Gena Rowlands

A nurse is hired to care for an old woman`s ill husband in their decrepit mansion. Armed with a skeleton key that unlocks every door, she finds a room that holds a deadly secret.

A talking parrot named Paulie recounts his travels to look for his original owner to a Russian janitor who helps him to the end of his journey. Paulie, an intelligent parrot who actually talks, relates the story of his struggle to a Russian immigrant who works as a janitor at the research institute where he is housed and neglected. His story begins many years earlier when he is given as a gift to a little girl named Marie who stutters. Eventually, he teaches her to speak correctly but is taken away by her father because he believes she can't distinguish fantasy from reality because she believes he can talk. He goes through a series of adventures with a pawn shop owner, an aging widow, a Mexican American troubadour, and a would-be thief before being taken to the institute. —<lodger13@iwl.net> A male bird tells the story of his big and long adventure as he tries to find and reunite with his owner. With the the help of a poor male worker, he does his best to discover and remember what it is really like to be a bird in a world where everyone is completely different. —RECB3

Kevin suffers from a Morquio's syndrome, which weakens his heart and stunts his growth. Maxwell has dyslexia and towers above his classmates. The two couldn't be more different, but, when Kevin is asked to help Maxwell, they soon bond. This tells the story of a strong friendship between a young boy with Morquio's syndrome and an older boy who is always bullied because of his size. Adapted from the novel, Freak the Mighty, the film explores a building of trust and friendship. Kevin, an intelligent guy helps out Maxwell to improve his reading skills. In return, Kevin wants Maxwell to take him out places since he is not allowed out unauthorized. Being the social outcasts of the town, Kevin and Maxwell come to realize that they are similar to each other and accept that they are "freaks" and nothing will stop them. —Thorpe89 This is the heart-warming story of a unique friendship shared by two seventh grade boys, Kevin and Max. Kevin, afflicted with a rare physical disability that prevents him from living a normal childhood, is an extremely intelligent boy who lives in the world of his imagination. Max on the other hand, is an over-weight boy who suffers from a learning disability and has failed the seventh grade several times. Fate brings the boys together when Kevin is assigned to tutor Max in his reading skills; here their magical journey begins. These two boys, who appear on the surface to have nothing in common, find they share many painful realities of being outcasts, and of being abandoned by their fathers early in life. Kevin's enchanting world of knights and their quest for justice is brought into reality through his exciting journey with Max. Through their adventures, they find a friendship providing completeness of self and an unbreakable bond of love. —Chris

Grace King Bichon (Julia Roberts) is married to Eddie. Grace is not very close to Eddie and the couple together are not very romantic. Every morning, they discuss the tasks on the "to-do" list for that day, like they are having a business meeting. Grace tends to be absent minded and sometimes would even forget to pick their daughter Caroline from home when she is supposed to be taking her. She helps out at her parent's horse farm during the day. Their daughter Caroline loves horses. Caroline wants to ride a horse during the upcoming Grand Prix, but her grandfather Wyly insists that she is still young and needs to ride a pony. Their stable manager Hank wants to ride the horse Ransom in the upcoming Grand Prix equestrian championship, but Grace's father Wyly plans to buy a stud named Ford for $150K (& ride it himself in the event) and not enter Ransom in it, as he doesn't have a good feeling about it. Grace is upset with the decision as Hank is likely to quit if he is not allowed to enter with Ransom in the competition. Wyly wants Hank and Ransom to wait another year for their chance at the trophy. Grace discovers (while driving Caroline back home from school) that her husband, Eddie (Dennis Quaid), is having an affair with another woman. Grace returns home to find a message on the machine from Eddie saying that he would be in a client meeting till late. By 11 PM, Grace loses all patience and takes Caroline with her to look for Eddie. They find Eddie's car outside a pub. Grace was still in her nightdress. After a wildly public confrontation with Eddie and his mistress, Grace packs up their daughter Caroline "Doodlebug" Bichon (Haley Aull) and returns home to her parents' Wyly King (Robert Duvall) & Georgia King (Gena Rowlands) horse farm to regroup. Grace stays with her sister Emma Rae, who has a separate cabin at the horse farm, different to where Wyly and Georgia stay. To her surprise and dismay, everyone around her is still mired in old fashioned ideals. Wyly admonishes Grace for going around publicly in her nightdress, with Caroline in the car, bringing shame to the family. Georgia exclaims that Eddie slipped and that can happen in the happiest of marriages. Wyly also says that they are involved in a real estate deal with Eddie and his dad and cannot afford to antagonize him. Wyly wants Grace to make up with Eddie, but she refuses flatly. Wyly says that Eddie is a caring father and a good provide and that is hard to come by. Grace, usually submissive around her father, finally gets the courage to stand up to her father. Grace also doesn't allow Eddie to meet Caroline, as she says that she had kept her with Aunt Rae (Anne Shropshire), who hates Eddie to begin with. Her sister, Emma Rae (Kyra Sedgwick), who is furious at Eddie and lets him know it, is also unwilling to let Grace pretend this has come out of nowhere (Eddie was known as the Hound Dog back in college and Grace knew it), or that she did not make choices that led to her current predicament. Grace tries to convince Hank to stay back, but he is determined to leave once the event is over. Meanwhile Wyly starts to practice with Ford but is not able to get a good control of the horse. The trainer of Ford, named Jamie (Brett Cullen), feels that Wyly is controlling it too much and not letting it do its thing. Jamie tells Grace that Wyly needs to trust the horse as the horse knows what it is doing. Grace attends a society ladies meeting and learns that Eddie had sex with another friend of hers. Grace starts to reveal everyone's hidden secrets about how they all cheated with each other's spouses. Jamie has gone through a divorce himself, and Grace starts to like him. Emma encourages her to date him. Eddie, too, confronts Grace about her withdrawal from their life, and his feelings of abandonment after what started out as an affectionate, loving marriage. Eddie says that he never thought Grace would say yes to his marriage proposal. On the advice of a meddlesome neighbor, Grace invites Eddie for a dinner and serves him fish with a low intensity poisoned sauce. Just as Grace starts to understand Eddie's point that Grace stopped wanting Eddie after Caroline was born, the poison makes Eddie sick and Grace rushes him to the hospital. Georgia confronts Grace about her life falling apart but Grace pushes back saying that Georgia never did anything when Wyly cheated on her with Anne-Pritchett, many years ago. Georgia is hurt, she goes back home and locks Wyly out of the house. Eddie decides to file for divorce through his lawyer Jack. Jack encourages Eddie to fight dirty and instead he decides to back off. Emme and Grace head to a bar and get hammered. Emma leaves with a guy and Jamie offers to drop Grace back home. Grace agrees to a nightcap with Jamie. Grace agrees to have sex with Jamie but can't as she keeps picturing Eddie. Jamie accepts that Grace is not yet ready to move on from Eddie. At the equestrian event, Caroline performs on her pony Possum. She wins her category. Grace ignores Wyly and enter Hank and Ransom into the competition against Wyly and Ford. Grace also quits her father's farm and decides to complete her vet studies. Hank makes a perfect run with Ransom, but Wyly drops a bar and comes 3rd, while Hank wins. Wyly is gracious in defeat and Georgia forgives him and they reconcile. Wyly agrees to have Jamie ride Ford the following year. Grace hears that Eddie met a mean divorce lawyer and is alarmed. Grace confronts Eddie at the celebration dinner, and Eddie responds by sharing a lively dance with Grace. Eddie reconciles with Grace, but she says she wants to become someone that she herself is proud of and that she doesn't want to blow this chance away. Grace enrolls in college and starts dating Eddie again.

A successful architect, dogged by a mid-life crisis, purges his material trappings then retreats into a self-imposed exile on a remote Greek island in a vain attempt to bring meaning to his life.

In Los Angeles, California, a sniper (Warren Miller) fires a rifle from the window of his hotel room, killing a middle-aged man bicycling with his wife. At Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Paul (Brock Peters), a security officer, leads a pair of watchdogs into the scoreboard tower before locking all entryways. Meanwhile, the sniper leaves the hotel and drives toward the stadium, where a championship football game is to be played that afternoon between the Los Angeles and Baltimore, Maryland, teams. Football fans from Baltimore arrive at Los Angeles International Airport, including Steve (David Janssen), a short-tempered car salesman, and Janet (Gena Rowlands), his live-in girl friend. After a gambler named Mr. Sandman (Jack Klugman) places a large bet on the Los Angeles team, he is summoned to the hotel suite of Mr. Green (Alan Miller), a gangster to whom Sandman owes $28,000. Green demands the money at the conclusion of the game, or Sandman will be killed. Outside the Coliseum, Mike and Peggy Ramsay (Beau Bridges and Pamela Bellwood) have a picnic on the lawn outside the stadium with their two young sons, along with several other families. Meanwhile, the sniper enters the scoreboard tower undetected, then distracts the dogs with a piece of meat, and breaks the lock to the upper level, which overlooks the interior of the Coliseum. A telephone conversation between police captain Pete Holly (Charlton Heston) and Coliseum manager Sam McKeever (Martin Balsam) reveals that the governors of Maryland and California, the mayor of Los Angeles, and the president of the U.S. will be in attendance. A television crew prepares to broadcast the game from their control room, with several cameras placed around the stadium, including one in the blimp hovering overhead. The game gets underway and Baltimore quickly accumulates an eleven-point lead over Los Angeles. A Catholic priest (Mitchell Ryan) takes a seat next to Sandman, who fears for his life and requests a prayer for the Los Angeles team. Elsewhere in the crowd, Mike Ramsay scans the stadium through his binoculars, and is distracted by an indiscernible presence above the scoreboard. Moments later, the blimp camera detects the sniper. Sam informs the Secret Service of the security breach and deters the president's visit, then calls in Pete Holly. Later, Paul becomes indignant when Sam and Holly question his competence in the performance of his duties, and while they discuss their options in dealing with the crisis, Paul climbs the 60-foot ladder to the top of the tower. Before the two men are able to stop him, Paul reaches the top and is struck by the sniper's rifle stock, causing him to fall his death. Holly orders in the police department's Special Weapons and Tactics (S.W.A.T.) team, as well as three fully staffed ambulances. When the S.W.A.T. team arrives, Holly apprises its leader, Sgt. Chris Button (John Cassavetes), of the situation, and assures him that both governors and the mayor will be evacuated, reducing the chances of a shooting. Button, however, believes everyone in the stadium to be a "probable target." The sergeant deploys his men, placing two in each light tower overlooking the scoreboard, two in the control room to monitor the sniper, and others in and around the scoreboard, none of which are noticed by the more than 90,000 people in attendance. Holly hopes to foil the sniper without incident, and will only turn the operation over to Button after the two-minute warning is sounded, which signals the final moments of the game. In the stands, the priest tries to comfort Sandman, who has admitted that his life depends on the game's outcome. Mike goes to the lobby to tell the police about his discovery of the sniper, but the police take him away for interrogation. Meanwhile, in the control room, the camera signal from the blimp is lost and a police helicopter is called to monitor the sniper. As the Los Angeles team takes the lead, the two-minute warning is signaled with a pistol shot, and Holly orders the S.W.A.T. team into action. Steve and Janet end a bitter argument in the hallway with the decision to get married, but as they return to their seats, the sniper shoots and kills Steve... and then all hell breaks loose. The sniper finally opens fire on the crowd and kills two S.W.A.T. team members and several spectators, including Sandman. Peggy Ramsey is wounded by a bullet to her shoulder as she runs out of the stadium with her two young sons. Mike manages to get away from the police and runs through the panicking crowing trying to find his wife. At the same time, the S.W.A.T. team fires back, but the sniper is undaunted and shoots into the panicked crowd as it stampedes out of the stadium. Holly and Button climb the ladder to the scoreboard, while gunfire from the police helicopter causes the sniper to retreat into the tower. The police follow him inside, and the sniper continues to fire on them from a narrow shaft above the tower. Holly shoots six bullets into the shaft, and the sniper falls. The captain tries to interrogate the dying man but gets no response. The sniper's wallet identifies him as Carl Cook, "a transient from out of state." Elsewhere around the Coliseum, emergency crews treat the injured and identify the dead. Mike is returned to his family as his injured wife is placed in an ambulance. The priest remains in his seat, cradling Sandman's dead body. Later, as Cook's body is lowered from the tower, Button speculates on the killer's posthumous celebrity, and on how the police will likely be criticized for using excessive force.

The movie opens with modern day cowboy Jack Burns (Kirk Douglas) stretched out beside a dying campfire at dawn, awakened by the roar of fighter jets above the vast, open scrub-lands of New Mexico. Burns is a cowboy ill at ease with the modern world of the early 1960s. He rolls his own smokes and cuts through fences when they block his path. He carries no ID, not even the requisite draft card. He is on a collision course with the world around him. His only constant companionship comes from Whiskey, his spirited and beloved buckskin mare. Burns rides into Duke City, New Mexico, crossing a busy highway atop his spooked horse and nearly getting killed in the process. He surprises Jerry Bondi (Gena Rowlands), the wife of his best friend, in her kitchen. Her husband Paul (Michael Kane) is in jail, having been sentenced to two years in prison for assisting Mexican immigrants who have crossed into the United States illegally. Burns wants to go see him, but Jerry explains that the next visiting opportunity is several days off. Burns divulges that he has been forced to herd sheep just to earn a living. He says he started for Duke City as soon as he learned of Paul's plight. Meanwhile, a long-distance truck driver (Carroll O'Connor) exits a diner in Joplin, Missouri and climbs into the cab of his vehicle, headed for Duke City. He is hauling a load of porcelain toilets in his tractor-trailer. Burns plans to go into town, get drunk, and somehow get thrown in jail in order to see his friend. He finds a Mexican bar and heads for a back table with his beer and a whiskey chaser. On the way to his table, he trips over the intentionally outstretched foot of a one-armed man (Bill Raisch). Burns starts to complain, then notices the man's missing arm and apologizes. Burns sits down, drains a glass of whiskey, and starts nursing his beer, but the one-armed man suddenly throws a whiskey bottle across the room and over Burns' table. Burns calmly tells the man to watch himself and returns to his beer. The man then throws his whiskey glass and hits Burns with it. Burns once again tries to avoid a confrontation, but the man gets up from his table and approaches threateningly. He obviously has a chip on his shoulder and wants Burns to fight him. He kicks the chair out from under Burns, dumping him onto the floor. Amazingly, Burns still tries to avoid a fight, offering the truculent man a drink. The man calls Burns a coward, provoking Burns to slap him. Burns offers to even things up by putting one arm behind his back, and a savage fight ensues. The one-armed man is more than a match for Burns, using his good arm, the stump of his missing arm, a chair, a billiard ball, and a cue stick to attack Burns. A wild melee erupts with a group of patrons before the police arrive. Burns is taken to the police station, only to discover that the cells are overloaded and he is therefore being released. When he realizes he won't get to see Paul, he intentionally slugs a policeman, earning a one year jail sentence.. Sheriff Morey Johnson (Walter Matthau) arrives at the police station, where he is greeted by his deputy (William Schallert). Discipline at the police station and jail is noticeably lax. A sadistic deputy named Gutierrez (George Kennedy) enjoys riding roughshod over the prisoners. Burns quickly earns the attention of Gutierrez. Burns confides in Paul that he intends to spring him from the jail, but Paul says he doesn't intend to escape and risk a longer sentence. Burns reveals that he has smuggled two hacksaw blades into the jail. He and two Navajo cellmates spend the night sawing through one of the bars before Gutierrez shows up and calls Burns out of the cell for a supposed phone call. Gutierrez brutally beats Burns and knocks out a tooth before bringing him back. The two Navajo have escaped and Burns hurriedly resumes his escape efforts before daylight can arrive. As Burns slithers through the opening in the bars, Paul once again declines to escape. Burns is disappointed but understands the difference in their situations. Paul has a wife and child to think of; Burns is all alone. Burns climbs down the side of the jailhouse with the aid of a blanket for a rope and returns to Jerry's house. Jerry packs him some food before he gathers up spare ammunition and puts a saddle on Whiskey. It is now revealed that Burns and Jerry were once in love before Jack selflessly backed away in favor of Paul. Burns kisses Jerry goodbye and rides off, certain that his pursuers won't be far behind. Sheriff Johnson soon learns that escapee Jack Burns served in the army during the Korean War, earning a Purple Heart and the DSC, along with jail time for striking an officer. Up in the foothills, Burns watches over his shoulder for activity down below and heads for a distant mountain ridge that promises safety. The route gets steeper and more difficult with every switchback. Burns spots several armed deputies in pursuit far below. He is forced to dismount and lead Whiskey up the slippery and treacherous mountain face. Sheriff Johnson is lent the use of a helicopter by a general at the local army base to locate Burns. The skittish horse causes Burns considerable delay, allowing the helicopter crew to spot him. Burns expertly puts a rifle bullet through the tail rotor to cause the helicopter to have to land and it spirals down and crashes without killing the crew. Deputy Gutierrez, involved in the chase, eventually comes across the tethered horse and thinks he has gotten the drop on Burns, but he feels a rifle barrel pressed up against his face. Burns repays his earlier vicious beating with a rifle butt across the face of the sadistic deputy, knocking him out cold. Burns now leads Whiskey up an incredibly steep talus slope where the horse nearly plunges down the mountainside. They are rapidly approaching the summit and freedom, but the deputies are closing in. Just as the deputies are able to get a clean shot at him, Burns reaches the crest and quickly mounts up, spurring his horse into a thick stand of timber on the other side with complete concealment. Burns discovers that a bullet has passed through his boot and into his lower leg. He gingerly slides off the horse and fashions a splint from his rifle stock. Mounted up again, Burns rides down to the edge of an interstate highway at night during a heavy downpour. Across the highway is Manzano Mountain and the freedom of Mexico. Barreling down the rain-slick highway is the tractor-trailer introduced earlier, carrying the load of toilets. Burns desperately tries to maintain control over his nervous horse and coax him across the highway through the heavy traffic. At the critical moment, Whiskey spooks and rears up in the middle of the highway. The truck driver cannot possibly stop in time, slamming into man and horse and hurling them onto the shoulder. As a crowd gathers and surrounds the injured Jack Burns, Whiskey screams in agony. Burns is in obvious shock, but every scream from the horse is registered on his contorted face. Sheriff Johnson and a deputy soon arrive at the accident scene. Johnson sends the deputy to dispatch the badly injured horse, and the resulting gunshot causes Burns to wince noticeably. Sheriff Johnson is asked to identify Burns as the escaped fugitive, but the sheriff declines claiming he's never seen him closeup. Burns is loaded onto an ambulance and driven away as his cowboy hat washes across the rainy highway.