Gil Rogers Movies

Mark Edlitz, an associate of David Mamet who has assisted him on several stage and screen projects, makes his debut as a writer and director with The Eden Myth. A wealthy family sees their dirty laundry exposed as bizarre secrets and a history of incest come to light. Philip Glass contributed the musical score to this drama which was shown at the 1999 Rotterdam Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Detectives Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Curtis (Benjamin Bratt) and lawyers McCoy (Sam Waterston) and Kincaid (Jill Hennessy) are among the witnesses at an execution. Each witness reacts to the spectacle in a different manner, ranging from the married Curtis' brief tête-à-tête with a graduate student, Briscoe's lapse into drinking, and Kincaid's self-doubts over whether she can continue her work in the D.A.'s office. Things come to a shatteringly tragic climax for at least one of the four principals. This concluding episode of Law & Order's sixth season represents the final series appearance of co-star Jill Hennessy, as well as an early TV gig for future Alias star Jennifer Garner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As a child, Luther Watts (Edward Terry) was deeply affected by seeing a circus geek (someone who bites the heads off live chickens in a circus sideshow). Finally paroled after serving 20 years in prison, he terrorizes the residents of his hometown by making chicken noises, crowing like a rooster and attacking people. He winds up at a farm run by a woman and her daughter, where he takes them captive and then starts killing off her neighbors. The mother realizes she and her daughter must escape before he kills them, too. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide

Based around footage from his 1972 film Parades, this anti-war drama from Robert J. Siegel is an account of a Vietnam War deserter who joins his fellow prison inmates in a sit-down strike at a military stockade in California. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Poet Sylvia Plath wrote an immensely popular roman à clef, The Bell Jar, which chronicles a woman's descent from functioning as a highly educated, motivated, and capable young woman to being completely incapacitated at the hands of mental illness. Sadly, Plath committed suicide at age 30, and did not have a chance to enjoy the success of her novel, which wasn't officially published in the United States until the early '70s. In this tragic tale, Esther Greenwood (Marilyn Hassett) is the central figure, a college student on a publishing internship with a woman's magazine in Manhattan. As she begins to experience psychological difficulties, her troubles are compounded by the incredible insensitivity of the people around her. On one occasion, her boyfriend condescendingly berates her for taking an overdose of pills. Critics complained that this movie, which did not do well at the box office, failed to capture the evocative emotional tone of the novel. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The Jupiter 2 lands on what appears to be an earth colony populated by swingin' teenaged hippies. In fact, these "flower children" are sinister aliens with mind-control powers, who plan to foment a youth rebellion by turning Penny (Angela Cartwright) and Will (Billy Mumy) against their parents. The episode's highlight the "makeover" of Dr. Smith (Jonathan Harris) as a green-haired hippie, replete with beads, psychedelic clothing and cool dance moves. (It's also amusing that the writer assumed that Hippiedom would still be in full force in 1999; who could have predicted the rise of Punkers and Goths!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A landmark independent film, Nothing but a Man is the first dramatic story featuring a largely black cast created for an integrated audience (the work of black filmmakers such as Oscar Micheaux was intended for audiences who patronized black-only theaters). White filmmakers Michael Roemer and Robert M. Young traveled through the South in 1962 in search of ideas for a fiction feature set during the growing turbulence of the civil rights era. Their story, based in Alabama but shot in southern New Jersey, is only tangentially related to the movement toward equality. Duff, an itinerant black railroad laborer (Ivan Dixon), romances and marries Josie, a small-town preacher's daughter (Abbey Lincoln). Duff insists on being treated with respect, but his stance is personal rather than political. After he settles down in the town with Josie, he comes up against white bosses who want to make sure he knows his place and black men such as Josie's father who don't want to rock the boat for fear of losing what little advantage they have. Duff's relationship with his own father (Julius Harris), a broken-down drunk living in Birmingham, teaches him valuable lessons about dignity and self-worth. The film was lauded at both the New York and Venice festivals but received limited release in theaters specializing in foreign and independent film. However, word of mouth in the black community (where Nothing but a Man was for years a staple on the 16 mm rental market, in the days before VCRs) and continued attention by film historians have ensured the status of Nothing but a Man as a pioneering and enduring work. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide

Beaver (Jerry Mathers) makes the acquaintance of Kenneth Purcell (Gil Rogers), a new kid in school who seems desperate for friendship. Not long afterward, things start disappearing from Beaver's classroom. June (Barbara Billingsley) finds the missing items under Beaver's bed, and jumps to the obvious conclusion. Of course, by this time the viewer has figured out that Kenneth and not Beaver is the thief -- but the story isn't quite over yet. Jean Vander Pyl, best known as the voice of Wilma Flintstone, is here seen as Mrs. Thompson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide