Kathleen Quinlan Movies

Directed by Schindler's List screenwriter Steve Zaillian, this courtroom drama is based on a true story and non-fiction book by Jonathan Harr. The case revolves around an incident in 1979 in East Woburn, MA, where two drinking wells supplying water to the town were found to be contaminated with industrial solvents. When toxic waste was discovered later that year, suspicions arose that the local factories caused the pollution. The residents felt these companies were responsible for the unusually high rate of leukemia deaths amongst the town's children. Anne Anderson (Kathleen Quinlan), a mother who lost her son Jimmy to leukemia, fronts an effort to bring a lawsuit against the major conglomerates Beatrice Foods and W. R. Grace & Co for their pollution crimes -- a heavy-duty problem, because these companies have the money to squash the less powerful citizens. Enter Jan Schlichtmann (John Travolta), a personal injury lawyer whose small law firm is hired to sue these industrial giants for millions of dollars in damages. He's up against Jerome Facher (Robert Duvall) and William Cheeseman (Bruce Norris), high-priced lawyers who represent the big companies. Most of the film takes place in the courtroom during the trial. It also features William H. Macy as Schlichtmann's accountant and John Lithgow as the judge. ~ Arthur Borman, 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

"Houston, we have a problem." Those words were immortalized during the tense days of the Apollo 13 lunar mission crisis, and the suspense, fear, and excitement of those days are captured in Ron Howard's epic recreation of the 1970 crisis. When the commander of the original mission Ken Mattingly (Gary Sinise), bows out due to possible exposure to measles, astronaut Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks) leads command module pilot Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon) and lunar module driver Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) on what is slated as NASA's third lunar landing mission. All goes smoothly until the craft is halfway through its mission, when an exploding oxygen tank threatens the crew's oxygen and power supplies. As the courageous astronauts face the dilemma of either suffocating or freezing to death, Mattingly and Mission Control leader Gene Kranz (Ed Harris) struggle to find a way to bring the crew back home, all the while knowing that the spacemen face probable death once the battered ship reenters the Earth's atmosphere. Even though the outcome, in which all three astronauts miraculously survived, is historical fact, the film derives suspense from the situation itself and from the actions of the heroic astronauts and the men on the ground. Howard's taut direction, a solid ensemble of players, and eye-opening special effects all add to the overall impact of the film, which has been hailed as one of Hollywood's best historical dramas. In 2002, the movie was released in IMAX theaters as Apollo 13: The IMAX Experience, with a pared-down running time of 116 minutes in order to meet the technical requirements of the large-screen format. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

Buried under several layers of old-age makeup and outfitted with thick horn-rims and a grey wig, Mary Tyler Moore stars in this TV-movie adaptation of Anna Quindlen's novel Blessings. Moore is cast as octogenarian Lydia Blessing, who lives on a huge country estate, imprisoned by her own bitter memories of the past (depicted in sepia-toned flashbacks, with Janaya Stephens as the young Lydia). The old recluse comes out of her shell briefly to hire a new handyman, sullen ex-convict Skip Cuddy (Liam Waite), who has plenty of his own emotional baggage. When Skip stumbles across an abandoned baby, he sets in motion a series of poignant events that will ultimately return both Lydia and him to the land of the living -- provided that they aren't stopped in their tracks by Lydia's disapproving daughter, Meredith (Kathleen Quinlan), and judgmental housekeeper, Jennifer (China Chow). Filmed on location in Nova Scotia, Blessings first aired October 5, 2003, on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Shattered Glass director Billy Ray directs Chris Cooper and Ryan Philippe in this fact-based drama concerning the FBI traitor who carried out what many historians refer to as the most notable national security breach in U.S. history. A key member of the FBI's elite Soviet Analytical Unit, Robert Hanssen (Chris Cooper) would, for 15 years beginning in 1985, sell thousands of pages of classified documents to the Soviets. After making roughly 600,000 dollars on his clandestine endeavor and compromising everything from the identities of KGB spies working for the American government to nuclear war contingency plans, Hanssen was eventually transferred to a newly created position at the FBI's Washington headquarters and assigned the task of guarding his country's most sensitive secrets. It was while working in this capacity that a young agent named Eric O'Neill (Phillipe) was assigned the task of keeping tabs on Hanssen by suspicious higher-ups. Later, after being arrested while delivering a cache of secret documents to a "dead drop" spot in a Virginia park, the notorious traitor was arrested and sentenced to life in prison with no chance for parole. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

This 1974 TV movie was based upon recent news stories about brainwashing techniques practiced by certain religious communes. Ellen (Kathy Cannon) is a confused teenager who falls in with a group of fanatics, who promise that they'll purge the "Devil" from her soul. Her anguished parents (Leslie Nielsen, Louise Fletcher) hire John Saxon to kidnap Ellen from the commune, and to exorcise the fanatics' influence from her psyche. This film was outdated within a year, but would come back in fashion during the height of the "Moonie" activity in the late 1970s. The original title of Can Ellen Be Saved?, understandably rejected by the network, was Children of God. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this sentimental coming-of-age drama, directed by Richard Mulligan (To Kill a Mockingbird) and written by Mark Medoff (Children of a Lesser God), Whoopi Goldberg plays Clara Mayfield, whom Leona Hart (Kathleen Quinlan) meets up with in Jamaica, where Leona retreats to mourn the death of her baby daughter. Leona comes from a rich Maryland family and she leaves her husband, Bill (Michael Ontkean), and her young son, David (Neil Patrick Harris), back in the States in order to achieve some personal healing. She tells Clara she is in mourning and Clara responds knowingly, "I knew the fact, but not the substance." Hearing this kind of cryptic Charlie Chan-like aphorism, Leona can't resist Clara and hires her as her maid, taking her back with her, like a pet, to Maryland. "Come meet the most wonderful person," she tells her husband, and, to be sure, Clara is out-of-this-world wonderful, and since David's self-absorbed parents are neglecting him for their own private flirtations and obsessions, Clara takes up the slack and becomes, in effect, David's family. Clara dispenses worldly advice and has him spend weekends with her in the inner-city Jamaican community, where David learns how the other half lives. But just as David is letting his guard down and permitting Clara to become his 30-year-old buddy, Clara reveals a chilling past life that includes rape, incest, and suicide. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Kilo was born into a life of crime. By the time he was an adult, he was a full-time dealer, and when he meets Sabeva, the daughter of a Colombian drug kingpin, he reaches the upper levels of drug trafficking. It is a dangerous business, however, and eventually Kilo ends up in prison. Still running his operation from inside of a cell, he is eventually offered a shady deal: his sentence will be suspended if he will murder a convicted child-killer. Now Kilo stands at a crossroads, unsure which actions will clear his conscience, end his sentence, or end his life. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide

In this sci-fi/horror scarefest, Dr. William Weir (Sam Neill) is a scientist who has designed a spacecraft called Event Horizon which will explore the outer reaches of space past the planet Neptune; the ship employs a special transport mechanism that, in effect, creates a black hole that the ship can pass through, allowing it to travel tremendous distances in a few seconds. The Event Horizon mysteriously disappears in the midst of a mission with no trace of either the ship or its crew, but it reappears in Neptune's orbit after a seven year absence and it's sending out a distress signal. The spaceship Lewis and Clark, and Dr. Weir, are sent to investigate; the crew -- Captain Miller (Laurence Fishburne), pilot Smith (Sean Pertwee), engineer Justin (Jack Noseworthy), navigator Starck (Joely Richardson), physician D.J. (Jason Isaacs), and emergency technicians Peters (Kathleen Quinlan) and Cooper (Richard T. Jones) -- are already tired and unenthusiastic about this assignment, and somewhat confused by Weir's reports. The crew of the Lewis and Clark are convinced that Weir is not telling them something, and when they discover the Event Horizon, they find that things are not what they seem, and an evil presence has taken over the ship. Incidentally, the term "event horizon" describes the outer boundaries of a black hole. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this emotional film related to the Yom Kippur War of 1973, an American woman and an Israeli journalist both have husbands who do not return from the fighting, and each woman is convinced that the same prisoner who appears in a film taken in an Egyptian POW camp was her husband. At first the women are antagonistic but as they continue to wait and wait with no word, they begin to empathize with each other's trauma and a deep friendship develops. Whenever the POW in question is released, one of the women may be facing a tragedy spared the other. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Academy Award-nominee Kathleen Quinlan stars in director Melanie Orr's grim tale of a mother and daughter who seek shelter in a home for abused women, only to discover that the woman in charge harbors a deadly secret. Mavis and Victoria were on the run from an abusive relationship when they wandered into the remote shelter run by matronly mother figure Bea (Quinlan). At first Bea was kind and compassionate, taking young Victoria under her wing as Mavis valiantly battled the demons of her past. But as time wore on Mavis began to sense something strange was happening between her daughter and Bea. Victoria was never a hostile girl, but these days she lashes out at her mother like never before. Upon learning that the women who previously checked into the farmhouse never checked out, Mavis realizes that Bea is attempting to brainwash Victoria into killing her own mother. With little time to spare before Victoria is completely lost, Mavis prepares to do battle with the psychotic Bea and escape from the farm before all hope is lost. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A terminally optimistic working class dreamer attempts to shed a few extra pounds, inspire others, and finally get his driver's license so he can fuel up and set out on the road to success. Tracy (Hubbel Palmer) is a 400 pound grocery clerk who's convinced he's destined for greatness. While he's not taking acting lessons from arrogant washed-up has-been Truman Hope (William Baldwin), Tracy can frequently be found mentoring stolid bag boy Kendis Cooley (Vincent Caso) and his friends despite the disapproval of the gang's bullying boy-leader Shawn (Nick Lashaway). Back at home, Tracy is forced to contend with the religious ramblings of his bible-thumping, self-loathing mother Agnes (Kathleen Quinlan) while simultaneously trying to lift the spirits of his lonely sister Peggy (Mary Lynn Rajskub). Later, as things begin to look up for the love-struck Peggy, Tracy finally begins to sense that true fame is just over the horizon. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Based on Tim O'Brien's novel, In the Lake of the Woods is the story of a man driven by demons from his past and a mystery surrounding the disappearance of his wife. John Waylan (Peter Strauss), a candidate for the U.S. Senate in Minnesota, is leading in pre-election polls when a reporter for a Minneapolis newspaper breaks a story about Waylan's involvement in a massacre of civilians while he was a soldier in Vietnam. Waylan loses the election and retreats with his wife, Kathy (Kathleen Quinlan), to a luxurious lakeside cabin owned by friends, where he broods over the past -- not just his tour of duty in Vietnam, but also his troubled childhood, marked by conflict with an abusive, alcoholic father. When Kathy goes missing, John goes to the local authorities, who mount a search for her and a missing boat while Waylan continues to brood over his shattered life. The story is told in multiple flashbacks, with a reporter questioning those who knew Waylan and his wife, including a political operative (Peter Boyle) and Kathy's sister (Nancy Sorel). This film originally ran on Fox in the spring of 1996 and was produced by Hallmark Hall of Fame Productions. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide