Mackenzie Phillips Movies

A troubled war veteran tries to unlock his memories of a terrible crime in this stylish thriller, the first American project for British filmmaker John Maybury. In 1991, Jack Starks (Adrien Brody) was an American soldier serving in the Persian Gulf when he was shot in the head; pronounced dead by a field surgeon, Starks somehow returned to life, though with no small number of psychological problems to show for his troubles. A year later, Starks is walking through the snowy Vermont wilderness when he discovers a woman whose truck has broken down, Jean (Kelly Lynch). Starks tries to help Jean and her young daughter, and later flags down a car for a ride into town; however, the car is being driven by a criminal on the run from the police (Brad Renfro), and not long after the car is cornered by police, Starks' memory goes blank. When he comes to, Jack is accused of killing a patrolman in the violent standoff that followed, and is told the woman, her daughter, and the criminal existed only in his imagination. Declared insane in his murder trial, Starks is sentenced to a mental institution run by Dr. Becker (Kris Kristofferson), who seems to believe that the more brutal the treatment, the better. As Starks suffers frequent beatings and long spells in a frozen locker, his mind drifts from his harrowing past into the future, where he visits with Jackie (Keira Knightley), who once was the young girl Starks tried to help. The Jacket also features Jennifer Jason Leigh as Dr. Lorenson, a compassionate doctor who tries to help Starks and his fellow patients. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This made-for-cable feature is based on the true story of Heather and Heidi Burge (played by Poppi Monroe and Annie McElwain), twin sisters, who, like many siblings, found that their strongly divergent personalities led to many conflicts as they were growing up. However, both sisters shared a passionate love of the game of basketball; while their rivalry often manifested itself on the court in their school days, in time both Heather and Heidi were recognized as among the best women in the game, and they became the first twins to play in the WNBA. Doubled Teamed also stars Mackenzie Phillips and Chris Olivero. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The annual North American UFO Convention degenerates into a series of heated arguments between various factions of "true believers." One of the donnybrooks is instigated by Max Buford (Don Thompson), who claims he has come into possession of a fragment from an alien spaceship. This sparks a power struggle between mild-mannered Boo Weston (Mackenzie Phillips) and the imperious Gunther Van Owen (Jerry Wasserman) -- which may be part of a master plan by the Government to discredit the entire convention. "Down to Earth" first aired on April 21, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Medavoys have split up again: Greg (Gordon Clapp) leaves home and camps out at the precinct station, while Marie (Deborah Taylor) finally meets her husband's "significant other," Donna (Gail O'Grady). A curious tattoo leads Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) and Simone (Jimmy Smits) to a Chinese gangster, the former boyfriend of a murdered teenage girl. And while investigating an assault case involving a wheelchair-bound woman (MacKenzie Phillips) and a man claiming to be a cop, Martinez (Nicholas Turturro) learns the truth about the allegedly gay Adrianne Lesnick (Justine Miceli). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Up-and-coming actress Nita Cochran (Alice Krige), who happens to be the niece of Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury), lands a plum role on a popular TV soap opera. Nita has been cast as a serial murderer--a fact that proves most unfortunate when an actual murder occurs at the TV studio. The victim was Nita's boss, who may or may not have been planning to abruptly write her off the show. . .but it soon develops that Nita was only one of several people with a strong motive. This episode represents the final TV appearance of Lloyd Nolan, whose well-known difficulty in memorizing lines is cleverly woven into the final scene. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Fast Friends is a lumpy satire set "backstage" at a talk show (imagine what the film would have been like had it been made in 1989 rather than '79). Most of the action centers around egotistical, near-lunatic talk host Dick Shawn. His frantic antics are counterpointed with the story of career woman Susan Heldfond, a divorcee who re-enters the workplace for the sake of her child. This made-for-TV film costars former critic's darling Carrie Snodgress and then-hot actress MacKenzie Phillips. But the real attraction in Fast Friends is the prescient appearance of tenth-billed David Letterman as "Matt Morgan", a brash comedian who has the temerity to upstage the preening Dick Shawn. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The "Gold Dust Twins" are two L.A. gals who kidnap a likable-loser type who's a driving instructor (Alan Arkin) and force him to take them from Los Angeles to New Orleans. On the way they run into action of all sorts, and by the time they get to the Bayou state, the three have bonded as buddies. ~ All Movie Guide

Its title inspired by the famous Robert Frost poem "Stopping By a Woods on a Snowy Evening," Miles to Go Before I Sleep stars Martin Balsam and MacKenzie Phillips. Balsam plays a lonely senior citizen, seeking a means of keeping busy in a world that has shut him out. He takes a part-time job at a youth rehabilitation center, where he meets incorrigible delinquent Phillips. Tentatively reaching out to one another, the two lost souls both find a reason for living. Miles to Go Before I Sleep was first telecast as a 90-minute GE Theater special on January 8, 1975. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It's the last night of summer 1962, and the teenagers of Modesto, California, want to have some fun before adult responsibilities close in. Among them are Steve (Ron Howard) and Curt (Richard Dreyfuss), college-bound with mixed feelings about leaving home; nerdy Terry "The Toad" (Charles Martin Smith), who scores a dream date with blonde Debbie (Candy Clark); and John (Paul Le Mat ), a 22-year-old drag racer who wonders how much longer he can stay champion and how he got stuck with 13-year-old Carol (Mackenzie Phillips) in his deuce coupe. As D. J. Wolfman Jack spins 41 vintage tunes on the radio throughout the night, Steve ponders a future with girlfriend Laurie (Cindy Williams), Curt chases a mystery blonde, Terry tries to act cool, and Paul prepares for a race against Bob Falfa (Harrison Ford), but nothing can stop the next day from coming, and with it the vastly different future ushered in by the 1960s. Fresh off The Godfather (1972), producer Francis Ford Coppola had the clout to get his friend George Lucas's project made, but only for $750,000 on a 28-day shooting schedule. Despite technical obstacles, and having to shoot at night, cinematographer Haskell Wexler gave the film the neon-lit aura that Lucas wanted, evoking the authentic look of a suburban strip to go with the authentic sound of rock-n-roll. Universal, which wanted to call the film Another Slow Night in Modesto, thought it was unreleasable. But Lucas' period detail, co-writers Willard Huyck's and Gloria Katz's realistic dialogue, and the film's nostalgia for the pre-Vietnam years apparently appealed to a 1973 audience embroiled in cultural chaos: American Graffiti became the third most popular movie of 1973 (after The Exorcist and The Sting), establishing the reputations of Lucas (whose next film would be Star Wars) and his young cast, and furthering the onset of soundtrack-driven, youth-oriented movies. Although the film helped spark 1970s nostalgia for the 1950s, nothing else would capture the flavor of the era with the same humorous candor and latent sense of foreboding. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide