..The Movie" (1984). He used his own experiences as a member of the US National Hockey Team as the basis for "Youngblood" (1986), an earnest but pedestrian behind the scenes look at the sport that featured Rob Lowe and Keanu Reeves. Markle had perhaps his best shot with "BAT 21" (1988), a Vietnam War drama about an American officer (Gene Hackman) caught behind enemy lines and the effort to rescue him. Despite earning respectable reviews, few offers for features followed. Instead, Markle turned to the small screen handling the directing chores on a number of made-for-cable efforts including "Nightbreaker" (TNT, 1989), about American soldiers unknowingly used as subjects in atomic tests, and "El Diablo" (HBO, 1990), about a legendary Texas outlaw. By the 90s, he had added TV series to his resume with well-received episodes of "Homicide: Life on the Street", "EZ Streets" and "Moloney".
Markle's feature career in the 90s seems to be cursed. He returned to the big screen with the comedy "Wagons East!" (1994), but the result was marred by the death of star John Candy during filming. "The Last Days of Frankie the Fly" (1996), with Dennis Hopper, was a muddle romance between a low-level hood and a porn actress that received festival screenings before being consigned to HBO. In 1997, Markle was hired to helm "A Night at the Roxbury", adapted from the on-going "Saturday Night Live" skit featuring Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan as wannabe club-goers. After just over two weeks of shooting, however, the director was replaced after clashing with writer-producer Amy Heckerling.