Polly Walker

A young Irishwoman becomes governess to 3 daughters of a rich family in Spain in 1936, just before the civil war. The mom likes Franco - the dad doesn't. She becomes family. She befriends 5 Irishwomen. This is the story of a young Irish woman who comes to Spain to escape from the pressures she feels about her impending marriage to a political activist in Ireland. But in Spain in the 1930's, taking a job of governess in a wealthy family, she finds the same kinds of political unrest. In fact, it isn't long before she finds herself attracted to a married man who is similarly involved in the struggle against fascism and Franco. This awakens her to her nature that brings her to such men and resolves for her what she must do about the life she left in Ireland. —BOB STEBBINS <stebinsbob@aol.com>

1703: Robinson Crusoe has to leave Scotland for a year, but after months sailing, a storm wrecks his ship. He ends up as only survivor on a desolate island. Robinson Crusoe flees Britain on a ship after killing his friend over the love of Mary. A fierce ocean storm wrecks his ship and leaves him stranded by himself on an uncharted island. Left to fend for himself, Crusoe seeks out a tentative survival on the island, until he meets Friday, a tribesman whom he saves from being sacrificed. Initially, Crusoe is thrilled to finally have a friend, but he has to defend himself against the tribe who uses the island to sacrifice tribesmen to their gods. Over time, their relationship changes from master-slave to a mutual respected friendship despite their difference in culture and religion. —Tiny T

The exiled royal doctor to King Charles II devotes himself to helping Londoners suffering from the plague, and in the process falls in love with an equally poor woman. An aspiring young doctor, Robert Merivel found himself in the service of King Charles II and saves the life of a spaniel dear to the King. Merivel joins the King's court and lives the high life provided to someone of his position. Merivel is ordered to marry one of the King's mistresses in order to divert the suspicions of another one of his mistresses. He is given one order by the king and that is not to fall in love. The situation worsens when Merivel finds himself in love with his new wife. Eventually, the King finds out and relieves Merivel of his position and wealth. His fall from grace leaves Merivel where he first started. And through his travels and reunites with an old friend, he rediscovers his love for true medicine and what it really means to be a doctor. —P. Wong <pwong@nt.net>

Carly Norris (Sharon Stone), a beautiful book editor and divorcee in her mid-30s, moves into the exclusive New York City sliver building "113". A sliver building is a tall building constructed on a lot with a narrow frontage, more specifically in New York City. Evelyn McEvoy (Nina Foch) is the real estate agent for the apartment building. Carly loved the view and the fact that the apartment is on a high floor. Carly was married to her ex-husband for 7 years and feels that she wasted that time of her life and was too late to realize that she shared nothing in common with the man she was spending her life with. Judy (Colleen Camp) is Carly's colleague at the office. Alex Parsons (Martin Landau) is Carly's boss and she is expecting a raise at work. Carly meets other tenants including Zeke (William Baldwin), a video game designer, Jack (Tom Berenger) a novelist, Vida (Polly Walker) a fashion model who moonlights as a call girl, and Gus (Keene Curtis) a professor of Videography at New York University. They tell Carly that she bears a striking resemblance to Naomi Singer (Allison Mackie), the previous tenant of her apartment who fell to her death from her balcony. Gus travels a lot to Japan to look over the latest video technology that he can later teach in his class. Alex introduces Jack to Carly at work. Jack had written 2 hit novels a few years ago and nothing ever since. Alex wanted Carly to convince Jack to write again. Carly admits that she has never read Jack's novels before in her life. Jack becomes slightly obsessive with Carly and says that she will read his novels as she has good taste. It is shown in a flashback that Naomi was thrown off the balcony of her apartment by a mysterious man in a hoodie who had access to Naomi's place. Zeke is very friendly to Carly and even helps her move into the building. He somehow is present every time Carly is in the common areas of the building. Unknown to Carly her apartment, even her bathroom was bugged with secret cameras that were keeping an eye on her. The mysterious person had bugged every apartment in the building with hidden cameras and was keeping an eye on everybody at the same time. The person sees Carly in the bathroom, in her tub, masturbating. Jack badgers Carly to read his novels after he sends her a copy of his 2 bestsellers. Carly stands up to Jack and indicates that she does not like the intrusion into her private life, but Jack is very persistent. Someone sends Carly a telescope as a gift but kept their identity hidden. Through the telescope Carly sees Vida trying to seduce Jack on the streets. She only leaves after Jack gives her some money from his wallet. After running into Zeke numerous times, Carly invites him to her housewarming party. Jack also barges in without an invitation. Carly joins the gym with Zeke. One time she gets stuck in the laundromat of the building in the basement, when the power fails, and gets really scared after hearing strange noises. Zeke arrives there shortly afterwards to rescue her. Carly visits Zeke at his apartment after a gym session, where Zeke got really flirty with her and touched her behind. Soon afterwards, Carly and Zeke begin a sexual relationship. Their sex sessions are also recorded by the mysterious person with the hidden cameras. Meanwhile, Jack starts stalking Carly and warning her about Zeke who he says is "sick". He also points out that Zeke's deceased mother, a soap opera actress named Thea Manning, bears a resemblance to Carly. Jack says that Zeke was seeing Naomi and that Naomi was seeing a shrink. Carly retorts that Jack is unable to write anymore and is making up these stories about Zeke and Naomi to hide the fact that he cannot write. Carly continues to see Zeke and gets romantically involved with him. Zeke engages Carly in increasingly erotic behavior including exposing her undergarments to him at a restaurant while they were having a meal in the dining room. Zeke tells Carly that he never knew Naomi and that she came onto him once. Zeke instead tells Carly that it was Jack who had an affair with Naomi. Carly calls Jack and says that it was Vida who told her that Jack had an affair with Naomi. Jack immediately recognizes that Vida never said any such thing and that it was Zeke who told Carly about the affair. As Jack's behavior becomes more erratic, Gus dies in the shower under suspicious circumstances and Vida is murdered, with police suspicion falling on Jack for her death after Carly discovers him in the stairwell with her corpse. Carly is in touch with Lieutenant Victoria Hendrix (C. C. H. Pounder). Zeke reveals to Carly that he is the owner of 113, which he bought with his inheritance from his wealthy father. As owner of 113, Zeke has installed a comprehensive video surveillance system throughout the building, allowing him to spy on all of the tenants from his own secret surveillance room. It is revealed that Zeke is the mysterious person spying on everybody in the building. Carly realizes that Zeke has been spying on her through his hidden cameras. Carly is livid, but is intrigued by the system and starts playing with it herself as she looks into the private lives of all the other people in the building. Jack is charged with the murder of Vida but is released on bail and returns to the building. Through deduction and eventually one of Zeke's secret recordings, Carly learns that Jack killed Naomi in a crime of passion. Jack was jealous of Zeke, who had sexual relations with both Naomi and Vida. Jack attacks Carly in her own apartment, and she accidentally shoots him dead. Angry at Zeke for withholding evidence in Naomi's murder, and jealous of his liaisons with Naomi and Vida, Carly destroys Zeke's surveillance room, tells him to "get a life", then leaves.

Jack Ryan (Harrison Ford) is on a "working vacation" in London with his family. He has retired from the CIA and is a Professor at the US Naval Academy. Jack gives a lecture at the Royal Naval Academy and then walks out to meet up with his wife Cathy (Anne Archer) and daughter Sally (Thora Birch). Meanwhile, Cathy and Sally are sightseeing near Buckingham Palace. The two come upon a British Royal Guard, and Sally tries to get the guard to react by doing an improvised tap dance in front of him. She's impressed when the guard, trained to ignore distraction, has no reaction to her antics. As Sally and Cathy walk away from the guard, en route to rendezvous with Jack, they walk by a stolen cab, in which sit three Ulster Liberation Army (ULA) terrorists: Kevin O'Donnell (Patrick Bergin), the driver, as well as Sean Miller (Sean Bean) and his younger brother Patrick (Karl Hayden). The three are loading their guns as they prepare to carry out an ambush on Lord William Holmes (James Fox), the British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and a member of the British Royal Family (the cousin of the Queen Mother). As they finish loading their weapons, another accomplice, Annette (Polly Walker), radios to them that Lord Holmes is leaving the palace with his wife and son. As Lord Holmes's car leaves the palace, the terrorists' car falls in line behind him. They follow the car, headed for the ambush point. As they drive, O'Donnell and the Miller brothers don ski masks. Meanwhile, Ryan is about to cross the street to meet with his wife and daughter. He arrives at the same time that Lord Holmes's car is passing through the area. Moments later, Annette pulls another cab right in front of Lord Holmes's vehicle, forcing them to stop. Simultaneously, the cab driven by O'Donnell and the Millers boxes them in from behind. The Millers and another accomplice jump out and quickly plant a bomb underneath the chauffeured car's engine. Ryan sees what's going on and hastily gets his family to take cover just as the bomb is detonated. Moments later, Sean and another accomplice open fire on the car, killing Lord Holmes's driver and bodyguard. The onslaught does not kill Lord Holmes, who is currently using his body to shield his family. Sean marches over to the rear door and orders Lord Holmes out of the car at gunpoint. Ryan, unable to stand being just a bystander, immediately breaks cover, runs up behind Miller, and disarms him. As Ryan moves to grabs Sean's pistol, he is shot in the left shoulder by the unnamed accomplice. Ryan returns fire, fatally wounding the unnamed accomplice. As Patrick tries to run, Ryan fatally shoots him as well. Seeing two of the royal guards and the police racing towards the scene, O'Donnell and the remaining terrorists quickly get back in their cars and drive flee, leaving Sean to be arrested. They retreat back to a warehouse, where they change out license plates. Ryan is taken to the hospital to be treated for his injuries. He's visited by a representative from the US consulate and officers from the London police and questioned about his heroics. He's told about both Kevin O'Donnell, the leader of a violent ULA splinter group, and the Miller brothers, who were both orphaned at a young age and came under O'Donnell's care and tutelage. Sean is an especially dangerous and violent sociopath who shares O'Donnell's radical views about British rule of Northern Ireland. Ryan is called to testify against Sean Miller as a witness. Though Sean's counsel questions Ryan's involvement in the incident, citing that he's not a field agent with the CIA or any other organization that would operate in his manner, Ryan holds his own. Miller has an outburst as Ryan is led out of the court chamber and vows revenge. Subsequently, Miller is convicted on all charges and sentenced to life in prison. Ryan is awarded the order of Knight Commander of the Victorian Order and eventually returns to the United States. When they arrive, Cathy tells him she's been having morning sickness and that she's pregnant. On the possibility that Miller's ULA comrades might try to liberate him, the authorities take no chances. To that extent, they set up decoy convoys on the day that Miller is to be transferred to Albany Prison on the Isle of Wight. However, O'Donnell's associate, Annette, is able to get information about the convoy that carries Miller from a man named Dennis Cooley (Alex Norton), a rare books dealer and mole. Miller's motorcade is in transit with the officer in charge of Miller's arrest and incarceration, Inspector Robert Highland (David Threlfall), when it comes to a stop at a drawbridge. The raised bridge, however, is a trap meant to block them in. Moments after the convoy comes to a stop, Miller's comrades fire rocket launchers to blow up the escort cars, killing their drivers. They then march up to the prison van and order the guards out at gunpoint by taking the bridge operator hostage and threatening to shoot him. One of the guards talks back to them, and is shot dead for his troubles. The other officer and Highland are pulled out by O'Donnell, thrown on the ground, and forced to lie on their stomachs. O'Donnell chastises Highland, who is Irish, for turning against his own country and people. O'Donnell then hands Miller a pistol. Miller subsequently executes the two police officers and the bridge operator by shooting each of them in the back of the head, and then they flee the scene. Miller and his companions flee on a tramp steamer from Britain to Libya, to prepare for their next kidnapping attempt on Lord Holmes. Miller, however, cannot shake his anger towards Ryan for killing his younger brother and persuades several members of his entourage to accompany him to the United States on a short mission targeting Ryan and his family. Miller is accompanied by Annette, comrade Ned Clark (Keith Campbell), and a fourth henchman. Annette and Clark travel to the United States Naval Academy to ambush Ryan as he's leaving work. Ryan notices Clark idling nearby. Clark casually walks away, but Ryan clearly unnerved, then gets even more nervous as he hears a car engine starting. His suspicions are well warranted-as he continues walking down the street, he looks in the reflection of a parked van's rear-view door and sees that Clark, and the stolen car driven by Annette, are following him. Ryan pretends not to see them until he's walking past a parked panel truck, at which point he ducks behind the truck. Clark draws a silenced pistol and prepares to corner Ryan, but Ryan attacks him first. The two fight hand-to-hand and Clark quickly gets the upper hand, throwing Ryan to the curb. He grabs his pistol and is about to shoot Ryan when he's shot dead himself by a US Marine sentry. Annette quickly flees in her Jeep. Ryan, realizing that Miller is going after Cathy and Sally, jumps into his car and drives off. Simultaneously, Miller and the other henchman rent a brown work van and follow Cathy as she picks up Sally from school, with Miller riding shotgun. They prepare to follow the two but are temporarily held up by a crossing guard. Once the crossing guard clears, they pursue her to the highway. Ryan tries to frantically call Cathy on his car phone, but she is busy answering phone calls from the hospital. As he's trying to connect with her, Miller and his driver recklessly weave in and out of traffic to catch up with Cathy. Ryan eventually gets through to Cathy and tells her to get off the highway and find the nearest police station. Unfortunately, just as the call ends, Miller's van comes charging up on her using the left shoulder. Miller moves to the backseat of the van, grabs a sub-machine gun, and slides open the door. Another car momentarily delays him, but once he has a clear aim, Miller opens fire, spraying Cathy's car with bullets. A multi-car pileup ensues as Cathy loses control of her car and crashes head-on into a concrete barrier. Ryan, who has found himself stuck in traffic headed in the other direction, sees the smoke from the crash and realizes the worst. Cathy and Sally are airlifted to a nearby hospital for treatment. Cathy will recover quickly and her pregnancy is unaffected. Sally, however, is in very bad shape and her chances are 50/50. Ryan eventually finds out a few hours later that Sally will recover but it will take time. Late one night Ryan receives a phone call from Miller himself. Miller taunts Ryan, suggesting that Jack can't protect his family and he'll never find Miller. Enraged, Ryan decides to go back to work for the CIA, having earlier rejected the appeal of his former superior, Vice Admiral James Greer (James Earl Jones). His old contact, Marty Cantor (J.E. Freeman), teams him up with a small group that specializes in the ULA and other Irish terrorist groups. Ryan's tireless work leads him to conclude that Miller is in hiding at a training camp, one of many located in Libya. He also determines that a recent new arrival at the camp may be Dennis Cooley, who'd escaped the London police when he discovered they were using surveillance devices in his bookshop. Ryan, through IRA spokesman Paddy O'Neil (Richard Harris), also determines that the woman with long red hair that he saw driving one of the cars in the attack on Lord Holmes and in the attempt on his own life at the naval academy, is the same woman who works for O'Donnell and is in one of the Libyan camps. Ryan makes his recommendations to his superiors at the CIA. Greer invites Jack to a live feed of a SAS strike team attack on the camp. Everyone in the camp is eliminated but unbeknownst to the CIA and Ryan, Miller and his companions have already fled the camp and are on their way to the US to stage their next attack on Lord Holmes. Lord Holmes decides to visit Ryan at his home to formally present his KCVO. With the aid of Lord Holmes' traitorous assistant, Miller's group tracks Holmes to this location, kills the Diplomatic Security Service agents and Maryland state troopers guarding the house, and attempts once more to kidnap Lord Holmes. Ryan leads Holmes and his family to safety while he attempts to lure Miller and his companions away from his home by stealing one of the boats they'd arrived in at the cliffs near the Ryan's home. A furious boat chase in a heavy storm on the Chesapeake Bay ensues, with Miller, Annette, and O'Donnell in pursuit. The FBI Hostage Rescue Teams are scrambled to pick up Holmes. Upon realizing that Ryan is trying to lead them away from Holmes, Miller's companions try to persuade Miller to turn around, but an enraged and deranged Miller kills his terrorist companions and continues his pursuit of Ryan. Ryan and Miller fight hand to hand; Miller is killed when Ryan impales him backward on a boat anchor, and his body is obliterated in the subsequent explosion of the craft when it hits a rocky reef. Credits roll just after Caroline Ryan learns the gender of the child she is going to have, and before she tells Jack and Sally.