Michael Biehn Movies
As a child, Michael Biehn moved from his Alabama hometown to Nebraska and finally Arizona, where he graduated high school. He went to college and later moved to Los Angeles to begin a film career, making his professional stage debut after two years of intensive training. In 1978, Biehn was cast as Mark Johnson, the hard-veneered but vulnerable ward of psychiatrist Robert Reed in the TV series Operation: Runaway. For the next few years, malevolence was Biehn's onscreen strong suit, first as the psycho title character in 1981's The Fan, then as the neofascist military-school upperclassman in The Lords of Discipline (1982). After switching gears with the sympathetic role of futuristic android-hunter Kyle Reese in James Cameron's The Terminator, Biehn became a member of Cameron's informal stock company, playing colorful leading roles in Aliens (1986) and The Abyss (1989). He worked steadily throughout the '90s, dividing his time between television and various unspectacular films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
Originally shown in two parts, this four-hour TV movie stars Michael Biehn as the outwardly "perfect" doctor husband of Madolyn Smith. But Biehn is actually a psychopath, who is carefully plotting the murder of his wife. As the horrible truth slowly dawns upon Madolyn, she must find some way to prevent her murder--and to alert disbelieving authorities of her husband's duplicity. Based on a true story, Deadly Intentions first took shape as a book by William Randolph Stevens. The two-part format permitted the film's narrative to build up suspense in the first half, then concentrate on detection and courtroom proceedings in the second. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Biehn, Madolyn Smith, (more)
Endlessly imitated, The Terminator made the reputation of cowriter/director James Cameron -- who would go on to make 1997's titanic Titanic -- and solidified the stardom of Arnold Schwarzenegger. The movie begins in a post-apocalyptic 2029, when Los Angeles has been largely reduced to rubble and is under the thumb of all-powerful ruling machines. Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn), a member of the human resistance movement, is teleported back to 1984. His purpose: to rescue Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), the mother of the man who will lead the 21st-century rebels against the tyrannical machines, from being assassinated before she can give birth. Likewise thrust back to 1984 is The Terminator (Schwarzenegger), a grim, well-armed, virtually indestructable cyborg who has been programmed to eliminate Sarah Connor. After killing two "Sarah Connors" who turn out to be the wrong women, he finally aims his gunsights at the genuine article. This is the film in which Schwarzenegger declared "I'll be baaaack" -- and back he was, in "kinder and gentler" form, in the even more successful Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, (more)
- 1983
Filmed in Hong Kong, the made-for-TV China Rose stars George C. Scott as an American businessman. Scott arrives in Canton, China, trying to find out what has happened to his rebellious son, who was swept up in China's "cultural revolution". Ali MacGraw plays a freewheeling guide who falls in love with Scott while helping him locate his son. Together, Scott and MacGraw uncover what was described in the original ads as a "shocking secret". The long-in-tooth stars are not ideally suited to their roles in China Rose, but that's only one of the many problems plaguing this murky melodrama. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Adapted from a long novel by Pat Conroy, the story is shortened to focus on a harrowing account of institutional racism in the 1960s American South. David Keith stars as Will McLean, a senior student at the fictional Carolina Military Institute. When the school admits its first black student, McLean is confidentially charged with making sure that the newcomer's initiation does not get too violent. Yet that is exactly what happens, and McLean becomes alarmed when it seems like someone is out to kill his new charge. McLean's own investigation of the matter uncovers an elusive group of sadistic students who will go to any length to control their school. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Keith, Robert Prosky, (more)
Lauren Bacall more or less plays herself in The Fan. Cast as famous Broadway musical comedy star Sally Ross (with an astonishing lack of temperament!), Bacall finds herself the unwilling love object of psychotic fan Douglas Breen (Michael Biehn). As security around Ross tightens, Breen vows that if he can't have Ross, no one else can. James Garner and Maureen Stapleton are underused as, respectively, Bacall's ex-husband and mother-hen secretary. Based on a good novel by Bob Randall, The Fan comes off as a slightly more expensive "stalker of the week" TV movie. Still, the film proved grimly prescient in the light of John Lennon's assassination (which occurred after the film was completed, but before its release) and the ongoing dilemma of current Broadway stars (even the lesser lights) who are forced to hire bodyguards to protect them from worshipful wackos. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lauren Bacall, James Garner, (more)
- 1980
- PG
In this uninspired attempt at teen comedy, Tim (Michael Biehn) has returned home in disgrace as far as his dad is concerned -- he was expelled from his military academy. The next thing Tim knows he is fighting off a gang of bikers that are terrorizing the high schoolers, and worse yet, he is falling for "The Bull's" girlfriend Angie (Patti D'Arbanville). The Bull (Tony Rosato) whose name belies, of all things, an okay guy underneath all that leather and severely mangled diction, is the leader of the bikers. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Biehn, Patti D'Arbanville, (more)
- 1979
In this drama, a prestigious lawyer chucks it all to begin a quest for his long-lost son who is now living somewhere in Hawaii. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1979
Teenager Bobbie Marston (Linda Adams) is thrilled at passing her driver's test, but she still isn't quite ready for the responsibilities of good motorship. While tooling around in her car, Bobbie accidentally strikes down a paperboy. She rushes the injured youngster to the hospital -- then leaves in a panic, failing to report the accident. As the days pass, Bobbie's fear of being discovered threatens to overwhelm her...while her victim remains in the hospital, fighting for his life. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Linda Adams, Michael Biehn, (more)
When Fenton (Keenan Wynn), the preeminent citizen of Granger speaks, the town listens. The town's high-school boys' basketball team has had a losing season, and he wants the coach fired. What's more, he wants to select his replacement. After a computer search, he discovers that the Olympic track star Randy Rawlings has just the right qualifications. When Randy arrives, he discovers that this star athlete is a woman (Cathy Lee Crosby). However, she insists on her right to try and coach the boys, and she not only succeeds at that, but inspires the boys in other ways as well. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cathy Lee Crosby, Michael Biehn, (more)
- 1978
The story begins as an astronomer notices that a blazing comet is headed straight for Phoenix Arizona. Unfortunately, no one believes him. They will eventually, but only after most of Phoenix has been reduced to cinders. Emmies went to the special effects (among the best ever seen on TV in those days before computer-generated special fx) and sound recording. The all-star cast includes Richard Crenna, Elizabeth Ashley, David Dukes, Joanna Miles, Lloyd Bochner, Merlin Olsen and Andrew Duggan, all of them superbly cast and none merely doing the usual celebrity walk-through. Originally telecast in a three-hour slot, Fire in the Sky debuted November 26, 1978. This film should not be confused with the 1993 alien-abduction film of the same name. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1978
A high-school boy's ho-hum summer at the beach turns into a dream-come-true when he is befriended by a beautiful but depressed singer whose career is on the wane. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Suzanne Somers, Steven Keats, (more)
"Grease," said the poster and the Barry Gibb song, "is the word." Transferring its setting from Chicago to sunny California, and adding a dash of disco to the ersatz '50s score, producer Allan Carr and director Randal Kleiser turned this long-running Jim Jacobs - Warren Casey Broadway smash into the biggest blockbuster of 1978. 1950s teens Danny (John Travolta) and Australian transfer Sandy (Olivia Newton-John) spend their "Summer Nights" falling in love, but once fall comes, it's back to Rydell High and its cliques. As one of the bad boy T-Birds, Danny has to act cool for best pal Kenickie (Jeff Conaway) and their leather-clad mates Sonny (Michael Tucci) and Doody (Barry Pearl, in the role Travolta played on stage). Despite befriending Frenchy (Didi Conn), one of the rebel Pink Ladies, virginal Sandy is "too pure to be Pink," as the Ladies' leader Rizzo (Stockard Channing) acidly observes. Declaring their devotion in such ballads as "Hopelessly Devoted to You" and "Sandy," Sandy and Danny split, reconcile, and split again amidst a pep rally, dances, drive-ins, and a drag race, before deciding "You're the One That I Want" at the climactic carnival. With Travolta white-hot from Saturday Night Fever (1977), Grease soundtrack singles climbed the charts and summer movie crowds poured in. With the presence of Joan Blondell, Eve Arden, Sid Caesar, Edd "Kookie" Byrnes and Frankie Avalon appealing to grown-up memories, Grease became the highest grossing film of 1978, the highest grossing movie musical ever, and the third most popular film of the new blockbuster '70s after Star Wars (1977) and Jaws (1975). Its sequel, Grease 2, did not exactly set the world on fire in 1982. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, (more)
- 1977
Lawrence Kerwin stars as James Hunter, a gawky Oregon teenager who moves to Boston with his family. Suffering the requisite growing pains and insecurities, James has a few problems "fitting in" with his new crowd. The boy's sincerity and likability eventually wins the day, but the ending of the film is left open-ended enough to accommodate the subsequent TV series. Linden Chiles and Lynn Carlin co-star as James' parents, while Kate Jackson plays an "older woman" art student who sets James on the right course when the boy tries to run away from home. This 2-hour pilot first aired on September 5, 1977; the series proper (its name changed to James at 16 on the occasion of the protagonist's first sexual experience!) premiered on October 27, 1977. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
