Stuart Nisbet 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

In the first episode of a two-part story (originally telecast as a single one-hour special), a heavy rainstorm forces the Seaver family to spend Halloween indoors. To pass the time, the family begin trading ghost stories, beginning with Jason's (Alan Thicke) fanciful yarn about yellow-eyed aliens. When Maggie's (Joanna Kerns) tale of horror turns out to be an educational tract, it looks like everyone is in for a dull evening...until...AUUUGGGGHHH!!! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker story was a "natural" for TV-movie adaptation, and Fall From Grace more than fills the bill. Bernadette Peters heaps on makeup by the trowel as Tammy Faye, the wife of televangelist Jim Bakker (here played with boyish fanaticism by Kevin Spacey). The Bakkers build up their "PTL" organization ("Praise the Lord") into a massive empire encompassing millions of dollars in donations, a cable-TV network, valuable land holdings and a garish religious theme park, Heritage USA. A North Carolina newspaper rocks the boat by investigating inequities in the Bakkers' financial setup. The whole enterprise falls apart when it's discovered that Jim has siphoned off funds to cover up an extramarital affair. Telecast in the spring of 1990 to coincide with the beginning of Jim Bakker's long, long prison sentence, Fall From Grace tries to be fair...for at least fifteen minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In an episode clearly inspired by Peyton Place, a former student of Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) scandalizes the town of Cabot Cove when she publishes a thinly-disguised "roman a clef" titled "The Sins of Castle Cove." The locals aren't too happy that their personalities and peccadilloes have been woven into the plotline of the book--and at least one person is willing to commit murder to suppress the novel's publication. Can it be that Jessica will find a clue to the killer within the pages of the book in question? Julie Adams, Gloria DeHaven, Kathryn Grayson and Ruth Roman return as Cabot Cove's four most garrulous gossips. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Originally broadcast as a two-hour TV movie, this opening episode of Highway to Heaven has since been divided into two one-hour installments for syndication. In part two, probationary angel Jonathan Smith (Michael Landon), adopting the guise of an earthly handyman, continues in his efforts to bring some joy and sunshine into the lives of the unhappy residents of Havencrest, a retirement home slated for demolition. Although most of the elderly residents respond positively to Jonathan's efforts, a bitter, selfish old lady named Estelle (guest star Helen Hayes) refuses to have anything to do with either Jonathan or her contemporaries. Not only is Estelle's attitude hurting her, but it also might ruin Jonathan's chances of ever earning his wings. ~ All Movie Guide

An airliner crashes into the icy waters of Santa Monica Bay, killing several passengers. Investigating, Quincy (Jack Klugman) comes to the conclusion that many of the victims died needlessly, due to an insufficient supply of inflatable lifeboats. Thus begins another crusade for the feisty medical examiner, as he lobbies for stronger safety measures during over-the-water airline flights--and as usual, he meets with stiff opposition from the insensitive powers-that-be. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Beggarman, Thief is the 4-hour sequel to the ratings-busting miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man; both productions were based on the works of novelist Irwin Shaw. For the purposes of the sequel, a new member of the Jordache clan is introduced: filmmaker Gretchen Jordache Burke, played by Jean Simmons. It is Gretchen's task to keep the family together after the murder of her brother Tom (played by Nick Nolte in Rich Man, Poor Man) and the recent disappearance of her other brother Rudy (Peter Strauss, re-creating his RMPM role). Originally presented in two parts, Beggarman, Thief was first telecast November 26 and 27, 1979. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama, two dogged FBI agents are on the case to investigate one of the U.S.'s most infamous bank robberies. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this pilot film for the NBC TV series Medical Story, idealistic young intern Dr. Steve Drucker (Beau Bridges) clashes with three of his superiors over whether a prominent actress should have a hysterectomy. The woman in question is played by Harriet Karr, who had undergone a similar experience in real life. In fact, Karr's ordeal was the inspiration for this film, which was produced and written by her husband, Abby Mann (who also partially adapted the script from an unrelated novel by Dr. Howard A. Oglin). Medical Story first aired on September 4, 1975; the series itself was broadcast weekly until January 8, 1976. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As much an eccentric character study as a road movie, Michael Cimino's directorial debut follows the adventures of a quartet of misfits in their life of crime. Retired thief Thunderbolt (Clint Eastwood) and sweet drifter Lightfoot (Jeff Bridges) meet cute when Thunderbolt jumps into Lightfoot's stolen car to escape a gunman. The pair embarks on an oddball journey to get Thunderbolt's loot from an old robbery before his former associates, the sadistic Red (George Kennedy) and cretinous Goody (Geoffrey Lewis), get to it first, but all four are too late; the one-room schoolhouse hiding place has apparently vanished. So instead, the four play house and work legit jobs while they plot to rob the same place Thunderbolt and Red hit before. Although the plan goes awry, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot discover that they may still have succeeded-or so they think. As the easy-going mediator between the two, Eastwood's Thunderbolt was a move away from his tough cop-westerner image; his audience accepted this then-atypical performance enough to turn Thunderbolt and Lightfoot into a moderate hit. Bridges received his second Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, but Cimino turned down a subsequent deal with Eastwood, moving instead to his artistic peak with The Deer Hunter (1978) and career nadir with Heaven's Gate (1980). ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

In Slither, James Caan plays Dick Kanipsia, a recently paroled car thief whose plans to go straight are interrupted when his best pal Harry Moss (Richard B. Schull) is shot and killed. As he lies dying, Moss advises Kanipsia to seek out fellow crook Barry Fenaka (Peter Boyle), who knows where a huge amount of money stolen by Moss is hidden. Aware that he himself is a marked man, Kanipsia has to play it cool en route to Fenaka. This proves difficult when his erstwhile travelling companion, dopehead Kitty Kopetzky Sally Kellerman, robs a roadside diner in his presence. Since nothing is ever quite what it appears to be in Slither, perhaps we shouldn't tell you any more. This truly serpentine tale served as the feature-film directorial debut of Howard Zieff, the former TV-commercial helmsman responsible for the famous Spicy Meatball ad. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Three teens--a half Navajo (Dean Stockwell), a rebellious girl (Pat Stich) and a retarded boy (Todd Susman)--hit the road after they're accused of killing a policeman. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide