Philip Rosenberg — Playwright (9)

Movie

Joe Torre: Curveballs Along the Way (1997)
Joe Torre: Curveballs Along the Way WikiData IMDb TMDB
other title: Joe Torre: Lágrimas de campeones / Joe Torre – Baseball ist sein Leben
Joe Torre after failing to win a championship when he was a professional baseball player and as Manager to three teams is named Manager of the Yankees. And he finds himself having players like Dwight Gooden, Wade Boggs and Daryl Strawberry who are considered has beens. And players like David Cone who are ill. But nevertheless thinks he can win with them. At the same he deals with the loss of one brother and another brother battling the same condition that killed his brother.

Movie

Death Benefit (1996)
Death Benefit IMDb TMDB
other title: Tödlicher Gefallen
Steven Keeney is a big corporate lawyer who decides to take on a small-time murder case to discover the true circumstances behind the death of a young girl. Virginia McGinnis is the one suspected of pushing the women off the cliff to collect on a small insurance policy. The further he goes into the case the more he reveals about the background of the suspect. Keeney finds support from others who also want to find out the truth behind the case.

Movie

Till Death Us Do Part (1992)
Till Death Us Do Part WikiData IMDb TMDB
other title: Scheidung per Mord
This is a true crime story based on the book of the same title by prosecuting attorney, Vincent Bugliosi. (Bugliosi is the L.A. prosecutor that put Charles Manson away.) On December 11, 1966, a murder occurs in a small neighborhood of El Sereno, CA. In the middle of the night, Henry Stockton is shot three times in the head and twice in the chest and then his house is set on fire. The murderer left no clues, baffling the police, until a year later when a young pregnant woman is found bludgeoned to death in a Jaguar. Strangely, these two murders are related. As the mystery unfolds a horrific tale of greed, lust and ambition are revealed.

Movie

We the Jury (1996)
We the Jury WikiData IMDb TMDB
Jury has to decide on a murder case but some of the jurors have their own agendas or are biased. Sounds like '12 Angry Men' but this is not a remake. It's a totally fresh take on the theme. Totally different case, for example. There is no question about the identity of the culprit, the jury has to decide between manslaughter and murder. - Written by Holger Hellmuth hellmuth@ira.uka.de

Movie

A Family Divided (1995)
A Family Divided WikiData IMDb TMDB
other title: Face au silence / 一个分裂的家庭
College swimmer Chad Billingsley is his middle class family's pride and joy. After a moody phase of scared denial, he owns up to father, attorney Roger, that Rosalie Frank, the provocatively dressed waitress who attended his frat's last party and is missing since, had sex with five of them. Roger does his utmost to prevent the potential statutory rape case ruining his son's future, but confides in his moralistic wife, refuge house worker Karen, who instead of supporting the boys haunts them like Rosalie's mother Inez, with multiple tragic results.

Movie

In the Lake of the Woods (1996)
In the Lake of the Woods IMDb TMDB
other title: Le Secret du lac
John Waylan is a candidate for U.S. senator; near the end of the campaign he is accused of ordering and participating in a massacre in a Vietnamese village. The accusation kills his career, and severely endangers his marriage. When he and Kathy flee to an isolated cabin, he awakes one morning to find her gone. Questions are asked, answers are given or hinted at, as the tension and suspense build.

Movie

Arthur Hailey's Detective (2005)
Arthur Hailey's Detective WikiData IMDb TMDB
other title: Détective / El detective de Arthur Hailey …
Detective Sergeant Malcolm Ainslie, a Catholic priest turned distinguished investigator for the police, has agreed to hear the confession of a convicted serial killer sentenced to death in a just a matter of hours. What he promises to reveal to Ainslie is the truth behind the crimes and the reason he confessed to the one crime Ainslie doesn't even believe he committed. What unfolds between the two men is a serpentine trail into both men's pasts based on the bestseller from master storyteller Arthur Hailey.

Movie

Deadly Vows (1994)
Deadly Vows IMDb Douban
other title: 死亡誓言
Based on a true story. Bobbi Gilbert finds herself seduced by a married man named Tom Weston. This leads to Tom living out his dreams as a lethal ladies man, ending up in arson, bigamy, and finally, murder.

Movie

To Sir, with Love II (1996)
To Sir, with Love II Douban
other title: 吾爱吾师2 / 吾爱吾师续集(台) …
Lulu and Judy Geeson continue their earlier roles and come to the farewell party. Thackeray announces that he is leaving for an inner-city school in Chicago where he will teach again. In Chicago, he meets a former colleague who is the principal of the school. Thackeray learns that there is an A class with good students and an H (for "horror") class for the no-gooders. He convinces the principal to let him take the H class as a History teacher. His new pupils are Hispanic, Black and White kids who are noisy, unruly and engaged in destructive behaviours. Like in London, he starts by teaching them some manners. He addresses them as Mr X or Miss Y, and expects to be called Mr Thackeray or Sir (hence the titles). Little by little he learns their personal stories: Wilsie is a gang leader who protects his younger brother. Another is a black female who battles against double prejudice. The white kid is growing without parents and hides this to avoid being fostered. We also know a bit of Mr Thackeray's story. As a teenager in Guyana, he fell in love with a Chicago girl whose father had come to build a mall. They lost contact and he went to Britain to study, became a teacher and got married. He is now a widower but decided to take this teaching opportunity to find his earlier love. At school he sets out to teach these troubled kids of their true potential if they take their fate in their hands. He teaches about the non-violent resistance of the historic fighters of civil rights. When he discovers Wilsie smuggling a gun into the school, he confronts him and convinces him to yield the gun. Mr Thackeray delivers it to the school policeman as a found object. Later, the police pressures him to give the name of the armed kid, since the gun was involved in a cop killing. He refuses to give up the name of the student and has to leave the school. Meanwhile, one of his pupils has taken a job in a newspaper and decides to investigate on the old Chicago love of Thackeray's. The girl arranges an appointment for him. Thackeray meets the son of his former love in a hospital. His mother is ill. Thackeray learns that she loved him back but her father retained all his letters, because she had gotten pregnant, so that young man he had just met is his son. Thackeray learns that Wilsie is hidden because he thinks that the police are after him. His brother takes Thackeray to the hideaway to explain the real situation and avoid that Wilsie ruins his life. Through courage and talking, the teacher convinces Wilsie to yield his new gun and confronts a rival gang that had come to fight Wilsie. Wilsie and the friend who had got him the gun explain themselves at the precinct. The kids have been doing a "stand in" and force the principal to accept their beloved teacher back. Unlike the British film, there is no infatuation with him among his pupils, but a fellow teacher (Saundra Santiago) admires him. The film ends with the graduation ceremony and dance. Mr Thackeray announces that he is not going back to Britain but staying at Chicago to teach the new generation. --Wikipedia