David Morse Movies
A fixture of 1980s TV series and movies, prolific character actor David Morse became a reliable and much lauded supporting presence in feature films from the 1990s onward.Raised in Hamilton, MA, Morse began his professional career after high school, joining the Boston Repertory Theater in 1971. Over the next six years, Morse acted in over 30 productions, amply preparing him for a move to New York theater in 1977. Morse subsequently got his first big movie break when he was cast in the drama Inside Moves (1980). Though Morse proved that he could handle lighter films with Neil Simon's comedy Max Dugan Returns (1983), his detour into television in 1982 was initially more fruitful. As Dr. Jack "Boomer" Morrison, Morse spent six seasons on the esteemed hospital drama St. Elsewhere, co-starring with, among others, Denzel Washington. During his stint on St. Elsewhere, Morse also starred in a diverse collection of TV movies. He was a priest in love with Valerie Bertinelli's nun in Shattered Vows (1984), a prisoner attempting a breakout from Alcatraz in Six Against the Rock (1987), a detective in Down Payment on Murder (1987), and a mental hospital escapee in Winnie (1988). Continuing his presence on the small screen after St. Elsewhere, Morse appeared in several more TV movies, including starring as a deranged kidnapper in Cry in the Wild: The Taking of Peggy Ann (1991).
Though he co-starred as a drifter in the indie film Personal Foul (1987) and appeared in Michael Cimino's noir remake The Desperate Hours (1990), Morse did not concentrate most of his energies on feature films until the 1990s. After starring as Viggo Mortensen's brother in Sean Penn's directorial debut, The Indian Runner (1991), Morse moved to more mainstream work with supporting roles in The Good Son (1993), the Alec Baldwin-Kim Basinger version of The Getaway (1994), and medical thriller Extreme Measures (1996). While he appeared in Terry Gilliam's thoughtful La Jetée (1962) remake 12 Monkeys (1995), faced off with Jack Nicholson in Penn's The Crossing Guard (1996), and starred as a janitor-turned-rich man in George B. (1997), Morse really captured audience attention in a concurrent string of high-profile projects. Returning to Alcatraz, Morse projected quiet menace as one of Ed Harris renegade Marines in the blockbuster hit The Rock (1996). Morse tapped his bad self again in the action romp The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996), then cemented his versatility with a small yet vital role as Jodie Foster's gentle father in Contact (1997). Notching his third major summer release in a row, Morse played a SWAT team commander up against Samuel L. Jackson's wrongly accused cop in The Negotiator (1998). Returning to serious blockbuster fare, Morse then co-starred with Tom Hanks as prison guards who witness miracles in The Green Mile (1999).
After a foray into comedy with Bait (2000), Morse stole hostage drama Proof of Life (2000) from his glamorous tabloid-ready co-stars Meg Ryan and Russell Crowe with his intense performance as Ryan's kidnapped husband. Even as he became a popular Hollywood second lead, however, Morse wasn't afraid to veer away from the multiplex, winning an Obie Award for Paula Vogel's acclaimed play How I Learned to Drive and putting a believably human face on an utterly hateful character in Lars von Trier's bleak, award-winning musical Dancer in the Dark (2000). Continuing his protean career, Morse appeared in another gentle Stephen King adaptation Hearts of Atlantis (2001) and starred in Diary of a City Priest (2001) for PBS. Morse followed the ill fated Hearts of Atlantis with a lead role in the indie drama The Slaughter Rule (2002), which was well received on the film festival circuit. Morse subsequently returned to series television, and received top billing, in the CBS drama Hack (2002). Starring Morse as an ex-cop-turned-cab driver, Hack was pummeled by critics, but audiences took to Morse's well intentioned, marginalized law enforcer and Hack became a modest ratings success. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
Reportedly the third in acclaimed director Lars von Trier's "Golden Hearts" trilogy (preceded by Breaking the Waves and The Idiots), this film is a hip reworking of the classic Hollywood Musical, starring international pop diva Bjork. Set somewhere in rural Washington state, Czech immigrant Selma (Bjork) works in a pressing plant, struggling to make ends meet for herself and her 10-year-old son, Gene (Vladica Kostic). Her best friend is coworker and fellow European Kathy (Catherine Deneuve). While outside work, she is maintaining a cautious friendship with local yokel Jeff (Peter Stormare). She also landed a starring role as Maria in an amateur production of The Sound of Music. Selma's life would be one of relative contentment if it were not for the ugly secret she harbors -- she is on the verge of blindness due to a genetic disorder, and her young son will suffer the same fate without an operation. Selma has quietly been stashing away money for the surgery and has already amassed $2,000. When her savings, squirreled away in a can in the kitchen, suddenly disappear, she confronts her cash-strapped landlord Bill (David Morse). Of course, like all musicals, the plot periodically takes a backseat to the seven production numbers, including a show-stopping sequence in Selma's factory. Shot entirely on digital video, the film reportedly used up to 100 cameras for each musical number. Dancer in the Dark received top prizes at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival including Best Actress for Bjork and the coveted Palme d'Or for Best Picture. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Björk, Catherine Deneuve, (more)
A woman whose marriage is in trouble finds herself falling for a new man as her husband's life hangs in the balance in this thriller. Peter Bowman (David Morse) and his wife Alice (Meg Ryan) have relocated to a small Latin American nation called Tecala; Peter works for an American engineering and construction firm, and his latest assignment has him building a dam that is intended to bring power to the developing nation. The ELT is a radical Marxist faction gearing up for political revolution in Tecala that has turned to kidnapping as a way to raise capital, and Peter is chosen as its next target. When Peter is ambushed on his way to work, his firm brings in Terry Thorn (Russell Crowe), a former Australian intelligence operative who now works as a private "kidnapping and ransom" negotiator. Alice is told Terry is her best hope for bringing Peter back safe and sound, but when Terry's employers run into a tight squeeze financially, they cancel their K&R insurance (which is considered a standard benefit for American employees assigned to South America), leaving Alice to rehire Terry on her own, especially since she can't possibly pay the $3 million ransom demanded by the kidnappers. As Terry and his partner Dino (David Caruso) map out a rescue plan, Alice and Terry find themselves increasingly attracted to each other. Alice's marriage to Peter was going through a rough patch when he was kidnapped, and while she's deeply concerned for his safety, she must reconcile her fears for Peter's life with her new feelings for Terry. Proof of Life is based on Adventures in the Ransom Trade, an article by journalist William Prochnau that was published in Vanity Fair, as well as on the case of real-life kidnapping victim Tom Hargrove. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Meg Ryan, Russell Crowe, (more)
Director Frank Darabont, who made an acclaimed feature film debut with The Shawshank Redemption (1994), based on a Stephen King novel set in a prison, returns for a second feature, based on King's 1996 serialized novel set in a prison. In 1935, inmates at the Cold Mountain Correctional Facility call Death Row "The Green Mile" because of the dark green linoleum that tiles the floor. Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks) is the head guard on the Green Mile when a new inmate is brought into his custody: John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan), convicted of the sadistic murder of two young girls. Despite his size and the fearsome crimes for which he's serving time, Coffey seems to be a kind and well-mannered person who behaves more like an innocent child than a hardened criminal. Soon Edgecomb and two of his fellow guards, Howell (David Morse) and Stanton Barry Pepper), notice something odd about Coffey: he's able to perform what seem to be miracles of healing among his fellow inmates, leading them to wonder just what sort of person he could be, and if he could have committed the crimes with which he was charged. The Green Mile also stars James Cromwell as the warden; Michael Jeter, Sam Rockwell, and Graham Greene as inmates awaiting dates with the electric chair; and Harry Dean Stanton as a clever trustee. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Hanks, David Morse, (more)
Comedy and drama take turns in this period piece based on a novel by Mark Childress. Peejoe (Lucas Black), short for Peter Joseph, lives in a small Alabama town in 1965, at the height of the Civil Rights movement. He becomes involved with a group of black students protesting the town's racially segregated municipal swimming pool, leading to a protest that explodes into deadly violence. But Peejoe has gotten a crash course in standing your ground and following your own path from his free-spirited Aunt Lucille (Melanie Griffith), who has killed her abusive husband and is headed for Hollywood, where she's convinced that television stardom awaits her. Crazy in Alabama marked the directorial debut of actor Antonio Banderas; his supporting cast includes Cathy Moriarty, Elizabeth Perkins, Rod Steiger, Fannie Flagg, and Meat Loaf Aday. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Melanie Griffith, David Morse, (more)
F. Gary Gray directed this suspenseful action thriller based on a real case experienced by police in St. Louis. The James DeMonaco/Kevin Fox screenplay follows an accused man who is forced to commit crimes in order to prove himself innocent of murder. After Chicago police hostage negotiator Danny Roman (Samuel L. Jackson) succeeds in rescuing a little girl menaced by her gun-wielding dad, he's praised by both the police department and the media, and he returns to his usual cop routines with his longtime partner, promising his new wife Karen (Regina Taylor) he'll make it home for dinner every night. Then his partner, who had evidence of embezzlement within the police department, is killed. Since Danny arrives at the crime scene only seconds later, he's the main suspect, and Chief Al Travis (John Spencer) asks him to turn in his gun and badge. Danny invades the Chicago Internal Affairs Division headquarters and tries to get the truth from Inspector Terence Niebaum (J.T. Walsh) while holding two assistants and Commander Frost (Ron Rifkin) as hostages. He then calls for an outsider from another precinct, hostage negotiator Chris Sabian (Kevin Spacey). When Sabian arrives, the two compete for control, while Danny attempts to prove to him that he's been falsely accused. The film is dedicated to J.T. Walsh, who died not long after the production wrapped. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin Spacey, (more)
In the middle of a live talk-show telecast hosted by the supremely arrogant Pia Postman (Marg Helgenberger), audience member Frank McGrath (David Morse) suddenly pulls out a gun and seizes control of the studio. Slapping a piece of tape over Pia's mouth (a moment that is invariably applauded by viewers surfeited with "confrontational" TV talkfests!), Frank threatens to kill her on the air, holding her responsible for the suicide of his daughter -- and just in case the police think of storming the broadcast, Frank has strapped a bomb to himself and will blow up everyone in the studio, including himself, if anyone tries to stop him. Ultimately, Pia is allowed to speak in her own defense before her execution is carried out, and what follows is a grotesque parody of the Jenny Jones-Jerry Springer school of in-your-face tabloid television, with both Pia and Frank trading verbal barbs with the terrified audience and crew members, not to mention the viewers calling in. Meanwhile, SWAT leader Clay Maloney (Peter Horton, who also co-wrote the film) races against time to defuse the situation before blood can be shed in living color in front of an audience of millions. Filmed in "real time" (just as if it were really a talk-show broadcast), Murder Live! borders on the ridiculous on occasion, but that doesn't make it any less entertaining. The made-for-TV meller first aired over NBC on March 9, 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marg Helgenberger, David Morse, (more)
The search for life outside our solar system becomes a personal and spiritual quest for a young researcher. Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster) is a scientist who lost her faith in God after her parents died when she was a child. However, Ellie has learned to develop a different sort of faith in the seemingly unknowable: working with a group that monitors radio waves from space, Ellie hopes that some day she will receive a coherent message from another world that will prove that there is a world beyond our own. Ellie's hard work is rewarded when her team picks up a signal that does not appear to be of earthly origin. Ellie decodes the message, which turns out to be plans for a space craft, which she takes as an invitation for a meeting with the aliens. Ellie and her fellow researchers soon run into interference from a White House scientific advisor, David Drumlin (Tom Skerritt), who cuts off their funding and tries to take credit for their achievements. However, Ellie receives moral support from Palmer Joss (Matthew McConaughey), a spiritual teacher who advises President Clinton and tries to persuade her to accept the existence of a higher power, and financial backing from S.R. Hadden (John Hurt), a multi-millionaire willing to fund her attempts to contact the source of the message. Contact was based on a novel by Carl Sagan, who advised director Robert Zemeckis during the film's production until his death in 1996. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, (more)
This independent comedy-drama concerns George (David Morse), who works as a janitor cleaning up at a bar in a small town. While no one's sure if George is retarded, he doesn't seem to live in the same world as the rest of them; if he's not unintelligent, he is unfortunately gullible and trusting and lacks the ability to dodge around people's emotions in conversation. George has always thought of his birthday as his good luck day, so one year he decides to celebrate by taking a trip to Reno, and for a change George's hunch is right on the money -- he wins big and comes home with enough money to buy his own house and start his own cleaning business. George finds he's lonely in his new home, and he asks Angela (Nina Siemaszko), a young woman who works at a discount store, to move in with him. Angela doesn't care for her job and is desperate to get away from her harridan mother, so she agrees, though life with George proves to be both funny and troubling. George B. was shown in competition at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
An ordinary woman discovers that her life was not always ordinary in this action thriller. Samantha Caine (Geena Davis) is a typical, well-mannered single mother working as a schoolteacher when she isn't looking after her children. Nothing on the surface would seem to be remarkable about Samantha's life, but every once in a while she has vague memories and unexplained impulses that don't add up with her current life experience; she has scars but no idea of how they got there, she suddenly displays a deadly talent for knife-throwing while chopping vegetables for dinner, and when she sees a deer, she suddenly attacks it with her bare hands. When an auto accident and a television news broadcast stirs some more uncomfortable memories, Samantha hires private investigator Mitch Hennessey (Samuel L. Jackson) to look into her past and see what he can find. Mitch learns that Samantha isn't really Samantha after all -- her name is Charley and she used to be a professional assassin with a secret government intelligence program. After a severe head injury, Charley developed a case of amnesia, and in time she developed her new personality as Samantha. However, her old boss has kept tabs on her, and now that it looks as if the old Charley is starting to come out again, he sends a pair of hit men after her to see to it that she doesn't remember anything else; soon Samantha and Mitch are on the run, trying to outdistance the killers as they get to the bottom of Charley's secret life. The Long Kiss Goodnight was directed by Renny Harlin, husband of leading lady Geena Davis; this was their second project together, following Cutthroat Island, released the previous year. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Geena Davis, Samuel L. Jackson, (more)
The sophomore film from former music video and commercial director Michael Bay, this fast-paced action yarn featured rapid-fire editing, a cutting-edge rock soundtrack and liberal use of shots awash in a haze of burnished hues, all trademarks of producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer. Nicolas Cage stars as Stanley Goodspeed, an FBI chemical weapons expert handed a unique assignment. Francis X. Hummel (Ed Harris), an insane Marine Corps general, has taken 81 tourists hostage on the abandoned island prison of Alcatraz. He and his men are threatening to bomb San Francisco with deadly gas unless $100 million is paid in war reparations to the families of servicemen killed in covert operations. Goodspeed is teamed with former British spy John Patrick Mason (Sean Connery), the only man ever to escape "The Rock," as well as a Navy SEAL team. When their military escorts are ambushed, it's up to odd couple Goodspeed and Mason to break into Alcatraz and stop Hummel. The Rock was the last film produced by Simpson, who died of a drug overdose before the film's release. Solo, his partner Bruckheimer continued making the sort of glossy, frenetic films for which the duo was famed. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicolas Cage, Sean Connery, (more)
Comic leading man Hugh Grant gets serious in this drama about a physician who uncovers a truly disturbing secret. Guy Luthan (Hugh Grant), a British doctor serving a residence in a hospital in New York City, is very puzzled by a patient brought to the emergency room one night. Naked, disoriented, and bearing a hospital bracelet and a fresh surgical scar, the mystery man is suffering from a baffling variety of symptoms, and though he dies not long after he's admitted, Luthan can't get the patient out of his mind. When he asks to see the records on the patient a few days later, he's told they no longer exist, and the more he digs, the more he's convinced that someone knows something they're not telling. Against the advice of his friend Jodie Trammel (Sarah Jessica Parker), a nurse and colleague, and the instructions of his superiors, Luthan keeps digging into this and other strange cases that have come through the hospital lately. Luthan's sleuthing eventually brings him to the door of Dr. Lawrence Myrick (Gene Hackman), a well-known surgeon who is doing research in experimental surgery that could allow patients with severe spinal injuries to walk again. While Myrick's work is done with the most noble of intentions, there turns out to be a sinister undercurrent to his research techniques. Actress Elizabeth Hurley, Grant's offscreen significant other, was co-producer for this picture, the first from their joint production company. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hugh Grant, Gene Hackman, (more)
An intense film about time travel, this sci-fi entry was directed by Terry Gilliam, a member of the comedy troupe Monty Python. The film stars Bruce Willis as James Cole, a prisoner of the state in the year 2035 who can earn parole if he agrees to travel back in time and thwart a devastating plague. The virus has wiped out most of the Earth's population and the remainder live underground because the air is poisonous. Returning to the year 1990, six years before the start of the plague, Cole is soon imprisoned in a psychiatric facility because his warnings sound like mad ravings. There he meets a scientist named Dr. Kathryn Railly (Madeleine Stowe) and Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt), the mad son of an eminent virologist (Christopher Plummer). Cole is returned by the authorities to the year 2035, and finally ends up at his intended destination in 1996. He kidnaps Dr. Railly in order to enlist her help in his quest. Cole discovers graffiti by an apparent animal rights group called the Army of the Twelve Monkeys, but as he delves into the mystery, he hears voices, loses his bearings, and doubts his own sanity. He must figure out if Goines, who seems to be a raving lunatic, holds the key to the puzzle. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, (more)
- 1995
A serious rift develops between Tim Bayliss (Kyle Secor) and Frank Pembleton (Andre Braugher) when Tim's cousin Jim (David Morse) shoots a Turkish exchange student whom he thinks is breaking into his house. Upset that Bayliss is willing to accept Jim's self-defence plea, Pembleton becomes convinced that the Bayliss family is rife with inherent racism. Elsewhere, Lewis (Clark Johnson) thinks he has made a clever economic move when he hires his own grandmother as cook for the new bar -- but he's wrong. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Baldwin, Ned Beatty, (more)
Sean Penn wrote and directed this tale of loss, guilt, and revenge. The daughter of Freddy and Mary Gale (Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston) was killed by a drunk driver, John Booth (David Morse). The death of their child took a heavy toll on the Gales; their marriage broke up, and, while Mary has remarried and attempted to put her life back together, Freddy has become an embittered alcoholic, seething with directionless rage and searching for a purpose in life. Freddy intends to kill Booth as soon as he's released from prison, as he believes that jail was not a severe enough punishment for his daughter's death. But Freddy discovers that Booth is still wracked with guilt for his crime and can barely live with himself. He tells Booth that he has three days left to live; Booth tries to find solace in the arms of artist Jojo (Robin Wright), while Freddy continues to wallow in alcohol and self-pity at a strip club. The Crossing Guard also features an original song by Bruce Springsteen; Penn's previous directorial outing, The Indian Runner, was loosely based on a Springsteen song from his album Nebraska. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Nicholson, David Morse, (more)
