Garn Stephens Movies
- 1992
- Add Something to Live For: The Alison Gertz Story to QueueAdd Something to Live For: The Alison Gertz Story to top of Queue
Something to Live For: The Alison Gertz Story was one of a myriad of early 1990s TV movies centering around the AIDS issue. Molly Ringwald stars as Alison Gertz, an upscale Manhattanite who thinks she knows her way around. Still, Alison conducts an "unprotected" one-night affair, which results in her contacting the AIDS virus. Despite her alleged smarts, Alison continues to seek out sexual partners and can't understand why they're reluctant to sleep with her, even though she belatedly offers to use contraceptives. Perhaps if it had been made five years earlier, and perhaps if it didn't have its characters speaking fluent pop profundities, Something to Live For might have been one of the truly important made-for-TV AIDS sagas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1990
- Add Family of Spies: The Walker Spy Ring, Part 1 to QueueAdd Family of Spies: The Walker Spy Ring, Part 1 to top of Queue
The true story of American turncoat John Walker, Jr. is related blow-by-blow in this made-for-TV movie. Powers Boothe stars as Walker, a Navy petty officer who spends half of his career selling secrets to the Soviets. At first the soul of discretion, the hard-drinking, philandering Walker eventually becomes careless enough in his activities to arouse the suspicions of his in-the-dark wife Barbara (Lesley Ann Warren). With the skill and aplomb of the true sociopath, Walker also manages to convince his own son (Andrew Lowry) to join the "family business." The spy ring is ultimately smashed through the joint efforts of the FBI and Walker's embittered ex-wife. Based on the books Family of Spies by Pete Earley and I Pledge Allegiance by Howard Blum, Family of Spies: The Walker Spy Ring was originally telecast in two parts on February 4 and 6, 1990. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1988
When an institutionalized patient who is forcibly released commits murder, the treating psychiatrist's career is in jeopardy. ~ All Movie Guide
Children in the Crossfire examines the plight of the youngest victims of Northern Ireland's never-ending religious strife. Amidst the speeding bullets and burned-out buildings, a group of Catholic and Protestant children courageously join the Children's Committee 10. This organization is dedicated to mending age-old political and social chasms by having the children spend a summer together in America with host families. Calling themselves "Summertime Yanks", four Belfast children--two boys, two girls--struggle to meet one another halfway in the safe harbor of Southern California. The authenticity of Children in the Crossfire is enhanced by the decision to cast four genuine Belfast kids, with no prior acting experience, in the principal roles. The first telecast December 3, 1984, Children in the Crossfire was produced by George Schafer, who twelve years earlier painted a bleaker portrait of Northern Ireland's sectarian conflict in the made-for-TV A War of Children. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1982
- R
- Add Halloween III: Season of the Witch to QueueAdd Halloween III: Season of the Witch to top of Queue
The only installment of the Halloween series to abandon the Michael Myers story line, Halloween III: Season of the Witch is an intricate sci-fi horror hybrid. A week before Halloween, an older man named Harry Grimbridge (Al Berry) is wounded by a mysteriously dispassionate group of assailants in an industrial parking lot. After receiving treatment at a local hospital from Dr. Dan Challis (Tom Atkins) -- a hard-drinking divorced father of two -- Grimbridge is killed by an assassin who later sets himself on fire. Blowing off his own kids, Challis teams up with Grimbridge's daughter, Ellie (Stacey Nelkin), to find out why the middle-aged toy salesman was murdered. The duo's search soon leads them to a Halloween-mask factory run by inventor and practical joker Conal Cochran (Dan O'Herlihy). In between bouts of passionate lovemaking, Ellie and Challis begin to realize that the sinister old businessman has something other than treats in mind for America's kids -- something to do with the Silver Shamrock masks that Challis' children and thousands of other youngsters have bought for the holiday. Original screenwriter Nigel Kneale, whose scripts for Britain's Quatermass TV series made him a beloved science fiction fixture, sued the producers of Halloween III to have his name removed from the credits after seeing the gory finished product; director Tommy Lee Wallace ultimately received screenplay credit. John Carpenter, director of the first Halloween film, co-produced the third installment with Debra Hill, who would later soldier on without Carpenter for additional, belated sequels. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Atkins, Stacey Nelkin, (more)
- 1980
In this romantic drama, a misanthropic college teacher with a love of solitude ends up falling in love with her married handy man. Though they are in love and want to marry, his wife refuses to divorce him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1979
The 8-hour TV miniseries Blind Ambition was originally telecast May 20 through 23, 1979. This 105-minute feature-film version, prepared in 1982, seems a bit rushed at times, but overall does a credible and coherent job of storytelling. Based on John Dean's book Blind Ambition, with elements of Maureen Dean's Mo woven in by screenwriter Stanley R. Greenberg, this is the saga of the Watergate affair, as experienced by Dean (Martin Sheen) and hia wife Maureen (Theresa Russell). As the Nixon administration goes down in flames, the Deans' marriage is sorely tested-as is Dean's success-at-any-price credo. Rip Torn plays Nixon like something out of a Greek Tragedy; some viewers accepted his interpretation, others found it jarringly inaccurate. Others in the cast of "usual suspects" include Michael Callan as Charles Colson, Lonny Chapman as L. Patrick Gray, William Daniels as G. Gordon Liddy, Fred Grandy as Donald Segretti, Christopher Guest as Jeb Magruder, Lawrence Pressman as H. R. Haldeman, William Windom as Richard Kleindienst, James Greene as E. Howard Hunt, Logan Ramsey as J. Edgar Hoover, and Al Checco as judge John Sirica. Also known as The John Dean Story, Blind Ambition earned two Emmy nominations. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martin Sheen, Theresa Russell, (more)
- 1975
Pregnant Gloria's "due date" has come and gone. In fact, nine full days have passed since Gloria was supposed to have given birth. Frustrated beyond belief, Gloria explosively takes out her anger on Mike -- and before long even Edith has fallen victim to her daughter's crabbiness. Others in the cast include Robin Wilson as Sylvia, Garn Stephens as Dotty, and Madeline Fisher as Vicki. Written by Milt Josefsberg and Ben Starr, "Gloria Is Nervous" originally aired on December 8, 1975. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, (more)
In this 1975 adaptation of Neil Simon's stage play, director Herbert Ross presents the story of two old-time Vaudvillians played by Walter Matthau and George Burns in his first starring role since 1939's Honolulu. After decades apart, the cantankerous duo is persuaded to reunite for a television special despite the fact that they hate each other. Richard Benjamin co-stars as Matthau's nephew, who has the responsibility of making sure the comedians go through with the show and don't kill each other in the process. Nominated for four Academy Awards, Burns took home the statue for Best Supporting Actor. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Matthau, George Burns, (more)
