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

T.J. (Paul Gross) and Dex (Peter Berg) leave Detroit to wax up their skis and find an adventurous new life on the slopes of Aspen in this skiing drama. The two become instructors and take up residence in a mobile home, at first fulfilling their ultimate bachelor fantasy. But T.J. becomes torn between two women: a sugar mama who appeals to his materialistic side (Finola Hughes) and a local disc jockey closer to his own age, whom he actually loves (Teri Polo). Meanwhile, Dex's writing is not taking off like he'd hoped, and he becomes jealous of T.J.'s luck with women and effortless entrance into the glittery Aspen social network. Dex loses his job and tries to sell drugs to help make ends meet. The two sort out their various problems and their own fractious relationship against the backdrop of preparing for the big race, which provides Aspen Extreme its requisite quantity of skiing footage. ~ Derek Armstrong, 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

They're beautiful, they're brilliant, and they can kick your butt -- the most glamorous private eyes in the world are back in action in this big-screen adaptation of the popular '70s television series. Natalie (Cameron Diaz) is the smart but silly one, Dylan (Drew Barrymore) is the tough but fun-loving one, and Alex (Lucy Liu) is the classy but hard-as-nails one, and they work for a man named Charlie (voice of John Forsythe), who never meets his employees face to face. Along with their helper Bosley (Bill Murray), the Angels are sent into action when electronics genius Eric Knox (Sam Rockwell) is kidnapped, with the nefarious Roger Corwin (Tim Curry) as the prime suspect. But they soon learn even bigger danger is afoot -- the kidnappers have gotten their hands on Knox's latest invention, a system that can monitor voice communication from anywhere in the world, virtually ending the notion of private conversation. Charlie's Angels also stars Crispin Glover, Luke Wilson, Kelly Lynch, and Tom Green. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This 72-minute pilot film of the Charlie's Angels series stars the three original "Angels": Sabrina (Kate Jackson), Jill (Farrah Fawcett-Majors), and Kelly (Jaclyn Smith). Police rookies stuck in go-nowhere jobs, Sabrina, Jill, and Kelly are hired by the never-seen Charlie (voiced by John Forsythe), who engages their services as private detectives. Their first assignment: finagle the owner of a vineyard (David Ogden Stiers) into confessing to the murder of his partner. David Doyle co-stars as Bosley, the affable liaison between Charlie and his Angels. A ratings powerhouse when it premiered on March 21, 1976, Charlie's Angels resulted in the long-running (and frequently recast) weekly series, which aired from September 22, 1976, through August 19, 1981. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this made-for-TV movie, a driver is involved in a hit-and-run accident. By the time the guilt-ridden fellow returns to the accident scene, the body has mysteriously disappeared. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this made-for-TV movie, six persons have won a cruise-ship vacation, but they find that the awards were just a trick to begin a killing game. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

In this made-for-TV film, a screenwriter (Robert Wagner) begins writing the biography of the dead movie queen who had a brief affair with his father. After work on the project has commenced, he becomes obsessed with her spirit and gets a response from the other side of the grave. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

In this thriller, Ashley Judd plays Elizabeth Parsons, who is convicted of murdering her husband and sentenced to a long stretch in prison. After Elizabeth has spent six years behind bars, it turns out that her husband is still alive: he faked his own death as part of an insurance scam, and Elizabeth is soon released. However, Elizabeth's feelings for her husband can hardly be described as warm, and she wants custody of her son. Elizabeth's parole officer (Tommy Lee Jones) wonders if she might try to make his murder a real thing after all, especially since the law states a person cannot be convicted of the same crime twice. Double Jeopardy was directed by Bruce Beresford, from a screenplay by Douglas S. Cook and David Weisberg. ~ Mark Deming, 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