Abby Dalton Movies

Vituperative TV news anchor Kevin Keats (Chad Everett) descends upon Cabot Cove with a full camera crew and retinue in tow, there to produce an investigative report on a long-ranging crime ring. Though Jessica (Angela Lansbury) dislikes Kevin, she agrees to an on-camera interview as a favor to an old friend, Keats' employee Paula Roman (Kathleen Lloyd). Murder rears its ugly head when Keats is apparently blown to bits by a bomb planted on a boat that he had chartered from local sheriff Amos Tupper (Tom Bosley)--but that's only the tip of the iceberg so far as this mystery is concerned! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this heartwarming children's adventure set in Marineland, a young boy secretly trains a killer whale to appear in the big show. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The Plainsman was a Technicolor remake of the 1936 Cecil B. DeMille film, all about the fictional romantic triangle of Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane and Buffalo Bill. DeMille had the advantage of a topnotch cast: Gary Cooper as Hickok, Jean Arthur as Calamity (complete with a Wally Westmore cosmetic job!) and James Ellison as Buffalo Bill. David Lowell Rich, director of the 1966 The Plainsman, had to make do with Universal contractees Don Murray, Abby Dalton and Guy Stockwell. Denied DeMille's budget, Rich turned out a cut-rate western, wherein the "big" Indian attacks look more like Disneyland exhibits. The usually reliable Abby Dalton further weakens the film with a Southern accent that wouldn't convince a prairie dog. Originally made for television, The Plainsman was instead released theatrically--then went promptly to the small screen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gunfighter-turned-rancher Roy Calvert (Robert F. Simon) has a deep-seated hatred for the citizens of the town of Benedict, whom he holds responsible for the death of his wife. Seeking vengeance, Calvert denies the neighboring cattlemen access to the water on his property. Hired to talk sense to Calvert, Paladin comes face to face with the embittered rancher's son Jeff (Paul Carr), who has been trained by his father to be a cold-blooded gunslinger, willing to kill anyone who crosses his path without question or pause. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Future Virginian star James Drury and Paul Fix are among the guest players in this, the fourth installment of The Rifleman television series. This time Lucas McCain (Chuck Connors) takes on a broken-down, alcoholic lawman, Micah Torrance (Fix), who's hired to help build a corral. But the arrival of illiterate troublemakers Flory (Robert J. Wilke) and Andrew Sheltin (Warren Oates) spells trouble, both for Lucas and Mark (Johnny Crawford) and the town of North Fork, New Mexico. But who is the smooth-talking Lloyd Carpenter (Drury) and why is he traveling with the uncouth Shelton boys? This episode was the first to be directed by the series' creator and head writer, Sam Peckinpah. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Created by Roy Huggins and debuting September 22, 1957 on ABC, the weekly, hour-long Maverick started out as a relatively straightforward western series with a slight twist: The main characters were professional gamblers rather than lawmen or gunslingers. James Garner and Jack Kelly starred respectively as Bret and Bart, the Maverick brothers, who traveled throughout the west in search of poker games and other such lucrative pursuits. Though both of the Mavericks were fairly adept at fisticuffs, they tended to avoid violence and confrontation (a good thing too, since neither brother could by any stretch of the imagination be described as a "fast gun"), preferring to use their wits and the words to wriggle out of jams--and, conversely, to win over the pretty girls they met along the way. Originally, the episodes were evenly divided between the two brothers, with Bret or Bart alternately handling the plotlines, sometimes teaming up when the going got rough. By the end of the first season, however, James Garner had emerged as the more popular of the two stars--and as a bonus, Garner was possessed of a deft comic touch that such scriptwriters as Marion Hargrove and such directors as Douglas Heyes were quick to capitalize upon. As a result, the stories became more humorous and satirical in nature, with star, writers and directors unafraid to emphasize the more cowardly and larcenous aspects of Bret Maverick's character. One of the series' most endearing motifs was Bret's habit of relying upon the pearls of wisdom passed down to him by his grey-haired "Pappy"--who, when he finally appeared on camera, was portrayed by a heavily made up James Garner. By season three, the pattern of Maverick was fairly well set, with Jack Kelly handling the more serious and action-oriented episodes (which became fewer and farther between) and Garner doing the funny stuff. In keeping with the tongue-in-cheek nature of the series, the writers had a field day spoofing such rival western shows as Gunsmoke and Bonanza, and even such non-westerns as Dragnet. In addition, there were the occasional westernized adaptations of "the classics", notably Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and Richard Brinsley Sheridan's The Rivals. After James Garner left the series over a contract dispute in 1960, Maverick's home studio Warner Bros. tried out a brace of potential replacements. During season four, future "James Bond" Roger Moore was introduced as Bret and Bart's British cousin Beau Maverick; and later that same season, Robert Colbert showed up as the hitherto unrevealed third Maverick brother, Brent. But by the time the series entered its fifth and final season, the only Maverick on screen was old reliable Bart, who starred in the handful of episodes that were filmed to fill out what had essentially become a portfolio of reruns from the James Garner days. The final episode of Maverick was telecast on July 8, 1962; however, the property would be revived on TV in 1979 as Young Maverick, with Charles Frank playing cousin Ben Maverick, and in 1981 as Bret Maverick, with James Garner reviving his original role. And in 1994, Garner shared billing with Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster in a delightful theatrical-feature version of Maverick, which nostalgically showcased a number of familiar western actors in cameo roles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

By the time you've read the title, the film is half over. Anyway, the story concerns a group of proud female Nordic warriors (who look more like UCLA cheerleaders), who set out on a perilous sea journey, the better to locate their long-missing men. Halfway across the ocean, their vessel is destroyed by a deadly vortex (this special effect must be seen to be believed). The ladies are washed up on the shores of the Grimaults, a spear-wielding tribe which had previously enslaved the girls' menfolk. One attempted human sacrifice and several minor clashes later, the viking men and women try to make their escape. When the head viking (Brad Jackson) slays a rampaging monster (actually a harmless lizard, "blown up" by trick photography), he and his party are given safe passage by the grateful Grimaults. Abby Dalton is the star of Viking Women and the Sea Serpent, but only by default; when the film's original leading lady fell ill, all the other actresses were promoted to the next largest role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide