Red West Movies

A Senegalese taxi driver living in Winston-Salem, NC, makes the decision to befriend a depressive passenger with a tragic plan in director Ramin Bahrani's deeply humanistic drama. Solo (Souléymane Sy Savané) is a cab driver whose believes that everyone should be engaged and concerned with one another, and thus lacks the self-conscious view of relationships so prevalent in North American society. When a 70-year-old passenger named William (Red West) hails Solo's cab and books him for another ride in two weeks during the course of his ride, it quickly becomes apparent over the course of their negotiation that the man isn't planning to return from his impending trip. Troubled at the thought of what his passenger has planned, Solo does his best to strike up a friendship and convince William to reconsider. But William harbors a pain more deep-rooted than Solo first senses, displaying a visible desire for privacy that immediately putts him at odds with the genuinely concerned cab driver. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A woman who has drifted away from her boyfriend's affections finds love in the arms of his son in this independent drama. Laura (Dina Korzun) is an attractive woman in her early thirties who was living in her native Russia when she met Alan James (Rip Torn), a legendary music producer from Memphis. Alan brought Laura back to the United States and moved in with her, but now that the couple have a three-year-old son, Laura finds herself a stranger in the city she now calls home and is growing increasingly distant from the philandering Alan. After a testimonial tribute to Alan, Laura meets his grown son Michael (Darren E. Burrows) for the first time; Michael has a difficult and sometimes combative relationship with Alan and prefers to keep a distance from him and his life, but Michael and Laura find they quickly develop a strong rapport. Laura and Michael's friendship soon grows into an affair, but as Laura considers her unhappiness with Alan, she also feels guilty about betraying a man who has given her a life she would hardly have dared to dream of when she was younger. Forty Shades of Blue was helmed by Ira Sachs (who earned enthusiastic reviews for his 1997 debut feature The Delta), from a script he co-wrote with Michael Rohatyn. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Kellie Martin stars as a teen wrongly accused of setting a deadly arson fire in this made-for-television drama. Martin plays Billie Calhoun, a girl who has been held in a juvenile detention facility since being accused of killing her mother and sister in a fire. Up for a possible early release on her 18th birthday, Billie is again denied her freedom. Steadfastly denying any involvement and determined to find out the truth on her own, Billie escapes from the center. Out on her own, she disguises herself and befriends a young cop named Matt Samoni (Antonio Sabato Jr), and together they set out to uncover the truth. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide

A frenetic, bloody look at mass murder and the mass media, director Oliver Stone's extremely controversial film divided critics and audiences with its mixture of over-the-top violence and bitter cultural satire. At the center of the film, written by Stone and Quentin Tarantino, among others, are Mickey (Woody Harrelson) and Mallory (Juliette Lewis), a young couple united by their desire for each other and their common love of violence. Together, they embark on a record-breaking, exceptionally gory killing spree that captivates the sensation-hungry tabloid media. Their fame is ensured by one newsman, Wayne Gale (Robert Downey, Jr.), who reports on Mickey and Mallory for his show, American Maniacs. Even the duo's eventual capture by the police only increases their notoriety, as Gale develops a plan for a Super Bowl Sunday interview that Mickey and Mallory twist to their own advantage. Visually overwhelming, Robert Richardson's hyperkinetic cinematography switches between documentary-style black-and-white, surveillance video, garishly colored psychedelia, and even animation in a rapid-fire fashion that mirrors the psychosis of the killers and the media-saturated culture that makes them popular heroes. The film's extreme violence -- numerous edits were required to win an R rating -- became a subject of debate, as some critics asserted that the film irresponsibly glorified its murderers and blamed the filmmakers for potentially inciting copy-cat killings. Defenders argued that the film attacks media obsession with violence and satirizes a sensationalistic, celebrity-obsessed society. Certain to provoke discussion, Natural Born Killers will thoroughly alienate many viewers with its shock tactics, chaotic approach, and disturbing subject matter, while others will value the combination of technical virtuosity and dark commentary on the modern American landscape. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

This made-for-TV cop drama is deliberately reminiscent of Joseph Wambaugh's previous video success Police Story. LA Law star John Spencer plays a big-city cop with deep and serious emotional problems. His inner turmoil is exacerbated when he plunges into a troublesome murder case. Among the many personal demons with which the cop is wrestling is the memory of how a brief act of impulsiveness in his past led to tragedy. From the Files of Joseph Wambaugh: Jury of One debuted November 29, 1992. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When, during a rash of grotesque shotgun murders, a young race car driver goes to the police claiming that he's been having dreams about the killer, he gets locked up as the suspect. A lady reporter falls in love with the suspect and sets out prove his innocence and find the real killer. A rogue biker who accosts the reporter and kidnaps her is thought to be the killer in question so after he's slaughtered in a shoot-out, they figure they've solved the shotgun slayings. But have they? ~ All Movie Guide

In the conclusion of a two-part story, Hunter (Fred Dryer) continues his search for a serial killer who preys upon cops. In the course of events, the detective is reunited with his old flame Chris Novak (Lauren Lane, who joins the cast as a regular), and is also introduced to Chris's 10-year-old daughter Allison Courtney Barilla). Meanwhile, Hunter's beleagured colleague Joanne Molenski (Darlanne Fluegel in her final series appearance) loses her badge--and much, much more. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Love, treachery, and broken furniture are the hallmarks of this rollicking action drama. Dalton (Patrick Swayze) has a Ph.D., but rather than make a living teaching Socrates at some university, he's opted to become a top-drawer "cooler" -- an expert barroom bouncer who can break up fights without getting himself killed in the process. Dalton is hired to keep the peace at the Double Duce, a rough-and-tumble honky tonk in Jasper, Missouri, where beer-soaked free-for-alls are a nightly event. Dalton is hurt on his first night on the job, and he is patched up by "Doc" Clay (Kelly Lynch), a beautiful woman working as the town's physician. Dalton and Doc immediately hit it off, but Dalton learns that another man, Brad Wesley (Ben Gazzara), already has his eye on her. Wesley is a man used to getting his way; he's an extortionist and crime boss who has nearly everyone in Jasper under his thumb, and he sets out to teach Dalton a lesson, while Dalton is determined to clean up the town like he breaks up brawls at the Double Duce. Sam Elliott plays Dalton's mentor Wade, and Red West, a one-time member of Elvis Presley's "Memphis Mafia," appears as Webster; Canadian blues-rock guitarist Jeff Healey leads the Double Duce house band. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The made-for-TV Once Upon a Texas Train offers us the once-in-a-lifetime teaming of Richard Widmark, Willie Nelson and Angie Dickinson. Nelson plays a veteran outlaw who robs a bank less than 6 hours after being paroled from jail. He uses the money to reunite his old gang, then sets about to repeat the train robbery that had gotten him arrested 20 years earlier. This time, however, Nelson is himself targetted for theft by a young, hungrier band of desperadoes. Widmark plays the lawman who caught Nelson before and intends to do so again. Written and directed by the reliable Burt Kennedy, Once Upon a Texas Train premiered January 3, 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The A-Team is mistaken for a group of vicious mercenaries, with Murdock (Dwight Schultz) being incorrectly identified as the notorious "Insane" Wayne (Jesse Vint). Hired by evil rancher Kincaid (Barry Corbin) to force young Bobby Sherman (Moosie Dryer) off his oil-rich land, the Team instead offers its services to Bobby, teaming with the boy to fend off the villains. All goes smoothly--until the real "Insane" Wayne shows up! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Figuring that he'll never get a pardon from the mercurial Stockwell (Robert Vaughn), Face (Dirk Benedict) plans to escape during the A-Team's next mission. But things don't quite go as expected when Face falls in love with Sally Vogel (Valerie Wildman), a journalist whose pose as the girlfriend of mobster Tommy Tedesco (Richard Romanus) has placed her in dire peril. Throughout the episode, Face continues seeking a means of escape only to return to help out Sally and his fellow A-Teamers--a pattern he follows all the way to the climax in Atlantic City. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A rural pacifist group called the Brotherhood of Man hires the A-Team to protect them from a band of bigoted rednecks. However, the Brotherhood makes one unshakable demand upon the Team: none of the members are allowed to use any form of violence in thwarting the villains. Five points to anyone who can guess how long the Team (B.A. [Mr. T] in particular!) is able to go before abandoning "brain" in favor of "brawn"! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Robert Conrad plays a long-married husband suffering from perceived boredom. In traditional male-menopause fashion, Conrad walks out on his family in search of greener pastures. Before waking up and smelling the coffee, he has a brief affair with the much-younger Ann Dusenberry. Respectively cast as Conrad's wife and daughter, Jennifer Warren and Mary Crosby are a lot more understanding than our "hero" deserves. Produced by General Hospital mentor Gloria Monty, the made-for-TV Confessions of a Married Man premiered on January 31, 1983. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide