski), a desperate Chrissie attempts to enlist the aid of Holden in rescuing her friends from a fate worse than death. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jordana Brewster, Taylor Handley, (more)
Cinderella's wicked stepmother has tipped the balance of power toward the dark side in Fairy Tale Land, and now it's up to the put-upon princess to restore order and ensure that good triumphs in an animated adventure featuring the voices of Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr., Sigourney Weaver, and George Carlin. For years, the Wise Wizard has worked hard to ensure that the scales of good and evil were always well-balanced, but as with any hard worker the Wise Wizard needs a relaxing vacation every once in a while. When the Wise Wizard goes on holiday, his faithful assistants Munk and Mambo make the crucial mistake of allowing Cinderella's wicked stepmother, Frieda, come into possession of their master's magical staff. With time fast running out before Frieda casts a shadow of darkness and sorrow over Fairy Tale Land, Cinderella must now awaken from her romantic dreams to take on her fearsome stepmother with a little help from her best friend, Rick, and a virtual army of heroic dwarves and fairies. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze, Jr., (more)
