Kate Reid Movies

The miserable life and long-overdue death of thrill killer Charles Starkweather is the basis of the two-part TV movie Murder in the Heartland. Over a bloody few months in 1958, Starkweather (Tim Roth), a 19-year-old high school dropout, embarked on a killing spree, snuffing out 11 victims. Along for the ride was Charlie's 14-year-old girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate (Fairuza Balk). The debate still goes on as to whether Caril Ann was a willing accomplice or a reluctant prisoner; as played by Ms. Balk, she comes off as dumb as mud. A shorter, fictionalized account of the Starkweather killings was offered in the critically acclaimed 1973 theatrical feature Badlands, starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek. Murder in the Heartland originally aired May 3 and 4, 1993. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Terminally ill Bernadette Peters develops a deep friendship with psychologist Mary Tyler Moore in this drama. ~ All Movie Guide

Co-produced by the folks from PBS' American Playhouse series, Signs of Life (alternate title: One For Sorrow, Two For Joy) stars veteran actor Arthur Kennedy as a cranky, set-in-his-ways Maine shipbuilder. Unable to keep apace with the 1980s, Kennedy is forced to close up shop. The film probes the various effects this decision has on Kennedy's employees. Beau Bridges has a wife (Kathy Bates) and four kids to support, with a fifth on the way. Kevin J. O'Connor would like to take a salvage-diving job in another state, but must first break off his long-standing relationship with waitress Mary Louise Parker. And Vincent D'Onofrio, who'd managed to find a job for his retarded brother Michael Lewis at Kennedy's establishment, is forced to consider having Lewis institutionalized. Though screenwriter Mark Malone isn't completely successful in avoiding the Obvious, there is much to cherish in Signs of Life. The film represented Arthur Kennedy's return before the cameras after ten years' retirement; after one additional performance in the independently produced Grandpa, Kennedy died in 1990 at the age of 76. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Fifteen strangers who have volunteered for an experiment in isolation are forced to deal with an even larger problem in this film from Italian director Giuliano Montaldo. A research group in Germany wants to study the effects of isolation in a nuclear shelter on human subjects and assembles a diverse group of people for the test. The strangers agree to stay in the shelter for 20 days, but are allowed to exit at any time. During their time in the shelter, the group experiences a wide range of social dynamics, but near the end of their stay in the shelter, it is learned that a real nuclear incident is underway and the test group will be forced to stay in their shelter indefinitely. Featured in the cast are Burt Lancaster, Ben Gazzara, and Kate Nelligan. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide

Jeff Fahey plays Raymond Graham, who for five years has lived on Death Row, awaiting execution for the murder of a store clerk. Having given up on any further legal delays, Graham wearily awaits the fatal injection. Joining the condemned man in his death watch are Graham's family and attorney, a crowd of anti-capital punishment demonstrators, and the inevitable TV crews. This drama concentrates on the final two hours of Raymond Graham's life, played out in "real time". Originally telecast November 17, 1985, The Execution of Raymond Graham was the ABC TV network's first live dramatic presentation in nearly 25 years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Monkey Grip is a frank portrayal of a year in the life of a divorced mother (Noni Hazlehurst) living in Melbourne, trying to cope with her daughter and her own relationship with a drug addict while trying to get into the music business. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

Mixing a tongue-in-cheek approach with thriller action, this routine caper story features Christopher Plummer as James Hatcher -- a businessman who has just double-crossed both the CIA and the Mafia and has to hide out -- and Richard Harris as Louis Kinney, an unemployed accountant who takes on the job of bodyguard to Hatcher's sister and mother. Eventually, both the CIA and the Mafia catch on to the fact that they have been mutually bilked out of $10 million by Hatcher, but they are further befuddled when Hatcher manages to portray Kinney as a murderer. This, of course, sets Kinney off on a manhunt for Hatcher, who is now most-wanted by just about everybody. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This provocative sci-fi drama centers on a young Neanderthal boy brought back to modern times. He is cared for by a nurse who tries to protect him from the curious but thoughtless scientists who forget that he is still a human and not a biological experiment. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Canadian actress Kate Reid plays a lady p.i. in Death Among Friends. Kate is hired to solve the murder of a multimillionaire financier. As tipped off by the title, she need look no farther than the dead man's circle of friends. Refreshingly, both the heroine and her police contact, John Anderson, are well into middle age, rather than being depicted as mindless hunks of cheese- and beefcake. Intended as the pilot for a weekly series, Death Among Friends was first telecast May 20, 1975. The film was later syndicated as Mrs. R-Death Among Friends. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Logan (Donald Pleasance) is a world-weary prospector living in a remote town in British Columbia. His girlfriend (Kate Reid) has been around the block a few times and is a bit of an opportunist. The two of them listen with some skepticism to New Yorker Mazella (Don Calf, who comes to them with a story about a cache of refined gold hidden in a deserted, tapped-out mine deep in the mountains. He persuades them to go on the trip, and it turns out to be quite an adventure. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

A Delicate Balance is the 1973 film adaptation of Edward Albee's Pulitzer Prize-winning play. Katharine Hepburn and Paul Scofield play an old married couple, Agnes and Tobias, who much prefer to be alone. Each time someone visits them, their "delicate balance" is threatened. The first intruder is Agnes' inebriated sister, Claire (Kate Reid). The next is their much-divorced daughter, Julia (Lee Remick). The limit is reached when well-meaning friends Harry (Joseph Cotten) and Edna (Betsy Blair) show up unexpectedly and threaten to stay forever. In keeping with the austerity of the other American Film Theatre presentations, director Tony Richardson eschews his usual cinematographic pyrotechnics here. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide