Maria Rangel Movies
14-year-old Holly Nolan (Gina Philips) lives unhappily with her hyperjudgmental mother Donna (Talia Shire) and her brother Ted (Eddie Mills). To escape the pressures of her home life and make herself feel important, Holly begins hanging out with an older crowd, and in the course of events falls in love with 19-year-old Chris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) an Army reservist who has been disowned by his family. When Donna violently objects to Holly's romance with Chris, the couple elope and head off to Calfornia, certain that all they need to survive in the "outside" world is their love for each other. But it isn't enough: Repeatedly battered down by disillusionment and deprivation, Holly and Chris can't even return to her home town, where Chris faces charges for being AWOL--and, thanks to Holly's vengeful mother, for statutory rape. With apparently no other alternative, Chris resorts to the "easiest" way to stay alive, becoming a male prostitute on the mean streets of LA. Innovative direction and a driving musical score featuring such artists as Van Halen, Peter Himmelman, Lisa Cerbone and Sarah McLaughlin) helps sustain the viewers' interest and fascination in this sordid (but not sordidly told) made-for-TV movie. Born Into Exile made its NBC network debut on March 17, 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The main attraction in the lurid "pleasure palace" of Enola is the tragic Lucina (Maria Therese Rangel), who now regrets having run away from her loyal farmer husband Atticus (Bruce Phillips). Hercules (Kevin Sorbo) promises Atticus that he will try to save Lucina from her evil master, Pilot (Carl Bland), and bring her home unharmed. But if Pilot cannot have Lucina, no one can; he vows that no one will even survive the effort to rescue her. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Sorbo, Michael Hurst, (more)
When Canadian mountie Fraser (Paul Gross) and American cop Ray (Raymond Vecchio) are assigned to protect their respective country's diplomats at a NAFTA convention, Fraser manages to run afoul of his Mexican counterpart, government agent Anita Cortez (Maria Therese Rangel). One mishap leads to another, and before long Fraser is reduced to addressing invitations for the convention under the supervision of several 12-year-olds. Even so, Fraser and Anita manage to forget their differences long enough to go after a suspected assassin. Take a look at the names of the three "Special Agents" in the supporting cast--sound familiar? First broadcast on American television, this episode made its US debut on February 16, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Gross, David Marciano, (more)
This comedy, set in the barrios East L.A. is loosely based upon Mark Twain's parable The Million Pound Bank Note. The new version tells the tale of Juan Lopez a nice, but uneducated hombre trying to earn enough money to support his little boy. Though Juan was born in the States, he lacks proper documentation and is sent back to Mexico. Now he sells oranges at an intersection. His life looks hopeless when a limousine pulls up and he is handed an envelope containing a check for one million dollars. He is told that he has one month. If he uses the money correctly he will get an award. Juan is suspicious and takes it to his immigration worker who encourages him to check it out. A Beverly Hills banker almost has apoplexy upon examining the check and Juan knows he has the real thing. Now the good-hearted Juan must avoid the temptations, and the greedy people that suddenly surround him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Rodriguez, Polly Draper, (more)
Following up his debut, Young Einstein (1988), Yahoo Serious wrote, directed and starred in this broad comedy as the titular hero, a modern-day, fictional descendant of a real-life Australian Robin Hood, Ned Kelly. Carrying on the family tradition of stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, Ned crosses the wealthy Sir John (Hugo Weaving), who arranges the sale of Kelly's coastal property to a Japanese buyer. Forbidden by the Kelly family code of honor from stealing to profit himself, the motorcycle-riding Ned decides to raise the money needed to save his lands by going to America. Stateside, his bank robbery scheme falls through, but he finds stardom as the lead in a Hollywood motion picture that might give him the money to foil Sir John's greedy plans. Ned also encounters romance with a teller, the appropriately named Robin Banks (Melora Hardin). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yahoo Serious, Melora Hardin, (more)
Lou Diamond Phillips stars in this contrived but entertaining thriller (which he also wrote) as Mitchell Osgood, an aspiring writer who runs a Los Angeles bookstore. When a heartfelt book about his father Haing S. Ngor fails to win him a publishing deal, Osgood decides to write something more eye-catching -- a book about recently-released serial killer Albert Merrick Clancy Brown. The media beats him to it, so the ruthlessly ambitious Osgood decides to spur Merrick to commit more crimes, hiring him to work at the bookstore and playing cruel mind games in hopes of setting Merrick off. He does, but the results are quite different from what Osgood had anticipated. Phillips' performance is weak, and the screenplay is predictably bland, but the film remains worthwhile thanks to a terrific job by Brown as the killer. Brown has turned in a number of fine psycho performances, but he has rarely been better than he is here, building from understated diffidence to full-blown psychosis in expert fashion. Grace Zabriskie and Willard E. Pugh co-star with Cecilia Peck. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clancy Brown, Cecilia Peck, (more)
In this action film, when Panama is threatened by an invasion of U. S. Troops, a group of radical Panamanians capture a nuclear sub from the Russians and station themselves outside of Houston, threatening to blow the city up unless the Americans meet their demands. It is up to American submarine commander McKenzie (Michael Moriarty) to stop the Panamanians and save Houston from annihilation. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Moriarty, Maria Rangel, (more)
Trash-TV pioneer Morton Downey Jr. stars as an evil savings-and-loan financier who is investigated by a private eye (Robert Davi) in this thriller also released as Ladies Game. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
Actress Sondra Locke directed this visceral film noir about undercover cop Lottie Mason (Theresa Russell). A narcotics cop with the LAPD, she works a second shift at night as an undercover vice cop. Lottie works the bars and lures johns into the arms of the law. But her life is in a rut, and she would love to act on impulse like the narcotics and vice personas she adopts daily on the job. During the course of her duties, she begins a romantic relationship with district attorney Stan Harris (Jeff Fahey), who gets her involved with a case he is working on against a drug lord. But Stan is too nice to her, and she bolts from his apartment and into the nearest bar. After a few slugs of whiskey, she decides that for this one time, she will play out the role as a hooker, take a john to her apartment, and take the money. A guy saddles up to her and she goes back to his house. But the man happens to be the same drug kingpin Stan is building his case against. He is soon murdered, and she is left with a dead body and a case with $900,000 in drug money. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Theresa Russell, Jeff Fahey, (more)
Cop Killers was one of five Police Story specials, telecast in the fall of 1988. These "new" 2-hour specials were actually rewrites of scripts from the original Police Story series of 1973-80; there was an industry strike going on in '88, and networks needed material in a hurry. Ken Olin stars in Cop Killers as a police officer who feels unworthy of his medal of valor. He acted "correctly" during a shootout, but his partner was killed in the crossfire. Olin's guilt gradually begins to take a toll on his marriage to Patricia Wettig (the real-life Mrs. Ken Olin). Police Story: Cop Killers was first telecast October 29, 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide












