Lisa Hartman Movies
The daughter of a lounge singer, Lisa Hartman grew up watching in fascination as audiences responded to her dad's nightclub act. Despite a peripatetic childhood, Hartman was determined to pursue a showbiz career as soon as she was old enough. She fronted a Houston rock band at 16, and headed to LA three years later, where she recorded her first album. It went directly to the one-dollar bin, but Hartman was only slightly fazed by this early failure; if the musical world didn't want her just yet, there were always modelling jobs and TV commercials. Her first TV series was 1977's Tabitha, a foredoomed attempt to bring the Bewitched baby into the adult world of giggles and jiggles. After several ups and down, Hartman was cast as saloon songstress Ciji on the nighttime serial Knot's Landing (1982). Ciji was eventually killed off, but Hartman was back on the series within months as a Ciji look-alike, waitress Cathy Geary. Though this series would firmly establish Hartman as one of TV's best "bad girls," she was able to take a few sabbaticals from villainy, notably as host of the syndicated magazine series Cover Story. Lisa Hartman has remained in the public eye into the 1990s, chiefly as the wife (and frequent singing partner) of country-western star Clint Black. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1981
This is the made-for-TV version of the romantic drama that chronicles the exploits of a group of glamorous women caught up in the entertainment industry. This version contains material author Jacqueline Susann omitted from her original novel. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1981
- R
Deadly Blessing, a disappointing effort from famed horror-film director Wes Craven, tells the story of a woman's fight against a religious cult which will not stop at murder. Martha (Maren Jensen) lives alone near a conservative, repressive religious cult led by Isaiah (Ernest Borgnine). Martha's husband was murdered under mysterious circumstances after he left the cult. Martha and her two visiting friends Vicky (Susan Buckner) and Lana (Sharon Stone) find themselves being pressured to live in the area and they begin having nightmares and accidents. Soon more murders begin, and the woman fear for their lives. Craven gets good performances from his cast and bases his plot on the interesting premise of persecution and retribution, but the unsatisfying and implausible ending ruins what suspense he has built. While on the whole, the film is a failure, it has outstanding cinematography by Robert Jessup and a beautiful score composed by James Horner. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maren Jensen, Susan Buckner, (more)
- 1980
Where the Ladies Go is a TV movie set in a white-bread Oklahoma town, where most of the housewives suffer from terminal boredom. Good ol' boy Earl Holliman comes to the rescue by establishing the El Fidel, a bar which is open from 9 AM to 3 PM, or "ladies' hours." Karen Black, Candy Clark and Lisa Hartman are among the ladies who frequent the El Fidel, which, considering what goes on during business hours, could well have been renamed the "El Infidel." While the Southern accents come and go depending upon the skills of the individual actresses, the film maintains a fairly even entertainment keel. Where the Ladies Go was written by Carol Sobieski, who scripted many a "female bonding" TV flick of the 1980s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1980
In this made-for-TV farce, the urban phenomenon of the traffic jam and the effect it has on the lives of the participants is examined. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1980
- PG
For a film that barely received a theatrical release, Just Tell Me You Love Me has certainly gotten an inordinate amount of television exposure over the last decade. Could this have anything to do with the presence of Lisa Hartman in the cast? Whatever the case, the film is an extremely laid-back tale of three young confidence tricksters, working the resort towns. The larcenous threesome ply their trade on unsuspecting business executives, with the expected conners-get-conned-themselves results. Hardly a film of significance, Just Tell Me You Love Me is a pleasant time filler if you've got nothing else to do on a Saturday afternoon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1980
The made-for-TV Valentine Magic on Love Island was accurately dismissed by one reviewer as a "bubble headed brew of I Dream of Jeannie and a Club Med Vacation." Janis Paige stars as Madge, a benign sorceress who runs a lavish tropical resort with the help of her nephew Jimmy (Christopher Knight) and niece Cheryl (Dominique Dunne). Through mystical, magical means of her own (manifested in a bouquet of enchanted roses), Madge sets about to transform eight of her unattached hotel guests into four loving couples. Naturally, the supporting cast is top-heavy with celebrity guest stars, among them Adrienne Barbeau, who was seen in one of the two Fantasy Island pre-series specials, and Bill Daily, an alumnus of the aforementioned I Dream of Jeannie. The pilot for an unsold weekly series, Valentine Magic on Love Island first aired February 15, 1980, on NBC; in syndication, it was retitled simply Magic on Love Island, apparently to avoid the "holiday special" onus. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
Making its ABC bow on September 10, 1977, after two preview pilot episodes on April 24, 1976, and May 7, 1977, Tabitha was a spin-off of the popular fantasy sitcom Bewitched (previously seen on the same network from 1964 to 1972). The title character was the daughter of sexy witch Samantha Stevens and her mortal husband, Darrin Stevens. Tabitha was "born" on Bewitched in 1966 and later played by child actress Erin Murphy. Although by rights Tabitha Stevens should have been at most eleven years old when her own series debuted, she was redefined as a grown woman in her early twenties -- and accordingly, was played by adult actress Lisa Hartman. The 1976 pilot episode, which starred Liberty Williams, had Tabitha working as an editorial assistant at a trendy San Francisco magazine. In the series itself, Tabitha was employed as a production assistant on the L.A.-based talk show "The Paul Thurston Show." Though she kept her magical witch powers (inherited from mom Samantha) under wraps for the most part, Tabitha could and did conjure up a spell or two to get herself and her co-workers out of various jams. The supporting cast featured a pre-Vega$, pre-Spenser Robert Urich as the vainglorious, thick-witted Paul Thurston; Mel Stewart as Tabitha's boss, TV producer Marvin Decker; David Ankrum as Tabitha's younger brother, Adam, who, unlike his sister, had no magical powers, but who knew Tabitha's "secret," and did a good job keeping it; and Karen Morrow as Tabitha's Aunt Minerva, a flighty full-fledged witch who enjoyed casting spells on the doltish Thurston. Although Adam and Aunt Minerva were carryover characters from Bewitched, they were not played by the original actors. Conversely, Bewitched veteran Bernard Fox occasionally reprised his famous role as wacky Dr. Bombay, the witches' favorite general practitioner. Only 12 half-hour episodes of Tabitha were seen before ABC made the series vanish into thin air on January 14, 1978. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lisa Hartman, Robert Urich, (more)
- 1977
A kidnapping plot includes 5 women along with the last 2 games of the baseball World Series. ~ All Movie Guide
