Michael Brandon Movies
After a flurry of stage activity, Brooklyn-born leading man Michael Brandon settled into a leading-man career before the cameras. Brandon's first film appearance was as Mike Vecchio in Lovers and Other Strangers (1970). Perhaps the most notable of his many TV-movie stints was as real-life biographer/confidant William Bast in the 1976 biopic James Dean. Six years later, he showed up as David Marquette, deranged kidnapper of Maud Evans in the never-resolved cliffhanger that closed out the weekly TV series Emerald Point NAS. He was seen to better advantage as Serpico-like Lt. Dempsey in the Anglo-British adventure weekly Dempsey and Makepeace (1985), co-starring with his second wife, Glynis Barber (wife number one was Bionic Woman star Lindsay Wagner). He also played overly sensitive yuppie patriarch Teddy Kramer in the 1992 sitcom Home Fires. Michael Brandon should not be confused with the 1940s utility player of the same name, who, as Archie Twitchell, played the alpaca-coat salesman in Sunset Boulevard (1950). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1980
John Sayles, of Trial of the Catonsville 9 and Brother From Another Planet fame, wrote the teleplay for A Perfect Match from an original story by director Mel Damski and Andre Guttfruend. Fashion designer Linda Kelsey is diagnosed as suffering from a rare form of anemia. Kelsey's only hope is to find a bone-marrow donor whose blood type matches hers. It turns out that the only suitable potential donor is the daughter (Lisa Lucas) whom Kelsey had given up for adoption 16 years earlier. The dramatic intensity of Ms. Kelsey's plight is matched by the anguished performances of Ms. Lucas and (as the adoptive parents) Colleen Dewhurst and Charles Durning. A well-above-average TV movie, Perfect Match deserved better than being scheduled for its premiere showing opposite a network telecast of Jaws. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
A Vacation in Hell concerns four women and one man who are booked on a "dream vacation" at a tropical resort. All five become lost on a jungle island, forced to fend for themselves. An added peril: The jungle is not uninhabited. The dramatis personae consists of "love-starved" Andrea Marcovicci, "swinger" Priscilla Barnes, mother and daughter Barbara Feldon and Maureen McCormick, and musclebound Michael Brandon. While Brandon keeps most of his clothes on, at least two of the ladies don't, which should give you a good idea of the target audience for this made-for-TV programmer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1998
The lawyers are forced to consult another law firm when they encounter a murder case. ~ TV Guide, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Calista Flockhart, Courtney Thorne-Smith, (more)
- 1982
In this family drama, a famed lawyer is forced to come to grips with the lousy way he has treated his emotionally disturbed brother. Most of the story centers on the attorney's attempts to atone for his actions. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Brandon, Pat Harrington, Jr., (more)
- 1975
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
- 1985
The messages referred to in the title are those conveyed on a Ouija board. The heroine (Kathleen Beller) conjures up these messages, which indicate that her future happiness is gravely in doubt. In point of fact, the words she spells out on the board are I-AM-GOING-TO-KILL-YOU. A mystery figure from the woman's past intends to fulfill this prophecy--with a dagger. Material like this only works if the producers have faith in it; Deadly Messages appears to have been made by people who found the premise amusing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
Dempsey and Makepeace is the two-hour pilot film for the British/American TV series of the same name. Michael Brandon plays Lt. James Dempsey, a Serpico-like Brooklyn cop who is assigned to Scotland Yard. Glynnis Barber portrays Sgt. Harriet "Harry" Makepeace, Dempsey's glamorous but tough new partner. In this opener, Dempsey and Makepeace are assigned the seemingly innocuous case of a missing shipment of caviar--which leads them to a plot to steal nuclear warheads. Presented in two one-hour installments on the Dempsey and Makepeace series, this expository pilot film was curiously not the first episode to be telecast when the series was syndicated in the United States. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2002
Spun off from the Emmy-winning TV miniseries of the same name (which in turn was based on a series of children's novel by James Gurney) , the weekly ABC fantasy-adventure series Dinotopia picked up where its predecessor left off, albeit with an entirely new cast. Stranded in an idyllic lost land where humans and dinosaurs co-exist, millionaire Frank Scott (Michael Brandon) and his hunky sons Karl (Erik Von Deeten) and David (Shiloh Strong) do their best to acclimate themselves to their new home -- and to console themselves with the fact that they can never leave. As Karl and David compete for the attentions of Marion Waldo (Georgina Rylance), the attractive future leader of Dinotopia, both boys also become entangled in the activities of The Outsiders, a group of political insurgents led by another dazzlingly beautiful woman named Le Sage (Lisa Zane). Originally slated to debut on October 10, 2002, Dinotopia ultimately aired on November 28 of that year, reportedly because of technical problems surrounding the series' computer-generated Tyrannosaurs, Pteranodons and other dinosaurs. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Brandon, Erik Von Detten, (more)
- 1988
A group of politically conscious students must resolve their own conflicts as they try to change the world around them in this made-for-TV drama. Jennice (Andrea Lia) is an African-American freshman at a university in the Midwest. Jennice is invited to join a campus activist organization, the Black Students Coalition (BSC). But Jennice's initial enthusiasm for the group sours when she accuses Jarib (Crayton Robey), the group's leader, of rape. Soon the BSC is being torn apart from the inside as the members argue about whether or not Jennice is telling the truth. Meanwhile, Troy (J.R. Jarrod), another member of the group, uncovers evidence of corruption among the BSC's leadership. Troy must now decide if he should make his findings public and risk destroying the BSC once and for all -- or remain silent and stand behind the principles of the group that he believes in. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1991
When the two-part Dynasty: The Reunion first aired, it rated a cover on TV Guide. The photo depicted Dynasty regulars Linda Evans (Krystal) and Joan Collins (Alexis) grinning at one another, while their true feelings were conveyed in comic-strip thought balloons reading "Hussy" and "Hag." This pretty much sums up the overall ambience of Dynasty: The Reunion. In part one, first telecast October 20, 1991, oil mogul Blake Carrington (John Forsythe) is released from prison. Hoping for a reunion with estranged wife Krystal -- and, incidentally, to recoup his financial empire -- Blake must now deal with a shady international consortium, headed by old nemesis Alexis. Part two, first telecast October 22, 1991, gets off to a good start with a desperate escape from the henchmen of an international consortium. The big money act, however, is the long-awaited catfight between Alexis and her longtime foe, goody two-shoes Krystal Carrington (Linda Evans). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1996
Were it not based on a true story, this two-part TV movie could well have been dismissed as a grotesque nightmare. The story begins in 1988, when the Chicago home of Cindi and David Dowaliby (Shannen Doherty, Kevin Dillon) is invaded by person or persons unknown, who kidnap and murder their daughter Jacklyn while the couple sleeps. Once the crime is reported, the grief-stricken Dowalibys find themselves accused of their daughter's murder. The authorities are cruel and relentless, public opinion is hostile, the media is doggedly one-sided, and the family's very expensive lawyers more interested in their fee than in justice. Ultimately, Cindi is "cleared", but David is sentenced to a 45-year prison term--and both the couple's surviving child and Cindi's newborn baby are taken away from them. The rest of the film concerns Cindi's tireless and apparently futile battle to win back her children, secure her husband's release and restore the family's mud-splattered reputation. Originally telecast by CBS on February 25 and 27, 1996, Gone in the Night may indeed end on a small note of triumph, but by no means is the tragic situation completely resolved. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
For middle-aged vacationer Claire Stevens (Cloris Leachman), the nightmare begins when she picks up personable young hitchhiker Keith Mile (Michael Brandon). Feeling a bit lonely, Claire strikes up a friendship and then a romance with her handsome passenger. Little does she know that Keith has just finished murdering his stepmother -- and that his fondness for older women is, to put it mildly, conditional. Hitchhike made its ABC network bow on February 23, 1974, scheduled in a Saturday-night slot opposite The Mary Tyler Moore Show (which, fortunately for indecisive Cloris Leachman devotees, did not feature Phyllis on that particular evening). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
This made-for-TV biography, based on the memoirs of onetime James Dean roommate William Bast, stars Stephen McHattie in the title role of the Hollywood rebel. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1996
In this low-budget screwball-mystery, the death of an L.A. woman leads to a surreal murder investigation on the outer fringes of la-la land. When Molly McMannis (Justine Bateman) turns up dead, still impaled with the murder weapon -- a carrot -- the police launch a probe into the colorful world Molly inhabited. The suspects range from her ex-con brother to her roommate to her high-strung friend (Heather Graham). But a more likely culprit lurks among the ranks of a therapy group full of off-the-wall serial killers and the shrinks who coddle them. The fetishistic police detectives -- including sadistic interrogator Angela Pierce (Jill Hennessy) -- prove as disturbing as the people they're investigating. In fact, their unorthodox procedures leave the door open for the killer to strike again. Written, produced, and directed by Jordan Alan, who previously helmed the similarly offbeat Love and Happiness, Kiss and Tell features a who's who of obscure and indie Hollywood talent, including veteran actor Lewis Arquette and his three famous sons. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Howitt, Daniel Craig, (more)
Lovers and Other Strangers became a "sleeper" hit, based on a play by Renée Taylor and Joseph Bologna. The story is essentially a series of vignettes and anecdotes, unified by an impending marriage. Father of the bride Hal (Gig Young) has problems with his long-suffering mistress, Cathy (Anne Jackson), who spends much of the film sitting on the toilet, crying her eyes out; Wilma (Anne Meara), the bride's sex-starved sister, can't wrest her husband, Johnny (Harry Guardino), away from the TV; and Frank (Richard S. Castellano), as the groom's father, slips comfortably into Bartlett's Familiar Quotations with his oft-repeated query "So what's the story?" Twelfth-billed Diane Keaton makes her film debut as a garrulous wedding guest. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bea Arthur, Bonnie Bedelia, (more)
- 1994
In this drama, a mother fights to prove her son is innocent of murder charges. Even though he supposedly confessed while under hypnosis, the woman doubts the veracity of the procedure. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leigh Taylor-Young, Michael Brandon, (more)
- 1994
Racketeer Paul Avensino (Tony LoBianco) buys a controlling interest in a popular restaurant, but he finds that he exercises no control over the establishment's egotistical chef Bernard Bonelli (John Saxon). Shortly after a confrontation between the two men, Bonelli is murdered--and lest anyone suspect Avensino of the crime, he turns up dead as well. Jessica (Angela Lansbury) becomes involved in the case when her friend Lorna (Heidi Swedberg), host of a TV cooking show, is charged with one of the murders. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
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After wrapping up a recording session with his garage band, drummer Roberto (Michael Brandon) follows and confronts a mysterious stranger who has been stalking him to an abandoned theater where Roberto impulsively stabs him. A grinning puppet-like figure takes photos of the attack from a mezzanine box, which arrive in an envelope at Roberto's home the following day. It appears that he is being blackmailed, but it's not clear from whom or why. Suspects include a club-footed neighbor and various friends. After Roberto confesses to the stabbing, his housekeeper discovers the killer's identity, is murdered, and an increasingly paranoid Roberto sends his wife, Nina (Mimsy Farmer), out of town. He eventually tracks down the man he stabbed with the help of a flamboyant detective (Jean-Pierre Marielle) and colorful transient friend Godrey (Bud Spencer), but both the man and the detective are killed. Roberto's cousin Dalia (Francine Racette) visits and, against their better judgment, they begin a passionate love affair. Elsewhere, the police use a special camera that can capture the final image a murder victim sees off their eyeball; this technique is used to track down the real killer. ~ Michael Buening, All Movie Guide
- 1975
Queen of the Stardust Ballroom stars Maureen Stapleton as Bea Asher, a woman faced with many new challenges since becoming a widow. She has been afraid for herself and her future since her husband's death, and friends concerned for her well-being take her to the Stardust Ballroom in the hopes that, for one night, she might dance her troubles away. While there, she meets Alvin Green (Charles Durning). They spend the evening dancing and talking and, thanks to his charm and goodness, Bea begins to come out of her sheltered existence. This story was directed for television by Sam O'Steen, who was Mike Nichols' only editor for almost 30 years. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maureen Stapleton, Charles Durning, (more)
- 1977
Filmed primarily at NASA's Manned Space Center in Houston, the made-for-TV Red Alert is an apocalyptic "man vs. machine" spellbinder. A potentially dangerous explosion at a nuclear power plant near Minneapolis is fortunately kept under control. The huge plant-monitoring computer named Proteus concludes that the explosion was the result of wide-spread sabotage. Security-investigator William Devane concludes instead that only one saboteur was responsible-and that saboteur is trapped in the reactor room, which Proteus is programmed to protect. Devane races against time to find a way into the reactor room to prevent the saboteur from wreaking further havoc. First telecast May 18, 1977, Red Alert was based on Paradigm Red, a novel by Harold King. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1988
Dyan Cannon plays the title character, a middle-aged housewife and mother who enjoys singing in local amateur contests. Almost overnight, she becomes a nationally famous rock star, with all the attendant trappings of glamour and adulation. But fame has its price: As Cannon rises to the top of her profession, she neglects her two teenaged children. Heather Locklear guest stars as a rocker who calls herself Darcy X; also in the cast is a pre-stardom Fran Drescher. Rock 'n' Roll Mom was originally telecast on The Disney Sunday Movie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dyan Cannon, Telma Hopkins, (more)
- 1976
Producer Stephen Cannell may have had James Garner in mind for the TV movie Scott Free, but what he got was Michael Brandon. Brandon plays Tony Scott, a suave confidence artist who pulls one scam too many and nearly ends up in federal prison. The feds offer to cut a deal: They'll drop the charges if Tony will get the goods on a mafia chieftain. The ending indicates that Mr. Scott will be called upon to do a little dirty work for the government in the future. The networks and sponsors had other ideas, and refused to underwrite a Scott Free series on the basis of this pilot film; in fact, the scheduled first broadcast of Scott Free, on September 13, 1976, was bumped by NBC in favor of the 1957 Steve Reeves epic Hercules! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
