Don Brinkley Movies
- 1971
Warren Oates guest stars as Richie Billings, a professional thief who ends up the only survivor of a bloody armored car robbery. As he escapes to Canada with $50,000 in stolen money, Billings undergoes a radical personality change--and it may not be for the better. It is up to the FBI's Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist to prevent the "new" Billings from wreaking any more havoc. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1970
Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) is anxious to bring con artist Wesley Ziegler to justice. Specializing in fleecing wealthy, lonely women, Ziegler has recently added murder to his list of crimes--a fact that does not bode well for his latest pigeon, Jessica Bowling (Mariette Hartley). Appearing as one of the villain's former victims is Phyllis Kirk of House of Wax fame, in her final TV appearance before she forsook acting to become a producer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1970
The FBI suspects a trucking firm of being the front for a sophisticated hijacking ring. To get to the truth, Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) goes undercover as a truck driver, while Colby (William Reynolds), posing as an ex-con, lands a job with the firm as dispatcher. Inevitably, Colby's cover is blown--but this may prove less dangerous to him than to the head hijacker (Edward Binns), who has been set up for murder by one of his own "pals". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1970
Implicated in a major bond scam, George Breen (James Olson), an accountant in the employ of the Cosa Nostra, jumps bail and runs off to Portland with his wife Peggy (Linda Marsh) in tow. Complicating Breen's escape efforts is the fact that Peggy is pregnant, and due any moment. Worse still, a mob-connected relative is dogging the couple's trail, determined to kill George before the FBI can catch up with him. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1969
War hero Wally Shanks (Michael Witney) is the unwitting pawn in an extortion racket masterminded by his father-in-law, "respectable" banker Hal DeWitt (Richard Carlson). The crooks rely upon Wally to attract his fellow servicemen to DeWitt's finance company for loans, at which point they are all rejected and turned over to a bloodsucking loan-shark operation. Hoping to throw a monkey wrench in this scheme, FBI agent Colby (William Reynolds) poses as an ex-GI named Ed Loomis. This is the final episode of The F.B.I.'s fourth season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1969
Con artist Carl Beaumont (Steve Ihnat) and nurse Angela Reese (Joanna Moore) have worked out a "perfect" scam: Angela determines which of her female patients has the most money, whereupon Beaumont moves in and swindles the targeted lady out of her savings--then kills her before she can talk. Unfortunately for Beaumont, his most recent victim lived long enough to point FBI Inspector Lew Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr. in the right direction. But will Erskine be able to move quickly enough to save Beaumont's newest "mark", Sarah Whittaker (Mildred Dunnock), from sharing the same fate as the others? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1969
Michael Callan guest stars as Harry Springer, an otherwise honest salesman who becomes an amateur extortionist. Actually, Springer's intentions are honorable: He intends to save his brother from a trumped-up murder charge by putting the heat on Alexander York (Simon Scott), prosecution witness whom Harry suspects of being the real killer. Unfortunately, Springer gets in way over his head--and as a result, it's likely that not even Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) can save the salesman from a Mob rub-out. In a rare TV appearance, film favorite Laraine Day is cast as the murder suspect's wife. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1969
The FBI is called on the scene when the baby of prominent African American leader John Sheppard (Moses Gunn) is kidnapped. The abductors are an impoverished black couple, Ed and Nora Tobin (Billy Dee Williams, Denise Nicholas), whose actions were motivated by anger and frustration. Whether or not the Tobins intend to return their captive becomes a moot point as the baby faces a variety of life-threatening dangers in the couple's rat- and disease-infested ghetto apartment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1968
When his girlfriend is murdered in Golden Gate Park, Mark (Don Mitchell) is bound and determined to take the law in his own hands to catch the killer. As a result, Mark is himself held for murder when the chief suspect turns up dead. In his efforts to clear, Mark, Ironside (Raymond Burr) instills in his hotheaded associate a new and daunting respect for "due process." Former Dobie Gillis star Dwayne Hickman turns up in a supporting role, as does future Kung Fu and Kill Bill leading man David Carradine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1967
Robert Vaughn (Napoleon Solo) does not appear in this episode, wherein Illya and fellow agent Jules Cutter (Richard Beymer) re-enroll in U.N.C.L.E.'s secret island training school. The two spies conduct a search for a T.H.R.U.S.H. agent who has been planted amongst the trainees, and who has already committed murder to steal an important code book. The main suspects include Melissa Hargrove (Susan Odin), John Saimes (Chris Robinson), and a suspiciously mature trainee named Harry Williams (Charles McGraw). Scripted by Donald A. Brinkley and Jack Turley from a story by Brinkley, "The Survival School Affair" originally aired on November 20, 1967. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1967
Ironside (Raymond Burr) stage-manages an elaborate ruse to bring mob kingpin John Trask (a pre-Hawaii 5-0 Jack Lord) to justice. Hiding the fact that a gangster who'd planned to turn state's evidence has been murdered, Ironside leads Trask to believe that the dead witness is still alive and really to spill everything. The rest of the episode is a tense waiting game, with Ironside hoping that Trask's nervousness will lead who to take the proverbial "one false step". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1967
Escaped killer George Bellamy (Bradford Dillman) covers his tracks by setting a series of forest fires. Bellamy's strategy is to throw the FBI off the trail; while they're searching for an unknown arsonist, he will be able to flee the country. It is up to Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) to capture Bellamy before he sparks a final conflagration that will kill thousands of innocent people. Filmed on location in Angeles National Forest, this episode benefits from the strong supporting performances of TV stalwarts Lynda Day and Charles Grodin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1966
The title of this episode refers to the Virginia town which serves as the home of the FBI Training Academy. One of Quantico's most promising trainees is Charlie Hunter (Michael Callan), who'd grown up in a slum neighborhood with his mentally unbalanced cousin Willard Smith (Robert Walker Jr.). Upon learning that Willard is planning to blow up the Supreme Court Building with a homemade bomb, Charlie is faced with a dilemma that could cost him his career--to say nothing of his life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1966
Upon learning of the death of his father, fugitive Richard Kimble (David Janssen) arranges a secret meeting with his sister Donna (Jacqueline Scott) in Fort Wayne, Indiana. What Donna doesn't know is that her every move is being monitored by Mike Ballinger (James Daly), the prosecutor who presided over Kimble's murder trial. Figuring that something is afoot, Ballinger alerts Lt. Gerard (Barry Morse)--and it looks as if Kimble is finally going to be ensared in an inescapable trap. Lin McCarthy appears in this episode as the latest of several actors cast as Donna's long-suffering husband Len Taft. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1965
Though he would frequently be cast in later FBI episodes as a crime victim, David Macklinis here seen as a the heavy of the piece, a deranged teenager named Howard "Howdy" Collier. After blowing up a freight train with a homemade time bomb, Howdy threatens to destroy a passenger train if he isn't paid a ransom of $100,000. To locate the seriously disturbed Collier, Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr. puts the boy's mother (Louise Latham) under surveillance--while a new and unanticipated danger looms over the horizon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1965
William Shatner guest stars as Tony Burrell, a former policeman who runs a boy's athletic club. Posing as "John Evans", Kimble goes to work for Burrell just as the neighborhood is buzzing about the brutal murder of two cops. As the story progresses and another murder occurs, Kimble begins to wonder if the outwardly affable but inwardly troubled Burrell could possibly be a serial killer. The supporting cast includes future Matlock regular Julie Sommars) as Burrell's wife Carole, and Norman Fell, Three's Company's "Mr. Roper", as Lieutenant Green. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1965
Managing to elude another police dragnet, Kimble (David Janssen) ends up being arrested in the Montana town of Drover City. Actually, it's supposed to be all in fun: Drover City is staging its annual carnival-rodeo, and the locals are being offered prizes to "arrest" anyone who is not dressed in western garb. But it's hardly a laughing matter when Kimble's relentless pursuer Lt. Gerard (Barry Morse) shows up in town to take the hapless fugitive into custody for real. With no other option, Kimble hopes to slip through Gerard's fingers by exploiting the Lieutenant's dislike of the town's lazy, unethical sheriff Charlie Judd (Earl Holliman)--and the fragile relationship between Judd and his girlfriend Laura (Collin Wilcox). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1965
Season Three of The Fugitive finds Richard Kimble (David Janssen), wrongly accused of his wife's murder, still on the lam from the relentless Lt. Gerard (Barry Morse), still desperately searching for the One-Armed Man who committed the murder for which Kimble was condemned to death. Now using the alias "George Egan", Kimble becomes a local hero when he rescues Janet Kegler (Lane Bradbury), who had been taken hostage by a convict. Wounded in the melee, Kimble is taken to a prison hospital for treatment, where Janet begs Warden Malone (Lin McCarthy) to set the fugitive free before Gerard arrives. But both Kimble and prison trustee Mickey Deming (a pre-Mission: Impossible Greg Morris) are placed in harm's way by a blackmailing convict who is intent on stealing the hospital's supply of morphine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1964
Telly Savalas makes a return guest appearance to The Fugitive, this time in the role of Victor Leonetti. Having always held Dr. Richard Kimble (David Janssen) responsible for the death of his child, Leonetti takes vindictive delight in recognizing the fugitive Kimble posing as hospital orderly "Harry Reynolds." When Kimble is wounded in a shootout and placed in the hospital emergency ward, Leonetti is certain that at last he has his old "enemy" just where he wants him...until... ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1964
The President of the United States requires an emergency operation, which must be conducted in secret, after he is injured in a fall. The Seaview is chosen as the safest place for the surgery, but an enemy power has gotten an assassin aboard, as part of the surgical team performing the operation. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- 1964
The Seaview is ordered into the regular navy as the flagship of Admiral Tobin (Charles McGraw), who has been assigned to hunt down a UFO that was seen submerging at sea. Tobin plans to greet the invader with force, while Nelson (Richard Basehart) and Crane (David Hedison) prefer a more cautious approach. The ship is suddenly rendered helpless by the UFO, which forces Nelson to attempt direct contact with the aliens. He discovers that there mistrust and error can exist on both sides, and that an escalation that no one wants is easier to start than to stop. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- 1963
A young Robert Duvall dominates this episode in the role of melancholy trumpet player Eddie Moon. Bootlegger Lew Kagan (Robert Duvall) pays a visit to the nightclub where Eddie is working, intending to become the exclusive liquor supplier to club owner "Goose" Gander (Will Kuluva). Taking one look at Kagan's beautiful wife Bunny (Kathy Nolan), Eddie falls hopelessly in love--and when he sees Kagan slapping Bunny around, he swears vengeance against the brutish gangster, thereby setting in motion the events that will lead inexorably to the episode's shattering climax. To be sure, series star Robert Stack shows up as Elliot Ness, but Robert Duvall is the actor that the viewer remembers long after the final credits have faded. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
Fired by wealthy rancher Gil Borden (Stuart Whitman), shiftless Ed McKay (Murray Hamilton) decides to get even by pulling off a cruel practical joke. McKay goads Judd Calhoun (Peter Whitney), a gentle giant with mind of a child, to place burr under the saddle of Borden's horse. Unfortunately, it is Borden's wife Nora (Jean Allison) who is thrown from the horse and crippled for life--and it is innocent bystander Paladin, who'd helped Nora onto the horse, who is accused of causing the tragedy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
The second season of Perry Mason begins when Perry (Raymond Burr) receives an unusual phone call from one George Hartley Beaumont (Ross Elliott). What makes it unusual is that Beaumont is dead--or at least he's supposed to be. Reported killed in a plane crash three years earler, Beaumont had actually missed the fatal flight, but decided to take advantage of his "demise" so his wife Laura (Jeanne Cooper) could collect his insurance, and so he could start life anew in Mexico with his girflriend Ruth (Joan Camden). Now he wants to come home and come clean--but before he can do so, someone stabs him to death. Now Perry takes it upon himself to clear Number One suspect Ruth of a murder charge. This is the first of several episodes in which Perry argues his case before a woman judge. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
June Lockhart makes her first appearance as fearless lady physician Dr. Phyllis Thackeray. Paladin (Richard Boone) comes to Dr. Thackeray's aid when she insists upon treating, and sheltering, a pioneer family suspected of carrying typhoid fever. The assignment is complicated by the blind religious zealotry of wagon-train master Mulrooney (Grant Withers), who insists upon abandoned the stricken family in the middle of the wilderness--and Mulrooney has several men with guns to back him up. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
