Ross Petty Movies
In this made-for-TV drama, a teenage girl named Sarah (Kathleen Robertson) is flying home to see her parents when she falls ill. While Sarah is convinced that she has simply come down with a bad cold, when she keels over and dies while crossing a street, an autopsy reveals that Sarah had in fact contracted the pneumonic plague. Dr. Nora Hart (Kate Jackson), the hospital's authority on epidemics and highly contagious diseases, now must track down as many people as possible who came in contact with the girl before the plague begins to spread -- including Calvin Phillips (Howard Hessman), a congressman Sarah met on her flight. Based on the novel The Black Death by Gweneth Cravens and John C. Marr, Quiet Killer also stars Jerry Orbach, Luis Guzman, and Al Waxman. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- 1991
- PG13
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In F/X 2: The Deadly Art of Illusion, Bryan Brown returns as movie special-effects designer Rollie Tyler. Having barely escaped with his life after being duped and exploited by the villains in the first F/X, he isn't too eager to channel his talents into police work again. He'd much rather design harmless playthings for the kiddies. Still, detective Mike Brandon (Tom Mason) manages to convince Rollie to help the cops trap a dangerous voyeur. When Brandon is killed, Rollie suspects there's more to the story than meets the eye. With the aid of his old buddy Leo McCarthy (Brian Dennehy, likewise a veteran of the first F/X), Rollie uncovers a vast conspiracy involving both the police and organized crime. Of course, this compels Rollie to come up with a series of dazzling live-action special effects to confound the bad guys. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bryan Brown, Brian Dennehy, (more)
- 1983
Love and Larceny is a Canadian distaff version of The Sting. The film is set at the turn of the century; its protagonist is the fetching Jennifer Dale. An accomplished con artist, Dale tires of fleecing the provincial suckers. She heads to New York City to seek her fortune--or anyone else's fortune, for that matter. Also starring in Love and Larceny are veteran Canadian supporting players Kenneth Welsh and Douglas Rain (the voice of "Hal" in 2001: A Space Odyssey). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 2002
A minor Bay Area earthquake yields only one fatality: San Francisco philanthropist Henry Rutherford (Ross Petty), who was apparently killed by a falling object. A longtime friend of the Rutherford family, Sharona (Bitty Schram) brings Monk (Tony Shalhoub) along to pay a condolence call to Henry's young widow Christina (Janine Theriault). But as a result of this "friendly" drop-in, Monk begins obsessively dogging Christina's trail, certain that she has committed murder. Amy Sedaris of Strangers with Candy fame makes her first series appearance as Sharona's sister Gail. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1986
Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) is once more dragged out of retirement to defend a murder suspect. This time the defendant is an obnoxious actor (Joe Penny) who was seen by an audience of millions in the act of shooting a vitriolic TV talk show host (Allan Thicke). The actor claims the shooting was a prearranged publicity stunt, and that his gun was filled with blanks. Why, then, was the host stone cold dead when the cops arrived? Production sidelight: Allan Thicke, the "murdered" talk host in this made for TV movie, was in 1983 the real host of a failed talk show--a show produced by Fred Silverman, who also happened to be the producer of Perry Mason: The Case of the Shooting Star.. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Raymond Burr, Barbara Hale, (more)
- 1986
A Canadian-Australian coproducton which originally aired over Australia's 7 Network, the six-hour miniseries Spearfield's Daughter stars Kim Braden as the title character. The daughter of a prominent and powerful Australian politician (Chris Wiggins), Cleo Spearfield (Kim Braden) incurs her father's wrath by becoming a reporter, with the Vietnam war as her "beat." When not dodging bullets and negotiating rice paddies, Cleo is wooed by two attractive gentemen, gonzo American journalist Tom Border (Steve Railsback) and Murdoch-like British publishing mogul Lord Jack Cruze (Christopher Plummer. Adapted by Jon Cleary from his own novel, Spearfield's Daughter was syndicated to the US beginning the week of May 25, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1984
The Guardian is set in an upper-class New York apartment building, recently plagued by a series of break-ins and murders. The tenants eagerly enlist the services of former military officer John Mack (Louis Gossett Jr.) as the building's head of security. Slowly but surely, the tenants give up their freedom of movement to Mack, who runs the place like his own private fiefdom. Bristling over this infringement upon his rights, liberal-minded tenant Charles Hyatt (Martin Sheen) begins to suspect that the killings were orchestrated by Mack himself as a means of gaining power over his employers. Stirring up a respectable amount of suspense, the made-for-cable The Guardian debuted October 20, 1984, over the HBO service. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1986
- R
In this mystery-thriller based on a novel by Ruth Rendell, Eunice (Rita Tushingham, wife of director Ousama Rawi) is a housekeeper who gets a job working for an older doctor and his wife in the U.S. Eunice is super-sensitive, rather homely, and illiterate. But she makes friends with a religious fanatic (Jackie Burroughs) who is quite willing to go along with whatever she has in mind. When a murder occurs, could Eunice and her good buddy be a bit more disturbed than first assumed? ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Rita Tushingham, Ross Petty, (more)
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