Joe Whipp Movies
- 2005
An immigrant family finds their belief in the American way of life shaken by prejudice and xenophobia in this independent drama. Arjun Singh (Kavi Raz) is an educated man from the Punjab region of India who left behind a career as a college professor to come to the United States with his wife, Baljit (Archana Puran Singh). While Arjun now earns his living repairing cars, he loves his adopted home, and believes America's freedoms and opportunities will give his children a better life than he ever knew in India. While Arjun and Baljit continue to observe the cultural traditions they learned in India, their daughter, Simrun (Mehrunnisa Hassan), and son, Ranjit (Arsh Singh), follow the way of the West, with Simrun going so far as to refuse the marriage arranged for her by her parents in favor of wedding a boy she met at college. But just as Arjun and his family begin to feel they've finally put down roots in the United States, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, turn the world upside down, and while they are neither Muslim nor from the Middle East, the family feels the frequent sting of prejudice as many around them close ranks against "foreigners" -- even when they're hardworking American citizens. The Gold Bracelet was the first directorial effort from veteran actor Kavi Raz, who also plays Arjun. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kavi Raz, Archana Puran Singh, (more)
A belief in "angels on earth," not to mention a belief in oneself, may enhance the enjoyment of this made-for-cable drama. Jaclyn Smith stars as Kay Woodbury, a tough, no-nonsense judge whose intractability in legal matters is intensified by a number of personal crises, including a bitter feud with her jurist father and her anguish over the recent remarriage of her ex-husband. Thus, Kay is no mood to play nice when teenager Sally Powell (Lyndsy Fonseca) is brought before her. Harboring an intense hatred for the father who apparently abandoned her, Sally is a seemingly incorrigible delinquent who has already "flunked out" in four foster homes. Figuring that she could no worse than anyone else, Kay takes Sally home on a trial basis. The girl proceeds to behave as atrociously as possible, but surprisingly Kay does not decide to write her off as a bad job, but instead concludes that what the girl needs is someone to trust and something to believe in. In this spirit, Kay locates Sally's birth father (C. Thomas Howell), and, upon being convinced that he was not motivated by selfishness when he dropped out of his daughter's life, secretly contrives for Sally and her dad to reconnect -- and in so doing Kay finds her own way toward forgiveness, not only of those whom she feels have wronged her, but also of herself. Ordinary Miracles made its Hallmark Channel debut on May 7, 2005. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jaclyn Smith, Lyndsy Fonseca, (more)
- 2004
While trying to retrieve a stolen newspaper, paperboy Nestor Alverez (Enrique Almeida) is killed on Monk's doorstep. In his efforts to determine the motive behind the killing, Monk (Tony Shalhoub) manages to solve two unrelated murders--but still can't find out why anyone would want to bump off a nice kid like Nestor. It takes an additional murder, coupled with the keen analytical eye of Monk's nurse-assistant Sharona (Bitty Schram), to finally crack the case. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2001
No sooner has Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) returned to County General than she clashes with Weaver (Laura Innes) over the treatment of a pregnant teenager in danger of being deported. Elsewhere, Weaver nervously prepares to contact her long-lost birth mother. Elizabeth (Alex Kingston) is investigated after losing a fourth patient to infection in post-op. Benton's (Eriq La Salle) son, Reese (Matthew Watkins), disappears. And Carter's (Noah Wyle) grandmother Millicent (Frances Sternhagen), injured in a fall, is brought into the ER. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this youthful fantasy, a 12-year-old boy is unfortunate enough to have his wish granted to have a golden touch. At first it is a fine talent indeed. However, the dark side of his power appears when he accidentally turns his beloved grandmother into a solid gold statue. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Trevor O'Brien, Ashley Cafagna, (more)
- 1997
Working undercover for the Feds to nail Joey Salvo, Simone (Jimmy Smits) realizes that he can rely on absolutely no one when he is investigated by the IAB for his alleged criminal activities. Just shy of 30 years on the force, the gravely ill Gotteli (Carmine Caridi) "hijacks" and crashes a bus. Fancy (James McDaniel) tries to work out a deal whereby Gotelli can escape prosecution and take a medical retirement. A rape-murder occupies most of the other detectives. And Diane (Kim Delaney) is left out of the loop just when she needs moral support the most. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1992
Free-spirited artist Lindsay Wagner learns that she's dying from cancer. She can handle that, but she worries about the future of her 6-year-old daughter Molly Orr. Enter high-powered executive Shelley Long, Lindsay's oldest friend. Despite the fact that they obviously move in different circles, Shelley commits herself to the task of properly raising young Molly. This lachrymose TV movie suffers from surprisingly noncommital performances by its stars. Message From Holly premiered December 13, 1992. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1991
In 1988, Nancy Klein, the pregnant wife of Long Island accountant Marty Klein, was involved in a car accident that left her comatose. Convinced that Nancy would never recover if she went to full term with the baby, Marty asked the doctors to perform an abortion. Almost immediately, Nancy Klein became a cause celebre for pro-life and pro-choice activists alike. Made for television, Absolute Strangers recreates this traumatic event and the drawn-out courtroom litigation that followed. Henry Winkler, who produced the film, returned to acting after a long absence to play Klein; others in the cast include Jennifer Hetrick as Nancy, Richard Kiley as Dr. R. J. Cannon, Karl Malden and Audra Lindley as Nancy's parents, and Patty Duke as a lower-court judge. Though it is clear that the filmmaker's sympathies are clearly on Marty Klein's side, the script remains even-handed throughout, observing that the pro-choicers can be just as narrow-minded and contentious as the "absolute strangers" who wish to usurp Marty Klein's rights concerning his wife's wellbeing. Written by playwright Robert Anderson (Tea and Sympathy, I Never Sang For My Father), Absolute Strangers premiered April 14, 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry Winkler, Richard Kiley, (more)
- 1991
- PG
The two-part, four-hour TV movie Switched at Birth is based on an actual event which began unfolding in Wauchula, Florida in 1978. Brian Kerwin and Judith Hoag play the new parents of a baby girl; a few days later, another couple, played by John M. Jackson and Bonnie Bedelia, have a baby at the same hospital. Kerwin and Hoag's baby is healthy; Jackson and Bedelia's baby has a heart defect. Switched at Birth traces the lives of the two girls over a period of eight years--up to the point of a tragedy which opens the possibility that the girls may not have been given over to the correct parents at the hospital. The four parents involved find themselves in court, battling over custody of the surviving child. This intensely personal problem is bloated into a cause celebre by the press and by parents' rights pressure groups. Edward Asner and Caroline McWilliams appear as the opposing attorneys. Those who'd been following the two-part Switched at Birth during its first telecast in April of 1991 may have found themselves in family conflicts of their own, inasmuch as Part Two was shown opposite the network TV premiere of Die Hard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bonnie Bedelia, Brian Kerwin, (more)
- 1987
- R
Rampage delves into the subject of legal insanity, so often the default defense in modern-time gruesome crime trials. Alex McArthur plays an outwardly normal guy who goes on incredible killing and mutilating sprees until (and even after, when he escapes for a short time) he's captured. When he comes to trial, the liberal DA (Michael Biehn) is torn between his own leftist leanings and the reality of the heinous crimes for which the accused is being tried. He must argue for the death penalty. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Biehn, Alex McArthur, (more)
- 1987
Much of the original cast from the popular television series Police Story reunited for this edgy drama, in which the detectives search for a killer loose on the roads. This entry was one of several TV-movies in the late 1980s to feature the familiar cast in the Police Story format. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
A conniving nephew (Anthony Geary) wishes to get rid of his elderly uncle (Ralph Bellamy) to collect a large inheritance, so he hires the three worst orderlies he can find (played by the Fat Boys). ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Damon Wimbley, Ralph Bellamy, (more)
A cop discovers that there's something unusual about his new partner in this unusual sci-fi thriller. A seemingly well-mannered stock broker one day snaps, robbing a bank, stealing a Ferrari, and driving straight into a police barricade without any thought for his own safety, and he's mowed down by a hail of bullets. The detective assigned to the case, Tom Beck (Michael Nouri), thinks that he notices a strange look in the eye of the thief, but when FBI agent Lloyd Gallagher (Kyle MacLachlan) informs Tom that he's also been assigned to the case, he thinks that he sees the same curious look in Lloyd's eyes as well. Lloyd also has an odd way of carrying himself, as if he's not entirely in control of his own body, and in time, Tom discovers what the two men have in common -- both are actually aliens from another planet. They are creatures from another world capable of entering a human (or animal) body at will and using it as a vessel as long as they need. When the stockbroker died, the rogue alien simply crept into another body to begin his crime spree all over again. Lloyd has been sent to Earth to bring the thief's reign of terror to a halt and has taken over the body of an FBI agent with that in mind. A major cult favorite, The Hidden also features Clu Gulager, Ed O'Ross, and Claudia Christian. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Nouri, Kyle MacLachlan, (more)
- 1987
- R
This campy gorefest is basically a series of outrageous death scenes set in a chi-chi health club which is haunted by the murderous spectre of its owner's late wife (who was burned to death). First taking control of the club's computer-controlled circuitry, the bloodthirsty ghost then decides to possess her gay brother, who begins parading around in sis's clothes and continuing her devilish deeds. For those with a natural antipathy toward the toned-and-tanned set, this tremendously bloody film might offer a guilty chuckle or two for the strong-stomached viewer, who can watch a series of yuppie hardbodies hacked (by blender), torn (by weight machine), burnt (by tanning booth), boiled (by shower), and shredded (by flying glass)... even mauled to death by demonically-possessed carp! ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- 1986
This sexy sword-and-sorcery film from Roger Corman's Concorde Pictures was filmed on location in Argentina by a primarily South American crew. The plot concerns the efforts of Amazon queen Dyala (Ty Randolph) to secure a magic sword in order to defeat the evil sorcerer Kalungo (Joseph Whipp). Dyala sends two of her busty warriors, Tashi and Tashinge (Penelope Reed and Danitza Kingsley) to retrieve the sword, and the usual shenanigans ensue, albeit with more nudity and sexual activity than usual. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pehelope Jane Reed, Joe Whipp, (more)
- 1986
Diane (Shelley Long) is reunited with Jack Dalton (Joseph Whipp), a worldly daredevil whom she met during her trip to Europe. At Dalton's invitation, Diane and Sam (Ted Danson) agree to take a spin in Jack's personal jet. But things go awry when Jack suddenly drops dead -- while 20,000 feet in the air -- leaving Diane and Sam to fend for themselves. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This martial arts film features Tonny Tulleners (a karate champion) as a U.S. government agent who goes after international terrorists in some picturesque locations: Amsterdam, Los Angeles, and Hawaii. His terrorist-fighting takes on another complexion when he is required to protect a terrorist who is going to testify against his former cohorts. Soon the glamorous locations are transformed into the interiors of bedrooms and hospital wards as the body count rises. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tonny Tulleners, Don Murray, (more)
- 1986
- PG
A doctor (Tom Conti) and his wife (Teri Garr), recently divorced, are kidnapped and brought to South America by an inept jewel thief (Paul Rodriguez), just in time to help cure a tribal chief's daughter of appendicitis. Then, a series of circumstances brings the entire family together. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- 1986
Blind Justice is a fact-based TV movie starring Tim Matheson, here made to look "normal" with glasses and mustache. The innocent Matheson is fingered by witnesses as an armed robber/kidnapper/rapist. For the next 14 months, his life is hell. Too much circumstantial evidence surrounds the case, and too much information leaks out to the public; even if Matheson beats the rap, he'll be ruined in his community. Blind Justice was first telecast on March 9, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim Matheson, Mimi Kuzyk, (more)
This made-for-TV effort from horror director Wes Craven and Salem's Lot producer Richard Kobritz involves a case of cryogenic suspension gone horribly wrong. A wealthy industrialist (Michael Beck) arranges for his body to be kept on ice in a high-tech cryonic chamber with specialized instructions regarding his revival at a future date when medical science can restore him to life. Thanks to a computer malfunction, these instructions are not followed properly, and Beck emerges from the frozen crypt as an empty, soulless creature and a vessel of pure evil with an appetite for destruction. So evil, in fact, that his own mother (Beatrice Straight) decides he must be destroyed and sets out to do the deed herself. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- 1985
Angel-in-training Jonathan (Michael Landon) is assigned to straighten out the problems of Lori Parks (Carrie Wells), a famous and rather contentious child movie star. Jonathan's first step is to find the runaway Lori and return the girl to her parents. His next step -- which does not become obvious until Lori has been returned -- is to wean Mr. Parks (Gerald S. O'Loughlin) away from his booze habit and convince Mrs. Parks (Trish VanDevere) to stop behaving like the proverbial stage mother from hell. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1985
First telecast in early 1985, the 2-hour pilot film for the lighthearted TV detective series Moonlighting opens with fashion model Maddie Hayes (Cybill Shepard) discovering that her business manager has skipped with her fortune. The only asset she has left is the ramshackle Blue Moon Detective Agency, manned by acerbic David Addison (Bruce Willis). Maddie takes an immediate dislike to David, while he considers her a sexual conquest-to-be. The twosome continues to bicker their way through their first case, pausing for amenities only when it appears that both of them are about to be bumped off. Once safely back in the office, their verbal guerilla warfare resumes, leading the viewer to expect marvelous things from the subsequent Moonlighting TV series. Little of the series' fabled self-consciousness (talking directly to the audience, making references to the quality of the scriptwriting, etc.) surfaces in the Moonlighting pilot, but the film works well despite this "drawback." The series itself ran (or, as it turned out, limped) until May of 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cybill Shepherd, Bruce Willis, (more)
A decade of wisecracking sequels have not diminished the power of this striking horror film from the director of Scream. Teenagers in a small town are dropping like flies, apparently in the grip of mass hysteria causing their suicides. A cop's daughter (Heather Langenkamp) traces the cause to child molester Fred Krueger (Robert Englund), who was burned alive by angry parents many years before. Krueger has now come back in the dreams of his killers' children, claiming their lives as his revenge. The teenaged leads are sympathetic and intelligent, unlike the dumb victims presented in most films of the period, and they are ably backed up by veterans like John Saxon and Ronee Blakley. Director Wes Craven creates moments of real dread by examining the line between nightmares and reality, as well as the "sins of the parents" theme, and although the film is quite gory, it never resorts to cheap bloodletting for its effect. A unique and disturbing experience, this film is highly recommended for horror buffs. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Saxon, Ronee Blakely, (more)
- 1984
Just because "everybody does it," does that make it right? This is one of the questions posed by the made-for-TV romantic melodrama His Mistress. Robert Urich stars as high-profile tycoon Allen Beck, "happily" married to trophy wife Katherine (Linda Kelsey). When Allen takes a liking to his extremely ambitious employee, Anne Davis (Julianne Philips), he exercises his executive prerogative by taking the pliant Anne as his mistress, setting her up in a luxurious condo penthouse. At one point, Anne indignantly declares "I thought your supporting me was an insignificant gesture that has nothing to do with our relationship." His Mistress was first shown by NBC on October 21, 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
Inamusch as Deputy Enos (Sonny Shroyer) has become too honest for their own good, Boss Hogg (Sorrell Booke) and Sheriff Roscoe (James Best) get him out of the way by promoting him to a civilian job. Enos' replacement is Billy Joe Coogan (Michael Alldredge), as dishonest and corrupt as the day is long. Alas, Boss and Roscoe aren't given much time to congratulate themselves over their choice of new deputies: No sooner has Billy Joe accepted the job than he double-crosses his patrons by threatening to open Hazzard Dam and flood the county unless he is paid an enormous ransom! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
