Lane Smith Movies

The three-hour TV docudrama The Final Days was based on the Bob Woodward/Carl Bernstein chronicle of President Richard M. Nixon's last months in the White House. Given his behavior during the entire Watergate imbroglio, Nixon cannot help but come off as a paranoid power-abuser. As played by Lane Smith, however, Nixon also seems all too human--a confused, pathetic individual who cannot fully comprehend how, in less than one year, he can lose everything he has worked for in life. Theodore Bikel co-stars as Henry Kissinger, while other participants in the events of August 1973 through August 1974 are played by David Ogden Stiers (as Alexander Haig), Gregg Henry (John Dean), Susan Brown (Pat Nixon), Ann Hearn (Julie), Amanda Wyss (Tricia), Ramon Bieri (John Sirica), Diana Bellamy (Rose Mary Woods) and Alan Fudge (Gerald Ford). Adapted for television by Hugh Whitemore, The Final Days premiered on October 29, 1979. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Prison guard Ethan Sharpe (Lane Smith) watched as Burke (Viggo Mortensen) dies in the electric chair in 1964. Over two decades later, Sharpe is the warden, and Burke returns from the dead to exact revenge on the wicked warden when the prison re-opens. Two victims drip blood while dangling in barbed wire in a macabre dance of death, and the guards and inmates suffer at the hands of the malevolent Burke as he seeks his supernatural vengeance. The film location was the Wyoming State Prison. Built at the turn of the century, the jail became a tourist attraction in 1981. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this film, based on a true story, convicted criminal Lee Umstetter (Nick Nolte) is sentenced to life in San Quentin prison, with no possibility of parole. Despairing at his interminable sentence, Lee spends his time reading and educating himself. When he writes and performs a play that attracts the notice of a film critic (Rita Taggart), she sets out on a quest to have him paroled. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

A made for TV movie which serves as much a condemnation of the military establishment as a murder mystery, this film revolves around an upper classman who is falsely accused of responsibility for the death of a student when he begins to investigate the mysterious demise of the young gay cadet. Part of a two-part series, the crux for the upper classman is whether he is willing to jeopardize the future of his own military career to investigate the death of the freshman cadet at this prestigious military academy. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

Not long after he lost that "chicken run" to James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause (1955), actor Corey Allen switched professional gears to become a prolific film and TV director. Allen was responsible for putting television perennials James Brolin and Lisa Hartman through their paces in Beverly Hills Cowgirl Blues. Brolin plays a Beverly Hills cop who teams up with a luscious female private eye from Texas (Hartman, of course). While Brolin prefers peace and quiet, Hartman insists upon rooting out the murderer of a debutante-turned-hooker. Since both stars were gainfully employed on other TV series when Beverly Hills Cowgirl Blues first aired on October 5, 1985, we hesitate to suggest that this film was the pilot for a potential series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This tale of doomed romance set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War was the last in a string of box office disappointments from director Sidney J. Furie before he struck gold again with Iron Eagle (1986). Ken Wahl stars as Dr. Don Jardian, a Navy medical officer assigned to duty in Vietnam. Jardian is no flag-waving patriot, however; the reluctant warrior is just biding his time until he can return stateside and start a lucrative private practice. Then he meets and falls in love with Deborah Solomon (Cheryl Ladd), a devoted nurse who at first keeps the handsome doctor at bay, disgusted by the avariciousness that led him to choose what Deborah considers a noble profession. Eventually, however, Deborah's selflessness inspires Don and their romance blooms despite their bloody surroundings, leading to a dangerous mission that could separate them forever. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

First offered as an ABC Theatre presentation on January 9, 1984, Something About Amelia stars Ted Danson in an "against type" role to end them all. Danson is the well-to-do, loving husband of Glenn Close, and the doting father of teenager Roxanne Zal. Zal's mother can't understand why the girl has been depressed and withdrawn of late. It takes a session with her school guidance counselor to get Zalto admit the source of her depression: Her father has had sexual relations with her. Zal's mother goes through the expected anger and denial upon hearing this news....but the girl is, alas, telling the truth. Wisely, scriptwriter William Hanley does not present Ted Danson's character as a monster, despite the monstrosity of his behavior. The point of the drama is that incest is not exclusively the dominion of lower-class, poorly educated, abusive parents--and that it is tragically possible for even the most "mature" of grownups to confuse love with sex. Dismissed by an otherwise perceptive TV movie critic as merely "typical," Something About Amelia chalked up one of the highest-ever ratings for a TV movie, and won a well-deserved Emmy for young Roxanne Zal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Advertised as "a realistic depiction of fictional events," the harrowing speculative drama Special Bulletin was shot on videotape and staged as an actual late-breaking news event. The story concerns a group of anti-nuclear activists who take over the waterfront of Charleston, South Carolina. The group wants the 968 nuclear warheads located in the Charleston area to be disarmed immediately; if this demand is not met, the activists will detonate their own nuclear device. Written by Marshall Herskovitz and directed by Ed Zwick (who would later collaborate on the TV series thirtysomething), the Emmy-winning Special Bulletin first aired on March 20, 1983. This initial broadcast was accompanied by repeated disclaimers, assuring the audience that what was transpiring on their TV screens was not really happening. Even so, the production was so authentic-looking (right down to the fabricated previews of upcoming network dramatic programs) that thousands of panicky viewers called in to NBC, demanding further information on the siege of Charleston. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This drama chronicles the destruction of a family from the viewpoint of a blue-collar husband. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

As played by Jessica Lange, Frances Farmer is a rebel from the word go, winning a high school essay award by writing a piece in defense of Communism. Determining to become an actress, Frances is equally determined not to play the Hollywood game: she refuses to acquiesce to idiotic publicity stunts, and insists upon appearing on screen sans makeup. Her defiance attracts the attention of Broadway playwright Clifford Odets, who convinces Frances that her future rests with the Group Theatre. But once she leaves Hollywood for New York, Frances learns to her chagrin that the Group intends to exploit her movie fame in order to draw in customers. Her desperate attempts to restart her movie career, combined with her increasing dependence on alcohol and the pressures brought to bear by her monster mother (Kim Stanley), result in a complete mental breakdown. Even while institutionalized, Frances is abused by the powers-that-be; she is forced to undergo an injurious brain operation, is treated like a mad animal, and periodically raped by the inmates. Frances is released in the custody of her mother, who persists in browbeating her tortured daughter until Frances discovers the legal means to break away. The real-life Frances spent her last years as host of a local Indianapolis TV program, dying in 1970 at age 57; the film comes to a climax when Frances is feted on the smarmy network program This is Your Life. Other actual personages depicted herein include Clifford Odets (played by Jeffrey DeMunn), Harold Clurman (Jordan Charney) and Ralph Edwards (Donald Craig). Frances' first husband Leif Erickson is fictionalized as "Jeffrey York", and played by Lange's real-life inamorata Sam Shepard. And if you listen closely, you'll hear the voice of Kevin Costner, whose minor role was whittled down to one line when he, like Frances Farmer, had the temerity to argue with the director. The unhappy life of actress Frances Farmer was also covered in Farmer's autobiography, Will There Ever Be a Morning? While the film rights for that book were sold to a TV-movie concern, the producers of the theatrical feature Frances were able to ship their production out to the public first. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Inspired by a true story, Prince of the City stars Treat Williams as a Manhattan detective who agrees to help the US Department of Justice weed out corruption in the NYPD. Williams agrees on the assurance that he'll never have to turn in a close friend. Wired for sound, Williams almost immediately stumbles upon a police conspiracy to smuggle narcotics to street informants in order to insure cooperation. While this might be condonable in a stretch, the fact is that the many cops are using the drugs on their own, and are also highly susceptible to bribes. Williams gets the goods on the miscreants, but in so doing he breaks the "code" and becomes a pariah to his fellow officers. As we learn in the unsettling final scene, Williams will always be considered a "fink," even by honest cops. Prince of the City is too long for its own good, but its opening expository sequences and its final twenty minutes more than compensate for the duller stretches. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Misguided townsfolk, blinded by bias and fear, mistakenly kill a mentally retarded man after someone accuses him of raping the young girl he had befriended. Shortly thereafter the entire town is beset by a supernatural terror. The story originally aired on television. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Ellen Burstyn plays Edna McCauley, the wife of a man (Jeffrey DeMunn) who is killed in an auto crash. Edna herself survives, but not before enduring an "out of body" experience. Crippled in the accident, Edna heads to her hometown in Kansas to recuperate. There she discovers that she has the power to heal people, presumably a byproduct of her brief trip into the beyond. She accepts her gift, but resists the notion that she has been blessed with divine powers. On the other hand, her young lover (Sam Shepard) believes that she is the embodiment of Jesus Christ. It is his method of proving his hypothesis that brings the film to its startling conclusion. Both Ellen Burstyn and Eva Le Gallienne (as Burstyn's grandmother) were nominated for Academy Awards. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide