Bruce Smolanoff Movies

The detectives investigate when the wife of prominent -- and extremely dislikable -- defense attorney Harold Jensen (Peter Friedman) is found murdered. The popular consensus is that Jensen himself had been the killer's target because of his habit of betraying attorney-client confidentiality in many cases. After wading through a number of unsavory incidents in the lawyer's past, the police and the D.A.'s office latch onto a surprise development to crack the case. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A police officer is killed and a hired driver kidnapped during a carjacking. Detectives Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Curtis (Benjamin Bratt) manage to capture one of the perpetrators, who offers to reveal the whereabouts of the missing driver to Assistant D.A. Ross (Carey Lowell) in exchange for immunity on the cop-killing charge. This potential deal results in much professional grief for Ross' partner Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston). Edie Falco returns in the role of defense attorney (and McCoy's ex-lover) Sally Bell. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Hubert Selby's controversial 1964 cult novel Last Exit To Brooklyn is adapted to the big screen by director Ulrich Edel in this drama. The story is set in the early 1950s in Red Hook, Brooklyn, a blighted waterfront town of boarded-up storefronts and striking factory workers. Harry Black (Stephen Lang), a machinist put in charge of the local union strike office, suddenly finds himself one of the most important men in town. But for all his sudden power, there's something disturbing Harry. He rejects his wife's caresses and discovers himself infatuated with a frail young man who calls himself Georgette (Alexis Arquette), who has a crush on well-muscled hood Vinnie (Peter Dobson). But Harry doesn't confront his problem head-on until he falls head-over-heels in love with Regina (Zette), a local transvestite. As the strike becomes more intense, Harry sinks deeper into an obsessive affair with Regina, using the strike fund to shower him/her with personal gifts. As Harry sinks into obsession, other characters float through the decaying streets. There's the attractive prostitute Tralala (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who falls in love with a sailor about to be shipped overseas. There is also an agreeable young man named Tommy (John Costelloe) who is beaten by his soon-to-be father-in-law Big Joe (Burt Young) for making his daughter Donna (Ricki Lake) pregnant. Everything comes to a tragic conclusion as the workers' strike escalates into a violent confrontation. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Everyone knows that teenagers are smarter than adults, and if given a chance the kids could save the world -- if they don't blow it to bits first. The Manhattan Project tells of how 16-year-old Paul Stephens (Christopher Collet) tries to alert his community to the dangers of nuclear energy. John Mathewson (John Lithgow), a doctor in a pharmaceutical research plant wherein covert plutonium experiments are taking place, is the boyfriend of Paul's mom, Elizabeth (Jill Eikenberry). While Mathewson is romantically occupied, Paul and his girl, Jenny Anderman (Cynthia Nixon), steal the plutonium and construct their own atomic bomb. They do this, of course, as a warning to foolhardy grown-ups -- none more foolhardy than the folks who put up good money to make this film. The Manhattan Project was directed by longtime Woody Allen collaborator Marshall Brickman, whose expert sense of comic timing obscures the thickheaded "message" of this picture. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This violent follow-up to the sadistic actioner The Exterminator (1980) again features Johnny Eastland (Robert Ginty), a Vietnam vet who is triggered into vengeful killing when his dancer girlfriend (Deborah Geffner) is first badly beaten and permanently crippled and later murdered by a gang of street thugs led by "X" (Mario Van Peebles). Johnny dresses up in a special uniform and helmet, grabs a flamethrower, and aided by Be Gee (Frankie R. Faison), a former vet turned garbageman, the two incinerate their way through the rest of the film. Like other Death Wish clones, this film is derivative, violent, and mindless. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi