William Petersen Movies

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is a fast-paced drama about a passionate team of forensic investigators trained to solve crimes the old-fashioned way by examining the evidence. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is on the case 24-7 scouring the scene collecting irrefutable evidence and finding the missing pieces that will solve the mystery.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is a fast-paced drama about a passionate team of forensic investigators trained to solve crimes the old-fashioned way - by examining the evidence. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is on the case 24-7, scouring the scene, collecting the irrefutable evidence and finding the missing pieces that will solve the mystery.

On a baseball team not often cited for its great players, Ron Santo was a hero and a legend. As a third baseman for the Chicago Cubs, Santo played 14 seasons (1960 through 1974), made the All-Star team nine times, earned five Gold Gloves, and in 1965 became the team's youngest ever captain. While Santo was establishing himself as one of the Cub's greatest players, he was also hiding a secret -- in 1958, the same year Ron signed with the Cubs organization, he was diagnosed with diabetes, but refused to tell his fellow players or the team's physicians for fear of being bumped from the team. In 1971, as the Cubs celebrated Ron Santo Day at Wrigley Field, the baseball great finally went public with his condition, becoming a leading Midwest spokesman and fundraiser for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. In 1990, Santo renewed his association with the Chicago Cubs as a commentator for the team's home games on radio station WGN, and in 2003, he became one of only three Cubs players to have their number officially retired. This Old Cub is a documentary about Ron Santo's remarkable life and career, not only examining his years as a player and broadcaster, but his longtime struggle with the disease that has cost him a leg but has failed to break his spirit, and the crusade by fans and admirers to see Santo inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Noted Cubs enthusiasts Bill Murray, Dennis Franz, and Gary Sinese, and baseball legends Ernie Banks, Johnny Bench, Willie Mays, and Tommy Lasorda are interviewed onscreen; actor Joe Mantegna narrates. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation entered its third season still riding high as network television's top-rated drama program. There was, therefore, no need for CBS to change its time slot, nor to make any major cast changes. There were, however, two significant additions to the cast lineup. A romantic interest was created for series regular Jorja Fox (Sara Sidle) in the form of Hank Peddigrew (Christopher Wiehl), a handsome paramedic. Also, the recurring character of Detective Lockwood (Jeffrey D. Sams) was seen on a more frequent basis. Both of these characters, however, would be effectively disposed of by the time season three was over, with the demise of Lockwood leading to a powerful season finale. In addition, the off-and-on domestic travails of the CSI's Catherine Willows (Marg Helgenberger) were intensified when her husband was killed and her daughter seriously injured. The season's most significant story development involved CSI head man Gil Grissom (William L. Petersen). After a few instances in which he noticed that he was experiencing a hearing loss, Grissom was diagnosed with otosclerosis, a hereditary disorder which threatened to culminate in total deafness. As the third season's final episode drew to it conclusion, Grissom was undergoing surgery to correct this problem -- with the result of the operation remaining unresolved until the beginning of season four. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Considered by many to be the finest ballpark in American baseball, Wrigley Field, the home of the venerable Chicago Cubs, has a rich and storied history. Wrigley Field: Beyond the Ivy documents the structure that is arguably the most famous on Chicago's North Side. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Created by Anthony Zuiker, the CBS cop series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, which first aired on October 6, 2000, could be described as "Quincy for the 21st century." Set in Las Vegas, the weekly, 60-minute series focused on the activities of that city's Crime Scene Investigations Bureau. Working the overnight shift, the principal characters deployed state-of-the-art forensic technology to solve unsolvable crimes. Whenever scientific analysis failed, however, the lab's "criminalists" relied upon good, old-fashioned logic -- logical to them, if not to their superiors. So efficient was the CSI team that it was rated the number two such crime lab in America. The series' main protagonist was Gil Grissom (William L. Petersen), once the youngest coroner in the history of the L.A. police department, who after 15 years with the Vegas PD, was put in charge of the crime lab when its former skipper, the mercurial Captain Jim Brass (Paul Guilfoyle), was transferred back to the homicide division. Grissom's elite ensemble included his second-in-command, onetime exotic dancer Catherine Willows (Marg Helgenberger), who juggled her professional responsibilities with her home duties as a single mother; ex-grave digger Warrick Brown (Gary Dourdan), the only member of the team who was born in Vegas and, as such, the most savvy member when it came to the ins and outs of the casino industry that figured so largely in the proceedings; Warrick's friendly rival, the warm and outgoing Nick Stokes (George Eads), late of the Dallas PD; and the brilliant but somewhat distant Sara Sidle (Jorja Fox), who was initially brought in from San Francisco to investigate the murder of her predecessor, rookie criminalist Holly Gribbs (a case that had lost Captain Brass his position as head of the lab). Each of these worthies brought a distinct specialty to their work: Willows was a blood-splatter analyst, Brown an audio-visual expert, Stokes a hair-and-fiber specialist, and Sidle a materials-and-element analyst.

The criminalists generally worked in sub-teams to investigate the myriad of baffling cases which came across their desk in each episode (usually two crimes were depicted and solved per week). During the series' first three seasons on the air, there were no significant cast changes, though former recurring characters Greg Sanders (Eric Szmanda) and Dr. David Robbins (Robert David Hall) were gradually elevated to weekly-regular status. In many ways, however, there was an unbilled "major character" in the form of the series' fluid camerawork, deploying quickie montages, juxtaposed images, and dreamlike scene transitions -- all complemented by a driving but low-key background music score. Cinematographers like Michael Barrett and Frank Byers and editors like Alex Mackie and Alec Smight were as responsible for the "look" of CSI as were the series' producers, directors, and stars. As of 2002, the highly rated series had been nominated for a myriad of Emmy Awards, scoring one win for makeup artists Nicholas Pagliaro, John Goodwin, and Melanie Levitt. 2002 was also the year that the producers cooked up a spin-off series, CSI: Miami. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A jury argues a case in a stuffy room on a hot summer's day. Eleven say "guilty!" But one holdout (Jack Lemmon) is convinced of the defendant's innocence and stubbornly argues "reasonable doubt." This tense courtroom drama is a remake of Sidney Lumet's 1957 favorite and was produced for the Showtime cable network. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

A veteran New York City detective's world is turned upside down when his estranged brother is suspected of murdering a powerful mob boss in this thriller starring Michael Biehn, William Petersen, and Leo Rossi. Al Scarano (Nick Vallelonga) is a Big Apple detective living the good life, but when a mobster named Tony C (Petersen) calls him to Little Italy late one night, Scarano's cozy self-contained universe slowly begins to unravel. It appears that Scarano's estranged brother Rudy was seen fleeing the scene of a high profile mafia hit, and before Tony C. sends his henchmen to find out the truth the hard way, he offers Scarano one chance to seek out his brother and get to the bottom of the matter. As Scarano's wife pleads with her conflicted husband to leave the past behind and start a new life, the detective must weigh the value of his own life against that of his troublesome bloodline. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The first of a number of sequels to the highly successful western mini-series Lonesome Dove featured few of the same actors as the original, nor was it based on a novel by Larry McMurtry. In this outing, onetime Texas Ranger Call (Jon Voight, replacing Tommy Lee Jones) heads a group of cowboys leading horses from Texas north to Montana. Along the way, Call again meets Clara Allen (Barbara Hershey, taking over for Anjelica Huston), the love of his late partner McCrae's life. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi

Based on a novel by Thomas McGuane, this made-for-TV feature stars William Petersen as Joe Starling, a painter suffering from creative block. For inspiration, he returns to his family's Montana home, only to find the land coveted by a malevolent developer (Jack Palance). ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi

Set during the 1950s, this made-for-cable serio-comedy stars William Petersen as the lovesick manager of a minor league baseball team whose team makes a pennant run. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi

The hard-ball gamesmanship and casual character assassination of American politics sets the stage for this thriller from writer and director Rod Lurie. When the Vice President of the United States unexpectedly dies, all eyes in Washington D.C. are on President Jackson Evans (Jeff Bridges) as he chooses a new VP. Sen. Jack Hathaway (William Petersen), a respected career politician enjoying a new swell of popularity after a well-publicized attempt to save a drowning woman, is expected to be Evans' choice, but instead he picks Sen. Laine Hanson (Joan Allen), a decision that raises eyebrows on both sides of the political fence. Veteran power broker Shelly Runyon (Gary Oldman) is vehemently opposed to Hanson's appointment, in part because the Democratic senator was once a Republican, and vows to do everything in his power to prevent her from being confirmed. Runyon and his staff start digging for dirt on Hanson, and soon make a surprising discovery -- her personal morality is called into question when it's alleged that she took part in a group sexual liaison while she was a college student. The Contender also stars Mike Binder as one of Hanson's advisors, Mariel Hemingway as an old friend with a surprising secret, Christian Slater as an ambitious congressmen assisting Runyon, and Philip Baker Hall as Hanson's father; it was the second feature from former film critic Rod Lurie. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi