Christopher Leitch Movies
- 2004
Paige (Rose McGowan) casts a spell to thwart the efforts by the demon Sirk (Zack Ward) to kill off all his blood relatives. Unfortunately Paige's spell works too well -- and as result, no one on earth is dying, not even those whose time has come. Angered that someone is crimping his style, the Angel of Death (Simon Templeman) "murders" Piper (Holly Marie Combs) to force the other Charmed Ones to undo Paige's damage. The girls agree -- not realizing that the next person scheduled to be collected by the Angel of Death is Phoebe (Alyssa Milano). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brian Krause, Dorian Gregory, (more)
- 2004
The title of this made-for-TV drama refers to a grim-visaged trio of women who were all raped by the same man. Forming a united front to help track the suspected rapist down are Jillian Hayes (played by Roma Downey, who also produced film), Carol Rossen (Jacqueline Bisset) and Meg Pesaturo (Lauren Lee Smith. Under intense pressure from both the "Survivors Club" and an outraged public, the authorities waste no time hauling in prime suspect Eddie Como (Darren Shahlavi), even though Eddie's wife Tawnya (Pamela Diaz) is confident to the point of smugness that Eddie is innocent. On the first day of his trial, Eddie is shot down and killed by an unseen sniper--whereupon Jillian, Carol and Meg all but dance in the streets, making shocking public comments of how thrilled they are about this instance of vigilante justice (and in the process arousing suspicion that they may have engineered the shooting) . It soon develops, however, that Eddie may not have been guilty after all. . .and that the real rapist may have ordered the hit. The one person who seems to hold the key to the mystery is one David Price (Brian Markinson)--who happens to be a serial killer! Based on the book by Lisa Gardner, The Survivors Club made its first CBS appearance on March 7, 2004. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roma Downey, James Remar, (more)
William Devane and Meredith Baxter star in this sentimental made-for-cable drama as John and Carol Boyajian, a couple facing a bleak Christmas due to a surfeit of personal tragedy. Having already lost their son in Operation Desert Storm, the Boyajians must now confront the possibility that their daughter has cancer. Rather than wallow in grief, John and Carol are doggedly determined to celebrate their first Christmas in 11 years; but as the holiday approaches, their hope and perseverance rapidly deteriorate. The couple's faith is ultimately restored by the arrival of a mysterious "guest" who may not be precisely what he claims to be. The Christmas Visitor debuted December 21, 2002, on the Hallmark Channel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2001
A man with a motive needs to prove he didn't commit a crime in this made-for-television mystery. Matthew Hope (Brian Dennehy), a lawyer and sometime sleuth, is called upon by his friend Stephen Leeds (John Doman) when Leeds is arrested for murder. Three Vietnamese teenagers violently mugged Leeds' wife, Josie (Debrah Farentino), and when they were acquitted of the crime following a trial, Leeds told the court that he would someday see justice done. Now the youths have been killed, and Leeds insists he had no part in the murders. Can Hope clear the name of his friend and identify the true killer? Three Blind Mice was based on the novel of the same name by award-winning crime author Ed McBain. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 2000
Muriel Davidson (Meredith Baxter) is a successful author of suspense novels--and a recovering alcoholic. Arriving at a stage of extreme vulnerability, Muriel finds herself attracted to Don Wigulow, a charismatic ex-convict. When events surrounding the couple take on a murderous tinge, Muriel cannot help but notice that her love life has become a clone of one of her own novels--and cannot forget that the novel in question ends in tragedy. Made for television, The Wednesday Woman originally aired May 24, 2000, on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2000
A remake of the 1973 TV movie of the same name, Satan's School for Girls is set within the grim walls of Fallbridge College for Girls. Hoping to learn the truth behind the "suicide" of her younger sister, Beth Hammersmith enrolls in Fallbridge under the assumed name of Karen Oxford. Our heroine soon learns that the school is in the clutches of a coven of witches called "The Five" -- and that she herself has the right satanic qualities to enable The Five to take over the world. Kate Jackson, who played the leading role of Roberta Lockhart in the original film, is here cast as college dean Olivia Burtis. The "new" Satan's School for Girls was telecast by ABC on March 13, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shannen Doherty, Kate Jackson, (more)
- 2000
Before the hotly contested Presidential Election of 2000, no news story of that year so fully consumed the consciousness of the American public as the saga of Elian Gonzalez. Five years old when he and his mother escaped from Cuba to Florida (an ordeal that claimed his mother's life), Elian (Alec Roberts) was installed in the Miami house of his relatives. Though that seemed to be the end of the story, Elian's father Juan Gonzalez (Esai Morales), still living in Cuba and still loyal to the Castro regime, launched a legal campaign to have his son returned to him. As the whole world knows, the Gonzalez matter was settled by the U.S. government, with a dramatic denouement in the dead of night as Federal agents broke down the door of his Florida family's home and plucked Elian from his bedroom-closet hiding place. Rather than debate or draw conclusions from the issues raised by this volatile incident, Dennis Turner, the writer of this made-for-cable docudrama, has concocted an evenly balanced teleplay in which, true to the complexity of the situation, there are no heroes or villains. Clearly filmed in haste (though compelling in its own slapdash way), A Family in Crisis: The Elian Gonzalez Story premiered September 17, 2000, over the Family Channel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1999
Thirty-three years after the demise of The Patty Duke Show, you'll be glad to know that Patty Lane is still seeing the sights a girl can see from Brooklyn Heights, and that her identical cousin Cathy still prefers the minuet and crepe suzette, judging from the evidence presented in this made-for-TV movie. Patty Duke once again plays both Patty and Cathy; these days, Patty is a drama teacher at her old high school, and while she's still sees her old boyfriend Richard (Eddie Applegate), they got married after high school and have since divorced; they have a grown son and a granddaughter. Cathy, on the other hand, is a widow with a teenage son, currently living in Scotland. When the two cousins meet again at a family reunion, they join forces to do battle with Patty's arch-enemy Sue Ellen (Cindy Williams), who plans to buy Brooklyn Heights High School, tear it down and put in a strip mall. Also reprising their roles from the original TV series are William Schallert and Jean Byron as Patty's parents. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patty Duke, William Schallert, (more)
Based on a true story, the made-for-TV Cab to Canada stars the indomitable Maureen O'Hara as Katherine Eure, a wealthy and very proper "little old lady from Pasadena." En route to a funeral, Katherine summons the cab driven by one Mike Donahue (Jason Beghe). In answer to the traditional "Where to, lady?," Kathryn knocks Mike for a loop when she imperiously insists upon being driven to Vancouver, British Columbia...some 3,100 miles away. During the motor odyssey that follows, Kathryn proves that she's something substantially more than just another arrogant old dowager, just as the down-to-earth Mike loses his natural-born animosity toward those better off than himself. Meanwhile, the authorities are at their wit's end, convinced that Kathryn has been kidnapped, and are prepared to mete out harsh punishment for her captor. A pre-Sixth Sense Haley Joel Osment appears as Bobby. Cab to Canada made its CBS network bow on November 29, 1998. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maureen O'Hara, Jason Beghe, (more)
Strange happenings occur when California teenager Sarah (Sarah Chalke) and her mother Rosemary (Markie Post) relocate to the small New England town of Pinecrest. It seems that Sarah shares the same name with a notorious witch who'd been burned at the stake three centuries earlier. Before her death, the "original" Sarah had vowed to get even with all the descendants of the people who persecuted her. A group of snotty high schoolers who've formed The Descendants' Club decide to give the hapless Sarah a very, very hard time -- but the fun is over when, while posing as a fortuneteller at a Halloween party, Sarah discovers that she possesses genuine psychic powers, and foresees a series of disasters that foment a frenzy of mass hysteria in the tiny community. Also tossed into this witches' brew is a mentally challenged serial killer, decked out in a Mike Myers-style mask. Adapted (and heavily laundered) from Lois Duncan's novel Gallows Hill, the made-for-TV I've Been Waiting for You debuted over NBC on March 22, 1998. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sarah Chalke, Markie Post, (more)
- 1997
At times it is hard to tell whether this made-for-TV movie is supposed to be taken seriously or if it is nothing more than a John Waters-style spoof. Yasmine Bleeth and Jill Clayburgh are respectively cast as ambitious beauty contestant Danielle Stevens and her even more ambitious mother Cathy. It is clear from the outset that this pair will stop at nothing to win a prestigious beauty pageant, which naturally casts suspicion on both mother and daughter when the first runner-up is killed. But can it be that the murderer is the boyfriend of the victim, who happened to have been carrying said boyfriend's baby? Crowned and Dangerous made its ABC network debut on September 21, 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1997
Katy Boyer stars as Sarah, a professional nurse and the grown daughter of dysfunctional couple Don and Lily Zarn (Gerald McRaney, Shelley Fabares). During a visit home, Sarah can clearly see that Lily is being abused by Don, but she cannot persuade her mother to leave her father. Subsequently, however, Lily disappears, and Don ruefully insists that his wife has finally walked out on him. But when Sarah begins enduring horrific nightmares in which her mother is brutally killed, she decides to learn the truth behind her mom's disappearance--this despite a total lack of cooperation from her family, her boyfriend and even the police. Based on fact, the made-for-TV A Nightmare Come True debuted over the CBS network on February 12, 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gerald McRaney, Katy Boyer, (more)
- 1996
Old feelings of hurt and betrayal resurface and renew a bitter rift between two long-time girlfriends when one learns that the other seduced her 18-year-old son. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sharon Lawrence, Harley Jane Kozak, (more)
- 1994
In this drama, a mother fights to prove her son is innocent of murder charges. Even though he supposedly confessed while under hypnosis, the woman doubts the veracity of the procedure. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leigh Taylor-Young, Michael Brandon, (more)
Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren play archenemies from beyond the grave in this action film. During the Vietnam War, Luc (Van Damme), hoping to be sent home, comes upon blood-crazy Scott (Lundgren), who is starting a one-man genocide program. When Luc tries to stop Scott's carnage, Scott fights back and they end up killing each other. But now the government gets involved, cryogenically freezing their corpses and using their bodies in a secret government project call "UniSols" --turning the dead men into android fighting machines. Luc and Scott are now metallic fighting members of a robot SWAT team. But Luc begin to have flashbacks to the final moments of his life in Vietnam, as does Scott, who recalls that one of his final thoughts was to kill Luc. Meanwhile, a snoopy reporter named Veronica (Ally Walker) stumbles upon the secret of the UniSols, and soon Luc is trying to save both himself and Veronica from the wrath of Scott, who is trying to kill them both. All of the action culminates in a wild chase between a prison bus and a UniSols van, racing around hairpin turns on desert precipices. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, (more)
- 1989
From the popular '80s television series comes this episode about the man/beast Vincent, who has fallen in love with Catherine, a young attorney, and desires that she stay with him in his underground home, although he knows she belongs to the city above. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
With a story that seeks to continue the famous tale of Heidi, Courage Mountain focuses on the teenager (Juliette Caton), forced to leave her grandfather (Jan Rubes) to attend an Italian boarding school on the eve of World War I. The German army appropriates the school, and Heidi is forced to depend on her smarts until she can be reunited with her boyfriend Peter (Charlie Sheen). ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Juliette Caton, Jan Rubes, (more)
- 1987
- PG
Jason Bateman stars in this sequel to Teen Wolf as the original's cousin, Todd. Though not a boxer, he receives a college boxing scholarship, and upon discovering that he is afflicted with the same werewolf genetics, transforms from unremarkable to unbelievable. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Bateman, Kim Darby, (more)
- 1985
A woman wearing a heavy veil shows up at the offices of the Blue Moon Detective Agency and hires David (Bruce Willis) and Maddie (Cybill Shepherd) to locate a recently paroled convict named Frank Harbert (Joel Polis). It seems that, years ago, Frank had horribly disfigured the veiled woman's face, and now she wants to find him--and marry him! Inevitably, Frank turns up dead, prompting the detectives to launch a second search for the killer. The episode climaxes with a profusion of people wearing black veils, in a chaotic mistaken-identity sequence reminiscent of The Pink Panther--or at the very least, the Marx Brothers' Duck Soup. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The original title of this film was The Border. It tells the story of one border guard's desire to put an end to the practice of hauling truck loads of illegal Mexican workers across the border and into California where they are forced to work for a mere pittance. Mexico provided the background for the outdoor shots. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Telly Savalas, Eddie Albert, (more)
- 1979
- R
Ron O'Neal stars in this boxing drama. He plays a Baltimore prizefighter named Otis who quit boxing when he accidentally killed a man in the ring. A washed-up fight promoter (Adolph Caesar) trying to get back to the big time teams up with Otis and tries to get him to start fighting again. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide
