Mark Foley on Film, Before He Got Famous

Here you probably thought you knew everything about Mark Foley. But a month after the Florida rep resigned in disgrace for cyber-stalking teenage pages, a young journalist has uncovered perhaps the one juicy angle yet unplumbed in the scores of profiles and investigative reports -- Foley's brief movie career.

The movie was a low-budget, straight-to-DVD vigilante flick called "Strike Force" (original title, "The Librarians"), filmed in 2000 in Foley's Palm Beach County district. It starred veteran tough guy William Forsythe, "Baywatch" babe Erika Eleniak, Burt Reynolds (as high-roller "Irish," who lounges by a pool surrounded by his bikini-clad "grandnieces") -- and Foley, in a tiny but pivotal role as, well, a congressman.

Kenneth P. Vogel, an investigative reporter for the soon-to-launch Capitol Leader newspaper, found this cinematic gem buried deep in Foley's 2001 financial disclosure records, recording the $400 payment he got for the role. Vogel tracked down a copy of the movie on Amazon ($12.99) and -- we're just so glad he did! The opening scene is a cartoonish shootout between Forsythe's gang and the bad guys who have kidnapped Foley's daughter. Forsythe returns the girl to her dad's black stretch limo, where we get to see Foley emote:

"Oh I missed you, too, baby!" he says, eyes clenched as he hugs the girl.

"There were a lot of bad men," the child says.

"I know, baby, but it's all over now," Foley says, sighing deeply. "God, I love you."

Foley was cast at the suggestion of associate producer Greg Hauptner, a Palm Beach resident who had known him for years. "He was crazy about the movies," Hauptner told Vogel. (Foley was also an extra on the Florida set of "Body Heat," Vogel learned, but was lost on the cutting room floor.)

In all, the former chairman of the entertainment caucus has about 10 lines and several doleful close-ups. You kitsch-loving hipsters may scoff -- it was harder than it looked!

"In a short period of time, he had to go through a gamut of emotions," Hauptner said. "It wasn't as easy as you think it would be. He had to be sad and be stoic at the same time -- to be a strong-willed congressman who was willing to go outside the law." All in all, "he wasn't bad."

UPDATE . . .

Since last we checked in with the lurid Washingtonienne saga, sex blogger Jessica Cutler snagged a new team of attorneys (she's lost three over the past year) to defend her against an ex-boyfriend's claim that she defamed him by airing details of their love life. And she has traded snippy filings with Robert Steinbuch in federal court -- he claiming that her much-circulated blog postings in 2004 (in which he was ID'd by initials) caused him to lose out on a law professor job, she doubting his reputation was even worth the damages he's seeking (oh, snap !).

Legal sources say it likely will be well into the new year before these crazy kids work things out. The drama continues with a judge this week okaying Steinbuch's request to add as a defendant Ana Marie Cox -- founding editor of Wonkette.com, which made Cutler's blog famous. Cox, now with Time.com, declined to comment, and her former bosses did not return calls.

THIS JUST IN . . .

· Alberto Gonzales dropped by GWU Law School yesterday, surprising 40 students in the criminal procedure class. The attorney general talked about military commissions, terrorist surveillance and the Patriot Act and took questions for 40 minutes -- before vanishing as mysteriously as he arrived. Turns out this was all his idea: Gonzales just got a hankering for legal chat with some students, and his staff tracked down a willing prof, former DOJ lawyer Renee Lerner . "I guess he really likes teaching," she said. "The students, of course, were delighted to have him." Is the AG mulling a move to academia? "He is not ruling any options out in terms of future careers," said Justice spokeswoman Tasia Scolinos . Any more stealth visits to law schools planned? "I wouldn't rule it out."

· Daytime TV icon Bob Barker will come on down! from "The Price Is Right" in June after 35 years hosting the show and 50 years in TV. "I will be 83 years old," he said yesterday, "and I've decided to retire while I'm still young." Barker plans to devote more time to his animal rights causes.