Ron Taylor Movies

Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) and Simone (Jimmy Smits) investigate the murder of a Russian mail-order bride who wanted to divorce her husband. After losing his cool while investigating an unusual drive-by shooting, Medavoy (Gordon Clapp) wonders if he should go through with his dinner date with Abby (Paige Turco). And while moonlighting with the U.S. Marshal's office, Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) is assigned to supervise captured drug couriers at airport customs -- a duty otherwise known as "dump detail." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Carter (Noah Wyle) pulls off his first major blunder when he tells the wrong family that their teenaged son died in a car accident. Resident Romeo Ross (George Clooney) steps up his campaign to win Carol (Julianna Margulies) away from her current beau, Dr. Taglieri (Rick Rossovich). And the volatile Benton (Eriq La Salle) attacks his brother-in-law, Walt (Ving Rhames), for neglecting his family, then turns his wrath upon Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) for a misdiagnosis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Visiting his drug-addicted brother Roberto (Mark Adair-Rios), detective Martinez (Nicholas Turturro) finds out that Roberto's landlord is a crooked cop who is shaking down his tenants on behalf of the Mob. After one of the tenants is murdered, Martinez wants to take action against the bad cop, but Kelly (David Caruso) intervenes. Meanwhile, newly appointed ADA Laura (Sherry Stringfield) turns up the heat on Giardella (Robert Costanzo). And the 15th Precinct is bedeviled by an inveterate practical joker. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dan (John Larroquette) runs for the state assembly, causing a rift amongst the Night Courters when an infuriated Christine (Markie Post) discovers who Harry (Harry Anderson) voted for. On the night of the election, Dan hopes to watch the returns on the courtroom TV, but a fire forces the staff to huddle in the basement--specifically, in the morgue. Telecast one day after the 1988 Presidential election, this episode manages to include the actual results of that race for the purpose of a climactic punchline. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This downbeat, semi-improvised look at troubled youth was a landmark in Canadian filmmaking, and in 1984 it was named one of the ten best Canadian films of all time in a poll of the nation's film writers. Peter (Peter Kastner) is a confused and alienated teenager, bright and personable but also headstrong and rebellious, whose difficult relationship with his father (Claude Rae), an auto dealer, comes to a head when Peter steals a car Dad has brought home for the night. After his father forces him to spend the night in jail, Peter leaves home and moves into a rooming house, hoping to find a job and save enough money to move away. Peter's only real ally is his girlfriend Julie (Julie Biggs), who loves him and admires his bravado, though she's a good bit more emotionally mature. When Peter's parents insist that he break up with Julie, come back home, and return to school, it only strenthens his resolve, but his fortunes soon take a turn for the worse when he reaches a crosroads in his relationship with Julie. Director Don Owen and actors Peter Kastner and Julie Biggs revisited these characters 20 years later in the follow-up, Unfinished Business. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Bill Duke directs this quirky film adaptation of Chester Himes' crime novel -- a heavily plotted gangster tale with a sweet love story hidden underneath. The film begins in Natchez, Mississippi in 1956. During a police shoot-out with the mob leader Slim's (Badja Djola) gang, Slim's moll Imabelle (Robin Givens) takes off with a cadre of stolen gold. As a result, Imabelle is chased by Slim's mob from Mississippi to New York. By the time she reaches Harlem, she is broke and has to figure out a way to ditch the trunk full of gold. She finds herself at the annual Undertaker's Ball, where she sees the big and dumb Jackson (Forest Whitaker), a bumbling undertaker's assistant. She spots Jackson as a mark that she can use as a cover and latches onto him immediately. She moves in with him to hide out, but Imabelle becomes taken with his innocence. For his part, Jackson falls head over heels in love with her. But the Mississippi mob catches up with her and takes her away. Jackson calls in his street-wise brother Goldy (Gregory Hines) to help him rescue Imabelle. Jackson fears that Imabelle has been kidnapped. But Goldy knows better -- he still agrees to help him but Goldy wants the gold for himself. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Xavier Quinn (Denzel Washington) is police chief of a tiny Caribbean island. Quinn's efforts to straddle the fence between the local blacks and the moneyed whites have lost him the respect of both groups. When a murder is committed, Quinn suspects that the killer is Maubee (Robert Townsend), a notoriously elusive criminal who has become a folk hero to the locals. Despite various political pressures -- and the fact that he and Maubee were childhood friends-Quinn vows to solve the murder, and, if necessary, bring Maubee to justice. A mess of merry plot twists distinguish this diverting fox-and-hound caper. Filmed entirely on location, The Mighty Quinn was based on Finding Maubee, a novel by A.H.Z. Carr. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When suburban police officer Alex Kearney (Anthony Edwards) angers a wealthy, influential citizen by stopping him for a traffic violation, he finds himself transferred to the city's worst precinct. Struggling to adapt to his new inner-city surroundings, Kearney must deal with his gruff new partner, Dennis Curren (Forest Whitaker), as the two attempt to break up a crime ring. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Although many genre filmmakers have managed to blend horror and humor with great success, movies employing this formula often run the risk of both elements canceling each other out, resulting in a horror comedy that is neither scary nor funny. Alas, Dead Heat is a textbook example of this kind of failure. It details the weird misadventures of a pair of mismatched L.A. cops -- the straitlaced and by-the-book Roger Mortis (Treat Williams) and wisecracking loose cannon Doug Bigelow (muscle-headed Saturday Night Live alum Joe Piscopo). Their quest is to reach the heart of a sinister crime ring that employs indestructible undead henchmen. In a strange twist, their inept handling of the case results in both cops -- first Williams, then Piscopo -- being killed in action and subsequently reanimated in a secret laboratory managed by the barely seen Vincent Price (whose walk-on role is more entertaining than the combined performances of the two leads). The potential for "splatstick" comedy in the mode of Evil Dead 2 or Peter Jackson's Bad Taste is defeated by two major obstacles: first, the painfully unfunny mugging of Piscopo, who was unwisely allowed to ad-lib much of his performance; and second, the MPAA's trimming of several minutes from Steve Johnson's sensational makeup effects in order to avoid the dreaded X rating -- including a clever scene involving a zombie go-go girl played by Linnea Quigley. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

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, All Movie Guide

Avarice is the motivation behind the zany deeds in this comedy. It all begins when a dying prisoner whispers the location of his loot to the facility's psychiatrist who heads to Cherry Hill, New Jersey to find it. Unbeknownst to him, he is followed by two fugitive convicts who overheard the confession. More trouble erupts when the shrink accidently goes to the wrong house to dig up the treasure. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

An arrogant Detroit cop (Jay Leno) must work with his efficient Japanese counterpart (Pat Morita) to corner an evil ganglord. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide