Mark Carliner Movies
Based upon the critically acclaimed Lars von Trier miniseries Riget (The Kingdom), this American remake from fright master Stephen King unfolds over 15 hours and centers on the creepy goings-on at a hospital known as The Kingdom. Andrew McCarthy leads the cast as Dr. Hook, one of the physicians at the hospital which was built atop the scene of a fire that killed several children more than a century ago. As the inhabitants of the hospital are confronted with disturbing and unexplained phenomena that suggest the hospital is haunted, the doctors find themselves increasingly unable to come up with logical scientific explanations. Bruce Davison and Diane Ladd also star. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andrew McCarthy, Diane Ladd, (more)
Based on the novel by Ridley Pearson, The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer is a prequel to the goose-pimply 2002 TV miniseries Stephen King's Rose Red. In its efforts to "explain" the supernatural events in the earlier project, this made-for-TV chiller is set at the turn of the century, when the stately, sinister Rose Red mansion is constructed by powerful Seattle oil magnate John Rimbauer (Steven Brand) as a wedding present for his timid, submissive young bride, Ellen (Lisa Brenner). At first impressed by her husband's extravagance, Ellen eventually comes to hate and fear John, especially when learning a few unsavory facts about his past. Meanwhile, the mansion seems to be festooned with ghosts, possibly those of the many people close to John Rimbauer who have mysteriously vanished. Can the eerie moanings and manifestations be interpreted as a warning to Ellen that she, too, may some day disappear without a trace? This is the sort of film in which, after someone exclaims "I'll be damned!," someone else replies, "You already are." The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer originally aired May 12, 2003, on ABC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lisa Brenner, Steven Brand, (more)
Horror specialist Stephen King claimed that his TV miniseries Rose Red was inspired by a number of sources, ranging from Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House (twice filmed as The Haunting) to Ripley's Believe It or Not to Moby Dick. Residents of San Jose, CA, however, quickly realized that King's story owed a great deal to their own city's legendary "haunted" mansion, Winchester House. Rose Red was set in motion when psych professor Joyce Reardon (Nancy Travis), defying her tongue-clucking boss Professor Miller (David Dukes, who died during production), set about to investigate reports of paranormal phenomena in Rose Red, a crumbling and foreboding Seattle mansion. According to legend -- and a great deal of physical evidence -- Rose Red was a "living" entity in its own right, adding extras wings to its structure and rearranging its furniture whenever it felt like it. There has also been a number of mysterious deaths at the mansion, which Joyce believed were the handiwork of a ghost: Ellen Rimbauer, the insane wife of Rose Red's architect. Inviting a quintet of psychics (social misfits all, of course) to spend a weekend at the mansion, Joyce was determined to solve the mystery of Rose Red -- and, she hoped, to conjure up Ellen's hostile spirit. Thereafter, the miniseries adhered to the proven formula, with characters foolishly wandering off alone to meet their individual demises, and with such time-tested lines as "Superstitious nonsense!," "Honey -- are you in there?" and "Oh, no! AIYEEEE!" wafting through the mansion's drafty corridor. The outcome of the story -- and the fate of the survivors -- seemed to rest in the hands of Annie Wheaton (Kimberly J. Brown), an autistic teenager with astonishing telepathic skills. Premiering January 27, 2002, the three-part Rose Red posted ABC's best ratings in months, despite an almost universal drubbing by the critics. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nancy Travis, Matt Keeslar, (more)
- 1990
An explosion in a nuclear warhead silo located near a tiny Texas town causes all kinds of terror in this taut suspensor. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
A passion for blues music is evident in this drama based on a contest-winning script by former blues musician John Fusco -- and featuring one of the decade's best-received motion picture soundtracks, written and performed by Ry Cooder. Eugene Martone Ralph Macchio is a classically trained guitarist who desperately wants to locate a long-lost blues song. At a Harlem nursing home, Eugene finds Willie Brown (Joe Seneca), a legendary blues man who may be able to help him. Eugene becomes part of the master guitarist's scheme to reclaim his soul from the Devil, which he sold in exchange for musical greatness at a rural crossroads many decades before. Making their way across the Mississippi Delta, the duo meets Frances (Jami Gertz), a runaway who becomes a love interest for Eugene. After launching his career with the sale of his script for Crossroads (1986), which is loosely based on the mythical character of Faust and a fable involving real-life blues legend Robert Johnson (played in the film by Tim Russ), Fusco went on to write the highly successful Young Guns (1988). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Macchio, Joe Seneca, (more)
Charles Purpura scribed this semi-autobiographical tale about his experiences in a Brooklyn Catholic school of 1965. The film focuses on several Catholic school boys who get into ever increasing amounts of trouble with the presiding priests of the Catholic school, St. Basil's. Andrew McCarthy plays Michael Dunn, a newly arrived student who latches onto the class egghead Caesar (Malcolm Danare), who is constantly picked on by the class bully Rooney (Kevin Dillon). Rooney intimidates Michael and Caesar to become his erstwhile chums and, along with a few other quiet students, they receive corporal punishment for minor infractions, disrupting communion and confession and, ultimately, their antics inspire changes in the strict school hierarchy. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald Sutherland, John Heard, (more)
- 1979
News of a critic's arrival causes hijinx to ensue at a hotel resort in this made-for-TV comedy. Bill Daily stars as Walter Grainger, a California resort-hotel manager whose business is thrown into turmoil at the news of a hotel-guide writer's arrival. As he and his staff try to impress the writer, along with their regular guests, they get involved in a series of mishaps, including mistaking an ordinary guest for the critic. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
- 1977
Twenty-year-old LeVar Burton followed up his spectacular television debut in Roots with the made-for-TV film Billy: Portrait of a Street Kid. As can be gathered by the title, Billy (Burton) is a ghetto youth with little chance for a bright future. He gets his chance to escape his dead-end existence when he's hired as an assistant to veterinarian Ossie Davis. Roxie Roker of The Jeffersons fame (and the mother of pop singer Lenny Kravitz) co-stars as Billy's worn-out mom. Based on a novel by Robert C. S. Downs, Billy Portrait of a Street Kid first aired September 12, 1977. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
There's little chance that the made-for-TV Guess Who's Sleeping in My Bed? will ever be confused with either Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? (67) or Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (63). The plot: Dean Jones divorces Barbara Eden, but finds that he can't live in the style to which he's accustomed without his ex-wife's income. Circumventing Eden, Jones ingratiates himself with his children and convinces them to allow him to move back in. Eden, meanwhile, has a new "significant other" in the form of Kenneth Mars, but since Mars has never gotten the girl in any previous film, it's no trick to guess the outcome of this story. Guess Who's Sleeping in My Bed? is elevated by the direction of the always inventive Theodore J. Flicker, who once upon a time gave us that imperishable movie satire The President's Analyst (68). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
A dirty joke that became a "clean" TV movie, Coffee, Tea or Me stars Karen Valentine, cast to type as a perky stewardess. In a chaste variation of The Captain's Paradise, Valentine finds herself married to two different men in two different countries. Since the men are played by John Davidson and Michael Anderson Jr., each in his own way as cute as Valentine, the girl's dilemma is profound. Until its cop-out ending, Coffee Tea or Me glides through its risque situations with class and finesse. The film was directed by Norman Panama, who earlier had been responsible (in collaboration with Melvin Frank) for such comedies as Danny Kaye's The Court Jester (56) and the film version of the Broadway musical Li'l Abner (59). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Karen Valentine, John Davidson, (more)
- 1972
Andy Griffith plays a philandering apartment house manager who picks up a pretty young girl (Suzanne Hildur) in a bar. He takes her home, whereupon the girl's male cronies show up armed with guns. Griffith and his wife Ida Lupino are held hostage by the crooks, led by Michael Brandon, who plan to use the apartment as headquarters while they pull off a big robbery. Griffith and Lupino pull off the daunting task of conveying emotion while spending half the film bound and gagged. Director Paul Wendkos stages the action essentially from the victim's point of view; we see only what they see, and are kept guessing as to the full details of the crime and the ultimate fate of the hostages. Based on a novel by Fielden Farrington, Strangers in 7A was first telecast as an ABC Movie of the Week. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
A crisis ensues when Air Force One crashes while on a flight out west, apparently killing all those aboard, including President Jeremy Haines (Tod Andrews). The United States is in the midst of a confrontation with China that could lead to a nuclear war between the two countries, and the government is now in the hands of Vice President Kermit Madigan (Buddy Ebsen), a not too intelligent or sophisticated man, who was deliberately kept out of the loop. His confidence on foreign policy issues virtually nil, Madigan seeks to carry out Haines's intended policy in confronting the Chinese but gets two completely different accounts of what that policy was to be. Secretary of State Freeman Sharkey (Raymond Massey), a career diplomat, claims that Haines was pursuing firm but peaceful containment of the problem, while National Security advisor George Oldenburg (Rip Torn) says that Haines was ready to go eyeball-to-eyeball with the Chinese and go to war if necessary -- and Oldenburg quickly picks up on how to gain Madigan's confidence. As if Madigan doesn't have enough problems, the stunned Washington community cannot help but openly doubt his competence, while his ambitious wife (Mercedes McCambridge) sees this unfolding tragedy as a way for herself and her husband to finally get some respect and settle a few scores with those who belittled the Second Couple. Even more troubling, as the search teams comb the wreckage, another mystery ensues -- they can't seem to find the president's body. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- 1971
Shelly Winters and John Randolph star in Death of Innocence as distraught small-town parents who learn that their estranged daughter is on trial for murder. They journey to New York City and attend the girl's trial, where the mother learns several details of her daughter's recent life that she'd rather not know. Filmed at the height of the "generation gap" era, Death of Innocence was based on a novel by Zelda Popkin. One of the better TV movies of 1971, the film was first telecast opposite a George Plimpton "wish fulfillment" special, thereby losing out on the large audience it deserved. Casting note: Kim Stanley was to have played the principal juror, but fell ill before shooting. She was replaced by Ann Sothern--the mother of Tisha Sterling, who plays the defendant in the case! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1969
This comedy was banned in Mexico and plagued by vandalism and threats of violence during film production in San Antonio, Texas. General De Santos (Peter Ustinov) organizes a ragtag group of Mexican nationals for the purpose of retaking the Alamo. Using the Washington's Birthday Parade in Laredo as a guise to enter the United States, the group continues towards San Antonio ignored and unchallenged. With the help of Sergeant Valdez (John Astin), the unlikely invaders manage to raise the Mexican flag over the old mission for 24 hours. General Billy Joe Hallson (Jonathan Winters) is a colorful redneck called on to lead the National Guard to the site of the occupied landmark. Keenan Wynn, Alice Ghostley, Pamela Tiffin and Harry Morgan also star in this film farce. During filming, one irate Texan was arrested after waving a rifle in protest over the raising of the Mexican flag over the Alamo, long a symbol of Texas' pride and history. Electric cables were cut during the filming of this production, as some Texans could not even tolerate the fictional premise of the plot. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Ustinov, Pamela Tiffin, (more)
