Lee Weaver Movies

A loner with a secret life discovers that someone wants to intrude on his solitude in this independent drama. Carter (Lukas Haas) is a shy and introspective young man who works as a repairman at an auto garage alongside Leroy (Lee Weaver) and his son, Bobby (Chris Williams). When he's not fixing cars, Carter devotes most of his time to following Ann (Brianne Davis), a pretty girl who plays the violin and doesn't seem to have any interest in him. Despite this, Carter trails her wherever he goes and regularly hides beneath her window so he can hear her play. While Carter worships Ann from afar (or not so afar), he has a stalker of his own, Darla (January Jones), a girl who waits tables at a diner near the auto shop and is obviously fascinated with him. A misplaced astronomy text makes Carter aware that Darla has been following him, and they edge into a cautious romance. Swedish Auto was the first feature film from writer and director Derek Sieg. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Based on a novel by acclaimed crime writer James Ellroy, this film stars Michael Rooker as Fritz Brown, a former L.A.P.D. detective who was kicked off the force due to his drinking. Now struggling to remain sober, Brown works as a private eye when he can, but he makes most of his money repossessing cars. One day, Brown is offered some detective work by Freddie "Fat Dog" Baker (William Sasso), a golf caddy who has some severe reservations about his younger sister, Jane (Selma Blair) and her relationship with Solly (Harold Gould), a wealthy businessman with mob connections who is old enough to be Jane's grandfather. Brown isn't interested at first, but when "Fat Dog" starts flashing an impressive bankroll, he decides to take the case. Brown's investigation of Solly causes him to cross paths with Cathcart (Brion James), the head of L.A.P.D. internal affairs who was responsible for Brown losing his job. Soon Brown runs afoul of a group of hired thugs and several key figures wind up dead as Brown tries to find out the truth about Solly and Jane. Ellroy wrote Brown's Requiem, his first novel, while he was still supporting himself as a golf caddy and breaking himself of a decade-long addiction to drugs and alcohol. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) comes to the rescue when a fellow cop dies -- and not in the line of duty -- in the apartment of Andy's prostitute friend Lois (Shannon Cochran). Lesniak (Justine Miceli) is harassed on the job by her former boyfriend -- also a cop. And in the midst of investigating the death of a baby in a drive-by, Kelly (David Caruso) is called on the carpet by the IAB's Cmdr. Haverill (James Handy) for past dereliction of duty. This highly rated episode represents the final NYPD Blue appearance of David Caruso. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Martinez (Nicholas Turturro) takes on the case of a phony ATM machine. Lt. Fancy (James McDaniel) and his wife (Tamara Tunie) must give up a foster child to its natural mother, a recovering drug addict. Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) and Kelly (David Caruso) investigate the scene of a mob killing, finding evidence that may prove damning to Janice (Amy Breneman). And during a hostage crisis, Laura (Sherry Stringfield) again comes in contact with the man who murdered Giardella before her eyes. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Philip (James Avery) is appalled when he sees his widowed mother Hattie (Virginia Capers) kissing the Banks' repairman Ed (Lee Weaver). How can he dissuade his mom from thinking about remarrying without letting her know that he was spying on her? Things come to a head when Ed is invited to dinner with the Banks family, an occasion that turns sour in a hurry as the uptight Philip makes a total fool of himself! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Two Jakes is the much-delayed and rather convoluted sequel to the 1975 classic Chinatown. Released in 1990 after an abortive stab at shooting that began in the mid-'80s, the film was the subject of a creative feud between its principals, star Jack Nicholson, producer Robert Evans, and screenwriter Robert Towne. Private eye Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) is a middle-aged war hero, paunchy, snobbish about his golf game, and about to marry a lovely and much younger woman. Then a fleeting reference to a woman he once loved that he heard on a wire recording plunges him into a past he has tried to escape. It comes while he was spying on a philandering wife (Meg Tilly) and her paramour in her motel room for her husband, Jake Berman (Harvey Keitel). Then Berman shocks Gittes when he shoots his wife's lover. Gittes is doubly stunned when he learns that Berman was partners with the dead man in a subdivision that may contain huge oil deposits. So now Gittes wonders, was it justifiable homicide or murder? The answer lies in the wife (Madeleine Stowe) of the dead man, her shady oil baron friend (Richard Farnsworth), and in the past he has tried to avoid. ~ Nick Sambides, Jr., Rovi

My Brother's Wife was adapted from A. R. Gurney's off-Broadway play The Middle Ages, but if you dig back a little you'll find a kernel of the plotline in Phillip Barry's 1928 play Holiday. John Ritter plays the flamboyantly nonconformist member of a staid Boston family. When he sees his future sister-in-law (Mel Harris), it's love at first sight. But neither act upon their impulses--not throughout the 1960s, the 1970s or the 1980s. The film finally catches up with Ritter and Harris at a family funeral, 27 years after their first meeting. Made for television, My Brother's Wife betrays its theatrical roots by confining most of its action to a single sitting room. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Cliff (Bill Cosby) takes Rudy (Keshia Knight Pulliam) and her little friends to a fancy restaurant that specializes in "gourmet burgers." Unfortunately, the kids find their expensive meal inedible, and it is up to a sympathetic waiter (Lee Weaver) to save the day. Elsewhere, Clair (Phylicia Rashad) is visited by her sister Sarah (Yvonne Erwin), who announces her plans to become a mother; and Theo (Malcolm-Jamal Warner) has an ulterior motive when he agrees to give sister Vanessa (Tempestt Bledsoe) some tennis lessons. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A cautious single mom and a frustrated writer dance around the prospect of getting together in this romantic comedy. Caustic, difficult Emily (Susan Sarandon) lives with her potty-mouthed son, Tim (Wil Wheaton), and her obnoxiously bossy mother (Jean Stapleton). Her social life consists of afternoon dalliances with a total cad. When part-time writer/inventor and full-time school security guard Joe (Richard Dreyfuss) passes up the chance to turn Tim in for not meeting the school's residency requirements, a paranoid Emily accuses him of masterminding a blackmail scheme. Unbeknownst to Emily, though, the friendless, fatherless Tim strikes up an unlikely friendship with Joe. Eventually, against her better judgement, so does Emily herself. But when one of Joe's inventions begins to take off, his sadistic ex-girlfriend, Carrie (Nancy Allen), shows up to spoil things. Directed by TV vet Glenn Jordan, The Buddy System was written by future Beaches scribe Mary Agnes Donohue. The film marked the feature debut of future Stand By Me and Star Trek: The Next Generation star Wheaton. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

Joseph Wambaugh's The Onion Field is based on an actual 1963 case. L.A. plainclothesmen Karl Hattinger (John Savage) and Ian Campbell (Ted Danson) routinely investigate a pair of suspicious types, Greg Powell (James Woods) and Jimmy Smith (Franklin Seales). Unexpectedly, Powell pulls a gun on the cops, then forces them into a deserted onion field, where he kills Campbell in cold blood. Hattinger manages to escape, and through his eyewitness account, Powell and Smith are arrested. But that is not that. Thanks to their knowledge and manipulation of the quicksilver legal system, Powell and Smith manage to evade prosecution for years. Meanwhile, Hattinger goes through hell on earth, tortured with guilt over the fact that he lived while Campbell died so ignominiously. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Opting for light entertainment after the critical satire of Shampoo (1975), producer-director-writer-star Warren Beatty remade the 1941 comic fantasy Here Comes Mr. Jordan. Dimly amiable L.A. Rams quarterback Joe Pendleton (Beatty) is prematurely called to Heaven by an over-eager escort (Buck Henry, who co-directed) after a traffic accident. When archangel Mr. Jordan (James Mason) discovers the error, he offers to return Joe to his body, only to find that it has been cremated. On the verge of playing in the Super Bowl, Joe demands a fit body rather than the old about-to-be-murdered industrialist Farnsworth he has been offered, but he reconsiders when he sees environmentalist Betty Logan (Julie Christie) in Farnsworth's house. Assuming Farnsworth's body while keeping his sweet self, Joe hires his beloved coach Max Corkle (Jack Warden) to get him in shape (after convincing Max who he really is), sets Farnsworth's business on an eco-friendly path, and romances Betty. Farnsworth's homicidal wife (Dyan Cannon) and secretary (Charles Grodin), however, are still determined to succeed in their plan to kill him. When Mr. Jordan finally finds the Super Bowl body Joe wanted, Joe has to trade his old self for the new life -- but will he remember his love for Betty? Heaven Can Wait offered contemporary yet old-fashioned escapism and tapped into the late-1970s vogue for nostalgic fun, becoming one of 1978's most popular summer movies after Grease. Updating the original while following its blueprint, Beatty and co-writer Elaine May switched Joe's sport and turned Joe into a man of his '70s moment, adoring Betty for her convictions and favoring "green" policies over corporate greed. Gently breathing life into a classic form, Heaven Can Wait found romantic innocence in a jaded time, and it went on to receive nine Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

Posing as a prison pathologist, Quincy (Jack Klugman) conducts an investigation of the death of a convicted embezzler who was about to provide testimony against his mob bosses. The man's death has been ruled accidental, but Quincy doesn't believe it. The trick now is to figure out how a murder was committed in a maximum-security prison wing, without any tangible evidence (hint: the episode's title is a key to the solution). This episode was originally scheduled to air on April 15, 1977. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi