Barbara Tarbuck Movies

A man fights to bring decency and the rule of law back to his hometown in this action drama. Chris Vaughn (The Rock) left his home in Washington State's timber country to join the Army, where he distinguished himself as a member of the Special Forces. When his hitch is over, Vaughn decides to return home to help run the family business, a sawmill, but he soon makes the unpleasant discovery that things aren't what they once were. Vaughn learns that the town's lumber industry has all but dried up, and an old high school buddy, Jay Hamilton (Neal McDonough), has turned the city into a den of vice, running a large gambling casino and strip club while selling drugs and women on the side. Angry at this turn of events, and frustrated by local law enforcement officials who are willing to ignore Hamilton's crimes in exchange for kickbacks, Vaughn decides to run for sheriff, and with the help of another old friend, Ray Templeton (Johnny Knoxville), he wins the election. But Hamilton doesn't take kindly to Vaughn's attempts to clean up the town, and Vaughn discovers Hamilton's henchmen are willing to target his friends, his family, and the woman he loves (Ashley Scott) in order to have their way. Walking Tall was based on Phil Karlson's 1973 action hit of the same name, which was in turn inspired by the true story of Buford Pusser, who was sheriff of Tennessee's McNairy County between 1964 and 1970 and gained fame for his tough tactics against the local criminal element. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Baldwin Jones (Henry Simmons) goes after the low-life who may be hiding the identity of the stalker who attacked Valerie Haywood (Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon). A murder brings Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) in contact with a lapsed alcoholic and a former loan shark who claims to have mended his ways. And in her efforts to prevent the parents of her scummy brother-in-law, Frank, from gaining custody of baby Michelle, Connie (Charlotte Ross) tracks down Frank's sister, Adrian (Katy Selverstone), who may have been raped by a member of her own degenerate family. Chandra West makes her first appearance as Dr. Jennifer Devlin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A couple's worst nightmare becomes a reality as they find themselves behind bars with their children are taken away from them in this made-for-TV drama, inspired by a true story. Brenda and Scott Kniffen (Viginia Madsen and Jeffrey Nordling) are asked by friends to testify as character witnesses at a child custody hearing. After The Kniffens take the stand, a relation of their friends, who was upset by the testimony, tells authorities that Brenda and Scott are guilty of beating their young sons, molesting them sexually, and taking pornographic photographs of them. While there is no truth to the accusations, a prosecutor determined to prove he's tough on child abuse takes on the case, and his staff badgers Brandon Kniffen (Cory Dorkin) and his brother Brian (Ryan Wilson) into giving damaging statements and testifying against their parents in court. Brenda and Scott spend the next twelve years behind bars, fighting their case as best they can as they try to prove their innocence and become reunited with their children. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In the premiere episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Jim Brass (Paul Guilfoyle), head of the Las Vegas PD's forensic team, resents the presence of novice team member Holly Gribbs (Chandra West). Brass' efforts to scare Holly result in tragedy, but not before the unit investigates a disturbing variety of crimes: overnight-shift head man Grissom (William L. Petersen) looks into a suspicious suicide, number-two team member Catherine Willows (Marg Helgenberger) joins Warrick Brown (Gary Dourdan) in probing the death of a not-so-homeless drunk, and Warrick's friendly rival Nick Stokes (George Eads) searches for a woman who drugged and robbed a hapless tourist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The made-for-TV Before He Wakes is based on the novel by Jerry Bledsoe),which in turn was inspired by the true story of convicted murderer Barbara Stager (who at the time of the film was slated for her first parole hearing in 2006). A small North Carolina town is shocked when popular high school baseball coach Ron Michaels (Timothy Carhart) is killed in his sleep. The killer turns out to be his wife Bridget (Jaclyn Smith), a successful career woman who is widely loved and respected in the community. Bridget insists that she shot her husband by accident, and the police are willing to believe her story--until members of Ron's family, joined with the relatives of Bridget's first husband, raise a number of disturbing questions. Ultimately it is revealed that Bridget has been leading a double life, posing as a pillar of the community while mounting huge debts to maintain her sumptuous lifestyle--and it is determined that Bridget killed her first husband, who died under similar circumstances as the hapless Ron Michaels. All of the character names are changed for various reasons, and a great deal of dramatic license is taken with the sequence of events (in real life, the cops weren't quite as slow on the upstake as they're shown to be here!) Before He Wakes made its first CBS appearance on December 1, 1998. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When a successful newswoman receives an on-the-air shock, she begins to analyze her relationship with her philandering husband. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

John Hughes dishes out the sentiment by the ladle-full in Curly Sue. The film stars James Belushi as Bill Dancer, a down-on-his-luck drifter who lives by his wits on the highways and byways of the United States, stealing free meals, slipping into movie theaters, and sleeping in welfare hotels. Bill is also the guardian of cute pint-size moppet Curly Sue (Alisan Porter), a cutey pie cross between Little Orphan Annie and Tatum O'Neal's Addie Loggins character from Paper Moon. Bill and Curly Sue are a perfect con team, and they practice their scams when they need money for food. Pulling a knockdown car-accident scam, Bill makes hard-bitten Chicago lawyer Grey Ellison (Kelly Lynch) think that she slammed into him with her car. She buys dinner for the two mountebanks before being taken away by her snotty boyfriend Walter McCormick (John Getz). But the next morning, Grey actually does hit Bill with her car, and she takes the two back home with her. At first, Grey can't seem to get Curly Sue out of her mind, but then she finds herself falling in love with Bill. They begin to form a perfect family until Walter puts in a call to the Department of Children and Family Services. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Originally made for television, the story concerns David Banner (Bill Bixby), thought to be dead but actually working as a janitor at a laboratory. There, he hopes to cure himself of the monster lurking inside. However, a group of terrorists are interested in the awesome power of the Hulk. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

Based on a true story, the two-part TV movie I Know My First Name Is Steven tells the tragic story of Steven Stayner. At age seven, Steven was kidnapped by two men who held him captive in a tiny shed for seven years. One of the men, a habitual child abuser named Kenneth Parnell, sexually assaulted Steven on an almost daily basis during the boy's ordeal. At age 14, Steven finally was able to escape and return to his family. But we are shown that Steven's safe return was far from the happy ending it appeared to be. He's forced to adjust to a family he'd never really known, to convince himself that his parents had never forgotten him, and to put his seven-year hell behind him. While I Know My First Name Is Steven ends on an upbeat note, the real Stayner died in a motorcycle accident only a few months after this film was first telecast in May 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Out of Time is a patchwork of notions lifted from such earlier sources as Time After Time, Back to the Future, The Terminator, and the 1961 Twilight Zone episode "Back There." Bruce Abbott plays a dedicated law enforcement officer from the year 2088 who is in pursuit of time-travelling lawbreaker Adam Ant. Hurtling back to 1988, Abbott meets his own great-grandfather (Bill Maher), a gormless rookie cop. Armed with the knowledge that great-grandpa will eventually become a world-renowned criminologist, Abbott teams up with his youthful forebear. The title Out of Time became prophetic when this TV pilot film failed to secure a weekly network slot for the 1988-89 season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Struck by lightning, an endearing little robot known only as "Number 5" escapes from an experimental electronics firm. Technician Newton Crosby (Steve Guttenberg) and his indecipherable East Indian assistant, Ben Jabituya (Fisher Stevens), set out to locate Number 5 before the military can go through with its plans to destroy the robot. Number 5 takes refuge with loopy Stephanie Speck (Ally Sheedy), who is convinced that the mechanical man is an extraterrestrial. Hoping to teach the "alien" all about Earth, she fills Number 5's memory banks with reams of pop culture -- and then the real fun begins. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Actress Theresa Saldana plays herself in this gut-wrenching fact-based TV movie. The film begins with Ms. Saldana being savagely attacked by a stalking fan in her own home in 1982. Sustaining multiple stab wounds, Saldana lies near death for quite some time, but eventually pulls together physically and emotionally. But that's only the first half of the story. In the second, Saldana, determined to assuage the pain of others who've suffered from violent attacks, establishes Victims for Victims. The most sobering realization vis-a-vis Victims for Victims is the fact that Theresa Saldana's assailant may very well be paroled someday--a contingency that the actress, and her organization, has been forced to counteract ever since that fateful evening in 1982. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide