Terry Beaver Movies

A shocking and tragic event causes the members of a quietly dysfunctional family to reexamine themselves and their lives in this drama. Ben and Sandy Travis (Jeff Daniels and Sigourney Weaver) are a couple whose troubled family begins to crumble when their eldest son, star college athlete Matt (Kip Pardue) commits suicide. Sandy's naturally cynical nature becomes all the more prickly, and while she tries to bond with her surviving teenaged son, Tim (Emile Hirsch), they seem closest when they discover a shared fondness for marijuana. Ben also tries to reach out to Tim, but the young man is never able to shake the feeling that he's never quite been the son his father wanted. Tim has a girlfriend, Steph (Suzanne Santo), but their relationship has been going through a rocky patch, and Tim finds himself questioning his feelings about women and men when his friendship with next-door neighbor Kyle (Ryan Donowho) evolves into something more intimate. Imaginary Heroes was written and directed by Dan Harris, best known for his work as a screenwriter on the blockbuster comic-book adaptation X-Men and projected remakes of Superman and Logan's Run. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In this first episode of a two-part story, a shootout between the police and a motorist leads to the uncovering of a mob hit -- in which both victim and assassin were killed. The crime was the handiwork of the Russian mafia and the only witness is traumatized ten-year-old Billy Woodson (Cameron Bowen). The DA's efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice are thwarted -- and so, tragically, are the efforts to shield Billy's immediate family from harm. Both parts one and two of "Refuge" were broadcast May 25, 1999, as the finale of Law & Order's ninth season. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

When an elderly woman dies, she decides to take possession of a stray dog's body so as to keep an eye on her widowed husband in this wonderful tale based on the novel by Terry Kay. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi

Inspired by a 60 Minutes story, the made-for-cable Stolen Babies is the fact-based story of supposed "angel of mercy" Georgia Tann. Throughout the 1940s, Ms. Tann oversaw the adoption of children from her Tennessee orphanage. Since she was considered a pillar of the community, few questioned Tann's methods. Only when dedicated social worker Anne Beals began chipping away at Tann's respectable veneer did a terrible truth come to light. The principal selling angle of Stolen Babies was the way-against-type casting of Mary Tyler Moore as purse-lipped, bespectacled, quietly sinister Georgia Tann (not surprisingly, Moore won an Emmy for this chilling performance). Lea Thompson was more traditionally cast as the whistle-blowing Anne Beals. Stolen Babies first aired March 25, 1993, over the Lifetime Cable service. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A New York cop takes on drug-smuggling Soviet agents in this action-espionage thriller. The trouble starts when the rebellious agents disobey orders and begin glutting the Big Apple black market with illegal drugs. The cops become alerted to the problem after four topless dancers die of heroin overdoses. Renegade detective Mace Douglas, who has just been demoted for his tendency to kill suspects and now finds himself teemed up with a smarmy college-educated, irritatingly straight arrow, sets about solving the case. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Billionaire Boys Club is the two-part TV adaptation of a book by Sue Horton (unpublished at the time of the film's first telecast). In flashback form, the story recounts the murder of Beverly Hills con artist Ron Levin (Ron Silver). The culprit is yuppie Joe Hunt (Judd Nelson), a sharp young commodities trader who has organized an investment firm with several of his prep school buddies, known as the Billionaire Boys Club. Part one, originally telecast November 8, 1987, traces Hunt's meteoric rise to wealth and power, and the means by which Levin worms his way into Hunt's confidence. In part two, shown the next evening, Hunt has already murdered Levin and carefully disposed of the body. The next step of the scheme is take over where Levin left off by conning an Iranian millionaire out of a huge sum of money. Meanwhile, other members of the Club begin to have qualms over Hunt's finagling. Their whistle-blowing leads to Hunt's arrest and convinction for murder. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

As this Catholic-oriented drama opens, a definition of purgatory is offered by Dame Judith Anderson and then four men are seen sitting in a drab, nondescript room. One (John Putch) is a soldier who died in Vietnam, and the others range from a businessman (Terry Beaver) to a husband and father (Brad Dourif). The four soon discover that they went to the same Catholic school together during the 1960s, and they trace their youthful careers. Mixed with jokes and ribbing about a Catholic school education, the memories of the four are alternately humorous or insightful, given their current situation. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

The action and stunts in this fourth racing vehicle for Burt Reynolds could be accurately foreseen by most youngsters. Stroker Ace (Reynolds) is a race car driver who gets the short end of a contract with a fried-chicken entrepreneur (Ned Beatty) but can be expected to end up with the woman (Pembrook) in compensation -- and actually did (Pembrook is played by Loni Anderson in her first movie with Reynolds). By this time, the formula of racing cars, wild stunts, blond co-stars (Goldie Hawn, Farrah Fawcett, and Dolly Parton were the most recent) was wearing thin and Reynolds starred in only one more "Cannonball" film, ending his car-chase series there. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

A would-be Nashville star finds himself in hot water during a stay in Georgia in this drama based (very loosely) on the hit song of the same title. Travis Child (Dennis Quaid) is a country singer looking for his big break, crisscrossing the country playing honky-tonks with his younger sister (and manager), Amanda (Kristy McNichol), in tow. Travis has a bad habit of drinking too much and putting the moves on the wrong women, leaving tough-as-nails Amanda to bail him out. One night Travis runs afoul of Seth Ames (Don Stroud), the sheriff of a small Georgia town who isn't against using his fists to teach lawbreakers a lesson; thanks to Ames, Travis ends up behind bars, but Amanda is able to persuade a sympathetic state trooper, Conrad (Mark Hamill), to help raise bail. In exchange, Travis has to work off his debt as a bartender at a local watering hole (where he hopes he might get to play a few tunes for the customers), and between drawing beers and pouring shots, he meets a beautiful local girl amed Melody (Sunny Johnson). However, as romance begins to bloom between them, Travis find himself in trouble again when he discovers Melody already has a boyfriend -- Seth Ames. Both Dennis Quaid and Kristy McNichol do their own singing in The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia, with Quaid also writing several of his character's tunes. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Walter Matthau plays a CIA agent who's been confined by office politics to a desk job. The disgruntled Matthau quits the service and heads to Europe, where he links up with former lover (an fellow ex-agent) Glenda Jackson. All goes smoothly until Matthau acts on the advice of yet another retired agent, Russian Herbert Lom, who suggests that Matthau write a tell-all autobiography. Spitefully, Matthau sends out copies of his first chapter to the heads of the CIA agencies throughout the world--and from that point on, he and Jackson don't have a moment's peace. This delights Matthau: now that all of his former colleagues are chasing after him, he has a reason to get up in the morning. As written by Brian Garfield, Hopscotch was a conventionally serious espionage novel. As adapted for the big screen by Garfield and Bryan Forbes, Hopscotch is a lively exercise in cloak-and-dagger comedy, even when the pursuit of Matthau turns deadly towards the end. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi