Hilary Henkin Movies

In a 29-day shoot, Barry Levinson filmed this $15 million political and media satire, adapted by Hilary Henkin and David Mamet from Larry Beinhart's novel, American Hero. Two weeks prior to re-election, the President (Michael Belson) is accused of cornering an underage girl in the Oval Office. To keep the media from learning of this, Presidential adviser Winifred Ames (Anne Heche) brings in political consultant and spin doctor Conrad Brean (Robert De Niro), a specialist in such salvage operations. Brean suggests fabricating denials of non-existent emergencies -- such as denials about the B-3 bomber. The denial, of course, is true, since no B-3 bomber exists. Brean visits the mansion of Hollywood producer Stanley Motss (Dustin Hoffman) and gives him the assignment to create a patriotic campaign centered around a war in Albania. Motss assembles a creative team -- Liz Butsky (Andrea Martin), the trend-setter Fad King (Denis Leary), and songwriter Johnny Green (Willie Nelson). Treated like an ad campaign, the songs and symbols are transmitted directly from a Hollywood soundstage to CNN. The star of their campaign is a "rescued" pilot -- in reality, a psychotic military prisoner (Woody Harrelson), who's a ticking time bomb. The flag-waving song, "The American Dream" was written for the film by Tom Bahler (who co-wrote "We Are the World"). Beinhart's original novel involved a real President (Bush), a real war (the Gulf War), and the premise that George Bush and Saddam Hussein staged it. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Adam Horovitz, of Beastie Boys fame, plays a troublesome teen who is shipped off by his wealthy parents to an institute for "problem" youths. This is the sort of place where any sign of rebellion is dealt with in draconian fashion. The strapped-down Horovitz tells his life story to psychiatrist Donald Sutherland. In flashback, we see a fairly docile young Horovitz, whose chance involvement in a rumble instigated by gang leader Don Bloomfield leads to an arrest. Appearing in court, Horovitz is railroaded into the institute by his father, more as a means of getting even with his divorced wife than out of any concern for his son. Sutherland tries to help, but Horovitz betrays the doctor's trust once too often. Only by extricating himself from the influence of Bloomfield does Horovitz have any chance for redemption--and only by undergoing a domestic reversal of his own is Sutherland truly able to aid the boy. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Based on the popular novel by V. C. Andrews, Flowers in the Attic centers on such chancy topics as incest and misguided religiosity. When their father is killed, teenagers Cathy (Kristy Swanson) and Chris (Jeb Stuart Adams), together with their preteen siblings Cory (Ben Ganger) and Carrie (Lindsay Parker), are put in the care of their religious-zealot grandmother (Louise Fletcher). Grandma has never approved of the wanton lifestyle of the kids' mother Corinne (Victoria Tennant), and she has no intention of extending her love to the children. Even worse, Corinne is anxious to win back the love of her estranged father, who, knowing that Corinne and her late husband were cousins and thus incestuously linked, would never approve of any children from this union. Thus, the four children are locked in their grandmother's attic, far from the view of their unforgiving grandfather. How the kids cope with their imprisonment is the heart of the film. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this misfired drama on the inflammable topic of spousal abuse, Carol Sabella's (Leslie Denniston) husband Tony (James Eckhouse) becomes increasingly more violent, yet nothing is done to stop his behavior. At first there is a "spanking" when Carol "misbehaves" -- that is weird enough, and in a sexploitation film something that would introduce a few whips and leather. In this yuppie setting, the husband's abuse gets steadily worse, but Carol keeps hanging in there -- even when she looks death in the face -- until finally she finds a safe house. For some viewers, the story may hew much too close to everyone's stereotype of the battered woman, rather than providing some insight into the "whys" of her responses -- seemingly inane here. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi