Jackie Burroughs Movies

The early 20th century Canadian village of Avonlea is a busy place indeed during season three of the popular series Road to Avonlea (aka Tales From Avonlea). The first of the season's 13 episodes is "Ties That Bind," in which the domineering but lovable Hetty King (Jackie Burroughs) oversees the marriage of her younger sister Olivia (Mag Ruffman) and erstwhile inventor Jasper Dale (R.H. Thompson) -- however, her well-meaning interference not only puts a strain on the couple's relationship but also causes dissension in the marriage of her brother Alec (Cedric Smith) and his wife, Janet (Lally Cadeau). Elsewhere, Alec and Janet's insecure son, Felix (Zachary Bennett), has trouble saying goodbye to his beloved horse Blackie; when schoolteacher Hetty resigns, her replacement, Mr. Dimple (Christopher Lloyd), wins over his pupils with his delightfully unorthodox teaching methods -- until he is exposed as a fraud; and in the series' only two-parter, "And When She Was Bad," Hetty's headstrong niece Sara (Sarah Polley) tries to duck out of her family duties by trading places with a lookalike street waif named Jo Pitts (also Sarah Polley) -- leading to a not-so-fine mess when Jo turns out to be an accomplished thief, and Sara and her friend Gus (Michael Mahonen) are kidnapped. Also, Janet drives her husband and kids to distraction when she embraces the Woman's Suffrage movement; Christopher Reeve appears as the hero in a gothic novel in which Sara is hopelessly engrossed in the delightful episode "Dark and Stormy Night"; Ned Beatty plays traveling shoe salesman Wally Higgins, who jauntily begins a-courting the highly resistant Hetty; and in another romantic development, low-born Gus decides to campaign for the heart and hand of Alec and Janet's haughty daughter Felicity (Gema Zamprogna). The season ends on a disturbing note, as the sudden death of Avonlea's unofficial matriarch, Marilla Cuthbert (Colleen Dewhurst), leaves a multitude of fates hanging tenuously in the balance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season one of the phenomenally popular Canadian series Road to Avonlea (aka Tales From Avonlea) begins in the early 20th century, as Sara Stanley (Sarah Polley), the pampered and privileged daughter of a wealthy Montreal merchant, is sent to the Prince Edward Island town of Avonlea to avoid public scrutiny while her dad, Blair Stanley, suffers through an embezzlement scandal. Sara is to live with her late mother's relatives, the King family, with whom Blair has not gotten along in years. Since there is no room at the home of Sara's uncle Alec (Cedric Smith) and aunt Janet (Lally Cadeau), Sara must stay with her domineering aunt Hetty (Jackie Burroughs), Alec's sister and the town's schoolteacher. At first, Hetty and Sara clash, mainly over the subject of Sara's overprotective nanny, Louisa (Frances Hyland), whom Hetty dismisses out of hand. Gradually, Sara will win over the sharp-tongued but golden-hearted Hetty, and she will also become close friends with her cousins, Alec and Janet's children, Felicity (Gema Zamprogna), Felix (Zachary Bennett), and Cecily (Harmony Cramp). Cementing Sara's acceptance in the community is her newfound reputation as "The Story Girl," based on her skill at weaving imaginative variations of classic fairy tales. This season, Colleen Dewhurst makes her first appearance as Hetty's equal in stubbornness Marilla Cuthbert, who semi-adopts the orphaned Keith children, much to the dismay of her lifelong friend and companion Rachel (Patricia Hamilton). Zoe Caldwell is the first of the series' "special guest stars," playing the eccentric title character in the episode "Old Lady Lloyd." And Sara will perform the first of many good deeds when she saves a foundling, who will subsequently be adopted by Janet's sister Abigail (Rosemary Dunsmore). In another episode, Hetty takes in a young, trouble-prone handyman named Peter Craig (Miklos Perlus) -- one of the few actual "carryover" characters from the Lucy Maud Montgomery novels on which Road to Avonlea was based -- after the boy is pulled through a serious illness by Avonlea's resident "witch," Peg Bowen (Susan E. Cox). The 13th and final episode of the season finds Sara's dad cleared of all criminal charges, meaning that Sara can now return to Montreal...except that she doesn't want to. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Maggie (Isabelle Mejias) is an ordinary Canadian girl who has signed on to work in a Catholic mission in modern-day Africa. She is comes to the job amply supplied with enthusiasm and ignorance, and manages to consistently do things which show her lack of understanding of the local culture and which trample on local sensibilities. For instance, when she discovers that some things in her house have been stolen, she foolishly reports the theft. This results in her houseboy being arrested and sent away to prison for ten years. It is not a question of who was guilty (he might have been), but of the abitrariness of his treatment. This jars the heretofore clueless girl out of her complacency, and she belatedly makes some attempts to understand her environment. In this, she is aided by her houseboy's wife, who has, despite everything, allowed Maggie to become her friend. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this horror film sequel, a strange substance referred to as "Food of the Gods" is accidentally fed to some rats in a college science laboratory. The rats grow to an enormous size and escape to quench their thirst for blood on the local college kids. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Produced for public television, Taking Care of Terrific spotlights Joanne Vanicola as a teenaged baby sitter named Enid. Enjoying quality time in the park with her charge Joshua (Benjamin Barrett), Enid is given a strong dose of reality when some bag ladies wander into view. Enid and Joshua then and there decide to arrange one wonderful evening's worth of entertainment for the park's homeless. They are given a hand by street musician Melvin Van Peebles. The 60-minute Taking Care of Terrific first aired January 16, 1988, as part of PBS' Wonderworks children's series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this mystery-thriller based on a novel by Ruth Rendell, Eunice (Rita Tushingham, wife of director Ousama Rawi) is a housekeeper who gets a job working for an older doctor and his wife in the U.S. Eunice is super-sensitive, rather homely, and illiterate. But she makes friends with a religious fanatic (Jackie Burroughs) who is quite willing to go along with whatever she has in mind. When a murder occurs, could Eunice and her good buddy be a bit more disturbed than first assumed? ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Art Carney is virtually the only American cast member in the Canadian TV movie The Undergrads. Carney plays an elderly rest-home resident, while Chris Makepeace co-stars as his teen-aged grandson. Makepeace sneaks Carney out of the home, and together grandpa and grandson attend college. If it sounds like a Disney movie, that's because it is. The Undergrads premiered May 5, 1985, on the Disney Channel cable service. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lucy Maud Montgomery's novel Anne of Green Gables, previously filmed in 1934, was afforded a TV-movie treatment in 1985. Megan Follows stars as 13-year-old Anne Shirley, an orphan girl sent to live with a foster family on Canada's Prince Edward Island. Though she has great difficulty controlling her temper, impulsiveness and vivid imagination, Anne eventually wins over her new guardians, domineering Marilla Cuthbert (Colleen Dewhurst) and Marilla's shy brother Matthew (Richard Farnsworth). Anne's secondary adventures concern her "bosom friend" Diana (Schuyler Grant) and her supposed enemy Gilbert Blythe (Jonathan Crombie). Anne of Green Gables was offered on American television as a 3-part presentation on PBS' Wonderworks; it aired from February 17 through March 3, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Christopher Walken plays a schoolteacher, Johnny Smith, who awakens from a five-year coma. He discovers that he has acquired the ability to foretell a person's future simply by touching his or her hand. After seeing several examples, Smith's doctor (Herbert Lom) becomes convinced that Smith can not only predict the future, but also has the power to change it. This ability is given its severest test when Smith shakes the hand of ruthless political candidate Greg Stillson (Martin Sheen) -- and suddenly has a flash-forward to a nuclear holocaust. The Dead Zone is not only one of the best-ever Stephen King adaptations, but also one of the most consistently successful (and least gory) efforts of director David Cronenberg. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Set in the years before World War I, this film is about Robert, a young man growing up in a wealthy family in Toronto who is burdened by a distant, cool mother and a father dedicated to duty, both highly conservative people. When Robert loses his beloved invalid sister in a car accident he is further tormented by the family's decision to kill her pet rabbits - and quarrels with them so intensely that he enlists in the army and goes off to war. Once "over there," he discovers brothels and romance, and in a climactic scene, decides to free a barn full of horses from certain death - in spite of contrary orders from his superiors. The juxtaposition of Robert's internal conflict and the external horrors of combat may have been intended to illustrate the nature of "war," although that is difficult to surmise since the evidence in the film is not that strong. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Inspired by stories from the fantasy graphics magazine Heavy Metal, this five-part animated feature combines the talents of hundreds of artists and animators from 17 different countries. A glowing green orb called Loc-Nar that contains the sum total of all evil in the universe travels through space and time, spreading violence and discord in its wake. The stories that follow demonstrate Loc-Nar's malevolent presence throughout the universe. In New York in the year 2023, cabbie Harry Canyon picks up a fare who turns out to have Loc-Nar in her possession, and it turns out to be one trip he wishes that he had never made. In contemporary suburban America, a nerdy high school kid finds the orb in his backyard and is transported to a comic-book universe where he's a mighty warrior and famous spoiler of women. A robot created by an alien race falls in love with a secretary from Earth who was kidnapped by his masters, while she is at once fascinated and repelled by his sexual talents. And finally, Loc-Nar crashes into a mountain, and a world of fantasy and danger spontaneously appears in its wake, ruled by The Defender, a beautiful amazon who rides on a giant bird. The voice cast for Heavy Metal includes John Candy, Harold Ramis, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Richard Romanus, and John Vernon. The sound track features selections by Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult, Nazareth, Cheap Trick, Devo, and Grand Funk Railroad. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

When a stranger visits a small town, hypocrisy and corruption quickly follow. ~ All Movie Guide

This drama focuses on the intimate relationship between 2 people. ~ All Movie Guide