Tony Rosato Movies

Two children learn their father is going to Chicago for a job interview and jump to the conclusion that it means Mom and Dad are getting a divorce. They then devise a plan to ruin the interview in hopes that it will bring their folks back together. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

While pursuing a gang of diamond thieves and kidnappers, Fraser (Paul Gross) is thrown from a van and rendered unconscious. When he awakens, he realizes that his memory has been erased. As Fraser laboriously picks through his past (courtesy of filmclips from previous Due South episodes), hopes to rescue the crooks' hostage grow dimmer and dimmer. Filmed as the final episode of Due South's second season, this episode was slated to premiere over the American CBS network on May 31, 1996, but was yanked at the last minute. As a result, the episode debuted September 19, 1996 on Canadian television--and was not seen in the US until it was picked up by the TNT cable service on November 4, 1998. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A small-town lawyer (Christine Lahti) fights a tobacco company when her son's best friend is stricken with mouth cancer, due to his frequent use of chewing tobacco. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

In this black teen comedy, a young man is thrilled that his kindly older brother has arranged for him to date the bombshell next door. To further impress her, little brother takes his sibling's shiny sports car. If he had known that there were a pair of corpses in the trunk though, the youth may have changed his mind. Matters get really messy when the cops pull him over and check out the trunk themselves. Soon he and his date find themselves pursued by the police, the tong and an irate florist. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

A free-spirited commercial artist loses his girl to a stodgy professor and decides to everything in his power to get her back in this Canadian romantic comedy. When he learns that she and her new love are heading off to the mountains for a cozy weekend, he decides to follow them. En route, the lovers encounter a crazed biker and his nutty chick, and an idiotic bumpkin. In the end, all parties involved converge upon the cabin and merry romantic mayhem ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The 1920s-era play The Front Page was about a Chicago reporter who wants to retire and get married but is tricked by his editor into doing one last story -- which proves to be complicated. It was made into a classic film in 1931 and inspired the 1940 hit movie His Girl Friday, in which the reporter was changed into a woman. Billy Wilder also remade the original film in 1974. Switching Channels is a 1988 remake of His Girl Friday, with Kathleen Turner in the starring role, which has now morphed into that of a cable television network news anchor, Christy Colleran. She wants to marry a rich and handsome sporting goods manufacturer, Blaine Bingham (Christopher Reeve) and move out of town. But her ex-husband, John L. Sullivan IV (Burt Reynolds), who is also her producer and boss, gives her one final assignment to try to keep her around. Her reporting leads her into an investigation of a jail escape that follows a botched-up execution. Writer Jonathan Reynolds updated the original material. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi

Hands of a Stranger was adapted by playwright Arthur Kopit from the best-selling novel by Robert Daley. Armand Assante plays a New York City narcotics officer who aids DA Blair Brown in her investigation of a rape case in which drugs were involved. In the subsequent days, Assante becomes something of an expert in rape evidence. Thus, when his wife Beverly D'Angelo is sexually assaulted while en route to a rendezvous with her lover, Assante suspects something even though D'Angelo remains mum about the incident. Conducting his own investigation, Assante determines the rapist's identity while wiretapping a phoned-in attempt to blackmail his wife. Will Assante forget everything he's learned about police procedure and attempt to take the law into his own hands? Co-starring in Hands of a Stranger is Arliss Howard as the scummy rapist. Preceded by a warning that the film contained scenes of a violent and graphic nature, Hands of a Stranger was originally broadcast in two parts, on May 10 and 11, 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Prolific actor-stuntman Conrad Palmisano directed this average action-thriller about the owner of an inner-city gym. Earl (Paul Coufos) happens to also be a skilled fighter, and when he is pressured by real-estate developers to close the gym, he fights in order to save it. Former Saturday Night Live regular Tony Rosato co-stars with Irene Cara, who sings a cover version of "She Works Hard for the Money," as well as portraying Earl's love interest, Simone. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

Set in the future, a policeman must stop his psychotic brother who has kidnapped and killed a child. Tangerine Dream provides the score. ~ John Bush, Rovi

This three-hour TV movie stars Sophia Loren as New Yorker Marianna Miraldo. Hurt and angered by her son's cocaine addiction, Marianna discovers that a close friend also has ties with the drug scene. After several of her imprisoned friend's associates try to contact him through her, the DEA persuades Marianna to aid them in an undercover operation headed by cop Bobby Jay (Billy Dee Williams). Despite the "don't get involved" admonitions of her husband (Hector Elizondo), Marianna agrees to cooperate with the DEA, if only for the sake of her son. This fact-based film, which first aired September 24, 1986, concludes with the feds closing in on a $3.5 billion cocaine ring. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Flawed and problematic, this romantic comedy is about Abigail Adams (Suzanne Somers), a sexy, talented, and dedicated lawyer, her new client Prof. Roger Keller (Donald Sutherland), and their fight to save baby seals from slaughter. The issue was a hot one, but the film as a whole does not rise to the occasion. The good professor manages to get the attention of Washington brass, and the good lawyer manages to get the attention of the professor, so the battle against the corporate devil (Lawrence Z. Dane) in charge of the mayhem begins. And the battle of the sexes is played out against that backdrop. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Although former stalwarts John Candy, Catherine O'Hara, and Harold Ramis are no longer part of the action, the third season of SCTV still boasts some of the Canadian-based sketch comedy series' best material. For starters, the season opener offers a special presentation of My Fair Lady...that is, a special presentation of the promotional trailer for My Fair Lady. This is just a warm-up for the first appearance of the beer-guzzling McKenzie Brothers (Dave Thomas and new series regular Rick Moranis), fulfilling Canadian broadcast requirements by hosting the free-form chat fest "Great White North" ("How's it going, eh, you hoser?"). With several minutes still to go in the opener, we're treated to "The Lee Iacocca Rock Concert." In later season three offerings, Harvey K-Tel presents a "fast talking" version of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (But wait! There's more!); Molly Earle (Robin Duke) revises her celebrated series "Crazy Crafts" after a 15-year absence, by no popular demand whatsoever; Guy Caballero (Joe Flaherty) emcees a live production of Death of a Salesman starring Ricardo Montalban (Eugene Levy) , Margaret Hamilton (Andrea Martin), George Carlin (Rick Moranis), and DeForest Kelley (Dave Thomas); "Monster Chiller Horror Theater" presents "Death Motel" with Woody Tobias Jr. (Eugene Levy) and plenty of scary 3-D effects; and "The Lone Ranger Show" finds the masked man (Rick Moranis) and Tonto (Joe Flaherty) welcoming Wishbone from Rawhide and arresting Kip Addotta for violating the Code of the West by doing a bad standup routine. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi