Matt Clark Movies

Monica (Roma Downey) arrives in a small Montana town where dwells an elderly widow named Annie Doyle (Piper Laurie). 35 years ago, Annie's husband Tommy, regarded by the locals as a paragon of virtue and decency, died under mysterious circumstances. This tragic event resulted in friction between Annie and her snoopy neighbors Emily (Bonnie Bartlett), Russell (Sterling Brimley) and Markus (Matt Clark), who in the intervening years succeeded in convincing the entire community that Annie was somehow responsible for her husband's death. With this in mind, Monica must somehow come to Annie's aid--but she isn't sure whether her mission is to reconcile the widow's life before she goes blind, or to fulfill the old lady's lifelong dream of traveling to Europe. Or...is Monica slated to reveal to one and all that the late Tommy Doyle, and NOT Annie, is the true villain of the piece? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The long-awaited sequel to the 1975 made-for-TV cult-horror classic, Trilogy of Terror 2 features the original's knife-wielding Zuni fetish doll back in action, still diminutive and thirsty for human blood. The first story of the trilogy, "Graveyard Rats," sees a woman doing time amidst flesh-eating vermin after killing her rich husband. "Bobby" looks at the consequences faced by a woman who strikes a deal with Satan to bring her drowned son back to life. "He Who Kills" stars everyone's favorite homicidal fetish doll and is based upon Richard Matheson's short story "Prey." ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide

In the tradition of such woman-in-jeopardy nail-biters as Extremities and Sleeping With the Enemy comes the ABC made-for-television pic Dead Before Dawn, starring small-screen vets Cheryl Ladd (Charlie's Angels) and Jameson Parker (Simon & Simon). Though to outsiders' eyes all is well in the life of suburban housewife Linda (Ladd), behind closed doors and shutters her socially impeccable husband, Jeff (Parker), turns into a satanic monster, beating the living hell out of his wife and children. In a desperate move, Linda files for divorce, but the vengeance-starved Jeff -- panic-stricken that Linda's in-court testimonies will decimate his career -- will stop at nothing to shut her up...even homicide. Kim Coates and Hope Lange (Death Wish) co-star. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

The final installment in the Back to the Future trilogy picks up where the second film left off, but it casts off the dizzying time travel of the first two films for mostly routine comedy set in the Old West. Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) receives a 70-year-old letter from his inventor friend, Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd), who tells Marty that he has retreated a century in time to live out a relatively quiet life in the Old West. Doc Brown reveals that he hid his DeLorean car/time machine in an abandoned mine outside town, and when Marty does some research and discovers that the Doc died shortly after writing the letter, he decides to find the car, travel back in time, and warn the Doc about his demise. Meanwhile, the Doc, who has fallen in love with a local woman (Mary Steenburgen), realizes he can't hide in the past from the problems he has caused to the time flow in the previous two adventures. He reluctantly decides to return to the present with Marty, but first, they have to find a way to get the DeLorean up to time-travel velocity with a broken fuel line and no gasoline. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

Victoria Principal plays the sightless but extremely independent wife of Stephen Macht, who is murdered by intruders in her presence (a harrowing sequence, even within TV standards). Though she could see nothing, Principal is counting on her sensory and olfactory reminiscences, as well as her own instincts, to help the police track down the murderer. Naturally, this results in the killer stalking the "helpless" Principal, who proves to be nothing of the sort. Victoria Principal not only starred in Blind Witness (working like a demon to make her blindness utterly convincing), but also functioned as the film's co-executive producer. This made-for-TV movie debuted on November 26, 1989, heralded by the requisite TV Guide cover story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This made-for-TV movie is the second follow-up to the astonishingly successful Kenny Rogers as the Gambler (1980). Rogers returns as Old West gambler Brady Hawkes, while Bruce Boxleitner, Rogers' co-star in 1983's The Gambler: The Adventure Continues, is also back as Hawkes' sidekick Billy Montana. Others in the cast include Linda Gray as adventuress Mary Collins, Jeffrey Jones as Buffalo Bill Cody and George American Horse as Sitting Bull. This time around, Brady and Billy try to protect the Sioux Nation from corrupt, treaty-breaking cavalry officers who've been stealing cattle and shifting the blame to the Indians. The Gambler III: The Legend Continues debuted November 22, 1987, an occasion celebrated by a TV Guide cover story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Filmed in Canada for American television, Love Mary is based on the true story of Dr. Mary Groda Lewis. When we first meet Mary, she's neither a Lewis nor a doctor, but instead a troubled young girl played by Kristy McNichol. Diagnosed as retarded and incorrigible, Mary is shunted off to a reform school. Here, counselor Rachel Ticotin discovers that Mary's handicap is not retardation but dyslexia. After years of intense and compassionate therapy, Mary is allowed to re-enter the outside world--where two illegitimate pregnancies and a debilitating stroke do not dissuade the girl from her goal of becoming a doctor. Refreshingly, there is no individual human villain in Love Mary; her parents (Piper Laurie and Matt Clark) are supportive throughout the film, while the other authority figures are shown to be subservient to a faulty, pigeonholing "system." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Despite mixed reviews and a disastrous initial release that dumped the film into theaters for a week in the midst of the 1984 Summer Olympics, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eight Dimension went on to become one of the major cult films of the 1980s, developing a rabid following after its release on videotape. Drifting between satire and improbable sci-fi adventure, the film stars Peter Weller as Buckaroo Banzai, the son of an American mother and Japanese father who is a combination physicist, neurosurgeon, martial arts master, secret agent, and rock star who travels with his band of assistants/backing musicians, The Hong Kong Cavaliers. As the story opens, Buckaroo is driving his car through a mountain to test his new invention, the Oscillation Overthruster. However, a race of boorish aliens called the Red Lectroids have been waiting for such an item to become a reality, as they need it to return to the distant planet they call home. One of Buckaroo's arch-enemies, Dr. Emilio Lizardo (John Lithgow), who has been possessed by the Red Lectroids, attempted to created a similar device decades before; now escaped from an insane asylum, he is back at work with the Lectroids on a plan to control the world. Throw in Rastafarian aliens, unscheduled travel between dimensions, and the odd inexplicable watermelon, and you get a film that defies conventional synopsis. With its fast pace, quotable dialogue ("No matter where you go, there you are"), and barrage of gags (subtle and otherwise), you won't be bored even when you're not sure what's going on. The supporting cast includes Jeff Goldblum as New Jersey, a Cavalier with a snappy cowboy outfit, and Ellen Barkin as Penny Priddy, the twin sister of Buckaroo's late wife. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Real-life father and son Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez star in the made-for-TV In the Custody of Strangers. Blue-collar Sheen and his wife Jane Alexander attempt to instill discipline in their three growing children. But their 16-year-old son Estevez chafes at their authoritative attitudes, and runs seriously afoul of the law. Picked up on a drunk-driving charge, Estevez is charged with assault and battery when he fights off the sexual advances of his cellmate. His release continually delayed by judicial red tape, Estevez holds his parents, who are virtually helpless within the strictures of the Law, responsible for the mess he's in. But the real villain of the piece is not a person but an entity: The juvenile justice system, which is overworked, understaffed and swamped with dead-end bureaucracy. Scripted by Jennifer Miller, In the Custody of Strangers debuted on May 26, 1982. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In desperate need of quick cash, two men knowingly sell mutton infested with anthrax to the citizens of Walnut Grove. When most of the community falls ill, Charles (Michael Landon) and Jonathan (Merlin Olsen) head to Springfield for medical supplies. En route, they are held up by a man whose behavior suggests insanity -- but will they turn the man in or honor the pitiful pleas of his wife to let him go? Meanwhile, back in Walnut Grove, an ailing Laura (Melissa Gilbert) is struck blind -- perhaps permanently. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A new supply of expensive cornmeal, infested with rats, sparks a typhus outbreak in the town of Walnut Grove. Unaware of the source of the scourge, the townsfolk converge at the church, which has been converted into an emergency hospital. By the time Mr. Edwards (Victor French) reveals that his supply of corn meal is swarming with rats, it may be too late for Charles (Michael Landon) and Dr. Baker (Kevin Hagen) to stem the plague. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

No, nobody steals a skating rink in The Great Ice Rip-Off. The "ice" referred to in the title of this TV movie is a cache of diamonds, stolen by aging thief Gig Young and his entourage. Most of the story transpires during a bus ride from Seattle to San Diego, during which Young's various gang members come aboard with their share of the stolen booty. Lee J. Cobb plays one of the bus passengers, who happens to be an ex-cop with a suspicious nature. The climactic chase sequence in The Great Ice Rip-Off is handled con brio by director Dan Curtis--far removed from his earlier work on Dark Shadows. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide