Don Marshall Movies

Based on a true story, this is the tale of three women who join forces to get revenge on the handsome con man whose investment scheme cost them thousands of dollars. ~ Tana Hobart, Rovi

Shot for a mere $400,000 (Canadian) in a little over a month at the end of 1984 in Edmonton, Alberta, this tepid thriller readily betrays its low-budget, hasty origins. Beware of a film with characters with names like "Lever" and "Smarm" that is produced, written, edited, directed, and starred in by a modest two-person crew (Jorge Montesi as Detective Carlos Solo and Peter Haynes as Smarm). While the title of this film is shared by six other movies at least, starting in 1927, its plot is distinctive. It involves a serial killer tracked by Carlos Solo until the evidence seems to mysteriously indicate that Solo's criminally-inclined friend might be connected to the slayings. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

The normally open-minded Doc Baker (Kevin Hagen) is a bit put off when his new assistant, Dr. Caleb Ledoux (Don Marshall), arrives in town -- not because Ledoux is unqualified (certainly not the case), but because he is black. Reluctant to entrust his patients to a man of color, Baker assigns Ledoux to only the most minor of cases. But when a major crisis develops, Ledoux proves not only equal to the challenge, but even more so than Baker. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Michael (Ralph Carter) begins doing research for a school term paper about the Communist party. But instead of heading to the public library, Michael writes a few letters of inquiry to the Cuban government. The results are both swift and terrible: Michael and the rest of the Evans family are targeted as a likely "security risk" by the FBI. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

After female prisoners arrive at an island prison full of male convicts, they are brutalized and fight back in an attempt to set up a more democratic system. This exploitative drama includes performances of Tom Selleck and Roger E. Mosley of television's Magnum P.I. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi

This well-photographed documentary chronicles the journey of three men on motorcycles as they travel from Denver to Panama. Sequences show the trio traveling down jungle trails, roughriding in the desert, and following the tracks of an abandoned railroad, among many adventures. Along the way, they enjoy the available tourist attractions; skiing in Taos, scuba diving off the Mexican shore, and amateur bullfighting in the border town of Juarez. Along with the travelers' general good spirits, viewers share their enjoyment and exploration of Central American towns and villages. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

This "very special" Christmas episode of Bewitched was adapted by Barbara Avedon and William Asher from a story submitted by the fifth-period English class at Thomas Jefferson High School in Los Angeles, CA (the story had been written at the behest of teacher Marcella Saunders as a thank-you for the class' visit to the Bewitched set at Columbia studios). In the spirit of equality, Tabitha uses "wishcraft" to cast a spell on herself and her black playmate, Lisa (Venetta Rodgers). Now, both girls are covered with multicolored polkadots which make them look alike -- almost. Tabitha's efforts to transform Lisa into her spiritual sister may not, however, rest well with Lisa's parents (Don Marshall, Janee Michelle), nor with Darrin's bigoted client, Mr. Brockway (Parley Baer). Refreshingly free of the patronization which usually attended "racially sensitive" TV episodes of the period, "Sisters at Heart" made its first network appearance on December 24, 1970. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The basic premise of Land Of The Giants, along with most of the attributes of the seven characters, is established in the first episode, "The Crash". The sub-orbital passenger ship Spindrift, en route from Los Angeles to London, is drawn into a glowing space apparition that carries them to a world exactly like Earth -- except that everything, people, animals, plants etc., is 12 times larger than on Earth. And as the crew and the passengers soon discover that they are subject to capture and experimentation by whatever inhabitants of this planet might trap them.

Within that framework, however, the series did undergo changes during the first season. In the first episode, the giants -- who are seen mostly in the guise of a scientist and his assistant -- are seen as distant, distorted figures, the size differential almost disorienting to the camera; and they are heard only indistinctly, speaking in muffled and distorted voices, and it's not clear at first what language they might be speaking. In other words, the size differential is emphasized to the degree that the giants and the "little people," as we later learn Earth visitors are referred to, are isolated from one another even in each others' presence, as sentient beings. This creates an eeriness to their interactions and adds an element of isolation in the point of view of the main characters in the early episodes that was lost in subsequent shows, as the point-of-view changed along with the way that the giants were presented.

In later shows, the giants' voices are fully comprehensible and they are speaking English and communicating with the "little people." And we discover that there is a government bounty on them. And we learn that most of the planet seems to be organized as a worldwide totalitarian state, similar to some of the Eastern bloc communist countries, with a secret police service -- a similarity that residents of many of those countries picked up on and resonated to very strongly, once the series started running in Eastern Europe in the 1970's. One such member of that service, Inspector Kobick (Kevin Hagen), investigates enough cases involving the Sprindrift's complement, that he actually at one point refers to the ship's commander, Captain Steve Burton (Gary Conway), by his last name -- a major concession to Burton's essential humanity and Kobick's own inability to ignore it, despite his official position.

During the first season, many of the episodes revolve around the Spindrift's crew and passengers trying to patch up their vessel for an eventual attempted return to Earth -- if they can get the equipment they need, if they can reach escape velocity, and find a space-warp that will take them back to Earth. There are so many barriers to their escape, that sheer curiosity about how they might overcome any of these obstacles made one want to tune in from week to week, this despite the fundamental concept behind the series being scientifically absurd -- people and animals (or anything else) 12 times larger than normal will, of necessity, weigh 144 times as much, and be incapable of movement, and it's not even a matter of weight so much as mass, which is independent of gravity. But the series was presented with enough of a brisk pace and sense of adventure so that few viewers were bothered by this matter (anymore than anyone ever tuned out The Adventures of Superman over the matter of how he flies . . . .).

The visitors are still learning about the giants' planet and social order during this season, and coping with their own individual motivations. This is especially true where Alexander Fitzhugh (Kurt Kasznar), an embezzler on the run with a million dollars, is concerned; he has a soft spot for the orphaned boy Barry Lockridge (Stefan Argrim), who looks up to him because Fitzhugh is wearing a US Navy commander's uniform (which is clearly a disguise, but one maintained for the run of the show), but otherwise is a sometimes unstable personality. The others aren't too much better -- Mark Wilson (Don Matheson) is a high-powered businessman and engineer who has an agenda of his own; and Valerie Scott (Deanna Lund) is a wealthy playgirl accustomed to getting her own way in most things. There were enough places for friction to keep the show interesting on a basic character level across the first season.

The first season credit sequence of the series has always been a point-of-interest for television and music mavens. Most of it is comprised of an animated motif in which a diminutive figure, representing the "little people," is being stalked by a much larger shadowy figure with a searchlight, while John Williams' sting-laden theme music plays, building gradually in intensity, in the background. Both the design and the music for this sequence bear a striking resemblance to the opening credits for Kraft Suspense Theater, which had aired across the early and middle 1960's on network television -- and had a similar musical accompaniment by . . . John Williams. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Ironside (Raymond Burr) is counting upon African American pro-football hero Charles "Bat" Masterson (Ivan Dixon) to help keep a group of inner-city kids on the straight and narrow. But Masterson is preoccupied with keeping his parolee brother Joe (Don Marshall) out of trouble--and is even willing to take a manslaughter rap for Joe's sake. It falls to Ironside to figure a way to save Masterson from his own tragically misguided sense of family loyalty. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Briggs is forced to play along with powerful mobster boss Frank Egan (William Smithers when the daughter of Briggs' friend Joe Mantell is kidnapped. In order to secure the girl's release, Briggs and the IMF must themselves kidnap the key witness against Egan in an upcoming Grand Jury investigation. This pulse-pounding Mission: Impossible episode was a radical--and effective--departure from the series' usual format. Originally telecast November 5 1966, "The Ransom" was written by William Read Woodfield and Allan Balter. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Sentenced to 15 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, Howard Clements (Bradford Dillman) is released after serving only two years. Shortly afterward, he pays a visit to Isabel Smith (Barbara Baxley), the woman whose testimony put him behind bars. Though Isabel is worried that he seeks revenge, Howard explains that he is now running a successful business, and is willing to let bygones be bygones. Ultimately, Howard and Isabel are married...but if you've guessed that this is not the end of the story, your guess is right on the money. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi