Clarence Gilyard, Jr. Movies

At long last, taciturn Texas Ranger Cord Walker (Chuck Norris) and Assistant D.A. Alex Cahill (Sheree J. Wilson) have gotten married, as Walker, Texas Ranger launches its ninth and final season. Alas, a pall is cast over the couple's happiness when Walker's closest friend, C.D. (Noble Willingham), is mysteriously killed. More disturbing still is the revelation that C.D.'s death is a part of a campaign of terror waged by a vicious killer who has sprung several other criminals from a maximum security prison, for the purpose of knocking off as many Texas Rangers as possible -- with Walker saved for last. Among the victims of this vendetta is Walker's partner Jimmy Trivette (Clarence Gilyard Jr.), though he manages to survive. In the series finale, Walker and a very pregnant Alex visit Jimmy in the hosptial, where Alex suddenly goes into labor, giving birth to a baby daughter. Once again, however, the couple's happiness may be short-lived -- literally so, when the assassin who has been decimating the Rangers shows up with a grenade strapped to his belt, intent upon blowing everyone whom the audience cares about to kingdom come! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season eight of Walker, Texas Ranger resolves the cliffhanger finale of season seven, as Cord Walker (Chuck Norris), his partner Jimmy Trivette (Clarence Gilyard Jr.), his fiancée Alex Cahill (Sheree J. Wilson), and his best friend C.D. (Noble Willingham) survive a harrowing plane crash. The trick now is to get back to Dallas in time to prevent elusive serial killer Thomas Openshaw (Stephen McHattie) from being released for lack of evidence. Once this crisis is resolved, Walker and Alex begin a season-long preparation for their marriage, which will occur during the two-part season eight finale (we hope). Meanwhile, Walker's crime-fighting team has taken in two new members: undercover police officers (and masters of disguise) Francis Gage (Judson Mills) and Sydney Cooke (Nia Peeples). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The cliffhanger that ended season six of Walker, Texas Ranger is resolved at the outset of season seven, as Assistant D.A. Alex Cahill (Sheree J. Wilson), longtime sweetheart of taciturn Texas Ranger Cord Walker (Chuck Norris), makes a full recovery after being shot down by an old enemy. This is doubly good news for Walker: not only has Alex survived, but she allows him to finish his marriage proposal, which of course she accepts. Walker himself has a lot of problems with former nemeses who show up with scores to settle during this season. Additionally, he crosses swords (and karate kicks) with Satanist child abductors, a radical splinter group from the IRA, a dangerously "creative" pedophile, and a deadly family of inbred hillbillies. One episode, "Paradise Trail," allows Chuck Norris to play the dual role of Cord Walker and his 19th century counterpart, lawman Hayes Cooper (a character he'd essayed in earlier episodes, and whose significance would ultimately be explained in the series finale two years later). In another episode, "Brothers-in-Arms," Walker's partner Jimmy Trivette (Clarence Gilyard Jr.) finds himself on the horns of a dilemma when his own brother Simon (Grand L. Bush) is ordered to kill him! Midway through the season, two Walker, Texas Ranger supporting characters, Dallas detective Carlos Sandoval (Marco Sanchez) and karate instructor Trent Malloy (James Wlcek) would be spun off into their own private eye series, the short-lived Sons of Thunder -- the pilot of which had been seen as a Walker episode two years earlier! In the nail-biting season finale, Walker, Trivette, Alex, and Walker's old friend C.D. (Noble Willingham) are transporting evidence vital to the conviction of elusive serial killer Thomas Openshaw (Stephen McHattie) when suddenly their plane crashes, leaving their ultimate fate unresolved...until the following season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season five of Walker, Texas Ranger finds unsmiling, karate-kicking Cord Walker (Chuck Norris) settling accounts with all manner of criminals and lowlifes, aided and abetted by his partner, Ranger Jimmy Trivette (Clarence Gilyard Jr.). While Walker's girlfriend, Assistant D.A. Alex Cahill (Sheree J. Wilson), cannot entirely approve of his methods, she cannot entirely disapprove of them either -- especially in light of how many times Walker has saved her life in past seasons! This year, in addition to the standard, garden-variety crooks, Walker must go after his own when a renegade trio of vigilante cops begin taking down the innocent as well as the guilty. In another episode, Walker's prey is the world's most dangerous assassin, who has seemingly had a hand in every major political killing in the past thirty years (he might even been that "second gunman" on the Grassy Knoll). Later on, Walker goes on a personal crusade to destroy the man who shot his fiancée a decade earlier, and who intends to take advantage of an early pardon by killing off Trivette and Alex -- to say nothing of Walker's best friend C.D. Parker (Noble Willingham). One two-part story, "Sons of Thunder," serves to establish the personalities of two recurring characters: Walker's friend, Dallas detective Carlos Sandoval (Marco Sanchez), and Walker's former karate student Trent Malloy (Jimmy Wlcek), now the owner of a martial arts school. This two-parter was planned as a pilot for a spin-off series which was to have featured Sandoval and Malloy as partners in a private eye agency. As it turned out, Carlos and Trent remained on Walker, Texas Ranger as semi-regulars for the next two seasons -- at least until the series version of Sons of Thunder was finally launched in the spring of 1999. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season three of Walker, Texas Ranger finds the title character, taciturn martial arts expert Cord Walker (Chuck Norris), utilizing strong arm methods rather than such namby-pamby methods as due process to mete out justice to robbers, kidnappers, pornographers, con artists and hijackers. This season he not only pummels and kicks homegrown miscreants, but also members of the Yazuka, the Japanese version of the Mafia. Also, the two-part episode "Flashback" affords viewers a tantalizing glimpse into Walker's Old West heritage. While Walker, his partner Jimmy Trivette (Clarence Gilyard Jr.), his assistant-D.A. girlfriend Alex Cahill (Sheree J. Wilson), and his best pal C.D. Parker (Noble Willingham) manage to survive the year intact despite all manner of assaults on their persons, season three turns out to be the last for Walker's Native American uncle and spiritual guide, Ray Firewalker (Floyd Red Crow Westerman). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Introduced as a two-hour TV movie, the long-running modern Western Walker, Texas Ranger was given a three-week trial run in the spring of 1993 -- which, one supposes, qualifies as the series' first season. In the movie-length pilot, the partner of taciturn Texas Ranger Cord Walker (Chuck Norris) is killed in a bank robbery. As he tracks down the murderers to exact his own special brand of vengeance (which is generally dispensed with karate chops and kicks), Walker learns that the robbery was only a rehearsal for a more ambitious scheme to knock over four banks simultaneously. The series' extremely short debut season not only establishes the character of Walker, but also that of his new partner, Ranger Jimmy Trivette (Clarence Gilyard Jr.). A former football pro whose knee has gone bad, Trivette may have grown up in the mean streets of Baltimore, but he prefers more scientific and court-approved peacekeeping methods than Walker, who if not reigned in by his sagacious Native American uncle Roy Firewalker (Floyd Red Crow Westerman) would just as soon exercise the old Scriptural prerogative of "an eye for an eye." Also introduced in the three earliest episodes is Dallas assistant D.A. Alex Cahill (Sheree J. Wilson), who is very fond of Walker, but not of his methods. Rounding out the regulars is Walker's best buddy, ex-Ranger C.D. Parker, played by Gailard Sartain in the pilot and by Noble Willingham thereafter. Having retired from the service after getting a bullet in the knee, C.D. has opened up his own restaurant/bar, which will serve as the favorite gathering place for Walker, Trivette, and Alex for the balance of the series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Karate-champion-turned-movie-star Chuck Norris was ideally cast as the title character in the contemporary Western series, Walker, Texas Ranger. Introduced as a two-hour TV movie on April 21, 1983, the weekly, hour-long CBS series starred Norris as Cordell Walker, who worked out of the Dallas office of the Texas Rangers with his youthful partner, Baltimore-born former football pro Jimmy Trivette (Clarence Gilyard Jr.). While Jimmy, like his superiors, preferred to rely upon modern crime fighting techniques -- computers, forensic science, strict adherence to civil liberties and due process -- the impassive, taciturn Walker was generally of the opinion that criminals were subhuman scum, worthy only of a slug in the face or a kick in the groin. Kicking, in fact, was a Walker specialty, notably whenever he came within close proximity of a locked door or bolted window. Though she didn't always approve of his methods, Walker's off-and-on girlfriend, assistant D.A. Alex Cahill (Sheree J. Wilson), admired his strong sense of justice and fair play, especially when protecting those weaker than himself. Too, Alex found Walker extremely handy whenever she got kidnapped, which seemed to happen at the rate of once every other week! Despite his loyalty to his friends, those close to Walker remained so at their own risk, inasmuch as the bad guys were not above hurting them to get to him. Others within Walker's orbit included his old pal C.D. Parker (Noble Willingham), a former Ranger who, after being invalidated out of the service, opened up a restaurant; Uncle Ray Firewalker (Floyd Red Crow Westerman), the sagacious old Native American who raised Walker from childhood and had taught him the value of restraint and contemplation -- unless of course, violence was absolutely called for; Carlos Sandoval (Marco Sanchez), an undercover detective who owed his life to Walker; and Walker's former martial arts student Trent Malloy (James Wlcek), who owned a karate school (and who, teamed with Carlos Sandoval, was briefly spun off into his own TV series, Sons of Thunder). During the series' final seasons, undercover Rangers Francis Gage (Judson Mills) and Sydney Cooke (Nia Peeples) linked up with Walker's team. In the course of events, Uncle Ray Firewalker passed away; C.D. Parker was killed by a band of elusive assassins who intended to work their way up to Walker in their efforts to knock off every Texas Ranger in Dallas; and in the series' seventh season, Walker and Alex became engaged, with wedding bells ringing at the end of season eight and the birth of a baby daughter in the final episode. After ending its CBS run on July 28, 2001, Walker, Texas Ranger launched what was apparently an endless rerun cycle in syndication and on cable. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this feature-length episode of the long-running television show, America's canniest Southern lawyer (Andy Griffith) and his faithful assistant and daughter Leanne (Brynn Thayer) discover a disturbing link between Matlock's dead father and a four-decade-old unsolved murder. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this episode of the long-running courtroom drama, Matlock must prove that he is not responsible for murdering a Los Angeles judge. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Inmates of a particularly violent prison stage a murder trial and hire Matlock to assist them. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

It's Christmas time in L.A., and there's an employee party in progress on the 30th floor of the Nakatomi Corporation building. The revelry comes to a violent end when the partygoers are taken hostage by a group of terrorists headed by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman), who plan to steal the 600 million dollars locked in Nakatomi's high-tech safe. In truth, Gruber and his henchmen are only pretending to be politically motivated to throw the authorities off track; also in truth, Gruber has no intention of allowing anyone to get out of the building alive. Meanwhile, New York cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) has come to L.A. to visit his estranged wife, Holly (Bonnie Bedelia), who happens to be one of the hostages. Disregarding the orders of the authorities surrounding the building, McClane, who fears nothing (except heights), takes on the villains, armed with one handgun and plenty of chutzpah. Until Die Hard came along, Bruce Willis was merely that wisecracking guy on Moonlighting. After the film's profits started rolling in, Willis found himself one of the highest-paid and most sought-after leading men in Hollywood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This sequel to the 1984 surprise hit The Karate Kid reunites Ralph Macchio as high-schooler Danny and Noriyuki "Pat" Morita as Danny's martial-arts mentor Miyagi. Picking up where the first film left off, The Karate Kid Part II finds Danny and Miyagi making an emergency trip to Okinawa, where Miyagi's father is dying. Here they revisit Miyagi's childhood sweetheart Nobu McCarthy who, Miyagi believes, had been wheedled into an arranged marriage with loose-cannon karate expert Sato (Danny Kamekona). Little does Miyagi realize that the woman is still single; Sato is still around as well, however, and intent on resuming the fight with his old nemesis. Morita agrees; meanwhile, Danny is challenged by Kamekona's pugnacious nephew Yuji Okumoto. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide