Harold Livingston Movies

When plans to launch a second Star Trek television series in the late 1970s were scrapped by Paramount Pictures, the show's creator, Gene Roddenberry, instead transformed the aborted program's 2-hour pilot into this big budget theatrical feature. Five years after the legendary voyages of the starship Enterprise, James T. Kirk (William Shatner) is an unhappy, desk-bound admiral at Starfleet headquarters. Kirk goes aboard his old vessel to observe its re-launch under new captain Will Decker (Stephen Collins). Soon, however, an escalating crisis causes Kirk to take command of his old ship. A mysterious, planet-sized energy force of enormous power is headed for Earth. Reunited with Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy (DeForest Kelley), and the rest of his former colleagues, Kirk takes the Enterprise inside the massive energy cloud and discovers that it is the long-lost NASA space probe Voyager. Now a sentient being after accumulating centuries of knowledge in its deep space travels, the alien, which calls itself V'ger, has come home seeking its creator. Although not a critical home run, box office receipts for Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) were strong enough to inspire a revamped television series and a long-running line of theatrical sequels. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

The IMF has only 72 hours to intercept a huge shipment of cocaine, which is being delivered to supplier Carl Reid (Stephen McNally) by smuggler Fernando Lorca (Gregory Sierra). In order to undermine the main villains, agents Phelps and Willy prey upon the gullibility of Reid's second-in-command, Joe Conrad (William Shatner, in the second of his Mission: Impossible guest appearances). The gimmick: a "miraculous" new computerized machine which purportedly manufactures synthetic cocaine. Barbara Anderson again appears as IMF operative Mimi Davis, subbing for series regular Lynda Day George. Scripted by Harold Livingston from a story by Livingston and Norman Katkov, "Cocaine" was first broadcast on October 21, 1972. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Written by Harold Livingston, "The Merchant" guest-stars George Sanders in one of his final acting roles, as illegal arms dealer Armand Andressarian. To prevent Andressarian from completing an arrangement to sale guns to unfriendly guerilla groups in Africa and the middle East, the IMF swings into action. The success of the mission hinges largely on a fixed poker game, a past speciality of IMF agent Barney Collier. Leonard Nimoy and Lesley Ann Warren make their final series appearances. "The Merchant" originally aired on March 13, 1971, as the last episode of Mission:Impossible's fifth season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

To prevent himself from breaking under interrogation, captured enemy spy Colonel Vanin (Frank Marth) has hypnotized himself into forgetting the whereabouts of a top-secret spy roster. The IMF's only key to unlocking Vanin's memory is his wife Olga (Antoinette Bower), who may or may not know the verbal cue that will reveal what is on Vanin's mind. To coerce Olga into cooperating, the IMF agents stage a phony hidden-bomb crisis. Originally seen on March 6, 1971, "The Party" was written by Harold Livingston. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As part of his latest IMF assignment, Paris assumes the idenitity of an influential American industrialist. Unfortunately he his kidnapped and held hostage by a band of Latin-American revolutionaries who are convinced he is the man he pretends to be. The kidnappers demand that three political prisoners be released by their government, or else Paris will be immediately killed. It is up to the IMF to rescue Paris while keeping his true identity a secret. First broadcast on December 19, 1970, "The Hostage" was written by Harold Livingston. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Made for television, Escape to Mindinao stars George Maharis and Ronald Remy as two GIs interred in a Japanese POW camp. Effecting a daring (and economically filmed) escape, Maharis and Remy make off with a secret Japanese decoding device. During their efforts to get back to their own lines, the fugitives cross the path of mercenary Dutch captain Nehemiah Persoff and his lovely daughter Willi Koopman. Maharis and Remy very nearly lose their top-secret booty to a black market ring before their journey is over. Escape to Mindinao was filmed on Luzon, in the Philippines. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this melodrama, a teenage girl is desperate to escape her domineering mother and unhappy home life so when an older man proposes, she readily accepts. To sway her parents, the man offers a $200 dowry, It works and they marry. Unfortunately, soon after, the young bride learns that her husband is a pimp; he convinces her to help him, and she ends up arrested and imprisoned. Upon her release the poor girl cannot find a job and so returns to her husband and becomes a hooker. She leaves when she discovers him sleeping with another woman. She then begins drinking heavily and becomes the lowest sort of streetwalker until she has a terrible fight with a drunken john, tumbles into a street and is run down by a car. She does not die, and later during her recovery in a hospital, her parents appear and offer to help her make a new start. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide