Meg Foster Movies
American actress Meg Foster was trained at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse, a rigorous and exacting establishment that lets practically everyone in for one year and practically no one in for their second year. Foster survived the entire program with the steely-eyed grit that characterized her best film and stage roles. With such notable exceptions as The Osterman Weekend (1983) and The Emerald Forest (1986), many of Foster's films have been cheapjack exploitation efforts unworthy of her skills. She has racked up her most impressive credits on TV, including the lead role of Hester Prynne in the 1979 PBS multi-part adaptation of The Scarlet Letter. In 1982, she was cast as Chris Cagney opposite Tyne Daly's Mary Beth Lacey on the TV series Cagney and Lacey. When the series went into its second season, Foster was replaced by Sharon Gless; the official reason was that she played her character "too tough, too hard," but unofficial sources noted that audiences perceived Foster's performance as too "butch." This setback slowed down her TV career though she was always welcome (if not always well-served) on the big screen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1975
Undercover cop Tony Baretta (Robert Blake) investigates when a blind hot dog vendor is murdered. The only witness is a hungry little girl named Molly (Elizabeth Cheshire), who got a good look at one of the killers. Unfortunately, both of the perpetrators got a very good look at Molly, meaning that her life won't be worth a bottle of mustard unless Baretta comes to the rescue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Blake, Edward Grover, (more)
- 1975
Tony Baretta (Robert Blake) investigates when the wife of a high-profile attorney is found murdered. It turns out that the dead woman was once a "lady of the evening" -- and that she made several enemies amongst the Syndicate while plying her trade. Hoping to trap the killers, Baretta enlists the aid of his elderly landlord, ex-cop Billy Truman (Tom Ewell). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Blake, Dana Elcar, (more)
- 1975
This made-for-TV biography, based on the memoirs of onetime James Dean roommate William Bast, stars Stephen McHattie in the title role of the Hollywood rebel. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1975
A gang of scurrilous sailors go into the smuggling business, bringing some valuable jade into the country by illegal means. When a jewelry-store owner balks at the sailors' monetary demands for the contraband jade, the sailors kill the man and begin stalking the only witness, the victim's daughter Meg Foster). Keller (Michael Douglas) is likewise targeted for extermination when he is assigned to escort one of the criminals to prison. The episode's highlight is a bravura display of villainy from a young, pre-stardom James Woods. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
In a better than average TV melodrama, Patricia Neal is the mother of a Wisconsin farm family who has just discovered that she has leukemia and it is terminal. Her goal for the remainder of her life becomes keeping those around her as happy as possible, making them realize what they have to live for. Neal is excellent, with a good supporting cast. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- 1974
- R
The consumption of human flesh is the main course of this off-beat horror movie that centers on a war veteran who returns to California a cannibal. His sister likes peopleburgers too. The trouble begins when a gentle hippie chick encounters the hungry duo enthusiastically eating their latest meal. The terrified girl heads for the police, but they refuse to believe her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1974
Reverse sexism-sort of-is the theme of Promise Him Anything. Ever on the lookout for new conquests, bachelor Frederic Forrest signs on with a computer dating service, exaggerating his attractiveness on his resume. He is matched up with secretary Meg Foster, whose own resume promises that "anything goes." When he learns that "anything" really means "nothing", he hauls the girl into court! Veterans Eddie Albert, Tom Ewell, William Schallert and Aldo Ray costar in the forgettable made-for-TV fluff. Promise Him Anything was originally telecast May 14, 1975. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
Hoping to escape the country, syndicate hit man Ben Silliman (Gary Lockwood) needs a lot of money in a hurry. To raise the cash, he blackmails William Braden (Peter Mark Richman), the "respectable" businessman who has enabled Silliman to rise to the top of his profession. Not to be confused with the same-named 1966 episode starring Charles Bronson, "The Animal" marks the final appearance of series regular William Reynolds as FBI assistant director Arthur Ward. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
- R
In this adventure, a stereotypical hippie couple hitchhikes around California and meets various odd people ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- 1972
Described in the original TV Guide listings as "a young movie and TV comer", Martin Sheen essays another bad-guy role for producer Quinn Martin in this episode. Sheen is cast as Steve Chandler, a novice contract killer who goes into hiding from both the FBI and the Mob after bungling a job. On the verge of starting life anew with girlfriend Marcy Brandon (Meg Foster), Chandler realizes with startling suddenness that his days of freedom (and on earth!) might be numbered. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
- R
Also known as A Dangerous Friend, this real-life-based drama tells of a young man with a penchant for sex and violence. In addition, he seems to possess a kind of mental control over a group of peers who protect the charismatic murderer from authorities. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- 1971
The Death of Me Yet opens in a typical American small town that turns out to be in the middle of the Soviet Union. As we all know from those Jack Webb-narrated documentaries of the 1950s, the rascally Russians have set up these ersatz American communities in order to train their agents to subtly infiltrate the good ol' USA. The agent of choice in this TV movie is Doug McClure, who poses as a supposedly respectable newspaper editor in a genuine American small town. Darren McGavin plays the US government agent who arrives in town and shakes things up by asking all sorts of probing questions about the above-suspicion Mr. McClure. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
"The Silent Killer" is the deadly influenza epidemic that has swept through the territory around the Ponderosa. To combat the disease, tradition-bound Doc Martin (Harry Holcombe) and Harriet Clinton (Louise Latham) set up an emergency hospital on the Cartwright spread. Further complications ensue when Mrs. Evangeline Woodtree (Meg Foster), the wife of a progressive young physician (Ion Berger) who'd been jailed on Doc Martin's say-so, defiantly challenges Martin's old-fashioned methods. Written by John Hawkins and Edward DeBlasio, "The Silent Killer" was first telecast on February 28, 1971. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, (more)
Looking like a high-school junior, Michael Douglas plays a college professor in Adam at 6 AM. Tired of academia, Douglas opts for the supposed tranquility of rural Missouri. After working as farm hand for a few weeks, he realizes that his "normal" neighbors are as screwed up as any of his more sophisticated friends. To punch up the film's leisurely screenplay, a great deal of sex talk is injected, which may have sounded daring in 1970 but which plays like an episode of Married: With Children nowadays. Adam at 6 AM is blessed with a superb supporting cast: among the secondary actors is 1940s leading lady Anne Gwynne, making a one-time-only film comeback. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Douglas, Lee Purcell, (more)
