From 1915-1939, Frances Marion was one of the most powerful talents in the movie industry. In one of the most liberating eras for women in film, she wrote more than 200 movies and was the world's highest paid screenwriter - man or woman. Kathy Bates gives voice to Marion's words from her letters, diaries, and memoirs. Includes commentary by silent film historian Kevin Brownlow, critic Leonard Maltin, and Marion's celebrated biographer Cari Beauchamp. Current women filmmakers reflect on the legacy left to them by Marion and the pioneering women of early Hollywood.
Claire's number one priority is her family. When her husband Dennis loses his stockbroker job, the couple's traditional family roles switch. As Dennis takes on his new stay-at-home role, Claire's furniture design business takes off. Just as she's beginning to master the art of balancing her home and work life, Dennis serves her with divorce papers and charges her with being an unfit mother. Claire discovers that in a modern courtroom there are still traditional biases unsympathetic to the idea of a woman working three jobs, as a wife, an entrepreneur and a mother.
Fanny Kemble is a famous star of the English stage, but while touring the United States, she gives up her career to marry wealthy American Pierce Butler. Moving with him from Philadelphia to his Georgia plantation, Fanny sees slavery firsthand, and her outrage leads her to help the family's slaves in open defiance of her spouse. Undaunted by the consequences, Fanny eventually writes a book that strengthens the anti-slavery movement.
In the 1930's an aging film producer and his much younger wife live separate lives. Whenever a young starlet catches the husband's eye, he eventually manipulates her onto his casting couch. Natica Jackson (Michelle Pfeiffer) is a Hollywood star who is far from innocent, but she finds herself falling in love with a married man who has several children.
Three young men decide to make easy money by mass kidnapping. After careful preparations, they hijack the school bus and take 26 children and the driver as hostages. However, the bravery and the wit of the old driver could spoil their plan for the perfect crime.
The young-adult novel by Garrison Keillor and Jenny Lind Nilsson gets a lively update in this Showtime feature about an unusual family in Sandy Bottom, Wisconsin. The Greens share musical aspirations, but daughter Rachel (Madeline Zima), a talented violinist, is the one most likely to achieve them. Norman (Tom Irwin) is a dairy farmer and Ingrid (Glenne Headly) is a choir director who abandoned the piano when she married and settled down, but the Greens are a happy family, for the most part. The trick is finding a way to reconcile their dreams with a reality that may hold more riches than they realize. When Norman gets a chance to conduct the local orchestra for the Dairy Days celebration, it's an opportunity for the family to come together, not just with each other, but with a community they had never fully appreciate
As her 25th anniversary approaches, Norma Michaels realizes that her marriage to her dentist husband Malcolm has become boring. Seeking independence, Norma turns to her friend Fay while Malcolm receives advice from his swinging associate Greg.
J.T. Hope, a former police officer and marine, owner of a ranch called "Circle Hope Ranch" decides to start a program for troubled teens on his ranch to help rehabilitate them and help them get out of the life of crime, drugs and other bad things. Hope starts the program and 3 boys are brought in to the new program. J.T. has 2 good friends who work with him on the ranch, Shorty, and Colt Webb, a former juvenile delinquent who was given a second chance with the help of J.T. Hope.
Inspired by O. Henry's short story about a young bride and groom, each of whom foolishly--but quite lovingly--sacrifices a treasured possession to buy the perfect Christmas gift for their mate.
Based on a true story. Karin is a young blind girl who's been encouraged by her overprotective parents to encounter life boldly. Karin meets a handsome young man named Richie, who falls in love with her. Seeking greater independence from her family, Karin becomes romantically involved with him. But Richie's love, too, smothers Karin, who realizes that she is trading one dependency for another. After entering and winning a dance contest, Karin feels strong and determined to find her own way. She accepts the fact that she must face the unknown in order to grow.
Set in 1969, Abel Shaddick, a crotchety deli owner, has a grudge against virtually everyone in his upstate New York town of Fairview, particularly against his slacker nephew Stanley who lives behind the shop. Without telling his uncle, Stanley agrees to put up a needy city kid for the summer as part of a charity program run by rich debutante Gloria. Abel immediately vetoes the plan, but it is too late. The kid, young Herman Washington, is already on his way...
Sara marries Gaten a single father who is African-American. Not long after they're married Gaten dies. So Sara has to take care of Gaten's daughter, Clover. Problem is she and Clover have not exactly bonded and several of Gaten's friends and relatives object to her being Clover's guardian.
The women in a Seattle serial killer's life often had an unpleasant way of turning up dead - from his girlfriend to his mother-in-law to his second wife. The police and FBI knew who the killer was, but were never prepared to face a bizarre twist in the case-that his own mother was an employee of the Seattle Police Department with access to confidential documents--and was a woman who didn't hesitate to interfere with justice...
Veronica Ricci is bombarded by strange feelings and fleeting involuntary memories about her childhood after giving birth to her first child. She seeks help from her estranged sister and soon realizes that these memories connect to childhood abuse that the sister underwent. Based on a true story.
Nora Barkin is an aspiring actress who supports herself by working for a courier service. No sooner has Nora's friend and coworker Bill Reagan jubilantly announced that he possesses a lottery ticket worth 13 million dollars than Bill is killed by an unknown assailant. Though discouraged from doing so by investigating detective Marinello, Nora insists upon trying to solve Bill's murder herself.
Inseparable Alabama twin sisters, Betty Gay Wilson and Peggy Joy Lowe, are arrested and tried for conspiring to murder Betty's wealthy husband. These two sisters hire handyman James White to kill Betty's husband. White's love and devotion for Peggy compels him to obey their irrational orders and carry out the murder. White confesses to the murder and the twins are arrested, charged, and tried. Based on the true story of Alabama twins Betty Wilson and Peggy Lowe who were arrested and tried in 1992 for the conspiracy to murder of Betty's husband, a wealthy, well-known ophthalmologist, Jack.
Funnyman Nick Cannon sets out to prove that he's still "All That" in this hilarious stand-up comedy performance that was filmed live at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Originally airing on Showtime, the special features the comedian/actor/musician riffing on such topics as his failed attempts at becoming a gangster, marriage, fatherhood, what he thinks about Eminem, and more.
This movie details the struggles of former Brooklyn Dodger catcher Roy Campanella to adapt to life in a wheelchair following his crippling automobile accident in 1959. Cinematographer Ted Voigtlander was Emmy-nominated.