Philip McKeon Movies

This shocking prison drama was inspired by a true story. In 1938, Henri Young (Kevin Bacon), sentenced to Alcatraz for stealing $5, attempted to escape from prison with three other prisoners. One of the escapees was captured, and to curry favor with Warden Glenn (Gary Oldman), he informed on the others. Young was soon brought back to custody, and was to be punished by spending 19 days in solitary confinement. Nineteen days stretched into three years, in which Young was kept in a pit with no light, no toilet, no furniture, and nothing to read. Young emerged from solitary a vengeful madman, and he quickly murdered the convict who turned him in. Young was put on trial for the killing, and assigned a first-time public defender, James Stamphill (Christian Slater). Stamphill was horrified by Young's tales of the conditions at Alcatraz, and he used them as the basis of his defense for his client, believing that anyone would be driven to madness and murder if they had been treated the same way as Young. Murder in the First also features Embeth Davidtz, William H. Macy, Brad Dourif, and R. Lee Ermey. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Marc Rocco's gritty drama Where the Day Takes You stars Dermot Mulroney as King, a street-smart hustler who acts as a father figure to a motley collection of young runaways. Among the people in his sphere are the young self-destructive drug addict Greg (Sean Astin), self-hating gay prostitute Little J (Balthazar Getty), and newcomer Heather (Lara Flynn Boyle). The film is structured as a series of flashbacks triggered by King's conversations with a prison psychologist (Laura San Giacomo). Included in the impressive cast are such soon-to-be-famous names as Will Smith and Ricki Lake, and the already established Kyle MacLachlan, Christian Slater, and Alyssa Milano. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

In 1982, Crippen High School was the scene of a gruesome series of dismemberment murders, but the killer was never identified. Five years later, Cosmic Pictures arrives at the long-abandoned campus to make a low-budget horror movie based on the tragedy, and suddenly the terror begins anew. The police department arrives at the school to find the building and grounds covered in gore and human body parts, the remains of the unfortunate film crew. The only survivor of this new massacre is the screenwriter, Arthur (Richard Brestoff), who tries to explain the horrifying events to the authorities. The troubled production's leading lady is angered over the demeaning nature of her role, the producer and director argue over the film's lack of artistic merits, and when cast members start disappearing, everyone else assumes that they're just quitting out of disgust. Who is the culprit? Is it the school's principal, appearing as himself in the film for the sake of realism? The janitor, who hopes to parlay his cameo into a pornography career? Or maybe Steven (Brendan Hughes), who was a student at Crippen during the original murder spree and finds himself reluctantly cast as the hero? This self-referential slasher parody features George Clooney in a small part as the film's first victim, and The Brady Bunch's Maureen McCormick as a policewoman with a lust for blood and hot dogs. ~ Fred Beldin, All Movie Guide

It has taken nine seasons, but waitress Alice Hyatt (Linda Lavin, widowed protagonist of the popular sitcom Alice, has finally landed a permanent boyfriend, one Nicholas Stone (Michael Durrell). And just in cast Alice had any doubts about her newest beau, Nicholas proves his mettle when he helps her cope with her 20-year-old son Tommy's (Philip McKeon) drinking problem. Meanwhile, fellow waitress Vera (Beth Howland) adjusts to her new life as the spouse of policeman Eliot Novak (Charles Levin). Among those making guest appearances in the series' ninth and final season are Golden Girls' Rue McClanahan, cast against type as syrupy day-school owner Mother Goose; Gregory Walcott, B-picture perennial and survivor of the infamous Plan 9 From Outer Space as Big Jake Hunnicutt, father of Alice's waitress pal Jolene; Fred Berry the former "Rerun" of What's Happening, as a chubby break-dancer named Bobo; and future political satirist Bill Maher as a cop. Plus, Mel's Diner continues to attract new regular customers, adding Danny (Jonathan Price) and Doug (Doug Robinson to this season's roster. In the final episode, Mel sells the diner, Alice is on the verge of becoming a fulltime professional singer in the entourage of country star Travis Marsh (Kip Niven), Jolene sets up her own beauty salon, and Vera is about to become a mother. What is there left for the cast to do but reminisce about the past nine years, with the help of an abundance of choice clips from past episodes? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Alice moved from its familiar Sunday night slot to a Wednesday night berth for its seventh season, then shifted to Mondays in February of 1983. Whatever the night, the series' fans faithfully flocked around the tube to watch the latest shenanigans at Mel's Diner, and the misadventures of waitresses Alice (Linda Lavin, Vera (Beth Howland) and Jolene (Celia Weston), short-fused proprietor Mel (Vic Tayback), and Alice's now 18-year-old son Tommy (Philip McKeon). Halfway through the season, Martha Raye, hitherto confined to sporadic appearances in the role of Mel's meddlesome mother Carrie Sharples, becomes a regular when Carrie moved in with Mel after divorcing her most recent husband. Not surprisingly, she is soon driving everyone at the diner crazy with her overbearing personality, but the regular patrons--including newcomer Artie (Tony Long)--simply love the old broad! The season opener features Debbie Reynolds as a famously promiscuous actress who includes Mel in her tell-all autobiography--or at least that's what Mel thinks. Later on, Jerry Stiller appears as Mel's longtime rival, who shows up at the diner with his young trophy bride. A two-part episode features Joel Grey as himself, headlining a musical revue featuring Alice and financed by Mel--whose ineptitude nearly sinks the project before it can even open. Doris Roberts makes a return appearance as Alice's insufferable mother Mona, this time wreaking havoc at Thanksgiving dinner. Prolific character actor Guich Koock drops in to play Jolene's black-sheep brother Jonas. Cassandra Peterson, better known as buxom horror-movie hostress Elvira, has a flashy role in the episode "Mel's Dream Car." Richard Deacon of Dick Van Dyke Show fame guests as the snobbish owner of a catering firm for whom Mel briefly goes to work; Harlem Globetrotters star Meadowlark Lemon) stops over to give Tommy a few basketball pointers; and series star Linda Lavin essays a dual role, as both Alice and Vera's elderly, obnoxious landlady Debbie Walden, in "Vera the Torch." One of the Season Seven episodes, "The Secret of Mel's Diner", was actually filmed for Season Six, but held back due to a writer's strike. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though fewer new episodes of Alice were telecast during its fifth season due to a Hollywood writer's strike, the series still remained one of CBS's most popular attractions, ranking seventh in the overall Nielsen ratings. Much of its ongoing success can be attributed to the seamless ensemble work of its cast: Linda Lavin as waitress and aspiring singer Alice, Vic Tayback as her irascible boss Mel, Beth Howland as ditsy waitress Vera, Philip McKeon as Alice's son Tommy, and relative newcomer Diane Ladd as the newest employee of Mel's Diner, Southern-fried Belle Dupree. Gracing Season Five with their presence are such guest stars as Robert Goulet, who shows up in a 2-part episode wherein Vera wins a free trip to Vegas; Mildred Natwick as Vera's Aunt Agatha, a geriatric "biker chick"; Ruth Buzzi as the dowdy wife of Mel's regular customer, Henry the postman (Marvin Kaplan); Jerry Reed as "himself", in an episode involving a huge fish and a huge-er blunder made by the waitresses; and, for the third year in a row, Martha Raye as Mel's mom Carrie Sharples, who is even more insufferable than usual after she is dumped by her current husband. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season Three of Alice introduces Victoria Carroll as Marie, the on-and-off girlfriend of Phoenix diner proprietor Mel Sharples (Vic Tayback). Also, Mel's Diner welcomes several new steady customers, among them Earl (Dave Madden), Chuck (Duane R. Campbell) and Brian (Alan Haufrect), who spend as much time cracking wise with waitresses Alice (Linda Lavin), Flo (Polly Holliday) and Vera (Beth Howland) as they do downing Mel's famous chili. Foremost among the season's guest stars is the inimitable Martha Raye, making her first appearance as Mel's overbearing mother Carrie Sharples, who bids fair to be even more contentious than her son (if such a thing is possible). Also seen during Season Three are Forrest Tucker as Flo's ne'er-do-well father Edsel Jarvis Cadbury; actor and future talkshow host Gary Collins as the principal of the school attended by Alice's son Tommy (Philip McKeon); and Steve Franken, best known as "Chatsworth Osborne Jr." on the classic sitcom Dobie Gillis, as a squirrelly holdup man. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The long-running CBS sitcom Alice launches its first season with the pilot episode, in which Alice Hyatt (Linda Lavin), recently widowed when her trucker husband was killed in an accident, packs herself and her son Tommy (Philip McKeon) and heads westward, hoping to find success as a professional singer in California. But when her car breaks down outside of Phoenix, Arizona, the stone-broke Alice takes a job as a waitress at the roadside diner run by the short-tempered but basically likable Mel Sharples (Vic Tayback). She also befriends her fellow waitress, the brassy, outspoken Flo (Polly Holliday) and the shy, scatterbrained Vera (Beth Howland). (Trivia note: In the pilot, Alice's place of business was called "Mel and Ruby's Diner", in honor of Mel's late wife. In later episodes it is simply "Mel's Diner", and the boss' previous marital status is seldom if ever mentioned again!) Among those regular customers who show up to savor Mel's delicious home-made chili and to trade quips with the help is Pat Cranshaw as Andy. This season's guest stars include Victor Buono as a celebrated food critic who has the bad taste to drop dead after eating at Mel's Diner; Eileen Heckart as Alice's insufferable mother-in-law Rose; Tom Poston as an amorous mortician who proposes to Vera, even though he's already married; Bernie Kopell as an inept holdup man; and Kay Ballard as a self-proclaimed gypsy who places a curse on the diner and its staff. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide