Tom Clancy Movies

Based on the best-selling memoirs of Lillian Rogers Parks, the NBC miniseries Backstairs at the White House traces over five decades of American political history as witnessed from the vantage point of the servants' quarters. Played by Tania Johnson as a teenager and by Leslie Uggams as an adult, Lillian Rogers Parks served for 52 years as a maidservant at the White House. Though crippled early on with polio, Lillian diligently and loyally stuck to her duties -- and her own rock-solid set of principles and ideals -- through eight highly different Presidential administrations, often (and occasionally reluctantly) acting as friend and confidante to the First Lady of the moment. The large and stellar cast included a number of top-rank film and TV actors, obviously having the time of their lives impersonating such presidents as William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and Dwight D. Eisenhower, and their respective wives. Also in the cast were several African-American veterans from the landmark TV miniseries Roots. Earning 11 Emmy Award nominations, the nine-hour Backstairs at the White House was seen in five installments from January 29 to February 19, 1979. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a book by John C. Fuller, the made-for-TV Ghost of Flight 401 is predicated on the "actual events" surrounding a real-life plane crash. In December of 1972, Flight 401 nose-dived into the Florida Everglades, killing its flight officer (played herein by Ernest Borgnine). Though damaged beyond repair, the plane is cannibalized for its parts, which are recycled to newly built aircraft. On each of these new planes, it is reported that the ghost of 401's flight officer has made unexpected appearances, to warn the crews of impending disasters. OoooOOOOOOoooooooo..... Those who dared first watched The Ghost of Flight 401 on February 18, 1978. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Final Eye began life as the pilot for a futuristic TV series. Joe Cortese stars as Mike Stringer, who in the year 1996 is the last private eye left on earth. Stringer is hired by Lisa Korter (Susan George), the daughter of a mysterious financier (Liam Sullivan). Twenty years earlier, the financier had created Eden Isle, a posh resort. Something very odd has been going on at Eden Isle of late, as indicated by the fact that the financier doesn't look a day younger than he did when he opened the place in 1975. Digging a bit too deep, Stringer discovers an insidious conspiracy linked to a master computer. Filmed in 1977, The Final Eye was shelved until August 1, 1982, when it was finally telecast under the new title Computercide. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this fact-based made-for-TV tearjerker, the promising life of a talented teenage athlete is suddenly destroyed when he is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Despite the bad news, the boy does all he can to fight the disease. His devoted mother supports him to the bitter, inevitable end. The story is based on the experiences of Doris Lund, the late Eric's mother. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The prestigious CBS dramatic anthology Studio One launched its tenth season on the air with this elaborate dramatization of the nationwide panic which ensued after Orson Welles' famous War of the Worlds radio broadcast of October 30, 1938. Welles had chosen to update the H.G. Wells science fiction classic and present the drama in the form of an actual newscast, replete with special bulletins, on-the-scene reports of the Martian invasion of Grover's Mills, NJ, and moments of "spontaneous" (actually carefully scripted and directed) horror. Unfortunately, the listening public, many of whom tuned into the dramatization in progress and as such were unaware that it was all make-believe, were convinced that America was indeed under siege from hordes of invading Martians -- and, as everyone now knows, chaos ensued. Like the later made-for-TV movie The Night That Panicked America, this TV recreation alternates between the War of the Worlds performance in progress at CBS's New York studios with vignettes of the reactions of the listeners -- reactions which generally ranged from plain terror to stark, raw terror. The huge cast includes several stars-to-be, among them Ed Asner, James Coburn, Vincent Gardenia, Warren Oates, and, as a youthful poker player, Warren Beatty. Narrated by legendary newscaster Edward R. Murrow and originally telecast live, "The Night America Trembled" has happily been preserved in kinescope form and is available on videotape from several sources. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide