Bert Freed Movies

Here's a very low-budget attempted knee-knocker where chemicals released in public waters infect the fish, causing them to turn voracious as they become people eaters. ~ All Movie Guide

Bill Bixby earned an Emmy nomination for his chilling yet pathetic performance as Eric Doyle, a mild-mannered loser who is fascinated by police procedure. Rejected when he tries to join the San Francisco police force, Doyle vows to prove his worth by turning vigilante. Donning an authentic-looking cop's uniform, Doyle sets about to methodically--and savagely--wipe out all criminals who have managed to slip through the fingers of the legal system. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In order to move into a newer, larger house (with a LOT more bathrooms), the Partridges must undergo the trauma of parting with their old house. Eventually the kids decide that they don't want to move and do everything they can to scare off the new owners (Bert Freed, Lurene Tuttle)--who prove very hard to scare. Worse still, the family has waited so long to close the deal on their new home that they might end up on the street without any sort of roof over their heads! Song: "As Long As You're There". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Actor/auteur Tom Laughlin created the character of Billy Jack in the motorcycle flick The Born Losers. Wandering Christlike through the Southwest, Native American Vietnam veteran Billy Jack -- soft-spoken, but well-versed in martial arts -- champions the cause of a progressive school run by Jean Roberts (Delores Taylor, Laughlin's real-life wife). The bigoted white townsfolk don't cotton to Jean's minority-group students, so they do everything they can to humiliate and physically abuse the kids. When one of her charges is cruelly coated with white flour, Billy Jack goes berserk. Thus begins an orgy of self-righteous violence, culminating with our hero being hunted down on a murder charge. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

With nothing to lose, terminally ill American agent Anton Malik (Morgan Sterne) has planted an detonation device in a nuclear reactor. It is up to the IMF to convince the embittered Malik to remove the device. Their strategy involves a dangerous waiting game which may result in the deaths of all concerned. Barbara Luna, who played the title role in the first-season Mission:Impossible episode "Elena," is here cast as IMF agent Wai Lee. Written by Paul Playdon, "Time Bomb" was originally telecast on December 14, 1969. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ben Cartwright is determined to block the gubernatorial bid of John Faraday (Simon Scott), the corrupt stooge of crooked tycoon Sam Endicott (Sidney Blackmer). When Ben is shot by one of Endicott's henchmen, he decides to "play dead" until the convention, then expose both Endicott and Faraday as murderous scoundrels. But a monkey wrench is thrown into the works when an innocent man is arrested for Ben's "murder." Portions of David Rose's background music were later incorporated into the themes of the subsequent Michael Landon series Little House on the Prairie). Among the supporting players is George Gaynes, best known to latter-day viewers for his hilarious performances in the theatrical features Tootsie and Police Academy. First shown on March 3, 1968, "The Late Ben Cartwright" was written by Walter Black. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It's a seemingly peaceful spring morning in New York City -- graduation day at the Police Academy -- and Police Commissioner Anthony X. Russell (Henry Fonda) is looking forward to giving a speech to the new officers. But all isn't well: Russell's been given apparently incontrovertible evidence that his oldest friend, Chief Inspector Charles Kane (James Whitmore), is shaking down a bar owner, and a black minister (Raymond St. Jacques) is claiming that his son was brutalized when he was picked up for questioning in a rape/assault case. Then Russell gets a call informing him that two first-grade detectives, Daniel Madigan (Richard Widmark) and Rocco Bonaro (Harry Guardino), allowed small-time hood Barney Benesch (Steve Ihnat) to get the drop on them, steal their guns, and escape while they were trying to pick him up for questioning at the request of Brooklyn detectives -- and Benesch is now a suspect in that earlier murder in Brooklyn. Madigan has other problems, including the fact that the commissioner -- his ex-captain -- doesn't trust him, always believing him to be a loose cannon who has taken advantage of the badge in accepting favors and cutting corners where peoples' rights were concerned. Madigan also has a beautiful, upwardly mobile wife (Inger Stevens) who loves him but can't abide all the time his job takes him away from her or crimps her socializing; and he has never fully gotten over Jonesy (Sheree North), a saloon singer he knew before he was married. Madigan and Bonaro are given 72 hours to bring in Benesch and begin beating the bushes for leads. They get help from "Midget" Castiglione (Michael Dunn), a bookmaker and an old enemy of Benesch's, and a nervous, long-haired punk named Hughie (Don Stroud). While the clock ticks away on Madigan's and Bonaro's careers, the commissioner must decide how to deal with Kane, whose father -- also a police officer -- was like his own, and he must also fathom how a four-star chief could be involved with anything as tawdry as pressuring a tavern owner. Russell genuinely believes that there must be "one standard, one rule" for any member of the department, but in the course of this one weekend, he finds this notion shattered by what he discovers about Madigan, King, and himself. Meanwhile, Benesch is still on the loose, acting like a complete psycho and a threat to anyone who crosses his path. Russell's and Madigan's paths finally cross personally, as the detective proves -- and the commissioner discovers -- just how good a cop he is. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Ex-lawman turned rancher Jed Cooper (Clint Eastwood) is moving a small herd of cattle when a group of nine men on horseback, led by Captain Wilson (Ed Begley Sr.), ride up and accuse him of having stolen the cattle and killed their owner. Refusing to believe his account, they string him up by the neck and leave him for dead, but they don't do the job right. Cooper is dangling there, barely alive, a few minutes later when Deputy U.S. Marshal Bliss (Ben Johnson) spots him and cuts him down. He survives the next few days in Bliss' tumbleweed wagon with the other prisoners, and is later cleared of any wrongdoing and released by Judge Fenton (Pat Hingle), just in time to witness the hanging of the man who really murdered the owner of the cattle and took Cooper's money. Cooper still wants revenge on the nine men who tried to hang him, but Fenton insists that he leave the bringing of them to justice to his deputy marshals. As it happens, Fenton is in desperate need of deputy marshals for the territory that he oversees, and he also knows that Cooper was a good lawman. Cooper, in turn, is now broke and in need of a job, and does want to see justice done. They strike an uneasy bargain, Cooper agreeing to wear a badge and bring in the men he's looking for -- alive -- for trial. The latter proves easier said than done, however, when the first of them that he spots tries to draw on him when he makes the arrest. One of the hanging party, Jenkins (Bob Steele), soon turns himself in and provides the names of the others. Cooper takes Stone (Alan Hale Jr.) alive, but the hapless blacksmith is later shot by the local sheriff (Charles McGraw) while trying to escape. The other men, led by Wilson, have no intention of dying, or even being brought to trial, without a fight. Two of them go on the run out of the territory, while Wilson and two of the others decide to take the law into their own hands once again. Meanwhile, Cooper becomes a hero when he single-handedly brings back a trio of rustlers who are also guilty of murder. This leads to Cooper's first confrontation with Judge Fenton, who, in a gripping scene, explains why it is essential that he be as seemingly quick to hang a man as he is. Unless the people are convinced that the law will do its job -- including hanging men who deserve it -- they will keep taking the law into their own hands and there will be more lynch mobs like the one that tried to kill Cooper. In the course of his quest for justice, Cooper also makes the acquaintance of Rachel (Inger Stevens), a young woman with her own search for justice, haunted by her own ghosts, and the two of them are drawn together, no more so than when Wilson and two of the others try to gun Cooper down in cold blood. The final confrontation between Cooper and Wilson escalates in violence to its savage, irony-laced conclusion. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

A serial killer is on the loose in San Francisco, and five victims--all women--have already been claimed. Ironside (Raymond Burr) suspects that the most recent killing was not committed by the same maniac who bumped off the previous four victims, but by a different person who was using the murder spree to cover his tracks. The episode's climax finds youthful policewoman Eve Whitfield (Barbara Anderson) donning old-age makeup to flush out the villain. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Henry Hathaway's film is based on a character from Harold Robbins' The Carpetbaggers, who, in turn, based it on cowboy actor Ken Maynard. Set in the West of the 1890s, the film opens with the torture and murder of the parents of Max Sand (Steve McQueen) by a trio of gunslingers seemingly motivated by their hostility toward the mixed nature of the marriage, since the wife is a Native American. Swearing revenge, the young cowhand enlists the help of itinerant gunsmith Jonas Cord Brian Keith, who teaches him how to shoot while counseling against revenge. Nonetheless, Sand doggedly scours one town after the other before finally running up against one of the murderers, Jesse Coe (Martin Landau). He finally kills Coe in a vicious knife fight, but is severely wounded himself and has to be nursed back to health by Neesa (Janet Margolin), a young Kiowa woman. He next heads for Louisiana where another of the murderous trio, Bill Bowdre (Arthur Kennedy), is serving a prison sentence in a remote swamp. In order to get close to the man, Sand stages a robbery, and is soon among the prison inmates. This was the only film on which McQueen worked with Landau, the only other person admitted to the Actor's Studio out of thousands of applicants in 1957. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide

LeBeau, Newkirk, and Carter are captured by the Gestapo and held for interrogation. To free his comrades, Hogan hatches a scheme whereby he must convince Sgt. Schultz to pose as Colonel Klink. The supporting cast includes Bert Freed as Major Bernsdorf and prolific TV writer/director James Frawley as the Gestapo captain. Written by Laurence Marks, "The Great Impersonation" made its network TV bow on February 4, 1966. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As the newly appointed local bounty hunter, Uncle Joe (Edgar Buchanan) threatens dire consequences should any lawbreakers cross his path. He gets his chance to prove his worth when two escaped convicts surface in the area. Upon meeting the two fugitives, Uncle Joe looks the men squarely in the eye--and faints. The bad guys are played by veteran movie gangster Marc Lawrence (who was still working in films as late as 2003!), and by comedian Paul "Mousie" Garner, erstwhile "backup" member of The Three Stooges. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide