Michael Cavanaugh

The Haunting (1999) is a remake of the 1963 film, "The Haunting." The movie starts with Eleanor "Nell" Vance (Lili Taylor) arguing with her sister over the house which her recently deceased mother, whom Nell took care of for 11 years, left her sister in the will. After her sister gives her her mother's car, Nell orders her sister, brother-in-law, and nephew to leave. Once she's alone she finds an ad in the local newspaper asking for volunteers to take part in a study on insomnia at an old New England mansion, which Nell decides to join. Elsewhere we find Dr. Marrow (Liam Neeson) discussing with his assistant Mary over which volunteers he should use for his study, which he explains is actually an experiment on how people react to fear. Once Nell arrives at Hill House, she argues politely with Mr. Dudley the caretaker to let her in. After minutes of arguing she finally enters through the gates of Hill House where at the door she finds Mr. Dudley's wife Mrs. Dudley. As Nell makes her way to her room, it's clear that she's instantly drawn to the house. Moments later Theo (Catherine Zeta-Jones) arrives and gives Nell with an awkward homophobic reaction. After the two get to know each other a little better, they both go downstairs and explore, and find the carousel room, then they return to the main entrance and meet Luke (Owen Wilson) Dr. Marrow, and his two assistants Mary and Todd. Once they get to dinner they discuss insomnia issues and find out more about each other, and learn what they'd be doing for the next few days. After dinner, Dr. Marrow leads his guests to a room to tell everyone the story of Hill House and how Hugh Crain had built it for his wife and wished desperately for children, which all died at birth. After Dr. Marrow tells the story his assistant Mary talks about how she can feel the evil everywhere and that there's more to the story. As she goes up to examine the piano one of the strings snaps and cuts her, causing her and Todd to leave for the remainder of the movie. As everyone gets ready for bed Dr. Marrow tells Luke about how Hugh Crain's wife had killed herself, in order to scare Luke. Once upstairs Luke occupies himself with a book and a candy dispenser, while Theo tries to get closer to Nell, and Nell reluctantly asks to go to bed. As Nell and Theo are in bed, Luke decides to wander around, and is met be Dr. Marrow, who decides to talk for a while. As everything calms down for the night Nell is startled by a screaming Theo, in response to a constant mysterious banging on the walls. Nell and Theo cower as Luke rushes to see what the screaming is, although he was unaware of any banging. The next morning everyone tries to talk things out, but Dr. Marrow assures everyone the coldness and noises were all due to the old plumbing. The next night as Nell is asleep the movie encounters it's first visual samples of paranormal activity, and Nell is encountered by ghostly figures taking forms through the bed sheets and curtains. As Nell and Luke are filling out papers for Dr. Marrows research, Luke confides in Nell that Dr. Marrow must be up to something and that he would get to the bottom of things. Luke soon wanders off talking about Theo leaving Nell alone, where she experiences more paranormal events. Everyone quickly rushes in to see what was wrong and finds Nell scared, and concerned over what was happening in the house. While Dr. Marrow and Luke looked around to see what might have startled Eleanor look comes to a frightening observation that the large portrait of Hugh Crain had been vandalized with blood reading, "Welcome Home Eleanor." Eleanor is appalled at the writing and demands to know who did it, but no one confesses, leaving tension between the characters. The group soon makes their way to the green room where they find a large unstable spiral staircase, and a fountain containing a large statue of Hugh Craine, and some more statues of a women surrounded by 6 children. As another night comes we find Nell sleeping, but she is soon awakened by some more sounds. As she looks around she finds a trail of bloody foot prints leading her to a hidden library. In the library she finds logs of hundreds of children that Hugh Craine must have taken in to his house, finding that many of them had actually died working for Hugh Crain. She goes to tell Theo, but Theo doesn't believe what Nell tells her, and goes back to bed. Once Eleanor is alone she starts to brush her hair, but when she stops her hair parts on it's own, and Eleanor is deeply frightened once more. The next morning Nell finds Dr. Marrow's studies, and learns what the experiment actually is. She also finds out that he's interpreting her behavior as delusional. In the statue garden Luke talks to Theo and seems to have also figured out what Dr. Marrow was doing, but when they encounter Nell, she expresses that it's not Dr. Marrow doing everything to the house, and that it's indeed ghosts. She then insists that home is where the heart is. When Nell looks up she sees Hugh Crain's wife hanging, but no one else sees it leading everyone to think even more that Eleanor is mentally unstable and should go home. Nell rushes to the library and finds pictures of Hugh Crain's wife whispering for her to check the fire place. In the fire place Nell finds a skeleton that comes to life causing Nell to run away, following the voices of children. She tries to go through a door but is punched by a hand that formed from the door and soon disappeared. Eleanor rushes to the rest of the group and concludes that Hugh Crain took children from the town to work at the mills then never let them go. As she tells this to Theo, Luke, and Dr. Marrow, they conclude that she's going crazy from emotional distress and fear. As Theo tries talking to Dr. Marrow about her, she finds that they're in an experiment to study reactions to fear, and becomes furious at what the experiment had done to Nell. Once Nell's in bed and Theo finishes comforting her and leaves to bring her tea, the walls form the shape of a face, and everything starts falling apart around her. She runs out and looks in the mirror to see Mrs. Crain's face, and then runs away again to the carousel room. She's then extremely frightened and runs to the green room. Theo, Luke, and Dr. Marrow go searching for Nell and finally come to the green room to find Nell climbing the spiral stair case. Dr. Marrow goes to save her, but the stairway starts to unhinge, causing Dr. Marrow to desperately and quickly bring Nell to safety. Dr. Marrow goes to the green room to examine and take notes, and is grabbed by the statue of Hugh Crain, which them starts to fountain out blood. He runs to Theo and Luke, to go check on Eleanor. Eleanor's bed cages her in metal beams, and Theo, Luke, and Dr. Marrow desperately try to get in to help. Once they get in everyone else finally observes the paranormal aspects of Hill House for the first time. As soon as they get Nell out they try to leave, but Hill House makes sure that there's no way of escaping. Nell then runs back to the house knowing that she's meant to save the children. Everyone runs in looking for her, so they can leave, and they finally find her. Even after Theo tries to compromise with letting her by letting her live with her, Nell refuses to leave until she saves the children. Luke, Theo, and Dr. Marrow still try to escape now that they can't leave the house, but can't find anyway out. Luke then falls into the fire place, and as he's trying to get out he gets decapitated by a stone lion. The house is now coming to life, and everything that can is trying to attack the current occupants. Finally the ghost of Hugh Crain comes out for a final battle, but as his ghost is being sent to the walls Eleanor goes along with it crashing her body against the stone door. She then falls to the ground dying. As Nell dies the children's spirits are release along with her's. The movie ends with the Dudleys returning and a final shot of the house

Josh Randall (Chuck Norris) is the head of security for the Lucky Dragon Casino in Hong Kong. As the movie begins, Randall is visiting Los Angeles to collect $115,000 owed by a rich gambler to his employer, David Pascal (Frank Michael Liu). After a few threats and some fighting he collects the debt. He dozes during a jet flight back to Hong Kong and the viewer sees in flashback how he got in a fight in the Casino when he was on leave from the US Army and ended up befriending David's father, Sam (David Opatoshu). Josh goes to the casino upon his arrival in Hong Kong and checks in the money. While he's there, David asks him to help terminate one of the Dragon's dealers who is skimming money. David fires the dealer, telling him he's lucky he doesn't have his hands broken for what he's done. The dealer is humiliated by being forced to walk out of the casino without his pants, a punishment Josh considers excessively harsh. After work, Josh visits Sam, and the two share some reminiscences about the old days. Sam asks Josh what is going on with David and the casino, saying his gut tells him that something is wrong. However, Josh has not been taken into David's confidence and doesn't know what to say. Sam invites Josh back later to visit and watch some soccer with himself and David. After picking up some food, Josh heads home to his houseboat out in Aberdeen Harbour, where he spends a pleasant interlude with his beautiful blonde girlfriend Claire (Mary Louise Weller). A couple hours later he returns to the Dragon, just in time to foil an attempted robbery. That evening, Josh, Sam, and David are relaxing at the Pascal home with some beers and watching a soccer game. David tells Sam that a competitor, Stan Ramondi (Michael Cavanaugh), has an interesting business proposition for a merger the elder Pascal should hear. He suggests that the men go to Ramondi's restaurant and casino after the game. Ramondi is widely known as a mobster and runs a Triad-backed syndicate called Osiris which extorts protection money from Hong Kong businesses, but with some misgivings Sam agrees to go. Upon arrival the Pascals and Randall are escorted into Ramondi's office. Ramondi has much praise for Randall, saying he has heard many good things, and even offers Josh a job. When Randall turns him down Ramondi asks him to wait outside in the casino. Ramondi then gets right down to business, telling Sam Pascal that times are changing and he should bring his business in under the umbrella of Osiris. Sam gets angry at this, saying he doesn't need to procure protection from Osiris and that Ramondi's offer is a joke and bullshit. Sam storms out. Meanwhile, Randall has run afoul of Ramondi's hulking bodyguard, Kam (Seiji Sakaguchi). They nearly come to blows until Ramondi calls off his goons. On the way home, David tells Sam that they are almost broke due to David's gambling losses, and that they have no choice but to take Ramondi's offer. Sam is furious to hear this, telling David that he needs to straighten up or he will be out of the business. As they return to the Pascal household, David asks Josh to return later, fearing that there may be trouble. Soon after Randall leaves, Osiris assassins show up at Sam's home and wipe out everyone in the family except for Joy (Camila Griggs), Sam's wild child daughter. When Randall returns to the Pascal home, he finds David and Sam murdered. Knowing that both he and Joy are in deadly danger, he shows up at the swing condo where she lives, and almost coerces her into accompanying him, much to her annoyance. Randall decides to go to the police and drops Joy off with Claire at his houseboat. Two police inspectors, Keck (Jimmy Shaw) and Chen (Lloyd Kino), intercept Randall on his way to the station and arrest him. Randall is brutalized by Keck as he is taken into custody. The police attempt to pin the murder of the David and Sam Pascal on Josh and Keck has him strip searched. Finally due to lack of evidence the cops are forced to let him go. Randall visits the place of business and warehouse of his old Vietnam buddy Leroy Nicely (Bob Minor), and obtains a .45 automatic and a Gerber combat knife. Leroy tells him that he has a $150,000 price on his head, to which Josh jokingly replies "Hong Kong or American?" Leroy volunteers to go with Randall like in the old days when they were part of the A-Teams in Vietnam, but Josh tells him to stay and protect the girls. On the way back to his houseboat Josh sees Keck staking him out and sneaks up on him, returning the beating he had taken earlier. Rounding up Joy and Claire, Josh attempts to run and hide out from the mobsters men throughout Hong Kong, but this turns out to be difficult for a big blonde American with two beautiful women in tow. After a number of Karate battles and shots fired, he drops the girls back off at Leroy's. Realizing that Ramondi must be a figurehead as there is no way he has the authority and influence to be at the top of Osiris, Josh resolves to track down who the real leader is, as that person is the one who ordered the killings. After following some leads Randall finds out that aging and supposedly retired crime lord Simon Koo (Peter Gee) is the actual head of the Osiris syndicate and also that Koo is secretly Ramondi's father. Randall returns to the warehouse to find Ramondi's thugs broke into the warehouse and mortally injured Leroy, kidnapped Joy, and raped and killed Claire. Seriously going on the warpath, Josh dresses up in military uniform to get into Ramondi's restaurant without being recognized. Once inside he waylays one of Ramondi's goons and wrings Ramondi's location out of him, discovering that Joy is being held captive on Ramondi's private yacht. At the shipyard Randall takes on more of Ramondi's men and has his life saved by the timely intervention of Inspector Chen who it turns out is part of an international task force against organized crime in Hong Kong. Chen informs Randall that Inspector Keck was arrested and he confessed that he worked for Ramondi. Randall decides to go onto Ramondi's yacht and rescue Joy and Chen says he can't let Randall go alone. While overcoming Ramondi's bodyguards aboard the yacht Chen is wounded, then Randall gets into a savage and difficult battle with Ramondi himself, who like Randall is very skilled in the martial arts. Finally he wins the fight after Ramondi's neck is accidentally caught in a rope and snapped when he falls. Randall leaves Joy in the care of the Inspector and goes after Koo. Arriving at Koo's compound, Randall fights his way in. Once inside, he confronts Koo, telling him he killed a lot of good people. Koo replies that he has a place for Randall in his organization, asking Josh if Ramondi told him this. Randall tells Koo that he did, right before before he died. Enraged, Koo orders Kam to kill Randall. As the fight begins, Kam goads Randall by telling him that he was the one who raped and killed Claire. Randall is nearly beaten in the terrific battle which follows. Finally, after much furniture is broken and many walls smashed, a wooden window frame with a large dagger of broken glass falls on Kam's neck, cutting his throat. Randall then takes Koo into custody. In the aftermath, Inspector Chen drops off Randall and Joy near the harbor. Chen thanks the two of them for all they did and informs Randall that the key remaining people in the syndicate will be deported, which will finish it. He adds that Simon Koo will be committed to an institution for the insane, the shock of his son's death apparently being too much for him. He also remarks that he wishes Randall would consider taking a job on the police force. As the Inspector leaves, Joy tells Randall that she would like to get the Lucky Dragon up and running again, and asks him if he thinks she can. Smiling, Randall rhetorically says, "You're a Pascal, aren't you?" In a voice over as the movie ends, Randall states that the city of Hong Kong lives on borrowed time, the lease is running out and the city will be reverting back to the Chinese landlords in 17 years, but as he further muses, Hong Kong's residents are survivors and whatever happens Hong Kong will always be "the place."

A hard but mediocre cop is assigned to escort a prostitute into custody from Las Vegas to Phoenix, so that she can testify in a mob trial. But a lot of people are literally betting that they won't make it into town alive. In Phoenix, Arizona, alcoholic and mediocre Detective Ben Shockley (Clint Eastwood) is assigned by Chief Commissioner Blakelock (William Prince) to bring witness Gus Mally (Sondra Locke) from Las Vegas, Nevada for a minor trial. Shockley travels to Las Vegas and finds that Gus Mally is an aggressive and intelligent prostitute with a college degree and she tells him that the odds are against her showing up in court. Shockley learns that she will actually testify against a powerful mobster, and the mafia is chasing them, trying to kill them both. He calls Blakelock and requests a Police escort from Phoenix to protect them. But soon, he discovers that someone is betraying him in the Police Department. Now, Shockley and Malley hijack a bus and Shockley welds thick steel plates and transforms the cabin in an armored bus trying to reach the Forum. But they will need to drive through a gauntlet of Police Officers armed with heavy weapons.

A Vietnam veteran suffering from post traumatic stress disorder breaks out of a VA hospital and goes on a road trip with a sympathetic traveler to start a worm farm in California with his fellow veterans. It's 4 years since Jack is back from Vietnam, but he still has nightmares. In a bus on his way to California he meets Carol, who just left her fiancée - only 4 days before their wedding, allegedly just for a few days of vacation. Jack happily tells her about his plans to set up a worm farm for fishing baits together with four of his Vietnam ex-comrades. Although he gets on her nerves at the beginning, she starts to care. When one after the other of his friends steps out and Jack looses his optimism, Carol remains as the last support that keeps him from despair. —Tom Zoerner <Tom.Zoerner@informatik.uni-erlangen.de> Deemed "crazy" from the effects of combat in the Vietnam War, Jack Dunne has been in and out of the same VA Hospital in New York City for the last four years since he completed his tour of duty, the times out only when he's been able to escape. With the help of his fellow ward patients, most with who he fought in the war, they striving for the bright future that he offers, Jack is again able to escape, his mission, with limited funds, to make three stops across the country in Sedalia Missouri, Albuquerque New Mexico and ultimately Eureka California - those funds insufficient to make the entire trip by conventional means - to connect with three other vets with who he was in combat. Along the way, he meets Carol Bell, a young woman trying to make her way to Kansas City Missouri, only to turn around as she needs to be back in New York City within four days. While Carol initially wants nothing to do with Jack, she eventually needs to rely on him for financial reasons, then ultimately for emotional reasons. As Jack and Carol make the trek across the US together to try to get to their respective destinations, they get into one predicament after another, they both realizing that they cannot get the police involved in anything that happens as it means a one way trip back to the VA hospital for Jack. In the process, they will find just how much they will need each other emotionally, from Jack's side from how damaged he really is by the war. —Huggo