Guy Boyd Movies

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

Murder Ordained is the true story of a crime of passion in Emporia, Kansas. Terry Kinney plays the reverend Tom Bird, whose wife Sandy (Annabella Price) was found dead in 1983. At first, it seems as though Sandy was killed in a car accident. But highway patrolman John Rule (Keith Carradine) has a different theory: Rule believes that Bird murdered his wife out of love for his mistress (JoBeth Williams). A second killing in another Kansas county serves to confirm Rule's hypothesis. Filmed on location, the two-part Murder Ordained was originally telecast May 3 and 5, 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Benjy Taylor (D.B. Sweeney) is a rookie cop who goes undercover to nab a gang of car thieves in this routine crime drama. Taylor salivates over the lifestyle and money enjoyed by Ted Varrick (Charlie Sheen), the smooth operator who leads the Porsche pilferers, and he reports back to Lieutenant Vincent Bracey (Randy Quaid), who is convinced Ted is a cop killer but needs more proof. Taylor joins the gang and begins to justify car theft and the money it brings as gathering evidence. Soon his reasoning is clouded and the rookie cop gets in deeper when he actually begins to like Ted and the suspect's sultry sister Ann (Lara Harris). ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

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

A pair of childhood friends meet again after one becomes a convict and the other a law man assigned to transport him to prison. Thompson's Last Run features Robert Mitchum and Wilford Brimley in the lead roles. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

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

The Atlanta Child Murders is a five-hour, two-part dramatization of one of the most tragic and controversial homicide cases of the past twenty years. From 1979 through 1982, some 28 African-American children and young adults disappeared from Atlanta--some without a trace, but others to later turn up as murder victims. Part One (which debuted February 10, 1985) details the beginning of the manhunt conducted by the Atlanta Chief of Police (James Earl Jones). Screenwriter Abby Mann uses the actual events as a springboard for his thesis that the case and its outcome revealed many uncomfortable truths about the still-fragile state of race relations in the New South. Both parts of The Atlanta Child Murders were later combined into one 245-minute "feature film."

The second part of the five-hour TV docudrama The Atlanta Child Murders originally aired February 12, 1985. After 28 African-American children and young adults have either disappeared or been murdered, the Atlanta police finally have a suspect in custody: Small-time show business entrepreneur Wayne Williams (Calvin Levels). Scriptwriter Abby Mann utilizes actual court transcripts of Williams' trial, which results in a conviction on one count of murder. This decision in essence leaves the cases of the other 27 victims unresolved--and in so doing, Mann opens the door to speculations that Williams, a black man, was a "convenient" suspect, who might possibly have been railroaded in the authorities' haste to find a solution to the sordid case. Whatever Mr. Mann may have felt concerning Williams' guilt or innocence, the fact remains that the murders and disappearances stopped cold once Williams was in custody (as of this writing, Williams persists in his efforts to reopen the case, claiming that he was framed by the white power structure). Morgan Freeman served as narrator for both installments of The Atlanta Child Murders. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Arthur Penn takes a crack at subverting the espionage film genre in Target. Walter Lloyd (Gene Hackman) is a quiet and unassuming lumberyard owner in Dallas, Texas. Chris (Matt Dillon) has dropped out of college to pursue a career as a race car driver. But all mundane tasks come to an end when Walter's wife Donna (Gayle Hunnicutt) is kidnapped while on a European trip. Walter flies to Paris with Chris to see what can be done. Once in Europe, Chris is shocked to discover that his dad was once a top CIA agent. Together, the two visit all of Walter's old CIA contacts in an effort to locate Donna. Finally, Walter discovers that Donna has been kidnapped by a rogue spy seeking revenge for an incident that happened eighteen years earlier. Now Walter must apply his old and vicious CIA tricks to save his wife from an old and vicious CIA operative. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

At this late date, it should hardly be necessary to inform viewers that The Ewok Adventure was inspired by those fuzzy little space muppets seen in the 1983 Star Wars sequel Return of the Jedi. This costly made-for-TV film was executive-produced by George Lucas, with special effects provided by Industrial Light and Magic. It was first telecast with great fanfare November 25, 1984; its soundtrack was simulcast on regional FM radio stations to provide a "full stereo" effect. The plot (frankly the least fascinating element of this project) concerns two young kids searching through space for their missing parents. The kids wind up on the forest moon of Endor, where dwell the courageous little Ewoks, commandeered by Wicket (Warwick Davis). The winner of an Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Program (though not necessarily aimed exclusively at kids), Ewok Adventure was released theatrically as Caravan of Courage. It was followed in 1986 by a TV-movie sequel, Ewoks: The Battle for Endor, and by a Saturday-morning cartoon series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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

James Garner plays an Army officer who puts his hobby to practical use in Tank. Zach (James Garner) moves to a new post in a backwoods Georgia town. Accompanying him is his family --his wife LaDonna (Shirley Jones) and his son Billy (C. Thomas Howell)-- and his prize recreational activity --a restored Sherman tank. Zach strolls into town one night and engages in conversation with Sarah (Jenilee Harrison), a 17-year-old prostitute, who works for the town crime czar and law enforcement authority, Sheriff Buelton (G.D. Spradlin). When one of Buelton's goons gets rough with Sarah, Zach slaps him down. In retaliation for Zach's infraction, Buelton arranges for Billy to be sent to a brutal prison farm on trumped-up drug charges. Zach tries to get Billy released, but to no avail. So he jumps on his trailer, starts up his Sherman tank and heads into town. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Based on the virulently antimilitary play by David Rabe, Streamers is set in a basic-training barracks. Matthew Modine is among the raw recruits who alternate between strutting around like bantam cocks to snivelling like frightened children. To test one another's manhood, the recruits indulge in violent physical and verbal game playing. Special attention is given those whose skin color or outlook on life is at odds with the "standards" of the group. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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