Michael Kamen

A duke dies and leaves the title and wealth to his adult son. But who's the real son: the found baby raised in USA or the abandoned baby raised by a Hindi family in London? Comedy follows. A member of the English upper class dies, leaving his estate and his business to an American whom he thinks is his son who was lost as a baby and then found. An Englishman who thinks he is an Indian comes to believe that he is actually the heir. He comes to hate the American who is his boss, his friend, and the man who has stolen the woman after whom he lusts. —Mark Logan <marklo@west.sun.com>

A legendary bouncer comes to restore order at a notorious bar but runs afoul of a ruthless crime boss who controls the town. Serene and laconic but powerful and lethal, expert martial artist Dalton is the best professional bouncer in the business. With his reputation preceding him, Dalton arrives in Jasper, Missouri, to clean up The Double Deuce, a seedy bar terrorised by troublemakers. However, Dalton is unaware that villainous local entrepreneur Brad Wesley wants things to stay as they are. As a result, the newcomer gets a deep stab wound from Wesley's hired goons, catching charming physician Dr Elizabeth Clay's eye. For this alone, corrupt Wesley has enough reason to get rid of Dalton at all costs. But a bouncer like Dalton always has the final say. —Nick Riganas Dalton is an expert "cooler," a bar-room bouncer who can break up fights without getting himself killed in the process. Frank Tilghman, the owner of the Double Deuce in Jasper, Missouri, has hired Dalton away from a bar in New York City, because Tilghman needs someone who can handle the nightly outbreaks of violence at the Double Deuce, and teach the rest of the Double Deuce's bouncers how to handle it. Dalton is injured on a fight and is treated by Elizabeth "Doc" Clay, the local doctor. Dalton and Doc soon fall in love with each other, and this angers Brad Wesley, a crime boss. Wesley is out to get rid of Dalton. —Daniel Poniatowski When it becomes too violent at the Double Deuce road house, the club owner hires Dalton, a professional "cooler" (head bouncer) to clean it up. But Dalton's early successes and budding romance with the local doctor enrages Wesley, the town crime boss. When Dalton continues to defy him, the stage is set for a dramatic confrontation that will test Dalton's limits and decide the fate of the town. —R. Huston

Tidewater, Virginia 1808. The story begins at sea with the main protagonist, Crusoe (Aidan Quinn), en route to Africa to retrieve cheap slaves. His ship runs into a powerful storm, and the entire crew perishes except for Crusoe. He eventually makes his way to a tropical island, where he is alone and stranded until he discovers that a dog named Scamp and a small flock of geese have also survived. He befriends Scamp, and gains a close ally. He initially encounters many challenges, but eventually manages to make himself at ease on the island. Later he finds a rifle inside the shipwreck, and, weapon in hand and Scamp by his side, begins exploring the island. After spending more time on the island, Crusoe stumbles upon a group of tribesmen who are indigenous to the area but not the island. He finds, to his horror, that they are cannibals. Following this discovery, Crusoe begins chopping down trees in an attempt to build a boat and escape. His plans do not immediately succeed, and he fashions a cavern into a homestead. Subsequently, Scamp gets sick, and his attempts to cure him fail. Crusoe finds him dead the following morning. This starts a period of intense loneliness for Crusoe. Through his grief, he fails to notice several small boats approaching the island. The natives have come to this island to perform the ritual cremation of their chief along with the sacrifice of three of their fellow tribesmen. The chief lies dead on a great branch armchair, which is set ablaze. At the same moment, the throats of two of the tribesmen are cut, but just before the last killing, Crusoe shoots his rifle, distracting the would-be assassins. The man who was to be sacrificed (Hepburn Graham) escapes; as does Crusoe. The two meet by chance in the forest and Crusoe, fearing for his life, threatens the man with his gun. The tribesman, however, does not perceive this as a threat. They both return to the beach thinking the cannibalistic tribesmen have left in their boats. From this moment the tribesman, named Lucky, starts to trust Crusoe. Crusoe takes him back to his cave but still does not allow Lucky to sleep in the cave with him. He leaves him chained by the ankle outside the cave. The following morning Crusoe finds Lucky gone. He sees smoke coming from the place of the sacrifices and investigates. There he discovers the head of Lucky. Crusoe ends up in the trap of another tribesman (Ade Sapara) who ties him to a tree near his cave. The following day, Crusoe attempts to take revenge on the tribesman. A pursuit follows, and Crusoe tries to shoot the tribesman which surprises him. During their struggle they stumble into some quicksand. The