Oscar Rowland Movies
- 2002
In the conclusion of a two-part story, Monica (Roma Downey) continues struggling with her emotions as Tess (Della Reese) sinks deeper and deeper into Alzheimers' Disease. Tess' plight makes Monica's current assignment, to help reformed wastrel Kevin Greeley (Charlie Schlatter, repeating his role from the third-season episode "Inherit the Wind", adopt his foster son despite resistance from a woman named Hannah (Jenice Bergere), who claims to be the boy's real mother. The fact that Hannah works in the same nursing home where Tess is currently residing is a subtle hint that somehow, some way, the episode's two main crises will intertwine. Ossie Davis and Keb Mo' make return visits as the Archangel Gabriel and the Angel of Music. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Beware of what goes "bump" (and "squeak" and "flap flap flap") in the night. Dr. Sheila Casper (Dina Meyer) is a respected zoologist dispatched by the government to Gallup, TX, a small community suffering from an unusual number of reported bat attacks. Casper finds this news puzzling, since bats are generally placid creatures who avoid contact with humans. The local sheriff, Emmett Kimsey (Lou Diamond Phillips), assures Casper that the reports are on the level and that something needs to be done about swarms of aggressive bats so thick they blot out the moon. Caspar and Kimsey discover that a new breed of genetically altered bats have escaped from a research facility and taken up residence in a cave near Gallup -- but the nocturnal bloodsuckers have no intention of leaving as quickly as they arrived. Bats was written by John Logan, who had two other projects hit the screen within a few months of Bats' release: Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday and Ridley Scott's Gladiator. The supporting cast includes Leon and Bob Gunton. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lou Diamond Phillips, Dina Meyer, (more)
- 1998
The made-for-TV Before He Wakes is based on the novel by Jerry Bledsoe),which in turn was inspired by the true story of convicted murderer Barbara Stager (who at the time of the film was slated for her first parole hearing in 2006). A small North Carolina town is shocked when popular high school baseball coach Ron Michaels (Timothy Carhart) is killed in his sleep. The killer turns out to be his wife Bridget (Jaclyn Smith), a successful career woman who is widely loved and respected in the community. Bridget insists that she shot her husband by accident, and the police are willing to believe her story--until members of Ron's family, joined with the relatives of Bridget's first husband, raise a number of disturbing questions. Ultimately it is revealed that Bridget has been leading a double life, posing as a pillar of the community while mounting huge debts to maintain her sumptuous lifestyle--and it is determined that Bridget killed her first husband, who died under similar circumstances as the hapless Ron Michaels. All of the character names are changed for various reasons, and a great deal of dramatic license is taken with the sequence of events (in real life, the cops weren't quite as slow on the upstake as they're shown to be here!) Before He Wakes made its first CBS appearance on December 1, 1998. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1998
Tess (Della Reese) and Monica (Roma Downey) come to the aid of a mother and daughter whose strong mutual dependence is holding both of them back. Mom Emma (Marion Ross) is a feisty veteran of a WW2-era female pilot squadron, while daughter Dorie (Veronica Hamel) is a highly respected judge. When Emma shows signs of being unable to care for herself any longer, Dorie is so terrfied at being separated from her mother that she seriously considers bypassing an opportunity to fill a vacant Supreme Court seat. At the same time, Emma resists moving into a retirement home, convinced that she will wither and die without her daughter's constant presence. Though the Angels do what they can to help Emma and Dorie, they aren't nearly as effective as the example set by an old fellow named Miller (Oscar Rowland), who makes an amazingly timely appearance in Dorie's courtroom! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1995
Hot on the trail of a serial killer known only as "The Roper", police detective Jack Brennan (Treat Williams) is seriously injured in an accident. When he awakens, Brennan can't remember what he has been doing, nor any of the clues he has been following up. As Brennan is nursed back to health by attractive psychiatrist Molly Nostrand (Margaret Colin), his memory begins returning in fits and starts--and he can't shake the disturbing premonition that The Roper is closer to him than he had ever imagined. This is the sort of TV movie in which you start worrying the minute a character says there's nothing more to worry about. In the Shadow of Evil originally aired February 7, 1995 on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1995
Openly contemptuous of homeless people, Monica (Roma Downey) is taken down a peg or two when she is forced to pose as a street person--and is stripped of her angelic powers. "The only way to share his pain is to share his pain!" admonishes Tess (Della Reese) as the humbled Monica struggles to provide aid and comfort to a stubborn old derelict named Pete Taylor (Gregory Harrison), as well as two other social outcasts, Sophie (Marion Ross) and Zack (Malcolm-Jamal Warner). Inevitably, the three mortals' lives are changed for the better, but not after a great deal of painful soul-searching for all concerned...especially Monica. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1992
In this made-for-cable TV movie, a man (Bruce Boxleitner) travels to visit his ex-girlfriend (Rachel Ward) and arrives just in time to witness her kill her vicious boyfriend. However, when his lawyer wife (Sela Ward) is assigned to his ex's case, the man finds himself in the problematic role of key witness. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1992
This 1970s true story features a fanatically religious woman and her son-in-law who hold her children prisoner while waiting for her late husband's resurrection in Utah. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1989
The made-for-cable Incident at Dark River stars Mike Farrell as a working-stiff family man. When his daughter falls ill, Farrell discovers to his horror that the girl is suffering from toxic poisoning. A local battery factory has been polluting the area with its deadly waste, but when Farrell tries to take legal action, he finds that the law favors the factory. Albert Rubin's slowly paced script leans towards "bad guy vs. good guy" rather than shades of gray, but it successfully hits all the right emotional buttons. The presence of well-known environmentalist Mike Farrell in this sincere, medium-budget effort is a prime example of putting one's money where one's mouth is. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Victoria Principal plays the sightless but extremely independent wife of Stephen Macht, who is murdered by intruders in her presence (a harrowing sequence, even within TV standards). Though she could see nothing, Principal is counting on her sensory and olfactory reminiscences, as well as her own instincts, to help the police track down the murderer. Naturally, this results in the killer stalking the "helpless" Principal, who proves to be nothing of the sort. Victoria Principal not only starred in Blind Witness (working like a demon to make her blindness utterly convincing), but also functioned as the film's co-executive producer. This made-for-TV movie debuted on November 26, 1989, heralded by the requisite TV Guide cover story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1989
- R
An obsessed government agent and a ruthless terrorist have some grudges to settle in this intense actioner. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Terence Knox, David Warner, (more)
Three friends face the disappointments of adulthood in this drama. Growing up in Ashville, Utah, a small town where traditional ideals still cling stubbornly to the hearts and minds of youth, Davey Hancock (Jason Gedrick) is the star of the high school's championship basketball team. Pretty cheerleader Mary Daley (Tracy Pollan) is Davey's girlfriend, and bright Danny Rivers (Kiefer Sutherland) is his best friend. Two years after graduating from high school, reality has dimmed their dreams; while Davey won a college scholarship to play ball, he washed out of the team and ended up back in Ashville, where he's now a police officer. While Davey still sees Mary, she wants more out of life than Ashville or her relationship with him can give her. And when Danny, who has spent much of his time since high school drifting in search of an ambition, returns to town to visit Davey and Mary, he brings along a surprise -- Bev (Meg Ryan), a drug-addled floozy with an unstable personality (and a gun) whom he married in Las Vegas three days earlier. Promised Land was also released on home video under the title Young Hearts. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Gedrick, Kiefer Sutherland, (more)
- 1987
- R
This low-budget actioner is set in a world gone mad with the fear that WW III is imminent and centers on a survivalist who has stashed away a veritable armory of high-tech weapons to protect his family. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve Railsback, Marjoe Gortner, (more)
- 1987
A cluster of unappealing college students (of the Friday the 13th variety) on a camping trip in the mountains of Utah find themselves stalked by a "berserker" -- a ferocious and legendary man-beast known to ancient Viking lore as a kind of cannibalistic shock-trooper who was kept in a cage, dressed in animal skins and brutalized until he became psychotic enough to strike fear into the heart of an enemy in battle. What exactly this devilish warrior is doing so far from the fjords is never really explained to anyone's satisfaction -- some kind of ancient Nordic curse is mumbled about, but that's it. Not much different than the standard slasher fare, even down to the masked killer who wears a huge bear-snout. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joseph Alan Johnson, Valerie Sheldon, (more)
Offended parents and others protested this slasher film when it was released in 1984 because it portrays Billy (Robert Brian Wilson) as a toy-store Santa Claus who goes on a rampage and axes people to death while still in his Santa garb. Four sequels prove the adage that there is no such thing as bad publicity. When Billy was just a boy he saw someone dressed as Santa murder his parents at Christmastime. Billy's stint in an orphanage did nothing to unwarp his mind (he is tied to his bed for "misbehavior"), and when he starts playing Santa in the store -- much against his wishes since he is deathly afraid of both Christmas and Santa Claus, he first only frightens the children who come to see him. Then his mind snaps, and he repeats the scene he saw as a child, on one person after another, in full gory color. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gilmer McCormick, Toni Nero, (more)
In this lively adolescent-oriented musical, a city kid attempts to adapt to life in an ultra-conservative backwater Midwestern town. Once there, he ends up leading the repressed teenagers into a rebellion against the town fathers, who have outlawed rock & roll and dancing. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Bacon, Lori Singer, (more)
Sam Firstenberg directs Sho Kosugi in the martial arts action film Revenge of the Ninja. Kosugi plays a former ninja assassin whose family is killed by other ninjas. He begins life anew in America, but unexpectedly comes to work for drug traffickers who he must face off against. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sho Kosugi, Keith Vitali, (more)
Savannah Smiles is a sweet little film that proved a surprising hit on the Saturday matinee circuit. Mark Miller and Donovan Scott play a pair of good-natured escaped convicts who cross the path of precocious runaway Bridgette Andersen. When Andersen explains that she's hit the road because her wealthy parents neglect her, Miller and Scott decide to hold the kid for a huge ransom. You and I both know that the crooks will turn soft before the end, and return Andersen to her folks without a dollar changing hands, but even predicting the film's outcome cannot diminish its charm. Star Mark Miller, who also scripted Savannah Smiles, is the father of actress Penelope Ann Miller. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mark Miller, Donovan Scott, (more)
Tommy Lee Jones won an Emmy for his searing performance as wanton killer Gary Gilmore in The Executioner's Song. The film covers the last nine months of Gilmore's life, beginning with his release from prison in 1976. Linking up with teen-age divorcee Nicole Baker (Rosanna Arquette), Gilmore makes a half-hearted effort to go straight, but ends up embarking on a robbery spree that culminates in two cold-blooded murders. Arrested and sentenced to be executed, Gilmore insists upon being put to death (Utah law required a firing squad for this); he spends his final days as a poster boy for anti-death penalty activists and as a "client" for an entrepreneur (Steven Keats) who wants to make a film of Gilmore's life. Adapted by Norman Mailer from his own book, The Executioner's Song originally aired in two parts on November 28 and 29, 1982. It has since been boiled down to a 97-minute theatrical film for European consumption, with additional scenes of violence and nudity. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tommy Lee Jones, Rosanna Arquette, (more)
- 1981
- PG
Harry's War is a "feel good" movie--and you'd better feel good or else. Edward Herrmann plays an postman whose aunt (Geraldine Page) is victimized by the Internal Revenue Service. Uncle Sam has made an error on her return, insisting that the poor old pensioner must pay 190 grand in back taxes. Try as he might, Harry can't get anyone at the IRS to correct the booboo (the bureau is populated exclusively by movie stereotypes--one is amazed that Charles Lane and Franklin Pangborn don't show up). So he plots a delicious revenge on the government, on behalf of his aunt and all the other average joes of America. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward Herrmann, Geraldine Page, (more)
- 1979
- PG
Joan Micklin Silver's writing and direction are at the heart of this wistful recollection of a romance, based on Ann Beattie's novel Chilly Scenes of Winter. The film concerns Charles (John Heard), who recalls his love affair with Laura (Mary Beth Hurt). It has been a year since Laura has left him and returned to her husband Ox (Mark Metcalf) and stepdaughter Rebecca. But Charles thinks about her all the time and even has imaginary conversations with her. Charles met Laura in the filing room at Utah's Department of Development in Salt Lake City, and it was love at first sight. Laura was married but had moved out of her house six weeks before. Charles musters up the courage to ask her out, and soon after they are living together. Living with Charles, Laura has never been happier. But she feels she doesn't deserve her happiness, since she has walked out on a family who had done nothing wrong to her. She can't understand why Charles loves her so much, "You have this exalted view of me, and I hate it. If you think I'm that great then there must be something wrong with you." So Laura decides to move back in with Ox. As Charles muses, Laura is more comfortable with "someone who loves you too little over someone who loves you too much." Charles becomes obsessed with winning her back from her family, watching her pick up her daughter from school, driving past her house, and becoming friendly with her flirtatious fellow worker Betty (Nora Heflin) in order to find out more about Laura. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Heard, Mary Beth Hurt, (more)
