Jack Scalia Movies

A welcome exception to the slasher-stalker-kidnapper films usually seen on the USA cable network, After the Shock is a tribute to the courage and heroism of Bay Area residents following the San Francisco earthquake of October 17, 1989. Director Gary A. Sherman opts for a "cinema verite" approach, utilizing a hand-held camera to recreate the style of the original on-the-spot TV reporting. The cast includes Scott Valentine, Rue McClanahan, Yaphet Kotto, Jack Scalia and Richard Anthony Crenna as various firefighters, paramedics, law officials and private citizens. One of the best performances is offered by Nick Zaninovich, a real-life quake survivor who spent seven hours trapped in his car, which was buried under a collapsed stretch of the Nimitz freeway. After the Shock debuted September 12, 1990. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Investment banker Jack Scalia would give anything to escape his wealthy but empty existence. He fantasizes about becoming an Italian movie star, like his idol George Hamilton. Shedding himself of his wife and job, Scalia heads to Tinseltown to realize his dream, changing his name and adopting a Mediterranean accent along the way. He manages to succeed within these terms-except in the field of romance. He may be a matinee idol to the world, but poor Scalia can't get to first base with the new love of his life, scriptwriter Kathy Ireland. Elliott Gould, Katherine Helmond, James Doohan, Norm Crosby and Frank Gorshin are among the familiar faces popping up in this surprisingly obscure romantic comedy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a true event, this is the account of the Buttafuoco couple, whose names were splattered all over the media in the early '90s after the alleged teen-aged playmate of Mr. B., Amy Fischer (who claimed it was Mr. B's will), shot Mrs. B in the head (though the latter miraculously lived). This particular perspective claims that Amy acted of her own free will and Mr. B never had an affair with her (only vaguely flirted) nor did he in any way encourage her to make an attack on his wife. CBS paid the Buttafuocos $300,000 for their story. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

This futuristic actioner takes place on a WWIII-ravaged Earth and follows the struggle of a brave hero to save his lady love from the villains who captured her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This science fiction yarn from Richard Pepin and Joseph Merhi revolves around the crash-landing of a space shuttle bearing six astronauts who are returning from a top-secret mission. Mission commander Cutter (Lance Le Gault) puts Capt. Nick Saxon (Jack Scalia) on the case. Saxon was the head of the last Aquarius mission, which also failed, and his wife, Debbie (Donna W. Scott), is one of the crewmembers this time around. The crew has been infected with something very strange, evidenced when the astronauts break out of the shuttle and their leader, Joe (Jonathan Banks), punches his fist clean through a guard's chest. After his eyes turn a mysteriously cattish yellow he tells his former best-buddy Nick, "It doesn't matter! None of your pathetic little lives matter anymore!" and throws him from a speeding truck before beating a hasty retreat with his super-human crew. The truth of the matter is that the astronauts are being controlled by space parasites that need to find their egg canisters to hatch a race of monsters and destroy the world. Debbie, the sole exception, is being controlled by a female "watcher" named Sabidra, who explains that her people are actually a "race with their faces to the sun" and that she will destroy the Dark Breed. There's also a government conspiracy, involving Cutter, who orders everyone "terminated with extreme prejudice." Numerous highly flammable items get blown up with bazookas and Joe morphs naked into a big slimy monster before Nick blows everything up and gets to run in slow motion ahead of a big fireball. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Like its theatrical-feature precursor Not Without My Daughter, the made-for-TV Desperate Rescue is based on a true story, though it would appear that several liberties have been taken. Mariel Hemingway plays a young mother whose daughter Lindsay Haun is abducted by Andrew Masset, Mariel's Jordanian ex-husband. Masset takes the girl back to his native Jordan, beyond the reach of the US authorities. Denied aid and comfort by the American government, Mariel takes matters into her own hands, hiring ex-Delta Force commandos Clancy Brown, Jeff Kober and James Russo to muscle their way into Jordan and rescue Lindsay. Based on an article by David Halevy and Neil C. Livingstone, Desperate Rescue premiered January 18, 1993: its title at that time was Desperate Rescue: The Cathy Mahone Story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The idyllic existence of New York art director Mallory Jordan (Sean Young) is shattered when her ad-executive husband Andrew Keswick (Charles Shaughnessy) and their two daughters are brutally slain in a robbery. Suddenly alone, the devastated Mallory can see no reason to ever again emerge from her bedroom--or, for that matter, to go on living. Helping Mallory escape from her self-imposed shell is compassionate police detective Michael DeMarco (Jack Scalia), who makes it his personal mission to track down and prosecute the persons responsible for the tragedy (evidently, DeMarco is the only homicide cop in New York who works without a partner!) As part of her "therapy", Mallory is allowed to accompany DeMarco as he interrogates and arrests the prime suspect--and as the days pass, the couple spends more and more time together, ultimately falling in love. The best part of this made-for-TV drama is the depiction of Mallory's all-consuming grief, which lingers in the memory far longer than her ultimate (and inevitable) healing process. Originally telecast on CBS under the title Barbara Taylor Bradford's Everything to Gain, the film has since been released to video as part of a "Barbara Taylor Bradford Trilogy." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Los Angeles suburbanites Quinn (James Wilder) and Laura (Kimberly Kates) host a backyard barbecue of co-workers, including a doctor (C. Thomas Howell), his wife (Erika Eleniak), rough-edged Barry (Jack Scalia), and winsome Jude (Karen Black), who was recently widowed when her executive husband was killed in a botched kidnapping. A confrontation with an irate neighbor (James Russo) turns ugly, and it seems there is more to the guest list than first thought. And then it gets uglier once the accusations fly -- much uglier. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide

This glitzy miniseries based on the Judith Krantz novel is a wicked soap opera about sex, power, and betrayal. Valerie Bertinelli stars as Maxi, whose mother (Francesca Annis) marries her father's hated brother Cutter (Perry King) after his death. Cutter had sworn to destroy everything his late brother valued and proceeds to run his publishing empire into the ground. Maxi, who has already been through three husbands by age 29, turns over a new leaf by gathering her family and making a commitment to save the business, which she does by becoming the editor of a successful fashion magazine. Maxi lives in the Trump Tower, whose famed real-life owner appears as himself. It has some unintentionally campy moments, but King is quite good as the villainous Cutter, and fans of this sort of high-gloss '80s melodrama will want to put it on their lists. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Adapted from Jackie Collins' best-selling novel of the same name, this glittery made-for-TV movie stars three veteran small-screen divas as the "newest" generation of Tinseltown spouses. Farrah Fawcett heads the cast as film favorite and top recording artist Lissa Roman, who hires handsome private eye Michael Scorsini (Jack Scalia) to trail her much-younger husband, who is not only a philanderer but psychotic. While all this is going on, Lissa seeks out moral support from her two best friends: Taylor Singer (Melissa Gilbert), the wife of a major movie director, who has enough on her hands with the young writer with whom she is collaborating on a screenplay and cohabitating in the bedroom, and vocalist Kyndra Rossiter (Robin Givens), who, alone among her peers, aspires merely to a happy, well-balanced life -- and a closer relationship with her daughter Saffron (Kandyce McLure). Ultimately, melodrama creeps into the picture when Lissa's daughter Nikki (Pascale Hudson) is kidnapped. Jackie Collins' Hollywood Wives: The New Generation debuted October 19, 2003, on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The success of The Abyss led to slew of deep-sea adventures in 1989, including this silly monster movie from the director of Pieces and Slugs. Jack Scalia stars as the head of a rescue mission sent to retrieve a nuclear sub sunken off the coast of Norway, only to be menaced by phony-looking monsters and a ruthless corporate stooge (Ray Wise) trying to get everybody killed. Full Metal Jacket's R. Lee Ermey co-stars as another hard-bitten militarist, this time a ship captain, and the film features numerous poorly-done gore scenes including an exploding head and torn-off limbs. Deborah Adair is noteworthy as Scalia's ex, but the direction is poor and the monsters are likely to produce more in the way of sneers than cheers. See also Leviathan and DeepStar Six. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Victoria Principal plays a deputy District Attorney; that we can believe. James Farentino costars as a judge; this is also believable. Opponents in the courtroom, Principal and Farentino are lovers in bed; okay, we'll buy that. Principal is trying to secure a murder conviction for a pimp/blackmailer; we're still with this. But what Principal doesn't know is that the actual murderer is none other than Judge Farentino. Now you've lost us. Naked Lie was first telecast February 26, 1989, an event deemed worthy of a TV Guide cover; one gets the feeling that Victoria Principal could have gotten a TV Guide cover in 1989 by reading the phone book. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide