Richard Venture Movies

The "reality TV" craze is taken to its final, logical extreme as six people hunt each other down in a small town for the benefit of network TV cameras in this darkly comic satire. "The Contenders" is a top-rated television game show in which six contestants are set loose in the same Connecticut community, with orders to kill or be killed; the last of the six who is still alive is declared the winner. As "The Contenders" goes into its seventh season, Dawn (Brooke Smith) is a two-time champion who is hoping to hold on to her title, despite the fact that she's due to have a baby in a month. Dawn's rivals this time out are Tony (Michael Kaycheck), an unemployed blue-collar worker with a taste for violence; Connie (Marylouise Burke), a middle-aged nurse who doesn't like to hurt people but is an experienced hand with a syringe; Lindsay (Merritt Wever), an 18-year-old dance student whose parents are eager to see her compete; Franklin (Richard Venture), an elderly conspiracy theorist with a tenuous hold on reality; and Jeff (Glenn Fitzgerald), who is dying of testicular cancer -- and was Dawn's boyfriend years ago. Series 7: The Contenders marked the directorial debut for Daniel Minahan, who previously employed pop culture and America's obsession with violence as themes in his screenplay for I Shot Andy Warhol. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

The strong anti-China beliefs of actor and political activist Richard Gere were evident in this Hitchcockian thriller that sought to expose the civil and human rights abuses of that country's legal system. Gere stars as Jack Moore, counsel to a large media conglomerate seeking to open trade relations with China, thereby delivering American television shows by satellite to the largest untapped market in the world. After an evening out at a nightclub and fashion show, Jack goes home with a beautiful model (Jessey Meng), then wakes up the next morning to discover her dead body. To his horror, Jack is accused of murdering the girl, who is revealed to have been the daughter of a high-ranking general. Assigned a court-appointed lawyer, Shen Yuelin (Bai Ling), Jack discovers that the repressive Chinese court system does not grant bail, encourages quick guilty pleas and executions, and looks upon him with disfavor for his Western moral turpitude. Finally persuading Shen that he's innocent, Jack and his lawyer embark on an investigation impeded at every turn by Chinese authorities, eventually uncovering a plot to discredit Jack and his company's entry into China. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

A soldier discovers how elusive the truth can be in this first major film about America's role in the Gulf War. Lt. Col. Nathaniel Serling (Denzel Washington) was the commander of a unit during Operation Desert Storm who mistakenly ordered the destruction of what he believed to be an enemy tank, only to discover that it actually held U.S. soldiers, including a close friend. Since then, Serling has been an emotional wreck, drinking heavily and allowing his marriage to teeter on the brink of collapse. As a means of redeeming himself, Serling is given a new assignment by his superior, Gen. Hershberg (Michael Moriarty). Capt. Karen Walden (Meg Ryan) was a helicopter pilot who died in battle during the Iraqi conflict, and the White House has proposed that Walden be posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Serling is asked to investigate Walden's actions on the field of battle, but he quickly discovers that no two stories about her are quite the same; Ilario (Matt Damon) says Walden acted heroically and sacrificed herself to save the others in her company, while Monfriez (Lou Diamond Phillps) claims she was a coward who was attempting to surrender to enemy troops. Meanwhile, reporter Tony Gartner (Scott Glenn) is hounding Serling, trying to get the inside story on Walden and on Serling's own difficulties. Matt Damon lost 40 pounds to prepare for his role in Courage Under Fire, which resulted in a potentially life-threatening illness for the young actor. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Detectives Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Logan (Chris Noth) dedicate themselves to identifying a young woman who was apparently killed while making a snuff film. They are both shocked and relieved to discover that the so-called victim, teenager Corey Russell (Monica Keena), is still very much alive. But things take another grim turn when it is revealed that Corey is somehow involved in a high school "sex-for-points" club. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Driven by an extravagant, tour-de-force performance by Al Pacino, Scent of a Woman is the story of Frank Slade (Pacino), a blind, retired army colonel who hires Charlie Simms (Chris O'Donnell), a poor college student on the verge of expulsion, to take care of him over Thanksgiving weekend. At the beginning of the weekend, Frank takes Charlie to New York, where he reveals to the student that he intends to visit his family, have a few terrific meals, sleep with a beautiful woman and, finally, commit suicide. The film follows the mis-matched pair over the course of the weekend, as they learn about life through their series of adventures. Though the story is a little contrived and predictable, it pulls all the right strings, thanks to O'Donnell's sympathetic supporting role and Pacino's powerful lead performance, for which he won his first Academy Award. Scent of a Woman is based on the 1975 Italian film Profumo Di Donna. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

Randall Sloan (Brian McNamara), a former student of Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury), returns to Cabot Cove to research his new book. Despite several ominous warnings to drop the project, Randall is determined to complete his volume, a searing expose of a 30-year-old scandal involving two of the town's most prominent families, that Latimers and the Weymouths. You guessed it: Randall is killed, and Jessica is enlisted by Sheriff Mort Metzger (Ron Masak) to help find the killer. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

When a self-involved real estate agent is given fifty hours of community service to do by a judge, he becomes the coach for a basketball team of developmentally challenged adults. In trying to teach them, he learns. ~ Tana Hobart, Rovi

This drama chronicles the career of pediatric immunologist James Oleske who was one of the first doctors to recognize the AIDS virus in children. ~ Rovi

Adapted from Mario Puzo's novel, The Sicilian is an attempt to chronicle the life and times of Mafia leader, patriot and real-life Robin Hood Salvatore Giuliano, the infamous bandit who, together with his rag-tag band of guerillas, attempted to liberate 1940s Sicily from Italian rule and make it an American state. Giuliano (Christopher Lambert) robs from the rich conservative landowners to give to the poor, serf-like peasants, who in turn hail him as their savior. As his popularity grows, so does his ego, and he eventually thinks he is above the power of his backer, Mafia Don Masino Croce (Joss Ackland). The Don, in turn, sets out to kill the upstart by convincing his cousin and closest advisor Gaspare (John Turturro) to assassinate him. Nearly thirty minutes of screen time were haphazardly hacked off director Michael Cimino's original cut by the studio. ~ Jeremy Beday, Rovi

As Summers Die was produced as an "HBO Premiere" attraction. Set in the segregationist South of the 1950s, the film pits the wealthy but decadent members of a landed-gentry white family against a feisty old black woman, on whose property oil has been discovered. Idealistic attorney Scott Glenn bucks the family--and the inbred prejudices of the community--to protect the woman's interests. He finds himself with two unsuspected allies in the forms of young Jamie Lee Curtis and ancient Bette Davis, two "renegade" members of the very family that wants to grab the oil-rich land. As Summers Die had its cable-TV debut on May 17, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Michael Keaton plays a famous Chicago-based hockey player who befriends trouble-prone teenager Ajay Naidu (after Naidu's gang has tried to mug him!) He also extends the hand of friendship to Naidu's mother Maria Conchita Alonso, a friendship that blossoms into a physical relationship. Too self-centered to make a commitment to Alonso, Keaton tries to break things off, but Naidu won't let him go so easily. This seemingly frivolous situation is underscored by the more serious efforts of Alonso to make a better life for herself and her son. The comic and dramatic elements of Touch and Go never quite jell, but the winning performances of the three main characters help gloss over the film's unevenness. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This sci-fi police drama is an episode from the short-lived television series and follows the exploits of a black-clad G-man who rides a specially designed gadget filled motorcycle to help him rid the country of crime. This time he and his Street Hawk take on a powerful drug lord. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Costa-Gavras's tense political drama opens in an unspecified South American country (though clearly intended to be Chile) in the throes of a military coup. American activist Charles Horman (John Shea), who has been a thorn in the side of the country's military ever since his arrival, suddenly disappears. In trying to find out what has happened, his wife Beth (Sissy Spacek) is stonewalled, not only by the ruling junta but by the American consulate. His father, staunchly patriotic Ed Horman (Jack Lemmon), joins Beth in her search. Ed and his daughter-in-law have never seen eye to eye politically, and he refuses to entertain the notion that his son's disappearance might be part of a larger conspiracy or cover-up. But as the days grow into weeks, Ed comes to the shattering conclusion that he and his family have been betrayed by the American government, on behalf of the "friendly" South American dictator who holds his people in a grip of iron. Adapted by Costa-Gavras and Donald E. Stewart from a book by Thomas Hauser, Missing was inspired by the true story of the late Charles Horman. In spite of (or perhaps because of) condemnation from certain high-ranking officials in the Reagan administration, the film went on to win an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, as well as nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Actress. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi