Nancy Allen

A man hoping to move out of the closet falls into a trap of drug-fueled hedonism in this cautionary drama. John (Jonathan Wade Drahos) is a police officer from a small town who is forced to leave his career behind when it is discovered that he's gay. Hoping to find more tolerant surroundings, John moves to West Hollywood and rents an apartment with Nina (Kiersten Warren), an old friend from his high school days. One night, John attends a party where he meets Hector (Andre Khabazzi), an attractive hustler with whom he quickly strikes up a relationship. Hector is a regular on the L.A. party circuit, and John soon falls in with him, but the endless barrage of music, drugs, and anonymous sex proves more than John can handle, and he soon develops a dangerous dependence on amphetamines. William Katt, Nancy Allen, and Bruce Vilanch also appear in the supporting cast. Circuit had its premiere at the 2001 L.A. Outfest, a festival devoted to gay and lesbian-themed films. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Fifteen years after the original Children of the Corn, John Franklin returns as Isaac, leader of the band of murderous children who has returned to bring the youthful followers back to the field. Also stars Nancy Allen and Stacy Keach. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Steven Soderbergh directed this crime caper adapted from the novel by Elmore Leonard. When ex-con Jack Foley (George Clooney) robs a bank, his car goes dead, and Foley lands in a Florida prison. His escape from prison doesn't go as planned, since it's witnessed by deputy federal marshal Karen Sisco (Jennifer Lopez). Foley's pal Buddy Bragg (Ving Rhames) intervenes, with the result that Sisco winds up in the trunk of the getaway car with Foley, and the two realize they're attracted to each other, despite being on opposite sides of the law. However, that doesn't stop Sisco from her mission to capture Foley, who has spent much of his life in prison. Flashbacks introduce Foley's fellow prisoners, including dim dude Glenn Michaels (Steve Zahn), violent Maurice "Snoopy" Miller (Don Cheadle), and insider trader and billionaire Richard Ripley (Albert Brooks), who talks too much about his wealth. This later leads to a break-in at Ripley's posh Detroit estate by Miller, his brother-in-law Kenneth (Isaiah Washington), and menacing White Boy Rob (Keith Loneker). While seeking a hidden safe, the group threatens Ripley's housekeeper Midge (Nancy Allen). Foley and Bragg are in on this operation, but they wind up outwitting the others, and Sisco is close on their trail. The film features uncredited cameos by Michael Keaton and Samuel L. Jackson, and was shot in locations in Florida, Louisiana, and Michigan. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

In this action adventure, a former hit woman comes out of retirement to rescue her daughter from kidnappers. The child's abductors demand that the ex-killer retrieve a highly classified document. They give the woman 24 hours to succeed. If she fails, her daughter will die. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Monica (Roma Downey) and Tess (Della Reese) must somehow straighten out the domestic travails of lawyer Susana (Brooke Adams), her husband Jack (Ed Marinaro) and his mistress Megan (Nancy Allen). Using the Thanksgiving-weekend traffic rush to their advantage, the two angels contrive to have Monica and Tess meet in a car accident. And as if that wasn't enough, Monica and Tess also conjure up an "estate" where both ladies will be forced to spend the holiday with Jack...a situation that could turn either sweet or sour, depending on the breaks. As a bonus, we learn that even Angel of Death Adam (Charles Rocket) has qualms about killing a Thanksgiving turkey! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this behind-the-scenes thriller, a movie actress finds herself accused of hacking up her producer. She tries to flee with two lovers preparing to marry. The three get into all sorts of trouble that ends with the death of the fiancee. Once again, the actress finds herself accused of the crime, but did she do it? ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The serialized story structure and barbed social commentary from comic book creator and co-writer Frank Miller earned critical respect in this satirical science fiction sequel directed by Irvin Kershner. Peter Weller returns as RoboCop, a futuristic cyborg fashioned from cutting-edge technology and the biological remains of slain Detroit police officer, Alex Murphy. Still patrolling the city streets, RoboCop is scheduled by his creator, Omni Consumer Products, to be replaced by a new "superior" model, RoboCop 2, that according to designer Juliette Faxx (Belinda Bauer), will contain the human remains not of a cop but a criminal. In the meantime, an instantly addictive drug called Nuke is sweeping through Detroit thanks to a kingpin named Cain (Tom Noonan). Taking Cain to task, RoboCop is captured and dismantled. When he's put back together, the cyborg is reprogrammed with a series of socially conscious commands (in a sly mocking of the then relatively new concept of "political correctness") that render him impotent as a law enforcer. Taking charge by rewiring himself with an electrical overload, RoboCop arrests Cain, who is injured in the process. Faxx secretly takes Cain's brain and inserts it into RoboCop 2, turning the robot immediately into a law-breaking murder machine and leading to a violent showdown between two generations of robotic crime-fighters. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

In this Faustian tale, a Chicago Grain Exchange employee (Nancy Allen) signs a pact with the Devil in order to get a leg up in soybean futures. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Jillian Grey (Nancy Allen) is a television reporter who investigates the disappearance of young women in this routine action drama. She is kidnapped with three other woman from the streets of Los Angeles and sold into slavery in Southeast Asia. Martin Landau plays Cicero, the villainous head of the white slave trade, with Ted Shackelford as the heroic soldier of fortune Boone. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this made-for-TV movie, a young Los Angeles man is killed by a drunken driver and his brother attempts to avenge his death by ridding the streets of dangerous drivers. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

This science fiction thriller was inspired by a mythical real-life event, the WWII era disappearance of an entire naval vessel during a radar-cloaking test. In 1943, David Herdeg Michael Pare and Jim Parker Bobby DiCicco are sailors stationed aboard a Virginia battleship. Their vessel is undergoing an experiment conducted by brilliant scientist Dr. Longstreeet (Eric Christmas), who is attempting to render Allied craft invisible to radar. The ship becomes briefly invisible, but the test is a disaster and most of the crew are horribly killed. However, two crewmen are missing. In 1984, Herdeg and Parker emerge in the Nevada desert, having somehow traveled through time. Longstreet, still trying to perfect the device after 40 years, is running another experiment that pulls the missing sailors into the present. Realizing what's occurred, Herdeg and Parker flee, fearing for their lives. Fugitives, they befriend a skeptical modern woman, Alison Hayes (Nancy Allen). An effect of time pulls Parker back into 1943, leading to a bizarre reunion between Herdeg, still trapped in the future, and Parker, now a senior citizen. The film was followed by a sequel nine years later. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

In this subtly humorous, alien-invasion film by Michael Laughlin, who co-wrote the screenplay with William Condon, the aliens infiltrate a small Midwestern town in 1958 and beam the "spirits" of several of the townspeople up to their spacecraft in little blue bubbles, while they settle into the bodies of their new farm personae. But Margaret (Diana Scarwid), one of their number, leaves for life and marriage in New York and has a daughter Elizabeth by her earthling husband Charles Bigelow (Paul LeMat), a professor. After two decades or so go by, the aliens opt for returning to their home planet, but they have to first go to the city dressed as farmers and round up Margaret and her daughter. Soon Charles figures out what is going on with the help of the tough, optimistic Betty Walker (Nancy Allen), a reporter for a tabloid paper, and the two head to the town where it all started.The light contrast between the bucolic '50s and the street-wise '80s gives way to a few shocking scenes of repugnant aliens in transformation with formidable special effects. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Brian De Palma's homage to Michelangelo Antonioni's classic art movie Blow-Up (1966) blends suspense and political paranoia when a Philadelphia soundman inadvertently records a murder. Former police technician Jack Terri (John Travolta) makes his living doing sound for slasher flicks. While recording new outdoor effects one night, Jack witnesses a couple's car careen off a bridge into a river, but he can save only the female occupant, Sally (Nancy Allen). Jack begins to suspect something when he learns that her dead companion was a Presidential hopeful. Re-playing his tape over and over, Jack thinks that he hears a gun shot before the crash-causing tire blow-out. When sleazy photographer Manny Karp (Dennis Franz) comes forward with photos of the accident, Jack discovers the real reason that the naïve Sally was in the car -- and also a way to prove his auditory suspicions through motion pictures. Even with all his surveillance talent, however, Jack cannot see (or hear) how dangerous the big picture really is until it's too late. Taking a break from horror films, De Palma turned his interests in technology and voyeurism toward more politically loaded subject matter at the dawn of the Reagan era; the film's red, white and blue mise-en-scène, "Liberty Day" celebration climax, and conspiracy surrounding political "dirty tricks" suggest that American politics are still rotten, seven years after Watergate, . Although Blow Out earned some favorable notice, particularly for Travolta's first "adult" performance, De Palma's downbeat film did not go over well with 1981 summer audiences. Rather than blockbuster escapism, Blow Out instead harks back to 1970s political thrillers like The Parallax View (1974), using cinematic fireworks to tell an unsettling story about one man's struggle against unstoppable corruption. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide