J.D. Cannon Movies

In 1846, a group of over eighty Westward-bound pioneers were headed to the coast of California from Illinois, which had itself only recently been brought up to "civilized" status. They made it to a pass high in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California when they were halted by a truly monstrous blizzard, followed by the snows of one of the worst winters in that century. Their attempts to go forward and backward were thwarted by the deep snow, and, in the small shelter they enjoyed, they slowly starved to death. Eventually, they resorted to cannibalism to survive, and after their story became more widely known, the pass they took shelter in became known as "the Donner Pass." To this day, it is frequently made impassable by heavy snows. Ironically, the forty or so who survived later discovered that, had they only forged ahead about a hundred yards, they would have won free of the deep snow which ensnared them. This documentary has gathered a surprising harvest of photos, notes and drawings in order to tell the pioneers' story. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

In this western, a senator from New Mexico, who was once a marshal, heads for London to find the one who killed his niece, a research scientist who had been looking into the activities of an international chemical company. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this convoluted drama, a CIA agent is finally released after spending the past thirteen years imprisoned in the Soviet Union. The joy of his homecoming is shattered when he discovers his wife married to another and that his daughter has grown up. When he learns that his wife's new husband is busy battling the corrupt family who controls the town, and that this has endangered his former family, he takes action to protect them. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In the final first-season episode of Murder She Wrote, Jessica (Angela Lansbury) travels to Wyoming to attend the funeral of an old family friend. At the same time, a wealthy Wyoming rancher draws up papers leaving his entire estate to a somewhat nasty stranger, completely disinheriting his embittered daughter. Before long, the stranger is found hanging in the rancher's barn--and of course Jessica takes it upon herself to solve the murder, which turns out to have been something of a team effort! Appearing in a key supporting part is William Windom, who would join the cast of Murder She Wrote during its second season in the recurring role of Dr. Seth Hazlitt. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Paul Kersey's (Charles Bronson) self-appointed one-man vigilante squad goes bi-coastal in Michael Winner's sequel to his Death Wish. Kersey has taken up residence in Los Angeles, but lunatic violence follows him across the country like toilet paper sticking to his shoe. Kersey's Spanish cook is immediately gang-banged and killed, while his daughter, still suffering from a catatonic stupor after her brutal rape in the first film, finds herself raped yet again. Vincent Gardenia as New York detective Frank Ochoa, reprises his role from the first film here -- traveling to Los Angeles to locate Kersey but finding death waiting for him off a LA freeway ramp. After all this mayhem, Kersey cannot cringe in hiding for long, and once again he loads up his tube socks with rolls of quarters and goes hoodlum hunting. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

The 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid provides the setting for this drama that centers on a man's mid-life crisis. While there, he gets involved with love, sex and other diversions. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Bess Armstrong is the anguished heroine of the made-for-TV Walking Through the Fire. A normal, healthy housewife and mother, Bess' world is shattered when she falls victim to Hodgkin's disease. Not only is her life threatened by this debilitating illness, but also the life of her unborn child. Walking Through a Fire was adapted by Sue Grafton from the autobiography by Laurel Lee. This David Susskind production first aired May 15, 1979. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Actor Sam Wanamaker directed this made-for-television drama about an abduction with a twist. When a disabled news vendor kidnaps a wealthy girl in an effort to get ransom money, he unexpectedly finds the emotionally disturbed young woman falling in love with him. The film was adapted from Oscar Saul's novel The Dark Side of Love. ~ Bernadette McCallion, Rovi

Michael Landon wrote and directed this pilot film about a writer who is framed for murdering a politician's son; after serving his sentence, he goes in search of the real killer. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi

For its seventh and final season on the air, McCloud was cut back from 120 to 90 minutes per episode, as were the other rotating components of The NBC Sunday Mystery Movie, which this season included Columbo, McMillan, Quincy, M.E., and (Lanigan's Rabbi). Dennis Weaver is back in his familiar Stetson and sheepskin coat as Sam McCloud, a New Mexico lawmaker transplanted to New York City, in season seven's quota of six new episodes. First up is "Bonnie and McCloud," in which McCloud's girlfriend apparently commits cold-blooded murder before a battery of eyewitnesses. This is followed by "It Was the Fight Before Christmas," wherein a pall is cast over the Yuletide season when McCloud is targeted for assassination. Things aren't much better for our hero when he is framed for the murder of a drug-dealing hackie in "The Great Taxi Cab Stampede." On the lighter side, McCloud and his boss Chief Clifford (J.D. Cannon) go undercover as bodyguards for a country & western singer (Hoyt Axton) touring the Soviet Union in "The Moscow Connection." In another international jaunt, McCloud heads to the U.K. to track down Irish terrorists in "London Bridges." And in the series finale, McCloud follows a trail of corpses, all drained of their blood, in "McCloud Meets Dracula." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

McCloud enters its fifth season as a stalwart component of the weekly anthology The NBC Sunday Mystery Movie, this year appearing in rotation with Columbo, McMillan and Wife, and Amy Prentiss. Nine episodes are offered this season rather than the usual five; and as a bonus, each episode runs a full two hours, briefly abandoning the series' previous 90-minute length. The opening episode is "The Barefoot Girls of Bleecker Street," in which New Mexico lawman Sam McCloud (Dennis Weaver), on "temporary" assignment in New York City, interrupts an ongoing robbery investigation to help a runaway unwed mother and her baby. Next up is "The Gang That Stole Manhattan," in which a team of clever crooks pretends to be filming a movie on location in New York as a cover for an intricately plotted robbery. In "Shivaree on Delancy Street," McCloud's police-sergeant friend Broadhurst (Terry Carter) is accused of being involved in a numbers racket, compelling Sam to go witness-hunting in Miami. Assigned to the NYPD mounted unit in "The 42nd Street Cavalry," unrefined cowboy McCloud marshals his "troops" to ride down a band of dangerous militants. In "The Concrete Jungle Caper," Sam goes undercover as a convict to trap an international drug dealer. In "The Man With the Golden Hat," someone is determined to steal McCloud's precious Stetson -- and he wants to know why. "Lady on the Run" takes McCloud to Mexico City to prevents a vengeful woman with murder on her mind from being murdered herself, "Sharks!" finds the cops following the wrong trail while tracking down some murderous loan sharks. And in the season's last offering, "Return to the Alamo," McCloud's journalist girlfriend Chris Coughlin (Diana Muldaur) returns to the Big Apple just as all hell breaks loose, with McCloud, subbing for an ailing Chief Clifford (J.D. Cannon), taking desperate measures to save the life of a drug-addicted newborn infant -- and to prevent a group of "peace" activists from blowing up the whole city! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This spy thriller from future Death Wish (1974) director Michael Winner stars Burt Lancaster as the enigmatic Cross, a CIA agent who has hired a government assassin, Jean Laurier (Alain Delon), to kill an Arab terrorist. Once they return home, Laurier is arrested by his superior, McLeod (John Colicos), who wants to know why Cross is still alive, as Laurier was ordered to kill him as well. Laurier doesn't think that Cross is guilty of the crime, but he relents and agrees to carry out the contract for a higher price. Cross, suspected of selling secrets to the Soviets, learns that his life is in danger and flees to Vienna, where he is aided by a former comrade-in-arms from WWII, the sympathetic KGB agent Sergei Zharkov (Paul Scofield). When Cross learns that his wife (Joanne Linville) has been murdered by McLeod, he returns to the U.S. and kills him, leading to a bloody final confrontation with a reluctant Laurier, who is shocked to discover that his lover (Gayle Hunnicutt) is in league with Cross. Scorpio (1973) was the writing debut of David W. Rintels, who went on to author several critically respected made-for-TV films. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

This comedy murder mystery and pilot for a series that never materialized, has Ernest Borgnine as western sheriff Sam Hill, who has a whole lot of trouble on his hands when he discovers the dead body of the town's newly arrived minister. ~ Mark Hockley, Rovi