Macon McCalman Movies

Another "based on an actual event!" TV movie, Murder Between Friends is set in 1980s New Orleans. Two friends become involved in murder when the wife of one of them begins cheating on her spouse. Constructed along the lines of "Rashomon", the script offers two entirely different accounts of the homicide and the events leading up to it. Timothy Busfield heads the cast as the hardworking prosecutor who wants to cut through the bull. When first telecast on January 10, 1994, Murder Between Friends was accompanied by a "viewer discretion" disclaimer; smart move. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

It's just not William Foster's (Michael Douglas) day. Laid off from his defense job, Foster gets stuck in the middle of the mother of all traffic jams. Desirous of attending his daughter's birthday party at the home of his ex-wife (Barbara Hershey), Foster abandons his car and begins walking, encountering one urban humiliation after another (the Korean shopkeeper who obstinately refuses to give change is the worst of the batch). He also slowly unravels mentally, finally snapping at a fast-food restaurant that refuses to serve him breakfast because it's "too late." Running amok with an arsenal of weapons at the ready, Foster -- also known as "D-FENS" because of his vanity license plate -- rapidly becomes a source of terror to some, a folk hero to others. It's up to reluctant cop Prendergast (Robert Duvall), on the eve of his retirement, to bring D-FENS down. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Banks family begins to panic when Geoffrey (Joseph Marcell) announces that he has written his "tell-all" memoirs. At the same time, Will (Will Smith) is terrified at the prospect of having his tonsils removed. The latter plotline eventually segues into a surrealistic nightmare sequence before settling into a zany hospital-room sequence straight out of the Marx Brothers. Veteran funnyman Milton Berle steals the show as Will's elderly roommate Max--and listen for a fleeting "inside" joke involving former General Hospital leading man John Beradino). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A woman learns the value of friendship as she hears the story of two women and how their friendship shaped their lives in this warm comedy-drama. Evelyn Couch (Kathy Bates) is an emotionally repressed housewife with a habit of drowning her sorrows in candy bars. Her husband Ed (Gailard Sartain) barely acknowledges her existence, and while he visits his aunt at a nursing home every week, Evelyn is not permitted to come into the room because the old women doesn't like her. One week, while waiting out Ed's visit, Evelyn meets Ninny Threadgoode (Jessica Tandy), a frail but feisty old woman who lives at the same nursing home and loves to tell stories. Over the span of several weeks, she spins a whopper about one of her relatives, Idgie (Mary Stuart Masterson). Back in the 1920s, Idgie was a sweet but fiercely independent woman with her own way of doing things who ran the town diner in Whistle Stop, Alabama. Idgie was very close to her brother Buddy (Chris O'Donnell), and when he died, she wouldn't talk to anyone except Buddy's girl, Ruth Jamison (Mary-Louise Parker). Idgie gave Ruth a job at the cafe after she left her abusive husband, Frank Bennett (Nick Searcy). Between her habit of standing up for herself, standing up to Frank, and serving food to Black people out the back of the diner, Idgie raised the ire of the less tolerant citizens of Whistle Stop, and when Frank mysteriously disappeared, many locals suspected that Idgie, Ruth, and their friends may have been responsible. Evelyn finds herself looking forward to her weekly visits with Ninny, and is inspired by her story to take a new pride in herself and assert her independence from Ed. Fried Green Tomatoes was based on the novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by actress-turned-author Fannie Flagg, who makes a cameo appearance as the leader of a self-help group. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Based on the ground-breaking Brown vs. the Board of Education case, the made-for-television Separate But Equal follows a young Thurgood Marshall (Sidney Poitier) as a lawyer who argues the racially-charged lawsuit before the Supreme Court. When the black students of Clarendon County, South Carolina are denied their request for a single schoolbus, a bitter and courages battle for justice and equality begins. The NAACP lawyer's desparate fight for the civil rights that didn't come with the outlaw of slavery nearly a century ago becomes an all-encompassing struggle both in his personal life as well as the courtroom. Marshall's opponent is John W. Davis (Burt Lancaster) and the two argue passionately and eloquently before a Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Earl Warren $Richard Kiley). Separate But Equal is a moving and human dramatization of one of the most pivotal court cases in American history. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

Just outside of St. Louis sits the main factory for Edna's Pies, a baking concern run by Edna Hayes (Phyllis Newman), an old friend of Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury). When the IRS swoops down on Edna demanding a fortune in back taxes, Edna concludes that she has been betrayed by her ex-husband Nolan (Macon McCalman)--who, sure enough, is the government's key witness. Inevitably, Nolan is murdered and Edna is accused of the crime...and it is at this point that Jessica takes a hand in matters. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Set in the '50s, this drama follows the turbulent life of the Gibbs family. While Patricia (Veronica Cartwright) and Sonny (Frederic Forrest) are struggling with their recent separation, their lonely teenage son, Wayne (Barry Tubb), is finally able to purchase his dream car, a pink Cadillac; he names it "Valentino Returns," hoping to capture the admiration of the local girls and escape his unsatisfying life. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi

This fact-based TV movie is an account of a small-town nurse who is arrested for caring for her desert neighbors without a medical license. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi

Once again, the life of Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) is complicated by the misadventures of her nephew Grady (Michael Horton). This time, Grady's fraternity brother Gary (John Callahan) insists upon inviting Jessica to enjoy the hospitality of an expensive hotel owned by Gary's much-older wife Cornelia (Janet Leigh). Later on, poor Grady is found standing over the body of a woman he had known in college--a woman who also happened to carrying on an affair with the redoubtable Gary! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Based on a true story, this drama stars Sissy Spacek as Marie Ragghianti, a Tennessee housewife stuck in a bad marriage with an abusive husband and caring for a child with long-term health problems. Determined to turn her life around, Marie leaves her husband and goes back to school. Against long odds, she completes her college degree and is able to land a job with the Tennessee State Government. Thanks to hard work and being in the right place at the right time, Marie moves up the ladder to become the head of the Tennessee Parole Board. However, the more authority Marie gains, the more corruption she sees, reaching to the highest offices in the state -- Eddie Sisk (Jeff Daniels), special assistant to the governor, has worked out a system by which he can collect bribes on behalf of the governor in exchange for political favors, without the governor himself being directly implicated. An angry Marie decides that it's time she did something about the graft and dirty dealing in the parole department, but she soon discovers that the governor has many powerful friends who can easily discredit her in the press. The supporting cast includes Morgan Freeman and Trey Wilson. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In Fleshburn Calvin Duggai (Sonny Landham) is a Native American who can't put his wartime experiences behind him. His main beef is against the team of psychiatrists who shipped him off to an institution. After making his escape, Duggai kidnaps the four doctors and maroons them in the middle of the desert. Now, he reasons, they can experience the hell he's been through, both as a soldier and as an American Indian. Of the four abductees, Sam MacKenzie (Steve Kanaly) stands the best chance for survival--and that chance is none too good. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Attack on Fear was based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning series of newspaper articles by Dave and Cathy Mitchell. Paul Michael Glaser and Linda Kelsey play the Michaels, who labor away at a tiny California daily. Upon hearing of iniquities at the famed Santa Monica drug-rehab center Synanon, the Michaels begin publishing their evidence. Despite legal pressure from Synanon and bizarre anonymously mailed threats, the Mitchells' story results in a major investigation of the revered institution. Completed in 1982, the made-for-TV Attack on Fear was not telecast until October of 1984, and then only after (presumably) being reshaped to satisfy Synanon's battery of attorneys. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi