David W. Harper Movies

Street gang member Jeff (Adam Baldwin) leaves the organization, seeking out a quieter existence. Meanwhile, gang leader Cinco (Danny De La Paz) and his minions have taken over the local high school, dispensing drugs with impunity. When Cinco is arrested, a rumor spreads that he's been sold out by Jeff. In the ensuing hostilities, Jeff's girlfriend (Deborah Foreman) is beaten and bloodied. A showdown is inevitable, and, per the film's title, it takes place just after the last school bell has rung. Filmed in 1984, 3:15 - The Moment of Truth wasn't released until 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The second of three TV-movie spinoffs of the long-running series The Waltons, Mother's Day on Walton's Mountain marked the return of actress Michael Learned in the role of Olivia Walton, a part she had relinquished when her contract expired one year before the original series' cancellation in 1981. Still consigned to a tuberculosis sanitorium, Olivia has only a few scenes in the film, though she does return to Walton Mountain in time to help her daughter Mary Ellen (Judy Norton-Taylor) weather a crisis. It appears as if Mary Ellen, newly wed to longtime beau Jonesy (Richard Gilliland) will be unable to have children, thanks to an auto accident; meanwhile, the rest of the Walton clan has problems of their own, including son Ben's (Eric Wilton) efforts to restore harmony between himself and his own wife Cindy (Leslie Winston). Of the original Waltons cast, only Richard Thomas, Ellen Corby and the late Will Geer were absent from the proceedings. Mother's Day on Walton's Mountain debuted May 9, 1982, on NBC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The ninth and final season of The Waltons opens with the series 200th episode, in which John Walton (Ralph Waite) pays a visit to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in order to clear his black friend Harley Foster (Hal Williams) from a trumped-up criminal charge. As for the other resident of Walton Mountain, John's wife Olivia continues battling TB at a health spa in Arizona (actress Michael Learned is no longer a regular); oldest son John-Boy (Robert Wightman) has recovered from his wartime injuries and is working as a news correspondent in Paris. Another son, Ben (Eric Scott), has been captured by the enemy but is released when WW2 ends, whereupon he returns to his Viriginia home with plans of becoming an engineer. Not long after applying for medical school, daughter Mary Ellen (Judy Norton-Taylor) discovers that her husband Curt (Tom Bower), reported killed at Pearl Harbor, is still alive -- which puts her in quite a dilemma since in the intervening years she has fallen in love with another man. And son Jason (Jon Walmsley) is engaged to WAC Toni Hazelton (Lisa Harrison). With hostilies in Europe at an end, John-Boy returns to America to launch a new aspect of his journalistic career at an experimental college TV station; ultimately, however, he comes back to Walton mountain. As the series comes to a close, John Walton prepares to leave Virginia to join Olivia in Arizona -- but who will take charge of the family's lumber mill? ~ All Movie Guide

Having suffered a stroke which kept her from working throughout most of 1977 and 1978, Waltons regular Ellen Corby gallantly (albeitly briefly) returns to the role of Grandma Walton as the series inaugurates its seventh season. Unfortunately, Grandma is now a widow; actor Will Geer had died in April of 1978 -- and so, logically, did his series character, Grandpa Walton. Also missing from the series is oldest son John-Boy Walton, actor Richard Thomas having left the series to pursue other acting opportunities. Of the remaining Waltons, Mary Ellen (Judy Norton-Taylor) moves out of the family home and into an apartment with sister Erin (Mary Elizabeth McDonough), and later becomes addicted to prescription drugs while studying for his nursing finals. Brother Jason (Jon Walmsley), an aspiring entertainer, lands a platters-and-chatter job on a local radio station -- and with war clouds gathering (the year is 1941), he considers registering as a conscientious objector. Finally, Elizabeth Walton (Kami Cotler) turns 13, whereupon brother Jim-Bob (David W. Harper) valiantly offers to teach her to drive. Tragedy stalks the Waltons throughout Season Seven. Mary Ellen receives a letter from the war department, notifying her that husband Curt was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor; and Mary Ellen's mother Olivia (Michael Learned) contracts tuberculosis and heads to a sanitarium (this plot device was developed because actress Learned had announced her plan to leave the series -- at least as a regular). But on a happier note, Mary Ellen's brother Ben (Eric Scott) impulsively marries a cutie named Cindy Brunson (Leslie Winston). There was talk in the industry that the seventh season of The Waltons would be the last. In case this happened, the season's final episode "Founders Day" was cunningly written in a manner that it could serve as the series finale if the show did leave the air -- or could merely be just another episode if the property was renewed. ~ All Movie Guide

Season five of The Waltons finds the people of Jefferson County, VA, seguing from 1936 to 1937, the latter year pinpointed when aspiring journalist John-Boy Walton (Richard Thomas) covers the arrival -- and explosion -- of the dirigible Hindenburg in Lakehurst, NJ. No, John-Boy has not landed a job at one of the big-city rags; frustrated with being a mere employee, he has launched his own local newspaper, the "Blue Ridge Chronicle." No sooner has the first issue gone to press than John-Boy finds himself up to his neck in controversy, thanks to his decision to warn the locals of the ever-growing Nazi threat in Germany by publishing excerpts of Hitler's Mein Kampf. Meanwhile, John-Boy's sister Mary Ellen (Judy Norton-Taylor) is now a student nurse, nearly ending her medical career before it begins by making a potentially fatal prescription error. On a somewhat happier note, Mary Ellen is being squired by several handsome young doctors, one of whom, David Spencer, asks her to become his bride. But just before the wedding ceremony, Mary Ellen realizes her heart belongs to Dr. Curt Willard (Tom Bower), and it is he to whom she ultimately says "I do." Elsewhere on the romantic scene, Mary Ellen's younger sister Erin (Mary Beth McDonough) impulsively elopes with a former boyfriend; eventually she comes to her senses and returns home, just in time to graduate from high school. As for the other Walton men, dad John (Ralph Waite) has a falling out with wife Olivia (Michael Learned) -- and everyone else in the family, for that matter -- when he refuses to be baptized; rebellious son Ben (Eric Scott) once again looks for work outside the family's lumber mill; and idealistic son Jason (Jon Walmsley), sensing that the war clouds are gathering in Europe, joins the National Guard. In the last episode of the season, John-Boy leaves Virginia and heads to New York in hopes of getting his novel published -- and thus does series regular Richard Thomas leave The Waltons as a regular, though he will return for a trio of guest appearances in season six. ~ All Movie Guide

Set in Jefferson County, VA, in the year 1935 or thereabouts, season three of The Waltons opens with the two-parter "The Conflict," in which oldest Walton son, John-Boy (Richard Thomas), is shot while trying to protect a relative. Fortunately he survives the ordeal and is packed off to his freshman year at Boatwright College right on schedule. Meanwhile, John-Boy's mother, Olivia (Michael Learned), considers enrolling in art school, and his 15-year-old sister Mary Ellen (Judy Norton Taylor) makes the decision to become a nurse. Of the many individual story strands, there are a few standouts, notably the episode in which Grandpa and Grandma Walton (Will Geer and Ellen Corby) move off the family mountain after an argument with son John (Ralph Waite); and at season's end, John is working himself into pneumonia while trying to keep his lumber mill active and prosperous in the depths of the depression. Also, the Waltons draw even closer together than unusual when Grandpa suffers a heart attack; and Ronnie Claire Edwards becomes a regular in the role of Corabeth Godsey, the alcoholic wife of storekeeper Ike Godsey (Joe Conley). ~ All Movie Guide

Introduced to viewers in the 1971 TV movie The Homecoming: A Christmas Story, the Walton family of Jefferson County, VA, began showing up on a weekly basis as The Waltons had its first season. In the middle of the Great Depression (1934 or thereabouts), the Waltons, headed by dad John (Ralph Waite) and mom Olivia (Michael Learned), manage to keep home and hearth together with income from the lumber mill run by John and his father Zeb (Will Geer), better known as Grandpa to the seven Walton youngsters. Grandpa of course lives on Walton mountain with the rest of the brood, as does his wife Esther (Ellen Corby, aka "Grandma"). The season's episodes are narrated by series creator Earl Hamner Jr., who recalls the events through the eyes of the Walton's oldest son John-Boy (Richard Thomas), a high-school student who aspires to be a writer. The remaining Walton kids include Mary Ellen (Judy Norton-Taylor), Jim-Bob (David W. Harper), Elizabeth (Kami Cotler), Jason (Jon Walmsley), Erin (Mary Beth McDonough), and Ben (Eric Scott).

Among the other regulars introduced during the series' freshman season are the Reverend Matthew Fordwick (John Ritter), who makes his first appearance in the episode titled "The Sinner;" schoolteacher Rosemary Hunter (Mariclare Costello), not yet Mrs. Fordwick; and storekeeper Ike Godsey (Joe Conley), Sheriff Bridges (John Crawford), town gossips Mamie and Emily Baldwin (Helen Kleeb, Mary Jackson), and the Walton's black neighbor Verdie Grant (Lynn Hamilton). In the opening episode "The Foundling," the Waltons briefly take care of a little deaf girl. In subsequent episodes, the kids try to hide the family calf when John decides to sell it, John-Boy has a crisis of conscience when he goes on his first hunt, the family wins the confidence of a tough street kid who has run away from a nearby CCC camp, a group of Jewish refugees show up on Walton's Mountain after fleeing Nazis, Mary Ellen is smitten by a wandering troubador, schoolteacher Miss Hunter risks her job by teaching Evolution, and Sissy Spacek guest stars as a troubled young girl who tries to trap John-Boy into marriage. In the two-episode season finale "The Easter Story," the family is plunged into despair when Olivia Walton is stricken with polio. ~ All Movie Guide

Chevy Chase added a classic comic hero to the film landscape with Fletch, one of his few truly popular star vehicles in a famously misguided post-Saturday Night Live career. Chase plays Irwin M. Fletcher, known to everyone as Fletch, a Los Angeles Lakers-loving investigative reporter with a gleeful disdain for deadlines and a knack for pushing the buttons of his frustrated editor (Richard Libertini). He's also known for donning numerous disguises and assuming zany false identities to help gain information. While pursuing an ongoing story about a powerful drug dealer who operates from Venice Beach, he comes across an intriguing offshoot in which he becomes intimately involved. Aviation executive Alan Stanwyk (Tim Matheson) has an unusual proposition for Fletch: If Fletch agrees to an elaborate plan to kill him, for reasons Stanwyk refuses to divulge beyond explaining that he has bone cancer, Fletch will walk away with a healthy sum of money and a plane ticket to Brazil. Curious yet suspicious by profession, Fletch begins investigating Stanwyk's true motives, which leads him through numerous misadventures. Among them are a visit to a stuffy country club; a high-speed car chase with an unwitting passenger; repeat encounters with Stanwyk's wife (Dana Wheeler-Nicholson), although she may not be his only one; and a trip to Provo -- that's Utah, not Spain. Inspired by a novel of the same name by Gregory McDonald, Fletch went from thriller to comedy as it was adapted into a vehicle for Chase. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide