June Dayton Movies

Having agreed to submit to a genetic research project headed by Dr. Paul Flynn (Lane Smith), cancer victim Cindy Oliver (Kate Linder) leaves Flynn's hospital--and promptly dies. Soon thereafter, several other people who'd come in contact with Cindy also turn up dead. Investigating, Quincy (Jack Klugman) comes to the sobering conclusion that Dr. Flynn's experimental cancer-cure serum has spawned a mutant respiratory virus--which is not only fatal, but may also be unstoppable. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Max Carson (Tom Troupe), one of Quincy's old war buddies, manages to survive a plane crash--only to die after receiving a blood transfusion from his business partner Charlie Barnes (Joseph Campanella), who was likewise in the crash and suffered more serious injuries. The authorities are convinced that somehow, some way, Charlie has murdered Max. Refusing to believe this, Quincy (Jack Klugman) performs an autopsy and discovers that Max died of arsenic poisoning...but how did he get it? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Television film featuring the Marvel Comics hero doing battle with a mad industrialist who wields a neutron bomb. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide

Deadman's Curve is a made-for-TV biography concerning "California sound" rock-n-rollers Jan and Dean. Richard Hatch plays Jan Berry, while Bruce Davison is seen as Dean Torrence. The meat of the story is Jan's grueling efforts to fully recover from a disastrous 1966 auto accident. The film's most powerful scene occurs when the still-shaky Jan attempts a concert comeback, only to be booed offstage when the audience realizes that he's lip-synching. First telecast February 3, 1978, Deadman's Curve is seasoned with cameo appearances by Dick Clark, Wolfman Jack, and Beach Boys Mike Love and Bruce Johnson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Much to his dismay, Quincy (Jack Klugman) finds himself at odds with his friend and mentor Dr. Herbert Stone (Barry Sullivan) at a coroner's inquest. At stake is a huge insurance settlement, which will be decided only after the identity of a charred corpse is firmly established. Called in as an expert witness, Dr. Stone insists that the dead man is indeed a wealthy businessman, who has apparently died in a fire. But Quincy is unconvinced that the businessman was the victim, or even that he's actually dead--and worse, he suspects that Stone has "sold out" to the dead man's greedy family. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

At last year's annual baseball game with the Sleepy Eye Greenstockings, the Walnut Grove team lost 36 to nothing. Determined to avenge this humiliation, the men of Walnut Grove have placed their hopes in the hands of ace pitcher Jebediah Mumfort (Karl Lukas). The town goes so far as to plunk down huge wagers on the outcome of the game -- whereupon Mumfort is forbidden from playing by his wife, Margaret (June Dayton), a staunchly religious woman who despises all forms of gambling. It is up to Caroline Ingalls (Karen Grassle) to save the day. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The spirit of the children of a hospital pediatrics ward offer a new lease on life for a shy young teacher. ~ All Movie Guide

Crowhaven Farm is a contrived creepy-crawly originally telecast on The ABC Movie of the Week. Hope Lange is probably the last person you'd expect to see in the middle of a witchcraft/reincarnation plot, but there she is, in the company of Paul Burke, Lloyd Bochner and (who else?) John Carradine. Lange and Bochner have the largest roles, playing a bickering couple who inherit a farm and adopt a child (Cindy Eilbacher). Maybe they should have checked the adoption papers a little more carefully; the thing of it is, their new kid seems to be possessed with the soul of a centuries-old witch. Some effective scary setpieces in John McGreevrey's script occasionally lift Crowhaven Farm out of the ordinary. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This 25-million dollar epic collaboration accurately recreates the events that led to the Japanese attack on the American naval base during World War II. With Germany's invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, the wheels are set in motion by Japan to plan the attack. After internal differences in the government, the Japanese quickly mobilize plans for the assault. Key American personnel ignored warnings of the possibility of Japanese aggression. The first part of the film divides scenes from both countries. Part two contains spectacular battle scenes of the bombing that destroyed the American naval base of operations in Hawaii. Governmental errors on both sides add to the confusion, but the Japanese ultimately carry out the deadly mission. The film did well in Japan, did not do well in the he United States, and took years to make back the production costs. It remains an insightful and well crafted World War II action drama that was the result of years of negotiations between the two countries. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

The FBI suspects a case of jury tampering when, after the acquittal of notorious mob figure, juror Steven Harber (Robert Hooks) suddenly becomes conspicuously wealthy. Eventually, Harber's conscience kicks in, but it may already be too late. Not only is Harber being shaken down by a blackmailer who witnessed the payoff, but there is also a mob hitman at large who has killed two other jurors in his efforts to make sure that no one talks. Seen as Harber's anguished wife is Cicely Tyson, making the most of a rather thankless role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The FCC alerts Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) when several radio operators begin receiving strange, cryptic messages. Meanwhile, a deranged man named Joseph Walker (played by a young Robert Duvall) formulates a plan to destroy a new guided missile known as "Thor", which is slated to be delivered from an Arizona silo to a California launching site. It turns out that those bizarre radio signals are actually clues being provided by Walker in a perverse game of "catch me if you can"! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The FBI investigates when a Maryland bank is robbed twice in the same day by the same bandit. This matches the modus operandi of Wayne Powell (Crahan Denton), who pulled off the same double-robbery strategy some twenty years earlier--and when Powell confesses to the more recent crimes, the Bureau figures that the case is closed. But Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) suspects that this time Powell is innocent, and that he is shielding the real criminal. Meanwhile, the romance between Erskine's daughter Barbara (Lynn Loring) and FBI agent Rhodes (Stephen Brooks) intensifies, while the good Inspector has relationship issues of his own with his erstwhile girlfriend Joanna Laurens (Lee Meriwether). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide