Alex Beaton Movies

This fourth TV movie inspired by the classic, long-running mystery series Murder, She Wrote is also the first based on a novel, namely Lyn Hamilton's The Celtic Riddle. Angela Lansbury recreates her role as mystery writer-cum-amateur sleuth Jessica B. Fletcher, who on this occasion has journeyed to Ireland, there to attend the reading of the will of an old friend. Naturally, the bequeathing is chock-full of bizarre conditions and codicils, but the reading itself takes second place to the series of murders which follow. The police do their usual "thorough" investigation and come up with nothing, leaving it to Jessica to assemble the clues, many of which are maddeningly cryptic, and all of which are somehow linked to a huge hidden treasure. Filmed on location, Murder, She Wrote: The Celtic Riddle first aired May 9, 2003, on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Coproduced by the BBC and America's Fox Network, the two-hour movie Doctor Who was an attempt to revive the phenomenally popular science-fiction series which orginally ran from 1963 to 1989. Sylvester McCoy, the last of seven actors to play the Doctor, here repeats his familiar role--albeit briefly, inasmuch as he is shot by a San Francisco street-gang member on the eve of the 21st century. Rushed to a hospital, the Doctor undergoes his eighth regeneration, whereupon Paul McGann takes over the role. Now the Doctor must do battle with his longtime foe The Master to prevent the latter from harnessing the Time Lords' "Eye of Harmony" for his own nefarious purposes. Only one problem: The Doctor is suffering from amnesia, and has no idea who he is or what he is supposed to do. Written by Matthew Jacobs, Doctor Who first aired in America on May 14, 1996, and in England thirteen days later. Unfortunately, the pilot did not result in a full-scale Doctor Who revival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Divided into four separate independent films originally made as a television pilot, Nightmares begins with "Terror in Topanga," a story about a young woman who goes out one night to buy a pack of cigarettes, knowing full well that the infamous "canyon killer" is on the loose -- and sure enough, a subtly menacing store clerk (Anthony James) begins to loom large in the woman's journey. The second story, "Bishop of Battle" is a sequence with animation that details the saga of a video games champion who comes up against a supernatural opponent. The next vignette, "The Benediction" is about a priest who gives up on his faith and takes off down the highway, only to be confronted with a demonic minivan and good reasons for remaining a believer. The last story, "Night of the Rat" has the rodent that ate Manhattan looming large over the home of a young couple, but never fear, the husband is blasé enough to handle anything, or so he thinks. As might be expected, the low-budget production and facetious scripting of a few of these sequences work against the intended scary effect of the stories. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In a shocking bit of counter-casting, Melissa Sue Anderson stars in this TV-movie shocker as Vivian Sotherland, a beautiful -- and wholly evil -- teenaged witch. Accustomed to eliminating anyone who gets in her way, Vivian has lovingly made certain that her sweetheart David Sterling (Patrick Cassidy) will not flunk out of high school through the simple expedient of killing all his teachers. Alas, the clueless David throws Vivian over in favor of a new girl in school, Robin Prentiss (Mary Beth McDonough). Fully prepared to add Robin to her ever-growing list of victims, Vivian is rather put out to discover that her romantic rival possesses a few supernatural powers of her own. Midnight Offerings was first broadcast February 27, 1981, on ABC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tenspeed and Brown Shoe was a "cult" comedy adventure series created by Stephen J. Cannell, which ran from January to June of 1980. Ben Vereen played E. L. "Tenspeed" Turner, a silver tongued African-American con artist. Jeff Goldblum costarred as staid stockbroker Lionel Whitney, whom Tenspeed nicknamed "Brown Shoe." This oil-and-water combination teamed up to form a detective agency. Just how this came about is explained in the 2-hour pilot for Tenspeed and Brown Shoe, which aired on January 27, 1980. In addition to uniting the stars, the pilot's storyline included a murdered gang leader, a Marathon Man style ex-Nazi diamond fence, and a suitcase full of hot mob money. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this adventure, set in old New Orleans, a dashing man disguises himself with a mask and cape so that he can get revenge on those that murdered his family. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Dr. Steven Strange, the Marvel Comics magician/superhero created in 1963 by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, made his long-awaited screen debut in this 1978 TV pilot film. Peter Hooten plays Strange, while Sir John Mills portrays the doctor's sorcerer shaman, "The Ancient One." The Ancient One (whose real name is Lindmer) allows Strange access to the "Hermedic Arts," which enables him to control the elements. In the pilot, Strange's origin is retraced, then the story segues into a titanic battle between Strange and Camelot-era villainess Morgan LeFay (Jessica Walter), who has come back to life in order to collect human souls. Stan Lee reportedly disowned the video version of Dr. Strange, perhaps because one of his beloved characters was "camped up" for TV consumption. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The longest (26-1/2 hours), most expensive ($25 million) and most complicated (four directors, five producers, five cinematographers, almost 100 speaking parts, several hundred extras) project made for television up to that time, Centennial was shown in two- and three-hour installments over a period of four months. An adaptation of James Michener's best-selling novel, it told the story of the settling of the American West by looking at the founding of the fictional town of Centennial, Colorado, from the settling of the area in the late 18th century to the present. Emmy-nominated for film editing and art direction, it boasts of sterling performances from Richard Chamberlain as frontiersman Alexander McKeag, Robert Conrad as the French-Canadian trapper Pasquinel, and a surprisingly powerful performance from former football star Alex Karras as compassionate but iron-willed immigrant farmer Hans Brumbaugh. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide

Canadian actress Kate Reid plays a lady p.i. in Death Among Friends. Kate is hired to solve the murder of a multimillionaire financier. As tipped off by the title, she need look no farther than the dead man's circle of friends. Refreshingly, both the heroine and her police contact, John Anderson, are well into middle age, rather than being depicted as mindless hunks of cheese- and beefcake. Intended as the pilot for a weekly series, Death Among Friends was first telecast May 20, 1975. The film was later syndicated as Mrs. R-Death Among Friends. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

David Carradine first stepped into the sandals of taciturn martial-arts expert Caine in the made-for-TV pilot film Kung Fu. A Chinese/American priest, Caine must flee to the United States after he is forced to kill a royal nephew. He wanders the American West of the 1860s, keeping his cool until it is necessary to display his kung-fu skills full force. Most often, he must meditate and conjure up a flashback dominated by Master Po (Keye Luke) before he is galvanized into action. In the pilot, Caine comes to the rescue of a group of Chinese coolies who are working on the railroad. First telecast February 22, 1972, Kung Fu spawned a long-running series of the 1970s--not to mentioned the "updated" syndicated weekly of the 1990s, which also starred the inscrutable Mr. Carradine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cliff Robertson wrote, produced, directed and acted the lead in this film about a rodeo performer. The rodeo footage in this film was shot at actual rodeo competitions. Rodeo rider J.W. Coop (Robertson) has just spent ten years in jail for passing bad checks. He comes out and discovers that everything except his crazy mother (Geraldine Page) has changed. Riders don't compete in all-around events anymore, but fly all over the country in private planes to compete in the same event in several rodeos a day. Furthermore, the sexual liberation movement has changed the way women relate to men. He is nonplused to discover a hippyish woman (Cristina Ferrare) who wants a no-strings relationship with him. The idea of health food catches him by surprise, too. Coop wants and needs to win a national rodeo championship, despite all the new challenges he faces. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

A cavalry unit in Colorado is conducting two important cargoes to Fort Reunion, home of the 11th Colorado Volunteers: Cresta Marybelle Lee (Candice Bergen), the fiancée of an officer in the unit until two years ago, when she was taken by the Cheyenne, and who just escaped; and Captain Battles (Dana Elcar), the paymaster, with a strongbox containing gold. The men are tired -- almost asleep in their saddles -- and frustrated, and doubly so by the presence of Cresta, whose beauty and reputation (by virtue of living two years with "savages") is driving them to distraction; all except for Honus Gant (Peter Strauss), a neophyte trooper and wide-eyed innocent. The detachment is ambushed by a Cheyenne war party and the only survivors are Cresta and Honus, who learn to tolerate each other as they struggle across the wilderness and the desert in search of help. An encounter with white trader Isaac Q. Cumber (Donald Pleasence), a profiteer who is running guns to the Indians, nearly results in their deaths, and Honus is seriously wounded.

Cresta goes off in search of help and is picked up by a cavalry scout and brought to the 11th Colorado, whose commanding officer, Col. Iverson (John Anderson), is planning a punitive strike against a peaceful Cheyenne encampment over the massacre of the paymaster's party. Cresta tries to secure help for Honus but Iverson is too busy planning bloodshed, and her fiancé, Lt. McNair (Bob Carraway), is just too eager to pick up where he left off with her to listen to her warnings. She rides out on her own and returns to the village where she'd spent the previous two years, while Honus manages to survive to reach Iverson. He ends up along for the assault on the village, which takes place despite the chieftain Spotted Wolf (Jorge Rivera) flying a flag of truce and an American flag given him at a previous negotiation with the whites. The Native Americans defend themselves when fired upon with artillery and rifles, and all hell breaks lose -- virtually all of the men in the village are killed in the first assault, and then the soldiers spot the women, children, and old men, and there begins an orgy of rape, mutilation, beheadings, dismemberment, and torture before Honus' horrified eyes by joyously shrieking soldiers. Cresta kills a soldier who tries to rape her and intends to die with her Native American family but is pulled out, only to watch the slaughter continue. In the end, Honus is left to be marched back to Fort Reunion as a prisoner for trying to stop the killing, and Iverson expresses pride and satisfaction at what he's done, while Cresta and a tiny handful of survivors -- almost all old men and women -- watch in mute horror and anger. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Homosexuality is the topic of this anthology that is comprised of three short films. The first, "End of the Path" centers on a man who is tortured by memories of a past experience, one that is so painful that it leads to a deadly pent up rage. In "Homo Means Man," a husband sneaks off one night to find another man to philander with and ends up encountering tragedy. The final tale, "Segue" centers on a teenaged girl who is strongly drawn to a lesbian, but is unsure about taking that last step until a brutish male makes the decision for her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide