Leonard J. Goldberg Movies

Alex: The Life of a Child is based on the true story of Sports Illustrated writer Frank Deford and his dying 8-year-old daughter Alex. Craig T. Nelson plays Deford and Gennie James is Alex, both of whom come to grips in different ways with Alex's fatal cystic fibrosis. A subplot involves the torment of Deford's wife (Bonnie Bedelia), who wonders whether she should adopt a child after Alex's death in 1980. Alex: The Life of a Child is effective, but not as well made as its subject matter deserves. Better examples of this particular TV-movie genre include Death be Not Proud (75), based on author John Gunther's recollections of his son's struggle against a degenerative brain tumor, and Mary White (77) the story of a personal tragedy in the life of Kansas journalist William Allen White. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Robin Strand stars as a female narcotics cop transferred to an all-male police squad assigned to patrol the California beaches. Strand's assignment ends almost before it begins when she is targeted for assassination by the Mob. First telecast April 30, 1979, Beach Patrol was supposed to have been the first episode of a weekly series. It wasn't. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Not to be confused with the 1975 TV movie Bloodsport, this 1986 production was a spin-off of the recently cancelled police drama series T.J. Hooker. William Shatner is back as the aforementioned Hooker, a cop on special assignment to Hawaii (where the film was lensed). Accompanied by longtime professional colleagues Stacey Sheridan (Heather Locklear) and Jim Corrigan (James Darren), Sgt. Hooker endeavors to protect U.S. Senator Stuart Grayle (Don Murray) and his wife, Barbara (Kim Miyori), from terrorists, only to find that the assignment isn't quite as cut and dried as it seems. Telecast May 21, 1986, on CBS, Blood Sport did not result in a wholesale weekly revival of T.J. Hooker, as the producers evidently had hoped, though reruns of the original series continued to be seen on CBS' late-night schedule until September 17, 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Spurred on by the politically committed Alzy (Katherine Heigl) and Bobby (Kerr Smith), four bright college students assemble a nuclear bomb, just to prove how easy it is and to press the case for better national security. Unfortunately, one of the students sells out to a group of terrorists, who steals the makeshift doomsday device. Forced to work side-by-side with the FBI, the remaining students race against time to prevent the destruction of San Francisco Bay. Based on James Mills' best-seller The Seventh Element, this film was originally titled Ground Zero and initially slated to air in the fall of 2001. The tragic events of September 11th prompted NBC to shelve the film, which was finally -- and very unobtrusively -- telecast under its current title on July 12, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Considering how seldom she appeared on TV in the 1980s, Donna Reed could have picked a better vehicle than Deadly Lessons. Ms. Reed is cast as the headmistress of an exclusive all-girl's prep school. Like the title suggests, the school is being terrorized by a mysterious murderer. Only by discerning the killer's modus operandi can the Good Guys (or Good Girls) unmask the miscreant. Halfway down the cast list is Nancy Cartwright, better known as the voice of Bart Simpson. Deadly Lessons premiered March 7, 1983. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Originally made for television, this story focuses on a woman selected for jury duty. During a murder trial, she discovers that the accused is the wrong man; she also finds that the real killer is after her. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

Delta County USA was the feature-length pilot film for a proposed prime-time serial. The titular county is an old, hidebound Southern community, harboring ever so many dark secrets. The dramatic tension of the film is manifested in the lack of understanding between the older citizens and the young set. Jim Antonio heads the cast as "Jack the Bear," who's smarter than the av-er-age...you know. Delta County USA was initially telecast May 20, 1977. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Norbit writing duo Jay Scherick and David Ronn re-team to pen this family-friendly Eddie Murphy comedy adapted from the popular late-'70s/early-'80s television series and featuring the former SNL funnyman in numerous roles -- including that of the white-suited host originally played by Ricardo Montalban. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

First telecast January 14, 1977, the feature-length pilot episode of producer Aaron Spelling's Fantasy Island introduces Ricardo Montalban as the enigmatic Mr. Roarke and dwarf actor Herve Villechaize as his resourceful assistant Tattoo, along with an impressive array of guest stars playing the various vacationers who, for $50,000 a head, are permitted to fulfill their fondest wishes at the lavish and mysterious resort known as Fantasy Island. In this opening installment, an ageing WW2 correspondent (ill Bixby) gets to relive the romance he encountered during the London blitz, and confront the possibility that he once committed murder; an arrogant woman of wealth (Eleanor Parker) finds out what people really think of her by attending her own funeral; and in a twist on the old "Most Dangerous Game" formula, a big-game hunter (Hugh O'Brian) finds out what it is like to be the hunted. This two-hour extravaganza was followed on January 20, 1978 with a second pilot, Return to Fantasy Island. On this occasion, a barracudalike female executive (Adrienne Barbeau) is cut down to size by the man who has worshipped her from afar; an amnesia victim (Karen Valentine) relives a horrifying event as she searches for her true identity; and an infertile copule (Joseph Campanella, Pat Crowley) yearn for a reunion with the child they gave up for adoption a dozen years earlier. The Fantasy Island series proper began eight days later on January 28, cutting down the "fantasies" from three to two per episode in order to accommodate the weekly sixty-minute format. The series opener finds stage magician Bert Convy risking his life to pull off the most dangerous escape of his career, and drab middle-class ladies Diana Canova and Georgette Engel getting the opportunity to hobnob with high society. Subsequent episodes feature such prominent guest players as Carol Lynley (who'd appeared in the first pilot), Jane Powell, Henry Gibson, Sheree North, Christopher George, James Macarthur, Vera Miles, Don Knotts, Ray Bolger, Ken Berry and Rich Little-- also Lauren Tewes and David Doyle, respectively the costars of two other popular Aaron Spelling concoctions, The Love Boat and Charlie's Angels. One of the season's best episodes, wherein meek accountant Gary Burghoff dreams of being a baseball superstar, features sports figures Tommy Lasorda, Steve Garvey, Fred Lynn, George Brett, and Ellis Valentine in cameos as "themselves." The final brace of fantasies for Fantasy Island's first season finds gambler Richard Dawson aspiring to be "the world's luckiest man" (and suffering the consequences!), while singer Kathryn Holcomb travels back to the 1930s to find out why her mother gave up her own showbiz career. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Entering its third season as America's 22nd most popular series (not bad for an hour-long semi-anthology in a year dominated by sitcoms!), Fantasy Island indulges its fondness for the bizarre and offbeat with an opening episode wherein David Doyle plays an impoverished chap whose "fantasy" is to be murdered by a hit man so that his family can collect his insurance! While the enigmatic Mr. Roarke (Ricardo Montalban) and his diminutive sidekick Tattoo (Herve Villechaize) are for the most part noncommittal "stage managers" while fulfilling the innermost wishes of their clients, from time to time this season the viewer is afforded intensely personal glimpses of the two main characters. For example, after many impassioned requests, Tattoo is granted his own fantasy of being a "chick magnet"; and in a later episode, Tattoo develops a serious crush on one the Island's guests, aspiring country singer Audrey Landers. And in the rare single-plotline episode "The Wedding", it looks as though Mr. Roarke will finally tie the knot with the great love of his life, Helen Marsh (Samantha Eggar)--a story development that ,alas, ends in shattering tragedy. Other guest stars this season are a fascinating mixture indeed, including Adrienne Barbeau (who'd been seen in the second feature-length Fantasy Island pilot episode back in 1978), Dale Robertson, Doris Roberts, Barbi Benton, Donna Mills, Don Adams, David Cassidy, Robert Goulet, Annette Funicello, Joan Collins and Sugar Ray Robinson. The finale, "The Eagleman/The Children of Menta", finds single dad Bob Denver aspiring to bond with his young son by becoming a comic-book superhero, and journalism student Vernee Watson being afforded the opportunity to expose the most shocking news story of the century. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ricardo Montalban and Herve Villechaize are still on hand as the mysterious Mr. Roarke and his sensitive dwarf assistant Tattoo, still ushering guests onto Roarke's lavish tropical resort where for $50,000 per customer dreams can literally come true, as Fantasy Island enters its fifth season. Wendy Schaal, who'd appeared in several fourth-season episodes as Roarke's resourceful goddaughter Julie, is no longer part of the regular cast, though she figures prominently in the first of Season Five's two 90-minute episodes, wherein the mysterical Roarke has his final confrontation with the demonic Mephistopholes (Roddy McDowell). For the record, the second 90-minuter offers three separate plotlines, with Bob Denver as an ambitious freelance photographer who gets his mitts on a fortune-telling camera, Michelle Phillips as the granddaughter of Mata Hari, and George Chakiris as a geologist in search of his long-lost lover. Other guest stars appearing this season include Charo, Sherman Hemsley, Britt Ekland], Peter Graves, Gene Barry, Tom Smothers, Linda Blair, Vicki Lawrence, Helen Reddy, Jill St. John, and Wanda Villechaize, then the wife of guess who. The season finale features erstwhile "Charlie's Angel" Tanya Roberts as an amateur occulist who summons up a bashful ghost, and Bo Hopkins as a bounty hunter anxious to collect the reward on the only fugitive who has ever gotten away from him. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

With the departure of Herve Villechaize as Tattoo at the end of Fantasy Island's sixth season, enigmatic entrepreneur Mr. Roarke (Ricardo Montalban) finds himself with a brand new assistant as Season Seven gets under way: Christopher Hewitt as the veddy British, veddy proper Lawrence, who is just as expert in helping Roarke pull off his wish-fulfillment miracles as Tattoo had been. Lawrence is introduced in the season's opening episode, which guest stars which guest-stars Juliet Prowse as a lonely middle-aged widow desirous of a romance with a younger man, and Jamie Rose as a disgruntled bride-to-be who unexpectedly becomes emotionally involved with the traditionally noncommittal Roarke. Several of the guest actors this season are returnees from previous years, including Peter Graves, Mary Ann Mobley, Markie Post, Carol Lynley, Lynda Day George, Barbara Rush and Vic Tayback. Also on hand are such intriguing guest performers as country singer Tanya Tucker, "Mr. Television" Milton Berle, theatrical "renaissance man" Jose Ferrer. . .and Victoria Spelling, the daughter of series producer Aaron Spelling. Fantasy Island's concluding episode, the dual-plotted "Surrogate Mother/Ideal Woman", features Juliet Mills as the title character in the first storyline, and John Saxon as the man looking for the woman referenced in the second half of the title. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide