Charles Dierkop Movies

During Christmas week, Ross (George Clooney) again tries to extend a helping hand to surly homeless teenager Charlie (Kirsten Dunst); Doyle (Jorja Fox) comes to the aid of a battered wife (Gloria LeRoy); and a mangy orphaned dog is "adopted" by Greene (Anthony Edwards), who is under the impression that the mutt would make a good gift for his daughter, Rachel (Yvonne Zima). In another development, Greene and Weaver (Laura Innes) try to forge a policy regarding HIV-positive employees, an action which may force Jeanie (Gloria Reuben) out in the open. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Miles O'Keeffe and Lou Ferrigno star as Vietnam war buddies who team up to rid their community of drugs. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Siblings Eric Roberts and Julia Roberts appear in this old-fashioned saga about oppressed Sicilian wine-growers in 19th-century California. Giancarlo Giannini stars as Sebastian Collogero, the robust Italian patriarch who is battling with railroad mogul William Bradford Berrigan (Dennis Hopper) to prevent his land from being taken over by the rail company. Sebastian's spirited son, Marco (Eric Roberts), is in love with Angelica (Lara Harris), the daughter of a rival wine-grower's clan. Marco is not very concerned about the warfare about to erupt between the wine-growers and the railroad until Berrigan's thugs torture and kill Sebastian in front of his daughter Maria (Julia Roberts). Marco then gets his friends together and organizes a revolt against Berrigan and his railroad empire. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Starring Dean Stockwell and Charles Dierkop, Banzai Runner concerns a modern-day phenomenon, common among the very rich. Each year, an every-man-for-himself race is staged in the desert, with fat-cat motorists driving the custom cars at supersonic speed up and down the supposedly deserted highway. During one of these contests, a policeman is killed. With no witnesses, it's up to the cop's brother (Stockwell) to see that justice is done. He accomplishes this by assuming a false identity and joining the race. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This lifeless action feature finds mafia hitman Carmine Longo (Mike Lane) seeking vengeance against the Zebra Force led by Cougar (Timmy Brown). Frank Barnes (Jim Mitchum) joins the group when his Zebra Force buddy is killed. Lindsey Crosby (son of Bing) plays a police sergeant, and Frank Sinatra, Jr. appears briefly as the mob lawyer Kozlo. Only those interested in the offspring of aging or dead performers could find anything of interest in this film. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

The James Fenimore Cooper classic is given an abridged polishing, but still recounts the adventures of Hawkeye (Steve Forrest) and Chingachgook (Ned Romero) while saving a Mohican princess and avenging the death of Chingachgook's son. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

Gorgeous LAPD undercover cop Pepper Anderson (Angie Dickinson) continues to put her life on the line while wearing some of the sexiest outfits of the 1970s in the fourth and final season of Police Woman. In the opener, Pepper foregoes assuming a false identity as she and her superior officer Lt. Crowley (Earl Holliman) go to the aid of a battered wife. Later on, of course, it's disguise time again, with Pepper variously posing as a congressional witness, a schoolteacher, a drug pusher, and a nun. Making guest appearances this year is a fascinating blend of familiar faces and talented newcomers, including Nipsey Russell, Keenan Wynn, Fernando Lamas, Lloyd Nolan, Nehemiah Persoff, Louis Nye, Paul Williams, Tab Hunter, Sandra Dee, Eartha Kitt, Catherine Bach, Debra Winger and Mare Winningham. The most offbeat bit of cast is comic impressionist Rich Little's chilling portrayal of a serial rapist. The funniest of the guest stars is Adam West, playing a cloddish thug who moves his lips while reading a "Batman" comic book! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season Two of Police Woman finds sexy undercover cop Pepper Anderson (Angie Dickinson) adopting a whole new slew of false identities and gorgeous costumes in the line of duty. In the course of the season, Pepper assumes such guises as a fashion consultant, a drug addict, a traffic cop, a Vegas showgirl, and even a little old lady. As "herself" in one poignant two-part episode, Pepper strikes a blow for woman's equality by training for the LAPD's motorcycle task force--and tragically losing her new boyfriend to a serial cop killer in the process. Among the guest stars appearing in the second season are Roddy McDowell, Bruce Boxleitner, Ida Lupino, Loni Anderson, Frank Gorshin, Henry Gibson, Amy Irving, Robert Loggia, Barry Williams, Donna Mills, James Darren and even psychologist Dr. Joyce Brothers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Sexy LAPD undercover officer Sgt. Pepper Anderson (Angie Dickinson) assumes a variety of identities and dons an exhausting array of stunning outfits during Season One of the iconic 1970s cop series Police Woman. In the first episode, however, Pepper must "dress down" a bit as a dowdy bank employee so that she and her superior officer Lt. Crowley (Earl Holliman) can nab a particular vicious gang of robbers. In later episodes, Pepper is seen as a model, a stewardess, a go-go dancer, a female convict, a nurse, a "desperate" housewife, a high school teacher, a jewel fence and a roadside café waitress. Occasionally, however, Pepper is simply Pepper, as in the episode in which she is given the unenviable task of guarding an outspoken Marxist during a particularly volatile student rally. During this season, Nichole Kallis makes sporadic appearances as Cheryl Anderson, Pepper's autistic sister, who lives at the Austin School for the Handicapped. Evidently the producers felt that this touching method of "humanizing" the heroine was dispensible, so Cheryl disappears without explanation by season's end. Like most dramatic series of its era, Police Woman benefits immeasureably from the talents of its guest stars. Appearing in the Season One episodes are such favorites as Cathy Rigby, Kathleen Quinlan, Elinor Donahue William Katt, Larry Hagman, Pat Morita, Rhonda Fleming, Hal Williams, Dane Clark, Bob Crane, Della Reese, William Shatner, Rory Calhoun, Annette O'Toole, Ruby Dee, Robert Vaughn, David Selby, Patty Duke, Shelley Berman, Don Meredith and Pat Harrington Jr. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Four years after setting box offices ablaze in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and director George Roy Hill re-teamed with similar success for The Sting. Redford plays Depression-era confidence trickster Johnny Hooker, whose friend and mentor Luther Coleman (Robert Earl Jones) is murdered by racketeer/gambler Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw). Hoping to avenge Luther's death, Johnny begins planning a "sting" -- an elaborate scam -- to destroy Lonnegan. He enlists the aid of "the greatest con artist of them all," Henry Gondorff (Paul Newman), who pulls himself out of a drunken stupor and rises to the occasion. Hooker and Gondorff gather together an impressive array of con men, all of whom despise Lonnegan and wish to settle accounts on behalf of Luther. The twists and surprises that follow are too complex to relate in detail -- suffice to say that you can't cheat an honest man, and that you shouldn't accept everything at face value. The Sting became one of the biggest hits of the early '70s; grossing 68.5 million dollars during its first run, the film also picked up seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Adapted Score for Marvin Hamlisch's unforgettable setting of Scott Joplin's ragtime music. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Co-written and produced by Jonathan Demme, this women-in-prison outing focuses on a group of escapees who ignite a revolution. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Having saved Ben Cartwright's life during a prison riot, convict Griff King (played by new Bonanza regular Tim Matheson) is released into Ben's custody. In hiring Griff as a Ponderosa ranchhand, Ben faces the challenge of convincing the former prisoner to forsake his deep and abiding grudge against the rest of the world. Others in the cast include Ronny Cox as Lucas and Charles Dierkop as Shorty. Written by Jack B. Sowards, "New Man" originally aired on October 10, 1972. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide