Roxana Zal Movies
Roxana Zal is a lead actress and former ingénue, onscreen since the '80s. ~ Rovi
An unexpected death turns lovers into rivals in this thriller. Richard Mannhart (Perry King) is an unhappily married author who is having an affair with Katie Griffin (Roxana Zal), a film editor. Richard is mostly interested in sex, but Katie has become deeply infatuated with him. However, when Richard's wife, Laura (Susan Blakely), dies in a suspicious-looking auto accident, Katie tells the authorities that she has reason to believe Richard sabotaged his spouse's car. Richard angrily denies Katie's allegations and then goes on to deny any involvement with her. Trying to weigh one story against the other, the police tell both Richard and Katie that it's up to them to prove the validity of their stories. So what evidence can they produce to clear themselves and incriminate their lover? Also released as A Clean Kill, Her Married Lover also features Michelle Green, Daniel Benzali, and Terrence "T.C." Carson. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- 2001
During a gun battle with a pair of criminal brothers, police officer Jack Fletcher (Brad Johnson) incurs a wound that leaves him temporarily sightless. During his recovery, Jack is helped by Rebecca (Megan Gallagher), who works as a "trainer" for the newly blind. Gradually, Jack and Rebecca fall in love, much to the dismay of Rebecca's overprotective sister, Bedelia (Roxana Zal), who as a childhood incest victim has developed a pathological hatred for all men. Thus, once his sight is restored, Jack finds himself in the crosshairs of two potential assassins -- the demented Bedelia, and the brother of the crook he killed. Several daunting surprises and unexpected plot twists await the protagonist of Blind Obsession, which was released to home video as Blindside before it was picked up for cable-TV play by the Lifetime channel in 2001. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Brad Johnson, Megan Gallagher, (more)
Scott Ziehl made his directorial debut with this high-energy ambulance ride with a pair of paramedics careening through the Los Angeles night, with Antonio Calvache's camerawork capturing the social drama in a documentary-style depiction. In the vein of Leaving Las Vegas, the film was the top 1998 winner (best feature) at the fourth Los Angeles Independent Film Festival. Pennsylvanian Tom (Jason London) arrives in L.A., encounters his eccentric neighbor Susy (Susan Traylor), and gets work with an ambulance company. Tom is initially impressed by his cool, hard-driving partner, veteran paramedic Jimmy (Todd Field, who also co-produced), especially after Tom screws up by almost sending a crash victim off to the morgue and Jimmy straightens out the potentially embarrassing episode. Daily collisions with violence and danger soon become routine. During one trip to the hospital, a possibly violent attack from an injured man in the ambulance is quelled when Jimmy simply knocks him out with fibulator pads to the head. Steering the streets with adrenaline action and high-octane intensity, Jimmy cools down with an intake of sex and drugs. Tom soon seeks similar solutions to this frenetic life on the edge. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Todd Field, Jason London, (more)
- 1996
- R
The message of this direct-to-video thriller may be that it is possible for a daughter to love her father too much, especially when she will cheerfully murder anyone who threatens to come between them. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- William Katt, Michele Greene, (more)
- 1990
A mother is determined to keep her daughter from the seedy world of prostitution in this made-for-television movie. Jane Alexander stars as Peggy Ryan, a busy single mom who doesn't have much time for her daughter Charly (Roxanna Zal). Lacking guidance, Charly drifts from the wrong crowd into prostitution. Realizing what Charly has gotten herself into, Peggy refuses to accept this as her daughter's fate and sets out to get her back home. ~ Bernadette McCallion, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jane Alexander, Roxana Zal, (more)
- 1993
In this brooding drama, the lives of four sisters are nearly destroyed by the machinations of their overbearing father. He singles out one daughter in particular to take part in a deadly insurance scam. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert Urich, Shelley Fabares, (more)
- 1989
Those who think that you can't make a suspense movie out of a true-life story wherein everybody knows the outcome are referred to the made-for-TV Everybody's Baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure. Jessica, of course, was the 18-month-old Texas girl who fell down an abandoned well in October of 1987. As the world looks on in anguish, the local fire chief (Pat Hingle) and police chief (Beau Bridges) supervise the efforts to rescue Jessica from her 22-foot-deep prison. The film effectively squeezes the 58 hours of the original incident into two, allotting plenty of time for a surface-level subplot involving the efforts of a Victim's Assistance Program volunteer (Patty Duke) to reassure Jessica's parents. In keeping with Hollywood child-labor requirements, little Jessica McClure is played by twin girls, Laura and Jennifer Loesch. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
An unhinged city dweller becomes a vigilante as he tries to protect a troubled teenager. The fellow is Ernest, who came to LA in search of his fortune and who ends up addicted to coke and managing a pornographic video store. When he makes an awkward play for the boss's daughter, he loses his job. Unable to deal with it, he becomes really unstable. He murders his drug dealer and then becomes friends with the teen Christiane who is trying to cope with a stepfather who molests her and a mother who doesn't care. Ernest takes Christiane away from home and then helps her try to find her long-lost sister. Along the way he makes sure that anyone who ever harmed her is made to pay. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1993
Based on a true story, Disney's made-for-television film Goodbye, Miss 4th of July is about the daughter of Greek immigrants in pre-World War II West Virginia. The girl and her family befriend an elderly, ailing former boxer, who happens to be African-American. The boxer and the family are forced to battle the racism of their community during the first half of the film, while the second half concerns an influenza epidemic. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi
- 2005
Jane Doe:The Wrong Face is one of several Hallmark Channel TV-movies starring Lea Thompson as Simi Valley housewife and mom Kathy Davis (Lea Thompson), who unbeknownst to her neighbors occasionally moonlights as an undercover special agent and "problem solver" for the NSA. Kathy is summoned by her NSA superior Frank Darnell (Joe Penny) to tackle the mysterious kidnapping of Caroline Raphaelson (Roxanna Zal), wife of crusading prosecutor Phil Raphaelson (John Rubinstein). No one ever saw anyone entering or leaving the room in the health spa from which Caroline, who'd been undergoing cosmetic surgery, was snatched. Still, the fact remains that a ransom demand has been made, said demand being that Caroline's husband arrange for the release of Ray Jackson (Michael Bailey Smith), a shady construction executive being held on a money-laundering rap. Complicating Kathy's investigation is Jackson's staunch insistence that he is innocent and that he completely disapproves of the kidnapping, and the subsequent disappearance of the 16-year-old girl who'd impersonated Caroline while the abduction was allegedly taking place. Jane Doe: The Wrong Face) was originally telecast on June 19, 2005. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1996
In this low-budget screwball-mystery, the death of an L.A. woman leads to a surreal murder investigation on the outer fringes of la-la land. When Molly McMannis (Justine Bateman) turns up dead, still impaled with the murder weapon -- a carrot -- the police launch a probe into the colorful world Molly inhabited. The suspects range from her ex-con brother to her roommate to her high-strung friend (Heather Graham). But a more likely culprit lurks among the ranks of a therapy group full of off-the-wall serial killers and the shrinks who coddle them. The fetishistic police detectives -- including sadistic interrogator Angela Pierce (Jill Hennessy) -- prove as disturbing as the people they're investigating. In fact, their unorthodox procedures leave the door open for the killer to strike again. Written, produced, and directed by Jordan Alan, who previously helmed the similarly offbeat Love and Happiness, Kiss and Tell features a who's who of obscure and indie Hollywood talent, including veteran actor Lewis Arquette and his three famous sons. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
- Starring:
- Peter Howitt, Daniel Craig, (more)
- 1995
In this psychological drama, Sam has come to work on a dairy farm in Marin, California. He had been living in New York, but found himself tormented with terrible nightmares. On the farm he works closely with his friend Danny. Not long after his arrival, Sam gets in trouble with Robert, the owner. He is also in trouble with Danny's daughter, Rosie who wanted the job Sam filled. The trouble with the owner comes when Sam begins trying to save poor Rachel, the dairyman's daughter whom Robert keeps locked in the house. Thinking she is being abused, Sam talks to her. She shows her gratitude sexually. Now Sam becomes even more determined to save her. Unfortunately, Rachel isn't as much abused as she is dangerously unstable. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1999
When a plane full of tourists crash-lands on an island off the coast of Mexico, the survivors soon discovers that they have an even greater danger awaiting them once they free themselves from the wreckage -- the island is overrun with bloodthirsty mutated baboons, the result of a scientific experiment gone wrong. An eccentric guide (Ron Perlman) who understands the strange apes is brought in to save the stranded travelers before it's too late. Primal Force also stars Roxana Zal and Mark Kiely. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ron Perlman, Roxana Zal, (more)
- 1996
- R
Car chases and double-dealing highlight this action-adventure drama. Jim (Chad McQueen) is a struggling race car driver who, after losing sponsorship for his racing team, falls into a life of crime as he struggles to pay off his debts as a mechanic. A brush with auto theft causes Jim to come under the thumb of Mr. Keller (Jan-Michael Vincent), the leader of a carjacking ring who wants Jim to heist a certain Corvette from an auto impound lot. However, it turns out that what Keller wants most isn't the car but certain illegal valuables hidden inside it, which have also attracted the attention of Keller's criminal rival Lawrence (Michael Madsen). Red Line also features Dom DeLuise, Roxana Zal, Julie Strain, and Corey Feldman; leading man Chad McQueen also served as an executive producer and one of the stunt drivers. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Chad McQueen, Michael Madsen, (more)
The nude, strangled body of a teenaged girl lies on the edge of the river. Her murderer is her boyfriend, Daniel Roebuck. All the kids in Roebuck's dismal, dead-end town know who committed the murder. Trouble is, no one bothers to turn Roebuck in; some of the teens don't know how to react to the crime, while others, strung out on drugs and booze, just don't give a damn. A study of contemporary alienation, River's Edge was based on a real-life incident that occurred in Milpitas, California, in 1981. That same year, Neal Jimenez wrote his screenplay for River's Edge, but was not able to finance the project until 1987. Except for Dennis Hopper, cast as a holdover from the sixties who hobbles about on one leg and makes love to a blow-up doll, the cast was largely comprised of unknowns, many of whom (Crispin Glover, Keanu Reeves, Ione Skye) would definitely be heard from in the future. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Crispin Glover, Keanu Reeves, (more)
- 1987
A father's descent into alcoholism is chronicled in this powerful made-for-TV drama. Much of the story centers on the devastating effects that his drinking has on his family. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Martin Sheen, Melinda Dillon, (more)
- 1984
First offered as an ABC Theatre presentation on January 9, 1984, Something About Amelia stars Ted Danson in an "against type" role to end them all. Danson is the well-to-do, loving husband of Glenn Close, and the doting father of teenager Roxanne Zal. Zal's mother can't understand why the girl has been depressed and withdrawn of late. It takes a session with her school guidance counselor to get Zalto admit the source of her depression: Her father has had sexual relations with her. Zal's mother goes through the expected anger and denial upon hearing this news....but the girl is, alas, telling the truth. Wisely, scriptwriter William Hanley does not present Ted Danson's character as a monster, despite the monstrosity of his behavior. The point of the drama is that incest is not exclusively the dominion of lower-class, poorly educated, abusive parents--and that it is tragically possible for even the most "mature" of grownups to confuse love with sex. Dismissed by an otherwise perceptive TV movie critic as merely "typical," Something About Amelia chalked up one of the highest-ever ratings for a TV movie, and won a well-deserved Emmy for young Roxanne Zal. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ted Danson, Glenn Close, (more)
- 1992
- Add Something to Live For: The Alison Gertz Story to Queue Add Something to Live For: The Alison Gertz Story to top of Queue
Something to Live For: The Alison Gertz Story was one of a myriad of early 1990s TV movies centering around the AIDS issue. Molly Ringwald stars as Alison Gertz, an upscale Manhattanite who thinks she knows her way around. Still, Alison conducts an "unprotected" one-night affair, which results in her contacting the AIDS virus. Despite her alleged smarts, Alison continues to seek out sexual partners and can't understand why they're reluctant to sleep with her, even though she belatedly offers to use contraceptives. Perhaps if it had been made five years earlier, and perhaps if it didn't have its characters speaking fluent pop profundities, Something to Live For might have been one of the truly important made-for-TV AIDS sagas. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1996
- R
This high-speed actioner features real-life champion stock-car racer Chad McQueen as a thief who specializes in stealing luxury cars. His troubles begin on the day he steals a car and ends up in the midst of a ferocious gang war. This leads to his being blackmailed into stealing a particularly valuable sports car for one of the gang leaders. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Chad McQueen, Michael Madsen, (more)
Jon Voight stars in this David Seltzer-scripted sentimental tale about a divorced father who tries to achieve an emotional connection with his children. J.P. Tannen (Jon Voight) is a confused and childish man who, five years earlier, was divorced from his wife Kathleen (Millie Perkins). Kathleen received custody of their three children and they now all live with Kathleen's new husband Mitchell (Richard Crenna), a brilliant lawyer. But out of the blue, J.P. reappears into their lives. J.P. wants to take his three children on an ocean voyage in the Mediterranean. At first Kathleen and Mitchell are reluctant, but then they agree. At sea, J.P. begins to bond with his children --Tilde (Roxana Zal), Truman-Paul (Robby Kiger), and Trung (Son Hoang Bui). But then J.P. receives some tragic news that he tries to conceal from the children. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jon Voight, Richard Crenna, (more)
Director Lynne Littman has created an effective, understated portrayal of the cost of a nuclear war in human terms, in a film as far removed from the fake hyperbole of action and disaster movies as the natural world is from cartoons. Set in the small California town of Hamlin, the Wetherly family and their everyday concerns open the story. The trivia that fills their secure, ordinary existence disappears when a TV show is interrupted with the announcement that nuclear bombs have exploded in the major cities on the East Coast, and then the entire scene is erased in an increasingly white, blank movie screen -- meant to show that nuclear blasts have been detonated in California as well. Over 1000 people die in the first month from radiation sickness, but the mother in the Wetherly family (Jane Alexander) displays great inner strength as she cares for orphaned children the family has taken under its wing and goes on sustaining those that remain in her own family. At one point, she quietly conveys to her daughter the happiness of intimacy between two adults, knowing her daughter will not live to experience adult love. As these individuals and the children cope with day-to-day existence, there is never any intrusion of overt horrors, the focus remains on the individuals and the way in which they adjust to the inevitable. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jane Alexander, William Devane, (more)
A malevolent stranger turns the life of a contented family woman upside down in this thriller starring William Atherton and Roxanna Zal. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- William Atherton, Roxana Zal, (more)
- 1989
- R
When two rival groups of surfers face off on a Southern California beach prior to a big surfing contest, things get a little tense. However, when surfer Nick Rainwood (Richard Joseph Paul) meets up with a pretty girl, Allie (Danielle Von Zerneck), the two start off a romance, in spite of the fact that they belong to opposing sides of the surfing feud. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi
- Starring:
- Keith Coogan, Danielle von Zerneck, (more)
- 2006
The third of MyNetwork's nightly English-language "novellas", Watch Over Me was based on Telefe Argentina's Resistere. Daynara Torres, a Puerto Rican actress and former Miss Universe, starred as young psych student Julia Rivera, who was engaged to wealthy but faithless "medical entrepreneur" Michael Krieger (Mark Menard). With fingers in several dirty pies, Michael had made enemies of a number of tough underworld characters, and thus found it expedient to hire a bodyguard for Julia, a handsome hunk named Jack Porter (Todd Cahoon). With typical soap-opera inevitability, the impressionable Julia found herself romantically torn between the dashing Michael and the down-to-earth Jack--while Jack, anxious to wrest Julia aware from her dangerous sweetheart, endeavored to open the girl's eyes to Michael's true nature. Others lurking about included several "star names", among them Casper Van Dien as Andre Forester, a hired assassin who knew where most of Michael's bodies were buried (chances are Andre buried them himself!), Catherine Oxenberg as Michael's enigmatic personal assistant Leandra Thames, and Roxana Zal as all-purpose femme fatala Natalie Weller. Rounding out the main cast was Caitlin McCarthy as Michael's troubled daughter Caroline, whose horrible nightmares invariably provided clues as to what had previously transpired and dropped hints concerning the perils in the furture. The series benefited from a strong tie-in with the Wal-Mart retail store chain, which provided many of the characters' costumes. The first of the 65 hour-long Watch Over Me episodes premiered December 6, 2006, as the replacement for the previous MyNetwork nighttime soaper Fashion House. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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