HEAR NO EVIL (1992)--Directed by Robert Greenwald. Stars Marlee Matlin, Martin Sheen, D.B. Sweeney. Pretty routine thriller that seems loosely based on WAIT UNTIL DARK. Matlin (deaf in real life) plays a hearing-impaired woman who accidentally comes into possession of a rare coin that some bad guys want. Sheen walks through his role as a bad cop. Matlin, who has a brief topless bathing scene, seems to be a pretty good actress--it's too bad her choice of roles is limited by her handicap. Also with John C. McGinley, Mickey O'Malley and Marge Redmond.

HEARTBREAK RIDGE (1986)--Directed by Clint Eastwood. Stars Clint Eastwood, Marsha Mason, Mario Van Peebles, Everett McGill. Eastwood gives an offbeat performance as tough, vulgar Gunnery Sergeant Tom Highway, who is assigned to train a platoon of green recruits. After various DIRTY DOZEN-like training scenes and a couple of attempted reconciliations with ex-wife Mason, Highway leads his men into the Grenada conflict. Script by James Carabatsos; cast includes Moses Gunn, Bo Svenson and Eileen Heckart. The Marine Corps criticized the film during its initial release because of the rough language spoken by the soldiers in the film.

HEARTBURN (1986)--Directed by Mike Nichols. Stars Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson, Maureen Stapleton, Jeff Daniels. The leads try hard, but are let down by a weak script by Nora Ephron (SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE). Streep is an author and Nicholson a Washington columnist who marry, but the relationship goes sour when Nicholson takes a mistress. Excellent cast includes Stockard Channing, Richard Masur, Catherine O'Hara, Steven Hill and Mercedes Reuhl. Ephron based her screenplay at least partially on her own marriage to WASHINGTON POST reporter Carl Bernstein (ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN).

HEARTS OF DARKNESS: A FILMMAKERS JOURNEY (1991)--Directed by George Hickenlooper. Riveting and surprisingly candid documentary about the making of APOCALYPSE NOW in the Philippines during the late 1970s. Francis Ford Coppola's wife Eleanor shot much of the behind-the-scenes footage, which details the firing of original lead Harvey Keitel after one week's filming, a hurricane that destroyed the films sets and delayed production six months, Martin Sheen's near-fatal heart attack, improvisation by actors like Dennis Hopper and Larry Fishburne and Coppola's near-breakdown. One of the best making-of features ever.

HEARTS OF THE WEST (1975)--Directed by Howard Zieff. Stars Jeff Bridges, Alan Arkin, Andy Griffith, Blythe Danner. Critically acclaimed box-office flop comedy is a wonderfully amiable tale of moviemaking in the 1930s. Bridges is an Iowa rube who goes West to be an author of Western fiction, but ends up working as a stuntman and actor in the B-pictures being made by neurotic director Kessler (Arkin, who is hilarious). Like most of Bridges's films of the period, HEARTS OF THE WEST became a minor cult hit, thanks to the gentle humor and nostalgic feel of Hollywood life during that period. Griffith has some nice moments as a washed-up cowboy star, and the terrific cast of character actors includes Donald Pleasance, Herb Edelman, Alex Rocco, Richard B. Shull, Anthony James, Thayer David, Dub Taylor, Matt Clark, Frank Cady, Woodrow Parfrey, Bill Quinn, Frank Bonner, William Christopher and Richard Stahl. Zieff's second film as a director. His only films of the '90s are the Anna Chlumsky comedy MY GIRL and its sequel. Produced by actor Tony Bill.

HEAT (1987)--Directed by Dick Richards. Stars Burt Reynolds, Peter MacNicol, Karen Young, Diana Scarwid, Howard Hesseman. Las Vegas adventurer Reynolds is hired by a rich wimp (MacNicol) to teach him how to be a tough guy. Reynolds must also battle the mob when he avenges his friend's (Young) beating. Pretty lame mix of sex and violence, although Burt's fans might like it. Reynolds and director Richards had a well-publicized fistfight on the set.

HEAT (1995)--Directed by Michael Mann. Stars Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore. Quite simply one of the best cop movies in many years. Michael Mann, who has written, produced and/or directed some terrific thrillers (MANHUNTER, THIEF), comes through again with this three-hour cops-and-robbers epic. The key here is the first-time teaming of screen legends Pacino and DeNiro (both starred in THE GODFATHER, PART II, but shared no scenes). Al plays a thrice-married L.A. cop with a harried home life who is assigned to investigate a well-choreographed armored-truck robbery in which three guards were killed. The crooks, who commit holdups with MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE-like precision, are led by DeNiro, a clever career criminal who has amassed much wealth, but little personal happiness. Mann's film follows the actions of both protagonists: Pacino's obsession with DeNiro's capture and DeNiro's dream of one more big score before retirement. The two stars only meet twice (over coffee in a diner, and the exciting climactic shootout), but both scenes are well written and performed and are worth waiting for. Of course, the concept of hero and villain being two sides of the same coin is not new, but Pacino, DeNiro and Mann make it worth another spin. HEAT also boasts an exceptional supporting cast, including Kilmer and Sizemore as DeNiro's cohorts in crime, Diane Venora as Pacino's frustrated wife, Amy Brenneman (NYPD BLUE) as a lonely young bookstore employee who falls for DeNiro, Dennis Haysbert, Ted Levine, Mykelti Williamson, Jeremy Piven and Ashley Judd as Kilmer's wife.

HEATHERS (1989)--Directed by Michael Lehmann. Stars Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Shannen Doherty. A clever script by Daniel Waters and good acting by Ryder and Slater propel this funny black comedy. Offbeat Ryder becomes a member of a snobby high-school clique consisting of four girls who happen to be named Heather. When Ryder becomes disgusted at the Heathers' stuck-up attitude, she decides to teach them a lesson. However, the revenge takes a wrong turn when delinquent boyfriend Slater begins murdering Heathers. Slater does a mean Jack Nicholson impression. Lehmann's direction bogs down some during the last half-hour, but film is terrific anyway. Look for the ADAM-12 in-joke.

HEAVEN CAN WAIT (1978)--Directed by Warren Beatty & Buck Henry. Stars Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, James Mason, Dyan Cannon, Charles Grodin. This charming fantasy was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including four for Beatty as Best Actor, Director, Writer (with Elaine May) and Picture (he produced it); it only won for Art Direction-Set Decoration. Warren plays Joe Pendleton, a quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams who is killed before his time, and sent back to Earth by Mr. Jordan (Mason) in the body of a millionaire who was murdered by his two-timing wife and his cowardly secretary (Cannon and Grodin, who are hilarious). Beatty buys the Rams so he can quarterback them in the Super Bowl, and he falls in love with a British woman played by Beatty's former flame Christie in an unflattering, curly hairdo. Not many bellylaughs, but its sweet and fun. Also with Jack Warden, Vincent Gardenia, Buck Henry, R.G. Armstrong, Keene Curtis, Hamilton Camp and Deacon Jones. Music by Dave Grusin.

HEAVEN'S PRISONERS (1996)--Directed by Phil Joanou. Stars Alec Baldwin, Mary Stuart Masterson, Eric Roberts, Kelly Lynch, Teri Hatcher. This troubled production was filmed in 1994, but, after its studio went bankrupt, sat on the shelf until released by Fine Line in the spring of '96. Baldwin executive-produces and stars as James Lee Burke's literary detective Dave Robicheaux, an alcoholic ex-New Orleans cop-turned-bait shop owner. He and his wife (Lynch) are out on their boat one morning when a plane crashes nearby. Robicheaux is able to save one passenger, a little girl from South America, whom the Robicheauxs adopt. Soon Baldwin is up to his eyeballs in druglords, mobsters, revenge and a local crime boss and former childhood friend of Robicheaux's named Bubba Rocque (Roberts in cornrows!). Masterson is miscast as a stripper with (you guessed it!) a heart of gold, and Hatcher (TV's Lois Lane) makes an indelible entrance as Rocque's lush wife who drinks gin rickeys completely nude on the balcony of her mansion. HEAVEN'S PRISONERS (the title is meaningless within the context of this film) isn't particularly bad, but it isn't very good either. Baldwin gives an interesting performance in what was obviously meant as a franchise role for him, but there's just too much plot, and not a very interesting one at that. The ending shows signs of last-minute reshooting.

HELL'S ANGELS ON WHEELS (1967)--Directed by Richard Rush. Stars Adam Rourke, Jack Nicholson, Sabrina Scharf, Jana Taylor. Nicholson plays Poet, a gas-station attendant who is saved from a beating by Rourke's biker gang. Poet joins up, just in time to steal Rourke's girl (Scharf). Lots of rumbles, motorcycles, bodypainting, sex and psychedelics. Also with real-life Angels' leader Sonny Barger, Jack Starrett, Bruno VeSota and Gary Littlejohn. Music by The Poor. Cinematography by Laszlo Kovacs (EASY RIDER). From the director of THE STUNT MAN.

HELL’S ANGELS ’69 (1969)—Directed by Lee Madden.  Stars Tom Stern, Jeremy Slate, Conny Van Dyke, Sonny Barger, G.D. Spradlin.  As far as I know, this is the only fiction film produced with the full blessing of the actual Hell’s Angels.  Members of the Oakland chapter, including the notorious Sonny Barger, play themselves in this needlessly complicated biker flick shot in and around Las Vegas.  Two rich brothers, Chuck (Stern) and Wes (Slate), concoct a plot to steal $600,000 from Caesar’s Palace that involves infiltrating the Angels and using them (without their knowledge) to decoy the cops away from their getaway.  When Sonny and the guys discover the ruse, they trade in their Harleys for dirt bikes and pursue the brothers and former Angel mama Betsy (Van Dyke) into the desert.  Spradlin eats some running time as a detective who occasionally enters scenes, but has no impact whatsoever on the story.  Stern and Slate, both of whom had previously starred in biker movies, created the story, which combines a caper with typical biker shenanigans (drinking beer, slapping women, terrorizing “citizens,” etc.).  It’s not very good, but there are some good stunts and cinematography, and it’s interesting to see the actual Hell’s Angels in action (they’re poor actors though).  Also with Terry the Tramp, Magoo, Sweet Terry, Tiny and Skip.  Steve Sandor receives a prominent credit, but I don’t think he’s in the movie.

HELL'S HIGHWAY: THE TRUE STORY OF HIGHWAY SAFETY FILMS (2003)--Directed by Bret Wood.  Wood's documentary about the Highway Safety Foundation, which produced several driver's education scare films that freaked out generations of teens in the 1950's, '60s, '70s and '80s (including this one), is a bizarre, interesting and not totally successful trip down memory lane.  It's difficult to muster up much nostalgic or camp value for these films, drenched as they were in actual gore.  Based in Mansfield, Ohio, the Foundation was created by an accountant named Richard Wayman, who recruited photographers and crime reporters to shoot 16mm film of real car crashes, complete with mangled corpses, and used them to produce short color films aimed at frightening young people into driving carefully.  With titles like MECHANIZED DEATH, WHEELS OF TRAGEDY and THE CHILD MOLESTER (one of the occasional forays into other types of scare films), these pictures weren't exactly subtle, and to meet many of the folks who made them, including photographer John Domer, police chief John Butler and Earle J. Deems, who took over the Foundation after Wayman's death, is a fascinating experience.  They don't seem to be monsters or creeps, and sincerely believe they were aiding society (and, in fact, the Highway Safety Foundation did play a large part in passing life-saving highway legislation).  Wood illustrates his points with many grotesque film clips that could never be shown in public schools today (Kino Video's DVD release offers more clips and three films in their entirety).  He also raises more questions than he can answer, and one potentially lurid subplot about the Foundation's alleged foray into pornography is quickly dismissed.  Ronald Reagan, James Stewart (voice only) and Hans Conried appear in clips.

HELP! (1965)--Directed by Richard Lester. Stars the Beatles, Leo McKern, Eleanor Bron, Victor Spinetti, Roy Kinnear. The Beatles' and Lester's color follow-up to A HARD DAYS NIGHT was this wacky tale of a religious sect out to steal Ringo's ring in order to use it for a sacrifice. Like the first movie, HELP! is filled with great one liners and non sequiters, sharp editing and terrific songs; it also features gorgeous locations and brilliant color. Great scenes include the "Ticket to Ride" sequence in the Swiss Alps, the band performing "You're Gonna Lose That Girl" in a recording studio and Paul McCartney shrunk to the size of an insect.

HELTER SKELTER (1976)--Directed by Tom Gries.  Stars George DiCenzo, Steve Railsback.  I first read HELTER SKELTER my first year out of college.  I was working the graveyard shift at a small Top 40 radio station, and I usually read to pass the time between Tommy Page and Tora Tora Tora records.  Here’s some advice:  alone in the middle of the night in a rickety old building is the worst possible setting in which to read HELTER SKELTER , which is Vincent Bugliosi’s 1974 best-seller about the Manson Family murders.  Bugliosi is the Los Angeles County district attorney who prosecuted Manson and members of his cult who were convicted of committing the seven “Tate-LaBianca” slayings.

HELTER SKELTER was remade in 2004, but it’s hard to imagine it being more gripping than Tom Gries’ 1976 version, which aired over two nights and four hours almost five years to the day after Manson was handed the death sentence by a California jury (California later repealed the death penalty, and Manson is now serving life).  Told in docudrama fashion, Gries opens his film with the discovery of the bodies in Roman Polanski’s Beverly Hills mansion, which included Polanski’s actress wife Sharon Tate.  The crime scene is surprisingly bloody for network television at that time, although audiences inured by LAW & ORDER will barely shrug.

Gries (QB VII) and writer JP Miller (DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES), along with character actor George DiCenzo, who sometimes addresses the home audience directly as Bugliosi, carefully lay out the puzzle pieces and introduce us to a sprawling cast of characters:  the cops, the lawyers, the victims, and, yes, the killers.  The ugly star of our story is Manson himself, a lunatic, sociopath and--in the eyes of his followers--Jesus Christ.  Matching DiCenzo’s solid turn is Steve Railsback (THE STUNT MAN) in a starmaking performance as Manson.  It’s nigh impossible to tear your eyes away from Railsback, who nails the madman’s wide-eyed presence so distinctly that you fear the actor may have a murderous skeleton or two in his own closet.

HELTER SKELTER is three hours that feels half its length.  It’s smart and skillfully presented, but most importantly, it’s a powerful reminder that no Hollywood screenwriter can create a greater evil than what already exists in our own backyards.  Nancy Wolfe, Christina Hart and Cathey Paine are chilling as Manson’s female co-defendants.  Also with Marilyn Burns, Paul Mantee, Sondra Blake, Jon Gries, Alan Oppenheimer, Linden Chiles, David Clennon and Marc Alaimo.

HELVETICA (2007)—Directed by Gary Hustwit.  Probably the best film ever made about a typeface, Hustwit’s HELVETICA explores the origins and the cultural impact of Helvetica, a font created in Germany during the 1950s.  You might be surprised to learn just how much a simple typeface affects our everyday lives and the extents to which generations of graphic designers have gone to (unsuccessfully) replace it.  Crisp editing and a bouncy score prevent HELVETICA from becoming dry.  I’m no graphic designer, but I still found the film to be of interest, as Hustwit interviews various graphic designers and marketing experts from around the world.  I have to admit that I was particularly fascinated when Hustwit traveled to Germany and showed off the original Helvetica drawings.  Those interested in typography, printing and design will likely find much to admire about HELVETICA.

HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER (1986)--Directed by John McNaughton. Stars Michael Rooker, Tom Towles, Tracy Arnold. A very impressive directorial debut by McNaughton. This Chicago-lensed horror film sat on the shelf for four years before finally getting a decent release by MPI in an unrated version (the MPAA slapped an X on it). Loosely based on real-life serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, who claimed to have murdered over 300 people, HENRY follows Henry (Rooker), a quiet, illiterate ex-con who murders people becausewelljust because. We see him go about his business very methodically, intelligently and, most frighteningly, cold-bloodedly. He isn't emotional about murder, because he has no emotions. Living in a rundown Chicago apartment with old jail buddy Otis (Towles), Henry begins processing new feelings when Otis's younger sister Becky (Arnold) moves in with them, an ex-stripper escaping from an abusive husband.

Benefiting from a sharp, clinical directorial approach and three exceptional performances, HENRY is one of the best horror movies ever made. It isn't "fun" or "exciting", but it is truly disturbing and one of the most fascinating character studies of Evil ever filmed. HENRY's most notorious setpiece involves Henry and Otis videotaping their slaughter of an entire family, and then watching the tape at home in slow motion. McNaughton made another horror film, THE BORROWER, before going Hollywood with MAD DOG AND GLORY and WILD THINGS. Rooker became an in-demand character actor (SEA OF LOVE, THE BONE COLLECTOR).

HERCULES (1959)--Directed by Pietro Francisi. Stars Steve Reeves, Sylva Koscina, Gianna Maria Canale. It's difficult to fathom today the immense popularity of this low-budget Italian adventure. The muscular Reeves became a superstar for his portrayal of the legendary hero, who, in this film, battles monsters, mutants, ape men and Amazons in his search for Jason and the Argonauts. He also loves gorgeous princess Koscina. Film is crudely made, and the dubbing is awful, but it's fun in a kitschy way. Cinematography by famed Italian horror director Mario Bava. The Montana-born Reeves was a former Mr. Universe.

HIDDEN ASSASSIN (1995)--Directed by Ted Kotcheff.  Stars Dolph Lundgren, Maruschka Detmers, John Ashton.  Gritty, back-to-the-basics direction by Kotcheff (FIRST BLOOD) and interesting Prague locations put this decent thriller a rung or two ahead of usual Lundgren fare.  The 6'6" Swede plays Michael Dane, a U.S. Marshal assigned to transport a beautiful killer back to the States for trial.  Simone (Detmers) is accused of shooting the Cuban ambassador from a storm drain, and the government is demanding she be taken into custody before an important summit in Prague gets underway.  Accompanied by his partner and foster father Alex (Ashton), Dane captures, loses, and recaptures Simone, as well as uncovering a conspiracy within his own ranks.

I mean it as a compliment when I say HIDDEN ASSASSIN looks like it could have been released in 1976.  International in scope, lean and bloody in its action scenes, and given a realistic texture by cinematographer Fernando Arguelles, it moves at a decent clip, while still giving its foreign-born stars a few opportunities to emote.  Ashton (BEVERLY HILLS COP) provides a dose of color to the shootouts and stunts.  Detmers first caused a stir in the '80s when she reportedly became the first non-adult film star to perform an on-screen sex act in the French/Italian DEVIL IN THE FLESH.  Kotcheff is currently an executive producer of NBC's LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT.  Originally released as THE SHOOTER, HIDDEN ASSASSIN was its title when released on home video by Dimension.  If you're a '70s sitcom fan, you might recognize the actor playing Lundgren's boss:  Gavan O'Herlihy, who was the mysterious oldest son Chuck on HAPPY DAYS.

HIDE IN PLAIN SIGHT (1980)--Directed by James Caan. Stars James Caan, Jill Eikenberry, Robert Viharo, Kenneth McMillan, Josef Sommer, Danny Aiello, Barbara Rae. Caan made a promising directorial debut with this dramatization of a true story in which he plays Tom Hacklin, a Buffalo, New York factory worker who loses contact with his children when his ex-wife (Rae) and her mobster husband (Viharo) are relocated by the Federal Witness Protection Program. The United States Government gives Hacklin the runaround when he attempts to uncover the whereabouts of his kids, so, supported by his new wife (Eikenberry) and well-meaning lawyer (Aiello), he determines to find them himself. This is the sort of material that usually plays like a made-for-TV movie, but a passionate performance by Caan and an earnest directorial approach to a fascinating subject elevate HIDE IN PLAIN SIGHT to the level of good solid drama. Filmed on location in Buffalo, Washington, D.C. and Albuquerque, N.M. Also with Kenneth McMillan, Josef Sommer and David Clennon. Music by Leonard Rosenmann. It's too bad Caan hasn't directed since.

HIGH ANXIETY (1978)--Directed by Mel Brooks. Stars Mel Brooks, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman, Harvey Korman. Following the successes of YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN and SILENT MOVIE, Brooks and his repertory company spoofed Alfred Hitchcock in this comic thriller filled with wacky puns and sight gags. The problem during its initial release (in the pre-VCR days) is that no one had seen most of the films being parodied in decades, so the jokes went over the heads of many audience members. May be better appreciated today. Also with Charlie Callas, Howard Morris, Dick Van Patten, Jack Riley and future Oscar-winner (and co-writer) Barry Levinson in a bit as a bellboy.

HIGH CRIME (1973)--Directed by Enzo G. Castellari.  Stars Franco Nero, James Whitmore, Fernando Rey.  One of Italian cinema's most ambitious and popular crime thrillers was clearly influenced by the success of THE FRENCH CONNECTION.  Nero (DJANGO) plays Belli, a tough narcotics detective who's out for revenge after several of his fellow officers are killed by a car bomb that was intended to take out Belli as well.  Despite the warnings of his boss Scavino (Whitmore), Belli plunges headlong into a bloody gang war involving veteran mobster Cafiero (Rey, who also played the French druglord in FRENCH CONNECTION).  Belli's detecting method mostly involves beating the crap out of everybody he meets, with the fury growing more intense every time one of his friends, relatives or lovers is whacked by the Mob.

Castellari's action scenes are about as good as '70s cinema produced, with plenty of bloody squibs, shootouts, explosions and car crackups (I particularly love the ragged body that tumbles in slow-motion out of a burning auto).  Where HIGH CRIME really earns its stripes, though, is in its story, which carefully lays out its elaborate plot and takes the time to create an emotionally charged character for Nero to play.  By exploring his tender side, which he doesn't have much time to use in a life that calls for him to constantly smack the crap out of thugs and bad guys, Belli's personal losses carry more impact than, for instance, in a DEATH WISH sequel where Charles Bronson's "loved one du jour" is just fodder to propel the bloodletting.  Also with Delia Boccardo, Stefania Girolami (the director's daughter) and Silvano Tranquilli.  Italian title:  LA POLIZIA INCRIMINA, LA LEGGE ASSOLVE.  Brothers Guido and Maurizio de Angelis composed the excellent funk score, excerpts of which can be heard on PIOMBO ROVENTE, a compilation of '70s Italian crime score cuts.  Whitmore was then coming off his first season on the TEMPERATURES RISING sitcom.

HIGH CRIMES (2002)--Directed by Carl Franklin.  Stars Ashley Judd, Morgan Freeman, Jim Caviezel, Amanda Peet, Adam Scott.  The secret to a good mystery is the sportsmanship with which it plays with its audience.  That means its author has to set up specific rules and then stay within those boundaries when constructing the plot.  This sense of fair play can only result in an ending that, in retrospect, can be the only logical one, yet still be a surprise to the audience.  Authors like Ed McBain, Erle Stanley Gardner and Agatha Christie understood this; so did Alfred Hitchcock.

Ashley Judd seems to be making a career of starring in glossy Hollywood thrillers in which she gets to be both spunky and victimized, such as EYE OF THE BEHOLDER and DOUBLE JEOPARDY.  She even starred with Morgan Freeman in KISS THE GIRLS, a silly James Patterson bestseller with a denouement that felt as though it was picked out of a hat.  Director Carl Franklin has already shown he can make a good mystery; his Walter Mosley adaptation DEVIL WITH THE BLUE DRESS was deserving of Oscar buzz for Denzel Washington and Don Cheadle.  With Judd and Franklin teaming up--and Freeman bringing his patented paterfamilias schtick to the party--their latest suspenser should have worked like a charm.  But it doesn't.  And it's easy to see why.  I haven't read the Joseph Finder novel that Cary Bickley and Yuri Zeltser adapted for the screen, but it's hard to believe that it could possibly be as muddleheaded as the screenplay. If it is and Bickley and Zeltser were just following along, then it's harder to swallow that Franklin and Company could have read it.

Judd is all Kentucky downhome freshness as hotshot San Francisco defense attorney Claire Kubik, all smug as a bug after freeing her rapist client on a technicality.  Since she and husband Tom (Jim Caviezel) are busy suburbanites trying to get pregnant, they have to schedule their lovemaking sessions right down to the last minute ("7 minutes with you on top and my hips elevated").  Life is so happy and gay--boy, isn't she surprised when the two of them are ambushed and arrested by the FBI during a Christmas shopping spree.  It seems Tom isn't really Tom Kubik.  He's Ron Chapman, and he's accused of murdering nine civilians while on a Marine mission in El Salvador in 1988.  Claiming he was framed, Ron deserted, changed his name, got married, and up to now, lived a quiet, assuming life in Frisco.  Standing by her man to the end and unsatisfied with the babyfaced defender assigned by the Marines to Tom's court martial, Claire decides to defend her husband herself and recruits Charlie Grimes (Freeman), an alcoholic ex-Marine lawyer to help out.  Remember Tommy Lee Jones in RULES OF ENGAGEMENT?  That's pretty much who Freeman plays here.

Judd and Freeman are pros, and even when the paint-by-numbers script lets them down, they still manage to keep their dignity.  Judd even manages a few quiet moments of nifty expression, whether nervously questioning the man she loves for the first time since learning of his former life or defiantly flipping the bird at a truckload of rowdy soldiers.  They manage better than Adam Scott as the Marine defender Lieutenant Embry and Amanda Peet as Claire's freespirited sister Jackie, two characters that are so superfluous that their actual story purpose seems a foregone conclusion (although when Jackie's apparent fate as the film's requisite Sacrificial Lamb doesn't happen, it smacks more of creative reticence than an actual plot twist).  At least Scott has a decent handle on his shy but earnest character, unlike Peet, who bounces, smokes and loudmouths her way through every scene like she did research for her character by watching an ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS marathon.

It's hard to judge Caviezel's performance, since it's unclear he knew any more about his character than we do.  He tries, but guided by the script's unreasonable and downright silly demands placed upon him, isn't able to accomplish much.  Neither is Franklin, who tosses in enough false scares, shadowy threats, bats to the head, mysterious informers, and government cover-ups to make us believe something suspenseful is happening, even when it's clear nothing is.  What's maddening about HIGH CRIMES is that you won't realize it until it's all over, and you start wondering, hey, then who planted the bug and why did somebody run them off the road and why was that big guy acting so mean if he really had no reason to and...  In fact, it's making me mad right now thinking about it.

Also with Tom Bower, Bruce Davison, Juan Carlos Hernandez, Michael Gaston and Emilio Rivera.  Music by Graeme Revell.  Producer Jesse B'Franklin is the director's wife.  Franklin is a former actor who played black sidekicks in the TV series CARIBE, FANTASTIC JOURNEY and MCCLAIN'S LAW before moving into feature directing.

HIGH DESERT KILL (1989)—Directed by Harry Falk.  Stars Anthony Geary, Marc Singer, Micah Grant, Chuck Connors.  Less than a year after their friend Paul’s death, buddies Jim (Geary) and Brad (Singer) set out on the annual hunting trip the three of them usually took together, accompanied for the first time by Paul’s younger nephew Ray (Grant).  Strangely, all the game seems to have been shooed off, the only living creature around being grizzled mountain man Stan (Connors), who shares his campsite with the three men.  The absence of anything to shoot at is just one of the strange sensations surrounding this year’s trip.  Two sexy young women visit their campsite, incite the men to fight each other for the right to sleep with them, and then disappear the next morning.  As does the corpse of a bear that three of them kill.  And is that really their late friend Paul that Jim sees roaming around?  CHINA SYNDROME screenwriter T.S. Cook penned this odd made-for-cable picture that doesn’t quite pay off at the end, though it might have made a neat little half-hour TV episode with the fat trimmed out of it and the performances toned down somewhat.  The last credit of Falk’s directing career, which began making episodes of his then-wife Patty Duke’s ‘60s sitcom.  Also with Lori Birdsong (MAD JAKE), Deborah Anne Mansy and Vaughn Armstrong.  Music by Dana Kaproff.

HIGH FIDELITY (2000)--Directed by Stephen Frears. Stars John Cusack, Jack Black, Iben Hjejle, Todd Louiso. More so than any other actor of his generation, John Cusack has always seemed easy to identify with. Although his characters are generally witty, passionate and the smartest guy in the room, he also has a wry genuineness which has led him to virtually become a spokesman for the '80s Generation, due in no small part to his Lloyd Dobler character in 1989's SAY ANYTHING..., whose rain-soaked boombox serenade of the girl he loved has become an indelible film image. And so it goes with Rob, the Chicago record-shop owner Cusack plays in HIGH FIDELITY, an American film version of Nick Hornby's 1995 British novel, who talks directly to the camera as though the audience was an old pal. While this gimmick can seem cloying in the hands of other performers, Cusack's natural likability draws us in to where we really feel as though Rob is an intimate of ours.

Rob owns Championship Vinyl, a record store that actually sells records. His employees include meek, eager-to-please Dick (Todd Louiso) and obnoxious Barry (Jack Black of Tenacious D, who nearly steals the picture), the kind of guy who thinks his opinion means everything and yours is just a nuisance. All three are music-trivia junkies, debating the merits of the Righteous Brothers versus Mitch Ryder, and engaging in frivolous Top 5 lists like Top 5 Songs About Death. Like most Cusack characters, Rob is unlucky at love, and has just been dumped by Laura (Danish actress Iben Hjejle in her U.S. debut). Whereas Rob still lives in a crummy apartment, wears complimentary band T-shirts, and hasn't an ambitious bone in his body, Laura feels she has outgrown Rob, and has shacked up with a supercilious, ponytailed New-Ager played in an amusing cameo by Tim Robbins. To recover from his early-30s, where-is-my-life-going malaise, Rob revisits his Top 5 breakups in an attempt to discover what led these women to break up with him; they include waifish Sarah (Lili Taylor), gorgeous jetsetter Charlie (Catherine Zeta-Jones), and virginal Penny (Joelle Carter). His interactions with all three--as well as a one-night-stand with sexy chanteuse Marie (Lisa Bonet)--allow Rob--and us--to discover that he isn't necessarily such a nice guy after all, and that indeed he has a great deal of growing up to do.

Director Stephen Frears, who teamed with Cusack on THE GRIFTERS a decade ago, allows the episodic plot to play itself out loosely, and is wise enough to stay out of the way and not try to jazz up the proceedings with stylish gimmicks. Screenwriters D.V. DeVincentis, Cusack and Steve Pink (CON AIR's Scott Rosenberg is also credited) earlier collaborated on an even better Cusack starrer, GROSSE POINTE BLANK, and have demonstrated an ability to tap into a truly hip vein, dotting the dialogue with clever throwaways and pop references. Aided by a talented supporting cast--which also includes Sara Gilbert, Natasha Gregson Wagner, Joan Cusack and a surprise cameo by a rock legend--and a remarkably eclectic soundtrack that runs the gamut from The 13th Floor Elevators to The Beta Band, Cusack and Company have achieved an appropriately arch antidote for turning-thirty angst. After all, if Lloyd Dobler can grow up, so can we.

Also with Chris Rehmann, Ben Carr and Marc Busey. Music score by Howard Shore. Cusack and Robbins have appeared together in six films, including their first, TAPEHEADS, and 1999's CRADLE WILL ROCK. Mike Newell, who directed Cusack in PUSHING TIN, served as an executive producer. So how in the hell do you pronounce "Iben Hjejle" anyway?

HIGH NOON, PART II: THE RETURN OF WILL KANE (1980)—Directed by Jerry Jameson.  Stars Lee Majors, David Carradine, Pernell Roberts, Katherine Cannon, J.A. Preston, Michael Pataki.  I can’t imagine a more ludicrous title or concept than this.  Admit it—at first glance, you’d assume this was an SCTV parody with Joe Flaherty as Gary Cooper, wouldn’t ya?  (“Yup.”)  Then you notice that it was written by Elmore Leonard, which piques your interest a little bit.  And once you start to get into it, you realize that it really isn’t too bad.  In fact, HIGH NOON, PART II would likely play much better under any other title, because as good as it is, it of course doesn’t measure up to the 1952 classic.

More than a year after killing Frank Miller and leaving Hadleyville with his wife Amy (Cannon stepping into Grace Kelly’s dainty shoes), former marshal Kane (Majors) returns to buy some horses and settle down.  His dreams of a simple future are shattered, however, when his horses are unnecessarily killed during a gun battle between a posse led by arrogant new marshal Ward (Roberts) and the roguish but basically decent Ben Irons (Carradine), who has a $5000 bounty on his head.  Kane knows Irons is innocent of the murder charge against him, but Ward, who delights in cruelly mistreating everyone, including his deputies Darold (Pataki) and Alonzo (Preston), insists on hunting Irons anyway, ordering his men to shoot to kill on sight.  As we know from the Cooper film, Kane can’t bear to let an injustice pass, and his decision to bring Irons in himself to stand trial makes him an enemy of the gun-happy Ward.

Let’s get it out of the way—no, Majors (in between THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN and THE FALL GUY) is no Cooper, but he isn’t bad either.  In fact, his casting as a durable, righteous western hero is spot-on, and he’s an excellent foil for both the wry Carradine (THE LONG RIDERS had already come out) and the bigoted sadist Roberts.  Nicely photographed in Old Tucson by Harry May (FRIENDLY FIRE), HIGH NOON, PART II benefits from its rousing score, which is reminiscent of Ennio Morricone (who composed the theme to Majors’ earlier western series THE MEN FROM SHILOH).  Since no music credit is given, and some of the score sounds familiar, I’ve concluded that CBS or producer Edward J. Montagne (MCHALE’S NAVY) oddly decided to use library tracks.  An unusual decision for a TV-movie of that era, but an effective one.  Carradine later appeared three times with Majors on THE FALL GUY (once memorably with his father John and brothers Keith and Robert), while Roberts guest-starred on Lee’s series THE BIG VALLEY and THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN.  Also with Tracey Walter, Britt Leach, Frank Campanella and M. Emmet Walsh.

HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER (1973)--Directed by Clint Eastwood. Stars Clint Eastwood, Verna Bloom, Marianna Hill, Mitchell Ryan, Geoffrey Lewis. Eastwood's second film as a director was this bizarre western about a mysterious stranger who rides into a small town, rapes the women and shoots some men, paints the town red, and rides off into the sunset. I think he's supposed to represent the spirit of a lawman who was beaten to death while the townspeople stood by and watched. Movie is directed well b