The Water Engine (1992)

Director


Main cast
William H. Macy; Patti LuPone; Charles Durning; John Mahoney; Joanna Miles

Genres
Drama

Description
In the 1930s, Charles Lang invents an engine that runs using water for fuel. But when he tries to get it patented, he is first offered a ridiculously low amount. When he refuses, he is suddenly several people are pressuring him to sell. The big oil companies don't want the competition. Now he has to try and keep them from getting his idea, and somehow get it published.


Similar movies

The saga of Tom Holmes - a man of principles - from the Great War to the Great Depression. Will he ever get a break? His war heroics earn fame and a medal for someone else, and his wounds result in a morpheme addiction that costs him a job, his reputation in his home town, and months in a clinic. He goes to Chicago, where he's enterprising and dedicated to his work and his fellow workers, but an invention he champions results in the opposite of his intentions, leading to loss of life and an unjust imprisonment. After release, during the Depression, he must face local "red squads" and vigilante groups jousting out jobless men. (IMDB)
In this David vs. Goliath drama based on a true story, college professor Robert Kearns (Greg Kinnear) goes up against the giants of the auto industry when they fail to give him credit for inventing intermittent windshield wipers. Kearns doggedly pursues recognition for his invention, as well as the much-deserved financial rewards for the sake of his wife (Lauren Graham) and six kids.
An insane general starts a process to nuclear holocaust that a war room of politicians and generals frantically try to stop. A classic black and white war satire from director Stanley Kubrick starring Peter Sellers.
A drop-out from upper-class America picks up work along the way on oil-rigs when his life isn't spent in a squalid succession of bars, motels, and other points of interest.
A young girl turns into an A-List celebrity over night when her private journal is accidently published and becomes a best-seller.
As the 18th descendant of an extremely insignificant philosopher and inventor from ancient China, McDull is fortunate that he does not have a lot to live up to. However, his mother has higher aspirations for him and decides to send him to a martial arts school in China. Overweight and slow on his feet, McDull is the last of his classmates to run away when the headmaster needs to choose someone to represent the school in an international children's martial arts competition.
This story is about how an old man tried to show his grandson the preciousness and beauty of life in a no win situation such as cancer. It is about keeping a positive attitude towards life.
Larry Flynt is the hedonistically obnoxious, but indomitable, publisher of Hustler magazine. The film recounts his struggle to make an honest living publishing his girlie magazine and how it changes into a battle to protect the freedom of speech for all people.
In the aftermath of the BP oil spill, an idealistic but imperfect New Orleans politician (Nicolas Cage) finds his plans of restoration unraveling as his own life becomes contaminated with corruption, scandal and deceit.
Several players from different backgrounds try to cope with the pressures of playing football at a major university. Each deals with the pressure differently, some turn to drinking, others to drugs, and some to studying.
A 1950s used-car salesman (Patrick Warburton) wants to make a low-budget film about a trucker who accidentally runs down a child.
The movie centers on a piano competition whose winner is assured of success. It is Paul's last chance to compete, but newcomer Heidi may be a better pianist. Can romance be far away? Will she take a dive despite the pressure to win from her teacher, Greta, or will she condemn Paul to obscurity?
Vigilante Force is a 1976 American action film concerning a Vietnam War veteran (Kris Kristofferson) and his buddies, who are hired by his brother (Jan-Michael Vincent) and others in a small California town for protection from rowdy oil-field workers.
The new commander of a Navy Underwater Demolition Team--nicknamed "Frogmen"--must earn the respect of the men in his unit, who are still grieving over the death of their former commander and resentful of the new one.
Mr. Conductor's supply of magic gold dust, which allows him to travel between Shining Time and Thomas's island, is critically low. Unfortunately, he doesn't know how to get more. Meanwhile, Thomas is fending off attacks by the nasty diesel engines. Getting more gold dust will require help from Mr. C's slacker cousin, his new friend Lily and her morose grandfather, plus the secret engine.
In a future where a failed global-warming experiment kills off most life on the planet, a class system evolves aboard the Snowpiercer, a train that travels around the globe via a perpetual-motion engine.
Professional daredevil and white-suited hero, The Great Leslie, convinces turn-of-the-century auto makers that a race from New York to Paris (westward across America, the Bering Straight and Russia) will help to promote automobile sales. Leslie's arch-rival, the mustached and black-attired Professor Fate vows to beat Leslie to the finish line in a car of Fate's own invention.
The Waterbury family are completely happy until mysterious men take their father away and they have to move up to Yorkshire without him. The three open-hearted children soon make many friends including their Old Gentleman whom they regularly wave to on his morning train journey. Bobbie, the eldest girl, makes contact with him to try and get help for the problems they are facing. Meanwhile the children find themselves involved in several unexpected dramas on the railway
Over the course of his summer break, a teenager comes into his own thanks in part to the friendship he strikes up with one of the park's managers.
A washed up golf pro working at a driving range tries to qualify for the US Open in order to win the heart of his succesful rival's girlfriend.
Willie Dynamite is a pimp who operates in New York City. Willie was a big success as a pimp, but now, just as fast as he rose to the top, he has hit bottom. A former prostitute who has become a social worker tries to get Willie to clean up his life while it is still possible.
When a US Naval captain shows signs of mental instability that jeopardizes the ship, the first officer relieves him of command and faces court martial for mutiny.
In the wake of a nuclear war, a young woman survives on her own, fearing she may actually be the proverbial last woman on earth, until she discovers the most astonishing sight of her life: another human being. A distraught scientist, he’s nearly been driven mad by radiation exposure and his desperate search for others. A fragile, imperative strand of trust connects them. But when a stranger enters the valley, their precarious bond begins to unravel.
Sanjay a rich tycoon suffering from short term memory loss due to being hit by a metal pole when trying to intervene on his girlfriend's murder. Because of this his memory can only last for 15 minutes and he doesn't remember events or incidents that have happened before in his life.
Fictionalized story of British aerospace engineers solving the problem of supersonic flight.
The irreverent host of a political satire talk show decides to run for president. But his stunt to expose Washington corruption goes further than he expects when he actually wins the election. Meanwhile, a software engineer suspects that a computer glitch is responsible for his surprising victory … but will she speak up?
In the tradition of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” comes this refreshing comedy about a rebellious prankster with a crafty mind and a heart of gold. Rascal. Joker. Dreamer. Genius... You've never met a college student quite like "Rancho." From the moment he arrives at India's most prestigious university, Rancho's outlandish schemes turn the campus upside down—along with the lives of his two newfound best friends. Together, they make life miserable for "Virus," the school’s uptight and heartless dean. But when Rancho catches the eye of the dean's sexy daughter, Virus sets his sights on flunking out the "3 idiots" once and for all.
When a young Iranian's mother doesn't meet her after school, she tries to negotiate the streets of Tehran by herself.
Engineer Jake Holman arrives aboard the gunboat U.S.S. San Pablo, assigned to patrol a tributary of the Yangtze in the middle of exploited and revolution-torn 1926 China. His iconoclasm and cynical nature soon clash with the "rice-bowl" system which runs the ship and the uneasy symbiosis between Chinese and foreigner on the river. Hostility towards the gunboat's presence reaches a climax when the boat must crash through a river-boom and rescue missionaries upriver at China Light Mission.
Toni Jo tries to break her husband, Cowboy, out of prison and becomes an instant sensation due to her beauty.
To get royal backing on a needed drainage project, a poor French lord must learn to play the delicate games of wit at court at Versailles.
A deadly collision between a train and car lead to an unlikely bond between the train engineer and a young boy who escapes the carnage.
Shiro Lhadatt joins the Royal Space Force only because his low grades bar him from the air force; he encounters ridicule from manipulative leaders and shares apathy with his fellow co-workers. A chance encounter with devout young Riquinni spurs him towards his destiny—to become the first man in space.
Hyperactive teenager Kelly is enrolled into a military school when her new stepfather becomes the Commandant. At first she has problems fitting in and taking orders until she tries out for the drill team.
Akash (Ranbir Kapoor) and Kiara (Priyanka Chopra) are trying to find luck in their life after several failed attempts to be successful in their careers and in love. Fed up, they both decide to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge. However, both land up on the same bridge at the same time.
Sylvia Barrett is a rookie teacher at New York's inner-city Calvin Coolidge High: her lit classes are overcrowded, a window is broken, there's no chalk, books arrive late. The administration is concerned mainly with forms and rules (there's an up and and a down staircase); bells ring at the wrong time. Nevertheless, she tries. How she handles the chaos and her despair in her first semester makes up the film: a promising student drops out, another sleeps through class, a girl with a crush on a male teacher gets suicidal, and a bright but troublesome student misunderstands Sylvia's reaching out. A discussion of Dickens, parents' night, and a mock trial highlight the term. Can she make it?
A coming-of-age story that follows 12-year-old Andy Nichol, a bright student who, like most kids his age, will do anything to avoid conflict for fear of suffering overwhelming ridicule and punishment from his junior high school peers.
Stewart McBain (Coleman) is a real-estate mogul who spends his living blowing up old buildings to make room to erect new buildings. All goes as planned for a new subdivision, until a group of protesters object to the destruction of one lonely, ugly building, called the Dutch House. Typically, the media is sent to the scene of the protest, and McBain appears on TV in a bad way. His children - Daphne (Thurman), Chloe (Amis), and Jimmy (Hewlett) - ridicule him for appearing on TV, and as a reward for their remarks, he drops them off at the Dutch House with $750 apiece, and tells them they're on their own. They must find jobs if they expect to make money to stay warm. McBain and his wife, Jean watch from afar as their children adapt to their new lifestyle, meeting new friends, and inviting others into their new home, including a decrepit bum.
Eugene arrives in Bukidnon with only one intention: to forget his problems at work. But when he meets Raffy and as they travel and go on ridiculous and death-defying activities together, they start to form a friendship that goes beyond Euge’s original plan. Raffy helps Euge appreciate himself more and to look at things in a positive way. With Raffy, Euge begins to believe in himself again. Soon, against his own expectations, he admits to himself that has fallen in love with this girl. But life is truly ironic. The moment Euge expresses his feelings for her, Raffy suddenly starts to push him away. She admits that he can never have her, and she doesn’t want Eugene to hope for a happy ending with her, because she cannot be loved.
After the earthquake of Guilan, the film director and his son, Puya, travel to the devastated area to search for the actors of the movie the director made there a few years ago, Khane-ye Doust Kodjast? (1987). In their search, they found how people who had lost everything in the earthquake still have hope and try to live life to the fullest.
Alec Graham is sentenced to death for the murder of his girlfriend Agnes, with whom he spent a weekend at the English country home of the parents of his friend Brian Stanford. Alec's father, David Graham, a not-so-successful writer and alcoholic who has neglected his son in the past, flies in from Canada to visit his son on death row. David then goes on a quest to try and clear his son's name while battling "the bottle."
Luis will do anything to grant his terminally-ill daughter’s last wish – a ridiculously expensive dress that she discovered on her favourite Japanese series ‘Magical Girl’ – but he doesn’t have the necessary spare cash to buy it. Bárbara, a headstrong woman with a shady past, is willing to pay whatever price it takes to maintain the shiny appearance of her marriage. Finally, the retired teacher Damián has still not come to terms with a mysterious event from his past. The lives of the three protagonists take a fateful turn when Luis and Bárbara meet one day on the street. MAGICAL GIRL leads us into an abysmal world where blackmail, well-kept secrets and dark obsessions prevail.
A young doctor (Mitchum) falls in love with a disturbed young woman (Domergue) and apparently becomes involved in the death of her husband (Rains). They head for Mexico trying to outrun the law.
Nick cannot stop obsessing over his ex-girlfriend, Tris, until Tris' friend Norah suddenly shows interest in him at a club. Thus beings an odd night filled with ups and downs as the two keep running into Tris and her new boyfriend while searching for Norah's drunken friend, Caroline, with help from Nick's band mates. As the night winds down, the two have to figure out what they want from each other.
Three interconnected stories about the different strata of life in Mexico City all resolve with a fatal car accident. Octavio is trying to raise enough money to run away with his sister-in-law, and decides to enter his dog Cofi into the world of dogfighting. After a dogfight goes bad, Octavio flees in his car, running a red light and causing the accident. Daniel and Valeria's new-found bliss is prematurely ended when she loses her leg in the accident. El Chivo is a homeless man who cares for stray dogs and is there to witness the collision. Amores Perros is the first film in Iñárritu's "Death Trilogy".
Anti-semitic Nazi propaganda "biography" of the Rothschilds, a German Jewish family whose members rose to the top of the European banking community during the Napoleonic era.
The Patent Leather Kid is a 1927 silent film which tells the story of a boxer who scoffs at fighting outside the ring... particularly for the United States once it enters World War I. Eventually, he is drafted, is shipped overseas, and performs a heroic act, which results in his being severely wounded.
The son of the owner of a large Italian cheese factory is kidnapped, but as the factory is on the verge of bankruptcy the owner hatches a plan to use the ransom money as reinvestment in the factory.
A small town in Australia, in the late 1950s: Brownie and Lola are deeply in love. But because they are under-age, their parents are against their relationship and try to separate them.
A semi-fictionalized account of the life of Mata Hari, an exotic dancer who was accused of spying for Germany during World War I.
Two characters: old and young; teacher and pupil; man and woman. Four walls within which they conjure intellectualism, relive the profession (journalism), explore politics and discover each other.
The biography of Dr.W.T.Morgan, a 19th century Boston dentist, during his quest to have anesthesia, in the form of ether, accepted by the public and the medical and dental establishment.
Taarzan: The Wonder Car is a 2004 romantic thriller film directed by Abbas Burmawalla and Mustan Burmawalla. The film stars Vatsal Seth, Ajay Devgn and Ayesha Takia in the lead roles, while Farida Jalal, Shakti Kapoor, Amrish Puri, Pankaj Dheer, Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Gulshan Grover and Mukesh Tiwari play supporting roles. The film is inspired by the 1983 horror, Christine.
Thomas Jerome Newton is an alien who comes to Earth to get water for his dying planet. He starts a high technology company to get the billions of dollars he needs to build a return spacecraft. A British science-fiction film from director Nicolas Roeg and starring David Bowie.
William Thatcher, a peasant, is sent to apprentice with a Knight named Hector as a young boy. Urged by his father to "change his Stars", he assumes Sir Hector's place in a tournament when Hector dies in the middle of it. He wins. With the other apprentices, he trains and assumes the title of Sir Ulrich von Lichtenstein.
Two psychotic young men take a mother, father, and son hostage in their vacation cabin and force them to play sadistic "games" with one another for their own amusement.
In the 1950s, brothers Jacey and Doug Holt, who come from the poorer side of their sleepy Midwestern town, vie for the affections of the wealthy, lovely Abbott sisters. Lady-killer Jacey alternates between Eleanor and Alice, wanting simply to break the hearts of rich young women. But sensitive Doug has a real romance with Pamela, which Jacey and the Abbott patriarch, Lloyd, both frown upon.
In flashback, fifty years after inventing the light bulb, an 82-year-old Edison tells his story starting at age twenty-two with his arrival in New York. He's on his way with invention of an early form of stock market ticker.
When their daughter is kidnapped by experienced nappers (Bacon and Love), the Jennings' (Theron and Townsend) turn the tables on this seemingly foolproof plan.
Happy-go-lucky Jim Fenton is in love with Miss Butterworth, the town milliner, who is taking care of little Harry Benedict while his father Paul, an inventor, is in the local insane asylum. Miss Butterworth convinces Jim that Belcher, one of the town's prominent citizens, has incarcerated Paul to steal the patents from his inventions. Jim breaks into the asylum and spirits away the enfeebled inventor......

© Valossa 2015–2024