Darren E. Burrows Movies

A woman who has drifted away from her boyfriend's affections finds love in the arms of his son in this independent drama. Laura (Dina Korzun) is an attractive woman in her early thirties who was living in her native Russia when she met Alan James (Rip Torn), a legendary music producer from Memphis. Alan brought Laura back to the United States and moved in with her, but now that the couple have a three-year-old son, Laura finds herself a stranger in the city she now calls home and is growing increasingly distant from the philandering Alan. After a testimonial tribute to Alan, Laura meets his grown son Michael (Darren E. Burrows) for the first time; Michael has a difficult and sometimes combative relationship with Alan and prefers to keep a distance from him and his life, but Michael and Laura find they quickly develop a strong rapport. Laura and Michael's friendship soon grows into an affair, but as Laura considers her unhappiness with Alan, she also feels guilty about betraying a man who has given her a life she would hardly have dared to dream of when she was younger. Forty Shades of Blue was helmed by Ira Sachs (who earned enthusiastic reviews for his 1997 debut feature The Delta), from a script he co-wrote with Michael Rohatyn. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Ami Canaan Mann, the daughter of acclaimed filmmaker Michael Mann, follows in her father's footsteps with this, her first feature as a director. Johnny (J.R. Richards) and Trick (Kieran Mulroney) grew up together in a small North Carolina community, but now that they're edging into their thirties and living in New York, their lives have taken different paths; Johnny is still trying to make his mark as a rock musician, while Trick is a low-level advertising man stuck in a failing marriage with Lily (Annabeth Gish). Johnny and Trick have a bitter argument, and Johnny responds by stealing Trick's car; Trick and Lily give chase, with their pal King (Steven Schub), who runs a neighborhood delicatessen, in tow. Eventually, Trick catches up with Johnny, only to discover that he died in an auto accident which he appears to have caused on purpose. When Trick breaks the bad news to Johnny's parents (Tess Harper and Pat Hingle), they express concern that Johnny's strange life and stranger death would make him unfit for a Christian funeral; as a last gift to his friend, Trick sets out to make that possible, though the project soon proves to be a great deal more complicated than he ever imagined. Along the way, Lily begins to develop a new respect for Trick, while King finds romance with Shelly (Laurel Holloman), who works at a supermarket. Morning features an original score co-written by actor J.R. Richards and noted songwriter and instrumentalist Lisa Germano. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In this black comedy shot in mock documentary style, Willie Dickenson (Michael Bowen) is a serial killer on the lam in Texas, and a filmmaker heads down to the Lone Star State to find out more about him and his background. However, while the filmmaker tracks down the killer's friends and acquaintances, he finds he isn't the only one interested in Dickenson; Dehoven (David Carradine) is a more than slightly unhinged FBI agent who has become obsessed, and when he turns up dead, a detective is put on the case who has to figure out if this latest murder is the work of Dickenson or a copycat. Natural Selection also stars Heather Kafka, Darren E. Burrows, and Bob Balaban. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

The tragic story of the Ruby Ridge "massacre" has been so thoroughly covered and disseminated by the mainstream press that to add anything here would be pointless. Suffice to say that the two-part TV movie The Siege at Ruby Ridge uses the facts at hand to show how the tragedy occurred, and how but for a multitude of blunders and miscommunications on both sides, it could all have been avoided. Randy Quaid stars as white separatist Randy Weaver, who for ten terrible days in 1992 barricaded himself, his family, and a number of zealous followers in a tiny refuge on a remote Idaho mountaintop, while 200 government agents surrounded Weaver's headquarters with orders to arrest Weaver's group alive -- if possible. The catalyst for the crisis is of course Randy Weaver himself, though his wife Vicki (Laura Dern) is shown to be just as rigid, stubborn, and foolhardy as her husband -- maybe even more so. Ultimately, blood is shed and lives are lost, the result of such gross ineptitude that the ramifications of the tragedy would reverberate for decades to come. Featured in the cast is Laura Dern's real-life mother, Diane Ladd, and, in the small role of the Weaver's daughter, a very young Kirsten Dunst. The Siege at Ruby Ridge first aired over CBS on May 19 and 21, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The opening episode of Northern Exposure's fifth season is even more surrealistic than usual, which is saying quite a lot considering the quirky goings on in the Alaskan village of Cicely. Said opener is "Three Doctors," in which the town's New York-bred doctor, Joel Fleischman (Rob Morrow), aspiring Native American filmmaker Ed Chigliak (Darren E. Burrows), and newlywed Shelly Tambo-Vincoeur (Cynthia Geary) find themselves enmeshed in a cosmic game of hide and seek. Other memorable season five episodes include "Jaws of Life," in which everyone's nerves are on edge in anticipation of the annual visit by the dentist (Jay O. Sanders); "A River Doesn't Run Through It," wherein sexy 31-year-old mail pilot Maggie O'Donnell (Janine Turner) is asked to be the local high school's homecoming queen (and as a bonus, one of the students is played by Jack Black!); "Rosebud," featuring director Peter Bogdanovich in a story built around Cicely's first film festival; and "A Cup of Joe," in which Shelly's husband, Holling (John Cullum), and storekeeper Ruth-Anne (Peg Phillips) discover that one of their grandparents ate the other one during the "Blizzard of '97." And there's more! The town's resident gay couple, Ron (Doug Ballard) and Erick (Don R. McManus) decide to get married; Shelly gives birth to a daughter named Miranda, who is promptly designated Cicely's 844th citizen; the whole town conspires to cure the redoubtable Walt Kupfer (Moultrie Patten) of his galloping depression; and in the season finale, "Lovers and Madmen," eternal outsider Joel finally resigns himself to the fact that he is a true Son of Cicely. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Northern Exposure was an unusually intelligent and witty hour-long comedy-drama set in a fictional Alaskan town that is filled with a quirky ensemble of residents. In this memorable episode, independent-minded but neurotic pilot Maggie O'Connell, who seems to be romantically cursed to have all of her lovers each die in a bizarre way, is freaked out about her upcoming 30th birthday. Her dead lovers weigh heavily upon her mind and she decides that the best way to deal with it is to head out into the wilderness and celebrate with a ritual. Meanwhile, back in town, laid-back, taciturn Marilyn, the Native American receptionist of Dr. Fleischman, wants to learn to drive. Loquacious, pseudo-intellectual deejay Chris decides to teach her, while pompous town autocrat and former astronaut Maurice drives everyone crazy trying to write his memoirs. Displaced New Yorker Doctor Fleischman gets involved when he figures out that part of the reason that Maggie has been so upset has to do with an appendicitis. Sure enough, out in the wilderness, she succumbs, and in her delirium has a strange picnic with all her dead amores, including Rick who died when a satellite fell upon his head. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The surreal lives of the townspeople of remote Cicely, Alaska served as the focus of the 1990-1995 television series Northern Exposure. Told in flashback, this episode recounts the town's founding by a pair of liberal women who are looking to establish a utopian society and who bring a bit of culture to the frontier town. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi

Spring fever hits Cicely big time as the townsfolk await the annual breakup of the winter freeze. The seasonal madness includes the traditional "running of the bulls" -- only they aren't really bulls. Meanhile, the ever-bickering Joel (Rob Morrow) and Maggie (Janine Turner) are suddenly and passionately attracted to each other. Holling (John Cullum) is spoiling for a good fight -- with anyone. Shelly (Cynthia Geary) develops an insatiable appetite for classic literature. And Maurice (Barry Corbin) becomes fascinated by visiting state tropper Barbara Semanski (Diane Delano), in town to investigate a series of quirky petty thefts. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Northern Exposure made its first appearance as an eight-week Thursday-night "tryout" on CBS in the late summer of 1990. With swift, sure strokes, the series' producers quickly established that 27-year-old Dr. Joel Fleischman (Rob Morrow), freshly graduated from Columbia University Medical School, was required to spend four years working in Anchorage, AK, to pay off 125,000 dollars in student loans. Though Joel had seldom strayed off his native Manhattan Island, he took a deep breath and prepared for his journey northward (the alternative was a 10,000-dollar fine and/or 18 years in jail). Upon arrival in Anchorage, Joel discovered that his services were no longer required -- but there was an opening in the tiny (population 815) Alaskan village of Cicely, whose only doctor had just died. Throughout the eight episodes of Northern Exposure's first season, Joel bemoans his "exile," desperately tries to pull strings to get out of his contract...and slowly, almost imperceptably becomes adjusted to his new life in Cicely.

Just as the series wasted no time in establishing its locale and premise, so too did the writers vividly bring the other characters to life with efficiency and economy. During season one, the viewer was introduced to Joel's attractive landlady Maggie O'Connell (Janine Turner), the local air-taxi pilot, whose love life was complicated by an inexplicable "curse" whereby all of her boyfriends were doomed to die under bizarre but undeniably amusing circumstances (her latest beau, fellow pilot Rick Pederson (Grant Goodeve), knew he was living on borrowed time, but managed to survive the series' first season). Also seen for the first time were worldly ex-astronaut Maurice J. Minnifield (Barry Corbin), who owned Cicely lock, stock, and barrel, and entertained dreams of transforming the remote community into the "Alaskan Riviera"; Maurice's best friend, the aggressively masculine tavern owner Holling Vicoeur (John Cullum); Holling's 18-year-old fiancée, Shelly Tambo (Cynthia Geary), former "Miss Northwest Passage"; Maurice's Native American assistant, Ed Chigliak (Darren E. Burrows), an orphan with a murky past and an overwhelming desire to gain fame as a big-bucks moviemaker; and Chris Danforth (John Corbett), the quirky, poetic morning DJ on Cicely's radio station KBHR, who functioned as the series' combination narrator and Greek chorus. Also seen in these formative episodes were Ruth-Anne Miller (Peg Phillips), no-nonsense proprietor of the local general store, and Marilyn Whirlwind (Elaine Miles), a poker-faced Eskimo who worked as a nurse in Joel's medical office.

By the end of season one, the series had introduced at least two of the peripheral characters who would add to the funkiness and eccentricities of Cicely from time to time. The first was Adam (Adam Arkin), a shaggy, sociopathic brute who happened to be a "damn good" gourmet cook; and the second was Bernard (Richard Cummings Jr.), a peripatetic African-American who turned out to be the rootless Chris Danforth's half brother. Although Northern Exposure set no fires in the ratings, the word-of-mouth buzz about the series was sufficiently encouraging for CBS to give it another limited-run tryout in the spring of 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Strange things always happen in Cicely during the Aurora Borealis, and those "things" are even stranger in this final episode of Northern Exposure's first season. Lost in the woods, Joel (Rob Morrow) is rescued by a legendary sasquatch-like creature named Adam -- who turns out to be a human being, a sociopath, and a damned good gourmet cook. Elsewhere, Chris gives up his radio job to construct a towering sculpture and along the way forms a symbiotic relationship with an African-American stranger named Bernard (Richard Cummings Jr.), who has motorcycled into Cicely on a mission...and who is no stranger after all. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Casualties of War was based on a New Yorker article by Daniel Lang. This, in turn, was inspired by a true incident which illustrated the dehumanizing aspects of the Vietnam experience. Michael J. Fox plays Eriksson, a member of an American squadron stationed in the deepest jungles of Southeast Asia. Sean Penn co-stars as Meserve, the squadron sergeant, who vows revenge after his best friend is killed. He orders his men to invade a village and "requisition" a young Vietnamese girl (Thuy Thu Lee), who is repeatedly tied, gagged and gang-raped. The horrified Eriksson refuses to participate in these atrocities, and he does his best to console the girl and to attempt to free her. Before this can happen, however, Meserve orders another man to kill the girl. Once he returns to camp, Eriksson attempts to file a report on the tragedy and to bring Meserve and the others to justice, but he is stonewalled by the brass and threatened with death by his fellow soldiers. Eventually Meserve and his co-conspirators are jailed for their crimes, but Eriksson can never forget his "compliance" in the incident by failing to save the girl. The script is by well-known playwright David Rabe. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi