Pamela Reed Movies
Although her earthy and somewhat plain appearance might have prevented her from landing the sort of glamorous parts Hollywood seems to reserve for A-list beauty queens, actress Pamela Reed still managed to maintain a healthy career with a series of winning supporting roles. A Washington native who spent the majority of her childhood in Maryland, Reed moved back to the Northwest for an opportunity to work on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. There, she began to study drama at the University of Washington, where she stood out amongst her classmates due to her age (she was nearly 30 when she graduated and began seeking out roles in New York and L.A.). She later appeared off-Broadway in Curse of the Starving Class and impressed audiences with her performance in Aunt Dan and Lemonand her skillful interpretation of Shakespeare in All's Well That Ends Well. In 1978, Reed made her Broadway debut in a production of The November People. With a solid stage resumé, the actress moved to the screen in Walter Hill's 1980 Western The Long Riders. Reed could bring style and depth to even the most threadbare of roles, and in the years that followed, she made a name for herself by essaying key supporting parts in such films as Eyewitness (1981) and The Right Stuff (1983); though her characters rarely broke the mold of supportive wife/girlfriend, her performances were always graceful and believable.Reed took a turn toward the small screen with a role in the 1990 comedy series Grand, and alternated frequently between film and television for the remainder of the decade. From her scene-stealing turn alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in Kindergarten Cop (1990) to her performance as a housewife with a history in the made-for-TV mystery Woman With a Past, Reed proved equally adept at both comedy and drama. Following a memorable role in Tim Robbins' 1992 political satire (and directorial debut) Bob Roberts, the actress returned to television in 1995 for the short-lived comedy series The Home Court. She built a sturdy fan base of Lifetime viewers with such made-for-cable features as The Man Next Door (1995), and continued to appear in such hit features as Bean (1997) and Why Do Fools Fall in Love (1998). Reed later starred in the 2000 blockbuster Proof of Life, and appeared in the small-screen drama Book of Days (2003) and Glory Days in 2004. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Jericho returned for a second astounding season thanks to unprecedented and impassioned support from its legion of loyal fans, many of whom sent peanuts (reportedly totaling thousands of pounds) to the CBS offices in New York and Los Angeles. Why peanuts? That was a reference to the Season 1 cliffhanger finale, which ended with a character uttering "Nuts." CBS responded by bringing the series back for this concluding seven-episode Season 2 run in the spring of 2008. In the aftermath of a devastating nuclear explosion, and a battle with neighboring New Bern, the once peaceful town of Jericho begins to rebuild itself as it attempts to communicate with the outside world. The newly formed Cheyenne government strives to establish its stronghold in the region, but Jericho's citizens become suspicious of these new leaders as they question their true intentions.
- Starring:
- Skeet Ulrich, Ashley Scott, (more)
- 2005
Jane Doe: Now You See It, Now You Don't is one of several Hallmark Channel TV-movies starring Lea Thompson as suburban housewife and mom Kathy Davis (Lea Thompson), who unbeknownst to her family occasionally moonlights as an undercover special agent and "problem solver" for the NSA. When the Declaration of Independence is stolen while on display at a Los Angeles bank, NSA higher-up Frank Darnell (Joe Penny) calls in Kathy--code name "Jane Doe"--in hopes of figuring out who did it. It's a standard "locked room" mystery which Kathy manages to figure out in no time flat, but the murder of the chief suspect and the kidnapping of the suspect's wife makes things a bit more complicated. As she endeavors to crack the case, Kathy must also deal with her neurotic husband Jack (William R. Moses) as he adjusts to working in the same office with a former girlfriend, and she must contend with the jealousy of her NRA cohort, case officer Helen Morrison (Tamlyn Tomita). Jane Doe: Now You See It, Now You Don't made its first TV appearance on February 24, 2005. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 2005
In the tradition of Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Three's Company and Growing Up Brady comes the telemovie Dynasty: the Making of a Guilty Pleasure: a slightly tongue-in-cheek docudrama that purports to tell the scintillating story behind the scenes of ABC's nine-season prime time soaper about the Carringtons and the Colbys. The feature (produced by ABC itself) reflects on the parent network's own lust after a serial drama in the face of drowning competition from Dallas. To solve this issue, producer Aaron Spelling (here played by Nicholas Hammond) and show creators Richard and Esther Shapiro (Ritchie Singer and Pamela Reed) conceive of a modern American dress version of I, Claudius about the corrupting influences of wealth and power in the Reagan era. The suits devise the scheming character of Alexis Carrington Colby and bring Joan Collins (Alice Krige) in to play her as a kind of feminine equivalent of J.R. Ewing. The main thrust of the story involves the program's rise to one of the top-tiered series on television, followed by its inevitable fall when it disrespects and underestimates its regular audience. John Bart portrays John Forsythe, Melora Hardin plays Linda Evans, and Robert Coleby is Rock Hudson. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Pamela Reed, Alice Krige, (more)
A former high-school track star who has taken to staving off reality with the all-too-occasional cocktail must summon the strength to save his marriage and pull back from the abyss when his friends and family stage an intervention that goes horribly awry. Michael Elgin (Eion Bailey) may have been a master of the track back in high school, but now he's hit his thirties and his once-perfect form has devolved into a depressing drunken stumble. Life after high school just wasn't what he expected, and when his wife (Ellen Pompeo) threatens to walk out while his career hangs by a thread Michael simply drinks away the pain. Michael isn't alone in life though, and when he crashes his best friend's car and emerges miraculously unscathed the people who care for him most plan an emergency intervention. When Michael arrives home one day to find his friends and family waiting for him it appears as if the jig is up, but the psychiatrist who was supposed to lead the intervention proves a no-show and crafty Michael skillfully convinces his guests to stay and party. Some things just aren't a laughing matter though, and as tensions flare and bottled-up secrets spill Michael finally begins to realize just how dire his situation has truly become. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Eion Bailey, Ellen Pompeo, (more)
A woman whose marriage is in trouble finds herself falling for a new man as her husband's life hangs in the balance in this thriller. Peter Bowman (David Morse) and his wife Alice (Meg Ryan) have relocated to a small Latin American nation called Tecala; Peter works for an American engineering and construction firm, and his latest assignment has him building a dam that is intended to bring power to the developing nation. The ELT is a radical Marxist faction gearing up for political revolution in Tecala that has turned to kidnapping as a way to raise capital, and Peter is chosen as its next target. When Peter is ambushed on his way to work, his firm brings in Terry Thorn (Russell Crowe), a former Australian intelligence operative who now works as a private "kidnapping and ransom" negotiator. Alice is told Terry is her best hope for bringing Peter back safe and sound, but when Terry's employers run into a tight squeeze financially, they cancel their K&R insurance (which is considered a standard benefit for American employees assigned to South America), leaving Alice to rehire Terry on her own, especially since she can't possibly pay the $3 million ransom demanded by the kidnappers. As Terry and his partner Dino (David Caruso) map out a rescue plan, Alice and Terry find themselves increasingly attracted to each other. Alice's marriage to Peter was going through a rough patch when he was kidnapped, and while she's deeply concerned for his safety, she must reconcile her fears for Peter's life with her new feelings for Terry. Proof of Life is based on Adventures in the Ransom Trade, an article by journalist William Prochnau that was published in Vanity Fair, as well as on the case of real-life kidnapping victim Tom Hargrove. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Meg Ryan, Russell Crowe, (more)
An artist struggles against the vulgarity of the film industry and the eccentricities of his friends and loved ones in this independent comedy. Caleb (Bradford Tatum) is a promising sculptor who is contacted by noted filmmaker Richard Verk (Kelsey Grammer) with an unusual assignment -- he needs someone to construct a prosthesis of a woman's genitals for an upcoming project. This is the last sort of job Caleb is looking for, but the pay is good and with a house payment due, he swallows his pride and accepts the offer. Caleb's girlfriend Erica (Meredith Scott Lynn) is not at all pleased; an aspiring actress, she has serious issues with the film industry's sexual objectification of women, and prefers not to be confronted with a symbol of this when she comes home at night. It doesn't help that Caleb and Erica's sex life has been in something of a slump and they've been quarrelling about their physical needs -- or that their new neighbor Camille (Lauren Fox) is obviously infatuated with Caleb. Meanwhile, Caleb's friend Jason (Jason Priestly) has problems of his own; his significant other of all of two days is pregnant, and just when he decided he liked the idea of bringing up baby, she decides to have an abortion. Standing on Fishes was written and directed by its stars Bradford Tatum and Meredith Scott Lynn (Tatum also wrote the screenplay) and was shown at the 1999 South by Southwest Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bradford Tatum, Meredith Scott Lynn, (more)
- 1998
Army doctor Carmen Travis (Judith Light) is hot on the trail of a killer virus. Tracing the source of the scourge from Africa to a government facility in Alabama, Carmen and her assistant Holly Parker (Pamela Reed) abruptly run up against the stone wall of conspiracy. It seems that the virus is the unfortunate residue of a genetic-restructructing experiment involving identical twin children--and the higher-ups who have concocted the experiment as a means to carry out future biological warfare have no intention of allowing Carmen to tell what she knows to the world. Carriers was telecast in Germany two months before its American TV debut over the CBS network on October 27, 1998. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Judith Light, Pamela Reed, (more)
Gregory Nava directed this biographical drama on the brief but intense life of singer Frankie Lymon who stayed with the popular Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers group only for a year. Lymon was 13 years old when the group erupted from radios and jukeboxes with their 1956 hit, Why Do Fools Fall in Love? and appeared in the movie Rock, Rock, Rock (1956). After Mr. Rock and Roll (1957), Lymon turned solo, but then it all fell to pieces. Lymon's career was over by the time he was 18, and he died of a heroin overdose eight years later. Jumping from the '50s to the '80s, this film traces the rise and fall of Lymon (Larenz Tate) in a series of flashbacks as courtroom claims on Lymon's royalties are outlined by three women: Zola Taylor (Halle Berry) of the Platters R&B group; Elizabeth Waters (Vivica A. Fox), who turned prostitute to cover costs of Lymon's recovery from addiction; and schoolteacher Emira Eagle (Lela Rochon). Little Richard also makes a courtroom appearance, while Miguel A. Nunez Jr. portrays Little Richard in scenes set in the '50s. Shown at the 1998 Urbanworld Film Festival (NY). ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Halle Berry, Vivica A. Fox, (more)
During a confrontation with a Wyoming cult, Santa Fe cop Paul Thomas (Gary Cole) saved his wife, daughter, and others but also caught a SWAT sniper's bullet, leading to eight months of rehab. Finally released from the hospital, Thomas finds his wife Leah (Sheila Kelly) involved with a local healer. Hoping to rejoin the police force, he sits through a review board procedure. Haunted by the cult experience, he launches a school program to warn youngsters about cults. Following his wife's suggestion, he attends a retreat run by counselor Eleanor Braddock (Lolita Davidovich). Although he initially dislikes Eleanor, the two are later brought together by a personals ad, and a romance develops. Shown at the 1997 Fort Lauderdale Film Festival and the 1997 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Gary Cole, Lolita Davidovich, (more)
- 1997
- PG13
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Comic actor Rowan Atkinson brought his bumbling character Mr. Bean from television to the big screen with this British comedy. Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson) is a well-meaning but not especially bright fellow with a gift for making the worst of any situation. Bean is about to be fired from his job as a guard at the Royal Nation Art Gallery for sleeping on the job, but the Chairman (John Mills) intervenes at the last moment. To insure that his incompetence will manifest itself so completely that there will be no choice but to get rid of him, Bean's superiors come up with a plan -- they'll send him to America to speak at a posh private gallery owned by George Grierson (Harris Yulin), where General Newton (Burt Reynolds) will display the most recent addition to his art collection, "Whistler's Mother." It's even money whether or not the museum will still be standing before Bean is done; as if this weren't enough, while in L.A. Bean is mistaken for a surgeon and forced to operate on an injured police officer. Richard Curtis, one of the film's producers, said after viewing the final product, "It's an unpleasant family movie. I'm very pleased." ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Rowan Atkinson, Peter MacNicol, (more)
- 1996
- R
An unplanned pregnancy throws a monkey wrench into the carefully orchestrated plans of a financially struggling young couple. They already have two children, and having another baby would force the mother to drop out of college and would be a terrible financial strain on the family. While trying to decide whether or not to terminate the pregnancy, the poor wife finds herself caught in the middle of an increasingly heated debate between pro-choice and anti-abortion factions. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Betty Buckley, Pamela Reed, (more)
- 1995
- R
In this drama, a neighborhood community becomes tense and upset when they learn that a recently released convicted rapist is living amongst them. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Pamela Reed, Michael Ontkean, (more)
- 1994
Based on a true story, Woman with a Past is about a prosperous real estate agent whose hidden life is revealed when federal agents arrest her for her past crimes. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi
- Starring:
- Pamela Reed, Dwight Schultz, (more)
Ultimate manly man Arnold Schwarzenegger learns what it's like to be an expectant mother in director Ivan Reitman's high-concept comedy. Schwarzenegger plays Dr. Hess, a medical researcher working on a revolutionary drug to help mothers carry endangered infants to term. When government regulations prevent Dr. Hess from testing the drug through normal channels, his partner Dr. Arbogast (Danny DeVito) develops an unorthodox solution: they will steal a female egg and implant it in Hess, who will carry the child himself. Predictably, much of the subsequent humor centers on the incongruous sight of the muscular Schwarzenegger undergoing the trials and tribulations of pregnancy, from morning sickness to labor pains. Emma Thompson returns to her comic roots and provides romantic interest as an incorrigibly clumsy but intelligent scientist who catches on to Hess' deception. Reitman, Schwarzenegger, and DeVito had previously had a hit with Twins (1988), which revolved around a similarly ludicrous medical premise, but they failed to repeat that film's success here, as audiences largely ignored the film and reviewers criticized the humor as disappointingly obvious. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi
- Starring:
- Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny DeVito, (more)
- 1993
In this domestic drama a young couple's life and relationship is nearly shattered after the wife gives birth three months early. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Michael Moriarty, Pamela Reed, (more)
In the tradition of This Is Spinal Tap, producer/ director/ star Tim Robbins' Bob Roberts is a satire disguised as a documentary. Robbins plays the titular Roberts, a wealthy, well-connected young man running for a senatorial seat in Pennsylvania. On the surface, Roberts is an ingratiating glad-hander, a sincere believer in the restoration of such intangibles as national pride, family values, etc. But the longer Roberts is followed about by documentary filmmaker Brian Murray, the more we become aware that the candidate is a textbook case of cynicism and contempt. Only Giancarlo Esposito, a reporter for an underground newspaper, is willing to dig beneath Roberts' veneer--a habit that leads to the film's ironic conclusion. Several well-known actors make cameo appearances as TV commentators, notably Tim Robbins' longtime partner Susan Sarandon. Bob Roberts started out as a Tim Robbins-directed short subject for the TV series Saturday Night Live, then was expanded into a $4 million feature. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tim Robbins, Giancarlo Esposito, (more)
- 1992
- PG13
In this black comedy, elderly Jack Scanlan (Jack Warden) passes away just as he's about to tell his oldest son Johnny (Bob Hoskins) what he's decided is truly important in life, which does little to ease Johnny's mid-life anxieties. Jack's funeral and the subsequent wake brings together the various members of the Scanlan Family, most of whom are having troubles of their own. Johnny's mother Mary (Maureen Stapleton) is not dealing well with losing her husband. His brother Frank (William Petersen), a would-be union delegate, has a nagging wife, Denise (Debra Rush), and a pregnant daughter, Rachel (Teri Polo). His sister Nora (Frances McDormand) is a leftist nun who has brought along a guest, a South American dissident wanted by the INS. Terry (Pamela Reed) is splitting up with her husband Boyd (Tim Curry) after finally realizing that he's gay. And Johnny is thinking of quitting his job and leaving his wife Amy (Blair Brown), which makes the mysterious Cassie (Nancy Travis) seem all the more attractive. Passed Away marked the directorial debut of successful screenwriter Charlie Peters. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bob Hoskins, Jack Warden, (more)
Arnold Schwarzenegger sheds his action image in Ivan Reitman's police comedy Kindergarten Cop, where he plays an undercover cop teaching a class of hyperactive six-year-olds. As the film begins, John Kimble (Schwarzenegger) and his partner Phoebe O'Hara (Pamela Reed) are in pursuit of notorious drug dealer Cullen Crisp (Richard Tyson) and his scabrous mother Eleanor (Carroll Baker). John learns Cullen is searching for his ex-wife and his little boy, and Kimble plans to nail them when they find the former wife, who is believed to have $3 million of Cullen's drug profits. John and Phoebe follow the trail to Astoria, Oregon, where they believe Cullen's son is attending kindergarten. Although the child and his mother have changed names, John hopes they can pick up some clues. By coincidence, Phoebe used to be a schoolteacher and the school board permits her teach the kindergarten class, but Phoebe gets food poisoning and John is forced to teach the six-year-old whippersnappers himself. Along with lighthearted gags with the kids and the pursuit of the drug dealers, John has time for a little romance when he falls in love with one of the teachers (Penelope Ann Miller), who ends up surprising him with more than love. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Arnold Schwarzenegger, Penelope Ann Miller, (more)
- 1990
This suspenseful drama first aired on television as part of the Hallmark Hall of Fame Theater. It tells the story of a young woman who suddenly appears at the family estate claiming to be the title character and demanding her rightful inheritance. The family doesn't know what to think, because they have spent the last 15 years believing that Caroline died in a plane crash. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
Robin Williams stars in this oddball comedy about a fast-talking car salesman who is down on his luck and in over his head until an extreme situation forces him to use his sales skills to save lives. Joey O'Brien (Williams) is the stereotypical car salesman: enterprising, aggressive, and desperate to make enough money to spend on his high-maintenance girlfriends. But suddenly the pressure is really on: he owes money to the mob, his ex-wife is nagging him about not spending enough time with their teenage daughter, and if he doesn't sell at least a dozen cars by the time the big sale is over on Saturday, he's going to lose his job. As Joey attempts to placate several potential buyers, his day is interrupted by Larry (Tim Robbins), the insanely jealous husband of dimwitted showroom receptionist Donna (Annabella Sciorra), who's been having an affair with someone who works at the dealership. With the police surrounding the place, his job (and life) on the line, Joey realizes that it's up to him to use his wits to persuade Larry -- who's not even sure what he wants out of the situation -- not to kill anyone. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robin Williams, Tim Robbins, (more)
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