Jason Miller Movies

A man is drawn into the mysterious world of autistic children in this drama. Matt (Matt Wolf) is a man in his mid-twenties from New York City who is looking to sort out his life after an illness. Matt takes a volunteer position at a summer camp for autistic children, and is assigned to look after two children, Rob and Wayne, who cannot speak. Matt has trouble reaching out to Rob and Wayne, and he often squabbles with Ernie (Ernie Jurez), another counselor whom Matt feels is unnecessarily harsh to the children. Matt becomes involved with Rachel (Phe Caplan), another counselor at the camp who finds the demands of the work a bit hard to deal with; Matt and Rachel soon find themselves at odds with one another when Jessica (Jessica Fuchs), one of Rachel's charges, begins to open up to Matt and attempts to bring him into her private world of cartoon characters and stuffed animals. Paradox Lake also features actor and author Jason Miller in a supporting role as one of the camp directors; it was his final screen appearance, shot shortly before Miller's death. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A young man learns to let nothing stop him from realizing his ambitions in this drama, based on a true story. Ever since he was a little boy, Rudy Ruettiger (Sean Astin) has dreamed of attending Notre Dame University, and playing on the Fighting Irish football team. However, Rudy's dream doesn't seem very practical; Daniel (Ned Beatty), his father, works in a steel mill and can ill afford to send his son to Notre Dame, while Rudy's grades are not especially impressive, and standing a shade over five feet tall and weighing a little over 100 pounds, Rudy is hardly built for the gridiron. However, with the help of Father Cavanaugh (Robert Prosky), a sympathetic priest, Rudy is admitted to nearby Holy Cross, and in his junior year manages to squeak into Notre Dame as a transfer student. Rudy works as an assistant to the football stadium's groundskeeper, Fortune (Charles S. Dutton), to pay his tuition (often sleeping in Fortune's office since he can't afford a room), studies diligently, and appears at tryouts for the football team. Rudy is made a member of the practice team, which means he's little more than a human tackling dummy, but Coach Ara Parseghian (Jason Miller) is impressed with Rudy's devotion and determination, and pledges that he'll allow him to dress for one game before he graduates, so his name can be recorded as an official member of the team. However, the arrival of a new coach and a tough season that allows for few unnecessary players may put a stop to Rudy's dreams within sight of the finish line. Rudy also stars Jon Favreau, Lili Taylor, and Scott Benjaminson. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

William Peter Blatty, author of The Exorcist, directed this intriguing, deliberately-paced thriller based on his novel Legion. Ignoring the events of John Boorman's disappointing Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), the film moves ahead 15 years from the end of the original, when Georgetown is being plagued by occult murders bearing signs of the long-dead Gemini Killer, James Venamon (Brad Dourif). Although the killer was executed 15 years earlier, a young boy is horribly mutilated and the ailing Father Dyer (Ed Flanders) is drained of blood in his hospital bed. George C. Scott takes over the role of dedicated police Lt. William Kinderman, who is convinced that the key to the killings lies in an amnesiac mental patient who looks exactly like the dead Father Karras (Jason Miller) at some times, and like Venamon at others. It appears that Venamon was executed at the exact moment that Father Karras became possessed by the killer/devil and hurtled from the window at the end of the first film. Kinderman slowly comes to accept that the patient is Venamon and enlists an exorcist, Father Morning (Nicol Williamson), to free Karras' soul and stop the murders. The Exorcist III is heavy on dialogue, but contains some fine performances and some chilling moments, particularly the haunting opening in a Georgetown church. George DiCenzo, Viveca Lindfors, and Zohra Lampert also appear in this underrated, low-key horror film. Award-winning makeup artist Greg Cannom contributed to the special-effects, Gerry Fisher's cinematography is excellent, and the cast includes some notable bit parts by Samuel L. Jackson, Patrick Ewing, and Tyra Ferrell. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

A brother and sister grapple with family and lifestyle issues in this rock-n-roll drama. Real-life rocker Joan Jett stars as Patti Resnick, an unwed mother who sings and plays guitar in a Cleveland bar band with her brother Joe (Michael J. Fox). Estranged from her parents and struggling to make ends meet, Patti decides to dive headlong into a carefree rock-n-roll lifestyle. Good-guy Joe pulls away from music to provide some stability for her tiny son. It takes a family crisis to bring Patti back home and force her to face the prickly past with her devoutly Christian mother (Gena Rowlands). Despite a somewhat thin story, the film has solid performances all around, most especially from the refreshingly compelling Jett. Bruce Springsteen penned the title song. ~ Bernadette McCallion, Rovi

In this drama, a lady lawyer's campaign to become state attorney general is jeopardized by a scandal involving a gigolo, extortion and even murder. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Adapted from Jason Miller's play which won the Pulitzer Prize, That Championship Season is about a group of men who, after 25 years, get together again for a high-school basketball team reunion. After drinking and chumming, the circle of friends soon find long-hidden anger and resentment resurfacing which become muddled with their current mid-life problems. Soon their long-time friendships are collapsing before them. Performers in this drama include Martin Sheen, Paul Sorvino, Robert Mitchum, Bruce Dern and Stacy Keach. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi

A young girl's dangerous dance with dieting leads to near disaster in this exceptional made-for-television drama. In one of the earliest treatments of the subject, Jennifer Jason Leigh stars as Casey Powell, the quiet daughter of an overbearing mother and milquetoast father. Feeling pressure to be the good girl of the family after her troublesome older sister gets pregnant, Casey retreats into her secretive world of self-starvation. When arguing fails to produce results, her parents (Charles Durning and Eva Marie Saint) send her to a hospital where she meets a spunky fellow patient (Melanie Mayron) and a caring therapist (Jason Miller). Casey's road to recovery is not as simple as merely eating though, and she and her family realize that together they must confront the deeply-rooted familial issues that lay at the heart of Casey's affliction. Jennifer Jason Leigh is utterly compelling in the lead role. ~ Bernadette McCallion, Rovi

In this mystery, a policeman quits the force to investigate the death of his partner independently. He is assisted by a pretty young woman. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Though boasting a British star and director, The Devil's Advocate was essentially a West German production; it was released in Germany in 1977, three years before its bow in English-speaking theatres. John Mills tops the cast as a dying priest who has been summoned to Rome for one last assignment. A dead wartime partisan is being considered for Sainthood. Mills is instructed to investigate the partisan's growing cult following and learn if the man is truly worthy of canonization. Morris West adapted the screenplay of The Devil's Advocate from his own bestselling novel. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

William Peter Blatty, author of The Exorcist, proved a workmanlike producer/director for 1979's The Ninth Configuration. Army psychiatrist Col. Kane (Stacy Keach) (teetering on the sanity brink himself) tries to minister to the patients in a military mental hospital. The fact that the hospital is located in a brooding old castle is hardly conducive to speedy recoveries. Nor does the mid-film barroom brawl indicate that Kane's approach to mental health is all that workable. Blatty adapted the screenplay for The Ninth Configuration from his own novel Twinkle, Twinkle, "Killer" Kane (which also served as the film's title during one of its many releases). It is hard to tell if what you're going to see is the "director's cut," since there are several versions of this film, running anywhere from 99 to 140 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Aristides Ungria (Jason Miller) was a political prisoner being held by a Latin American dictatorship, but he has escaped. A trained dog has been sent to hunt and kill him. While he is trudging through the jungles, he is at a relative disadvantage to the dog. Later, the dog suffers a disadvantage, as it attempts to find its prey in man's jungle: a city. As the hunt continues, the hunter and hunted develop a grudging respect for one another. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Based on a true story, Home of Our Own is about a Roman Catholic priest in Mexico who builds an orphanage for abandoned boys ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi