Ann Doran Movies

In the first episode of a two-part story, Hunter (Fred Dryer) suspects that his Vietnam war buddy Randall Fain (introduced in the previous season's episode "Jade Woman") did not commit suicide as has been reported. Despite Fain's guilt over a tragic wartime blunder which had nearly wiped out his unit, Hunt is certain that the man was murdered, and that the motive was a fortune in stolen emeralds. The key to solving the case may be in the hands of Fain's Oriental mail-order bride Rose--who since returning to prostitution has completely dropped out of sight. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This week, the A-Team shows up at the Mission of Peace, a historic Texas tourist attraction maintained by a group of feisty senior citizens. The oldsters are being forced off the Mission by a greedy rancher named Ashton (Ric Mancini), compelling the unofficial head of the seniors, a guy named Rudy (David White), to ask for the Team's assistance. The plot thickens when Rudy turns out to have a secret--and that the "legend" of the Mission of Peace may be just a lot of hot air. As for the Team's perennial nemesis Gen. Fullbright (Jack Ging), he takes an unexpected trip to Australia--by crate! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gene Hackman plays a disgruntled suburbanite who manages the Ultra-Sav, an all-night drugstore. He hates his job, hates his debts and responsibilities, and isn't overly fond of his wife (Diane Ladd) and son (Dennis Quaid). Partly as a form of protest, Hackman enters into an affair with Barbra Streisand, one of his wife's distant relatives (don't ask how she's related - it takes Hackman about thirty seconds to explain it to another character). Streisand doesn't belong in this picture at all, but she can be forgiven her acting excesses because she wasn't the first choice for the role anyway (Lisa Eichhorn dropped out just before shooting began). The best moments in All Night Long involve the steady stream of oddballs and losers who trickle into Hackman's establishment. There is also a cute Apocalypse Now parody involving a battery-operated toy helicopter. The principal attraction of All Night Long is Gene Hackman playing an endearingly recognizable modern type. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The made-for-TV Advice to the Lovelorn stars Cloris Leachman as a "Dear Abby" type newspaper advice columnist. Walter Brooke costars as her editor, who discourages her efforts to follow up her advice in person. But follow she does, trying to untangle the problems of guest stars Melissa Sue Anderson, Lance Kerwin, Desi Arnaz Jr. and Donna Pescow. She even finds time for a romantic episode with special guest star Paul Burke. Intended as the pilot for a weekly series, the 2-hour Advice to the Lovelorn was telecast November 30, 1981. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Having already exhausted the dramatic possibilities of fire with The Towering Inferno, producer Irwin Allen turns to water in the made-for-TV Flood! The film is set in a small community, conveniently (for the purposes of the plot) located near a huge earthen dam. As the flood waters rise and the dam threatens to collapse, we are made privy to the individual reactions of such all-star victims-to-be as Robert Culp, Martin Milner, Richard Basehart, Cameron Mitchell, Barbara Hershey, Teresa Wright and Carol Lynley. As in Inferno, helicopter pilots come to the rescue. Most of the film was shot in Eugene, Oregon. Flood! first aired on November 24, 1976. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The "kids" in this episode include a group of Korean orphans who take refuge at the 4077th when their living quarters are bombed. Not surprisingly, everyone in the unit takes the youngsters to their hearts except the xenophobic Frank Burns (Larry Linville). And there's even more on the way, as the doctors deal with an "incoming" baby. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Eminent Shakespearean actor Maurice Evans guest stars as Leopold Summer, a history teacher dismissed from his job because he is a firm proponent of corporal punishment. Upon learning that one of his former colleagues has been shot in a tough high school, the already disturbed Summer goes completely off the deep end. Setting up a "classroom" in a deserted warehouse, Summer kidnaps several indolent high schoolers, chains them to desks, and forces them to learn history at gunpoint! Bernie Kopell (The Love Boat) appears unbilled as Summers' ex-boss, while among the imperiled students is future Welcome Back, Kotter costar Robert Hegyes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Previously filmed with Paul Muni in 1959, Gerald Green's novel The Last Angry Man was adapted for television by Green himself, who restored the original book's Depression-era setting in the process. Pat Hingle steps into the Muni role as crusty, temperamental Dr. Sam Abelman, who tends to the residents of a seedy Brooklyn tenement neighborhood. Refusing to treat his patients as victims of society, Sam practices his craft with a heady combination of common sense and tenderness. He is particularly interested in the welfare of a hostile teenager (Paul Jabara), whose violent temper may be attributable to a serious brain condition. Since this was the pilot for a proposed TV series, Dr. Abelman was not permitted to "die" in as spectacular a fashion as his counterpart in the 1959 film, but instead soldier on at fadeout time with the assistance of his daughters Sarah (Lynn Carlin) and Eunice (Tracy Bogart). This version of The Last Angry Man was broadcast by ABC on April 16, 1974. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Parademic trainee Billy Hanks (Kip Niven) has everyone at Rampart on edge with his lack of experience--and his more injurious lack of self-confidence. Billy's inner strength ultimately comes to surface when he must rescue a man from an overturned ambulance. Among the other emergencies facing the Squad 51 staffers this week are an elderly professor (Ian Wolfe) who is trapped under a collapsing bookcase, a car fancier who is pinned under a pile of junked autos, an exploding chemistry set, and a practical joke that goes tragically haywire. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Officers Jim Reed (Kent McCord) and Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) cover familiar ground when they climb into the front seat of Adam-12 to chase down a car thief. But they're in far less familiar surroundings when they are assigned to an experimental LAPD bicycle patrol. Doing their best to hide their discomfort, our heroes mount a pair of two-wheelers in order to round up a gang of auto-accessory thieves. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

First telecast September 14, 1971, "The Priest Killer" was originally identified as the two-hour opening episode of Ironside's fifth season. In truth, it is the second pilot film for the TV cop series Sarge, starring George Kennedy as cop-turned-priest Father Samuel "Sarge" Kavanaugh. Though based in San Diego, Sarge teams with wheelchair-bound San Francisco detective Robert Ironside (Raymond Burr) to track down an unknown serial killer who has murdered two priests. Though the motive for the murders is at first unknown, given the presence of Anthony Zerbe in the supporting cast it isn't difficult to ascertain the identity of the killer. The weekly, hour-long series version of Sarge would premiere one week after "The Priest Killer", on September 21, 1971. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Meeting largely mixed reviews during its first run in 1971, counterculture icon Peter Fonda's directorial debut was restored and remastered for its 30-year anniversary. The film opens with three drifters greeting the morning by cavorting in a sun-dabbled mountain river. Harry Collings (Fonda) catches a fish and gives it to Arch Harris (Warren Oates) who grills it over a low fire, while Dan (Robert Pratt) -- the youngest of the three -- bathes in the swift moving current. Later, as they head into Del Norte, a small town in the middle of nowhere, Dan talks breathlessly about going to California while Collings suddenly decides to return home after a seven-year absence. After Dan runs afoul of a group of unsavory characters lead by McVey (Severn Darden), Collings vows vengeance for the lad's death and blows off McVey's feet. Collings and Harris bury Dan and flee from the town riding hundreds of miles to Collings' homestead. His wife Hannah (Verna Bloom) -- now called "Widow Collings" by the local townsfolk -- is none too pleased to see her wayward husband at her doorstep. Taking his wife's anger in stride, he asks only to be allowed to work as a hired hand. Just as Hannah and Collings start to move beyond the years of anger and estrangement, disaster strikes. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Woe betide the criminal who ever makes the mistake of victimizing a friend of Chief Robert Ironside (Raymond Burr)! In this case, the friend is a fruit seller named Dora Copeland (Ann Doran). A syndicate of protection racketeers has swarmed into town in hopes of gaining control of San Francisco's produce market--and their first step is to blackmail Dora by framing a compromising situation involving her son Paul (Stewart Moss), a prominent attorney. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide