John Anderson Movies
Dour, lantern-jawed character actor John Anderson attended the University of Iowa before inaugurating his performing career on a Mississippi showboat. After serving in the Coast Guard during World War II, Anderson made his Broadway bow, then first appeared on screen in 1952's The Crimson Pirate. The actor proved indispensable to screenwriters trafficking in such stock characters as The Vengeful Gunslinger, The Inbred Hillbilly Patriarch, The Scripture-Spouting Zealot and The Rigid Authority Figure. Anderson's many screen assignments included used-car huckster California Charlie in Psycho (1960), the implicitly incestuous Elder Hammond in Ride the High Country (1962), the title character in The Lincoln Conspiracy (1977) and Caiaphas in In Search of Historic Jesus (1980). A dead ringer for 1920s baseball commissioner Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, Anderson portrayed that uncompromising gentleman twice, in 1988's Eight Men Out and the 1991 TV biopic Babe Ruth. A veteran of 500 TV appearances (including four guest stints on The Twilight Zone), John Anderson was seen as FDR in the 1978 miniseries Backstairs in the White House, and on a regular basis as Michael Spencer Hudson in the daytime drama Another World, Virgil Earp in The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955-61) and the leading man's flinty father in MacGiver (1985-92). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1992
When a poor waitress shoots her abusive husband, she is forced to battle the courts for custody of her children while waiting for a verdict on her trial for murder of her husband. Based on a true story, it does a credible job in the depiction of the abusive relationship but some of the impact is diminished when the film moralizes that the husband's latent homosexuality was the cause or as culpable as the physical abuse he inflicted upon his wife. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susan Dey, Chris Cooper, (more)
- 1991
Nancy Landon (Vera Miles) swoops down on Cabot Cove with the announcement that her son Steve (Richard Gilliland) had been fathered by the late husband of Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury). With this in mind, Nancy insists that Jessica is obligated to help clear Steve fraud and murder charges related to the Landons' construction business. Though it pains her to do so, Jessica does what she can to prove Steve's innocence. Also in the cast is Martin Milner as Jessica's friend Clint Phelps, who may know more about the case than he's letting on. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1991
Babe Ruth is a made-for-TV biopic about the titular baseball legend, here played by Stephen Lang. The film covers the events of Babe's life from his orphanage childhood to his retirement from baseball in 1935. Recounted are Babe's two marriages, the first to the benighted Helen Woodford (Yvonne Suhor) and the second to down-to-earth showgirl Claire Hodgson (Lisa Zane); Babe's frequent tiltings with Col. Ruppert (Donald Moffat), autocratic owner of the New York Yankees; Babe's periodic slumps and suspensions; his "wine, women, and more women" lifestyle; his unrealized dream of becoming a team manager; his record-breaking 60th home run in 1927; and his last-stand "three-homer" game for the Boston Braves in his valedictory 1935 season. Too rushed and surfacy to be totally successful, Babe Ruth is nonetheless closer to truth than the sentimentalized John Goodman feature film The Babe (1992), and infinitely superior to William Bendix's atrocious The Babe Ruth Story (1948). As a bonus, real-life baseball great Pete Rose shows up in a one-minute cameo as Ty Cobb. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Weitz, Lisa Zane, (more)
This TV movie's original title was Danielle Steel's Daddy, which was either an invitation or a warning depending upon one's outlook. The usual Steel formula of a big city high-roller finding love in the hinterlands is followed religiously. Patrick Duffy, a chauvinistic advertising man coming off an acrimonious divorce, heads West to film a few commercials. He takes along his infant child, whom his wife (Kate Mulgrew) had up and left behind while finding herself. What Duffy finds is beautiful actress Lynda Carter, as gorgeous a surrogate mommy as you're likely to see in Prime Time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1991
In this drama, based on a true story, desperate townsfolk take up arms to defeat the sociopathic town bully who has been terrorizing them for years. They then swear themselves to silence. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brian Dennehy, Cloris Leachman, (more)
- 1990
Made for television, Follow Your Heart was first telecast April 2, 1990. Ex-marine David Larson (Patrick Cassidy) is tooling along aimlessly in the middle of Wyoming when his jeep breaks down. Awaiting the verdict from the local repair shop, Larson takes a part-time job as a rest-stop attendant. Not the most outgoing of men, Larson is brought out of his shell when he befriends peppery widow Cloe Sixbury (Frances Sternhagen), her developmentally delayed son (Jace Alexander), and an orphaned Vietnamese girl (Nicole Francois). Deftly blending warmth, humor, and unexpected melodrama, Follow Your Heart is a winner all the way. The film has been rereleased as Walk Me to the Distance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Cassidy, Frances Sternhagen, (more)
- 1989
Arriving too late on a rescue mission, the crew finds that the entire Federation colony of Rana IV has been wiped out, save for an elderly couple, Kevin and Rishon Uxbridge (John Anderson, Anne Haney) living in a tiny patch of green. At first willing to accept the Uxbridge's survival as a miracle, Captain Picard soon begins to suspect that there's more to this than meets the eye. Meanwhile, Deanna Troi, who likewise finds something amiss, is suddenly seized with a mysterious and painful illness. Written by Michael Wagner, "Survivors" was originally aired October 14, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1989
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Full Exposure: The Sex Tapes Scandal was advertised as being inspired by "today's headlines", though most of those headlines were generated by TV tabloid shows. In her first TV movie, dethroned Miss America Vanessa Williams plays a hooker who specializes in S & M. She videotapes her kinky sexual liaisons, then blackmails the participants. When a mystery killer begins bumping off some of Williams' female compatriots, assistant D.A. Lisa Hartman (we missed that election) is called in on the case. Full Exposure: The Sex Tapes Scandal was mercifully buried in the ratings by its powerhouse competition: the premiere telecast of Lonesome Dove. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1989
John Anderson plays a scientist who seeks to regenerate the dead in this uneven horror comedy. He develops a computer that uses the photographs of the dead in hopes of turning them back into living human beings. He is bothered by an Elvis Presley fan who wants the professor to bring the King of Rock & Roll back from the big Graceland in the sky. The feature is hampered with technical problems in editing and voice synchronization. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Anderson, Marek Cieszewski, (more)
Writer/director John Sayles' dramatization of the most infamous episode in professional sports -- the fix of the 1919 World Series -- is considered by many to be among his best films and arguably the best baseball movie ever made. This adaptation of Eliot Asinof's definitive study of the scandal shows how athletes of another era were a different breed from the well-paid stars of later years. The Chicago White Sox owner, Charlie Comiskey (Clifton James), is portrayed as a skinflint with little inclination to reward his team for their spectacular season. When a gambling syndicate led by Arnold Rothstein (Michael Lerner) gets wind of the players' discontent, it offers a select group of stars -- including pitcher Eddie Cicotte (Sayles regular David Strathairn), infielder Buck Weaver (John Cusack), and outfielder "Shoeless" Joe Jackson (D. B. Sweeney) -- more money to play badly than they would have earned to try to win the Series against the Cincinnati Reds. Sayles cast the story with actors who look and perform like real jocks, and added a colorful supporting cast that includes Studs Terkel as reporter Hugh Fullerton and Sayles himself as Ring Lardner. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Cusack, Clifton James, (more)
- 1988
A kiln explosion nearly wipes out an art class attended by Dee Dee McCall (Stepfanie Kramer). Though at first it looks like an accident, McCall receives a tape suggesting that the explosion was deliberately triggered. The subsequent murder of an EPA inspector who had been investigating reports of toxic waste dumping leads McCall and Hunter (Fred Dryer) to conclude that the intended victim of the explosion was elderly art student Emily Hill (Louise Latham)--who happens to be romantically linked with a powerful business mogul. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1988
A young woman is being taught the subtle craft of murder by a crazed psychotic, and a local sheriff begins to suspect the truth. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- 1987
Made for television, American Harvest is set in the heartland of Kansas. Two proud, stubborn families have not spoken to one another because of an incident in the distant past. Wayne Rogers, the patriarch of one of the families, is in danger of losing his wheat farm. He knows that his land will be saved if he patches things up with rival farmer Earl Holliman, but such a reconciliation is out of the question--at least, until the film's final twenty minutes. American Harvest premiered on January 16, 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A trio of female firefighters uncover an arson conspiracy in this insipid sex comedy. Gianna Rains, Martha Peterson, and Renee Raiford expose political candidate Warren Frump (Henry David Keller) as the mastermind behind the scheme to make the burned-out neighborhood the sight of a condominium development. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gianna Rains, Martha Peterson, (more)
- 1986
- R
In this James Bond parody, the evil villain is also an evil villainess, Velvet Von Ragner (Gene Simmons), an androgynous, leather-bound cross-dressing criminal genius out to finish off all of L.A. by contaminating the city's water supply. Standing in the way of his/her success is undercover agent Drew Stargrove (George Lazenby), but he does not stand for long. Once he has been slain, his son Lance (John Stamos) takes up the fight assisted by Danja Deering (Vanity) who has the requisite sex appeal for her job. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Stamos, Vanity, (more)
- 1986
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
This martial arts film features Tonny Tulleners (a karate champion) as a U.S. government agent who goes after international terrorists in some picturesque locations: Amsterdam, Los Angeles, and Hawaii. His terrorist-fighting takes on another complexion when he is required to protect a terrorist who is going to testify against his former cohorts. Soon the glamorous locations are transformed into the interiors of bedrooms and hospital wards as the body count rises. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tonny Tulleners, Don Murray, (more)
- 1986
"I," in this instance, stands for "Indestructible." Thus, star Scott Bakula is actually the Indestructible Man. Formerly a cab driver, Bakula becomes invulnerable when when exposed to a mysterious gas, then decides to utilize his "gift" for the Good of Mankind. At the urging of his hero-worshipping son (Joey Cramer), Bakula becomes a secret agent, working as a team with beautiful spy Ellen Bry. This TV pilot, which aired on The Disney Sunday Movie on April 6, 1986, finds I-Man and lovely his aide trying to wrest a stolen laser gun away from an addled villain (John Anderson). I-Man was directed by TV-movie stalwart Corey Allen, who thirty years earlier had played the unfortunate teenager who lost the "chicken run" to James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause (1955). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
Americans and other Westerners who are aware of discrimination against Asians in their own society will find it sad and ironic that in Thailand, Amerasian children (children of mixed American and Asian parentage) must also face brutal discrimination. Daughters of mixed parentage whose G.I. fathers long ago returned to the United States often end up as prostitutes or strippers. Thousands of such children do the best they can, trying to survive as social outcasts. On the other hand, many Americans who were stationed in Thailand chose to stay and live the rest of their lives there. Those interviewed here express their love of the Thailand and its people, and discuss their discontent with the way the Vietnam war was reported in the media. Oddly, the Americans are not asked about their children, or whether the stigma of mixed racial blood only effects kids abandoned by their fathers. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Anderson
Having crashed to Earth, an extraterrestrial space traveller must assume a human identity lest he be captured by the authorities. The alien (Jeff Bridges) chooses the likeness of the recently deceased husband of Jenny Hayden (Karen Allen). At first dumbstruck, Jenny becomes both hostile toward and frightened of her guest. He gradually wins her confidence, learning a few vital English-language phrases so that he can explain his presence. The "starman" has come to Earth with a message of peace, in response to the similar message sent out on Voyager One. He asks for Jenny's help in transporting him to the Nevada desert, where his fellow aliens are to pick him up and take him to his home planet. Soon he and Jenny form a united front against a mean-spirited National Security Council agent (Richard Jaeckel), who intends to seize the starman and turn him over for scientific scrutiny (and possible extermination). While en route to Nevada, Jenny grows closer to the gentle-natured Starman, eventually making love with him. By the time he is poised to leave, she is carrying his child, leaving the field wide open for a sequel--which was never produced, though a weekly TV version surfaced in 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Bridges, Karen Allen, (more)
In this Spaghetti-western-like martial arts actioner, Texas Ranger J. J. McQuade (Chuck Norris) is up against the weapons-dealer Rawley Wilkes (David Carradine) after Wilkes kidnaps McQuade's partner and daughter and takes them to Mexico. McQuade's personal vendetta is encouraged by the government because Wilkes is hijacking U.S. arms shipments for his illicit weapons deals and the government wants him stopped. After the kidnapping incident, McQuade is assigned Kayo (Robert Beltran) a rookie patrolman, to accompany him in his fight, and he is also joined by FBI-agent Jackson (Leon Isaac Kennedy). Jackson and McQuade track down Wilkes' secret airstrip -- and that is when the fireworks begin. Every weapon known to human technology is brought into the picture as McQuade, also armed with his lethal hands and feet, goes ballistic. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chuck Norris, David Carradine, (more)
- 1983
Stern military strategist General Collins (John Anderson) has no qualms about "playing" with the lives of the men under him. Even when Collins' own son turns up as a patient at the 4077th, Collins is unrepentant. Elsewhere, Margaret (Loretta Swit) anxiously awaits a visit from her idol, Dr. Steven Chester (James Karen)--only to come down with a sudden attack of laryngitis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
