Richard Hatch Movies
A graduate of the ABC daytime drama All My Children, Richard Hatch managed to get off on the wrong foot with critics and audiences alike with his first starring prime-time TV role. In 1976, Hatch replaced Michael Douglas on the long-running cop series The Streets of San Francisco. Before the ink was dry on the contract, Hatch was issuing public complaints about the shortcomings of his character, inspector Dan Robbins. This might have been excused as the youthful hubris, but then Hatch took his beloved co-star Karl Malden to task for giving him acting advice on the set. Not altogether surprisingly, Hatch was the subject of fewer and fewer interviews and articles after Streets was cancelled in 1977. He tried to attain film stardom, but things like Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen (1980) were enough to scuttle anyone's career. Luckily, Richard Hatch was able to garner a fan following with his role as Apollo on the 1979 sci-fi series Battlestar Gallactica; he also delivered a superb performance as Jan of Jan and Dean in the 1978 TV biopic Dead Man's Curve. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1978
Crashlanding on the Cylon garrison planet Trillion, Starbuck is "rescued" by a group of children -- the only surviving human inhabitants of the planet. It soon develops that the kids comprise a guerilla organization, led by their father. In order to ransom their dad from his Cylon captors, the youngsters are willing to use Starbuck as a bargaining chip. This episode, originally scheduled to air on November 12, 1978, was later combined with the Battlestar Galactica episode "Murder on the Rising Star" and reissued as the two-hour "TV movie" Murder in Space. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict, (more)
- 1978
The Cylons capture Starbuck after he left the Galactica due to murder accusations. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1978
Deadman's Curve is a made-for-TV biography concerning "California sound" rock-n-rollers Jan and Dean. Richard Hatch plays Jan Berry, while Bruce Davison is seen as Dean Torrence. The meat of the story is Jan's grueling efforts to fully recover from a disastrous 1966 auto accident. The film's most powerful scene occurs when the still-shaky Jan attempts a concert comeback, only to be booed offstage when the audience realizes that he's lip-synching. First telecast February 3, 1978, Deadman's Curve is seasoned with cameo appearances by Dick Clark, Wolfman Jack, and Beach Boys Mike Love and Bruce Johnson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1978
In this episode from the Battlestar Galactica sci-fi TV series, the starship is lead toward a deadly Cylon base by a mysterious transmission. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1978
The "Battlestar Galactica" television series produces this adventure with a starship crew coming cross earthlings in suspended animation. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1978
The Galactica's landing pods are set ablaze by a Cylon suicide attack. Adama (Lorne Greene) is seriously injured, and Boxey (Noah Hathaway) and Athena (Maren Jensen) are trapped on board the battlestar. Although Apollo (Richard Hatch) and Starbuck (Dirk Benedict) make a daring and treacherous spacewalk to save their comrades, it ultimately falls to Boomer (Herbert Jefferson Jr.) to rescue everyone. "Fire in Space" was later combined with the Battlestar Galactica episode "The Magnificent Warriors" and reissued as the two-hour "TV movie" Curse of the Cylons. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict, (more)
- 1978
In this episode of the Battlestar Glactica TV sci-fi series, the giant space colony catches fire and the crew must restock the supplies at a planet. They are opposed by the planet's natives, the scary Boray monsters. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1976
Even after all these decades, there remain those loyal Streets of San Francisco fans who argue that the series would have survived long past it fifth and final season had there not occurred a radical (and somewhat controversial) casting change. Though Karl Malden remained on the job during Season Five as veteran SFPD homicide detective Mike Stone, Michael Douglas, cast as Stone's youthful partner, Inspector Steve Keller, would exit the series after the spectacular, star-studded two-part season opener in order to focus his energies on producing the Oscar-winning theatrical feature One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (On the series, it was explained that Steve Keller had retired from active duty to teach a college criminology class). Keller's replacement was another young idealist, albeit a tad handsomer and more athletic, Inspector Dan Robbins, played by Richard Hatch (not the future American Idol contestant!) Despite the best efforts of the series' writers and directors, Stone and Robbins never developed the same warm rapport that had been the hallmark of the Stone-Keller relationship, nor were Michael Douglas' legions of fans satisfied with his relatively unknown replacement. For this and several other reasons (including the stiff competition of CBS' Barnaby Jones, the ratings of Streets of San Francisco tanked during its fifth year on the air, and was cancelled after 119 episodes in September of 1977 (the series had previously gone on brief hiatus in the spring of that year to make room for a new ABC drama, Westside Medical. In fairness to Richard Hatch, his character did have a few memorable moments, notably the episode in which Robbins falls in love with a "bleeding-heart" public defender, played by a pre-Lou Grant Linda Kelsey. This year's "cast-against-type" candidates include Susan Dey of The Partridge Family and Maureen McCormick of The Brady Bunch, respectively portraying a baby-faced urban terrorist and 16-year-old call girl. And as in seasons past, the series provided a good showcase for young players on their way up: Mark Hamill as a street-gang member, Carl Weathers as a cop, Don Johnson as a reckless motorcycle cop, and, best of all, future "Governator" Arnold Schwarzenegger as a short-tempered professional bodybuilder who turns lethal whenever someone makes fun of him! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
The eponymous best friends are Jesse (Richard Hatch) and Pat (Doug Chapin). Buxom Kathy Suzanne Benton swivels into the scene, sorely testing Jesse and Pat's friendship. The film should not be confused with the 1982 Burt Reynolds vehicle of the same title. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Hatch, Susanne Benton, (more)
- 1975
The Waltons are advised of the plight of their city-dwelling relative Wade (Richard Hatch), whose marriage is on the brink of collapse. Convinced that Wade has been stepping out with other women, Wade's wife Vera (Lindsay V. Jones) tales refuge in the Walton home. The good news is that Wade is not cheating on Vera, merely working overtime to make ends meet: the bad news is that Wade's new job involves running illegal moonshine! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
The long-standing blood feud between the Hatfield family of West Virginia and the McCoy clan of Kentucky is effectively dramatized in this made-for-TV movie. Jack Palance and Steve Forrest star as the family's respective patriarches, Devil Anse Hatfield and Randall McCoy. Remaining faithful to the facts (more so than the 1949 Sam Goldwyn production Roseanne McCoy), the film charts the fluctuating relationship between the two warring factions -- sometimes they actually made overtures of peace, which of course didn't last too long -- as well as the star-crossed romance between Devil Anse's daughter Rose Ann (Karen Lamm) and Randall's son Johnse (Richard Hatch). Featured in the cast are Palance's former wife Virginia Baker as Devil Anse's present wife Levicy and his daughter Brooke as Mary Hatfield. The Hatfields and the McCoys first aired January 15, 1975. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
Season Three of The Waltons begins with the first half of a two-part story (originally telecast as a single, two-hour episode). The great Beulah Bondi (she was James Stewart's mom in It's a Wonderful Life) guest stars as Aunt Martha, the elderly sister of Grandpa Walton (Will Geer). The US Government has evicted Martha and her family from their home, which is slated for demolition to make way for the Blue Ridge Parkway. Although she has been compensated with a new house and patch of land, Martha refuses to budge--and Grandpa and John-Boy (Richard Thomas) are pressed into service to halt the Government construction crew in its tracks. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
In a strange blending of reality and fantasy, this is the story of F. Scott Fitzgerald's use of the creative process to try to work out and ameliorize his own marital difficulties, writing the fictional "The Last of the Belles" while trying to work out his own relationship with Zelda during WWI. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- 1974
In the conclusion of a two-part story (originally telecast as a single two-hour episode), the Walton men have gathered at the home of Grandpa Walton's elderly sister Martha (Beulah Bondi), whom the government has evicted in so as not to impede construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Although certain authorities have promised to reconsider the eviction, certain others go back on their word--and now the Waltons and the Feds are facing each other down, both sides fully armed. As the lone voice of reason in this standoff, John-Boy (Richard Thomas) does his best to avoid unnecessary bloodshed...only to be the first one caught in the crossfire! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
Crime Club was the umbrella title given a series of monthly mystery novels in the 1930s and 1940s. Several films and radio programs ostensibly based on "Crime Club" stories were produced during that same period. The title was revived for a TV pilot film in 1972; this time the "Crime Club" referred to a high-tech crime solving organization which numbered among its members a private detective, a federal agent, a policeman and a judge. In the pilot, the private eye (Lloyd Bridges) and the judge (Victor Buono) pool their skills to solve the murder of a fellow club member. The film failed to lead to a weekly series, but another Crime Club pilot was commissioned in 1975. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
