Ned Beatty
The Big Ask is a dark comedy about three couples who head to the desert to help their friend heal after the death of his mother. They would do anything for him - except for the one thing he wants.
The story of the gold-plated statuette that became the film industry's most coveted prize, AND THE OSCAR GOES TO... traces the history of the Academy itself, which began in 1927 when Louis B. Mayer, then head of MGM, led other prominent members of the industry in forming this professional honorary organization. Two years later the Academy began bestowing awards, which were nicknamed "Oscar," and quickly came to represent the pinnacle of cinematic achievement.
This essential new documentary pays tribute to the legacy of the late, legendary casting director Marion Dougherty and shines a light on one of the most overlooked and least understood crafts in filmmaking.
Deputy Sheriff Lou Ford is a pillar of the community in his small west Texas town, patient and apparently thoughtful. Some people think he is a little slow and maybe boring, but that is the worst they say about him. But then nobody knows about what Lou calls his "sickness": He is a brilliant, but disturbed sociopathic sadist.
Woody, Buzz, and the rest of Andy's toys haven't been played with in years. With Andy about to go to college, the gang find themselves accidentally left at a nefarious day care center. The toys must band together to escape and return home to Andy.
Lt. Dave Robicheaux, a detective in New Iberia, Louisiana, is trying to link the murder of a local hooker to New Orleans mobster Julie (Baby Feet) Balboni, who is co-producer of a Civil War film. At the same time, after Elrod Sykes, the star of the film, reports finding another corpse in the Atchafalaya Swamp near the movie set, Robicheaux starts another investigation, believing the corpse to be the remains of a black man who he saw being murdered 35 years before.
The true story of Texas congressman Charlie Wilson's covert dealings in Afghanistan, where his efforts to assist rebels in their war with the Soviets had some unforeseen and long-reaching effects.
An escort who caters to Washington D.C.'s society ladies becomes involved in a murder case.
An engrossing feature length documentary. This piece offers a really excellent background piece on Chayefsky which is invaluable in helping to understand just how formidable the writer's accomplishments were.
Superman agrees to sacrifice his powers to start a relationship with Lois Lane, unaware that three Kryptonian criminals he inadvertently released are conquering Earth.
Set in 1920, Inge travels from Germany to rural Minnesota in order to meet the man destined to be her husband.
This film, originally made for tv, stars William H. Macy as a mute superintendent of a apartment building that is falling apart who becomes the unwilling guardian to a young girl with a bit of an attitude. The film is an updated and Americanized version of the 1962 feature film Gigot starring Jackie Gleason, who also wrote the original story.
Set in the Ozark Mountains during the Great Depression, Billy Coleman works hard and saves his earnings for 2 years to achieve his dream of buying two coonhound pups. He develops a new trust in God as he faces overwhelming challenges in adventure and tragedy roaming the river bottoms of Cherokee country with "Old Dan" and "Little Ann."
A teenaged Mark Twain travels to the American West during the "Gold Rush" days in search of fortune and his destiny.
An 11-year-old boy's amazing ability to break wind leads him first to fame and then to death row, before it helps him to fulfill his ambition of becoming an astronaut.
A little boy found wandering the streets is taken in by Bob and Joan, a kindly couple. The boy is cold, wet and desperate for shelter, but Bob and Joan are perplexed by his claims that he was once a rat. Meanwhile, rumours are rife at the newspaper about the prince's new love: a girl who captivated everyone at the palace ball.
Retired police lieutenant Al Giardello is running for mayor when he is suddenly shot at a press conference. All of the detectives, past and present, clamor for an opportunity to help find the shooter.
Conflict arises in the small town of Holly Springs when an old woman's death causes a variety of reactions among family and friends.
As the seasons change in a Connecticut town, two men of different age and backgrounds who work together outdoors for the local park system, share thoughts and feelings that gradually deepen into a relationship approaching father and son. Paul is just out of prison for armed robbery, assigned to work with Murph, a middle-aged vet whose grown son Bobby is dying. Paul is trying to control his temper and build a spiritual side based on reading. Murph is a down-to-earth Sancho Panza to Paul's more ethereal ideas. And Murphy seems to need forgiveness for mistakes as a dad. As Murphy's retirement approaches and winter sets in, the men talk and love blossoms.
A basketball player's father must try to convince him to go to a college so he can get a shorter sentence.
A rather dull minded bank robber suddenly suffers from a change of heart and decides to give the money back. However, he then learns that getting the money back into the bank is much more difficult than taking it out.
Dr. Gulliver has returned from his yourney to his family after a long absence - and tells them the story of his travels.
The legendary Native American chieftain refuses to go with his people peacefully to the reservation and starts a rebellion.
Captain Woodrow Call, now retired from the Rangers, is a bounty hunter. He is hired by an eastern rail baron to track down Joey Garza, a new kind of killer, only a boy, who kills from a distance with a rifle.
A black soldier in World War II England begins an affair with a white woman whose husband is a soldier currently overseas in battle and in doubts of her relationship with him as she discovered he had been having an affair with his secretary.
Bobby Earl is facing the electric chair for the murder of a young girl. Eight years after the crime he calls in Paul Armstrong, a professor of law, to help prove his innocence. Armstrong quickly uncovers some overlooked evidence to present to the local police, but they aren't interested - Bobby was their killer.
In a poisoned world where sunshine kills, a hit squad from the Zyklor Corporation interrupts the testing of a matter replikator capable of duplicating living tissue for the purpose of extending human life. When the smoke clears, scientist Ludovic finds himself framed for murder and on the run from an exact duplicate... of himself. Joining forces with ex-lover Kat Moscow and cynical Detective Valiant, Ludovic follows the bloody path of destruction wrought by a monster with his face.
After many years in prison, a changed robber comes home to see his sons again, one of them brain-damaged. Due to many misfortunate events and terrible tragic misunderstandings, they go on the run, leaving a bloody trail wherever they go.
In 1939, WBN, a fourth radio network, is about to take to America's airwaves. As if the confusion of the premiere night wasn't enough, Penny Henderson, the owner's secretary, must deal with an unhappy sponsor, an overbearing boss and a soon-to-be ex-husband who desperately wants her back. As the broadcast begins, a mysterious voice breaks the broadcast and suddenly members of the cast turn up dead. It's up to her husband Roger, to find out whodunit as the police chase him through the halls of WBN.
Rudy grew up in a steel mill town where most people ended up working, but wanted to play football at Notre Dame instead. There were only a couple of problems. His grades were a little low, his athletic skills were poor, and he was only half the size of the other players. But he had the drive and the spirit of 5 people and has set his sights upon joining the team.
George Abitbol, the classiest man in the world, dies tragically during a cruise. With his last breath, he whispers: “Shitty world.” The director of an American newspaper, wondering about the meaning of these intriguing final words, asks his three best investigators, Dave, Peter and Steven, to solve the mystery… (16 French actors dub scenes from various Warner Bros. films to create a parody of “Citizen Kane,” 1941.)
A mourning son makes a deal to reanimate his one year dead mother, however things turn into an unexpected direction.
A retrospective of the work of the late actor Warren Oates, with clips from his films and interviews with cast and crew members who worked with him.
A beautiful and disturbing film recounts America’s story from the environment’s point of view. From the arrival of Columbus to the simple wilderness living of the 16th and 17th centuries, through the agrarian lifestyle of the 18th century, the changes from the Industrial Revolution, to the 20th century when most of the planet’s resources have been depleted — this film examines the North American landscape and all the wildlife destruction, deforestation, soil depletion and pollution that have been wrought to make the American Dream come true.
Greg Sanderson is helping his wife, Jan, to recover from a nervous breakdown and revive their strained marriage. Their privacy is interrupted by the arrival of Greg's stunning and mysterious sister, Laura. Jan's paranoia deepens as she suspects that Greg's and her sister's relationship is too close. In her desperation, she confides her fears to the landlord but his weird reaction only creates more confusion.
Down-on-his-luck lawyer Warren Blackburn defends wealthy Texan Johnnie Faye Boudreau, who is accused of murdering her husband.
A shy mail clerk becomes embroiled in the investigation of the murder of a man involved with the beautiful neighbor he is obsessed with.
A couple fall in love despite the girl's pessimistic outlook. As they struggle to come to terms with their relationship, something supernatural happens that tests it.
When entertainment lawyer Wolfgang Leighton decides to take a break from business for some fishing in Tennessee's backwoods, he ends up embroiled in a bank robbery and murder. Pursued by the killers, he's running from the police and a young hitchhiker appears to be his only friend.
An American submarine races to get a nuclear weapon before a Russian submarine.
Singer Josef Locke fled to Ireland 25 years ago to escape the clutches of the tax man and police Chief Jim Abbott. What he also left behind was the love of his life Cathleen Doyle. Now, Micky O’Neill is desperate to save both his ailing Liverpool nightclub ‘Heartly’s’ and his failing relationship with the beautiful Nancy, Cathleen’s daughter. The solution? Book the infamous Josef Locke.
It's been some time since Father Jebedaiah Mayii exorcised the Devil from little Nancy Aglet, who is now grown up with a husband and two children of her own. But the prince of darkness wants to go a second round and has returned to repossess her! With Father Mayii unwilling to help, Father Luke Brophy tries his best to help Nancy, even when TV's Ernest Weller plans to air the exorcism live on TV.
During World War II, a brave, patriotic American Soldier undergoes experiments to become a new supersoldier, "Captain America." Racing to Germany to sabotage the rockets of Nazi baddie "Red Skull", Captain America winds up frozen until the 1990s. He reawakens to find that the Red Skull has changed identities and is now planning to kidnap the President of the United States.
Jimmy Dean's popular 1950 song is translated into a feature length movie about a young couple who elopes to escape the girl's evil stepfather.
13-year-old Brian is the sole survivor of an unreported plane crash. Alone in the Yukon wilderness, Brian must learn to survive by his wits, find food and shelter, and brave wild, hungry animals until or if he is found.
A police officer suspended and now accused of murder is forced to join forces with his court-appointed attorney to assemble the pieces of a deadly puzzle to find the missing link before time runs out.
Actor Ned Beatty hosts a look at the genre known as "exploitation" films. Interviews with some of the producers and directors of these films are shown, along with scenes from and trailers for some of these films.
Tom Bradshaw searches for his family while riding the rails in this family drama set in the 1880s.
In 1955 Florida, a Korean vet has a breakdown and is incarcerated in a "maximum security" mental health prison, where patients are abused.
Richard is a spy. Ever since his wife Angela left him, cause she never liked what he did or became, his heart has not exactly been in it anymore. After failing to complete his mission, he decides to leave. His friend and boss, Tony Cooper, brings him to a plastic surgeon, so that he could change his appearance and disappear. A year later, he learns that the doctor who operated on him and Tony are dead. He suspects that someone's either trying to get back at him through them or is trying to flush him out. He then fears that Angela could be next. So he goes to her but she's gotten on with her life and doesn't want him back.
David Miller is a Vietnam vet who renounced violence and became a minister after he was forced to blow up a Viet Cong kid in self defense, but years later, when David's wife Gail and daughter Kim are killed by a group of terrorists led by Ali Aboud, in a massacre at an airport in Rome, Italy, David is devastated. Going against his faith, David sets out to find and kill Ali Aboud.
When an evil scientist steals his colleague's time machine, his colleague's beautiful, brilliant daughter, aided by an L.A. cop and a hapless admirer (Wil Shriner), pursues him back to twelfth century England, where, disguised as a damsel in distress, she enlists the help of a knight errant whose secret past holds the key to her future.
Ken Howard hosts a series of role-playing vignettes (featuring some of Hollywood's top stars) to help parents and children deal with typical family situations involving the use of illegal drugs.
A daydreaming businessman named Thelonius Pitt takes a vacation in the Redwood Forests of California. The morning after he arrives, he meets a beautiful, mysterious woman named Melanie. She happens to look just like the woman he keeps seeing in his dreams. Thelonius and Melanie meet each other on the shore of a nearby river late at night. Melanie's husband finds them, and attacks Thelonius. Melanie pulls out a pistol and fires 3 shots, knocking her husband's body into the icy river below. The nightmare has begun...
A blind woman, her husband and another couple sail off to find cash hidden on an island near Cuba.
A television news chief courts his anchorwoman ex-wife with an eleventh-hour story.
A kid plays the old novelty song "Purple People Eater" and the creature actually appears. The two then proceed to help an elderly couple who are being evicted by their greedy landlord.
A young couple faces the realities of life with their child who is diagnosed with AIDS.
A father disowns his daughter, Annie, because of her choice to marry a neighboring woodsman. The marriage is strong and bears four children, but Annie is determined to also include her father in her family.
The Haunting of Barney Palmer is a fantasy film for children about a young boy who is haunted by his great uncle. Young Barney fears that he has inherited the Scholar family curse; a suite of 80s-era effects ramp up the supernatural suspense. The film was a co-production between PBS (United States) and Wellington's Gibson Group, which resulted in Ned Beatty (Deliverance, Network) being cast. It was written by Margaret Mahy, based on her Carnegie Award-winning novel The Haunting, and an early fruitful collaboration between her and director Yvonne Mackay.
A truck driver builds a special, eight-ton truck to help get revenge against the rednecks who killed his family and raped his girlfriend.
Plan Aurora, led by Kim Philby is a plan that breaches the top-secret Fourth Protocol and turns the fears that shaped it into a living nightmare. A crack Soviet agent, placed under cover in a quiet English country town, begins to assemble a nuclear bomb, whilst MI5 agent John Preston attempts to prevent it's detonation.
George Trent, a British spy, has gone incommunicado in Ibiza. Appleton Porter (Donald Sutherland) is sent to find out what happened to Trent. Porter settles into a small hotel with several busybody guests. He probes them for information about Trent, their former neighbor. Meanwhile, the spy survives several attempts on his life as he attempts to solve the mystery.
Self-made millionaire Thornton Melon decides to get a better education and enrolls at his son Jason's college. While Jason tries to fit in with his fellow students, Thornton struggles to gain his son's respect, giving way to hilarious antics.
Remy McSwain is a New Orleans police lieutenant who investigates the murder of a local mobster. His investigation leads him to suspect that fellow members of the police force may be involved.
Two lads in Edinburgh embark on a non-violent spree of robberies. They dress up in clown masks and act as modern highwaymen, robbing coach loads of tourists in the highlands. In the process they become folk heroes to the locals. Their adventures make for a whimsical and gentle comedy, in the Bill Forsyth vein.
A plane is hijacked and bound for London. Once the terrorists begin killing hostages, the passengers take matters into their own hands.
Robert Kennedy & His Times is a 1985 American television miniseries directed by Marvin J. Chomsky. The miniseries was released in three parts and depicts the life of Robert F. Kennedy.
Three of Ernest Thompson's short plays are presented, each involving a surprise visitor. In the first, "A Good Time," a vacationing California Highway Patrolman visits a young woman in New York who had told him if he ever came to New York, she'd show him a good time. In the second, "The Constituent," a United States Senator drops in on a constituent who has been sending him scathing and profane letters for decades. Lastly, in "Twinkle, Twinkle," a restless housewife who has been writing fan letters to a television soap opera star, receives a surprise visit by him on her husband's bowling night.
Konrad is a factory-made child, perfect in every way. When he is mistakenly delivered to the eccentric Mrs. Bartelotti, the factory demands his return. Konrad must go against everything he has been taught to stand up to his creators. Parents can talk to their children about the program using the viewers guide "A Closer Look."
This seven-hour British-Italian adaptation of Edward Bulwer-Lytton's 1834 epic, set against the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. and previously filmed in 1935, and in 1960 was a vehicle for muscleman Steve Reeves, was trashed by the critics as the campiest of sword and sandal sagas to emerge in years. This despite its reported $19-million price tag, the nobility of its cast that includes Laurence Olivier, Siobhan McKenna and Anthony Quayle, and its rather unspectacular special effects. The central figures are Nicholas Clay as Glaucus, the noble Athenian; Olivia Hussey as the high-born Ione, his love, who is seduced by the Egyptian, Arbaces (Franco Nero), a religious fanatic; Duncan Regehr as Lydon, the champion gladiator; and Linda Purl as the blind slave Nydia, who is torn between Glaucus and Lydon.
Stroker Ace, a champion NASCAR driver, is standing at the top of his career, but is getting fed up with having to do as he's told. In between rebelling against his sponsor (a fried chicken chain)'s promotion gimmicks (like making him dress up in giant chicken suit) he spends the rest of the movie trying to bed the buxom Pembrook.
Forced to run from the Texas Rangers after a heated misunderstanding leads to the death of a lawman, Mexican American farmer Gregorio Cortez sets off in desperate flight, evading a massive manhunt on horseback for days.
A woman faces harassment and humiliation when she goes to work as a coal miner to support her small son and ailing dad.
Desperate to save her life, a miller's daughter makes a bargain with a strange character - After which, she must find a way to get out of this dangerous bargain.
On one of his bratty son Eric's annual visits, the plutocrat U.S. Bates takes him to his department store and offers him anything in it as a gift. Eric chooses a black janitor who has made him laugh with his antics. At first the man suffers many indignities as Eric's "toy", but gradually teaches the lonely boy what it is like to have and to be a friend.
The story of the Russian-born, Wisconsin-raised woman who rose to become Israel's prime minister in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Splendor in the Grass is a made-for-TV movie starring Michelle Pfeiffer
After being exposed to a bizarre mixture of household chemicals, Pat Kramer begins to shrink. This baffles scientists, makes parenting difficult, warms the hearts of Americans, and captures the attention of a group of people who want to take over the world. This evil group plots to kidnap Pat and perform experiments on her so that they can eventually shrink everyone.
A wife and mother in 1915 Tennessee copes with the loss of her husband and the necessity of raising their children alone.
In March 1970, a U.S. Army officer arrived at the Iowa farm of Peg and Gene Mullen and informed them that their son Michael had been killed in Vietnam by "friendly fire." Their determined attempts to learn more about the circumstances of their son's death are the subject of this true account film.
Ernie Anderson narrates this look at the making of Richard Donner's blockbuster 1978 film. Behind-the-scenes footage, as well as scenes from the film, reveal just how audiences were able to "believe a man can fly." This program features interviews with key cast and crew.
A husband is humiliated at home and at work. He decides he has had enough of it and hires a prostitute to help him get back at his boss, wife and friends and get a lot richer in the process.
When CIA operative Miles Kendig deliberately lets KGB agent Yaskov get away, his boss threatens to retire him. Kendig beats him to it, however, destroying his own records and traveling to Austria where he begins work on a memoir that will expose all his former agency's covert practices. The CIA catches wind of the book and sends other agents after him, initiating a frenetic game of cat and mouse that spans the globe.
Three escaped criminals from the planet Krypton test the Man of Steel's mettle. Led by General Zod, the Kryptonians take control of the White House and partner with Lex Luthor to destroy Superman and rule the world. But Superman, who attempts to make himself human in order to get closer to Lois, realizes he has a responsibility to save the planet.
After the success of "Who Dares Wins," Richard Widmark fights for justice for "All God's Children"
A Southerner--young, poor, ambitious but uneducated--determines to become something in the world. He decides that the best way to do that is to become a preacher and start up his own church.
A young doctor, Alexandra Kendall, seeking change while recovering from a recent heartbreak, moves from Chicago, Illinois to Hartford, Connecticut. She joins the West Hartford medical practice of Dr. Walter McInterny, a doctor approaching retirement age. 17-year-old Elizabeth "Buffy" Koenig is a precocious student at West Hartford's William Hall High School. Her boyfriend Gerry is a football player at Hall High. While Dr. McInterny is away on vacation, longtime patient Buffy hurts her leg while harmlessly kicking a soccer ball during Gerry's nearby football practice. At the hospital, Dr. Kendall finds that not only is the leg broken, but the bone was also weakened by cancer. Dr. Kendall treats Buffy and the two develop a bond that extends beyond the doctor-patient relationship; Dr. Kendall is drawn to Buffy's humor and raw honesty.
A lesbian mother fights to keep her son when a custody suit is brought by her ex-husband.
When the prominent citizens of a small town discover that the officers of the local bank have been embezzling money from it, they decide to rob the bank themselves.
The USS Neptune, a nuclear submarine, is sunk off the coast of Connecticut after a collision with a Norwegian cargo ship. The navy must attempt a potentially dangerous rescue in the hope of saving the lives of the crew.
After the birth of his first child, Roberto, a young Mexican man slips across the border into the United States. Seeking work to support his family back home, he finds that working hard is not enough.
Bizarre nightmares plague Regan MacNeil four years after her possession and exorcism. Has the demon returned? And if so, can the combined faith and knowledge of a Vatican investigator and a hypnotic research specialist free her from its grasp?
Senator Joseph McCarthy from Wisconsin accuses prominent people of Communist sympathies in order to give him a national power base when he later planned to run for President.
Based on true events which took place in the mill town of Graniteville, South Carolina in 1876, the story follows the rich Greggs, who run the mill, and the poor McEvoys, who work there. The animosity between their sons leads to tragedy.
Lucan is a TV Drama which aired on ABC from 1977 to 1978, starring Kevin Brophy, John Randolph, and Don Gordon. A 20-year old man who spent the first 10 years of his life running wild in the forest after being raised by wolves, Lucan is taken to a research institute and taught the ways of human society. He is befriended by a kind research doctor whom he bonded with during his journey to civilization. Lucan's continued freedom at the research center is put in peril once his doctor friend and mentor is hurt. Unable to insure Lucan's well being at the institute, his friend encourages him to strike out on his own in search of his identity. The short-lived TV series chronicled the encounters, challenges, and intrigues Lucan faced interacting with people using his new learned social graces and old Wolfen instincts. Lucan did have special Wolfen skills that were invoked when he was made very angry. When upset to the point of violence his eyes glowed amber. He also had heightened senses of smell and hearing. In a few episodes he was able to call on his old wolf family/pack for help. This series was based on a 1977 made-for-TV movie of the same name directed by David Greene.
A somewhat daffy book editor on a rail trip from Los Angeles to Chicago thinks that he sees a murdered man thrown from the train. When he can find no one who will believe him, he starts doing some investigating of his own. But all that accomplishes is to get the killer after him.
In the run-up to the 1972 elections, Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward covers what seems to be a minor break-in at the Democratic Party National Headquarters. He is surprised to find top lawyers already on the defense case, and the discovery of names and addresses of Republican fund organizers on the accused further arouses his suspicions. After the editor of the Post runs with the story and assigns Woodward and Carl Bernstein to it, they find the trail leading higher and higher in the Republican Party—and eventually into the White House itself.
In Philadelphia, a small-time bookie who stole mob money is in hiding and he begs a childhood friend to help him evade the hit-man who's on his trail.
The ultimate disaster film parody. A nuclear-powered bus is making its maiden non-stop trip from New York to Denver. The journey is plagued by disasters due to the machinations of a mysterious group allied with the oil lobby. Will the down-on-his-luck driver, with a reputation for eating his passengers, be able to complete the journey?
After three civil-rights workers are murdered in Mississippi in 1964, a team of FBI agents is sent there to find the killers.
The real-life story of Charles Whitman's deadly shooting spree at the University of Texas is retold. In August 1966, after killing his wife and mother, Whitman climbed to the top of the school's tower and opened fire on passers-by, killing 13 and wounding many others.
Story of a happy-go-lucky small time crook who runs into a country music group looking for their big break. They end up helping each other out in unexpected ways.
The story of Eddie Slovik, who was executed by the Army in 1945, the only American soldier to be executed for desertion since the Civil War.
A computer programmer decides to become a thief. And when he starts making waves an insurance investigator hounds him. He also meets a woman who becomes his accomplice.
An ex con teams up with federal agents to help them with breaking up a moonshine ring.
A married couple are traveling on a deserted desert road at night. They stop at a diner and the husband goes to the men's room. He never returns and the wife begins to suspect serious foul play.
A young hellraiser quits his moonshine business to try to become the best NASCAR racer the south has ever seen.
Outlaw and self-appointed lawmaker, Judge Roy Bean, rules over an empty stretch of the West that gradually grows, under his iron fist, into a thriving town, while dispensing his his own quirky brand of frontier justice upon strangers passing by.
Intent on seeing the Cahulawassee River before it's turned into one huge lake, outdoor fanatic Lewis Medlock takes his friends on a river-rafting trip they'll never forget into the dangerous American back-country.
This extended cut, which would be utilized for worldwide television distribution, reincorporated some 45 minutes of footage and music deleted from the theatrical cut. Networks and stations could then re-edit their own version at their discretion. This edit is commonly known as the “Salkind International Television Cut”.
Story of Denmark Vesey, who was raised as a slave but bought his freedom. He organized a plot to seize the city and free the black slaves, but this failed and he and others were hanged. Set in Charleston in 1822.
