Kurt Woodruff Movies

Four of the autobiographical novels of Laura Ingalls Wilder served as the basic source material for this made-for-TV movie. Covering some of the same ground as the Wilder-inspired TV series Little House on the Prairie, the film stars Meredith Monroe as 19th-century teenager Laura Ingalls, who at the beginning of the story is still living on her South Dakota family farm with her father (Richard Thomas), mother (Lindsay Crouse), and three siblings. Acknowledging her dad's insistence that she has "the wandering strain," Laura yearns for life beyond the prairie, but is obliged to accept a nearby schoolteaching position to help support her loved ones. After her marriage to homesteader Almanzo Wilder (Walt Goggins), Laura endures the usual trials and tribulations of life as a farmer's wife, further complicated by the loss of her first child and a raging diphtheria epidemic. Yet, somehow, Laura and Almanzo survive their many ordeals with renewed hope for the future. Tess Harper, cast as the "older" Laura, narrates the story. Originally broadcast by CBS on January 2, 2000, Beyond the Prairie: The True Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder was followed by a TV-movie sequel over two years later, on the same network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Director and former stunt coordinator Chuck Bail takes the help for this fast-paced action thriller about a Harvard-graduate physicist whose efforts to create a safe source of energy are thwarted by nuclear waste-dumping baddies. David Lowell (Stephen Collins) has discovered the secret to clean energy, and he's ready to share his gift with the world. In just a few days, Hayley's Comet will pass over the Grand Canyon, and David will capture the energy from the high-frequency sound waves emitted from the enormous space rock. Unfortunately, there are those who would rather continue to profit from conventional forms of energy, and they're not afraid to use force to get their way. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide