Earl Poole Ball Movies

A handful of up-and-coming songwriters discover that love is as difficult to navigate as the music business in this romantic comedy-drama from director Peter Bogdanovich. Miranda Presley (Samantha Mathis) is an aspiring singer/songwriter from New York City who loves country music and has decided to take her chances in Nashville, TN, where she hopes to strike it big as a musician. After arriving in the Music City after a long bus ride, Miranda makes her way to the Bluebird Café, a local watering hole with a reputation as a showcase for new talent. The bar's owner, Lucy (K.T. Oslin), takes a shine to the shy but plucky newcomer, and gives her a job as a waitress. Before long, Miranda has gotten to know a number of other Nashville transplants who are look looking to land a gig or sell a song, among them sweet and open-hearted Kyle Davidson (Dermot Mulroney), moody but talented James Wright (River Phoenix), and spunky Linda Lue Linden (Sandra Bullock). As the four friends struggle to find their place in the competitive Nashville music scene, both Kyle and James display a romantic interest in Miranda, while she finds it difficult to choose between the two. The Thing Called Love features cameos from a number of noted country performers, including Trisha Yearwood, Pam Tillis, Katy Moffatt, Jo-El Sonnier, and Jimmie Dale Gilmore. Sadly, The Thing Called Love would be best remembered as the last film actor River Phoenix completed before his death in the fall of 1993. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Rob Lowe stars in this screwball comedy as Richard Dice, the college dropout who comes back home to St. Augustine, Florida to get his act together. He is selected for jury duty and falls for the defendant Molly Gilbert (Colleen Camp), a young woman he later recognizes as his grade-school sweetheart. Richard tries to gather the evidence that will lead to her acquittal. He is not alone in his pursuit of an elusive audiotape that recorded the murder for which Molly is on trial. Jessica James plays Richard's mother, who is courted by Freddie Boneflecker (Rick Jason). Johnny Cash sings some tunes co-written with director Peter Bogdanovich. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Peter Bogdanovich wrote and directed this quirky romantic comedy that was shelved by Twentieth Century-Fox for a year, until Bogdanovich purchased the film from Fox and tried to distribute it himself, with limited success. Suave John Russo (Ben Gazzara), inept Charles Rutledge (John Ritter), and hip Arthur Brodsky (Blaine Novak) all work for a detective agency, where they are assigned to follow a trio of beautiful women -- Angela Niotes (Audrey Hepburn), Deborah Wilson (Patti Hansen) and Dolores Martin (Dorothy Stratten) -- whom their husbands think are cheating on them. Soon the three detectives all become romantically involved with the women they are trailing. In a real life scenario that overshadowed the film itself, Bogdanovich was having an affair with Dorothy Stratten during the production and they were being followed by a detective hired by her husband Paul Snider, who as a result ended up murdering his wife and himself. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide