Marc Alaimo Movies

Rod Taylor stars in this feature-length pilot film for the unsold TV series Shamus. The star is cast as Shamus McCoy, who befitting his name, makes his living as a private detective. While investigating the bomb killing over another gumshoe, McCoy picks up a trail of evidence leading to a major gambling operation. Anita Gillette played the "wife" in question, one Helen Baker. A Matter of Wife...and Death first aired April 10, 1976 on NBC -- an event unheralded by TV Guide, which mistakenly listed a telecast of the theatrical feature The Ballad of Cable Hogue on that same evening. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Produced in the Autumn of the Golan-Globus collaboration, Avenging Force serves as a vehicle for American Ninja costar Michael Dudikoff. Cast as a retired secret service agent, Dudikoff runs up against a sinister right-wing political organization called the Pentangle. He comes to the aid of his best friend Steve James, a black political candidate who has become a target for the Pentangle's henchmen. Impressed by Dudikoff's martial arts skills, the Pentangle leaders try to convince him to join their cause-and to ensure his cooperation, they kidnap his little sister Alison Gereighty. Avenging Force concludes with a violent Enter the Dragon-style mano y mano squareoff between Dudikoff and the Pentangle flunkeys. The film's finale is "open" enough to allow for a sequel, which has yet to appear. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Much against his better judgment, undercover cop Tony Baretta (Robert Blake) allows his girlfriend Andrea (Ann Prentiss), a freelance photographer, to tag along with him on his latest investigation. Somewhere along the line, Andrea stumbles upon a sack containing 500,000 dollars in Syndicate money. Hoping to scoop her journalistic rivals, the girl discreetly hides the loot -- thereby virtually signing a death warrant for herself and Baretta. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Susan Dey inaugurated her long and successful campaign to shuck her Partridge Family image in the made-for-TV Cage Without a Key. Dey plays a teenager mistakenly convicted for murder (some mistake!) She is sentenced to a grim woman's penal institution straight out of a Linda Blair movie. As she struggles against the iniquities of prison life, her friends and relatives on the outside fight for justice. A shockingly substandard effort from accomplished TV director Buzz Kulik, Cage Without a Key is credible only in its exterior scenes, filmed at Las Palmas School for Girls in City of Commerce, California. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This action movie chronicles the exciting exploits of a crack crime fighting force. They are notorious for their unusual tactics when dealing with criminals. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Based on the best-selling Vincent Bugliosi book of the same name, Helter Skelter is a made-for-TV account of the investigation and prosecution of Charles Manson (Steve Railsback), who was convicted of leading a group of followers (known as "The Family") to murder seven people in California, including actress Sharon Tate. The film takes a Law & Order-like approach, starting with the discovery of the murders, which leads to the police gathering snippets of evidence that they eventually connect to the bigger picture. The second half of the movie concentrates on how District Attorney Bugliosi (George DiCenzo) attains a conviction despite the enormous amount of press coverage the case received. Nancy Wolfe, Christina Hart, and Cathey Paine portray the three loyal Manson Family members who were the co-defendants at his trial. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

After a routine heist, two-bit car thief Artie Fowler (Mark Alaimo) is killed in cold blood. Kojak suspects that there's something bigger than a standard robbery going on--especially after Artie's girlfriend Maria (Lara Parker) lets slip that an upcoming "caper" will make fools of the authorities. It turns out that a $500,000 heist is in the works, masterminded by mob leader Hugh Jellicoe (Paul Lambert) and an unknown party whose theatrical bravado astonishes even the professional crooks. Future Dallas costar Ken Kercheval appears in a significant role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Former TV documentary filmmaker Mel Stuart tries to inject an acceptable degree of verisimilitude in Mean Dog Blues. A victim of circumstance, country and western musician Paul Ramsey (Gregg Henry) finds himself on a Southern chain gang. Captain Omar Kinsman (George Kennedy) snarls a lot as the obligatory sadistic prison guard, but the film's real villains are Victor and Donna Lacey (William Windom and Tina Louise) as the Bonnie-and-Clyde couple who get Henry into trouble. Listed as editor is Housley Stevenson, the son of the late Hollywood character-actor Onslow Stevens. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Much of the original cast from the popular television series Police Story reunited for this edgy drama, in which the detectives search for a killer loose on the roads. This entry was one of several TV-movies in the late 1980s to feature the familiar cast in the Police Story format. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide

Quincy (Jack Klugman) and Sam (Robert Ito) arrive at a maximum-security prison to investigate the death of a rabble-rousing inmate. No sooner have the two examiners arrived than the prisoners stage a revolt and take them hostage. Claiming that the dead man was killed by a sadistic guard, the rioting prisoners are prepared to kill their hostages unless the guard is turned over to them. With several lives at stake, Quincy and Sam use their forensic skills to determine the truth--even if some of the prisoners can't handle the truth. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

For the first (and thus far the only) time in his career, Chevy Chase plays a genuinely sympathetic character in Neil Simon's Seems Like Old Times. This time around, Chase is a divorced novelist who is abducted by crooks and set up as the fall guy in a bank robbery. Arrested, Chase manages to escape and to make his way to the home of ex-wife Goldie Hawn, now a highly respected liberal defense attorney. Chase's unexpected arrival coincides with an important dinner party on behalf of Goldie's current husband, district attorney Charles Grodin. At first making every effort to give Chase the boot, Hawn, ever the champion of the underdog finally decides to help him out of his dilemma--much to the discomfort of her politically ambitious husband. Wisely, Grodin does not play his character as an unpleasant stuffed shirt; he is as likeable as Chase and Hawn, giving the farcical plot convolutions a tinge of reality. We care about the people involved, thus the laughs spring as much from characterization as they do from the situation. If only Seems Like Old Times didn't have that lame-brained final close up..... ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

First telecast September 29, 1997, Deep Space Nine's sixth-season opener takes place three months after the crew was forced to surrender DS9 to the Dominion/Cardassian alliance. Now ensconced on the Defiant, Sisko and his crew continues to wage a bloody battle against the enemy, but it seems to be a losing proposition. Federation Admiral Ross (Barry Jenner) removes Sisko from his command, then assigns him to lead a mission to destroy the facility where the drug that keeps the Dominion's Jem'Hadar troops alive is stored. Meanwhile, back on Dominion-controlled DS9, Odo manages to cause a rift between Weyoun (Jeffrey Combs) and Dukat (Marc Alaimo). "A Time to Stand" was written by Ira Steven Behr and Hans Beimler. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Still on board the Dominion-controlled DS9 (now renamed Terok Nor), Kira, Jake, Rom, and Odo continue their campaign to turn the Cardassians against the Dominion and vice versa. When Odo rejects Kira's latest strategy, she begins to doubt his loyalty. It turns out that she has good reason to do so: Odo is now under the control of the female shapeshifter (Salome Jens) who'd stripped him of his changeling powers in a previous episode. Written by Rene Echevarria, "Behind the Lines" originally aired October 20, 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide