Ray Reinhardt Movies

In My Life, Michael Keaton stars as Bob Jones, who has just been informed that his wife Gail (Nicole Kidman) is pregnant with their first child. However, he has also been told he has kidney cancer that has spread to his lungs; the longest Bob is expected to live is four months, which will deny him the joy of witnessing the birth of his child. Raging within, he visits a Chinese healer, Mr. Ho (Haing S. Ngor), who encourages him to let go of all the anger and fear he has kept trapped inside himself. Bob proceeds to videotape himself, on the advice of Mr. Ho, where Bob will talk to his unborn child and discuss what he has learned in life. In the process of the videotape sessions, Bob discovers that his anger resides in his past with his family, and Bob reveals secrets that he has kept hidden from himself and his wife through the years. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

When the two-part Dynasty: The Reunion first aired, it rated a cover on TV Guide. The photo depicted Dynasty regulars Linda Evans (Krystal) and Joan Collins (Alexis) grinning at one another, while their true feelings were conveyed in comic-strip thought balloons reading "Hussy" and "Hag." This pretty much sums up the overall ambience of Dynasty: The Reunion. In part one, first telecast October 20, 1991, oil mogul Blake Carrington (John Forsythe) is released from prison. Hoping for a reunion with estranged wife Krystal -- and, incidentally, to recoup his financial empire -- Blake must now deal with a shady international consortium, headed by old nemesis Alexis. Part two, first telecast October 22, 1991, gets off to a good start with a desperate escape from the henchmen of an international consortium. The big money act, however, is the long-awaited catfight between Alexis and her longtime foe, goody two-shoes Krystal Carrington (Linda Evans). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Australian star Paul Hogan just couldn't seem to come up with a hit comparable to his 1986 international hit Crocodile Dundee. Hogan's Almost an Angel was a nice try, but no cigar. The star plays a lifelong thief who suffers a potentially fatal accident. While "in limbo", Hogan is visited by God (amusingly played by Charlton Heston-well, why not Charlton Heston?). When he recovers, Hogan is convinced that he'd been returned to the land of the living in order to do God's work. He turns over a new leaf, coming to the assistance of wheelchair-bound Elias Koteas and his pretty sister Linda Kozlowski (the real-life Mrs. Hogan). At first suspicious of Hogan, Kozlowski is finally won over by his new-found sincerity. So lightweight that it threatens to float away at any moment, Almost an Angel is held together exclusively by Paul Hogan's star appeal. Unfortunately, this wasn't enough to insure a box-office success. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Exorcist director William Friedkin made a return to the horror genre with this blend of straightforward suspense and Druid myth-inspired horror-fantasy. The idyllic lives of yuppie couple Phil and Kate (Dwier Brown and Carey Lowell) seem complete when they select the winsome young Camilla (Jenny Seagrove) as a live-in nanny for their newborn child, but the lovely young Camilla -- whose natural sexuality begins to work its spell on Phil -- is not what she appears to be. This becomes shockingly apparent to the audience early in the story when she is set upon by a trio of rape-minded thugs who meet with a particularly nasty fate in the woods, but it seems to take the parents much longer to come to the same conclusion. In fact, the woods are the key to the entire equation, as Camilla is revealed to be a powerful forest entity from Druid mythology who intends to sacrifice her infant charge to a hideous tree-god. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

In this made-for-TV movie, Lisa Hartman plays a woman who was given a hysterectomy she is not convinced was necessary. She files a $7 million lawsuit against the surgeon, who has problems of his own to deal with -- namely a contentious divorce from his wife, who also happens to be partners with him in the medical clinic where the surgery was performed. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

My Name Is Bill W reunited the stars of the highly acclaimed 1986 TV movie The Promise: James Garner and James Woods. This time Woods has the bigger role as the real-life Bill Wilson, who comes marching home from World War One with a "little" liquor problem. He drinks steadily throughout the Prohibition Era, but Wilson's habit doesn't catch up with him until he is ruined by the 1929 stock market crash. This disaster propels Wilson into flat-out alcoholism, costing him his family and his reputation. While drying out in detox, Wilson strikes up a friendship with Bob Smith (Garner), an alcoholic doctor. Through Smith's influence, Bill Wilson organizes a small band of chronic drinkers into what will eventually become Alcoholics Anonymous. The formation of AA consumes the emotional final third of My Name Is Bill W, which like its Garner/Woods predecessor The Promise was originally presented as a Hallmark Hall of Fame TV special. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this film, based on a true story, convicted criminal Lee Umstetter (Nick Nolte) is sentenced to life in San Quentin prison, with no possibility of parole. Despairing at his interminable sentence, Lee spends his time reading and educating himself. When he writes and performs a play that attracts the notice of a film critic (Rita Taggart), she sets out on a quest to have him paroled. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

A former baseball player (Alan Arkin) has descended into alcoholism, and meets up with a has-been entertainer (Carol Burnett) when both spot a briefcase containing secret documents. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

Nobody is what they seem to be in this dizzying Russ Meyer feature, and everyone is a suspect. The reclusive Adolf Schwartz (Edward Schaaf) pays for weird pansexual pleasures performed by an interracial group of prostitutes. Later, Schwartz (who bears more than a passing resemblance to a more infamous Adolf) is found murdered in his bath, the victim of a hungry piranha. That same morning, Margo Winchester (Raven de la Croix) is jogging on a mountain pass when she's abducted and raped by a local boy. She defends herself and ends up breaking her assailant's neck, an act that is witnessed by state trooper Homer Johnson (Monty Bane). He offers to falsify his report in return for Margo's abundant body, and she enthusiastically accepts. Margo and Homer shack up in his mountain cabin, and he gets her a job at Alice's Cafe, a small-town greasy spoon run by Alice (Janet Wood) and her husband, Paul (Robert McLane). Suddenly business is booming (thanks to Margo's seductive swagger and Mae West impressions) and the trio decide to open a nightclub. Opening night is a smash, until a drunk lumberjack goes ape after witnessing Margo's sultry dance routine. The resulting fracas ends with an axe in Homer's chest and a wild moonlit chainsaw fight. But who murdered Adolf Schwartz? That mystery is solved in not one, but three epilogues which concern the identities of Eva Braun Jr., an undercover police officer and a closet white supremacist, who all fight to the death with a pistol, a dildo, and kung-fu. The action is explained and commented upon by the buxom, perpetually nude Greek Chorus (Francesca 'Kitten' Natividad), who quotes Shakespeare and attempts to raise the story to the level of classic farce. ~ Fred Beldin, All Movie Guide

This comedy is adapted from a short story by Mark Twain. An abusive carpetbagger marries a plantation owner's daughter to humiliate him. He is cruel to his wife, but she will not complain to her father. The beastly carpetbagger ties the stoic woman to a tree and sets the bloodhounds upon her. They tear off her clothes. This causes the girl's father to die of embarrassment. Meanwhile the girl bears a son. The son grows up and goes West in search of his wretched father. He desires to avenge his mother's honor. Someone else kills his father first. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide