Barry Rosen Movies

This junior-level Ground Hog Day stars Erik Von Detten as Billy Jackson, a 13-year-old Scrooge in the making. Lacking the athletic prowess to play with his Christmas presents, mooning over a girl who doesn't know he's alive (and whose boyfriend is a bully), and ruminating over the fact that his rich uncle's new Val-U-Mall will put his father's store out of business, Billy has absolutely no reason to believe in Santa Claus--and he relays this sentiment to his kid sister Sarah (Yvonne Zima). In a burst of retaliatory stubbornness, Sarah counters Billy's sourness by wishing that it would be Christmas every day. Wham! She gets her wish, and Billy is trapped in an eternity of Christmases--and of course, he's the only person who is aware that time is standing still. At first intending take advantage of his foreknowledge by getting even with various enemies and selfishly grabbing up whatever he wants, Billy gradually realizes that the only way December 26th will ever dawn is if he stops thinking about himself and starts caring about others. First telecast by the Family Channel on December 17, 1996, the made-for-cable Christmas Every Day has become something of a Yuletide perennial in recent years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Comedian John Candy, who died during the making of this poorly received comic western, plays James Harlow, a 19th century wagon master who is heading back east with a wagon train full of oddball characters who have had their fill of Western life. They include ex-doctor Phil Taylor (Richard Lewis), kind-hearted prostitute Belle (Ellen Greene), and a bookseller, Julian (John C. McGinley). Harlow is a drunken, washed-up leader who frequently gets lost. The travelers eventually discover that he was a member of the famous Donner party, which resorted to cannibalism when stranded in the mountains. Railroad magnates try to turn back the party, figuring it's bad publicity for people out East to learn that the West is not really a paradise. The tycoons hire gunfighters and villains to stop the expedition, but local Indians protect the wagons, because they are glad to see disgruntled white settlers leaving their lands. This "backwards" western was based on a story by Jerry Abrahamson. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

The Stranger Within, a frightening, well-done, made-for-TV thriller with a fine performance by Rick Schroder tell the story of a boy trying to convince a unstable woman that he is her long-lost son. Mare Blackburn (Kate Jackson) is an emotionally traumatized woman whose three-year-old son was kidnapped 12 years before. One day Mark (Rick Schroder) appears on her doorstep claiming to be her lost son who has escaped and returned to her. Mare is at first overjoyed then frightened when it is apparent that her "son" is a sociopathic killer. Rick Schroder shows remarkable range in this change-of-pace performance where he plays an unsympathetic and unappealing character with great energy and intelligence. The Stranger Within is a fine, frightening psychological thriller. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

The story of Olympic downhill racer Bill Johnson is related in this made-for-TV biopic. Future ER star Anthony Edwards plays Johnson, who while growing up in Oregon was known far and wide for his capacity as a troublemaker. After several brushes with the law (one landing him behind bars), Johnson straightens out and flies right when he develops an interest in skiing. Dennis Weaver co-stars as Johnson's supportive dad. Going for the Gold was first telecast May 18, 1985, less than a year after Johnson's Gold Medal win at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Barry Rosen, director of the cult favorite Gang Wars, made this confused sex comedy about New York models. Michelle Dow plays the naive Melody, who comes to the Big Apple from Duncan Falls, Ohio, to pursue her dream. Inevitably, this dream leads to casting-couches, frightening nightmares, rape, and suicide, but there is much humor in the interim. Rosen tries to graft episodic screwball comedy bits involving bad auditions and backstage cattiness onto what is essentially a grim 1930s-style cautionary tale, and it doesn't quite work. The end result plays like a demented hybrid of Showgirls and Valley of the Dolls in which Melody's horrible abuse at the hands of sleazy producers alternates with semi-nude models pulling each other's hair and elderly Edna Thayer croaking "I'm a Big Fat Mama" to a dismayed casting director. The fact that two of the models are played by Judy Landers and Tanya Roberts may interest some viewers, but overall this disjointed soap-opera is unsatisfying and trite. Production manager Mik Cribben went on to direct the intriguing Beware! Children at Play, while assistant cameraman Domonic Paris directed Dracula's Last Rites and the cheerleader comedy Splitz. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide