Daniel Roebuck Movies

In this gory horror movie, a group of young, nubile night-school students find themselves unable to hang on to their heads when a mad slasher takes up residence in their hallowed halls. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The nude, strangled body of a teenaged girl lies on the edge of the river. Her murderer is her boyfriend, Daniel Roebuck. All the kids in Roebuck's dismal, dead-end town know who committed the murder. Trouble is, no one bothers to turn Roebuck in; some of the teens don't know how to react to the crime, while others, strung out on drugs and booze, just don't give a damn. A study of contemporary alienation, River's Edge was based on a real-life incident that occurred in Milpitas, California, in 1981. That same year, Neal Jimenez wrote his screenplay for River's Edge, but was not able to finance the project until 1987. Except for Dennis Hopper, cast as a holdover from the sixties who hobbles about on one leg and makes love to a blow-up doll, the cast was largely comprised of unknowns, many of whom (Crispin Glover, Keanu Reeves, Ione Skye) would definitely be heard from in the future. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Penelope Spheeris, director of the infamous documentary The Decline of Western Civilization may well have given the world its first punk-rock Western in the form of Dudes, a sort of Suburbia meets High Noon meets Deliverance. Three East Coast punks (Jon Cryer, Daniel Roebuck, and Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers) opt to leave behind the filth and gloom of New York City to become modern-day pioneers on the trail to California; that is, until a gang of redneck road warrior-types led by Lee Ving (of the punk band Fear) waylay the trio and kill Flea in a fashion brutal enough to justify the inevitable retribution. After their pleas to the local sheriff fall on deaf ears, Cryer and Roebuck decide instead to follow the law of the West and serve their own brand of justice as what appear to be a bondage-oriented cowboy and a squirrel on steroids. While the plot seems contrived and asinine, the violence often gratuitous, and the characters paper-thin, Spheeris nonetheless manages to create a likeable and highly watchable -- if often silly -- film. Cryer and Roebuck do the best they can with the material, Ving plays an adequately loathsome villain, and Flea lends a glimpse of his acting ability by offering a convincing portrayal of a dead body. Nowhere near being the time capsule that is The Decline of Western Civilization, Dudes still offers some insight into the punk subculture of the '80s. Spheeris later directed the hugely successful Wayne's World as well as The Decline of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide

Two brothers (Richard Gere, Kevin Anderson) have inherited a large farm (once voted "Farm of the Year") from their father, but cannot keep it afloat. When the farm goes bankrupt, the pair decide to torch the place and take off across the Midwest, fleeing the law to become folk heroes for many rural farmers in the area. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

Lloyd Bridges stars as a newspaper chief in this made-for-television movie about life in big-city journalism. This fast-paced movie, which was the pilot for a short-lived series of the same name on ABC, follows various plotlines as the reporters' personal and professional lives become intertwined. Executive producer David Milch brings a jittery tension to the newsroom, similar to his later work on NYPD Blue. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide

In the second half of this two-parter, Picard and Data learn the truth behind Ambassador Spock's (Leonard Nimoy) unauthorized visit to the hostile planet Romulus. Spock, it seems, hopes to negotiate a reunification of the Romulans and Vulcans. Regarding this alliance as potentially dangerous, Picard objects, despite the logical nature of Spock's argument. Things heat up considerably when Picard and Data discover a Romulan scheme to double-cross Spock. Dedicated to the late Gene Roddenberry, part two of "Unification" was written by Rick Berman and Michael Piller, and first aired November 16, 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The feature film directing debut of actress Betty Thomas, this romantic farce attempts to mimic the screwball comedies of the 1930s. Andrew McCarthy stars as Cliff Godfrey, a doll house designer and perpetual loser in love who is dumped by his fiancee on the eve of their pre-nuptial vacation to Mexico. Informed by pretty travel agent Claire Enfield (Helen Hunt) that his tickets are non-refundable, the depressed Cliff goes to a bar, where he picks up a drunk party girl, Amanda Hughes (Kelly Preston), who agrees to accompany him on the trip south of the border. Once she sobers up, however, Amanda proceeds to make Cliff's vacation a nightmare, alternately flirting with and teasing him, then rejecting him for more studly prospects. But Cliff runs into Claire, who's staying at the same hotel while photographing a travel brochure, and the two begin spending time together, as Cliff helps her on the project by modeling for her pictures. Though Cliff and Claire are discovering that they are each other's soul mate, the flighty Amanda threatens to destroy their nascent romance. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

This 1993 box-office smash partly adheres to the 1960s TV series on which it is based and partly goes off on several tangents of its own. Harrison Ford stars as Dr. Richard Kimble, convicted of murdering his wife. While being transferred to prison by bus, Kimble is involved in a spectacular bus-train collision (one of the best of its kind ever filmed). Surviving the disaster, Kimble escapes, vowing to track down the elusive professional criminal whom he holds responsible for the murder. Dogging the fugitive every foot of the way is U.S. marshal Sam Gerard (an Oscar-winning turn by Tommy Lee Jones), who announces his intention to search "every whorehouse, doghouse, and outhouse" to bring Kimble to justice. Unlike his dour TV-series counterpart Barry Morse, Jones plays the role with a sardonic sense of humor: when a cornered Kimble screams, "I didn't kill my wife," Gerard shrugs and famously replies, "I don't care." Once the premise has been established, scripters Jeb Stuart and David Twohy and director Andrew Davis pull off several audacious plot twists, ranging from Kimble's rendezvous with a sympathetic lab technician to a jaw-dropping dive into a huge waterfall. The second half of the film offers one surprise after another (including the true identity of the murderer), brilliantly avoiding the letdown that plagues many movie adaptations of old TV series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This made-for-television drama is based on the true story of a mother's attempts to get her daughter out of the deadly world of prostitution. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Originally telecast as part of NBC's off-and-on "Moment of Truth" series, the made-for-TV Caught in the Crossfire stars Dennis Franz as Louisiana journalist Gus Payne. Doing undercover work for the FBI, the innocent Payne is framed by a pair of federal agents who don't want the blunders they've made in a political-corruption investigation to be made public. Payne's only hope is to expose the rogue agents--but that won't be easy with the full weight of the FBI already marshalled against him. Based on a true story, Moment of Truth: Caught in the Crossfire debuted September 14, 1994. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on the non-fiction best-seller, The Late Shift is an irreverent, behind-the-scenes look at the conflict over who would succeed Johnny Carson as host of The Tonight Show, Jay Leno or David Letterman. Beginning with Carson's retirement, the made-for-cable film follows the backstage manueverings of both camps. When NBC chooses, Letterman refuses to lose quietly. Hosting The Tonight Show has been his life-long dream, and he is willing to do whatever it takes, even hiring an agent, to get what he wants. Indeed, Letterman soon finds himself working with ultra-powerful Hollywood agent Mike Ovitz and receiving huge offers from competing networks. Meanwhile, NBC has more trouble with the Leno Tonight Show than expected, thanks to Leno's manager Helen Kushnick (Kathy Bates). Kushnick's acerbic, foul-mouthed manner and increasingly petty behavior infuriates the higher-ups at NBC -- so much so that some suggest they give the show to Letterman after all. A series of intense negotiations follows, under the shadow of ludicrously frenzied media attention. While the presentation of both Leno and Letterman (played by unknowns Daniel Roebuck and John Michael Higgins, respectively) is fairly sympathetic, the film is far-less charitable to Kushnick and NBC executives. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

This psychological thriller is helmed Russian director Rodion Nakhapetov, who also fills a cameo role in the film. Traci Lords stars as Kelly Bekins, a recently widowed mother who takes her six-year-old son Matthew (Seth Adkins) to the motel where her scientist husband Joseph (Daniel Roebuck) was murdered while working on a top-secret AIDS cure. There, Kelly and Matthew meet the motel manager (Michael J. Pollard) and a janitor, Bubba (Tony Todd), who seems to be keeping a protective eye on them. To Kelly's surprise, Joseph's best friend and colleague Michael (Andrew Heckler) also appears at the motel seeking answers. When Matthew begins having psychic visions of his father's death, Michael suggests that he see a psychiatrist, Dr. Kessler (Karen Black), but she's involved in a complex scheme involving Joseph's killing and the sale of his research to the Russian Mafia. When Matthew's visions lead him to suspect that Michael's responsible for his father's death, the boy runs for help to Bubba, who turns out to be an FBI agent. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide