Barry Morrow Movies
A long-lost letter transcends time and death in this moving tale of a mother's love and the strength of the human spirit. Days before her death in the Thereseinstadt concentration camp in World War II, Valli Ollendorf writes a heartfelt letter to her young son Ulrich, urging him to have faith in the human spirit and to live a life of love, even in the face of humankind's most unfathomable inhumanity. Lost for 50 years, the letter finally reaches her son when he is 79 years old. The letter would remain a family secret in the years to come, though upon Ulrich's death his family asked the rabbi to read it at his wake and the letter has since had a profound inspirational effect on anyone who has come into contact with it. Join documentarians Dominik and Jakov Sedlar as they investigate this remarkable story. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Liv Ullmann, Martin Sheen, (more)
The made-for-TV Behind the Mask is the true story of Dr. Bob Shushan, a workaholic who disdains any sort of private life--and neglects his family in the process--the better to help his patients at the British Columbian Centre for the Mentally and Physically Disabled. When Shushan suffers a heart attack, his life is saved by the Centre's mentally handicapped janitor, James Jones (Matthew Fox)--and in the ensuing weeks, doctor and patient become closer than any father and son could ever be. Partly out of gratitude, Shushan makes it his mission to locate James' long-estranged biological father. And as a result of his relationship with James Jones, Shushan finally realizes how he has long short-changed his own family, especially his son Brian (Bradley Whitford), whom Shushan has unfairly written off as a failure. The real James Jones makes an appearance at the end of Behind the Mask, which first aired February 28, 1999 on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald Sutherland, Bradley Whitford, (more)
Loosely based on a true account, this family drama centers on a group of aimless Hawaiian teens who with the support of two inspirational teachers turn their lives around by building a solar powered car and racing it across the Australian outback during the World Solar Challenge. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Halle Berry, James Belushi, (more)
- 1994
When the police don't seem to be giving their all in the investigation of a young woman's disappearance, her sister decides to look into the mystery herself. The more evidence she finds, the more the finger of guilt points towards her brother-in-law. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Jillian, Joe Penny, (more)
The huge success of the video games featuring animated Italian plumbers the Mario Brothers led to this $42 million live action movie. The two brothers (Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo) live in Manhattan and are chasing Princess Daisy (Samantha Mathis), who wears a necklace made from a meteor fragment. Its powers can free a race of reptilian creatures from the city's sewers. The villainous ruler of the creatures, who are descendants of dinosaurs, is King Koopa (Dennis Hopper). Koopa has kidnapped Daisy and taken her to the underworld of Dinohattan, which is rat-infested and strewn with garbage. The Mario Brothers must overcome many obstacles, just as they do in video games, to free the princess. The film spares no expense with its use of animatronic monsters and high-tech special effects. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, (more)
- 1991
Hume Cronyn steals what there is to steal of Christmas on Division Street. Cronyn plays a smooth-talking skid row derelict who befriends wealthy Philadelphia "mainline" kid Fred Savage. Both the old bum and the young preppie have lost faith in themselves and the world. Both are redeemed by the spirit of Christmas and by the bonds of friendship. Made for TV, Christmas on Division Street is saved from being a heaping bowl of Yuletide mush by the ever-iconoclastic Cronyn. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1991
- PG
The two-part, four-hour TV movie Switched at Birth is based on an actual event which began unfolding in Wauchula, Florida in 1978. Brian Kerwin and Judith Hoag play the new parents of a baby girl; a few days later, another couple, played by John M. Jackson and Bonnie Bedelia, have a baby at the same hospital. Kerwin and Hoag's baby is healthy; Jackson and Bedelia's baby has a heart defect. Switched at Birth traces the lives of the two girls over a period of eight years--up to the point of a tragedy which opens the possibility that the girls may not have been given over to the correct parents at the hospital. The four parents involved find themselves in court, battling over custody of the surviving child. This intensely personal problem is bloated into a cause celebre by the press and by parents' rights pressure groups. Edward Asner and Caroline McWilliams appear as the opposing attorneys. Those who'd been following the two-part Switched at Birth during its first telecast in April of 1991 may have found themselves in family conflicts of their own, inasmuch as Part Two was shown opposite the network TV premiere of Die Hard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bonnie Bedelia, Brian Kerwin, (more)
- 1989
As the real-life Carpenters singing group is heard on the sound track, Cynthia Gibb stars as Karen Carpenter, with Mitchell Anderson costarring as her brother Richard. Karen's rise to the top is dutifully detailed, while Richard's brief flirtation with drug addiction is handled with discretion. The film takes a tragic turn when Karen's anorexia nervosa overcomes her ability to function, and finally kills her. The Karen Carpenter Story was a ratings winner, encouraging other less tasteful producers to overload the market with bad to indifferent made-for-TV life stories. The film was coproduced by the real Richard Carpenter, who has made the telling of his sister's story something of a lifetime mission. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cynthia Gibb, Mitchell Anderson, (more)
- 1988
This is the true story of Los Gatos (California) high school football coach Charlie Wedemeyer (Michael Nouri). At 31, onetime football pro Wedemeyer is living the American dream; a winning team, a happy marriage and public adulation. Then in 1977, Charlie is diagnosed as suffering from ALS, a degenerative neurological ailment better known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Given only one year to live, Charlie determines to continue leading his Los Gatos Wildcats to a state championship -- which he eventually does, despite losing all powers of speech and movement. Several notches above the usual "disease of the week" TV movie, Quiet Victory: The Charlie Wedemeyer Story was directed by Roy Campanella II -- himself the son of a physically disabled pro athlete, baseball star Roy Campanella. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Nouri
Self-centered, avaricious Californian Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) is informed that his long-estranged father has died. Expecting at least a portion of the elder Babbitt's $3 million estate, Charlie learns that all he's inherited is his dad's prize roses and a 1949 Buick Roadmaster. Discovering that the $3 million is being held in trust for an unidentified party, Charlie heads to his home town of Cincinnati to ascertain who that party is. It turns out that the beneficiary is Raymond Babbitt (Dustin Hoffman), the autistic-savant older brother that Charlie never knew he had. Able to memorize reams of trivia and add, subtract, multiply, and divide without a second's hesitation, Raymond is otherwise incapable of functioning as a normal human being. Aghast that Raymond is to receive his father's entire legacy, Charlie tries to cut a deal with Raymond's guardian. When this fails, Charlie "borrows" Raymond from the institution where he lives, hoping to use his brother as leverage to claim half the fortune. During their subsequent cross-country odyssey, Charlie is forced to accommodate Raymond's various autistic idiosyncracies, not the least of which is his insistence on adhering to a rigid daily schedule: he must, for example, watch People's Court and Jeopardy every day at the same time, no matter what. On hitting Las Vegas, Charlie hopes to harness Raymond's finely-honed mathematical skills to win big at the gaming tables; but this exploitation of his brother's affliction compels Charlie to reassess his own values, or lack thereof. A longtime pet project of star Dustin Hoffman, Rain Man was turned down by several high-profile directors before Barry Levinson took on the challenge of bringing Ronald Bass' screenplay to fruition (Levinson also appears in the film as a psychiatrist). All three men won Oscars, and the movie won Best Picture. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, (more)
- 1987
In this made-for-television movie, the stability of an extended family is threatened by divorce. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- 1983
Bill: On His Own is the laudable made-for-TV sequel to the Emmy-winning 1981 film Bill. Mickey Rooney once more shines as Bill Sackter, a mentally-retarded adult struggling to survive in the mainstream. The owner of a coffee kiosk at the University of Iowa, Bill becomes disoriented when his friend and mentor Dennis Quaid moves to Los Angeles. Taking over Bill's case is idealistic young social worker Helen Hunt. While studying towards his Bar Mitzvah (which he was denied at the age of 13 because of his "incompetence"), Bill suffers a severe personal blow that threatens to send him spiralling back into helplessness. Bill: On His Own was originally telecast November 9, 1983, some four months after the death at age 70 of the real-life Bill Sackter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1981
This Emmy-winning made-for-TV movie, based on a book by Oscar-winning screenwriter Barry Morrow (from his true story), stars Mickey Rooney in the title role of a mentally-challenged adult who has spent his life holed up in a bleak institution. When documentary filmmaker Morrow (Dennis Quaid) and his family invite him into their home to stay with them, Bill is given his first taste of independence in the real world. Together, Bill and the Morrows unexpectedly teach each other valuable lessons about life and themselves. The film was so popular that it spawned a sequel two years later called Bill: On His Own. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
