Nicholas Surovy Movies
After making his feature-film debut in For Pete's Sake! (1966) and playing a larger supporting role in Bang the Drum Slowly (1973), actor Nicolas Surovy spent the bulk of his career in television movies such as Laura Lansing Slept Here (1988) and Coopersmith (1992). Surovy is the son of opera singer Rise Stevens. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 2001
Angel (David Boreanaz) undergoes a punishing regimen of physical and mental training in preparation for his inevitable showdown with Darla (Julie Benz) and Drusilla (Juliet Landau). He shadows the terrible twosome as they haunt the demon lairs of Los Angeles, inviting would-be villains to attend their impending tryouts for the formation of a fearsome vampire/demon posse. Meanwhile, it turns out that Lindsey McDonald (Christian Kane) and Lilah Morgan (Stephanie Romanov) were spared during Darla and Drusilla's massacre (see "Reunion") so that one can serve as a scapegoat at Wolfram & Hart and the other can continue liaising with the vampire women. Angry at having been manipulated, Darla tells the lawyers she doesn't care who gets axed and who lives to scheme with her another day. In the end, the senior partners kill neither Lilah nor Lindsey, instead allowing them to take over from the slain Holland Manners as acting co-vice presidents. As for Angel's newly fired associates, Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter), Wesley (Alexis Denisof), and Gunn (J. August Richards) nurse their hurt feelings with the Host (Andy Hallett) at Caritas. Drunkenly resolving to carry on Angel Investigations with or without its founder, they respond to one of Cordelia's visions and successfully save a girl from a demon. Elsewhere, Angel arrives at Dru and Darla's audition space and slays the assembled would-be minions. When the vampire vixens themselves arrive, Angel sets them on fire. They escape the reaper by knocking the top off of a fire hydrant, but are horribly burned nonetheless. Originally broadcast January 16, 2001, on the WB network, "Redefinition" marked season two, episode 11 of the supernatural comedy drama. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Actor and playwright Dan Bucatinsky wrote the screenplay for this adaptation of his play I Know You Are, But What Am I?, though for the big-screen version, his slightly fractured love story was given a same-sex twist. Eli (Dan Bucatinsky) is a journalist working with a major L.A. newspaper who is single and not loving it. Eli is also gay, and makes no secret of the fact that he's looking for a nice guy that he can settle down with. Eli's best friend Brett (Adam Goldberg) knows a woman named Jackie (Sasha Alexander), who says she has a friend who would be perfect for Eli. Thus Eli is introduced to Tom (Richard Ruccolo), a special education instructor and devoted nightlife enthusiast. Eli and Tom's first date turns out to be just short of a disaster; Tom indulges in his overweening enthusiasm for alcohol and tobacco, and Eli is disgusted to learn Tom has never seen Gone With the Wind. Things appear to be over for Eli and Tom before they even started, until they meet by chance while shopping a few days later; this time, a conversation rather than an argument develops, and the two end up spending the night together. Eli begins to think love may have finally found him, until Tom dashes off the next morning, leaving Eli to wonder if Tom has any interest at all in a long-term commitment. All Over the Guy also features small cameo roles by Lisa Kudrow, as an actress not skilled in voice-over work, and Christina Ricci as Eli's cynical sister. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dan Bucatinsky, Richard R. Ruccolo, (more)
The story of two average women who refused to be silenced and intimidated by the company who manufactured their silicone implants is detailed in this inspirational docudrama starring Mary McDonnell and Gail O' Grady. Sybil Goldrich (McDonnell) was a wealthy California who was devastated to be diagnosed with breast cancer, and Kathleen Anneken (O'Grady) was a typical middle-class mother from Kansas who had always been unhappy with her breast size. Despite their disparate backgrounds and social statuses, both women would soon be drawn together by the tragic circumstances surrounding their decision to receive breast implants. Ignored, mistreated, and disregarded by silicone specialists Dow Corning after they received their implants and fell gravely ill, Goldrich and Anneken became united in their efforts to take their case to the FDA. While proving Down Corning was responsible for their many ailments was a near impossible task, getting their story out to the public was simply a matter of using every opportunity they had to state their case publicly. In the end it was one lawyer who possessed the incriminating evidence needed to bring Down Corning down, and ensure that their cries weren't silenced by the stifling greenback gag of big business. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gail O'Grady, Mary McDonnell, (more)
- 1996
This episode is a delightfully calculated slam at Murder, She Wrote's Thursday-night competition Friends. Visiting the set of the popular twentysomething sitcom "Buds", Jessica (Angela Lansbury) quickly realizes that there is plenty of disharmony amongst the young and attractive cast members. Making matters worse, the series' avaricious producer is planning to hype the ratings by killing off one of the characters--in the script, that is. Before long, however, life imitates art, and Jessica sets her mind to exposing a murderer. The real fun in this episode derives from guessing which of the "Buds" characters is supposed to be Rachel, Ross, Phoebe, Chandler etc. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1996
- PG
In this family-oriented comedy adventure, parents think their boy is crying "wolf!" when he tells them that his pets have told him of a conspiracy to kill the president. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bradley Pierce, Melora Hardin, (more)
- 1996
In the spirit of such earlier efforts as Operation Eichmann and House on Garibaldi Street, this meticulously crafted cable movie recounts the 1960 mission by the Israeli secret service to kidnap Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann from his hiding place in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Although Israel will ultimately subject Eichmann to a scrupulously fair trial, it is first necessary to break the law and violate Argentina's strict "no extradition" policy regarding renegade Nazis. Once the abduction has been accomplished, the task remains to smuggle Eichmann out of the country without detection -- and at this point, the film boils down to a battle of wits and wills between evil genius Eichmann (played by Robert Duvall, who also co-produced) and the mission's leader, Israeli Mossad agent Peter Malkin (Arliss Howard). Based on Malkin's memoir Eichmann in My Hands, The Man Who Captured Eichmann was first seen over the TNT cable service on November 10, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Duvall, Arliss Howard, (more)
- 1995
In this teen-oriented drama, Rick (Jeremy London) is a young man who has fallen into trouble with the law. Given a choice between going to a juvenile home and volunteering to work at a camp for the blind, Rick chooses the latter, but without any particular enthusiasm for the job. However, Rick's attitudes begin to change when he becomes friends with a blind gymnast. Rick helps guide her in her new ambition to compete in equestrian show jumping, and together they learn important lessons in friendship, teamwork and self-respect. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeremy London, Nicholas Surovy, (more)
- 1995
The academic world proves as lethal as the "real" world during a controversy over naming the next headmaster at Cabot Cove's prep school. Throughout the process, the school and its principal rival play a number of traditional pranks on one another, presumably in the spirit of good sportsmanship. But when a professor is murdered, Jessica (Angela Lansbury) takes time off of her lecture duties at the school to put and end to the so-called "fun and games." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1993
Cybill Shepherd takes a ride into the dark side in this two-part TV movie, purported based on a true story. Shepherd is cast as wealthy and seductive Phoenix socialite Faith Kelsey, who opts not to get mad but to get even when her husband, Terry (Christopher McDonald), enters into an affair with Stacey Eckhart (Denise Gentile), herself a married woman with children. When Stacey is brutally murdered, the police have great difficulty linking either of the Kelseys to the crime -- and no one has more difficulty than Detective Jay Jensen (Ken Olin), who, entranced by Faith's beauty and charm, concludes that she is as "much a victim" as the dead woman. But as the story unfolds, it becomes painfully clear that Faith has hatched an elaborate scheme to get away with murder, and to cover her tracks by persuading a number of people -- mostly male people -- to help her cover her tracks and leave the dots unconnected. But will Jensen finally wrest free of Faith's alluring spell and see to it that justice is done? And of more importance, can this be done before Faith makes her good her plan to leave the country and totally escape extradition? Telling Secrets was originally seen over NBC on January 17 and 18, 1993. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Based on a story by Richard Lupoff (a short filmization of the same story earned an Oscar nomination for 1990), 12:01 centers on a member of the personnel department in a science lab, who discovers that the world has become somehow trapped in a strange time warp that causes the same 24-hour period to repeat itself. During the course of that endlessly repeated day, Barry Thomas, the only one who seems to be aware of what's happening, must somehow figure out how to put time back on its normal course and solve the murder of a physicist, Lisa Fredricks (Helen Slater) with whom he is infatuated. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1992
Coopersmith is the title of a never-sold TV series, assembled by producer/writer Peter S. Fischer of Murder She Wrote fame. In the 2-hour pilot episode, Grant Show stars as insurance investigator C. D. Coopersmith. Nicolas Surovy costars as a homicidal race-car driver whose wife dies in a highly suspicious accident. Clever though Surovy may be, Coopersmith is a degree or two cleverer. Filmed in 1990, Coopersmith was finally given a network airing on July 31, 1992, to capitalize on Grant Show's newly acquired celebrity as costar of Melrose Place. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A man undergoes a scientific experiment that causes him to wake up after 50 years without aging a day in this romantic science-fiction tale. In 1939, Daniel (Mel Gibson) is a test pilot who is brave in the air but lacks the nerve to ask his girlfriend Helen (Isabel Glasser) to marry him, even though he loves her deeply. When Helen is hit by a truck and is taken to the hospital in a coma, Daniel is despondent, and he approaches his best friend Harry (George Wendt). Harry is a scientific researcher working with the military who has been experimenting with cryogenic suspension; Daniel asks Harry to have him frozen for a year rather than go through the hell of waiting to see if Helen lives or dies. Harry reluctantly agrees, but after the pilot is put on ice, Harry's experiments are shut down, and Daniel is forgotten. In 1992, two young boys, Nat (Elijah Wood) and Felix (Robert Hy Gorman) are playing in an abandoned military warehouse and find a freezing unit. They open it and find Daniel, who before long is all thawed out and physically not much worse for wear. However, the world is a very different place than it was in 1939; the boys bring their discovery home, where their single mother Claire (Jamie Lee Curtis) looks after Daniel and helps him adjust to his new world. A friendship between them begins to grow into something deeper, until Daniel discovers that his beloved Helen is still alive. Forever Young also features Joe Morton, Rob Morrow, and Vanessa Williams. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mel Gibson, Jamie Lee Curtis, (more)
- 1992
Jessica (Angela Lansbury) swings into action when entrepreneur Max Teller (Steve Forrest), who had recently converted a former western mining town into a tourist attraction, is murdered. The killing may have been linked to the legendary lost treasure of a notorious stagecoach robber. Graham Greene of Dances with Wolves fame guest stars as the town's Native American sheriff Sam Keeyani, whom Jessica assists in his investigation of the murder (or is it the other way around?) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1991
After being mugged, pregnant legal secretary Amy Newhouse (Molly Price) loses her unborn baby. The police suspect that the mugging was not random, and that someone -- perhaps Amy, perhaps her lover Christopher Baylor (Reed Diamond), perhaps her boss David Alcott (Nicholas Surovy) -- wanted the child dead. The problem: Can the D.A.'s office argue that the killing of an unborn fetus qualify as a murder? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This made-for-cable espionage melodrama centers on a beautiful Israeli spy who is assigned to use her wiles to convince an Iraqui flyer to defect and bring with him a valuable Soviet fighter plane. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Each of Katharine Hepburn's 1980s TV movies was heralded as the lady's last-ever appearance. We are fortunate indeed that she didn't choose the minor-league Laura Lansing Slept Here as her valedictory film. Ms. Hepburn more or less plays herself as a celebrated, pampered novelist who accepts the wager that she can't survive a week living with "just folks." She moves bag and baggage into a middle-class home, where she does her best to stage-manage the family members' private lives. Laura Lansing Slept Here could just as easily have been titled The Woman Who Came to Dinner; it's to Katharine Hepburn's credit that she was able to make so much out of so little. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This two-part TV movie recounts the life of Anna Anderson, who until the day she died at age 82 insisted that she was really Anastasia Romanov, daughter of Czar Nicholas. Anna first makes her claim in 1920, when she is an inmate in a Berlin asylum. Her story of escape from the Bolsheviks who killed the rest of her family in 1918 seems so vivid that many Russian expatriates are willing to believe her. The film concludes in 1928, with Anna restating her claim before the surviving Romanovs living in New York. Amy Irving plays the leading character in a lady-or-the-tiger fashion, so that we never know if she truly swallows her own tale or if she's merely a clever charlatan. Olivia DeHavilland, Rex Harrison, Claire Bloom, Omar Sharif and Susan Lucci co-star in this opulent, location-filmed production, which originally aired on December 7 and 8, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amy Irving
- 1986
In this sequel to the 1985 TV movie Stark, Nicholas Surovy once again assumes the role of no-nonsense Wichita cop Evan Stark. When his former partner Steve Graves (Ben Murphy) is murdered, Stark exceeds his authority by tracking the killer to Las Vegas. In addition to Surovy, Dennis Hopper, Pat Corley, and Barry Gordon repeat their Stark roles, respectively cast as Las Vegas Police Lieutenant Ron Bliss, Wichita Police Chief Waldron, and Lee Fogel. Also in the cast are two future stars: Kirstie Alley as sultry lounge singer Maggie Carter (performing "I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good" and "Taking a Chance on Love") and Gina Gershon as Allison Cromwell. Like its predecessor, Stark: Mirror Image, which debuted May 14, 1986, on CBS, was intended as the pilot for a weekly series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
This drama was originally made as a television pilot for a potential series. It centers on a police detective from Wichita who heads for Las Vegas to find his sister and ends up entangled with mobsters and crooked politicos. This film was followed by a sequel, Stark: Mirror Image in 1985. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicholas Surovy, Marilu Henner, (more)
- 1982
John Sebastian's musical score lends an appropriately anachronistic touch to the endearingly outdated The Act. Robert Ginty and Sarah Langenfield are the principal participants in this satiric tale of political dirty trickery, with emphasis on underhanded union tactics. Also on hand are veterans Jill St. John, Eddie Albert and Pat Hingle, who laudably behave as if the dialogue they're spouting actually has some artistic value. If you don't remember The Act making the scene at your local theatre in 1982, don't feel bad. The film barely received a release at all until it was committed to videotape several years later. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Ginty, Sarah Langenfeld, (more)
- 1980
This TV movie might just as well have been titled Frankenstein Takes Manhattan. Robert Vaughn stars as Doctor Franken, a dedicated Manhattan medico who becomes obsessed with the theory of artificial life. This is understandable, since the doctor is a descendant of a certain foreign gentleman named Frankenstein. He takes an arm here and an organ there from his hospital's storage bank and tries to repair the cadaver of an unclaimed accident victim. The result is a complex creature named John Doe (Robert Perrault), a reasonably friendly chap who has inherited the character traits and emotions of all those people whose body parts he has "borrowed". To their credit, everyone involved in Doctor Franken takes the script seriously--perhaps too seriously for any network or sponsor to care enough to purchase this pilot film for a weekly series berth. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A guaranteed tear-jerker, Bang the Drum Slowly centers on professional baseball player Bruce Pearson (Robert DeNiro) and his team mate Henry Wiggen (Michael Moriarty), who supported Bruce to the bitter end after learning that the young catcher was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease and would soon die. When hayseed Pearson first joined the team, he and Wiggen, the team's red-hot pitcher were oil and water. The other team members were none to thrilled to have Pearson on their team. Wiggen changes his attitude when he learns of Pearson's illness, and when the other team members find out, they too become more helpful until the inevitably teary ending. Look for popular character actor Danny Aiello in his feature film debut. The story is based on a novel by screenwriter Mark Harris and was first filmed for television. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert De Niro, Michael Moriarty, (more)
- 1971
This surreal drama looks into the dreams, fantasies, and reality of a wealthy young socialite who lives in a plush Manhattan apartment. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
