Jim Beaver Movies
Blue Chips examines greed, cheating, and "winning at all costs" in the world of college basketball. Nick Nolte plays the stressed-out coach on the verge of his first losing season, who hits the road in search of new players not already signed by a bigger school. He finds three prospects: a precision Chicago shooter (Anfernee Hardaway), a giant farmboy (Matt Nover), and a talented troublemaker (Shaquille O'Neal). All three, wise to the ways of college basketball recruitment, make excessive financial and lifestyle demands before they can be persuaded to come to the school; the coach, already haunted by accusations of underhanded dealings, doesn't want to dig himself a deeper hole but has no choice. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nick Nolte, Mary McDonnell, (more)
- 1993
- R
Brenda Bakke may play a character named "Alison McKenzie", but the independently produced Twogether is no Peyton Place. Bakke and Nick Cassavetes (son of John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands) play a couple of well-buffed Californians who spend virtually all their time at Venice Beach. Brenda and Nick fight a whole lot, and make love a whole lot more. A pregnancy results, forcing the couple to move in together-and to find out that lust and love are two separate commodities. If there's any more plot than that, it was evidently washed away with the shifting sands. Even the sight of naked, gleaming young bodies begins to pall after a while, especially since Twogether crawls along for 122 minutes. If you feel like dozing, just close your eyes and luxuriate in the film's pulsating rock-music score. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nick Cassavetes, Brenda Bakke, (more)
Walter Hill directs John Milius's script (co-written by Larry Gross) depicting a revisionist perspective on the "Geronimo Campaign" and how Geronimo, with 34 men, managed to elude 5000 U.S. cavalry men between 1885 and 1886 before his surrender at the Canyon of the Skeletons in September 1886. The film centers upon Charles Gatewood (Jason Patric), the U.S. Cavalry lieutenant who is charged with capturing the elusive Apache leader. Gatewood is torn by a grudging respect for Geronimo and his people and his duty to his country. But then all the white men in the film have a respect for Geronimo, even as they are trying to hunt him down and kill him. General Charles Crook (Gene Hackman), charged with overseeing the forced settlement of the Apaches on reservations, has nothing but admiration for Geronimo. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Patric, Gene Hackman, (more)
Phillip Noyce directed Joe Eszterhas's adaptation of Ira Levin's novel about voyeurism, starring Sharon Stone as Carly Norris, a book editor on the rebound from an emotionless seven-year marriage. Carly decides that a change of location will help her in the healing process, so she moves into a sleek Manhattan high-rise. In her new apartment, she meets a collection of curious neighbors --Vida (Polly Walker), who snorts cocaine along with ingesting all the dark secrets of the building and its tenants; Jack Landsford (Tom Berenger), a successful writer who also wants to also be successful with Carly; and Zeke Hawkins (William Baldwin), Carly's new landlord. Carly is attracted to Zeke, but she sees that he is hiding something from her. Unbeknownst to Carly, Zeke, an obsessive voyeur, watches his tenants from a bank of television screens at his headquarters. But when Carly discovers Zeke's voyeurism, she herself becomes obsessed with the daily lives of her neighbors. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sharon Stone, William Baldwin, (more)
When retired lawman Matt Dillon takes off hunting for some stolen cattle, he and his daughter discover a vigilante gang and get involved in one of the bloodiest and most deadly feuds in the history of the West. Gunsmoke fans will not be disappointed by this James Arness outing. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Arness, Pat Hingle, (more)
- 1992
James Arness made his first appearance as Marshal Matt Dillon in eight years in the 1993 TV movie Gunsmoke: The Long Ride. Inasmuch as Amanda Blake (Kitty) and Milburn Stone (Doc) had passed on, and Dennis Weaver was disinclined to revive the role of Chester, big Jim pretty much goes it alone in this one. The plot is set in motion by a trio of murderous robbers. Matt Dillon chases after the threesome, while he in turn is being chased by a posse who thinks that Matt is the gang's boss. Featured in the cast are James Brolin as a helpful frontiersmen, and Ali McGraw as "Uncle" Jane Merkel (we're not about to explain that one). Gunsmoke: The Long Ride was originally telecast May 8, 1993. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Arness, James Brolin, (more)
A sleeper hit that received a lukewarm reception from critics but was a success with audiences, Sister Act (1992) was star Whoopi Golberg's first bona fide smash after her Oscar victory for Ghost (1990). Goldberg stars as Deloris Van Cartier, a Reno lounge singer who accidentally witnesses a brutal murder carried out by her gangster boyfriend Vince (Harvey Keitel). Under the protection of a detective (Bill Nunn) who's trying to bring down Vince's criminal operation, Deloris is placed in protective custody at a San Francisco convent. Masquerading as a nun renamed Sister Mary Clarence, Deloris shakes up the established order of the sisters' lives, particularly enlivening their choral efforts. Although running constantly afoul of the Mother Superior (Maggie Smith), the new, jazzed-up musical act becomes a huge hit in the community, even drawing the attention of the Pope, but also alerting Vince to Deloris' whereabouts. Although credited to the pseudonymous Joseph Howard, Sister Act was actually written by Paul Rudnick and Carrie Fisher. The film was followed by a sequel, Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Whoopi Goldberg, Maggie Smith, (more)
- 1991
Little Secrets is based on Slumber Party, a play by Nancy Lee Myatt. Reunited at a high school reunion, six women decide to nostalgically attend an old-fashioned slumber party. Just as they'd done as teenagers, the ladies share their fantasies, hopes, and innermost secrets. But time has past, and there is a bittersweet edge to the proceedings. Cicely Adams, Bettina Devin, Carla Folk, Anne Leyden, Catherine McNeal and Lisa Robins star in this piquant character study,which was partially filmed on location in Newport Beach, California. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1990
Made for television, Follow Your Heart was first telecast April 2, 1990. Ex-marine David Larson (Patrick Cassidy) is tooling along aimlessly in the middle of Wyoming when his jeep breaks down. Awaiting the verdict from the local repair shop, Larson takes a part-time job as a rest-stop attendant. Not the most outgoing of men, Larson is brought out of his shell when he befriends peppery widow Cloe Sixbury (Frances Sternhagen), her developmentally delayed son (Jace Alexander), and an orphaned Vietnamese girl (Nicole Francois). Deftly blending warmth, humor, and unexpected melodrama, Follow Your Heart is a winner all the way. The film has been rereleased as Walk Me to the Distance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Cassidy, Frances Sternhagen, (more)
In the made-for-cable El Diablo, Anthony Edwards plays a bespectacled Eastern schoolteacher who is bullied and cowed by the wild westerners all around him. Soon, however, he is forced to summon up his courage to expedite the rescue of his prettiest female student (M.C. Gainey), who has been kidnapped by the notorious bandit leader El Diablo (Robert Beltran). Louis Gossett Jr. is on hand as the down-to-earth gunslinger who teaches Edwards the rudiments of frontier survival. Coproduced and cowritten by John Carpenter, El Diablo debuted July 22, 1990, over the HBO pay-cable service. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1990
Made for the TNT cable network, The Court Martial of Jackie Robinson concentrates on the wartime service of major league baseball's first black player. Robinson (Andre Braugher), a star athlete at UCLA, is drafted during World War II. He hopes that his academic record will assure him entry into Officers Candidate School, but the racism inherent in the military at the time puts several roadblocks in his way. After finally making OCS, Robinson's belief in himself is strengthened tenfold--to the point that he refuses to bow to the "Jim Crow" laws regarding the seating arrangements on an Army bus, and is subsequently threatened with a court martial. Stan Shaw costars as boxing great Joe Louis, likewise a victim of prejudice during the war years (the script intimates that Louis was more willing to roll with the punches than Robinson). Ruby Dee, who played the ballplayer's wife in the 1950 film The Jackie Robinson Story, is here seen as Robinson's mother. The Court Martial of Jackie Robinson premiered on October 15, 1990. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
One by-product of two consecutive Oscar wins is that Tom Hanks no longer has to appear in such potboilers as Turner and Hooch. Hanks plays Turner, a meticulously groomed, excruciatingly well-organized detective working in a small California coastal town. When local "character" John McIntyre is murdered by drug smugglers, the only witness is McIntyre's slobbery, smelly mutt Hootch. You're way ahead of us, folks: Turner, who despises dogs in general and Hooch in particular, is compelled to put the cantankerous dog up as his house guest. Also easily predictable is the fact that Turner and Hooch will, by the next-to-last reel, become boon companions. To its credit, the film has an abundance of laughs and thrills...but, gee, that ending! Neither terrific nor terrible, Turner and Hooch is a pleasant time-filler; we do wish, however, that more time had been spent on the budding romance between Turner and veterinarian Emily Carson (Mare Winningham). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Hanks, Mare Winningham, (more)
- 1989
Evil land developers, those most ubiquitous of 1980s movie villains, are the chief antagonists in the made-for-TV Mothers, Daughters and Lovers. Helen Shaver plays a truckstop/motel owner in the rural Northwest. She manages her business with the help of her two budding teenaged daughters--one studious (Perrey Reeves), one a rebel (Marcianne Warman). All three ladies ward off unwanted lotharios, entreat the attentions of those whom they care about, and band together to stop a new real estate development from eliminating their place of business. Mothers, Daughters and Lovers was written by Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, the team responsible for American Graffiti (73). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Norman Jewison directed this subdued character study of the effect of the Vietnam War on a small-town Kentucky family -- based on the novel by Bobbi Ann Mason. The film centers upon 17-year-old Samantha (Emily Lloyd) who lives in Hopewell, Kentucky with her Uncle Emmett (Bruce Willis), a quiet, laid-back veteran of Vietnam suffering from post-traumatic stress. Samantha's father was killed in Vietnam when he was 19-years-old (almost her age now), and her mother Irene (Joan Allen) has remarried. Samantha finds some old photographs of her father, and she becomes obsessed with finding out more about him. Irene, who has moved to Lexington with her second husband, wants Samantha to move in with them and go to college. But Samantha would rather stay with Uncle Emmett and try to find out more about her father. Her mother is no help, as she tells Samantha, "Honey, I married him four weeks before he left for the war. He was 19. I hardly even remember him." Finally Samantha, Emmett and her grandmother (Peggy Rea) go to visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington. Finding her father's name in the memorial releases cathartic emotions in Samantha and her family. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Willis, Emily Lloyd, (more)
- 1988
- PG
Two teens just out of high school are the computer experts who run across a Soviet plot to steal the plans of a high-tech helicopter in this routine spy thriller. The Russians monitor the NASA launching pad from an offshore trawler. They recruit one of the local students to infiltrate the computers and monitor the top secret plans. Stock footage of rocket launches and military planes are included in this feature directed by Monte Markham, who also plays Colonel Mark Denton. Mostly the feature shows people at the computer and lacks the excitement of other films of the genre. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Oliver, Susan Ursitti, (more)
- 1988
Raymond Burr, as ever, stars in this TV-movie continuation of the Perry Mason saga. Once more pulled out of semi-retirement, Perry takes on the case of a wealthy man (David Hasselhoff) accused of murdering his heiress wife. Of course, this has nothing to do with the Klaus von Bulow affair. As was customary in these latter-day Mason episodes, the bulk of the detective work is in the hands of Paul Drake Jr., played by William Katt--the real-life son of Mason's "Della Street," Barbara Hale. Lady in the Lake was one of two Perry Mason two-hour specials produced by Fred Silverman and Dean Hargrove in 1988; the other was subtitled The Case of the Avenging Ace. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
- R
Jillian Grey (Nancy Allen) is a television reporter who investigates the disappearance of young women in this routine action drama. She is kidnapped with three other woman from the streets of Los Angeles and sold into slavery in Southeast Asia. Martin Landau plays Cicero, the villainous head of the white slave trade, with Ted Shackelford as the heroic soldier of fortune Boone. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nancy Allen, Ted Shackelford, (more)
This satirical look at the ambivalent relationship between Hollywood power brokers and African-American performers marked the writing, producing, and directing debut of Robert Townsend. The filmmaker also stars as Bobby Taylor, a struggling actor looking for his big break despite his family's and co-workers' reservations about his chosen career path. While working a day job flipping burgers, Bobby heads out to insulting cattle calls where white casting agents pass judgement on whether he seems "black enough." Meanwhile, he imagines himself playing Sam Spade, Rambo, and other movie heroes rather than the stereotypical roles actually available to him. When Bobby actually does win one such pimp-daddy part, however, he is forced to choose between accepting work that opens doors, but ultimately demeans him and returning to obscurity with his principles intact. Hollywood Shuffle's enormous supporting cast includes a wealth of black actors, from then-unknowns such as Damon Wayans to veterans such as 227 star Helen Martin. Self-financed and filmed on scraps of hand-me-down celluloid, the film helped establish actor Townsend as a director of note and also kick-started the career of co-screenwriter and co-star Keenen Ivory Wayans, who would cast Townsend in his own directorial debut the following year. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Townsend, Anne-Marie Johnson, (more)
Based on true incidents, this movie follows the plight of a young American girl who travels to Japan to start work as a club singer, only to discover that she has been tricked into working as a prostitute for the Yakuza. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
Based on a true story, Silkwood begins and ends with Karen Silkwood (Meryl Streep) driving along a lonely road in 1974, heading to a meeting with a New York Times reporter to deliver evidence of negligence at the Kerr-McGee Plant in Cimarron, Oklahoma. The balance of the film flashes back to Karen's ribald private life with her lover (Kurt Russell) and her loose-living friends (Cher and Diana Scarwid). This is in contrast to her humdrum job at Kerr-McGee--or it least it was humdrum until Karen and several other employees become contaminated by radiation. The higher-ups want to sweep this incident under the rug, but Karen thinks that something's fishy, and informs the union of that fact. X-rays of the faulty fuel rods and written proof of the inadequate safety measures that caused Karen's illness are tampered with, forcing Karen to conduct her own private investigation. As she gathers evidence, Karen becomes a pariah to her boyfriend because of her obsession. She finally organizes the evidence into a briefcase, and heads off to her meeting with the Times reporter. She never makes it; the "official" report on her fatal auto accident is that Ms. Silkwood had been drinking and was under the influence of tranquilizers. Kerr-McGee was eventually forced to pay the Silkwood family an enormous settlement because of her contamination, but the full facts behind her convenient accident have never been revealed (though the filmmakers clearly indictate whom they hold responsible). Director Mike Nichols and screenwriters Nora Ephron and Alice Arlen surround this true story with a lively, improvisational atmosphere that gets the best out of Streep, Russell, and Cher, while providing perhaps the fullest on-screen realization of Nichols' theater-based techniques of realistic, character-centered, dialogue-driven filmmaking, as well as one of the first movie screenplays from future director Ephron. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell, (more)
Deke DaSilva (Sylvester Stallone) and Matthew Fox (Billy Dee Williams) are New York police officers specially assigned to a special multi-national team dedicated to tracking down terrorist Wulfgar (Rutger Hauer). Wulfgar planted a bomb in a London department store, killing several children and he is now an outcast, hunted by both the police and his fellow gang members. He has extensive plastic surgery and resumes his activities aided by Shakka (Persis Khambutta), a completely psychotic fellow outcast. Soon DaSilva and Wulfgar are engaged in a violent battle of wits as Wulfgar resumes his terrorist activities and threatens New York . This very effective thriller features a chilling performance by Rutger Hauer as the handsome, ruthless cold-blooded killer who charms women into helping him and then kills them. Sylvester Stallone gives an unusually understated emotionally vulnerable performance as a man trying to save lives while he saves his own marriage. The film makes excellent use of New York locales, particularly during a terrifying hijacking of a cable car where Wulfgar coolly decides which of the hostages will live or die. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvester Stallone, Billy Dee Williams, (more)
- 1979
This exploitation film offers the "inside story" about those ever-popular star spangled gyrating, jiggling gals as a magazine reporter goes undercover and joins the team. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
When faced with graduation, four seniors plot to prolong their college experience for fear of steady employment, but they're also loathe to leave behind their accommodating housemate Sylvia (played with mute, topless allure by a pre-Three's Company Priscilla Barnes), who functions as a live-in maid and concubine ("Where else are we going to find a nympho who loves to cook and clean house?"). In between sumptuous meals and bouts in the sack, the boys pester their parents to pay for post-graduate studies, without success. Luckily, a Poindexter science major named Arnold is desperate to lose his virginity to Sylvia, so the guys trade her sexual favors for his complicity in an elaborate scam. He's the only trusted assistant of reclusive genius Professor Heigner (Alan Reed, the voice of Fred Flintstone), a three-time Nobel Prize winner studying the mating habits of mosquitoes. Foundations are eager to fund the professor's work with generous grants, and since Heigner signs anything Arnold hands him without question, the seniors draft their own letter of request for cash and claim to be studying the sexual habits of college-age girls. It works, and with a 50,000-dollar-grant they offer coeds a 20-dollar honorarium to participate in the study by engaging in any kind of sex they like with our four heroes as the only male volunteers. Eventually, exhaustion and avarice lead them to expand the study and allow local businessmen to take part for a 50-dollar fee, which leads to huge profits. Only the intervention of "the establishment" will show the seniors the folly of their ways, when they enter into partnership with a feminine hygiene corporation and find themselves targeted for murder. The female head of the foundation that funds the seniors' project mistakenly believes that Professor Heigner is some sort of sexual dynamo and pursues him endlessly, leading the misanthropic scientist to chase her away by firing a rifle at her, spraying her with sticky white fire extinguisher foam, and setting a blaze beneath her while she frantically climbs up a chimney. Endless lines of co-eds wait breathlessly for the chance to copulate with strangers for a double sawbuck (it's all in the name of science, after all, and why not earn money for something they'd be "giving away" otherwise?). ~ Fred Beldin, All Movie Guide
