Heywood Gould Movies

An angry cop literally kidnaps a court proceeding in a desperate bid for justice in this made-for-cable drama. Eddie Rios (John Seda) stands accused of the murder of two police officers, but he's found not guilty due to a lack of proper evidence. Steve Donohue (Bill Pullman), the detective who brought Rios in, is outraged by this decision, and in a burst of anger he pulls his gun and holds the defendant, the judge, and the jury hostage, demanding they immediately retry Rios, with Donohue presenting evidence he was forbidden to show the jury due to legal technicalities. Mistrial also stars Robert Loggia, Blair Underwood, and Roma Maffia. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

An honest man struggles to do the right thing, even if it means breaking the law, in this drama. Artie Lewis (Michael Keaton) is a scrupulously ethical cop who believes in his work, loves his wife Rita (Rene Russo), and stands by his partner Stevie Diroma (Anthony LaPaglia). Stevie is a single parent, and when he's shot and killed on duty, his three daughters (Grace Johnston, Rhea Silver-Smith, and Blair Swanson) are left with nowhere to go. Artie and Rita want to adopt Stevie's girls, but Child Welfare Services decides that their apartment is too small for three children. Artie needs to buy a house, which would require a $25,000 down payment that he doesn't have. Desperate, Artie grabs his gun and robs Beniamino (Tony Plana), a particularly scummy drug dealer who was peripherally involved in Stevie's death. Artie uses most of the take to buy the house, and he gives the rest to Father Wills (Vondie Curtis-Hall), who runs a local orphanage. However, what Artie doesn't know is that Beniamino's girlfriend Grace (Rachel Ticotin) is actually an undercover cop who won't stand by as Artie plays Robin Hood. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Tom Cruise juggles Martini shakers and ice cubes as the materialistic Brian Flanagan, a bartender who drops out of school to search for the perfect "rich chick" who will bankroll him into luxury. Brian meets up with bar veteran Doug Couglin (Bryan Brown) and they put together a dance-duo bar-tending act, taking five minutes to a mix a drink as they dance and toss gin bottles behind the bar to cutting-edge rock music circa 1988. The patrons, instead of demanding the booze, are dazzled by their antics and cheer them on. As a result, the bartenders become wildly popular -- in particular, Brian, who finds the bar babes falling all over each other to hop into the sack with him. As a result of their bar-tending success, they get hired to tend bar at a swanky disco, but there Brian and Doug have a falling out, and Brian takes off for Jamaica. There he meets vacationing New York City waitress Jordan Mooney (Elisabeth Shue) and the two fall in love. But then Brian meets rich New York fashion executive Bonnie (Lisa Banes) who wants to take Brian back to Manhattan with her to become her drink-mixing stud. When Jordan sees this, the love affair is put on hold. But not for long, as pangs of consciousness begin to filter through Brian's drunken haze. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Paul Newman stars as an essentially decent cop patrolling that decimated, drug-and-gang-ridden borough known on the city maps as the Bronx, but known to its denizens as "Fort Apache". While Newman tries to hold on to his basic humanity and to treat even the sorriest of the people on his beat with dignity, he can't do much to convince his superiors that blind brutality is not the answer to social blight. When he witnesses fellow-cop Danny Aiello cold-bloodedly murdering a crime suspect, Newman is advised to sweep the whole incident under the rug. He refuses to do so, and as a result becomes "persona non grata" to his former friends on the force. Ed Asner co-stars as the beleaguered captain who has given up trying to treat his job as anything but a necessary evil, while Rachel Ticotin is Newman's love interest. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

William Devane plays a rare sympathetic role in Rolling Thunder, though his behavior is just as cold-blooded and sharkish as in any of his villainous assignments. Devane is cast as Maj. Charles Rane, a recently released Vietnam POW who is given a hero's welcome in his Texas hometown. Things sour pretty quickly, however: Rane's wife has lost all love for him, his son doesn't recognize him, and there are those in town who consider him a "loser" or "baby-killer." All he really has to show for his ordeal in Nam is a cache of silver coins bestowed on him by the more sympathetic townsfolk. A scumbag gang of thieves decides to relieve Rane of his money; they kill his family, then torture and disfigure Rane to ascertain the whereabouts of the coins. Now living only for vengeance, the taciturn Rane heads to Mexico to exact his own brand of justice on the fleeing crooks. Tommy Lee Jones co-stars as Rane's best friend, Johnny Vohden, who unquestioningly agrees to help Rane in his mission of revenge. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide