John Anthony Williams Movies

The 152nd and final episode of Hunter focuses on the titular detective's superior officer, Captain Charles Devane (Charles Hallahan). For reasons that he cannot possibly understand, Devane has been asked to be best man at the wedding of a small-time crook named Jake Hutton (played by frequent Hunter director Tony Mordente).At the same time, several of Hutton's former cellmates are pressuring him to participate in a crime, intending to frame him for murder. Blissfully unaware of all these intrigues is Jake's intended, dance instructor Wanda Crebbs (Jean Kasem). As for Hunter (Fred Dryer)...well, he manages to find himself in the thick of things long before the couple exchanges their final vows. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This directorial effort from Phil Joanou stars Sean Penn as an Irish-American undercover cop working the Hell's Kitchen beat. Penn is ostensibly on a sentimental journey to his old neighborhood. Actually he's been assigned to infiltrate a criminal gang led by Ed Harris, the brother of Sean's best friend Gary Oldman. Penn suffers the requisite honor vs. duty anguish when he renews his childhood romance with Harris' sister Robin Wright. State of Grace would have had more clout had it been more clear as to time and place: it's supposedly set in the 1990s, but the attitudes and behavior are pure 1970s. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi