Randall 'Tex' Cobb

A blind Vietnam vet, trained as a swordfighter, comes to America and helps to rescue the son of a fellow soldier. Nick Parker (Rutger Hauer) is a Vietnam vet who was blinded during the war. He was found by one of the local tribes who taught him to enhance his remaining senses and to expertly wield a sword. On his return to the United States, he goes to visit an old Army buddy, Frank Devereaux (Terrance O'Quinn), but discovers that he and his wife, Lynn (Meg Foster) are divorced, and Frank no longer lives there. What they don't know is that Devereaux was playing in a crooked casino in Reno, Nevada, and accumulated a large debt. Casino boss MacCready (Noble Willingham) is willing to forgive his debt if he does something for him: Devereaux is a chemist, and they want him to make designer drugs. In order to make sure he does it, they try to kidnap his son, Billy (Brandon Call). But Nick is there, and Nick saves the boy. Thus begins a road trip to Las Vegas, Nevada, to protect the boy and save his friend with the boss' henchmen in pursuit. —<rcs0411@yahoo.com>

In New York City, real estate investor Kevin Lenahan (Richard Pryor) has a hair-brained scheme to buy a 32-screen movie theater complex in which each theater only has eighteen seats. When banks deny his loan request, he approaches a loan shark named Palazzi (Joseph Ragno), who is actually a gangster. Police raid Palazzi's office while Kevin is making his loan request and arrest him in the process. Kevin's lawyer works out a plea deal by which Kevin will only do one year in prison, but Palazzi, who has vowed revenge, will be in the same prison, serving a ten-year sentence. In the courtroom, Kevin pretends to be insane to avoid going to prison. The court sends him to Empire General Hospital for evaluation. When psychiatrists determine he is faking his mental condition, hospital administrator Arthur Chambers (Joe Mantegna) plans to send Kevin back to jail in the morning. Meanwhile, a storm named Hurricane Sam approaches New York City. Since Empire General is located on a small island in New York harbor, Maggie (Sylvia Miles), the head nurse, requests some of her nurses remain overnight in case there are problems, but Chambers refuses the overtime request. He tells his administrative assistant, Rachel Atwood (Rachel Ticotin), that a fill-in emergency room doctor, Edward Slattery, will arrive shortly to help out. When Kevin starts a ruckus in the psychiatric wing, Chambers tells guards to lock him in a private room for the night. When the other psych patients protest Kevin's punishment, Chambers threatens to have them all transferred to a hospital for the criminally insane. Just then, the hurricane knocks out the electricity. The patients take this opportunity to escape, locking Chambers and the guards in the psych ward. Kevin goes to Chambers' office to look at his file as Rachel Atwood finds him there when she goes to the office to consult the disaster preparedness manual. She assumes Kevin is the missing Dr. Edward "Eddie" Slattery and tells him to go to the emergency room (ER) right away. Kevin puts on a white coat and finds chaos in the ER. Dr. Foster (Bob Dishy), a longtime physician at Empire General, refuses to treat any patients and recommends they not admit anyone since dealing with patients during a blackout is a "malpractice time bomb." Kevin spies the exit door, rushes out, gets in an ambulance and drives away. However, the rainstorm is so intense, he cannot see well and drives off the causeway connecting the island hospital to the mainland. He escapes before the ambulance sinks into the water. The hospital's back-up generator comes on briefly, but soon goes out again. First-year intern, Dr. Joffe (Bob Saget), suggests they connect the generator to the ambulance batteries. When Kevin returns to the ER, nurse Maggie gives him files on a half dozen patients needing treatment. Kevin acts authoritative and gives the responsibility to other ER staff, saying he will trust their recommendations. When people obey his orders, Kevin realizes it is easier to pass himself off as a doctor than a lunatic. However, Louis (Ruben Blades), an orderly, recognizes him from the psych ward, but decides not to say anything and enjoy the fun. Kevin goes to the waiting room, advising patients that exercise is good for them and recommending they treat each other. Young Dr. Joffe comes to him with questions, but Kevin suggests he trust his own gut instincts. Worried about malpractice lawsuits, Dr. Foster has concerns about Kevin's methods, calling him a "gypsy doctor." Meanwhile, in the psych ward, the patients have Arthur Chambers tied up. They start a list of changes they want implemented before they agree to release him. Chambers refuses to sign their list of demands and tells them Kevin was an undercover agent from the board of health, but they do not believe him. A pipe bursts, flooding the basement and orderlies say it will be morning before they can possibly get the generators working again. Kevin suggests they move a generator from the helicopter landing pad to power the ER. Rachel Atwood goes to the drug detoxification unit to get help moving the generator, but none of the patients are willing to help. Kevin goes to the detox unit promising to give the patients their methadone pills if they will help move it, and they all pitch in. Soon the ER has power again, but the rest of the building does not. Since the upper floors have no air circulation, Kevin suggests moving the helicopter into the building and placing it beside the elevator shaft to get air moving to the upper floors. Kevin and Rachel go to the kitchen to fix sandwiches for the patients and develop a bond while discussing how to help the patients. Kevin visits Tommy Pinto, a patient who fell off the hospital roof and has no feeling in his legs. Tommy requires immediate surgery or he will be crippled for life. A make-shift operating room is set up in the ER and Kevin persuades Dr. Foster to do the surgery. In the psych ward, Chambers finally signs the list of demands and the patients contact Rachel via walkie-talkie to get her to implement the demands before they will release Chambers. When Rachel is resistant, Box (Randall 'Tex' Cobb), the hulking leader of the psychiatric patients, demands to deal with Kevin Lenahan. Rachel does not know anyone named Kevin, but when they describe him, she realizes they are talking about the man she knows as Edward Slattery. Rachel confronts Kevin over his charade, fearful she will get in trouble for all the things she authorized at his recommendation. Kevin assures her they dealt successfully with a crisis and refuses to help get Chambers released if they intend to send him back to jail once the crisis is over. He makes his own list, demanding to be set free and also demanding none of the other psych patients be sent to the institute for criminally insane. Rachel agrees. Kevin gives the word to free Chambers, and Rachel gives him the keys to a speed boat docked at the pier. Chambers is upset to see what has happened to the hospital and lashes out at Foster and Rachel. However, Dr. Joffe insists they did what had to be done under the circumstances. Nonetheless, Chambers fires Rachel. Kevin speeds off in the boat, but as he glances back at the hospital, he sees plumes of smoke from a fire set by a patient. Kevin rushes back and orders the hospital evacuated. He uses a hose to put out the fire, but when Chambers makes threats against him, Kevin turns the hose on him. The patients and staff defend Kevin, saying he saved the hospital. Kevin lambastes Chambers for criticizing his staff rather than empowering them. If Chambers had done proper maintenance, many of the problems would not have occurred. He suggests the press will be interested in covering this story. Meanwhile, Stucky (Joe Dallesandro), the patient who set the fire, takes Rachel hostage. Seeing that Stucky has a walkie-talkie, Kevin pretends to be several people talking on the device to confuse Stucky. Kevin and Stucky fight and Kevin knocks him out. Grateful, Chambers tells Kevin to leave, suggesting that his file was likely destroyed in the fire. As Kevin gets into the speedboat, Rachel follows him, asking why he could not have been the real Dr. Slattery. Kevin invites her to dinner and she accepts. The two speed off toward New York City.

A private detective specializing in missing children is charged with the task of finding a special child whom dark forces want to eliminate. Eddie Murphy plays a detective with a speciality of finding lost children. He is told he is the 'Chosen one' who will find and protect the Golden Child, a Bhuddist mystic who was kidnapped by an evil sorcerer. Murphy disbelieves the mysticism but finds more and more evidence of demon worship as he investigates. —John Vogel <jlvogel@comcast.net> In an unknown location in Tibet, a young boy with mystical abilities, the Golden Child, receives badges of honor and demonstrates his power by reviving a dead bird, which is to become a constant companion. However, a band of villains led by a mysterious man breaks into the hidden temple, slaughters the monks and takes the boy away. Some time afterwards, a young woman named Kee Nang watches a Los Angeles TV show in which Chandler Jarrell, a social worker who is confronted by a young Asian woman who tells him that he is the Chosen One destined to save The Golden Child, the savior of all mankind, from the clutches of the evil demon Sardo Numspa, who won't rest until he sees to it that the boy is in his clutches. But Jarrell disbelieves the mysticism but he finds more and more evidence of demon worship as he starts investigating. —Anthony Pereyra {hypersonic91@yahoo.com} When mysterious occultist Sardo Numspa abducts the mystical bearer of virtue and kindness, he disturbs the fragile balance between the forces of good and evil with unforeseen consequences. To find the missing boy and save humankind, young Tibetan priestess Kee Nang enlists the help of Chandler Jarrell, a Los Angeles-based searcher of lost children. Success lies in Jarrell's expertise and determination; however, the freelance social worker must first overcome scepticism to protect the unusual kid from the powers of darkness. But in a world filled with cynicism and doubt, does Chandler have what it takes to defend The Golden Child? —Nick Riganas

Ten years after his son went M.I.A. in Vietnam, U.S. Marine retired Colonel Jason Rhodes assembles a private rescue team to find Americans held in P.O.W. camps in Laos. A group of Vietnam War veterans re-unite to rescue one of their own left behind and taken prisoner by the Vietnamese. Led by his father (a retired Marine Colonel) and supported by a rich businessman whose son is also a P.O.W., the group engages in a dangerous and violent adventure trying to rescue the P.O.W.s, and at the same time, re-direct their lives. —Luis Alvarez A Marine Colonel who was dismissed because he wouldn't give up on the notion that his son, who's an M.I.A. in Vietnam is still alive. Nearly ten years after his son went missing, he obtains evidence of where he might be, a P.O.W. camp. So with financial backing from the father of another P.O.W., he recruits some men who served with his son. With photos he obtained, he makes a replica of the camp and they work out a rescue operation. But the government tries to stop them, and when they are about to go, their weapons are confiscated. So they have to find other weapons. —rcs0411@yahoo.com