Matt Williams
- 1992
A woman loses her son and brother in a mysterious accident which yielded no bodies. Understandably distraught, she is hardly prepared to confront her "dead" brother, now hale and hearty. But the man insists that he's never seen her before. Together with her husband, our heroine investigates this puzzler, uncovering an insidious plot to create a "new" race of humans by wiping out their memory banks. Kim Griest, Gregory Harrison, Cicely Tyson and Kevin McCarthy star in the made-for-TV Duplicates, which made its debut over the USA Cable Network on March 18, 1992. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
One of the largest crimes in history was the 1980 robbery of the Boston Depositors Trust by a group of policemen as related in this true story. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ed Asner, Ray Sharkey, (more)
- 1987
Filmed in Portland, Oregon, The Last Innocent Man stars Ed Harris as an adroit criminal lawyer. Having gotten several obviously guilty clients off the hook, Harris suffers a conscience attack and takes a few months off to get his act together. He is pulled out of his sabbatical by his girl friend Roxanna Hart, who persuades Harris to take on one last case. The client is Hart's estranged husband (Darrell Larson), accused of killing an undercover policewoman. This time the client is blatantly innocent--but Harris utilizes his same old sneaky tactics to win an acquittal and even throws a few new underhanded techniques into the stew. Made for television, The Last Innocent Man premiered over the HBO cable service on April 19, 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ed Harris, Roxanne Hart, (more)
- 1986
When their math teacher Mrs. Westlake (Sonia Braga) goes to the hospital to have her baby, Theo (Malcolm-Jamal Warner) and Cockroach (Carl Anthony Payne II) wonder if they will be spared an upcoming math test. The "answer" arrives in the form of a substitute teacher, leading to a surprisingly serious monologue from the usually insouciant Cockroach! Meanwhile, Denise (Lisa Bonet) comes to the rescue when Vanessa (Tempestt Bledsoe) gets a zit, and Rudy (Keshia Knight Pulliam) tries to master a bike with the nervous assistance of Cliff (Bill Cosby). Fashion model and future Jamie Foxx Show regular Garcelle Beauvais appears unbilled as a nurse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Based on the Stephen King short story The Body, Rob Reiner's easygoing nostalgia piece is set in Castle Rock, OR, over Labor Day weekend, 1959. A quartet of boys, inseparable friends all, set out in search of a dead body that one of the boys overhears his brother talking about. The foursome consists of intellectual Gordie (Wil Wheaton), born leader Chris (River Phoenix), emotionally disturbed Teddy (Corey Feldman), and chubby hanger-on Vern (Jerry O'Connell). The boys' adventures en route to the elusive body are colored by the personal pressures brought to bear on all of them by the adult world. Richard Dreyfuss, playing the grown-up Gordie, narrates the film, while Kiefer Sutherland dominates every scene he's in as a brutish high-school bully. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, (more)
- 1986
Sonia Braga guest stars as Mrs. Westlake, aka "The Dragon Lady", the mercilessly strict and demanding math teacher who has made Theo's life miserable in school. When Mrs. Westlake asks to meet Cliff (Bill Cosby), Theo (Malcolm-Jamal Warner) is worried that he is flunking her class. But during a dinner at the Huxtables, Mrs. Westlake not only reveals that she's actually a very pleasant human being under the right circumstances, but also that she has a pleasant surprise in store for those nearest and dearest to her. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
