Barbara Turner Movies

A 1936 meeting between novelist Ernest Hemingway and war correspondent Martha Gellhorn sparks a nine-year relationship dominated by a volatile romance that nearly rivaled the combat zones into which they threw themselves in Spain, China, and World War II. ~ Joe Friedrich, Rovi

Artist Jackson Pollock revolutionized American painting in the 1940's with his exciting abstract canvases that used dripped and splattered paint in a manner at once excitingly physical and structurally intelligent. While Pollock became a heroic figure in the art world, his private life was nothing to envy, and this biography looks at both his professional triumphs and personal tragedies. In 1941, Pollock (Ed Harris) was a bitter and struggling painter when he met Lee Krasner (Marcia Gay Harden), a fellow artist with whom he was appearing in a joint gallery show. Krasner was intrigued by Pollock, and immediately sensed the importance of his work; they quickly became lovers, and as Krasner realized his superior talent, she began devoting herself to promoting Pollock's work. When Peggy Guggenheim (Amy Madigan) agreed to present a show of Pollock's paintings at her Art of This Century gallery, his name was made, and a profile in Life magazine solidified his reputation as one of the art world's most important figures. But success did not bring Pollock peace of mind; while he long had a taste for alcohol, his new fame sent his drinking out of control, and his infidelity with numerous women (including Guggenheim) eventually destroyed his relationship with Krasner. Pollock was the first feature directed by actor Ed Harris, who also plays the title role; the cast also includes Val Kilmer as artist Willem de Kooning and Jennifer Connelly as Ruth Kligman, one of Pollock's lovers. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In this drama, a woman attempts to recover following a bout of schizophrenia. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Veronica Hamel makes the first of several 1980s breaks from her Hill Street Blues image in the made-for-TV Sessions. Hamel plays Leigh Churchill, the sort of high-cost, high-class call girl who seemingly exists only on screen. As of late, Leigh's professional calls have been fewer and farther between, an occupational hazard in a business where youth is a vital success factor. Leigh's professional eclipse is mirrored by several crises in her personal life, involving her live-in boyfriend, her judgmental father, and her sympathetic kid sister. Jeffrey DeMunn co-stars as a good-hearted doctor who offers to take Leigh away from "all this." Originally aired September 26, 1983. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This pilot film for a TV series titled Hancock was initially telecast as The Dark Side of Innocence. The Hancocks are a tightly-knit, prosperous California family. Mom and Pop Hancock (John Anderson and Kim Hunter) oversee a thriving lumber business--when they're not refereeing the travails of their five children. The pilot episode concentrates on the oldest daughter (Joanna Pettet), who has decided she's sick of being a society matron and has returned to the Hancock manse with her own kids in tow. The remaining Hancock kids all have problems of their own, especially embittered divorcee Anne Archer. The Hancocks didn't fly as a series, which means that some of the crises presented in the pilot are never resolved. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A cavalry unit in Colorado is conducting two important cargoes to Fort Reunion, home of the 11th Colorado Volunteers: Cresta Marybelle Lee (Candice Bergen), the fiancée of an officer in the unit until two years ago, when she was taken by the Cheyenne, and who just escaped; and Captain Battles (Dana Elcar), the paymaster, with a strongbox containing gold. The men are tired -- almost asleep in their saddles -- and frustrated, and doubly so by the presence of Cresta, whose beauty and reputation (by virtue of living two years with "savages") is driving them to distraction; all except for Honus Gant (Peter Strauss), a neophyte trooper and wide-eyed innocent. The detachment is ambushed by a Cheyenne war party and the only survivors are Cresta and Honus, who learn to tolerate each other as they struggle across the wilderness and the desert in search of help. An encounter with white trader Isaac Q. Cumber (Donald Pleasence), a profiteer who is running guns to the Indians, nearly results in their deaths, and Honus is seriously wounded.

Cresta goes off in search of help and is picked up by a cavalry scout and brought to the 11th Colorado, whose commanding officer, Col. Iverson (John Anderson), is planning a punitive strike against a peaceful Cheyenne encampment over the massacre of the paymaster's party. Cresta tries to secure help for Honus but Iverson is too busy planning bloodshed, and her fiancé, Lt. McNair (Bob Carraway), is just too eager to pick up where he left off with her to listen to her warnings. She rides out on her own and returns to the village where she'd spent the previous two years, while Honus manages to survive to reach Iverson. He ends up along for the assault on the village, which takes place despite the chieftain Spotted Wolf (Jorge Rivera) flying a flag of truce and an American flag given him at a previous negotiation with the whites. The Native Americans defend themselves when fired upon with artillery and rifles, and all hell breaks lose -- virtually all of the men in the village are killed in the first assault, and then the soldiers spot the women, children, and old men, and there begins an orgy of rape, mutilation, beheadings, dismemberment, and torture before Honus' horrified eyes by joyously shrieking soldiers. Cresta kills a soldier who tries to rape her and intends to die with her Native American family but is pulled out, only to watch the slaughter continue. In the end, Honus is left to be marched back to Fort Reunion as a prisoner for trying to stop the killing, and Iverson expresses pride and satisfaction at what he's done, while Cresta and a tiny handful of survivors -- almost all old men and women -- watch in mute horror and anger. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Based on the novel Death on the Turnpike by William P. McGivern, Robert Altman's Nightmare in Chicago was expanded for theatrical release after it originally aired on NBC in 1964 on an episode of Kraft Suspense Theater. Filmed on-location in Chicago, this suspense thriller follows the story of a serial killer known as "Georgie Porgie." The Chicago turnpike is threatened over a three-day period as the police try to catch him by blocking the whole area. Starring Charles McGraw, Ted Knight, and Robert Ridgely. Original musical score by John Williams. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Released about five weeks before the Adolf Eichmann trial began in Jerusalem on April 11, 1961, this docudrama by director R.G. Springsteen was quickly dashed together to take advantage of the trial, and it shows. Overplaying Eichmann's venality and lacking any depth in characterization, the story unfolds in several large segments. Eichmann (played by Werner Klemperer), as head of Dept. IV, B4 or "Jewish affairs/evacuation affairs, personally ordered, or watched, or supervised the extermination of Jews in Germany and the nations under its occupying forces. These years are shown in the first part of the film; the second half deals with Eichmann's escape from an American POW camp, his four years under cover in Germany, aided by an association of Nazi SS members (ODESSA), his escape in 1950 to Argentina through Italy, and his capture on May 11, 1960. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

The little-known melodrama Wink of an Eye was given a brief American distribution by United Artists. Jonathan Kidd plays Atterbury, the apparently mild-mannered owner of a small perfume laboratory. No one suspects that Atterbury plans to murder his harridan of a wife (Jaclynne Greene) and run off to South America with his lovely lab assistant Myrna Duchane (Doris Dowling). Though the audience sees nothing, it is implied that Mrs. Atterbury has been chopped up in little peaces and stored in her husband's freezer. After leading us up the garden path for seven reels, Wink of an Eye offers an amusing twist just before the end. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi