Charles Walker Movies

As season five of Charmed gets under way, there is no shortage of activity in the San Francisco manor occupied by the Charmed Ones. Phoebe Halliwell (Alyssa Milano) is now gainfully employed as an advice columnist for "The Bay Mirror"; Phoebe's sister Piper (Holly Marie Combs) and her guardian-angel husband, Leo (Brian Krause), anxiously await the birth of their baby; and the Halliwell girls' half sister, Paige (Rose McGowan), has two vocations, as a social worker and full-time demon hunter. In the first half of the fifth-season opener (originally telecast as a single two-hour episode), the girls use their bewitching powers on behalf of Mylie (Jaime Pressly), a former mermaid in danger of losing her immortality to a Sea Hag (Diane Salinger) -- who in turn is in league with Necron (Judson Scott), a demon forsworn to destroy the Charmed Ones. Meanwhile,Phoebe's ex-demon husband, Cole (Julian McMahon), escapes from his exile in limbo, hoping to win back Phoebe's confidence and save their marriage. ~ Rovi

Shot in 33 days, this $9.6 million biographical drama of behind-the-scenes interactions within the Rat Pack group of Frank Sinatra (Ray Liotta), Dean Martin (Joe Mantegna), and Sammy Davis Jr. (Don Cheadle) is set against the political backdrop of the '60s, establishing links of singers, gangsters, actors, and politicans (sometimes brushing shoulders in the same rooms). The film also explores Sinatra's relationship with John F. Kennedy (William Peterson). Deciding to support Kennedy, Sinatra patches up his feud with Peter Lawford (Angus Macfadyen), since Lawford's wife, Pat (Phyllis Lyons) is JFK's sister -- and a Sinatra-Kennedy friendship soon follows. However, when Joe Kennedy (Dan O'Herlihy) decides Sinatra's nightclub, mob and commie connections are a no-no for JFK, the patriarch's interference angers Sinatra. Meanwhile, Sammy Davis Jr. enters into an interracial liaison with May Britt (Megan Dodds), and the dynamics of the situation are visualized in an imaginative musical fantasy sequence in which Davis sees himself singing and dancing for an unresponsive line of white supremacists. Broadway's Savion Glover stepped in with the film's choreography. Substitute singers featured the voice of Michael Dees for Sinatra and Mantegna duplicating Dino. Also covered here are the events that led to the filming of Ocean's Eleven (1960). For an actual Rat Pack stage performance, see The Rat Pack Captured (1965). Filmed in LA, the TV movie premiered August 22, 1998 on HBO. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Writer-director Martin Lawrence billed this comic drama as his own version of the film Fatal Attraction (1987). Lawrence stars as Darnell, a hopeless male chauvinist. Darnell is a crude-but-smooth talker and lady's man who doesn't take no for an answer. He works for a nightclub called Chocolate City and aspires to be its owner. He trades VIP privileges at the club for favors from women. Though he is an expert at conning women, he sometimes worries about what his childhood sweetheart Mia (Regina King), who is engaged to marry him, thinks of his adventures. When the classy, elegant Brandi (Lynn Whitfield) steps out of a limousine to enter the club, Darnell feels that he's met his ultimate prize. She rejects his come-ons, which only fuels his appetite. He pursues her, showing up with flowers at her real estate office. He finally wins over Brandi, but she becomes obsessed with him, even taking all four wheels off his sports car to ground him from his rounds. Cutting off his engagement to Mia is not enough to satisfy Brandi, who finally administers Darnell's punishment for his misogyny. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi

The whole story is in the title of this made-for-TV heartstopper. Based on a true 1988 incident, the film details the breakout of a fire in a Los Angeles high-rise. The LA fire department does what it can, but their ladder equipment falls short of the 37-story requirement. Lee Majors, Lisa Hartman and Peter Scolari comprise the all-TV star cast of this Towering Inferno clone (which improves upon its role model): Majors is the LAFD supervisor, while Hartman and Scolari are the unlucky entrapped office workers. The focal point of Fire! Trapped on the 37th Floor is not the conflagration itself but the resourcefulness of the professional firefighters and the improvisational skill with which they utilize their equipment. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Girl Who Came Between Them is still another "torn from today's headlines" TV movie. Anthony John Denison plays a Vietnam veteran, who is happily married to Cheryl Ladd and comfortably settled in a medium-sized American town. One morning, 13-year-old Vietnamese girl Melissa Chan shows up on Denison's doorstep. Convinced that Chan is his illegitimate daughter, Denison allows her to move into his home, driving a deep wedge between himself and his wife. The Girl Who Came Between Them debuted on April 1, 1990. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In the first episode of Hunter's two-part Season Six finale, Hunter (Fred Dryer) goes after a vicious fence who is persecuting homeless war veterans. It turns out that the perpetrator, a lunatic known as "The Captain", is obsessed with medals of valor and purple hearts; unfortunately, before he can make an arrest, Hunter is ordered off the case by his police mentor Dave Peterson (Ryan Cutrona). Meanwhile, McCall (Stepfanie Kramer) rekindles an old romance with Dr. Alex Turnan (Robert Connor Newman). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Peter Gunn was a one-shot TV movie revival of the classic detective series (1958-61) created by Blake Edwards. Edwards wrote and directed this pilot for a potential Gunn revival, with Peter Strauss stepping into Craig Stevens' gumshoes as private eye Peter Gunn. Peter Jurasik assumes Herschel Bernardi's old role as Lt. Jacobi, while Barbara Williams takes over for Lola Albright as saloon singer Edie ("Mother's", the night spot where Edie vocalizes, is operated by "special guest star" Pearl Bailey). The film is not updated to the present time, but is set in 1964. Gunn finds himself between gangsters and rogue cops when he agrees to get to the bottom of a mob hit. A lot more verbose than the old, visually dynamic TV series, Peter Gunn (1989) has the saving grace of Henry Mancini's original progressive-jazz theme song and musical score. Blake Edwards' daughter Jennifer is featured as Gunn's ditsy secretary, a character (thankfully) missing from the earlier series. This actually represented Edwards's second attempt to revive the Peter Gunn character in a movie format; he first did so with the 1967 big-screen feature Gunn. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Julian Sands oozes maleficence as a warlock of the 1600s cast forth to 1980s Los Angeles, where he continues to work his deviltry. The story begins in 1691 Boston when a warlock is condemned to die. Calling for Satan's help, the warlock is sent forward in time to contemporary Los Angeles, where he comes crashing through the window of Kassandra (Lori Singer) and her roommate Chas (Kevin O' Brien), who think that the warlock is a LA drunk and let him stay the night to sleep it off. The next day, the warlock brutally murders Chas and then locates a spiritualist (Mary Woronov) who, possessed by the devil, tells the warlock that he must find the three parts of the Grand Grimoire, the witches' bible that contains the secret name of God. Meanwhile, Kassandra, grieving over the death of Chas, comes upon Giles Redferne (Richard E. Grant), a warlock hunter from the 16th century, sent into the future to find the warlock. While Giles is busily putting together a "witch-compass" to track the warlock, Kassandra calls the police and has him arrested. But then the warlock returns and puts a curse on Kassandra. She blacks out, only to awaken the next morning to discover that she has aged twenty years. Realizing she has put the wrong representative from the 16th century in jail, she bails out Giles and they both go in search of the warlock. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Colors stars Robert Duvall and Sean Penn as partners on the LAPD's gang crime division. Duvall had hoped to spend more time with his family, but he's pulled back into active service because of a step-up in gang activity. He makes no secret of his contempt for his novice partner Penn, but eventually comes to rely on the younger man as a valuable street contact. The central crisis is the battle for supremacy between the "Crips" and the "Bloods", with every effort to call a truce stymied by the gang members themselves and by undue police intervention. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A CIA agent recruits a meek family man for a secret mission involving interstellar communication and copious violence in this tongue-in-cheek buddy flick from the writer/producer of The Golden Child. Insurance salesman Bob Wilson (John Ritter) is the kind of guy who stands by while suburban punks steal his kid's bike. Nick Pirandello (James Belushi) is the exact opposite -- a brash, womanizing alpha male revered within the CIA for his many successful secret missions. When a fellow agent who looks exactly like Bob gets killed just days before he's due to head up a very delicate mission, Nick recruits the reluctant Bob to help out. As Bob gets drawn deeper into a world of Russian hit men, transsexual beauties, and secret-agent hijinks, he slowly gains the self-confidence that's always escaped him. Meanwhile, he's constantly at the mercy of Nick's tongue-in-cheek humor, so he's a little skeptical when Nick reveals that the big meeting is with a group of aliens who want to share their advanced technology with humans. As it turns out, there may be something to Nick's outrageous story -- if only Bob can survive long enough to find out. The lone directorial credit for screenwriter/producer Dennis Feldman, Real Men features Barney Miller vet Barbara Barrie in a supporting role as Nick's placid, accommodating mother. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

In the first episode of Cheers' three-part season four finale, Sam (Ted Danson) is smitten by Janet Eldridge (played by future Star Trek: Voyager star Kate Mulgrew), a councilwoman running for reelection. Out of spite, Diane (Shelley Long) joins the team of Janet's opponent, Jim Fleener (Max Wright). Hoping to win Diane back for himself, Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) likewise gets behind the uncharismatic Fleener -- with surprising results. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Based on the true story that took place in Harlem during 1971, this made-for-TV crime drama centers on assistant district attorney Robert Tanenbaum's desperate search for a trio of cop killers. Tanenbaum (James Woods) is assisted by an equally determined detective (Yaphet Lau Kotto). ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi