Guy Boyd Movies
Supporting actor Boyd has appeared onscreen from the '70s. ~ All Movie Guide- 1986
The Greater Alarm is the syndication title of the made-for-TV Firefighter. Based on a true story, the film stars Nancy McKeon as Cindy Fralick, the first female member of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Recruited in 1982, Cindy faces prejudice and hostility from her male co-workers as she strives to complete the grueling training program. Nonetheless, she perseveres, and in so doing wins the respect of her one-time tormentors. Adapted by Kathryn Montgomery from Fralick's autobiography, the film was partially designed as a visual adjunct to CBS television's "Read More About It" program. Under its original title, The Greater Alarm first aired on September 23, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
- R
Director Joan Micklin Silver's follow-up to her acclaimed debut, Hester Street, is a more ambitious film that manages to be both an entertaining comedy and a pointed look at the corrupting power of money on an idealistic enterprise. Writer Fred Barron's characters are all associated with a weekly alternative newspaper in Boston, modeled after the Phoenix. (Silver did once work on the Village Voice, but this enterprise is several rungs below that esteemed paper.) Harry (John Heard) is an ambitious reporter romantically involved with Abbie (Lindsay Crouse), the paper's star photographer. Michael (Stephen Collins) is a writer trying to work on a novel and stay faithful to his loving wife, Laura (Gwen Welles), while Max (Jeff Goldblum), the paper's rock critic, shamelessly uses his job to try to pick up women. Lynn (Jill Eikenberry), a typist who is the paper's mother-hen figure, is also its most principled employee. When a publishing mogul (Lane Smith) buys the paper and promises changes that will compromise its aggressive political stance in favor of more "lifestyle" articles, Lynn resigns, and it's clear to the group that their carefree days are behind them. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Heard, Lindsay Crouse, (more)
- 1993
Former Bewitched TV-star Elizabeth Montgomery plays against type and stars as a murderess in this made-for-television movie. Based on the book Preacher's Girl by Jim Schutze, Montgomery stars as the real-life killer Blanche Taylor Moore who was caught by authorities in 1989. The movie chronicles her transformation from the innocent 1950s daughter of a preacher into the serial killer known for poisoning her husbands with arsenic. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Montgomery, David Clennon, (more)
- 1990
Originally telecast in two parts, Blind Faith was adapted from a fact-based book by investigative author Joe McGinniss. The scene is Toms River, New Jersey; the year is 1984. Insurance salesman Rob Marshall (Robert Urich) informs the authorities that his wife Maria (Joanna Kerns) has been murdered by a band of marauding thieves. Marshall claims that he and his wife were ambushed at a remote picnic area, and for a while everyone believes the man. But further investigation leads to the conclusion that Maria was the victim of a murder conspiracy, fomented by Marshall himself in order collect his wife's insurance. The climactic trial forces Marshall's three teenaged sons to bear witness against their own father. With grim irony, Blind Faith was first broadcast just before Valentine's Day, 1990. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
Blood Feud was a two-part TV drama, originally presented as an "Operation Prime Time" special. Robert Blake is disturbingly convincing as labor leader Jimmy Hoffa, engaged in a decade-long war of words with attorney (and later attorney general) Robert F. Kennedy. Cotter Smith makes his TV debut as Kennedy, a role he'd repeat on future occasions. Thoroughly compelling when sticking to the facts, the drama falls apart whenever indulging in flight of fanciful speculation (Sample: two of Hoffa's lieutenants watch the live telecast of Lee Harvey Oswald's murder, then celebrate the fact that Oswald will never be able to reveal their complicity in the JFK assassination!) Blood Feud was syndicated to local TV stations beginning April 24, 1983. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Blake, Cotter Smith, (more)
In Body Double, director Brian DePalma pays homage to the Alfred Hitchcock movies Vertigo and Rear Window, adding a few grotesque touches all his own. Craig Wasson plays Jake, a struggling actor who keeps losing jobs because of his claustrophobia. To make matters worse, his girlfriend has walked out on him, so he has no place to sleep. His pal offers him the use of his apartment for the evening. The apartment happens to be equipped with a huge picture window and telescope, enabling him to spy on his beautiful neighbor Gloria (Deborah Shelton) while she undresses. He also bears witness to her brutal murder. And then he meets a porn star (Melanie Griffith), who has just taken a job posing as the late Gloria. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Craig Wasson, Gregg Henry, (more)
- 1986
Kate Jackson had intended to both produce and star in the made-for-TV A Child's Cry, but her busy Scarecrow and Mrs. King schedule forced her to relinquish the leading role to Lindsay Wagner. Wagner plays Joanne Van Buren, a sensitive social worker whose latest charge, young Eric Townsend (Taliesen Jaffe), shows signs of being abused. Running up against several walls of resistance, Joanne nonetheless continues to investigate. She ultimately unearths a shocking truth involving Eric's father, played in image-busting fashion by James Brolin. A Child's Cry debuted February 9, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1993
- NR
After a terrible hurricane ravages a tropical island, a young doctor discovers an autistic child wandering about. This touching drama follows the doctor's attempts to help her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kathleen York, Karen Black, (more)
- 1984
An interesting diversion for the genre, this stylish but leaden supernatural period piece tells the tale of an 18th-century minister (Dennis Lipscomb) and his flock who are exiled to the wilderness after being accused of witchcraft by the citizens of Dalton's Ferry. The small community settles briefly in an eerie valley in Shawnee territory -- which is also the domain of a powerful demon and his earthen underlings. As horrific apparitions and bizarre events begin to haunt the party in increasing frequency, a young madwoman believed to be a witch brings her own formidable powers to bear against the demonic menace. Good performances and beautiful location cinematography help to create a mood of encroaching doomretentious dialogue, leaden pacing and an overabundance of clunky religious allegory causes the entire project to collapse under its own ponderous weight. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Lipscomb, Rebecca Stanley, (more)
- 1986
Also released as The Greater Alarm, the made-for-TV Firefighter is based on a true story. Nancy McKeon (who also co-produced), plays Cindy Fralick, the first female member of the Los Angeles Fire Department. The plotline details the prejudice and chauvinism lurking at every turn during Fralick's training period. She perseveres, however, and is soon accepted as "one of the guys." Filmed in British Columbia, Firefighter debuted September 23, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Bob Logan (Kris Kristofferson) and Ernie Wyatt (Treat Williams) are freewheeling U.S. border patrol officers in a tiny Texas town. Though they're "oil and water" in terms of personality, they're a dynamite team on the job. Coming across a million dollars in stolen money, their relationship threatens to unravel. Upright Wyatt is all for turning in the money, but Logan has other ideas. Soon, however, they're reunited against several common enemies, including a team of overzealous FBI agents. Flashpoint is based on a novel by George La Founteine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kris Kristofferson, Treat Williams, (more)
- 1993
Based on a true story, the made-for-TV Fugitive Among Us stars Peter Strauss and Eric Roberts. Strauss plays Max Cole, a police detective obsessed with tracking down a rapist. Cal Harper (Roberts), who is as outgoing and uninhibited as Cole is buttoned-up and repressed, is the number-one suspect. After a two-year pursuit across the Southwest, Cole is close to cornering his quarry--at great personal and emotional expense. Suddenly he is seized with the notion that Harper may not be the man he's looking for, sparking yet another deluge of angst. Full of surprising plot twists and offbeat characterizations, Fugitive Among Us debuted February 4, 1992. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This 1981 John Irvin picture constitutes an adaptation of Peter Straub's colossal, bestselling novel. The central plot -- shared by both book and film -- revolves around the four elderly members of the Chowder Society (Fred Astaire, Melvyn Douglas, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and John Houseman), who gather in each other's drawing rooms each winter to sip cognac and spin elaborate ghost stories. The four men also share a dark secret far more unsettling than fiction -- a secret which has literally come back to haunt them, as well as their own adult offspring. Each man is visited by a hideous specter bearing the likeness of a young woman (Alice Krige) they accidentally killed 50 years ago when spurning her mischievous sexual advances. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred Astaire, Melvyn Douglas, (more)
- 1987
Home Fires was first presented in two parts over the Showtime pay-cable service in August of 1987. The film purported to trace four days in the life of an "average" family. Right. The father is an attorney, facing a hostile judge in a case wherein poisoned workers are suing a craven plastics company. The lawyer's ex-wife is a hospitalized schizophrenic who makes unlimited phone calls to her children. His present wife is a painter who has had an affair with a fellow art student. The highlight of Part One of Home Fires is a masturbation scene involving the family's youngest son; just wait til we get to Part Two (see entry 126257 for details). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
Part two of the four-hour Showtime Cable Network film Home Fires (see entry 126256 for details on Part One) traces the further adventures of a "typical" American family. Embroiled in a case involving corporate negligence, the family's attorney father admits to bribing a witness. When that matter is settled, he punches out the art student who's had an affair with his second wife. Meanwhile, wife number one, a hospitalized schizo, rambles incoherently on the telephone at all hours of the day. Yet despite all that's going on, Home Fires leaves the viewing feeling empty and uninvolved at fadeout time. The film was originally telecast over Showtime in August of 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this hit thriller, a prosecuting attorney-turned-defense lawyer falls in love with a rich, charming client who's been accused of murdering his wife and her maid with a hunting knife. When an unknown assailant gruesomely slays San Francisco newspaper heiress Paige Forrester (Maria Mayenzet), her husband and business partner, Jack Forrester (Jeff Bridges), turns to corporate attorney Teddy Barnes (Glenn Close) for counsel. Teddy, who quit her job with the district attorney's office four years earlier over an ethical dilemma, has reservations about returning to criminal work; nevertheless, she accepts the assignment, convinced of Jack's innocence and eager to face off in court against her old boss, DA Thomas Krasny (Peter Coyote), who's about run for attorney general. With the help of investigator Sam Ransom (Robert Loggia), the recently divorced Teddy builds a strong defense for her client, though the work -- and her incipient romance with Jack -- cause strain in her relationship with her children. When Jack's innocence and his romantic intentions come into question, Teddy feels her life slipping back into a moral quagmire until a series of courtroom denouements set the stage for even bigger surprises. Big-name screenwriter Joe Eszterhas' follow-up to Flashdance, Jagged Edge was directed by Richard Marquand, who had previously lensed Return of the Jedi. Parts of Jagged Edge were shot on-location in San Francisco, whose City Hall provides the film's courtroom exteriors. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Bridges, Glenn Close, (more)
- 1981
Keeping On was the only "fiction" film directed by documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple. Like her earlier Harlan County USA and The American Dream, the film examines a labor-management struggle in a hardscrabble Southern mill town. Dick Anthony Williams plays a minister who encourages the activities of labor unionist James Broderick. Williams' stand polarizes the community, and the cleric is ostracized by the so-called "right" people. Completed in 1981, Keeping On premiered February 8, 1983 on PBS' American Playhouse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1991
- R
Marcus De Leon directed this standard erotic thriller for Roger Corman's Concorde Pictures. Sexy Julie Carmen stars as Teresa Bozman, wife of Jake (Guy Boyd), a sadistic bar-owner in East Los Angeles. When a handsome singer named Tony Montero (Robert Beltran) is hired, his music boosts the club's business and steals Teresa's heart. Together, they plot to kill Jake and live happily ever after, but the usual complications ensue. A mostly Latino cast and authentic locations give this film more credibility than Dan Golden's tiresome redneck remake (also for Concorde), Saturday Night Special (1994). ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julie Carmen, Robert Beltran, (more)
- 2000
Traces of blood found in an apartment belonging to a separated couple (Tessa Ghylin, Michael C. Williams) suggest that the couple's missing baby may have met with foul play. The investigation is stymied when each parent claims that the other has the infant. The D.A.'s office takes over when the police find the body of the child, who has apparently starved to death. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Christina (Susan Dey) is a cocaine addict in a tumultuous relationship with an equally drug-addicted boyfriend. When she becomes pregnant, the baby is born not only prematurely but with the chemical dependency of its mother. Now Christina is in a fight to make her life clean and stable so that social services will allow her to have custody of her daughter. But first, she'll have to convince not only her jaded case worker, but herself, that she can. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susan Dey
- 1988
- R
Nine-year-old Thelma (Cassie Barasch) is the sweet little girl next door who engages in blackmail, robbery, and murder in this amoral melodrama. Neighbor Robert (John Hurt) is a bank employee who leaves his wife for Delores (Karen Young) after he embezzles money from work. He tries to bribe Thelma with the gift of a camera, but she uses it to photograph evidence and pin the murder of a child on him. When little Elizabeth (Ellie Raab) is shot and killed by Thelma with a gun she steals from John, he is charged with her kidnapping and murder. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Hurt, Karen Young, (more)
Corey Haim plays 13-year-old Lucas, a bespectacled, bookish type who attracts school bullies like a magnet. Lucas befriends 16-year-old Kerri Green; she wants to be "just friends," he'd like a more meaningful relationship. The boy introduces the girl to a world of intellectual pursuits of which she'd been previously unaware. She enjoys the attention, but is physically attracted to football jock Charlie Sheen, and becomes a cheerleader to be nearer to the young athlete. Lucas feels shut out once more, but is comforted to learn that Sheen is not just one more bully but a sensitive kid who sticks up for Lucas when the younger boy is being picked on. Still hoping to impress Kerri, Lucas tries out for the football team himself, threatening legal action when the coach tries to turn him down. This original and innovative teen-oriented film threatens to come to a hackneyed "big touchdown" climax. Instead, Lucas winds up in the hospital after being injured in a game, which earns him the respect of the rest of the team. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Corey Haim, Kerri Green, (more)
- 1982
Hawkeye (Alan Alda) receives a letter from Mildred Potter, the wife of the 4077's commanding officer Col. Potter (Harry Morgan). Sworn to secrecy, Hawk refuses to divulge the contents of the letter to Potter, despite intense pressure on the part of the curious Colonel. The next assignment on Hawkeye's agenda is to organize a surprise party for Potter--and we aren't about to tell anyone the reason, either. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
A kept woman learns to live independently in this made-for-TV melodrama. Her troubles begin after her successful and much loved "sugar daddy" suddenly dies, leaving her with nothing but her own strong will and very few real job skills to survive. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victoria Principal, Don Murray, (more)
