Karen Carlson Movies

This is a moving documentary about 12 brave women and their quest to climb Mt. McKinley, the tallest mountain in North America, in order to bring global attention to the struggle against breast cancer. Five of the climbers are breast cancer survivors, while the other seven chose to climb in honor of a loved one diagnosed with breast cancer. Their story is narrarated by Olympia Dukakis and is filmed over the final year of a two and a half year training program. This documentary focuses on the personal stories of the survivors and demonstrates the power of sheer determination as the women struggle to overcome horrible weather, emotional pain, and several physical ailments. ~ Karla Baker, All Movie Guide

This sequel to the 1974 family film Where the Red Fern Grows tells the story of a man named Billy Coleman (Doug McKeon), who returns from duty in WWII to the home of his crotchety grandfather (Wilford Brimley). Hidden deep in the Louisiana woods, the home provides a place for Billy to readjust to a normal life, raise a litter of puppies, and reconnect with the things in life that he fought so hard to save. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide

Adapted from a true story and made for the video stores, Dangerous Company concerns convicted criminal Ray Johnson, who spent almost 30 years in prison before rehabilitating himself. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

The "brothers" in Brotherly Love are twin siblings Ben and Harry Ryder. Both are played by Judd Hirsch, in a change of pace from his Taxi duties. One of the twins is a solid citizen and family man; the other is evil incarnate. The story was adapted from a William D. Blankenship novel by the later Ernest Tidyman, whose next-to-last project this was. Filmed in Canada, Brotherly Love first aired May 28, 1985. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A former rodeo champion gets an insatiable hunkering to get back in the saddle and ride out on a wild horse round up in this made-for-TV western adventure. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Officially premiering April 27, 1981, the weekly TV drama American Dream was preceded by a 90-minute pilot film, telecast April 26. The six-member Novak family, headed by Marshall Field employee Danny Novak (Stephen Macht), moves from the comfort of suburban Arlington Heights to inner-city Chicago (gosh only knows why). Danny's wife Donna (Karen Carlson) approves of the move, while sons Casey and Todd (Tim Waldrip and Michael Hershewe) want no part of it. The Novak's new neighbors include feisty, combatitive Paula Navarro (Helen Rubio), and old philosophical realtor Berlowitz (Hans Conreid). The American Dream series itself lasted two months; for details of the compromises and the broken dreams that led to its demise, see media critic Todd Gitlin's 1984 book Inside Prime Time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A novel by Paul Gallico provides the plot for this tale of a down-on-his-luck boxing promoter (Elliott Gould). In desperation, he plots a match between the heavyweight champion of the world (Larry Pennell) and a kangaroo. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

Marlo Thomas' first mistake was optioning the classic It's a Wonderful Life for this TV remake; her second was starring in it herself in the Jimmy Stewart part! This gender switch aside, It Happened One Christmas follows the original virtually to the letter. Thomas is a young woman who dreams of leaving her small town to see the world, but circumstances force her to remain in town as head of the local bank--and in so doing she enriches the lives of everyone around her. In a moment of financial crisis, Thomas contemplates suicide, but is rescued by her guardian angel (Cloris Leachman, overacting her way--complete with British accent--through the old Henry Travers part). The angel shows Thomas what life in her town would have been like if Thomas had never been born. You know the rest. It was already hard to believe in the original film that Donna Reed would have become a spinster had she never met Jimmy Stewart; it was impossible to believe in the remake that Wayne Rogers (in the equivalent to the Reed part) would not only have remained unmarried, but also would have become an embittered failure without Thomas' presence. Only Orson Welles, in the Lionel Barrymore role as the villainous Potter, comes across with any credibility. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Susan Dey inaugurated her long and successful campaign to shuck her Partridge Family image in the made-for-TV Cage Without a Key. Dey plays a teenager mistakenly convicted for murder (some mistake!) She is sentenced to a grim woman's penal institution straight out of a Linda Blair movie. As she struggles against the iniquities of prison life, her friends and relatives on the outside fight for justice. A shockingly substandard effort from accomplished TV director Buzz Kulik, Cage Without a Key is credible only in its exterior scenes, filmed at Las Palmas School for Girls in City of Commerce, California. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

"What do we do now?" Director Michael Ritchie and executive producer/star Robert Redford satirically explore the machinations and manipulations of media-age political campaigns in this cynical political drama. Rumpled left-wing California lawyer Bill McKay (Redford), the son of a former governor (Melvyn Douglas), is enlisted by campaign maestro Marvin Lucas (Peter Boyle) to challenge Republican incumbent Crocker Jarmon (Don Porter) for his Senate seat. McKay agrees, but only if he can say exactly what he thinks. That approach is all well and good when McKay does not seem to have a chance, but things change when his honesty unexpectedly captivates the electorate. As McKay inches up in the polls, Lucas and company start to do what it takes to win, leaving McKay to ponder the consequences of his political seduction. Working without studio interference from a script by Jeremy Larner, a speechwriter for 1968 Presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy, Ritchie enhanced the behind-the-scenes realism of Larner's insights with a realistic, cinéma vérité approach. He orchestrated a campaign parade for "candidate" Redford that drew such a considerable unstaged audience that local politicians wanted to draft Redford for a real election. Redford's resemblance to the telegenic Kennedys, and his character's resonance with the future career of California governor Jerry Brown, only emphasized how close to the bone The Candidate was (and is). Released the fateful year of Richard Nixon's reelection, the film garnered accolades, if not substantial box office; Larner won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and thanked the "politicians of our time" for inspiration. Creating a documentary fiction about the semi-truths manufactured to market a candidate, The Candidate shrewdly exposed the effects of the media on the increasingly cynical political process, posing unanswerable questions that have become all the more pressing with every soundbite-ruled election. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

NBC was seeking a little ethnic diversity (a la Shaft) in its Mystery Movie lineup when the network commissioned Cutter. Peter DeAnda plays Frank Cutter, an African-American private eye headquartered in Chicago. Cutter's current assignment is to locate a missing pro quarterback. Stepin Fetchit, an echo from an earlier, demeaning era in black entertainment, shows up in the brief role of "Shineman". Cutter received a single 90-minute showing on January 26, 1972; it failed to make the NBC Mystery Movie cut as a regular entry. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Enemy agent James Reed (David Sheiner) intends to steal the plans for a new missile guidance system. The IMF is assigned to hoodwink Reed into pilfering a set of bonus plans. Endangering the mission is escaped mental patient Hecker (John Beck), who believes that IMF agent Dana is his former girlfriend. Watch for raspy-voiced cult actor Percy Helton in a typically fleeting role (one of his last). Originally telecast on January 16, 1971, "The Missile" was written by Arthur Weiss. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide