Frank E. Johnson Movies

50 years ago, the Egyptian Theater was founded to "celebrate children." But in the intervening decades, theater owner Ben Horner (Alex Rocco) has come to despise all children, especially the juvenile delinquents who vandalize the Egyptian on a daily basis. Moreover, the theater's current resident company is comprised of pompous, self-serving actors who could care less about entertaining youngsters. Monica (Roma Downey) and the other angels endeavor to restore the Egyptian's original mission--and to bring the various warring factions together on common ground. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Not to be confused with the sixth-season episode of the same title, this one concerns a talented minor-league baseball player named Ben McCloud (Omar Gooding) and his obsessive, hypercritical father Norm (Ernie Hudson). Not only is Norm living vicariously through Ben's athletic accomplishments, but he also hopes that his son will expunge the "shame" brought upon the family by Ben's own father Candy (Lee Weaver), a former Negro League ballplayer who in his later years was reduced to working as a baseball "clown". In order to convince Ben to stop pushing and start loving his son, Monica (Roma Downey)must find out if Candy's seemingly farfetched stories about his diamond career--including the claim that he once struck out Babe Ruth--might have a kernel of truth in them after all. The great Hank Aaron appears as himself. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Young Mike (Zachary Quinto) has never been able to pry the truth from his mother Allison (Annie Corley) about his long-missing father. Allison insists that Mike's dad had been a lawyer named Simon K. Miller, but this information would seem to be misleading when Monica (Roma Downey) and the angels confirm the existence of Simon K. (John Savage), a once-famous jazz musician who is now a shabby street person. Sure enough, the derelict Simon K. is Mike's real father--but this doesn't necessarily mean that Allison was lying to her son! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The quiet family life of an Oregon couple and their infant is shattered when two criminals whacked-out on drugs burst into their home and hold them hostage. The film is based on a true story. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger) has a code of honor which he will not violate, even when his life depends on it. Paradoxically, his code of honor gives him the backbone to survive as a military special forces operative when he is sent on a covert mission to rescue another group which was sent in to assist some nefarious U.S. government plan in a Latin American country. Once there, he encounters an old army buddy (Carl Weathers) who has gotten too deep in the CIA's good graces for Dutch's comfort. When he and his team go into the jungle to rescue the others, they get involved in a pitched battle with local guerillas, but they are more than capable of besting these vicious fighters. However, not long after that, they encounter signs that the equally capable men they were sent to rescue were all killed unawares and in an unusually gruesome fashion. Given their training, it should have been impossible for anyone to best all of these commando warriors. Soon, the men from Dutch's own team get picked off one by one, as they grow aware that they are up against something uncanny, not of this world, something that is hunting them for sport. Why? Because their skills make them worthy opponents for the perfectly camouflaged Predator. This carefully paced action movie was given poor reviews by many movie critics, but was sufficiently satisfying for its (largely male) audiences that a successful sequel (Predator 2) was released in 1990. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Never released theatrically, this deflated actioner features the late Vince Edwards as Frank Lane, a drug boss hiding behind a dummy contracting business. Lane has come up with a scheme to secretly ship narcotics by using a touring country-music band as the unknowing transporters. He has two goons who help him out, but they are up against the wily Charles Dale (Richard Jaeckel and undercover Kelly (Julie Hill), the DEA agents out to bring down Lane's operation. Several chase scenes and country music songs later, Dale and Lane arrive at a climactic face-off. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This low-budget action film stars Leslie Nielsen as Jonathan Trevor, a spy who defects and is chased by drugged-out hitmen in the Philippines. Trevor ends up hooked on drugs himself and suffers painful withdrawals while attended to by girlfriend Nancy Kwan. Gary Lockwood co-stars with Vic Diaz, who must have some sort of deal allowing him to appear in every crummy Filipino co-production ever made. For high-camp buffs curious to see Naked Gun star Nielsen go through D.T.'s and perform some unconvincing martial arts, this may be a good bet. Director William Girdler went on to make The Manitou. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide