William Russ Movies
A self-described "navy brat," William Russ travelled all over the country in his formative years. Russ settled down in one place long enough to attend the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor; here he studied drama with such classmates as Christine Lahti. After graduation, he toured Europe as a member of the Ann Arbor mime troupe. Back in the states, he attended New York's Neighborhood Playhouse on a scholarship. His subsequent New York stage credits include MacBeth, The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel (in which he appeared with Al Pacino) and Buried Child. In films since 1989's Disorganized Crime, Russ' largest and most rewarding movie role (thus far) was over-the-hill ballplayer Roy Dean Bream in 1991's Pastime. Russ is best known to the public at large for his TV work: he has played Burt McCowan in Another World, Roger Lococco in Wiseguy, Redmond Dunne in Capitol News and Terry Hannon in The Middle Ages. At present, William Russ -- billed under his nickname "Rusty" -- appears on a weekly basis as Ben Savage's father on Boy Meets World, taking occasional time-outs to co-star in such made-for-TV movies as Big Dreams and Broken Hearts: The Dottie West Story (1995). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1985
The made-for-TV The Long Hot Summer was based on the 1958 theatrical film of the same name-which, in turn, was based on two William Faulkner short stories. Don Johnson plays Ben Quick, a Southern drifter who is under suspicion as a "barn burner." Ben secures a job at the Mississippi mansion of town-boss Will Varner (Jason Robards). Varner's daughter Noel (Judith Ivey) and daughter-in-law Eula (Cybill Shepherd) vie for the handsome Ben's attention, while the patriarch's weakling son Jody (William Russ) seethes. When a few local barns are burned, Ben is the primary suspect-and no one is more suspicious than Noel. A murder trial and lynch mob both figure into the second half of the two-part The Long Hot Summer; the film originally aired October 6 and 7, 1985. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Johnson, Jason Robards, Jr., (more)
- 1985
The self-aggrandizing world of Madison Avenue advertising is the subject of this clichéd, sexist satire that features a cynical ad executive (Loretta Swit) and her minions who choose three regular Joes to represent the Norbecker Beer company in a new ad campaign. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Loretta Swit, Rip Torn, (more)
- 1985
A TV news crew manages to videotape a vicious arsonist in the act. Hunter (Fred Dryer) and McCall (Stepfanie Kramer) do their best to bring the firebug to justice, but are stymied at every turn by the well-meaning interference of the TV people. Ultimately, howver,. Hunter squares off against the murderous "torch"--who turns out to be a demented Rambo wannabe, armed with a gigantic flame thrower! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
Three ultra-marathoners are on a 72-mile race in the New Mexico desert when they encounter a group of weekend-warrior survivalist types who want to "play with the little runner boys." The runners are in the race of their lives when the demented trigger boys won't leave them alone in this Deliverance descendant. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ronny Cox, Lois Chiles, (more)
In this sprawling television miniseries, originally aired in May 1983 on NBC, a race of seemingly human-like aliens arrive en masse on Earth. These "Visitors" promise cooperation and friendship -- then launch a clandestine takeover of the planet by accusing the entire scientific and medical community of conspiring to destroy them, then finally "benevolently" seizing power. Inspired by Sinclair Lewis' It Can't Happen Here, a 1935 account of a fictional fascist takeover of America, V uses a huge ensemble cast and an elliptical method of storytelling to trace the contact between humans and the Visitors, from the arrival of 50 giant flying saucers in low Earth orbit to the first major victory of the underground resistance that opposes the aliens. Major characters include Mike Donovan (Marc Singer), a television cameraman who leverages his experience filming in various war-torn locales to help expose the Visitors' true nature; news anchor Kristine Walsh (Jenny Sullivan), his sometime girlfriend, who allows her ambitions to cloud her journalistic judgment and becomes a pawn of the alien invasion; Juliet Parrish (Faye Grant), a young biochemist who finds herself thrust into the role of resistance leader; Abraham Bernstein (Leonardo Cimino), the patriarch of a Jewish family divided between the lessons of the Holocaust and the need to survive; Elias Taylor (Michael Wright), a petty thief who joins the resistance after the Visitors kill his doctor brother, Ben (Richard Lawson); and Robin Maxwell (Blair Tefkin), the surly eldest daughter of a scientist (Michael Durrell) who finds his family the target of harassment and intimidation. The Visitors, who assume common human first names as their monikers, include supreme leader John (Richard Herd); sultry science and security officer Diana (Jane Badler); hunky Brian (Peter Nelson); and gentle Willie (Robert Englund). V was written and directed by Kenneth Johnson, who initially envisioned the project as a less fanciful story of fascist aggression; when his pitch to NBC seemed to be faltering, Johnson allegedly added the alien angle extemporaneously, securing himself a green light and NBC a sweeps-week hit. The success of V spawned a second miniseries, V: The Final Battle, and a weekly TV series that lasted 19 episodes from 1984 to 1985. Johnson ended his association with the world of V halfway through production on the second miniseries, but his work on the Alien Nation TV spin-off years later would resurrect many of the themes of V. Actor Singer was already known to sci-fi fans as star of The Beastmaster, while Englund would go on to portray Freddy Krueger in countless Nightmare on Elm Street films. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Faye Grant
Covering some 15 years, The Right Stuff recounts the formation of America's space program, concentrating on the original Mercury astronauts. Scott Glenn plays Alan Shepard, the first American in space; Fred Ward is Gus Grissom, the benighted astronaut for whom nothing works out as planned; and Ed Harris is John Glenn, the straight-arrow "boy scout" of the bunch who was the first American to orbit the earth. The remaining four Mercury boys are Deke Slayton (Scott Paulin), Scott Carpenter (Charles Frank), Wally Schirra (Lance Henriksen) and Gordon Cooper (Dennis Quaid). Wolfe's original book related in straightforward fashion the dangers and frustrations facing the astronauts (including Glenn's oft-repeated complaint that it's hard to be confident when you know that the missile you're sitting on has been built by the lowest bidder), the various personal crises involving their families (Glenn's wife Annie, a stutterer, dreads being interviewed on television, while Grissom's wife Betty, angered that her husband is not regarded as a hero because his mission was a failure, bitterly declares "I want my parade!"), and the schism between the squeaky-clean public image of the Mercury pilots and their sometimes raunchy earthbound shenanigans. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sam Shepard, Scott Glenn, (more)
Richard Levinson and William Link serve up another Thinking Man's murder mystery with the made-for-television Rehearsal for Murder. Playwright Robert Preston is on the verge of marrying glamorous film star Lynn Redgrave. But a scant few hours after her Broadway debut, Redgrave is found dead, an apparent suicide. Convinced that Redgrave was murdered, Preston contacts the most likely suspects and assembles them in an empty theatre, ostensibly to read through his latest play. But Preston locks the doors and uses his play as a means to, in the words of Hamlet, "catch the conscience" of the killer. Filmed under the working title Cold Reading, Rehearsal for Murder was the winner of the Edgar Award, a prize bestowed annually by the Mystery Writers of America. It was first broadcast on May 26, 1982. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Tom Jones director Tony Richardson might seem a curious choice to direct the contemporary western The Border, but he does his best to emulate Sam Peckinpah. Jack Nicholson stars as an El Paso border guard, saddled with avaricious wife Valerie Perrine. Hoping to stifle her nagging about money matters, Nicholson begins accepting payoffs to allow Mexican aliens to cross the border without interference. This leads to a relationship with a young Mexican mother Elpidia Carillo. Harvey Keitel and Warren Oates lend strong support to this atmospheric tale. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Nicholson, Harvey Keitel, (more)
- 1982
Season Five of The Dukes of Hazzard begins two Dukes short. Having walked off the series after their demands for a merchandising percentage were turned down, Tom Wopat and John Schneider), respectively cast as cousins Luke and Bo Duke, are nowhere to be found. Their replacements are another pair of Duke cousins, Coy (Byron Cherry) and Vance (Christopher Mayer), who have arrived in Hazzard county to help Uncle Jesse (Denver Pyle) around the farm while Bo and Luke are off racing on the NASCAR circuit (what happened to their probation?) The plot proper gets under way as Boss Hogg (Sorrell Booke) prepares to utilize his new, high-tech "Mean Green Machine" to steal a bunch of hundred-dollar engraving plates. Naturally, Boss thinks that he'll get away with it now that Bo and Luke are out of town--but he hasn't reckoned with Coy and Vance, who (according to the original TV Guide ad) are "tougher than their cousins ever were!" (PS: Sonny Shroyer is back as Deputy Enos, his own spinoff TV series having been cancelled). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1981
- R
This offbeat and atmospheric western is set in 1893, as a gang led by longtime outlaws Bill Doolin (Burt Lancaster) and Bill Dalton (Scott Glenn) is on the verge of falling apart due to time and fatigue. A pair of teenage girls who long to be part of the outlaw mythos of the west meet up with Dalton and Doolin: Jenny (Diane Lane) and Annie (Amanda Plummer). The girls brings an unexpected second wind to the gang, as they help them plot a new series of robberies and escapes, but this burst of new activity also attracts the attention of law officer Tilghman (Rod Steiger), who is determined to put them behind bars. While Cattle Annie and Little Britches was a box office flop thanks to poor handling by the distribution company that released it, it's developed a strong reputation among film buffs and western fans; it also featured Plummer's first screen appearance. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Lancaster, John Savage, (more)
New York City detective Steve Burns Al Pacino receives orders from Captain Edelson Paul Sorvino to solve a series of brutal murders in the gay community. Steve scours the gay bars that caters to same-sex sadomasochism in a desperate attempt to solve the crime. As he infiltrates the scene, he slowly comes loose from the moorings of his own reality, and an innocent victim is tortured by the cops in an effort to exact a confession. The story is based on actual murders that took place between 1962 and 1979. The film gained considerable publicity because of the controversial subject matter while censor argued between an X and R rating for the feature. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Al Pacino, Paul Sorvino, (more)
- 1980
Crisis at Central High is the sort of film that fully justifies the existence of made-for-TV movies. This superior effort is a dramatization of the court-ordered integration of Little Rock, Arkansas' Central High School in 1957. With threats of violence mounting (and some carried out), it becomes necessary for the government to send in Federal troops to escort the nine black teenagers who have been chosen to break the color barriers. Covering events from the beginning of the scholastic year to the graduation exercises, the film is based on the journals of Central High teacher/administrator Elizabeth Hucksby, who is here played by Joanne Woodward. Adapted (with precisely no political axes to grind) by Richard Levinson and William Link, Crisis at Central High made its triumphant debut on February 4, 1981. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
- PG
In this comedy, an elderly ex-vaudevillian is surprised to find a naked young woman in the trunk of his car. He soon discovers that she is a runaway fleeing from both the police and an enraged drug dealer she cheated out of $20,000. Meanwhile, the codger's daughter continually attempts to get him committed because of his overly generous support of his former colleagues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Burns, Brooke Shields, (more)
- 1977
Decades worth of innocent travelers fall prey to a demonic and hungry piece of furniture in this long-lost cult film, which was completed in 1977, but not released until a quarter-century later. In a tiny stone castle in the woods, the ghost of a flouncy artist (Dave Marsh/voice of Patrick Spence-Thomas) remains trapped inside the walls and witnesses the strange goings-on that give the film its title. It seems that the magnificent canopy bed that dominates the decor is actually the resting place of a demon who built it to seduce a lovely maiden back in 1897. Their unnatural congress having killed the poor girl, her monstrous Casanova became one with his creation and proceeded to snack on anybody who chanced across his rustic retreat. As the ghost watches, horrified, additional victims fall prey to the pernicious pallet. But the reign of terror may finally be over when the bed receives a visit from a pair of young siblings (Rosa Luxemburg and William Russ). The lone film by writer/director George Barry, Death Bed did not find distribution until 25 years after its 1977 completion -- and then only thanks to an Internet review of a bootleg copy. Death Bed: The Bed That Eats received its U.S. premiere at the San Francisco International Horror Festival February 15, 2003. A mural of the titular abomination by noted occultist Austin Osman Spare figures prominently in the film's plot. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Demene Hall
