Jack Lucarelli Movies

This Southern Gothic drama of a deeply troubled family was written by leading man David Steen, who adapted the screenplay from his own play. Ma Samuals (Sharon Farrell) lives in a poor section of rural North Carolina during the 1970s. Her slightly retarded son Charlie (Steen) was the product of an incestuous relationship with her uncle, a preacher who seduced her when she was only 12; despite this experience, Ma remains a devout Fundamentalist Christian. Ma also lives with her adopted daughter, Messy (Gigi Rice), though it's obvious that Charlie is the favored child, and Messy is often the target for Ma's abuse. When Cousin Anna (Sarah Trigger) is orphaned, she comes to stay with the Samuals family, which upsets the household's already shaky emotional balance. Ma disapproves of Messy's new friendship with Anna, believing she's a poor influence on her daughter, and when Anna begins spending time with Charlie, her obsessive love for her son (which has already spilled over into incest) threatens to push her over the brink. A Gift from Heaven marked the feature debut for both screenwriter Steen and director Jack Lucarelli. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

While visiting his former partner in an Arizona border town, LA cop Jack Lucarelli witnesses a murder. The killer is white slaver Gerald McRaney-who turns out to be one of local sheriff Wilford Brimley's most trusted deputies. Nobody believes Lucarelli's eyewitness account, not even his ex-partner Jameson Parker, another of Brimley's deputies. Eventually, it dawns on Parker that his department is seething with corruption. He and Lucarelli work secretly to put an end to McRaney's activities, leading inexorably to the film's climactic bloodbath. The otherwise eminently forgettable American Justice is interesting for its reteaming of onetime Simon and Simon costars Jameson Parker and Gerald McRaney, this time on opposite sides of the law. Parker coproduced the film with costar Lucarelli, while one of the film's supporting actors, Dennis A. Pratt, wrote the script . ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the conclusion of a two-part story, Jim (James Garner) tries to protect Patsy Fossler (Leslie Charleson) from her mob-connected boyfriend Michael Kelly (Jon Cypher) by stashing the girl with his friend Wes (Lou Frizzell). Unfortunately, Patsy's hiding place is revealed by Lianne Sweeney (Joyce Van Patten), a "cop groupie" who has been pestering both Jim and his police-detective friend Dennis Becker (Joe Santos) throughout the story. Now Jim must somehow rescue Patsy and thwart both Kelly and the mobsters without tipping off the loose-tongued Lianne. Despite all indications to the contrary at the end of this episode, we haven't seen the last of the episode's primary villains Anthony Boy (George Loros) and Syl (Luke Andreas). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide