Corbin Bernsen Movies
The son of actress Jeanne Cooper, Corbin Bernsen graduated from UCLA, boasting a BA degree in theatre arts and an MFA in playwrighting. From age 20 onward, Bernsen managed to find work in LA-based movies and TV productions. Things didn't immediately break for him when he moved to New York in the 1980s, so he took carpentry and modelling jobs until landing the part of Kenny Graham in the ABC daytime drama Ryan's Hope. Bernsen achieved celebrity status with his regular role as Arnie Becker in the TV series LA Law (1987-94). The best of his most recent films has been Major League (1990), in which he plays an investment-conscious baseball player. Corbin Bernsen remained more or less in this line of work with his role as an athlete-turned-sportcaster in the 1995 sitcom Whole New Ballgame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Love and political ambition both run afoul of deceit in this suspense story. Sam Brady (Corbin Bernsen) is a federal District Attorney willing to do whatever it takes to get to the top, including extorting incriminating information from Mulroney (Thomas G. Waites), a corrupt police officer, in order to ruin the reputation of the son of a prominent senator. Sam is also involved with two women at once, Barbara (Jane Heitmeyer) and Genevieve (Maryam d'Abo), a situation made all the more complicated by the fact that the two women are close friends. When Sam discovers that Genevieve is pregnant with his child, he reluctantly breaks off his relationship with Barbara and asks Genevieve to marry him. However, Sam's flirtation with danger in his career and personal life has dangerous consequences when he discovers that he's being followed, and someone is using supernatural means to get their vengeance against him. An American Affair maked the debut of director Sebastian Shah. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Markie Post, Corbin Bernsen, and Kelsey Grammer headline this tightly wound thriller about a devoted wife who makes a shocking discovery about her successful and outwardly upstanding husband, a successful dentist. Inspired by a true story, Appointment for a Killing opens as Joyce Benderman (Post) basks in the glow of her recent good fortune. Raised in poverty, Joyce can't believe her luck when she is married to charismatic dentist Stan (Bernsen). Stan is everything a woman like Joyce could ever want; he's successful, handsome, and a good provider. But Stan has a dark side that's about to flip his wife's world upside down. When Joyce discovers that Stan is an adulterer, who thrives on sexually ensnaring and manipulating young, unsuspecting women, she begins to suspect that he may also be the culprit responsible for a recent series of heinous murders. At once terrified of her husband yet determined to stop him, Joyce agrees to aid a federal agent (Grammer) in tricking her husband into admitting his guilt. But this game is deadly serious, because should Joyce arouse her husband's suspicions odds are good that she'll become his next victim. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Corbin Bernsen, Markie Post, (more)
- 2002
As if audiences in mid-2002 weren't nervous enough about anticipated enemy attacks on America, this made-for-cable movie speculates on the disastrous possibilities of a tornado hitting a nuclear power plant. Racing against time, nuclear expert Corinne Maguire (Sharon Lawrence), sheriff C.B. Bishop (Corbin Bernsen) and deputy Jake Hannah (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) try to evacuate the locals and prevent the vaporization of Tennessee (if that power plant goes, "it'll make Chernobyl look like a firecracker"). Complicating matters is the fact that Sharon's 12-year-old Campbell (Daniel Costello) is nowhere to be found. Advertised on the strength of the presence of two NYPD Blue stars in the cast -- one former (Sharon Lawrence), one current (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) -- Atomic Twister made its TBS Superstation debut on June 9, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sharon Lawrence, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, (more)
- 1995
Russian Francesca Zaborszin (Natalya Andreichenko) is convinced that the United States is responsible for her father's death. Crazed for revenge, she has devised a system that scrambles the navigational controls of commercial airliners, causing them to crash without warning. After two major air disasters in as many days, Capt. Gordon Pruett (Bruce Payne), a United States Air Force fighter pilot, is called into action. It is discovered that Francesca's secret control system is based in a Middle Eastern terrorist complex; Pruett is ordered to bomb the facilities before more airliners can crash (and more innocent lives are lost), but he finds himself unable to carry out his orders when he discovers another American pilot is being held hostage at the base. The supporting cast includes Corbin Bernsen and Dennis Christopher. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Natalya Andreichenko, Bruce Payne, (more)
- 1995
- R
After a drug deal goes horribly awry, Bebe and Alex (Molly Ringwald and Donal Logue) flee to Baja where they wait for money and passports to arrive. Bebe's father (Corbin Bernsen) sends Bebe's not-yet-divorced ex-husband Michael (Michael Nickles) after her, hoping he can talk some sense into Bebe. While Bebe and Alex get increasingly irritated and Michael searches the streets of Baja, a ill-tempered and cut-throat hitman (Lance Henriksen) shows up and befriends Michael. Eventually, all the characters collide in the desert in an explosive confrontation. Typical Elmore Leonard-type plot situation among criminals, but the lush photography of Baja and the competent performances keep this film taut and fresh looking. Henriksen in particular breathes life into a very cliched character making the audience wish the whole film was about him. ~ Sean D. MacLaggan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Molly Ringwald, Lance Henriksen, (more)
- 1989
- R
Tony award-winning British musical comedy star Robert Lindsay makes his first important American film appearance in Bert Rigby, You're a Fool. Lindsay, of course, plays the title character, a coal miner who dreams of becoming a big showbiz star. Only problem is, there's very little demand for Bert Rigby's impersonations of Buster Keaton and Gene Kelly. Undaunted, Bert heads to Hollywood, where, while working as a butler in the household of movie mogul Jim Shirley (Corbin Bernsen), he must fend off the advances of Shirley's hot-to-trot wife, Meredith (Anne Bancroft). Befitting the old-fashioned nature of Bert Rigby's behavior and tastes in entertainment, director Carl Reiner adopts a "retro" approach to his material; at times, the film looks as though it was made in 1939 rather than 1989, despite its R-rated sex, profanity, and body-function jokes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Lindsay, Cathryn Bradshaw, (more)
- 1993
Married for 12 years to dentist Corbin Bernsen, Markie Post comes to the sudden and startling conclusion that her husband is a murderer-many times over. While she is able to get a divorce, she is unable to pin any of the killings on Bernsen. Scott free, Post's ex threatens dire consequences for herself and her child. Federal agent Kelsey Grammer attempts to trap Bernsen into a confession; to do this, he must rely on Post to win back her former husband's confidence. Though it starts rather too pokily, the fact-based Beyond Suspicion builds steadily and craftily to its heart-pounding conclusion. Made for television, the film first aired November 22, 1993. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Markie Post, Corbin Bernsen, (more)
- 1996
In this crime thriller, a hard-boiled police detective reluctantly teams up with a best-selling author in order to catch a fugitive killer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1996
When a vengeful husband begins killing everyone associated with his wife, a writer of best-selling crime novels must team up with a beautiful martial arts expert to stop him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Corbin Bernsen, Nia Peeples, (more)
- 2000
A boy's world is turned upside down when his parents split up in this emotional drama. When Vicky and Benjamin Walling (Stephanie Zimbalist and Corbin Bernsen) file for divorce, their son Jeremy (Robin Dunne) finds himself caught in the middle of an emotional tug of war. Benjamin has decided to stay in his hometown of Detroit with his oldest son Buddy (Will Sanderson), while Vicky is moving to Windsor, Canada, and is taking Jeremy with her. Jeremy has trouble fitting in at his new school, and he begins attending a support group for children of divorced parents. At his meetings, Jeremy meets Beth (Catarina Scorsone), a girl whose tough-as-nails exterior hides the fact that she's still coming to terms with her folks' breakup. Jeremy and Beth start dating, and he decides to give the school's track team a try, where he has to deal with a very demanding coach (Michael Ironside). Between his parents, his brother, his girlfriend, and the track coach, Jeremy finds himself in a position where he isn't sure how to satisfy the demands of everyone around him -- or even make himself happy. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicholas Treeshin, Corbin Bernsen, (more)
- 1989
Breaking Point is a TV remake of the 1965 theatrical feature 36 Hours. Corbin Bernsen plays a wartime US intelligence officer, who carries within him secrets of the upcoming D-Day invasion. Captured by the Germans, Bernsen refuses to buckle under torture, and passes out. He wakes up in an American Army Hospital, where he is told that he's been in a coma for seven years; it's 1951, and the Allies have won the war. So why not reveal those D-Day secrets he so fiercely protected back in 1944? Bernsen suspects that something is amiss, as indeed there is: It is still June of 1944, and this "American Army hospital" is smack-dab in the middle of Nazi Germany. Polish actress Joanna Pacula co-stars as an enigmatic nurse, who may turn out to be Bernsen's staunchest ally--or his executioner. Breaking Point first aired over the TNT cable service on August 18, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2004
Sopranos ingenue Jamie-Lynn DiScala stars as the infamous Hollywood madam in this made-for-cable bio-flick. Produced without the participation of Heidi Fleiss herself, Call Me traces the Pandering author's progression from pampered daughter of a liberal doctor (Saul Rubinek) to headline-grabbing proprietress of a ring of pricey Tinseltown escorts. Robert Davi and Brenda Fricker co-star as the boyfriend/pimp and the old-guard madam who offer Fleiss her entrée into the oldest profession. Corbin Bernsen plays a big-time movie producer who requires high kink from "Heidi's girls" to sate his jaded sexual appetites. The script, by Norman Snider, covers Fleiss' bust but trails off after her incarceration without covering her subsequent rehabilitation as a legitimate businesswoman. Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss premiered in April 2004 on the USA network. Snider previously worked on the script for another naughty TV flick, Rated X, which starred Charlie Sheen -- one of the few high-flying Fleiss customers to be named publicly during her early-'90s legal ordeals. Fleiss was previously the subject of Nick Broomfield's documentary Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jamie-Lynn DiScala, Robert Davi, (more)
A high-profile advertising executive who's struggling to land a lucrative promotion gets an important lesson from a most unlikely source in the feature directorial debut of prolific television actor Corbin Bernsen. Joel Goodman (Rick Hearst) is content with his high-paying job and his happy home life, but when a hard-working and high-ranking colleague literally works himself to death, the friendly competition between Joel and his co-worker Tom (Sean Kanan) turns as serious as a heart attack. In Joel's eyes, the only thing standing between him and the newly available corner office is the slow-going, bumper-to-bumper Los Angeles traffic that he is forced to contend with on a daily basis -- a problem easily resolved when Joel hires a homeless man (Anthony Geary) to join him in the daily commute so that Joel may have access to the faster moving carpool lanes. Though at first the pair seem to have little in common, conversation soon reveals that, despite outward appearances, Joel's new traveling companion knows a thing or two about getting ahead in business, and that in order to be successful in the office one must first find happiness in the home. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rick Hearst, Sean Kanan, (more)
- 1996
Here's something new in the annals of made-for-cable movies: a dysfunctional family of three in outer space. Coming across a derelict spaceship, Foster Carver (Corbin Bernsen), his wife, Katrina (Lara Harris), and their daughter, Amy (Brittany Ashton Holmes), rescue the vessel's sole survivor, a handsome fellow named Adam (Richard Grieco). It soon develops that everyone else on the derelict ship has been murdered, and that Adam is an android who has been programmed without morals or conscience -- as proven when Adam brazenly sets about to seduce Katrina and wipe out the rest of her family. An extraterrestrial variation on the old theatrical feature Dead Calm, Inhumanoid originally aired July 23, 1996, as part of the Showtime channel's "Roger Corman Presents" series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Grieco, Lara Harris, (more)
Two women forced to deal with the ugly specter of domestic violence find support in one another in this made-for-television drama. Beth (Donna Mills) has spent years in a violent relationship with her husband Tim (Corbin Bernsen), who batters her on a regular basis. One day, Beth reaches the end of her rope, packing up her children and leaving her husband behind. Tim, however, isn't about to let Beth go, and begins following her every move. In order to put an end to his stalking, Beth enters a shelter for abused women, where she meets Kaye (Robin Givens), a fellow beaten spouse. Beth and Kaye become fast friends, and they decide to find a house together. However, Kaye unfortunately also has a husband who refuses to leave her be, and when her former spouse violently attacks her, it's up to Beth to see that justice is done. Dangerous Intentions was inspired by a true story. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donna Mills, Corbin Bernsen, (more)
Based on a book by Danielle Steel, this drama recount's a woman's struggle to learn to love and trust again after she survives a vicious rape and beating. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Teri Polo, Corbin Bernsen, (more)
- 1988
- R
A New York cop takes on drug-smuggling Soviet agents in this action-espionage thriller. The trouble starts when the rebellious agents disobey orders and begin glutting the Big Apple black market with illegal drugs. The cops become alerted to the problem after four topless dancers die of heroin overdoses. Renegade detective Mace Douglas, who has just been demoted for his tendency to kill suspects and now finds himself teemed up with a smarmy college-educated, irritatingly straight arrow, sets about solving the case. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1991
Plot twists abound in this suspenseful made-for-television thriller as a beautiful actress tries to save her cousin from the schemes of a conniving murderer who just may be her lover. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Corbin Bernsen, Amanda Pays, (more)
Death & Texas mixes humor and drama in order to tell the story of a football player who ends up on death row. However, when his team begins to lose without him there is a movement to get him released. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Durning, Steve Harris, (more)
Jason Gedrick and Eric Roberts lead the cast of this thriller about a submarine captain who attempts to hold Washington, D.C. hostage for a billion dollars, and the heroic doctor who struggles to thwart the plan before the situation escalates. On the eve of his retirement Captain Kreig (Roberts) stages a coup d'etat on his ship, the nuclear powered USS Montana, and threatens to lob an ICBM at Washington, D.C. unless the White House pays out a ransom of one billion dollars; little did Captain Kreig realize that not every sailor aboard the USS Montana was willing to go along with the plan. Enter Doc (Gedrick), the submarine's outwardly docile medical specialist. Doc realizes that unless someone aboard the ship manages to diffuse the situation, chances are good that the president (Barry Bostwick) will likely declare it - and everyone aboard - expendable. Now, as the president ponders the prospect of ordering the USS Montana destroyed, it's up to Doc and James Piersall (Chris Warren, Jr.) to take back the ship or die trying. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Gedrick, Eric Roberts, (more)
When a conniving Montana thief (Corbin Bernsen) decides to rob the local bank, he organizes a gang of four to meet at a remote cabin to initiate the crime. The ringleader is delayed, however, by a pair of ineffective cops. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hoyt Axton, Corbin Bernsen, (more)
- 1985
Based on William Bayer's novel Switch, the made-for-TV Doubletake introduced Richard Crenna to his oft-played role of detective Frank Janek. As always, Janek is assigned to a particularly gruesome and profoundly puzzling murder case. A prim lady schoolteacher and a hooker are both killed on the same evening; their bodies are decapitated, and their heads are switched! The first installment of this two-part movie details the early stages of the investigation, as well as the growing relationship between Janek and photographer Caroline Wallace (Beverly D'Angelo), the daughter of a cop who'd died in a mob hit. Part two reveals the "dark side" of the case, exposing corruption in the highest police circles and implicating someone very close to Janek in the double murder. Doubletake was originally telecast on November 24 and 26, 1985, and has since been reissued as a single three-hour film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
