Noble Willingham

A Stoning in Fulham County spends much of its screen time in a rural North Carolina Amish community. The tendency of the Amish to shun all modern convenience and to keep to themselves has fomented hostility from their neighbors. When the baby daughter of Amish couple Ron Perlman and Maureen Mueller is killed by a gang of rock-throwing teenagers, their anguish is virtually laughed off by the rest of the locals. Young county prosecutor Ken Olin tries to build a case against the assailant even though the grieving parents refuse to bring the case to court. He is also determined to press for conviction without calling to the stand the sole eyewitness--his own daughter (Olivia Burnette). A Stoning in Fulham County is distinguished by several top-rank acting performances, not the least of which is Ron Perlman's portrayal of a compassionate yet taciturn man who is spiritually incapable of adjusting his lifestyle for the convenience of others. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

With his 50th birthday approaching, Mel (Vic Tayback) insists that he doesn't want the diner staff to make a big fuss over the occasion--and he most certainly does NOT want a surprise party. Dutifully, Alice (Linda Lavin) and the other waitresses take Mel at his word. And as a result, Mel becomes extremely upset that no surprise party occurs (go figure)! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The staff of Mel's Diner is on pins and needles when an influential food critic (Victor Buono) accepts Alice's invitation to sample the diner's bill of fare. Realizing that the critic is a man of exotic tastes, Mel (Vic Tayback) knocks himself out to dish up a batch of chili that his guest will never forget. Unfortunately, a pall is cast over the evening when the critic has the effrontery to drop dead of food poisoning! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Aloha, Bobby & Rose was conceived and promoted as a contemporary Bonnie and Clyde. Paul LeMat plays Bobby, an auto mechanic, while Diane Hull is Rose, a car-wash jockey; the two fall in love and dream of heading off to Hawaii, hence the title. Responsible for an accidental homicide, Bobby and Rose are then forced to take it on the lam. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on the best-selling memoirs of Lillian Rogers Parks, the NBC miniseries Backstairs at the White House traces over five decades of American political history as witnessed from the vantage point of the servants' quarters. Played by Tania Johnson as a teenager and by Leslie Uggams as an adult, Lillian Rogers Parks served for 52 years as a maidservant at the White House. Though crippled early on with polio, Lillian diligently and loyally stuck to her duties -- and her own rock-solid set of principles and ideals -- through eight highly different Presidential administrations, often (and occasionally reluctantly) acting as friend and confidante to the First Lady of the moment. The large and stellar cast included a number of top-rank film and TV actors, obviously having the time of their lives impersonating such presidents as William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and Dwight D. Eisenhower, and their respective wives. Also in the cast were several African-American veterans from the landmark TV miniseries Roots. Earning 11 Emmy Award nominations, the nine-hour Backstairs at the White House was seen in five installments from January 29 to February 19, 1979. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Angie Dickinson essays the title role in Big Bad Mama. This Depression-era crime caper casts the future star of Police Woman as sexy Ma Barker type Wilma McClatchie, who forces her nubile daughters (Susan Sennett, Robbie Lee) into participating in a robbery/kidnapping/murder spree. Wilma seems to be as motivated by the erotic thrill of lawbreaking as she is by the financial gains. She evens hops in the sack with her daughters, as does her common-law husband, played by William Shatner. A sequel appeared in 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A man with no memory struggles to make sense of the troubling details that are still stuck in his mind in this psychological thriller. Frank (Val Kilmer) wakes up in a small town in the New Mexico desert with a severe head wound and most of his memory wiped away. However, Frank is somehow convinced that someone is planning to assassinate the President of the United States, and that Chloe (Neve Campbell), the woman who is claiming to be his girlfriend, is some sort of imposter. When Frank learns that the president is indeed passing through town that day, he tries to warn Sheriff Kolb (Sam Shepard) that something sinister if afoot; as it happens, Kolb believes him, though he's more than a bit busy dealing with a hard-fought election campaign against former Deputy Cash (Noble Willingham). Blind Horizon was screened at the 2004 South by Southwest Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Richard "Cheech" Marin, of Cheech & Chong fame, directed and starred in Born in East L.A.. Inspired by Marin's music-video parody of Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA", the film casts Cheech as an East Los Angeles repairman. While paying a visit to a sweatshop toy factory, Cheech is caught in the middle when the feds raid the place and cart off all the illegal alien workers. Since he's forgotten to bring his own i.d., Cheech is also shipped off to Mexico-where, having next to no knowledge of the Spanish tongue, he's virtually helpless. Desperate, he takes a job with crooked Tijuana saloon owner Daniel Stern-the first of many "make-do" jobs that he assumes to earn enough money to return home. Along the way, he falls in love with El Salvadorian girl Kamala Lopez, whose English is as fractured as Cheech's Spanish. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

John Hughes strip-mines familiar terrain -- in this case his own past successes -- in this comedy that Hughes produced and scripted, directed by Bryan Gordon. Frank Whaley stars as Jim Dodge, a 21-year-old con-man who goes from job to job but likes to put on a facade of success. As Career Opportunities begins, he has just been fired from another job and has been hired by the local Target store manager (played by an un-credited John Candy) as the night cleanup boy. After the manager locks Jim in the store overnight, he goes on a binge -- playing with the skates, eating candy, watching television, and blasting the stereos. But then Jim discovers that he is not the only person in the store. Also there is rich girl Josie McClellan (Jennifer Connelly) who is spending the night in the store to get her father worried about her. Although Jim knew Josie in high school, when Josie wouldn't even give him the time of day, here they click like two castanets and they romp around the store aisles to a pounding rock score. But just at the moment when Jim and Josie plan to run away together with the $52,000 Josie holds in her purse, two low-rent comic thieves -- Nestor Pyle (Dermot Mulroney) and Gil Kinney (Kieran Mulroney) -- break into the store and Jim and Josie decide to stick it out, saving the store from the bumbling crooks. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Mitch Robbins (Billy Crystal) returns in this sequel to the original City Slickers that attempts to recapture the first film's warmth and character comedy. Despite feeling re-invigorated when we last left him, Mitch again faces a few personal dilemmas: his radio station job is going nowhere and his schlep of a brother (Jon Lovitz, replacing Bruno Kirby as the third of Mitch's cowboy threesome) has come to stay for a while. Things get really strange when Mitch is haunted by the ghost of cowboy Curly (Jack Palance), who died while leading Mitch and friends on their first cattle-herding adventure. Mitch unexpectedly finds a treasure map in the band of Curly's hat and, together with his brother and his friend Phil (Daniel Stern), heads back to the West to find Curly's lost gold mine. Along the way, they hitch up with Curly's twin brother, again played by Palance. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

A sprawling adaptation of the same-named novel by David Nevin, the three-part CBS miniseries Dream West starred Richard Chamberlain as colorful, controversial American explorer John Charles Fremont (1813-1890). The story detailed the visionary (and occasionally mercenary) Fremont's lifelong war against shortsided authority figures, beginning with his early skirmishes with the "brass" as an Army officer. In 1842, Fremont embarked upon his greatest adventure, heading an expedition to map the Oregon Trail -- the first step towards opening the entire North American continent to free and unimpeded exploration. His mission pitted Fremont against hostile Indians, the Mexican army, and the U.S. government itself. Along the way, he crossed paths with scores of historical figures, including Kit Carson, Jim Bridge, John Sutter, and President Abraham Lincoln. Alice Krige, Richard Chamberlain's vis-à-vis in the earlier Wallenberg: A Heroes' Story, co-starred as Jessie Benton, the headstrong senator's daughter who became Fremont's wife. Running seven hours in all (plus commercials), Dream West was originally telecast from April 13 to 15, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Peter Fonda here gives a studied performance of a man alone against the odds. When he discovers that members of his family are going to be killed because they are standing in the way of a corporate master plan which involves their land, and the local sheriff seems unconcerned about the threat, he must take care of the matter himself. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

The election of Sandra Day O'Connor to the Supreme Court rendered the premise of First Monday in October anachronistic before the picture was even released; ignoring this, however, the film is supremely entertaining (no pun intended). Jill Clayburgh stars as Ruth Loomis, the first lady justice ever appointed to the Court. She's a conservative, while her principal foe on the bench, Dan Snow (Walter Matthau), is an old-line liberal. The film glides along on a predictable Tracy-Hepburn course until Snow comes to Loomis' defense when her late industrialist husband is accused of improprieties which might compromise Loomis' effectiveness. First Monday in October was adapted by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee from their own Broadway play, which starred Henry Fonda. Actress Martha Scott co-produced the film, while several other Hollywood veterans, including Herb Vigran and Ann Doran, dot the supporting case. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide