Movies: American Playhouse

It is just another day in the small town of Hamlin until something disastrous happens. Suddenly, news breaks that a series of nuclear warheads has been dropped along the Eastern Seaboard and, more locally, in California. As people begin coping with t...

From Jean Shepherd (A Christmas Story) comes the story of 14 year old Ralphie's first job, and the family vacation the family is planning to a rustic fishing cabin on Lake Michigan. Originally made for the Disney Channel, this film is a delightful fa...

Carol White, a Los Angeles housewife in the late 1980s, comes down with a debilitating illness with no clear diagnosis....

After his mother dies and father goes to fight in World War II, a young boy moves in with his aunt and uncle who live in the countryside. Lonely and unhappy, he starts believing he has super powers. Then a "dead" man shows up....

Written by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Terrence McNally, Andre's Mother is the story of Katherine Gerard (Sada Thompson) who has lost her son to AIDS. Set at Andre's memorial service, the film follows Katherine's journey as she confronts the...

Brother and sister Enrique and Rosa flee persecution at home in Guatemala and journey north, through Mexico and on to the United States, with the dream of starting a new life....

During the summer of 1981, a group of friends in New York are completely unprepared for the onslaught of AIDS. What starts as a rumor about a mysterious "gay cancer" soon turns into a major crisis as, one by one, some of the friends begin to fall ill...

Nineteen people were hanged and one man pressed to death, while hundreds went to jail during the "witch hysteria" of 1692. THREE SOVEREIGNS FOR SARAH offers an accurate portrayal of the Salem witch trials, with real characters and original transcript...

A reporter at a local Florida newspaper is torn between his friendship with a corrupt real estate developer and his love for an activist opposing the developer's latest project....

A crippled dwarf is forced to become jester to a tyrannical king, but when the king abuses a beautiful dwarf with whom the jester is in love the jester plots a terrible revenge....

A brash 22-year-old FBI agent trumps up charges of Communist-spying against a Chinese laundryman. 10 years later, he wants to make amends to the man and his teenage daughter....

This musical is based on four short stories by Damon Runyon. In one tale, gambler Feet Samuels sells his body to science just as he realizes that Hortense loves him and that he would rather live than die. In another story, Harriet's parrot is killed,...

Married couple, Ethan and Zeena, are in need an extra hand around the house due to Zeena's debilitated body and constant illness. The young woman who joins them is a beautiful, spirited person. She and Ethan fall in love much to the dismay of Zeena....

In this Shakespearean farce, Hero and her groom-to-be, Claudio, team up with Claudio's commanding officer, Don Pedro, the week before their wedding to hatch a matchmaking scheme. Their targets are sharp-witted duo Benedick and Beatrice -- a tough tas...

A Greek immigrant (Savalas) and his son return to Greece, where they reunite with mother and brother and re-discover their heritage and each other. Cross-cultural misunderstandings abound....

Jaime Escalante is a mathematics teacher in a school in a hispanic neighbourhood. Convinced that his students have potential, he adopts unconventional teaching methods to try and turn gang members and no-hopers into some of the country's top algebra ...

Connie, the fifteen-year-old black sheep of her family, finds her summertime idyll of beach trips, mall hangouts, and innocent flirtations shattered by an encounter with a mysterious stranger....

Errol Morris's unique documentary dramatically re-enacts the crime scene and investigation of a police officer's murder in Dallas....

After her father is injured, a teenager and an alcoholic employee struggle to save their financially troubled farm in 1954 Montana....

Young man, who can't get along with the rest of the world, especially his mother, decides to try to take his life in his own hands. A TV movie directed by Jay Holman....