Best Drama Films of 1988
Another Woman
Grad-school administrative head Marion ... Director Woody Allen's career-long indebtedness to Ingmar Bergman is underlined in Another Woman via Bergman's frequent cinematographer Sven Nykvist. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Tequila Sunrise
For his first directorial ... in the production credits of cinematographer Conrad Hall, who earned an Oscar nomination for his richly textured color camerawork. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Tucker: The Man and His Dream
History tells us that ... Landau as Tucker's incongruous business partner. Jeff's dad, Lloyd Bridges, appears in an uncredited role as a "bought" senator. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
The Presidio
San Francisco detective Jay ... as forceful as her father. Highlights of the film are the chase scene through Chinatown and Connery's exceptional performance. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Mississippi Burning
Mississippi Burning is an ... title Mississippi Burning is certainly appropriate: nearly half the film is taken up with scenes of smoke and flame. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Stealing Home
The storytelling device of ... experiences of its writers, former Second City troupe members and WKRP in Cincinnati writers Steven Kampmann and Will Aldis. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Beaches
Based on a novel ... again, they once more become Manhattan roommates. Their bond strengthens, but there is tragedy in store for the duo. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
A Child's Christmas in Wales
Made for television from ... Dylan Thomas classic, the film concerns a traditional Christmas in Wales around the turn of the 20th century. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
A Handful of Dust
Based on a novel ... at all, preferring to escape to South America, stiff upper lip intact, in the company of a dotty explorer. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
The Last Temptation of Christ
Willem Dafoe plays Jesus ... it was accepted as food for thought by the more open-minded clerics and Biblical scholars who recommended the film. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Eight Men Out
Writer/director John Sayles' dramatization ... added a colorful supporting cast that includes Studs Terkel as reporter Hugh Fullerton and Sayles himself as Ring Lardner. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Secret Obsession
Long ago, in what ... a romance with Betty. One of the movie's highlights is a stock car race with the couple's vintage Buick. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
In Philip Kaufman's surprisingly ... viewers may feel the same warm sense of inner satisfaction that is felt after finishing a good, long novel. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Camille Claudel
The troubled life of ... was rewarded with an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. The American release version was cut to 159 minutes. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Colors
Colors stars Robert Duvall ... "Bloods", with every effort to call a truce stymied by the gang members themselves and by undue police intervention. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Bright Lights, Big City
Michael J. Fox once ... milk. Watch for Frasier's David Hyde Pierce in a small role and Jason Robards in a significant unbilled cameo. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Clean and Sober
The directorial debut of ... with an abused fellow addict, Charlie Standers (Kathy Baker), and understanding with his Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor (M. Emmet Walsh). [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Everybody's All-American
Everybody's All American covers ... for a romantic-triangle subplot. Everybody's All American is based on the novel by longtime Sports Illustrated scrivener Frank Deford. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Go Toward the Light
Based on the autobiographical ... script (by Susan Nanus and Beth Polson) and direction (Mike Robe). Go Toward the Light debuted November 1, 1988. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Cocktail
Tom Cruise juggles Martini ... is put on hold. But not for long, as pangs of consciousness begin to filter through Brian's drunken haze. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Miami Vice: Season 05
The fifth and final ... who unfortunately must keep Tubbs at arm's length as she protects an old friend from a homicidal drug dealer. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Split Decisions
This family drama centers ... the Olympics. The eldest has involved himself with corrupt promoters. This naturally creates considerable conflict within the family ranks. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Talk Radio
Monologist Eric Bogosian's one-man ... won't warm up to this film. Talk Radio was the indirect inspiration for the 1990 TV series Night Caller. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Two Moon Junction
Zalman King wrote and ... an eye on her he keeps, so that during the wedding ceremony, he has quite a story to tell. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Midnight Cop
In this complicated police ... in which she is hopelessly mired. Soon the cop finds himself involved with extortion, drugs and a serial killer. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Fresh Horses
Fresh Horses features Molly ... holds within her. Directed by David Anspaugh, Fresh Horses is also known as The Eccentricity of People and Syntax. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Bird
Forest Whitaker stars as ... That's the real Charlie "Bird" Parker on the film's soundtrack, though most of the background music has been re-orchestrated. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Dead Ringers
Two twin brothers, both ... intense for some viewers, but the brilliant central performance and intellectually provocative approach will prove thoroughly absorbing for others. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Dominick and Eugene
Dominick Luciano (Thomas Hulce) ... brother can be together for all time. But the ambitious Eugene can't always bring himself to share that vision. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
End of the Line
Two Southern railroad workers ... kidnapped back to Clifford. Mary Steenburgen, Kevin Bacon, and Barbara Barrie co-star in this routine but entertaining moral melodrama. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Promised Land
Three friends face the ... in Las Vegas three days earlier. Promised Land was also released on home video under the title Young Hearts. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Running on Empty
In this family drama ... can't allow himself to get too close to her, because he may have to leave again at any moment. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
A World Apart
Cinematographer Chris Menges' first ... in her own life: Ruth First was killed under suspicious circumstances in 1982, without ever reconciling with her daughter. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Little Nikita
Jeff Grant (River Phoenix) ... race to capture the Soviet agents. The excellent performances from Poitier and Phoenix are the highlight of this feature. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Stand and Deliver
Edward James Olmos portrays ... the results of cheating. The triumphant exoneration of Escalante's students provides Stand and Deliver with its rousingly upbeat conclusion. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Souvenir
Based on the novel ... fate of his long-lost love and horrifying evidence of his complicity in a wartime atrocity he never knew occurred. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Tears in the Rain
The romantic melodrama tells ... her late mother's last request. There she encounters the son of her mother's former beau and romantic sparks fly. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
A Cry in the Dark
A barely recognizable Meryl ... lynch-mob atmosphere is fueled by the press, which insists upon crucifying the Chamberlains in print on a daily basis. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon
The teen drama A ... (Jason Court) instead. Jimmy then crashes the family car and shares an intimate rapprochement with his father (Paul Koslo). [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Party Line
In this slasher film, ... captain and the new DA have teamed up to find the killers before many more people die horrible deaths. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Evil in Clear River
Randy Quaid plays the ... is a frightening glance at what can happen when "revisionist history" is filtered through the mind of a bigot. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
The Boost
James Woods and Sean ... toll, and soon Woods and Young have thrown away their lives in their desperate pursuit of their next fix. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Gorillas in the Mist
Gorillas in the Mist ... militant animal-rights activist, burning down the poachers' villages and even staging a mock execution of one of the offenders. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Judgment in Berlin
In 1978, an East ... the defendants to be given a fair trial and all of the rights guaranteed to them under the Constitution. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Necessary Parties
Teenaged Chris Mills (Mark ... the two-part opener for the 5th season of PBS' Wonderworks; the film debuted on November 5 and 12, 1988. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Necessity
Loni Anderson, James Naughton, ... without a fight, and quickly begins using every resource at his disposal to bring his little girl back home. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
The Accused
Based on a real-life ... "criminal solicitation" -- those who were egging the rapists on. Foster won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Distant Thunder
Discharged from Vietnam, John ... Maccio grows to manhood. Finally emerging from his self-imposed exile, Lithgow begins searching for the son he's never known. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Liberace: Behind the Music
This was the "unofficial" ... and the secrets" read the advertising copy), but emerges as a work of conspicuous dignity and (reasonably) good taste. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Kansas
A drifter becomes both ... Hope) of his boss, and dreads the return of Doyle, who is sure to come looking for his money. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
In the Line of Duty: The F.B.I. Murders
The first of several ... them to track down their quarry. Doug Sheehan, Ronny Cox and Bruce Greenwood represent the forces of the Law. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Permanent Record
High school student Alan ... added bonus: the teenagers in the film act like genuine teenagers, not like TV sitcom wisecrackers or oversexed cretins. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
The Deceivers
This historical drama, based ... his own. The Deceivers was produced by Ismail Merchant, his first film with a director other than James Ivory. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Pelle the Conqueror
Long but rewarding, the ... Adapted for the screen by Bille August, Pelle the Conqueror won the 1988 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Taffin
This melodrama is set ... a sticky web of blackmail, political corruption and murder all precipitated by the avarice of a major chemical company. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Stacy Keach as Hemingway
Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning ... best writing behind him, takes his life. He leaves behind a legacy of great literature and a great legend. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Apartment Zero
A withdrawn Beunos Aries ... suspense mixed with a streak of black humor, which becomes more pronounced as the film approaches its violent climax. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Murder One
This crime drama is ... an unparalleled spree of robbery and cold-blooded murder. They made it through 12 states before they were finally stopped. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
The Chocolate War
The independently produced Chocolate ... Vigils. However, instead of turning into an underdog story at that point, The Chocolate War remains realistic and cynical. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Cold Summer of 1953
A group of escaped ... feature of 1988. This is one of the first perestroika films that showed political prisoners in a sympathetic light. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
21 Jump Street: Season 02
Season two of 21 ... Season two ends on a semi-cliffhanger, as the LAPD higher-ups consider the possibility of disbanding the Jump Street team. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
The Gang of Four
No film critic of ... maintains an acceptable level of suspense and sexual intrigue throughout, though the spell is broken by a confusing climax. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Little Vera
The title character of ... distinct feeling that Vera's problems with her family in particular and her life in general are far from over. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Dakota
Dakota (Lou Diamond Phillips) ... with a loving family. Dakota weighs his past against his future in this family drama with a moral message. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Break of Dawn
This bio-film profiles the ... of East L.A. who began to threaten the racist District Attorney. He ended up being falsely accused of rape. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Chocolat
Set in French Colonial ... by the grown-up heroine) does she fully realize just how cruel and wrong-headed the entire colonial system had been. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Karhozat
Hungarian filmmaker Bela Tarr ... next collaboration with Krasznahorkai, Satantango, a seven-hour film which they spent years developing, and which many consider Tarr's masterpiece. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
The Christmas Wife
Afraid to spend the ... and finds true romance in this heartwarming made-for-cable television drama that is based on a story by Helen Norris. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
God Bless the Child
A young mother and ... in its portrayal of the cycle of poverty, the film offers no simple solutions -- much like real life. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Home at Last
In this moving drama ... for him. But the young man wants to be loved and appreciated for being himself and a struggle ensues. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Jacob Have I Loved
Adapted from a popular ... captain returns to the island and she strikes up a friendship with him that teaches her a great deal. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Landscape in the Mist
Produced, directed and written ... Landscape in the Mist was the recipient of numerous festival awards, including the 1988 Venice Film Festival Silver Lion. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Macho Dancer
Paul is a rural ... experience. She saves Paul from a savage beating by The Kid. The feature contains nudity and several homosexual encounters. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Maricela
Carlina Cruz stars as ... Lavin plays Irene's social-climbing employer. Maricela was first shown as part of PBS' Wonderworks series on January 13, 1986. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Onassis
Part One of this ... Richest Man in the World was originally foisted upon the TV viewing public on May 1 and 2, 1988. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Pigeon Feathers
This video, inspired by ... John Updike story, tells of a young man's awakening to the meaning of life. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Salaam Bombay!
Shot on-location on the ... Camera D'Or at Cannes. She and the film's screenwriter, Sooni Taraporevala, also collaborated on Mississippi Masala, starring Denzel Washington. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Salsa
Disco-gone-Latin, that's what's happening ... here, as the lead guy (Robby Rosa) is out to show he's the Travolta of the Latino swing scene. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Thrilled to Death
When they unknowingly become ... scheme involving drugs and murder, an innocent married couple have a difficult time understanding what is happening to them. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
El Fiscal De Hierro
[ best drama films - 1988 ]
Diario Intimo de una Cabaretera
[ best drama films - 1988 ]
Whisper Kill
In this made-for-TV thriller, ... a past that she isn't entirely proud of. Whisper Kill also stars Jeremy Slate, June Lockhart, and James Sutorius. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Fortunes of War
Originally produced for the ... was first telecast in America from January 17 to February 28, 1988, as part of PBS' Masterpiece Theatre series. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
A Short Film About Love
In this ironic Polish ... Upon recovering from his botched suicide, Tomek is amazed to learn that Magda has become hopelessly infatuated with him. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Clandestinos
Those who are familiar ... content simply to disrupt public gatherings in a small way, but eventually they graduate to major acts of terrorism. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Gore Vidal's Lincoln
Originally telecast in two ... upon advertising Lincoln as the second coming of Gone With the Wind, adding the teaser tagline "The Untold Story." [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Little Girl Lost
When a couple tries ... adopt a child, they run into red tape because the foster child asserts that her natural father molested her. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
On Our Own
In this children's movie, ... separate foster homes so they escape from the juvenile authorities and embark on a quest for an estranged uncle. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
A Place By the Sea
A former prostitute and ... He is tracked down by a vicious loan shark, while the woman's former pimp tries to take her back. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Parinda
Two brothers take different ... Delhi, since he hopes to renew his relationship with Paru. Like many "Bollywood" dramas, Parinda also features several songs. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Troubles
Ireland's long history of ... forces that threaten his own elite societal status. This film also features Susannah Harker, Ian Richardson, and Martin Dempsey. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Cherry Blossoms
Hong Kong director Eddie ... of nudity by Golden Harvest. Fok Tak-wah and Wong Kwok-ling co-star with Japanese performers Muthumi Itakura and Sachiko Nakamura. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Crying Freeman [Anime OVA Series]
Originally a manga created ... production that tips more in favor of the business of death than the passions of those who deal it. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Jilly Cooper's Riders
Based on the novel ... Tjye), to whom Rupert is chronically unfaithful. Riders was originally produced and aired as a mini-series for British television. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Crying Freeman: 1: Portrait of a Killer
[ best drama films - 1988 ]
Fiela's Child
When a white child ... grows into a haunted young man as Fiela strives to find the power to let her love be known. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Moon, Star and Sun
A quartet of women ... to where they are today, and get a glimpse of what may come of them in the near future. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
The Life of Jackie Robinson
The Jackie Robinson Story ... film, lensed just after Robinson had won a championship with the Dodgers, features a supporting turn by Ruby Dee. [ best drama films - 1988 ]
Hades Project Zeorymer [Anime OVA Series]
Akitsu Masato finds one ... of adolescence and the rigors of combat while he tries to reach peace with the revelation of his past. [ best drama films - 1988 ]Supplemental Navigation
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