Parker Whitman Movies
- 1996
Per the title of this made-for-TV drama, all Rachel Stockman (played by future "Desperate Housewife" Marcia Cross) has ever wanted is to bear children. Unfortunately, Rachel suffers from a bipolar disorder, requiring her to take lithium, which thus far has prevented her from becoming pregnant. In desperation, Rachel discontinues her medication, and before long she is "with child." She is also undergoing severe and horrifying mood swings, leading to confinement in a hospital--and ultimately a competency hearing that will determine whether or not she can be legally obliged to take lithium...and to terminate her pregnancy. All She Ever Wanted originally aired April 14, 1996, on ABC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcia Cross, James Marshall, (more)
- 1993
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine began its seven-season run with this two hour episode. The episode harked back to the classic 1990 Next Generation season-ender "Best of Both Worlds," wherein the insidious Borg took over the mind and shape of Captain Jean-Luc Picard to launch an attack on the Federation. Three years later, Benjamin Sisko, survivor of the Borg attack, is assigned as commander of Deep Space Nine, a run-down former Cardassian space station in Bajoran territory. Sisko's first assignment is to oversee repairs of Deep Space Nine, but as the story progresses, he finds that he has been predestined to repair the tattered remnants of Bajor's ruined economy. Patrick Stewart guest stars in his familiar role of Captain Picard, who the embittered Sisko holds responsible for his own wife's death. Written by Rick Berman and Michael Piller, "Emissary" was originally telecast on January 2, 1993. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1992
- PG13
An unfunny comedy that ribs film noir conventions, Desire and Hell at Sunset Motel is set at a second-rate motel in 1950s Anaheim that is run by a fussy and nosy manager (Paul Bartel, invoking the ghost of Billy De Wolfe). Checking into the hotel is toy salesman Chester DeSoto (Whip Hubley) and his sultry wife Bridey (Sherilyn Fenn), who likes to take midnight swims in the motel swimming pool in sexy black negligees. She seduces local lady-killer Augie March (David Johansen), who happens to be blackmailing her husband concerning his past Communist Party associations. While Bridey is giving the once-over to Augie, Chester is busy himself -- hiring a screwball private detective by the name of Deadpan Winchester (David Hewlett) to spy on his wife. With the hotel manager peeking behind the curtains, one person turns up dead, and those left attempt to link Deadpan Winchester to the murder. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sherilyn Fenn, Whip Hubley, (more)
In this made-for-TV drama, a New England family's secrets all come tumbling out at once as they spend a weekend together to celebrate the engagement of their youngest son. Lisa Carter (Bibi Besch) and her military husband, Phil (James B. Sikking), couldn't be happier when their youngest son, Matt (William McNamara), brings his rich bride-to-be, Allison (Lori Loughlin), home from Yale. Col. Carter views Matt as the perfect son, especially given the way his other children have turned out. Tim (Jim Carrey) has sunk into alcoholism after dropping out of college, while Karen (Jayne Brook) must support her husband, Tom (David Byron), a struggling art photographer who wants to start a family despite his father-in-law's financial misgivings. As Allison gets acquainted with the Carter clan and its dysfunctions, her fiancé's artfully constructed facade of perfection begins to crumble, ultimately threatening his family's reputation, his impending nuptials, and his very life. Doing Time on Maple Drive debuted March 16, 1992, as a "Fox Night at the Movies" feature on the Fox network; it was later nominated for several Emmy awards. Directed by thirtysomething star Ken Olin, the film features a number of additional television staples among its cast, from Loughlin, star of Full House, to Carrey, then best known as Fire Marshal Bill on In Living Color. Two additional TV personalities from the cast -- Hill Street Blues actor Sikking and Northern Exposure actress Besch -- both share the distinction of being Star Trek vets, Besch in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Sikking in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James B. Sikking, Bibi Besch, (more)
- 1991
The Haunted is a Fox Network TV-movie purportedly based on eyewitness testimony. The story goes that in the mid-1980s, the Smurl family of Pittston, Pennsylvania began noticing something askew in their four-bedroom Victorian home. Apparently there are agents of Satan at work, bedeviling the family and smashing the crockery. None of the Smurls believes in ghosts--"until," as the ad copy for this film proclaims, "they have no choice." Since this film was shown on Fox, the "standards and practices" people were a wee more lax than they would have been on another network; hence the "Parental Discretion Advised" tag on the film's original telecast. The Haunted is some distance removed from believability, but stars Sally Kirkland and Jeffrey DeMunn seem to be having a high old time playing scared. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1990
A welcome exception to the slasher-stalker-kidnapper films usually seen on the USA cable network, After the Shock is a tribute to the courage and heroism of Bay Area residents following the San Francisco earthquake of October 17, 1989. Director Gary A. Sherman opts for a "cinema verite" approach, utilizing a hand-held camera to recreate the style of the original on-the-spot TV reporting. The cast includes Scott Valentine, Rue McClanahan, Yaphet Kotto, Jack Scalia and Richard Anthony Crenna as various firefighters, paramedics, law officials and private citizens. One of the best performances is offered by Nick Zaninovich, a real-life quake survivor who spent seven hours trapped in his car, which was buried under a collapsed stretch of the Nimitz freeway. After the Shock debuted September 12, 1990. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In Paul Verhoeven's wild sci-fi action movie Total Recall, Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a 21st-century construction worker who discovers that his entire memory of the past derives from a memory chip implanted in his brain. Schwarzenegger learns that he's actually a secret agent who had become a threat to the government, so those in power planted the chip and invented a domestic lifestyle for him. Once he has realized his true identity, he travels to Mars to piece together the rest of his identity, as well as to find the man responsible for his implanted memory. Verhoeven has created a fast, furious action film with Total Recall, filled with impressive stunts and (literally) eye-popping visuals. Though the film bears only a passing resemblance to the Philip K. Dick short story it was based on ("We Can Remember It For You Wholesale"), the movie is an entertaining, if very violent, ride. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, (more)
- 1989
A mugshot for a criminal who looks just like Willie (Max Wright) is briefly flashed on a TV "crimestoppers" program. Since a huge reward has been posted for the lookalike, ALF appoints himself Willie's protector--and, accordingly, his blamed when the cops arrest Willie, even though next-door-neighbor Trevor (John LaMotta is to blame. A young David Alan Grier appears as an FBI agent. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1989
Jessica's nephew Grady Fletcher (Michael Horton) and his fiancée Donna Mayberry (Debbie Zipp) have decided to get married in the home of Donna's parents (Eugene Roche, Gale Storm). With Jessica (Angela Lansbury) on the guest list, can murder be far behind? Not likely: This time the victim is Mr. and Mrs. Mayberry's fanatically fastidious housekeeper, who is "done in" with her own meat thermometer! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
On his 81st birthday, grandpa George Burns, bemoans the fact that he's wasted his life, and wishes he had it to do all over again. He gets his wish when he and his 18-year-old grandson Charles Schlatter are involved in an auto accident. When he awakens, Burns' personality has been transferred to Schlatter's body, and vice versa! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Burns, Charlie Schlatter, (more)
Tom Cruise juggles Martini shakers and ice cubes as the materialistic Brian Flanagan, a bartender who drops out of school to search for the perfect "rich chick" who will bankroll him into luxury. Brian meets up with bar veteran Doug Couglin (Bryan Brown) and they put together a dance-duo bar-tending act, taking five minutes to a mix a drink as they dance and toss gin bottles behind the bar to cutting-edge rock music circa 1988. The patrons, instead of demanding the booze, are dazzled by their antics and cheer them on. As a result, the bartenders become wildly popular -- in particular, Brian, who finds the bar babes falling all over each other to hop into the sack with him. As a result of their bar-tending success, they get hired to tend bar at a swanky disco, but there Brian and Doug have a falling out, and Brian takes off for Jamaica. There he meets vacationing New York City waitress Jordan Mooney (Elisabeth Shue) and the two fall in love. But then Brian meets rich New York fashion executive Bonnie (Lisa Banes) who wants to take Brian back to Manhattan with her to become her drink-mixing stud. When Jordan sees this, the love affair is put on hold. But not for long, as pangs of consciousness begin to filter through Brian's drunken haze. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Cruise, Bryan Brown, (more)
Rita Rizzoli (Whoopi Goldberg) is a crusading narcotics cop assigned to track down the source of some killer crack cocaine in this pretentious and preachy anti-drug crime drama. Rita poses as a prostitute and is soon hot after two small-time hoods (Brad Dourif and Mike Jolly) who murder their way up the drug-dealing ladder in hopes of becoming kingpins. Cheech Marin and Catherine Blore provide interesting cameos in this feature that co-stars Ruben Blades and Sam Elliott. Contains stereotypical characters and gratuitous violence. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Whoopi Goldberg, Sam Elliott, (more)
- 1986
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