cannibal is able to escape the shifting sands, leaving Crusoe to sink. As Crusoe is about to perish, he is granted clemency from the cannibal who decides to help by lowering him a tree branch. Soon, the two attempt to collaborate in the native language of the cannibal. In time, Crusoe is able to understand the intentions of the cannibal. These intentions are to manufacture a small boat to return home with the help of Crusoe. After completing construction on the boat, Crusoe decides to build a second boat. A strange shot however, announces the arrival of another ship, this one full of European sailors. Crusoe runs to high ground and attempts to catch their attention. Little does he know that they have come to the island to capture his new friend. They are seen chasing his new friend. They then shoot him in his leg and capture him. Crusoe has other concerns, however, like returning home. He swims out to their boat and introduces himself. He stows away on their ship, hoping to catch a ride home. While hiding on-board he discovers that among the crew is a scientist, Dr. Martin (Michael Higgins), who has studied cannibals and plans to bring his friend back to London as an exhibit. Crusoe, who does not agree with this plan, attempts to free his friend without being seen by the crew. At night, he frees the captive from his cage and allows him to escape to their island in a small boat. Crusoe eventually escapes the island which helps him to realize that liberty and life are both precious commodities.

Vengeance drives a tough Detroit cop to stay on the trail of a power-hungry auto magnate who is systematically eliminating his competition. Law-school educated Detroit Police Detective Sergeant Jericho Jackson, known locally as "Action Jackson," was a celebrated lieutenant on the force, but he was demoted nearly two years ago for almost tearing the arm off of sexually violent sociopath Sean Dellaplane, whose father is Peter Anthony Dellaplane, a major car manufacturer. The fallout over the case collapsed Jackson's marriage, and put him at odds with the public. Jackson still has conflicts with his commanding officer, Captain Earl Armbruster. And Dellaplane himself has taken an intense dislike to Jackson, with whom he's been feuding. Jackson begins investigating Dellapane's professional exploits, uncovering the string of murdered trade union members connected to Dellaplane's company. Jackson discovers that Dellaplane is secretly maneuvering his way into a "behind the throne" seat of power, and has been using a group of assassins called the Invisible Men to kill uncooperative union officials. Dellaplane's intent is to gain a political power base, and pick the next president of the United States...one who will be friendly to his interests. Dellaplane fatally shoots his wife Patrice when she discovers his plot, and he plants her body in Jackson's apartment, framing Jackson. Dellaplane is not the kind of guy who would miss Patrice, because he has a mistress named Sydney Ash. Sydney is a local lounge singer and heroin addict. Dellaplane keeps Sydney hooked with a free supply of heroin, delivered in a little velvet-lined box. On the run from the police, Jackson is helped by friends from his old neighborhood -- Sable, a local hotel owner and retired professional boxer, and Dee, a lively local hairdresser and gossip informant who gives Jackson a way to discreetly get to Dellaplane. Jackson and Sydney arrange a meeting with Dellaplane's figurehead replacement for the auto union, unaware that The Invisible Men have been tracking them. What Jackson soon realizes is that Dellaplane intends to enact his plan, and make sure Jackson takes the fall for that too. Jackson and Sydney, along with her bodyguard, Big Edd, find themselves having to fight for their lives against Dellaplane and the Invisible Men. —Todd Baldridge

Set in Washington DC, Suspect centers on three disparate characters. Carl Wayne Anderson is a homeless, deaf-mute Vietnam veteran accused of murdering Elizabeth Quinn, a file clerk at the Justice Department. Kathleen Riley is the beleaguered Federal Public Defender assigned to represent Anderson. An agribusiness lobbyist who normally works on Capitol Hill, Eddie Sanger, is made a member of the jury and begins investigating the details of the murder himself, eventually teaming up with Riley to solve the case. We see some early scenes of Sanger's work as a lobbyist on Capitol Hill, including his efforts to win passage of a bill by seducing a Congresswoman. While not relevant to the movie's plot, these scenes are establishing shots giving us a sense for Sanger as a charming, though somewhat ruthless, person. The movie begins around Christmas with the suicide of a United States Supreme Court Justice, for which no explanation or context is given. We only see the Justice making a tape recording and then shooting himself. Shortly after the Justice's suicide, Elizabeth Quinn's body is found floating in the Potomac river, and Carl Wayne Anderson is arrested for the crime, based almost entirely on the fact that he was found sleeping in Quinn's car, which was abandoned in the parking lot where she worked (and was mostly deserted at night). Anderson explains that he found it unlocked and was just looking for a warm place to sleep since it was the dead of winter. But since he was homeless, had no alibi, and was found in Quinn's car, he was arrested for her murder. The establishing scenes show Riley trying to communicate with Anderson and realizing that he is a deaf-mute. Over time, she begins to penetrate his hard exterior and he tries to cooperate with her efforts to mount a defense for him. In the District of Columbia, all crimes are tried in the federal courts, so a murder trial that would normally be in state court was in federal court instead. Riley selects Sanger to be a member of her jury. Soon thereafter, it becomes clear that Sanger is intent on helping Riley with her investigation and defense of Anderson. As the investigation by Riley and Sanger intensifies, they begin focusing on Deputy Attorney General Paul Gray. Figuring that a key found on Elizabeth Quinn's body has something to do with the Justice Department (where Quinn worked), Riley and Sanger break into the file department at the Justice Department late one night and try to find what the key unlocks. They find that it unlocks a file cabinet, which contained trial transcripts from federal cases from 1968 that Quinn was in the process of transcribing. While the investigation goes on after hours, the movie shows scenes during the day from Anderson's murder trial. During the trial, we are introduced to the stern federal judge Matthew Helms (John Mahoney). Helms is rumored to be the President's nominee for a seat on the prestigious United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Judge Helms begins to suspect that Riley may be collaborating with Sanger, which would be a disbarrable offense of jury tampering, although he does not have concrete proof. One key sequence in a law library (where Riley and Sanger continue looking for the elusive case from 1968 that may be the key to the murder) brings Helms, Riley and Sanger into close proximity. Riley and Sanger narrowly avoid being caught by Judge Helms. Eventually, Judge Helms sequesters the jury to avoid further contact between Riley and Sanger. Riley and Sanger continue tracking the federal court cases from 1968. Their theory is that Elizabeth Quinn stumbled onto something during her transcription of those cases. They look for any case that might have an impropriety. As is explained to the audience, fixing a case requires participation from both the prosecutor and the trial judge. Riley and Sanger think they will find evidence that Paul Gray was a prosecutor on a rigged 1968 case, which would be his motive to murder Elizabeth Quinn if she approached Gray about what she found. Eventually, Riley goes back to Quinn's car (still impounded where it was found in a government parking lot) and finds an audiotape that the police did not uncover in their half-hearted investigation. The tape is the one we saw the Supreme Court Justice making at the beginning of the movie. In it, he confesses to conspiring to fix a case in 1968 (with a politically influential defendant) in return for an appointment from the United States District Court to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Riley assumes the prosecutor on that case was Paul Gray and goes back to the courthouse to retrieve the case book that will confirm this. As she gets to the courthouse (now deserted at night), she is pursued and attacked by an unseen figure. With the help of Sanger (who managed to get away from being sequestered by creating a diversion with a fire alarm), Riley was able to slice the right wrist of her assailant, who then fled unseen. The following day takes place in court. Paul Gray shows up in the courtroom, to the surprise of Judge Helms. Riley then tells Judge Helms that she wants him to take the stand. Irate and perplexed, Helms says that Riley cannot make him testify as he is the presiding judge. Then, in a somewhat-rushed speech, Riley reveals that Judge Helms, not Paul Gray, was the prosecutor in the fixed case in 1968. The Supreme Court Justice was the presiding judge in that case. In exchange for fixing the case, he was promoted from the District Court to the Court of Appeals. Helms, who was the prosecutor on the fixed case, was appointed to the District Court. Judge Helms then waited 17 years (from 1969 to 1986) to be promoted again to the Court of Appeals. Just as he learned he was the President's nominee, Quinn inadvertently discovered the case fixing as she transcribed the cases from 1968. She approached the Supreme Court Justice, who responded by committing suicide. By contrast, when she approached Judge Helms, he murdered her. As Judge Helms angrily bangs his gavel during Riley's accusation, his right wrist begins to bleed from where Riley slashed him the night before, confirming his identity as the killer. The movie ends with Riley reinvigorated in her job and in a relationship with Sanger.

Mike and Ellie Keegan are both New York cops, although Ellie quit to be a stay-home mom to their son Tommy. They live in a house near the El but are planning to buy a nicer home. Mike is called in to investigate a homicide. Claire Gregory, a beautiful and wealthy socialite, witnessed a murder committed by notorious gangster Joey Venza. Since her life is in danger, she must be guarded at her penthouse home. Mike draws the night shift and is not happy about it. Claire's snobbish boyfriend treats him like dirt and he has to sit outside in the foyer all night. One night Claire comes out all dressed up and says she is going to a reception. Mike must accompany her and Claire says his tie isn't right. They stop at a shop to buy a new one, which is quite expensive but Claire puts it on her account. Despite himself, Mike finds himself developing feelings for her. He also begins to unfavorably compare her to Ellie. It isn't long before he is spending the night with her when he is supposed to be guarding her. Ellie and Mike go to dinner and he criticizes her for not acting like a lady. Then he confesses his affair with Claire, leaving Ellie heartbroken. He moves in with a fellow cop who is divorced. Joey Venza finds a way to get into the building. One of the tenants goes jogging every day at dusk and Joey, dressed in similar clothing, knifes him and takes his place. Mike's replacement shows up and Venza kills him. Mike feels terrible because the cop was his good friend. He is placed on suspension and ordered to stay away from Claire until the case is closed. All his cop friends turn against him. When he sees Tommy for visitation, his son will barely speak to him. There is one more social function that Claire must attend; then she is going away. But Venza is still out there. He breaks into Ellie's home and holds her hostage. Mike and Claire rush over and there is a shootout. Ellie, the former cop, kills Venza. Mike now realizes what a mistake he's made and that he still loves Ellie. Claire watches them embrace before climbing back into her car and driving away.

In the Maine small town of Castle Rock, school teacher Johnny Smith (Christopher Walken) takes his fiancée sweetheart Sarah (Brooke Adams) to an amusement park. On the roller coaster, he suffers a bad headache and tells her that he must go home to sleep it off. Sarah begs him to stay, but he declines saying: "some things are worth waiting for". As he drives home, a tanker jackknifes in front of him and he plows into it and black out. Johnny wakes up at the Weizak Clinic. His parents Herb and Vera (Sean Sullivan and Jackie Burroughs) are shown in by Dr. Sam Weizak (Herbert Lom). They tell him that he has been in a coma for five years and Sarah has married another man. The distraught Johnny is inconsolable. One day, as a nurse mops his brow, he seizes her hand. He has a super-real vision of being trapped in a screaming girl's bedroom. He tells the nurse: "Amy needs your help." The nurse knows that Amy is her daughter's name, but puzzled why Johnny knows her. Johnny tells her that the house is burning, and her daughter is in the house - but it is not too late. The nurse rushes home to find her house in flames, but her daughter is rescued by firefighters just as she arrives home. After a few weeks of physical therapy, Johnny is able to walk again with some difficulty. When Johnny gratefully takes Dr Weizak's hand, he is jolted by another vision. It is wartime with burning buildings, advancing tanks. A protesting young boy is lifted into a horse-drawn cart, leaving his mother behind. Johnny tells Weizak that his mother survived. Weizak says that it is impossible, but Johnny knows her name and address. Weizak calls the number and hears his mother on the line. However, he doesn't speak to her as it "wasn't meant to be". Weizak comes back and tells Johnny: "you're either in possession of a very new human ability... or a very old one." Sarah comes to visit Johnny. Catching his stare, she asks him not to look at her that way. He says that he can't help it while Sarah says that it's been five years, but Johnny remembers it as yesterday. She says that she now has a ten-month-old son, named Denny. Johnny takes it well. She tells him that his power of "second sight" is the talk of the town. Against Weizak's advice, Johnny gives a press conference to defuse the situation. Cynical TV reporter Dardis (Peter Dvorsky) demands a demonstration. Aware that he is being mocked, Johnny takes his hand and says "You wanna know why your sister killed herself?" Taken off guard, Dardis calls Johnny a freak. Johnny's distressed parents watch the event on their TV and his mother collapses. At the hospital, Johnny holds her hand as she dies. Johnny moves in with his father. A few days later, Sheriff Bannerman (Tom Skerritt) pays him a visit for his help to catch a serial killer known as the "Castle Rock killer". Johnny refuses. When Herb tells Johnny that he should use his power he's been blessed with, Johnny becomes furious. He thinks that his power is a curse, not a gift. One day, Sarah brings her son over when Walt (her husband) is out. She puts Denny to bed and says: "haven't we waited long enough?" As the scene cuts to the next, sex is implied. After watching another TV program about the Castle Rock killer, Johnny changes his mind & calls Sheriff Bannerman and agrees to help. Bannerman and Officer Dodd (Nicholas Campbell) take him to the scene of the latest murder, but Johnny gets nothing - he advises Bannerman that in order to get something, he needs a physical article that the killer was in contact with. Bannerman is called to another murder scene at the park bandstand where there is a woman's frozen corpse. Dodd identifies the woman as Alma Frechette. John takes the dead woman's hand and instantly "sees" a man calling to her from the bandstand. "She knows him" says Johnny. He watches helplessly as she is killed with a pair of scissors. The killer is revealed to be Frank Dodd. As Bannerman calls for him, he leaves in his squad car. At Dodd's house, Johnny & Sheriff Bannerman arrive where his mother tries to prevent him from entering. Johnny takes her by the arm and sees that she knew her son was the killer all along and she has been protecting him. Mrs. Dodd calls Johnny a devil, sent from hell, and that her son has been killing all "dirty women" in Castle Rock for their sins at her own encouragement. In an upstairs bathroom, Dodd impales himself on the scissors just as Johnny forces himself into the room. Dodd's equally deranged mother takes his gun and shoots Johnny in his shoulder. Sheriff Bannerman runs in and is forced to shoot and kill her to save Johnny's life. Following this close brush with death, Johnny moves out of town to a remote cabin. His bullet injury eventually heals, but his headaches are getting worse. He takes private tutoring jobs, and he is persuaded by millionaire lumber mill owner Roger Stuart (Anthony Zerbe) to teach his introverted son Chris. Johnny arrives at the Stuart mansion as a loud and abrasive politician named Greg Stillson (Martin Sheen) is leaving. Johnny and Chris get along well, to Stuart's relief. Later, Johnny and Chris watch TV coverage to Stillson's campaign for state senator. Stuart says that Stillson is probably a liar and dangerous. In a local newspaper office, editor Brenner is confronted by Stillson and his henchman/sidekick Sonny who demand that he retract an anti-Stillson editorial in the next edition. Producing photographs of Brenner with a young woman (possibly manufactured), they threaten to "take his head off" if he doesn't do as they say. At one of Johnny's tutoring session with Chris, he gets interrupted by a knock on the front door and it is Sarah whom is a Stillson campaign volunteer bringing him a brochure to vote for Stillson. Another man appears at the door and Sarah introduces him as Walt, her husband. After an uneasy introduction, they leave and Johnny breaks down. As Chris hugs him for comfort, Johnny has another vision of kids in hockey uniforms and falling through the ice of a frozen lake. One of them is Chris. Johnny goes to Stuart and insists he call off the kids' ice hockey practice, or they'll drown. Stuart angrily fires Johnny despite Chris' pleas. The next day at a local news stand, Johnny reads a headline about two boys drowning in a skating accident. He calls Stuart's house, hanging up in relief when Chris answers. Meanwhile, Stillson's next rally takes place in a park opposite Johnny's house. Looking for Sarah, Johnny finds himself in Stillson's path. As they shake hands, another vision strikes: at Camp David, President Stillson orders a general to co-authorize an all-out nuclear missile launch against the USSR and the entire world which will bring on Armageddon. The 5-star General, realizing Stillson is a psychopath, refuses, but the maniacal Stillson threatens to 'cut off [the general's hand] and put it on the [scanning screen]'. Reluctantly, the General complies, and the sadistic Stillson tells the Vice President & Secretary of Defence that 'the missiles are flying....Hallelujah! Hallelujah!!'. Horrified, Johnny is rooted to the spot. Stillson is shaken by Johnny's grasp, until Sonny pushes Johnny away. Johnny goes to Dr. Weizak where he asks him that if he could go back in time knowing what he knows, would he kill Adolf Hitler? Weizak answers, 'I would have no choice but to kill the sonofabitch.' He thinks that the "dead zone" in Johnny's visions means that as well as seeing the future, he can also change it. Johnny decides he must take drastic action to stop Greg Stillson before he becomes President of the USA and brings on the end of the world through nuclear war. He packs up his hunting rifle and takes a bus to the Castle Rock Civic Hall, then breaks into the hall where Stillson will appears the next day and lies in wait on the balcony with the rifle. As the hall fills, the charismatic Stillson arrives and invites Sarah and Denny onto the stage with him as he gives his speech. On the balcony, Johnny rises and takes aim. Sarah sees him and screams and as a result the shot misses. As the spectators panic and fleet the hall, the equally panicked Stillson snatches Denny from Sarah and uses him as a shield. Johnny hesitates to fire again, and gets shot by Sonny and other members of the security detail. Johnny falls from the balcony and lands on the floor onto some chairs. What no one else had seen was a young photographer shooting pictures of it all before running out of the hall. Paranoid as always, Stillson walks up and grabs Johnny after recognizing him from a few days ago and demands to tell him who hired him. Johnny grabs Stillson's wrist and has a final vision where he sees a drunken and distraught Stillson in his office where there is a Newsweek magazine on his desk. The front cover shows the photo of Stillson using Denny as a shield with the headline "No Future For Stillson". Beside the Newsweek magazine are other magazines and newspaper headlines with the same photo describing Stillson's despicable act of cowardice. Stillson takes a loaded .45-caliber handgun from his desk drawer, points it under his chin, and commits suicide. Johnny smirks at Stillson and weakly says: "It's over. You're finished." Stillson then turns on Sonny Elliman, demanding to know where the photographer is. Sonny replies, disgustedly, 'I didn't see him!', suggesting that he may be just as disgusted with his boss. Greg Stillson angrily berates Sonny before running out of the hall to hunt for the photographer himself. Sonny follows, leaving the hall empty except for Sarah, Denny & Johnny. As Sarah comes up to Johnny's side, she asks him, 'Why?'. Johnny simply whispers, 'Good-bye'. Sarah starts crying, but as she kneels down next to Johnny & hugs him, she whispers to him, 'I love you....' just before he dies. As Sarah grieves for Johnny, the film fades out & credits begin to scroll across the screen.