K Callan Movies

This sequel to Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married reunites the cast from that earlier movie, again playing a group of eight friends who take an annual week-long vacation with each other. As they reconnect, Sheila (Jill Scott) discovers that her ex-husband, Mike, is planning to wreck her new marriage. Their troubles lead to the others facing some uncomfortable truths about their own relationships. The film co-stars Janet Jackson, Malik Yoba, Michael Jai White, and Louis Gossett Jr. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

A handful of desperate characters come together unexpectedly one winter evening in this comedy-drama. Lefty (Stephen Baldwin) is a luckless sad sack whose life has been in a tailspin since his wife Heather (Faline England) left him two years ago. Lefty has been struggling to win back the right to visit his daughter, but since losing his job and periodically stumbling in his efforts to give up drinking, he's been so broke he can't afford to pay his rent, let alone hire a lawyer, and after a meeting with Heather's attorney goes badly, he decides he needs to get his hands on a gun. Meanwhile, Lefty's aging mother Eva (K Callan) has fallen into a depression as her health has begun to fail her, and she's decided that Christmas Eve would be as good a time as any to do herself in. Elsewhere, Mary (Mary Thornton) could use some help looking after her son Jacob (Dominic Scott Kay), after her husband Rick (Kevin Downes) suffered a severe head injury during a motorcycle accident a year before with his best friend and riding buddy, Mitch (Mitchell Jarvis). And Mark (Richard Fancy), the pastor at a local church, has been persuaded to take a group of kids out Christmas caroling -- a task he does not relish. Somehow, the fates conspire to bring the principles together with Christmas just around the corner to give them the hope that's been lacking in their lives. Midnight Clear was the first feature film from director Dallas Jenkins, adapted from a short film of the same title he made the previous year. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In this drama, a troubled youth rethinks his life after a freak lightning strike renders him dead for nearly half-an-hour. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

A married woman who has not been able to successfully conceive a child turns to a specialist who succeeds in inseminating her artificially. Before too long, she hears rumors of the doctor's past and present genetic experiments and when she finally aborts the fetus, finds that it is a monster as she had feared--and still alive! ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi

Terrence McNally's stage play Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune was a two-character piece, which starred Kathy Bates and F. Murray Abraham on Broadway. Garry Marshall's film version of the McNally play streamlines the title to Frankie and Johnny, expands the dramatis personae to include at least a dozen fascinating characters, and "glamorizes" the decidedly unglamorous Frankie and Johnny in the forms of Michelle Pfeiffer and Al Pacino (their first co-starring stint since Scarface). Purists carped at the changes, but overall the film is likeable enough to transcend these carps. While serving an 18-month sentence on a forgery charge, Johnny (Al Pacino) discovers the joys of cooking and classical literature. Upon his release, he is hired by gruff but good-hearted New York diner owner Nick (played by Garry Marshall "regular" Hector Elizondo). Also working for Nick is a waitress named Frankie (Michelle Pfeiffer). When Johnny expresses interest in Frankie, she keeps him at arm's length, her mistrust of men stemming from an unmentioned but obviously traumatic experience in her past. Eventually, however, Frankie and Johnny do get together, their curious relationship setting the stage for a dramatic denouement wherein both lovers bare their souls. The bulk of the original McNally play is concentrated in the film's final 20 minutes; the rest of the picture is a kaleidoscope of comic and poignant vignettes and quick-sketch character studies. Of the newly minted characters, the standout is Nathan Lane in the traditional "gay best friend/severest critic" role: he plays the character so effectively that one forgets he's essentially a cliché. As for the stars, Al Pacino is ideally cast as Johnny, but Michelle Pfeiffer, superb though she is, seems a bit ill at ease as the emotionally tattered Frankie; she totally wins the audience's hearts, however, in the film's memorable bowling-alley sequence. Smoothing over the rough spots in Frankie and Johnny is the evocative musical score by Marvin Hamlisch. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Hunter (Fred Dryer) is given the responsibility of mentoring fledgling detective Jack Ryan (Eric Larson)--the son of his own mentor, police commissioner Bill Ryan (Harry Guardino). Unfortunately, during the search for a robber-murderer who preys upon businessman at check-cashing stores, young Jack commits a number of serious errors. Regretfully, Hunter must inform Jack that he hasn't got what it takes to be a cop--but how can he bring himself to break the news to the boy's father? ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In the second episode of a four-part story arc, newly appointed judge Christine (Markie Post) prepares to assume her Night Court duties, while her predecessor Harry (Harry Anderson), still brooding over not being reappointed, plots to get even on New York City by playing the "ultimate prank." Little does Harry know that at this very moment, Christine is pulling strings to have him reinstated. This final episode of Night Court's fourth season ends on a cliffhanger, not to be resolved until the outset of Season Five. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Mulitmillionaire businessman Ralph Flagg (Robert Rockwell) has been shot and gravely wounded, and the prime suspect is his young, mercenary trophy wife Ginger (Lois Hamilton). Although she beats the rap in court, Ginger ends up committing suicide shortly afterward--or so it seems. By this time, Hunter (Fred Dryer) is certain of the real killer's identity, and he goes undercover as a wealthy jet-setter to confirm his suspicions (assuming he lives long enough!) ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

James Woods plays "Fast-Walking" Miniver, a strikingly amoral prison guard, in this dark, hard-hitting comedy/drama. When not smoking dope or scaring up customers for Evie (Susan Tyrrell), the proprietor of the local house of prostitution, Fast-Walking tries to keep order in an Oregon prison. Fast-Walking is looking for a big payday so he can quit his job and get into something less stressful, and he thinks he may have found it when William Galliot (Robert Hooks), a black political activist who has just landed behind bars, offers him $50,000 to help him escape. Fast-Walking thinks this sounds fine with him, until he finds out that his cousin Wasco (Tim McIntire) is part of a plot to kill Galliot and wants his help. Fast-Walking's dilemma is intensified by his affair with Wasco's girlfriend, Moke (Kay Lenz). Fast-Walking was written, produced, and directed by James B. Harris, who as a producer helped bring several early Stanley Kubrick films to the screen. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This made-for-TV Amityville Horror knock-off ranks among the more interesting titles from a spate of early-1980s haunted-house efforts. The title abode is the sumptuous new residence of recuperating neurotic rock star Gary Stralhorn (Parker Stevenson), who resides there with his young amnesiac nurse Sheila (Lisa Eilbacher). After a conversation with a mysterious woman (Joan Bennett), Sheila becomes increasingly convinced that she's lived in the house before. Soon, people around her begin falling victim to the malevolent spirit in the house, which seems to be protecting Sheila while guarding its own dark secret. The flamboyant death scenes -- quite graphic for television -- involve breathing mirrors that fire dagger-like shards, willful electrical cables, and a boiling hot swimming pool. Things are nicely wrapped up for the enthusiastically creepy climax, but fans of The Haunting won't be too surprised at the outcome. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

A slick Los Angeles callboy finds love and redemption in Paul Schrader's ultra-stylish drama. High-living prostitute Julian Kay (Richard Gere, stepping in for John Travolta) has it all: the Mercedes, the clothes, access to Beverly Hills' swankiest establishments, and a stable of rich, older female clients. But it all falls apart after he does a favor for his former pimp (Bill Duke) and the trick turns up dead a short while later; Julian's actual client won't give him an alibi, and police detective Sunday (Hector Elizondo) doesn't believe the gigolo's denials. The one person who can help him is frustrated politician's wife (and sole non-paying bedmate) Michelle (Lauren Hutton), if only Julian could let down his defenses and accept her gesture of love. Mixing his admiration for European art cinema with a voyeuristic view of the seamier side of sex and affluence, Schrader renders Julian an inscrutable, emotionally disengaged purveyor of pleasure, decked out in Giorgio Armani clothes coordinated with Ferdinando Scarfiotti's meticulous production design. Amid critical doubts about its artiness and distanced eroticism, American Gigolo surprised everyone by not dying on the box office vine. With some audiences reportedly showing up for repeat viewings of Gere's seductive charms, it became a moderate hit, turning Gere into a star and Armani into the new fashion sensation. Whatever reservations one may have about the movie, it provided two indelible images of 1980s decadence to come: Gere's perusing his "artist's palette" of shirts, ties, and jackets, and Gere's cruising down the Pacific Coast Highway in his convertible to the New Wave strains of Blondie's "Call Me". ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

Hot on the heels of his Welcome Back Kotter success, Gabe Kaplan starred in this hastily assembled theatrical feature. Kaplan plays David Greene, the coach of a Nevada collegiate basketball team. Inasmuch as the local talent is pretty pathetic, Greene convinces a group of jive-talking New York street kids into playing for the college. Culture-clash jokes abound, with the black cast members usually coming out on top. In keeping with sports-comedy tradition, one of Greene's team members is a girl, and a very attractive one. Though it hasn't an original bone in its body, Fast Break is breezy entertainment, with a particularly thrilling climax. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The 8-hour TV miniseries Blind Ambition was originally telecast May 20 through 23, 1979. This 105-minute feature-film version, prepared in 1982, seems a bit rushed at times, but overall does a credible and coherent job of storytelling. Based on John Dean's book Blind Ambition, with elements of Maureen Dean's Mo woven in by screenwriter Stanley R. Greenberg, this is the saga of the Watergate affair, as experienced by Dean (Martin Sheen) and hia wife Maureen (Theresa Russell). As the Nixon administration goes down in flames, the Deans' marriage is sorely tested-as is Dean's success-at-any-price credo. Rip Torn plays Nixon like something out of a Greek Tragedy; some viewers accepted his interpretation, others found it jarringly inaccurate. Others in the cast of "usual suspects" include Michael Callan as Charles Colson, Lonny Chapman as L. Patrick Gray, William Daniels as G. Gordon Liddy, Fred Grandy as Donald Segretti, Christopher Guest as Jeb Magruder, Lawrence Pressman as H. R. Haldeman, William Windom as Richard Kleindienst, James Greene as E. Howard Hunt, Logan Ramsey as J. Edgar Hoover, and Al Checco as judge John Sirica. Also known as The John Dean Story, Blind Ambition earned two Emmy nominations. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi