Lionel Chetwynd Filmography

Celsius 41.11

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Fred Dalton Thompson, John O'Neill, Joshua Muravchik, Fred Barnes, Charles Krauthammer, Michael Medved, Michael Barone, Mansoor Ijaz, Bill Sammon, Barbara Comstock, Victoria Toensing, Alice Fisher, Tony Calabrese

Synopsis: Celsius 41.11 was an attempt by conservative pundits and politicians to respond to the runaway box-office success of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. The film features interviews with such notable public figures as Fred Barnes, Michael Medved, Fred Thompson, and Charles Krauthammer and offers a Read More

Ike: Countdown to D-Day

Crew: Executive Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Timothy Bottoms, Gerald McRaney, James Remar, Tom Selleck

Synopsis: Tom Selleck stars as General Dwight D. Eisenhower in the television film Ike: Countdown to D-Day. The film follows the General in the three months leading up to the decisive invasion that would turn the tide of World War II toward the Allied powers. The film opens with Winston Churchill (Ian Mune) Read More

American Valor

Crew: Executive Producer, Screenwriter

Synopsis: This patriotic program looks at several American military heroes who have earned the Congressional Medal of Honor -- the highest level of recognition in the country. The stories of servicemen from the Army, Air Force, Marines, and Navy are told though archival news footage and photographs Read More

DC 9/11: Time of Crisis

Crew: Executive Producer, Producer, Screenwriter, Teleplay By

Actors: Timothy Bottoms, John Cunningham, David Fonteno

Synopsis: Filmed under the title The Big Dance, this tense, made-for-cable docudrama recreates the events following the devastating terrorist attack on New York City and Washington, D.C., on September 11, 2001. The focus is on President George W. Bush, here played by Timothy Bottoms. Inasmuch as the film Read More

Darkness at High Noon: The Carl Foreman Documents

Crew: Dialogue Writer, Director, Executive Producer

Actors: Alan Gansberg, Ray Huggins, Richard Fleischer, James Q. Wilson, Kirk Douglas

Synopsis: The purpose of this PBS documentary is to show that the true villains of the Hollywood Blacklist were not always "evil" politicians and fat-cat studio moguls. Filmmaker Lionel Chetwynd (ironically a lifelong staunch conservative) has chosen his mentor, screenwriter Carl Foreman, as the hero of the Read More

Varian's War

Crew: Director

Actors: William Hurt, Julia Ormond, Matt Craven

Synopsis: Varian Fry was an American journalist who was convinced, years before America become directly involved in World War II, that Nazi Germany's abusive policies against Jews and other "outsiders" would soon have grim consequences around the world. But Fry had a hard time convincing other Americans of Read More

Netforce

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Scott Bakula, Joanna Going, Xander Berkeley, Brian Dennehy, Kris Kristofferson

Synopsis: Best-selling author Tom Clancy was executive producer of this made-for-TV spy thriller, which debuted on ABC in 1999. In the year 2005, the FBI has established a special division --"Netforce" -- to investigate crimes committed using the Internet. Agents Alex Michaels (Scott Bakula) and Steve Day (Kris Kristofferson Read More

The Man Who Captured Eichmann

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Robert Duvall, Arliss Howard, Jeffrey Tambor, Jack Laufer, Nicholas Surovy

Synopsis: In the spirit of such earlier efforts as Operation Eichmann and House on Garibaldi Street, this meticulously crafted cable movie recounts the 1960 mission by the Israeli secret service to kidnap Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann from his hiding place in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Although Israel will Read More

Moses

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Ben Kingsley

Synopsis: The life of the reluctant Old Testament prophet is told in this made-for-television biblical drama. When the Pharaoh Ramses calls for the death of all Hebrew children, a mother puts her son Moses in a basket and sends him down the Nile to save his life. The baby is found by a princess and raised Read More

The Siege at Ruby Ridge

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Randy Quaid, Laura Dern, Kirsten Dunst, Darren E. Burrows

Synopsis: The tragic story of the Ruby Ridge "massacre" has been so thoroughly covered and disseminated by the mainstream press that to add anything here would be pointless. Suffice to say that the two-part TV movie The Siege at Ruby Ridge uses the facts at hand to show how the tragedy occurred, and how but Read More

Kissinger and Nixon

Crew: Executive Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Ron Silver, Beau Bridges, Matt Frewer, Ron White, George Takei

Synopsis: Walter Isaacson's book Kissinger: A Biography served as the basis for this made-for-television movie about the famed political leader. Beau Bridges stars as President Richard Nixon and Ron Silver portrays Henry Kissinger, Nixon's national security advisor. The adaptation shows how Kissinger worked Read More

Freefall: Flight 174

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: William Devane, Shelley Hack, Mariette Hartley

Synopsis: The made-for-TV Falling From the Sky: Flight 174 was based on a true story that occurred high over Canada in July of 1983. While en route from Montreal to Edmonton, a brand-new Boeing 767 runs out of fuel in mid-flight. With only a cursory knowledge of the jet's inner works, the crew is forced to Read More

Joseph

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Ben Kingsley, Paul Mercurio

Synopsis: This television miniseries recounts the biblical story of Joseph, the 11th son of the Hebrew patriarch, Jacob. Joseph (Paul Mercurio) has an extraordinary gift: the ability to interpret dreams. He also enjoys the special favor of his father. One day, Jacob (Martin Landau) presents his son a Read More

Jacob

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Sean Bean, Matthew Modine

Synopsis: The biblical story of Jacob explored in this made-for-TV movie starring Matthew Modine as the titular religious figure and Lara Flynn Boyle as his love Rachel. Set against the backdrop of Jacob's many trials from God throughout his life, Turner Pictures' production focuses on the romantic aspect Read More

Doomsday Gun

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Frank Langella, Alan Arkin, Kevin Spacey

Synopsis: This HBO docudrama tells the real-life story of Dr. Gerald Bull (Frank Langella), a genius weapons designer whose services were used by the CIA for some highly suspect operations. After these operations were exposed, the CIA denied all knowledge of them and Bull was put in prison; following his Read More

The Heroes of Desert Storm

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Angela Bassett, Daniel Baldwin, Michael Champion, Tim Russ, Kris Kamm

Synopsis: Complete with real ABC News footage shot in Iraq, this made-for-TV film chronicles the lives of a group of American soldiers battling in the Persian Gulf War. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide Read More

So Proudly We Hail

Crew: Director, Producer, Screenwriter

Synopsis: In this drama, a group of impressionable students become the unwitting subjects for an evil white supremacist's schemes to twist the teachings of a prominent professor to promote a highly subversive form of neo-Nazism. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

To Heal a Nation

Crew: Executive Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Eric Roberts

Synopsis: To Heal a Nation is the true story of Jan Scruggs (Eric Roberts), a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War. In 1979, Scruggs, employed by the US Department of Labor, becomes obsessed with the dream of erecting a monument to those who died in Vietnam. In pursuit of this dream, Scruggs and his fellow Read More

The Hanoi Hilton

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Michael Moriarty, Jeffrey Jones, Paul Le Mat, Stephen Davies, Lawrence Pressman

Synopsis: Lionel Chetwynd's film documents the horrific struggles that faced American POWs held in the North Vietnamese prison Hoa Lo -- more infamously known as the Hanoi Hilton -- between 1964 and 1975. Williamson (Michael Moriarty) leads a group of American servicemen who are prisoners at the detention Read More

Children in the Crossfire

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: Children in the Crossfire examines the plight of the youngest victims of Northern Ireland's never-ending religious strife. Amidst the speeding bullets and burned-out buildings, a group of Catholic and Protestant children courageously join the Children's Committee 10. This organization is dedicated Read More

Sadat

Crew: Screenwriter, Teleplay By

Synopsis: Louis Gossett Jr. was nominated for an Emmy for his portrayal of Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat in this two-part made-for-TV biopic. With 4 hours at its disposal, Sadat is able to trace its protagonist from his formative years fighting against the British occupiers of his country. The second part of Read More

Miracle on Ice

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: Underpublicized and underappreciated, the US ice hockey team heads for the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, New York. Driven a manner than can be described as merciless by coach Herb Brooks (Karl Malden), the team has learned how to swallow months of defeat and disappointment press on to Read More

Escape from Iran: The Canadian Caper

Crew: Book Author, Screenwriter

Synopsis: After the seizing of the American Embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979, six Americans manage to escape. They contact Canadian ambassador Ken Taylor (Gordon Pinsent), who keeps them hidden from the Iranian anti-US activists. For three grueling months, Taylor and his "guests" plan a daring escape. Read More

A Whale for the Killing

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: Based on the book by Farley Mowat, this made-for-TV movie follows the struggle of a New York ecologist (Peter Strauss) to stop the whale killing taking place off the coast of Newfoundland. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide Read More

Quintet

Crew: Short Story Author

Actors: Paul Newman, Vittorio Gassman, Fernando Rey, Bibi Andersson, Brigitte Fossey

Synopsis: Perhaps the least seen but most talked about film of Robert Altman's career, Quintet is a somber science fiction tale that takes place after a nuclear holocaust has thrown the world into another Ice Age. A man named Essex (Paul Newman) and his pregnant wife Vivia (Brigitte Fossey) are wandering Read More

Two Solitudes

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Jean-Pierre Aumont, Stacy Keach, Gloria Carlin, Chris Wiggins, Claude Jutra

Synopsis: This drama examines the tensions felt between French and English speaking Canadians after WW I as it tells the story of a town squire interested in promoting industry in his village. Unfortunately, his son betrays him and with the help of another, he reveals his father's true, antireligious Read More

It Happened One Christmas

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: Marlo Thomas' first mistake was optioning the classic It's a Wonderful Life for this TV remake; her second was starring in it herself in the Jimmy Stewart part! This gender switch aside, It Happened One Christmas follows the original virtually to the letter. Thomas is a young woman who dreams of Read More

Goldenrod

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

Synopsis: The superb made-for-TV drama Goldenrod invokes vivid memories of television's Golden Age of the 1950s. Tony LoBianco heads the cast as Jess Gifford, a former rodeo champion permanently sidelined by a crippling accident. Things get worse when Jess' wife Shirley (Gloria Carlin) walks out on him Read More

Johnny We Hardly Knew Ye

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

Synopsis: Made for television, Johnny We Hardly Knew Ye is based on the bestseller by Kenneth P. O'Donnell, David F. Powers and Joe McCarthy. The film is set in 1946: Paul Rudd plays 29-year-old John F. Kennedy, fresh out of the Navy and preparing for his first campaign for public office in Boston. He Read More

The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Richard Dreyfuss, Micheline Lanctôt, Jack Warden, Randy Quaid, Joseph Wiseman

Synopsis: Richard Dreyfuss put himself on the map with his performance in this movie about how ambition and greed can drive someone at the expense of his own happiness. Duddy Kravitz (Dreyfuss) is an 18-year-old Jewish kid from Montreal whose mother is dead, and whose father drives a cab and does a little Read More