Reviews

Do they still describe the advertising world as a business where you have to "get out there and crack heads?" This TV movie gives that classic phrase a whole new meaning, as hard-charging Jennifer Kamplas takes over as general manager at HR&Y Advertising. But Jennifer isn't the one to fear, for no sooner is Jennifer installed in her new job than she's interrupted at lunch by one Stacy Sherman, an "interviewee" who's so tough and aggressive that she makes Jennifer look like a pussycat. Stacey's way of applying for a job at HR&Y is to hand Jennifer the secret business plans of a competing advertising firm. Stacey comes aboard as a manager and immediately starts to employ her own version of chaos theory, as company meetings become brawls where Stacy reams out long-time employees, not only for their performance but for the lifestyles, noting that a respected male employee is gay (read: not tough enough. When she's done with him she bullies everyone else into submission.

Not only do people who stand up to Stacy fare badly at meetings, but Jennifer's enemies start to turn up dead. First it's a business rival, murdered in his hot tub, then the punk who's been stealing the outside mirrors off Jennifer's expensive imported car (Stacy cracks his head open with a tire iron), then it's the CFO who won't approve of Jennifer's budget-busting perks and business plans. The police ask who would kill people over some car side mirrors or differences at work, but find no answers. Jennifer is a suspect, of course, but somehow she just doesn't seem vicious enough. Of course, we're in the know as we watch Stacey seduce then blackmail a client into extending his contract with her firm then put an end to the mirror thief. Next we're privileged to watch her use her Porsche to push the offending CFO's car into the path of an oncoming tractor trailer.

Finally the crows of Stacy's storm trooper tactics come home to roost. As the business starts to falter, expensive consultants are called in, meetings become even bigger fiascoes and Jennifer abandons her protégé Stacy in an effort to save her own marriage. Pushed to the brink, Stacy becomes even more desperate, then has a psychotic breakdown (completely superfluous, given her past behavior), as she confronts Jennifer's husband Patrick and then stabs him. As if on cue, Jennifer walks in, grabs a pistol and puts Stacy out of her misery, shooting her mouth off about her own complicity in the dastardly doings. Also as if on cue, the police walk in and grab Jennifer. The punch line is offered by the still-living husband (ach! Jennifer thought he was dead), who delivers the I-told-you-so line.

We've heard of being protective of your boss, but this girl Stacy takes the idea to deadly extremes. The acting is decent all around, with Sean Young competent as Jennifer and Georgia Craig standing out as the obsessive, loony Stacey Sherman. The biggest complaint we have with this movie is whether these 2 characters seem believable as people - it's the screenwriter's fault far more than the actors if they are not. The Jennifer character starts out all right as she takes over at HR&Y then seems abandoned by the writer as the action begins to focus around Stacy, leaving Jennifer seemingly with nothing to do. The Stacy character's motivation in killing her boss's rivals seems unclear: is she sexually obsessed with her boss or just homicidal? It's clear that after initially promising to "cover her back," Jennifer abandons Stacey as she ignores HR&Y to run home and "save her marriage." As for Stacy's turning into a complete psycho, let's face it, the network that finances these TV movies would probably be out of business if they didn't write at least one psycho into most of them.

Everything we know about "B movies" - lesser-known cast, low-budget, a made-on-the-cheap look and feel - is present, but we'll call this one a "B+" movie because it all works so well here. House wife Julie Kenner cannot function on any level; her cooking is a disaster, she can't face a party without panicking, she has a tenuous relationship with her 2 children and an even more tenuous one with her husband, with whom she hasn't had sex in a year. We have no idea what's wrong with her and wonder why her husband hasn't left her. Sure, she's beautiful and we are left to surmise this family was close once and could be again if the husband can just help Julie recover from whatever she's suffering from. She seems oblivious to everything except TV news broadcasts about identity theft, about the rape she suffered the previous year and about how the rapist is getting off with almost no jail time. Now that we know what's been bothering her we're wondering why she's forged a new identity, gotten herself a gun, rented an abysmal little apartment near a seedy little bar, taken up wearing a disguise and become a regular in said seedy little bar. Julie, who's been ice cold since this movie started, boffs the bartender one night then back at the bar pulls her piece out and shoots a young man dead - the man who raped her. She briefly returns to her family sans disguise then dons another one as she heads out alone on a bus as the closing credits roll.

The way this tale unfolds, only giving us a little part of Julie at a time, is unique and tension builds so gradually we hardly realize it until we've been sucked in. Our dysfunctional heroine starts out uptight and introverted like a folded-up accordion, then starts to come alive as she turns into a walking mystery then a stalker and finally an avenger, as she murders the rapist who ruined her life and who society has refused to punish.

This unusual story piques our interest, though the plot feels contrived and there are serious logical gaps, like how did Julie, once she took up her gun, disguise, apartment and new life as barfly, know the rapist would come to this bar? Another problem is the "bartender," who is actually an undercover police lieutenant. Why a police Lt. Would be working full-time in this bar (don't sergeants and other lower-level officers do this undercover grunt work?) is never explained. Furthermore, Julie seems clairvoyant, as she used the cop/bartender, apparently knowing he'd let her commit murder right in front of him without even arresting her. Then there is that puzzling last scene, with Julie donning yet another disguise and taking off for God-knows-where on a bus all alone.

All I can say is her poor husband! I've never seen a guy take so much crap from a wife, all the time supporting her to the hilt and all for nothing, as she seems to abandon her family at the end. Why did she leave like this, presumably without a word? Was she afraid that the police would eventually piece it all together and come looking for her? The logical gaps aside, this is an arresting (no pun intended) and riveting little flick. I found it in the bargain bin of a local video store almost 20 years ago and will no doubt watch it again some time.

"Valley Forge" is a recorded-on-videotape movie that comes across like a stage play and when it's over you'll feel like you've been back in revolutionary times and experienced it all yourself. The story portrays two incidents that intersect during the Revolutionary War, at a time when America's tiny army is in danger of disintegrating from cold, hunger, disease and desertion.

On a bleak winter day at Valley Forge, Washington's starving soldiers risk a brutal flogging and perhaps even execution as deserters, as they tie up one of their own officers and leave camp without permission to stage a foraging raid to steal food from the nearby British army. Meanwhile, Washington is being betrayed by the treacherous and incompetent General Horatio Gates, who wants to replace him. He's even being undercut by the Continental Congress, which deliberately sends the army rotten food in an attempt to weaken it and force the army and its commander into submission. The economy is in tatters, Washington is informed, and America's important businessmen aren't making any money due to the war. Said businessmen have therefore bribed or cajoled the Congress into forcing Washington to accept a British offer of armistice, one that will end both unfair taxation and the dream of American independence with it. Ending the war will allow the country to get back to the business of making money.

The Congress's strategy is successful, for Washington sizes up his military situation as hopeless and he agrees to meet British General Howe to discuss the armistice. But when Washington discovers the food-stealing mission everything changes. After being informed of the huge food stores his "deserters" have filched from the enemy, Washington realizes the food will save his army, if only temporarily. He refuses to sign the armistice and returns to his struggling army determined to fight on.

Did America's fledgling Continental Congress purposefully send rotten food to Washington's army in an effort to force the war to an early close? Was George Washington ever ready to sign a peace treaty that would have denied independence to America and kept its citizens subjects of King George? I don't know the answer to either question, but given the circumstances Washington and his army faced anything is possible. The point this movie makes is that fighting the British and the elements were hard enough, but Washington faced far more obstacles, like mutinous generals and disreputable, treasonous elements within the Congress.

At any rate, this is a riveting drama that makes palpable the suffering of America's first freedom fighters and the life-and-death decisions they were forced to make. Richard Basehart is superb, though a bit vertically challenged as Washington, while Michael Tolan, as his subordinate and Harry Andrews as General Howe offer fine support. Also good are a very young John Heard and Edward Hermann as duplicitous Continental Congress emissaries and Christopher Walken as a Hessian officer and potential turncoat. They don't make too many movies like this any more (an exception is the excellent "Crossing the Delaware," starring Jeff Daniels as Washington) and fortunately I taped this one long ago. I hope it will air again for the benefit of those who can appreciate a historical drama done with a fine cast and a wonderful sense of time and place.