Ten passengers on a red-eye flight from L.A. to Boston discover that they are not the only people on the plane, but after making an emergency landing in Bangor, Maine, they discover that they are the only people on the planet. This film was based off the Stephen King short story Four Past Midnight. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patricia Wettig, Bronson Pinchot, (more)
The Getaway, a remake of Sam Peckinpah's excellent escape thriller of the same name, adapted from a story by Jim Thompson, is the story of ill-fated romance on the run. Doc McCoy (Alec Baldwin) is released from a Mexican prison with the help of gangster Jack Benyon (James Woods) who wants Doc's help in the hold-up of a racetrack. With the help of Doc's wife Carol (Kim Basinger), and Jack's thugs Rudy (Michael Madsen) and Frank (Philip Hoffman), the robbery is successful, but a guard is murdered. Doc also finds out that Carol has had an affair with Benyon. Carol shoots Benyon and the two flee for Mexico and freedom. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alec Baldwin, Kim Basinger, (more)
Macaulay Culkin tries for a change of pace playing a schoolyard psychotic in The Good Son. When 12-year-old son Mark (Elijah Wood) is his mother's side as she's dying of cancer, she makes him promise her that she won't die. When she does die, Mark is consumed with grief, as well as guilt that he couldn't keep his promise. Mark's father Jack (David Morse) has to go away for a two week business trip to Tokyo shortly after his wife's death. Thinking that the blustery Maine environment will do him good, he drops Mark off with the family of his Uncle Wallace (Daniel High Kelly). At first, Mark is withdrawn, but soon he begins to warm to his Aunt Susan (Wendy Crewson), his cousin Connie (Quinn Culkin), and particularly his cousin Henry (Macauley Culkin). Mark and Henry pal around together, but Mark begins to notice some of Henry's ideas of fun differ significantly from his own. For example, Henry demonstrates his homemade crossbow by killing the neighbor's dog, and shows Mark his dummy (called "Mr. Highway") that he drops from an overpass onto a highway, causing a 10-car pileup. Mark begins to suspect that the death of Henry's baby brother wasn't an accident, and it appears Henry is now making plans to rub out his sister. But when Mark tries to warn Henry's parents of their son's homicidal tendencies, they refuse to listen to him. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Macaulay Culkin, Elijah Wood, (more)
- 1992
Based on the 1989 earthquake that rocked San Francisco, this is the true story of the rescue workers who at their own peril tried to free the people trapped under a collapsed highway. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- 1992
The tragic wreck of the super-tanker Exxon Valdez in Prince William Sound, Alaska on March 24, 1989 was one of the most devastating ecological disasters in recent history. Immediately after the ship ran aground and began pumping over 11 million gallons of suffocating oil from its ruptured hold, experts were sent out to assess the damage and clean up the mess. This gripping docudrama tells their story. Much centers on the conflict between local officials, the fishing industry, and the Exxon official sent out to oversee the clean-up and take the rap. With unflinching moral outrage, the filmmakers point out that much of the aftermath could have been minimized had the officials in charge been better prepared and not spent so much time involved in useless red-tape and petty bureaucratic bickering. Most of the film was shot in Vancouver, British Columbia, but it also utilizes archival filmclips of the actual disaster and clean up efforts. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
The Indian Runner, Sean Penn's debut film as director (he also wrote the script, based on the Bruce Springsteen song "Highway Patrolman") is a brooding tale of two brothers -- one peaceful and sedate, the other violent and aggressive -- whose natures, left unchecked since they were children, are set to the boiling point as they head toward middle-age. David Morse is the quiet brother, Joe Roberts, who is a deputy sheriff in a small town. His older brother Frank (Viggo Mortensen) shows up on Joe's doorsteps, after a recent run-in with the police. Frank tells Joe that he is coming back home to stay and that he has given up his criminal life. His wife Maria (Valeria Golino) is skeptical, but Joe tells her that he is prepared to help Frank get his life back together. Frank has almost convinced himself that his future holds real promise and he's ready to start a new life with his pregnant girlfriend Dorothy (Patricia Arquette). But, once again, Frank's violent temper explodes, and everyone's plans for Frank's future crumble into rubble. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Morse, Viggo Mortensen, (more)
- 1991
Cry in the Wild: The Taking of Peggy Ann eschews the usual "today's headlines" approach to fact-based TV movies. This 1991 film recounts an event which took place in Shade Gap, Pennsylvania, way back in 1966. A lunatic backwoodsman (David Morse) abducts a 17-year-old local girl (Megan Follows) and spirits her away to the deep woods. During her eight-day ordeal, Peggy Ann develops a sort of sympathy for the pathetic creature who has kidnapped her out of a misguided sense of love. Meanwhile, virtually every authority within a 50-mile radius scours the timberland in search of the girl and her captor. Whether or not Cry in the Wild: The Taking of Peggy Ann was necessary 25 years after the fact is debatable, but one can't deny that the accomplished performances of David Morse and Megan Follows smooth over the script's bumpier sections. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The Desperate Hours directed by Michael Cimino, is an attempt to remake the Humphrey Bogart classic of the same name with indifferent results. Bosworth (Mickey Rourke), a brutal criminal on the run with his partners, takes over a house occupied by an unhappily married couple Nora (Mimi Rogers) and Tim (Anthony Hopkins) and their young son and daughter. Bosworth has escaped from jail with the help of his defense attorney Nancy Breyers (Kelly Lynch). The film focuses on the interactions of the family and Bosworth as he plans his escape to Mexico. Cimino wastes little time in developing the characters or explaining the implausible premise that Bosworth would chose an occupied house and hold an innocent family captive when the logical choice would be to lay low and wait for his chance to escape. Both Hopkins and Rourke, usually excellent actors, give wildly over-the-top performances, aided by the lurid, over-written dialogue of the screenplay and the badly paced, ill-conceived direction by Cimino, which instead of creating tension and suspense, simply confuses the already muddled and incomprehensible plot. The Desperate Hours is a pale example of the original with little to recommend it. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mickey Rourke, Anthony Hopkins, (more)
- 1989
Based on a novel by David Morrell, the made-for-TV Brotherhood of the Rose is unabashedly old-fashioned escapist espionage fare. Peter Strauss and David Morse play polar-opposite CIA agents, code names Romulus and Remus. Their superior-and father figure-is crusty CIA official Robert Mitchum. Though Romulus and Remus are devoted to Mitchum, he is only concerned with the greater good of the service-a philosophy that has become despotic over the years. Now Mitchum has determined that Romulus is expendable. Escaping from CIA assassins, Romulus and Remus stumble into a vast rule-the-world conspiracy called The Brotherhood of the Rose. Filmed in New Zealand, this was originally a long miniseries broadcast in two parts, on January 22 and 23, 1989 - and then edited down to feature length. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The two-part TV movie Cross of Fire is set in the 1920s, when the Ku Klux Klan was at the height of its political power in Indiana. Part One, originally telecast November 5, 1989, details the resurgence of the Klan (which had been created during the Reconstruction era) under the leadership of David "Steve" Stephenson (John Heard). Cloaking himself in the twin veils of patriotism and morality, Stephenson rails against such "deviates" as blacks, Jews and Catholics, gaining political clout and financial kickbacks as his "invisible empire" grows. Part two of Cross of Fire, telecast November 6, traces the fall of Stephenson -- not because his followers have wised up, but because of a 1925 rape and murder charge. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1988
Made for television, Winnie is adapted from the fact-based book Winnie: My Life in the Institution by Jamie Paster Bolnick. Meredith Baxter-Birney plays Winnie Sprockett, who at age 6 is adjudged moderately retarded and confined to an Iowa mental institution. After being locked away for 30 years, Winnie campaigns for her release, attempting to write a book of her experiences. At one point she escapes with a fellow patient (David Morse). Through the intervention of a compassionate administrator (Barbara Barrie), Winnie is at last allowed to re-enter the outside world. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
