Harve Presnell Movies

Can it be that Monk's beloved wife Trudy, reportedly killed by a bomb blast in 1997, is still alive? That's what Valerie (Traylor Howard) thinks when she sees a woman (Melora Hardin) who not only looks like Trudy, but is also overheard admitting that she faked her own death to save her family from the vengeance of the extremist group which may have ordered the bombing. Naturally, Monk (Tony Shalhoub) is exultant over this news, but Valerie suspects that something is terribly, terribly wrong here--and her suspicions are apparently confirmed when "Trudy" is seen lingering around the body of a murdered man named Ellinghouse (Harve Presnell). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Daphne (Jane Leeves) is convinced that Frasier's reception to unveil a painting will be as big a disaster as most of his parties. Thus, she suggests to Niles (David Hyde Pierce) that they hold the festivities at their home. As the evening progresses, Daphne proves (much to her dismay) that she can be just as big a social screw-up as any other member of the Crane family. The only person who manages to avoid the chaos is the guest of honor artist Mike Shaw (Harve Presnell) -- who, like Daphne's mother Gertrude (Millicent Martin), would rather watch a televised boxing match than put up with the artistic elite. ~ All Movie Guide

Ellen Burstyn stars in this warm family drama. Mattie (Burstyn) is an aging southern belle who realizes that she's getting too old to go on living in a house. After an odd encounter with the local dogcatcher Lamar (Mark Hamill), Mattie befriends Lamar's bad-egg nephew, Wesley (Jonathan Taylor Thomas). Soon he betrays her trust and escapes from juvenile detention. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Dennis Quaid made his directorial debut with this TV movie, a contemporary western filmed in Livingston, Montana with Quaid also down as executive producer. Tough, unemotional ranchowner Jim Clay (Quaid) and his faithful wife Kyle (Mare Winningham) have a teenage son Nathan (Ryan Merriman) who hopes to enter the rodeo big leagues, just like his dad. Instead, an auto accident leaves Nathan a paraplegic. Jim is devastated, since he was the cause of the accident. The situation brings father and son closer as the family attempts to deal with the tragedy. Premiered July 12, 1998 on TNT. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Paying a visit to his grandfather's ranch, Jonny becomes curious about a nearby biodome. Investigating, Jonny and his friend Hadji uncover a scheme hatched by a crooked businessman to build weapons out of uranium. Inside joke: Jonny's granddad is named Doug Wildey -- the same name as the celebrated comic-book artist who developed and nurtured the "classic" Jonny Quest series of the 1960s (the episode was in fact dedicated to the "real" Doug Wildey). "Nuclear Netherworld" originally aired on December 26, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This campy, amateurish horror anthology involves a quartet of spooky tales of the supernatural told around the dinner table by the cast and director of a horror film. The stories involve a mad bomber who gets his macabre comeuppance; a magical coin that transports its owner back in time; a ghost haunting a rich old man's vault; and a karate champion whose desire to achieve the "Tenth Level" reveals a secret for which he isn't prepared. Finally, the framing story ties everything up with a creepy climax. This crudely-shot, stagebound time-waster does very little with the collected tales, relying more on stilted dialogue and shoddy acting than scares or sense. Remarkably subdued work for notorious horror/exploitation filmmaker Joel M. Reed, who dumped Bloodsucking Freaks on an unsuspecting and disgusted public the following year. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

After a debut on Broadway in 1951, Paramount spent an estimated 17 to 20 million dollars in production costs for this Lerner and Loewe musical. With Loewe's permission, Lerner wrote five additional tunes for the film with Andre Previn. Ben Rumson (Lee Marvin) is the grizzled prospector trying his luck panning for gold in California. Pardner (Clint Eastwood) is his companion. When Ben buys a woman from a Mormon, Elizabeth (Jean Seberg) expects equal rights for her gender and chooses to live with both men. Ben and Pardner tunnel under the boomtown to gather the fallen gold dust that has filtered through the cracks of the saloon and other places. The musical comedy features 13 songs, the most recognizable being "They Call The Wind Maria". The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band helps out on the song "Hand Me Down That Can O' Beans". Both Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin are given a chance to show their vocal ability (or lack of it) in several songs. The initial release fell far short of regaining the millions put into the production, and most critics dipped their pens in poison to pan the picture -- though the film plays better than the critics would lead anyone to believe. Many jumped on the Paint Your Wagon smear campaign after the film proved to be not nearly as successful as other musicals. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Though written by Sam Peckinpah (he adapted the film from a novel by Hoffman Birney), the direction of The Glory Guys was entrusted to the competent but perfunctory Arnold Laven. Cavalry captain Demas Harrod (Tom Tryon) and his faithful scout Sol Rogers (Harve Presnell) are placed under the command of xenophobic general Frederick McCabe (Andrew Duggan), who hates Indians almost as much as his own men hate him. When not preparing to decimate every Native American in their path, Harrod and Rogers carry on a rivalry over the hand of pretty Lou (Senta Berger; another authentic Wild West type). The novelty of the film is that the Indians, rather than the cavalry, win the final battle. Despite a few bursts of cinematic creativity from Laven in the climactic scenes, it still would have been more interesting to see how Sam Peckinpah would have handled The Glory Guys. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hoping to murder the man who has swindled him, Ray Clements (Mark Damon) worms his way into the remote monastery where his intended victim is convalescing after a serious car accident. Father Vincent (Everett Sloane), head of the monastery, senses that Ray is up to no good, and tries to persuade him to forget about his murder scheme -- and to forgive his enemy. Ultimately, Ray sees the error of his ways -- and, incidentally, discovers that a murder is entirely unnecessary. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Three men relive their carefree college years by killing off as many brain cells as possible in this over-the-top comedy. Mitch (Luke Wilson) returns home from a less-than-pleasant business trip one evening to discover his wife, Heidi (Juliette Lewis), involved in a ménage à trois with two blindfolded strangers. Feeling less than welcome at home after this, Mitch rents a house near the campus of a nearby college; two of Mitch's old college buddies, Beanie (Vince Vaughn) and Frank (Will Ferrell), stop by to cheer him up. They soon become regular guests at Mitch's place, despite the fact that Frank only recently wed Marissa (Perrey Reeves), while Beanie and his wife, Lara (Leah Remini), are busy with two kids. Beanie decides to throw a housewarming party for Mitch, and since Beanie sells audio equipment for a living, he's able to trick out the big bash with a massive PA system and an appearance by Snoop Dogg. Mitch soon finds he's the not-entirely-willing proprietor of the school's leading party spot, which raises the ire of Pritchard (Jeremy Piven), a dean at the college who was the target of Mitch, Frank, and Beanie's abuse when they were all students. Pritchard arranges to have Mitch's neighborhood zoned into a student housing district, but Beanie and Frank respond by forming a fraternity and making Mitch's home their headquarters. Mitch, however, is not enthusiastic about the idea, especially as he's trying to impress Nicole (Ellen Pompeo), a beautiful divorcee who is less than enchanted with Frank and Beanie's "party hearty" lifestyle. Old School director Todd Phillips knows more than a bit about the seamy side of fraternity life as director of the infamous unreleased documentary Frat House. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Steven Spielberg directed this powerful, realistic re-creation of WWII's D-day invasion and the immediate aftermath. The story opens with a prologue in which a veteran brings his family to the American cemetery at Normandy, and a flashback then joins Capt. John Miller (Tom Hanks) and GIs in a landing craft making the June 6, 1944, approach to Omaha Beach to face devastating German artillery fire. This mass slaughter of American soldiers is depicted in a compelling, unforgettable 24-minute sequence. Miller's men slowly move forward to finally take a concrete pillbox. On the beach littered with bodies is one with the name "Ryan" stenciled on his backpack. Army Chief of Staff Gen. George C. Marshall (Harve Presnell), learning that three Ryan brothers from the same family have all been killed in a single week, requests that the surviving brother, Pvt. James Ryan (Matt Damon), be located and brought back to the United States. Capt. Miller gets the assignment, and he chooses a translator, Cpl. Upham (Jeremy Davis), skilled in language but not in combat, to join his squad of right-hand man Sgt. Horvath (Tom Sizemore), plus privates Mellish (Adam Goldberg), Medic Wade (Giovanni Ribisi), cynical Reiben (Edward Burns) from Brooklyn, Italian-American Caparzo (Vin Diesel), and religious Southerner Jackson (Barry Pepper), an ace sharpshooter who calls on the Lord while taking aim. Having previously experienced action in Italy and North Africa, the close-knit squad sets out through areas still thick with Nazis. After they lose one man in a skirmish at a bombed village, some in the group begin to question the logic of losing more lives to save a single soldier. The film's historical consultant is Stephen E. Ambrose, and the incident is based on a true occurance in Ambrose's 1994 bestseller D-Day: June 6, 1944. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Filmmaking siblings Joel Coen and Ethan Coen both embraced and poked satirical fun at their Minnesotan roots with this comedy-drama-thriller that earned seven Oscar nominations, winning for Best Actress and Best Original Screenplay. Frances McDormand stars as Marge Gunderson, a pregnant police chief whose affable, folksy demeanor masks a whip-smart mind. When a pair of motorists are found slain not far from the corpse of a state trooper, Marge begins piecing together a case involving a pair of dopey would-be kidnappers, Carl (Steve Buscemi) and Gaear (Bergman stock player Peter Stormare). They've been hired by Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy), a car salesman under the thumb of his wealthy, overbearing boss and father-in-law, Wade (Harve Presnell). Jerry's raised some money illegally through a petty scam he's run on General Motors and he's about to get caught. When Wade sours a business deal that could save his son-in-law's hide, the desperate Jerry hires Carl and Gaear to kidnap his wife and hold her for ransom. Things go predictably wrong and a series of murders occur, with Marge, waddling along behind her enormous belly and ever-hungering for an all-you-can-eat buffet, hot on the trail of the killers. Although the credits for Fargo state that the film is loosely based on real events, the story is entirely fictional, the claim being just an ironic jibe on the part of the Coens. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide