Joseph Carberry Movies
- 2003
John Clark Jr. (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) ends his relationship with Rita Ortiz (Jacqueline Obradors), while Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) and Connie McDowell (Charlotte Ross) mull over their own romance during Theo's (Austin Majors) classroom pageant. Back on the job, a music-industry "angel," described by one associate as a "grade-A prick," is murdered; and a Russian mail-order bride who has barely escaped an attempt on her life refuses to press charges against the likeliest suspect -- her own husband. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry Simmons
- 2002
In the first half of NYPD Blue's ninth-season finale, no sooner have Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) and Connie McDowell (Charlotte Ross) returned from Disney World than they join the rest of the 15th precinct in a case involving a missing four-year-old boy. At first, it seems as though the youngster has fallen victim to an online sexual predator, but before long, several other possible suspects come to surface. Elsewhere, gay cop John Irvin (Bill Brochtrup) inherits a huge amount of money from his late long-estranged father. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry Simmons
- 2002
When teenaged auxiliary officer Heather Peterson is murdered, she leaves behind a diary which details explicitly the sexual habits of the uniformed officers of the 15th precinct. These revelations result in a lot of suspicion and recriminations volleying back and forth between the uniforms and the detectives. Meanwhile, McDowell (Charlotte Ross) and Ortiz (Jacqueline Obradors) deal with an uncooperative stabbing victim; Jones (Henry Simmons) and Haywood (Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon) team up to trap a con artist specializing in phone-scamming senior citizens; and Andy's son Theo (Austin Majors) balks at sharing a room with baby Michelle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry Simmons
- 2002
Having suffered mightily from the obsessive jealousy of her husband, Don Harrison (Stan Cahill), Rita Ortiz (Jacqueline Obradors) finds out that Don has been cheating on her. Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) takes time off to nail the crooked business manager (John Vickery) of dear old Mrs. Hornby (Elmarie Wendel). Several witnesses to a homicide seem to be willing to harm themselves rather than testify against a much-feared gang leader. And Valerie (Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon) upsets both Greg Medavoy (Gordon Clapp) and Baldwin Jones (Henry Simmons) when she announces her pregnancy and takes a leave of absence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry Simmons
- 2001
The dead body of stripper Kristen Moore (Jenna Gering) is found in the apartment of Danny Sorenson (Ricky Schroder) -- and Danny has vanished without a trace. With precious few clues to go on, Andy (Dennis Franz) and Connie (Charlotte Ross) try to link Kristen's murder and Danny's disappearance to the strip club managed by Joey Schulman (Greg Grunberg). The present crisis not only puts the entire precinct on its ear, but seriously strains the relationship between partners Baldwin (Henry Simmons) and Greg (Gordon Clapp). With this cliffhanger finale, the eighth season of NYPD Blue comes to a close. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2001
The detectives at the 15th precinct go to great lengths to avoid meeting their new skipper, the notorious by-the-book disciplinarian Lt. Susan Dalto (Denise Crosby). Also new to the precinct is Lt. Tony Rodriguez (Esai Morales), whose impact will not be felt until the next episode. In other developments, a cash-register thief (Max Perlich) tries to get a lighter sentence by offering to lead the detectives to the dead body of a teenaged crack whore. And Eddie Gibson (John F. O'Donohue) doesn't like being in the middle of the romantic intrigues between his niece Cynthia and Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz). With this episode, James McDaniel makes his final appearance as Lt. Arthur Fancy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1993
Dan Hedaya guest stars as a self-proclaimed werewolf who demands to be locked up at the 15th Precinct, claiming "intimate" knowledge of a recent murder. Meanwhile, a desperate Polish couple searches for their son, a homeless man is hauled in on a murder charge, and Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) discovers that the much-older fiancée of his teenaged son (Michael DeLuise) is chronically unfaithful. But all of this pales in comparison to the ordeal of Laura (Sherry Stringfield), who is an eyewitness to mob boss Giardella's assassination. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1991
Seven mobsters make a nighttime heist on New York City's Kennedy Airport, in this retelling of the true story of the shocking Lufthansa robbery. This cash robbery--the largest in American history--unfolds in 1978, the scheme plotted by gangster Jimmy "The Gent" Burke. The film follows them as the characters move deeper and deeper into the violence of their crime, ~ All Movie Guide
Shakespeare's Macbeth is transplanted to a '90s New York gangland in this 1991 film. A hit man (John Turturro) is convinced to murder his boss (Rod Steiger) after his future as the head of the organization is ensured by three fortune-tellers. With the help of his domineering wife (Kathie Borowitz), the hit man murders his way to the top, but then faces the consequences. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Turturro, Katherine Borowitz, (more)
Rusty Sabich (Harrison Ford) is a bland, oppressed man who burns with a quiet, corrosive intensity that can flare uncontrollably. A Philadelphia prosecutor, Sabich's fire seems to have one outlet: his job. He loves prosecuting people. Otherwise, his life is dead-ended. He has a loveless marriage to a neurotic woman (Bonnie Bedelia) and an overbearing boss (Brian Dennehy) in a labyrinthine law enforcement world of corruption and twisted relationships. Then Carolyn Polhemus (Greta Scacchi) comes into his life. Lovely and seductive, Polhemus easily entices him to break his marital vows, but she schemes to get him to try for his boss' job. When he refuses, she leaves him. When she turns up dead, the victim of an apparent rape-murder, clues begin to point to Sabich. His blood type almost perfectly matches that in the semen found in the victim, carpet fibers at the crime scene match those found in his house, and most damning, his fingerprints are found on a beer glass in Polhemus' apartment. His protestations of innocence ignored, Sabich is put on trial for the murder and hires his biggest adversary (Raul Julia) to defend him. ~ Nick Sambides, Jr., All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harrison Ford, Brian Dennehy, (more)
- 1990
- R
Hubert Selby's controversial 1964 cult novel Last Exit To Brooklyn is adapted to the big screen by director Ulrich Edel in this drama. The story is set in the early 1950s in Red Hook, Brooklyn, a blighted waterfront town of boarded-up storefronts and striking factory workers. Harry Black (Stephen Lang), a machinist put in charge of the local union strike office, suddenly finds himself one of the most important men in town. But for all his sudden power, there's something disturbing Harry. He rejects his wife's caresses and discovers himself infatuated with a frail young man who calls himself Georgette (Alexis Arquette), who has a crush on well-muscled hood Vinnie (Peter Dobson). But Harry doesn't confront his problem head-on until he falls head-over-heels in love with Regina (Zette), a local transvestite. As the strike becomes more intense, Harry sinks deeper into an obsessive affair with Regina, using the strike fund to shower him/her with personal gifts. As Harry sinks into obsession, other characters float through the decaying streets. There's the attractive prostitute Tralala (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who falls in love with a sailor about to be shipped overseas. There is also an agreeable young man named Tommy (John Costelloe) who is beaten by his soon-to-be father-in-law Big Joe (Burt Young) for making his daughter Donna (Ricki Lake) pregnant. Everything comes to a tragic conclusion as the workers' strike escalates into a violent confrontation. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stephen Lang, Jennifer Jason Leigh, (more)
In his film debut, novice director John Dahl (who would later make The Last Seduction), weaves a quirky tale of love, murder and deception. Jack Andrews (Val Kilmer), a seedy private detective is hired by Fay Forrester (Joanne Whalley-Kilmer), to help her fake her own death in a clever scheme to escape from her mob pursuers, whom she double-crossed stealing money she had been sent to pick up, and are now intent on killing her. There then ensues a series of complicated plot-twists, double-crosses and surprises as Fay and Jack race each other to escape the mobsters, who have found them, and to get the money before the other does. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley, (more)
- 1988
In this made-for-HBO thriller, Pierce Brosnan stars as an ex-convict who seeks revenge on the racetrack partner (Tom Skerritt) who framed him. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierce Brosnan, Tom Skerritt, (more)
- 1987
- R
This crime drama tells the story of the man behind the terrible Kansas City massacre, Verne Miller. Miller started out as a South Dakota sheriff and during the 1920s became a notorious gangster hit man. He started out doing jobs for Al Capone in Chicago and was so good at his job that Capone appointed him head of his Kansas City operation. The trouble begins when Miller thinks he has more power than he actually does and defies his boss to save two captured gangsters. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Scott Glenn, Barbara Stock, (more)
One of a string of Ramboesque films dashed off in the '80s, Missing in Action is yet another entry that attempts to exploit the lingering public bitterness over the outcome of the war in Vietnam. Colonel Braddock (karate champion Chuck Norris) travels to Vietnam on a mission to recover lost POWs. A former POW himself, Braddock has the saavy and bad temper to kill droves of communists at a time, not to mention the inclination. Together with former war comrade M. Emmet Walsh, he sets off for the POW camp where Americans are supposedly still held. Of course, there are lots of nameless, faceless Asian communists, and of course, every one of them dies in violent fashion. The chop-socky, shoot-em-up, explosion-a-minute action quickly wears thin. Missing in Action is a crass, dopey film that ultimately fails to connect with anything interesting in the realm of fact or fiction. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chuck Norris, M. Emmet Walsh, (more)
Director Michael Ritchie spoofs survivalists in this rambling black comedy. Donald Quinelle (Robin Williams) is a successful young executive who is called to his boss' office one morning and is fired by a parrot sitting in the CEO's chair -- a method the company uses to axe high-powered execs. Donald meets Sonny Paluso (Walter Matthau), a former gas station owner who is out of work because his business was blown up. At a diner, the two newfound friends witness a robbery and catch sight of the perpetrator, Jerry Reed (Jack Locke). Reed is a mob hit man who swears to kill the two men who saw him commit the crime. Donald, formerly afraid of weapons, becomes obsessed with guns as a way to protect himself from the mob. He enrolls in a survivalist training school in the mountains of Vermont. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Matthau, Robin Williams, (more)
The excessive violence in this action thriller makes New York City look like the site of a civil war -- or rather, a nauseatingly uncivil war fought between factory workers allied with neighborhood citizens against their enemies: drug pushers and other low-lifes. At first the worker Eddie Merino (Robert Forster) refuses to join a vigilante movement, but when his wife is stabbed and his son killed by a Puerto Rican gang, Eddie eventually opts for his own right to kill. His decision is not allowed to come quickly, he is made to agonize a bit longer. When the gang leader (singer Willie Colón) who killed Eddie's son is caught and brought up for trial, he gets off with a suspended sentence because of a corrupt defense lawyer and an inept judge. Eddie attacks the judge in court and is sent to jail for contempt. When he gets out of jail, he becomes a vigilante, out to kill the guilty or those he sees as protecting the guilty in the death of his son. From then on, a non-stop bloodbath takes over as the star of the film. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Forster, Fred Williamson, (more)
- 1980
- R
The protagonists are secondary and uni-dimensional in this unlikely actioner about a divorced father (James Brolin) tearing through New York chasing the man who kidnapped his daughter (Abby Bluestone). Sean Boyd (Brolin) is an ex-cop with an enemy on the force out to kill him. Between dodging his would-be assassin, fighting off street thugs, and getting crashed into by one car after another, Boyd is not about to give up or get seriously hurt. In the meantime the police themselves are too inept to catch the kidnapper (Cliff Gorman), and the winsome Marie (Julie Carmen) has decided to hang out with Boyd and help him find his daughter. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Brolin, Cliff Gorman, (more)
Marsha Mason is known as "The Goodbye Girl" because of all the live-in boyfriends who have said ta-ta to her in the past few years. A former Broadway chorus dancer, the divorced Mason lives in the Manhattan apartment of her latest lost love with her daughter Quinn Cummings. Enter arrogant actor Richard Dreyfuss, who has subleased the apartment from Mason's former boyfriend and moves in bag and baggage in the middle of the night. Dreyfuss and Mason spend the next few weeks getting in each other's way and fighting like cats and dogs. The wind is taken out of Dreyfuss' sails when he opens in a production of Richard III, which has been sabotaged by the director (Paul Benjamin), who insists that Dreyfuss portrays Richard as a hip-swinging homosexual. The play closes after one performance, and the once-overconfident Dreyfuss goes on a self-pitying drunken binge. Touched by his vulnerability, Mason begins falling in love with Dreyfuss despite her lousy track record with men. Richard Dreyfuss became the youngest ever "Best Actor" Oscar winner as a result of his performance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Dreyfuss, Marsha Mason, (more)
"Short eyes" is prison slang for a man who sodomizes little boys. Fitting this odious description is new inmate Bruce Davison, who is arrested and locked up with the scum of the earth. Despite their own depravities, Davison's fellow prisoners consider him the lowest form of human life, and proceed to treat him accordingly, in a series of appalling episodes that must have been as hard to film as they are to watch. Most of the supporting cast is comprised of real-life hoodlums, junkies and killers; small wonder that Davison retains his deer-in-the-headlights facial expression throughout the film. Short Eyes was based on a play by Miguel Pinero. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Davison, Jose Perez, (more)
