Directing

Michael Pressman

Born

1950-07-01 (76)

Place of birth

New York City, New York, USA

Known for

Directing

Credits

39 titles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Michael Pressman (born July 1, 1950 in New York City, New York) is an American director and producer of film and television. Some of the films he has directed are The Great Texas Dynamite Chase (1976), Doctor Detroit (1983), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991), To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday (1996). For television, he has directed episodes of Picket Fences, The Practice, The Graudian, Boston Legal, The Closer, Law & Order, Weeds, Grey's Anatomy and other series. He is an alumni of Camp Rising Sun and studied filmmaking at the California Institute of the Arts.

Known for

Chicago Hope poster
7.2

Chicago Hope is an American medical drama television series, created by David E. Kelley. It ran on CBS from September 18, 1994, to May 4, 2000. The series is set in a fictional private charity hospital in Chicago, Illinois.

Chicago Hope

1994

The Guardian poster
7.0

Nick Fallin is a hotshot lawyer working at his father's ultrasuccessful Pittsburgh law firm. Unfortunately, the high life has gotten the best of Nick. Arrested for drug use, he's sentenced to do 1,500 hours of community service, somehow to be squeezed into his 24/7 cutthroat world of mergers, acquisitions and board meetings. Reluctantly, he's now The Guardian - a part-time child advocate at Legal Aid Services, where one case after another is an eye-opening instance of kids caught up in difficult circumstances.

The Guardian

2001

Lake Placid poster
6.0

When a man is eaten alive by an unknown creature, the local Game Warden teams up with a paleontologist from New York to find the beast. Add to the mix an eccentric philanthropist with a penchant for "Crocs", and here we go! This quiet, remote lake is suddenly the focus of an intense search for a crocodile with a taste for live animals...and people!

Lake Placid

1999

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze poster
6.2

The Turtles and the Shredder battle once again, this time for the last cannister of the ooze that created the Turtles, which Shredder wants to create an army of new mutants. Meanwhile Splinter is coming... to a decision.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze

1991

To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday poster
5.5

David loves his wife, Gillian. Unfortunately, she died two years ago. David deals with his grief by continuing his romance with Gillian during walks with her "ghost" on the beach at night. While David lives in the past, other family problems crop up in the present in the real world....

To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday

1996

Doctor Detroit poster
5.1

A shy but gentle man named Clifford Skridlow is a professor of comparative literature at the financially-strapped fictional Monroe College in Chicago. A chance encounter with four beautiful women at a restaurant changes his life forever.

Doctor Detroit

1983

Film credits

2000s · 2 titles

Series credits

Behind the camera

Lake Placid poster
6.0

When a man is eaten alive by an unknown creature, the local Game Warden teams up with a paleontologist from New York to find the beast. Add to the mix an eccentric philanthropist with a penchant for "Crocs", and here we go! This quiet, remote lake is suddenly the focus of an intense search for a crocodile with a taste for live animals...and people!

Lake Placid

1999

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze poster
6.2

The Turtles and the Shredder battle once again, this time for the last cannister of the ooze that created the Turtles, which Shredder wants to create an army of new mutants. Meanwhile Splinter is coming... to a decision.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze

1991

To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday poster
5.5

David loves his wife, Gillian. Unfortunately, she died two years ago. David deals with his grief by continuing his romance with Gillian during walks with her "ghost" on the beach at night. While David lives in the past, other family problems crop up in the present in the real world....

To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday

1996

Doctor Detroit poster
5.1

A shy but gentle man named Clifford Skridlow is a professor of comparative literature at the financially-strapped fictional Monroe College in Chicago. A chance encounter with four beautiful women at a restaurant changes his life forever.

Doctor Detroit

1983

A Season for Miracles poster
7.0

A miracle occurs for a homeless family consisting of two wayward children and their protective aunt with the help of an angel. When a young woman's niece and nephew are threatened with foster care after her sister is hospitalized following yet another overdose, she flees with them until they land in the sleepy town of Bethlehem just before Christmas and a series of kindnesses and coincidences gives the trio a chance at happiness.

A Season for Miracles

1999

Haunted by Her Past poster
6.1

While staying at an inn in a colonial-recreation village for her anniversary, a young woman becomes possessed by her murderous ancestor through an antique mirror and compelled to murder her husband.

Haunted by Her Past

1987

Some Kind of Hero poster
5.6

A Vietnam vet returns home from a prisoner of war camp and is greeted as a hero, but is quickly forgotten and soon discovers how tough survival is in his own country.

Some Kind of Hero

1982

Incident at Dark River poster
7.0

When Tim McFall's young daughter dies as the result of toxic waste dumped in the local river, he tries to shut down the company and everybody turns against him. In his fight he is joined by a beautiful student activist, and soon his obsession with revenge threatens his marriage as well as his career.

Incident at Dark River

1989

The Great Texas Dynamite Chase poster
4.9

Candy and Ellie Jo are a pair of sexy bank robbers who blast their way into small-town banks with a carload of dynamite! When they take Slim hostage, it begins a thrill-packed crime spree across the state of Texas.

The Great Texas Dynamite Chase

1976

Boulevard Nights poster
7.2

Raymond Avila is an ex-gang member trying to build a future. His kid brother Chuco is a sullen low-rider still caught up in the life. Despite their differences, their family bond is strong. But that bond is violently tested when rivals challenge Chuco's gang and ignite a neighborhood war.

Boulevard Nights

1979

Shootdown poster
5.7

Nan Moore is a U.S. government employee whose son is killed when Korean Air Flight 007 is shot down by Soviets on September 1, 1983. While the "official" story maintains that the flight accidentally veered too far into Soviet territory, was mistaken as a spy plane and shot down when it failed to identify itself, Ms. Moore suspects otherwise. However, in the course of her struggles to get to the bottom of what actually happened, she finds herself constantly stonewalled. Facing a conspiracy of silence and the increasing hostility of the authorities, Ms. Moore attempts to find out exactly what occurred, but with every answer she discovers, new questions arise...

Shootdown

1988

Those Lips, Those Eyes poster
4.2

A small-town star helps a young apprentice land the girl of his dreams.

Those Lips, Those Eyes

1980

Those Lips, Those Eyes poster
4.2

A small-town star helps a young apprentice land the girl of his dreams.

Those Lips, Those Eyes

1980

The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training poster
5.8

A troubled, rebellious teen drives his rambunctious baseball team out to Houston where they play an exhibition game and the boy meets his estranged father, and hires him as the teams coach.

The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training

1977

Final Jeopardy poster
6.3

A small-town couple find themselves stranded in an unfamiliar, and unfriendly, big city. Weaving in and out of the proceedings are a bunch of murderous criminals with names like DOA, Ice and Slash. The couple are in for a night that they won't forget.

Final Jeopardy

1985

Like Mom, Like Me poster
7.0

A middle-aged mom and her teenage daughter adjust to life together after Dad's affair breaks up the family.

Like Mom, Like Me

1978

Quicksand: No Escape poster
5.6

A hard-working architect is pulled into intrigue when his wife hires a private investigator to make sure he's just working late. The private eye sees an opportunity to frame him for a murder instead.

Quicksand: No Escape

1992

The Revenge of Al Capone poster
6.6

After Al Capone is imprisoned, he still continues to run his empire, and plots to assassinate the mayor of Chicago.

The Revenge of Al Capone

1989

Saint Maybe poster
6.6

A lonely teen troubled by a past family tragedy is suspicious of his sister-in-law, believing she is being unfaithful. His confrontation with his brother sets off a series of tragic events.

Saint Maybe

1998

And the Children Shall Lead poster
9.0

Mississippi in the early '60s is the setting for this story of a 12-year-old African-American girl who, along with her white friends, tries to ease increasing racial tensions.

And the Children Shall Lead

1985

The Impostor poster
4.7

After being released from prison, small-time con artist Cade tracks down his old girlfriend. When she rebuffs him, he fakes his past in order to get hired as the principal of the school where she teaches, in the hopes of winning her back. Cade soon begins to take a sincere interest in the welfare of his students, and enlists the help of his friend Matthew to break a drug-dealing network that has infested the school.

The Impostor

1984

Frankie and Johnny Are Married poster
7.5

Television director/producer Michael Pressman mounts a production of Frankie and Johnny in the Clare de Lune starring his wife, Lisa Chess. But their attempts to stage the play and work on their marriage keep running afoul, and everything's threatened by their difficult male lead, Alan Rosenberg. Michael's best hope, as a husband and producer, is to step into the character that Alan has abandoned.

Frankie and Johnny Are Married

2003

Frankie and Johnny Are Married poster
7.5

Television director/producer Michael Pressman mounts a production of Frankie and Johnny in the Clare de Lune starring his wife, Lisa Chess. But their attempts to stage the play and work on their marriage keep running afoul, and everything's threatened by their difficult male lead, Alan Rosenberg. Michael's best hope, as a husband and producer, is to step into the character that Alan has abandoned.

Frankie and Johnny Are Married

2003

Private Sessions poster
4.0

A therapist goes outside his office and into his patients' personal lives to help them. He is treating a man who is hearing sounds but apparently there is nothing wrong with him psychologically. And a woman who despite being in a healthy relationship goes around picking up guys and having sex with them. She decides to seek help and what the doctor learns is that the problem goes back to her childhood and her family.

Private Sessions

1985

To Heal a Nation poster
6.0

The true story of Jan Scruggs, an embittered Vietnam veteran who returns from the war a broken man. However, with the help of his loving wife Becky, he begins to find a new life for himself, and a personal goal when he agrees to begin a determined campaign to raise funds for a veteran's memorial.

To Heal a Nation

1988

Joshua's Heart poster
6.0

A woman is torn between her boyfriend's ending their relationship and being separated from his young son with whom she has bonded.

Joshua's Heart

1990

Man Against the Mob: The Chinatown Murders poster
7.0

Honest cop in corrupt 1940s Los Angeles fights against gangsters who are kidnapping and selling women into prostitution.

Man Against the Mob: The Chinatown Murders

1989

The Christmas Gift poster
5.6

A widowed New York City architect and his young daughter take a Christmas vacation and end up in a small mystical town in Colorado where everyone believes in Santa Claus.

The Christmas Gift

1986

Miracle Child poster
6.5

A despairing young widow who abandons her baby at pond-side among bulrushes and a man who's fighting to reclaim his own son are drawn together. A baby plops out of a rainy, stormy sky into the arms of the town's beloved, vaguely addled spinster. Miracles suddenly reverse the fortunes of the town as drought and unemployment disappear, only to be replaced by boosterism and greed.

Miracle Child

1993

Becoming Helen Keller poster
8.0

The life and legacy of Helen Keller, including how she used her celebrity to advocate for human rights and social justice for women, the poor and people with disabilities.

Becoming Helen Keller

2021