Lahti, Christine

Out of the Ashes

In Out of the Ashes, one woman is forced to choose between two horrifying acts of evil, and ultimately finds the courage to make the right choice. Based on actual events that occurred during World War II that chronicles the life of Dr. Gisella Perl, a woman who lost her entire family and was forced to start life over in America.

The Doctor

William Hurt is perfectly cast as an arrogant surgeon who treats patients like interchangeable cogs in the machinery of his medical practice. Then he is diagnosed with throat cancer and, as the title of the memoir on which it is based tells us, he gets a taste of his own medicine. The subplot involves the solidarity between doctors, which is shattered when the newly conscious physician discovers that one of his partners (Mandy Patinkin) is trying to cover up a case of malpractice. Hurt is solid, as is Wendy Crewson as the doctor who treats him and Elizabeth Perkins as a fellow cancer patient. Interestingly, Hurt's fellow actors Patinkin, Adam Arkin, and Christine Lahti all wound up playing doctors on TV's Chicago Hope. --Marshall Fine

Reunited for the first time since their Academy Award(R)-nominated CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD, screen favorite William Hurt and director Randa Haines team up for another successful collaboration in THE DOCTOR. Oscar(R)-winning Hurt (Best Actor, 1986 -- KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN) joins Christine Lahti (RUNNING ON EMPTY), Mandy Patinkin (THE PRINCESS BRIDE), and Elizabeth Perkins (BIG) in the hit release that's been hailed as one of the must-see films of the year. It's the uplifting story of a man who becomes an extraordinary surgeon, as well as an extraordinary person, once he experiences firsthand what it's like being an ordinary patient. Touching hearts of critics and audiences alike, THE DOCTOR promises to entertain and inspire you from beginning to end.

...And Justice For All

Al Pacino plays a Maryland lawyer who takes on a judicial system rife with dealmaking in this awkward blend of satire and sentimentality. Topical director Norman Jewison can't seem to help Pacino get comfortable with the mismatched material, which pushes the film into outrageousness at some turns and mawkishness at others. The script by Barry Levinson and Valerie Curtin is more an accumulation of random ideas and moments than a congruent story. However, it's interesting to see the large cast of good actors, most of whom hadn't become well known yet. (Christine Lahti made her film debut here.) Pacino gets to work for a second time (following The Godfather II) with acting mentor Lee Strasberg. --Tom Keogh

Running on Empty

Two fugitive radicals must face the painful consequences of their teenage son striking out on his own. Year: 1988 Director: Sidney Lumet Starring: Christine Lahti River Phoenix Judd Hirsch Martha PlimptonRunning Time: 117 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 085391184324

It's difficult to watch this involving family drama and not end up mad at River Phoenix. He was such an incredibly talented, believable, available actor that it makes you mad at him for leaving us so soon. He's particularly good here as Danny, a talented musician and the eldest son of a couple of former war protestors (Christine Lahti and Judd Hirsch). Their bombing of a napalm plant during the Vietnam War makes their small, nuclear family act as fugitives, never letting themselves settle down, never leaving traces, one step ahead of the law. This works for the splinter group of rebels until Danny meets a teacher who believes in his talent, and meets the teacher's daughter, Lorna (played by Martha Plimpton). Danny's love for Lorna and his aspirations to attend Juilliard put the family in jeopardy of finally being tracked down. It's saying something that in this impressive ensemble cast, ably directed by Sidney Lumet, Phoenix sticks out. He was an actor whose tank never would have run out. --Keith Simanton

Swing Shift

Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell got together on Swing Shift--and if that's the main reason people know about this movie, it only has itself to blame. The film has a marvelous subject (women's changing status on the home front during World War II), a hugely attractive cast, and a sympathetic director, Jonathan Demme, whose previous film, Melvin and Howard, had been a splendid piece of Americana. Yet despite this, it feels disjointed. Goldie goes to work at a factory when her husband (Ed Harris) goes off to war; Russell works there too, and they find each other, well, riveting. With the movie wavering between romance and feminist consciousness-raising, the field is open for Oscar®-nominated Christine Lahti, who sparkles as Goldie's lanky, wisecracking best friend. Demme's original version of the movie was obscured by reshoots, which might explain the missed opportunity; this could have been a classic. --Robert Horton

Whose Life Is It Anyway?

Ken Harrison is an artist that makes sculptures. One day he is involved in a car accident and is paralyzed from his neck. All he can do is talk and he wants to die. In hospital he make friends with some of the staff and they support him when he goes to trial to be allowed to die.Running Time: 118 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 012569795532 Manufacturer No: 795539

In interviews, Richard Dreyfuss often refers to Whose Life Is It Anyway? as having been made at the nadir of his substance-abuse problem in the 1980s. Yet it's not too bad. Based on the hit Broadway play, it's a debate about the ethics of euthanasia and one person's right to choose whether to live or die. Dreyfuss plays a sculptor who, after a car accident, is left a paraplegic. Appalled at the prospect of a life in which he has no control of anything, he pleads with hospital authorities to help him die. When they refuse, he takes them to court. Dreyfuss brings great passion to a role in which he can't even use his body; the humor is often pitch-black, but it works, both as a script and as a cinematically opened-up version of a play. --Marshall Fine

Gross Anatomy

Matthew Modine (ANY GIVEN SUNDAY) stars as Joe Slovak, a brilliant first-year med student whose casual, nonconforming approach to life gets tested when he enrolls in gross anatomy, the toughest course in med school. Joe's freewheeling, independent style creates funny moments in the classroom, but puts him at odds with his demanding professor (Christina Lahti, HIDEAWAY), who questions whether her class "rebel" has what it takes to be a doctor. On top of that, Joe falls in love with his no-nonsense lab partner (Daphne Zuniga -- THE SURE THING, TV's MELROSE PLACE), who won't let anything, especially romance, interfere with her plans. And while Joe's never done anything by the book, he proves he does have what it takes to succeed -- without changing his ways!

Judgment Day: The Ellie Nesler Story

Hideaway

Just Between Friends

Oscar® nominees* Mary Tyler Moore (Ordinary People) and Christine Lahti ("Chicago Hope") give "virtuoso performances" (Ms.) as newfound friends in this compelling tale that "makes you laugh cry and works you over emotionally" (Orange Coast) through to its gripping and heartfelt end.Holly Davis (Moore) seems to have it all the stylish house the perfect kids the devoted husband (Ted Danson). But it takes an unlikely friendship with Sandy (Lahti) a wisecracking chain-smoking career woman to show her that life is never what it seems to be. But in the face of tragedy when she needs Sandy the most Holly discovers a dark secret that not only ties the two friends together but will also shake their friendship to its foundation!Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 027616901330 Manufacturer No: 1005903