Pat Millicano Movies

If it worked for Speed, it'll work for Runaway Car--or at least, that seems to have been the philosophy behind the making of this highly derivative made-for-TV actioner. Having suffered through an unusually rotten day on the job, timid nurse Jenny Todd (Nina Siesmaszko) heads to the garage where her 1978 Rambler Hornet is being repaired. Here she meets neurotic computer programmer Ed Lautner (Judge Reinhold), who asks her to give him a ride home. En route, Jenny picks up her baby nephew, as well as an unexpected hitchhiker: wiseguy skateboarder Dex Strang (Brian Hooks), whom Jenny may or may not have caused to suffer a nasty fall. Once the "dramatis personae" is established, the situation goes from bad to horrendous: The brakes jam, the door latches lock, the accelerator sticks at 100mph, and our wide-eyed heroine finds herself at the wheel of an out-of-control death machine, dangerously zooming through the busy city streets, barely avoiding crashes and collisions at every corner. The film's abundance of thrills, spills and impossible coincidences come to a climax of sorts when a police helicopter attempts to rescue Jenny's screaming nephew. Based (believe it or don't) on a true story, Runaway Car rolled off the Fox network TV-movie assembly line on January 21, 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

For full appreciation of this episode, it should be noted that it was originally telecast during a particularly contentious Major League baseball strike. Yearning for the sound of the crack of a bat and the roar of a crowd, Al's all-male organization NO MA'AM organizes a blue-collar baseball league, underwritten by several of the country's better nudie bars. The resulting team names include the Chicago Cleavage, the Boston Bazooms, and the Buffalo Bodacious Ta-Tas. Without any further elaboration, be it noted that real-life baseball stars Mike Piazza, Bret Saberhagen, Danny Tartabull, Frank Thomas and Dave Winfield appear as themselves--and also watch for the scene in which the entrepreneurial Al is interviewed by sportscaster Joe Martin. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi