Dean Jagger Movies

In the tradition of his earlier work in Grapes of Wrath and Twelve Angry Men, Henry Fonda played another social-protest role in the Hallmark Hall of Fame TV presentation Gideon's Trumpet. Clarence Earl Gideon (Fonda) is a poor, ill-tempered Florida handyman who is arrested for petty larceny in 1961. Unable to afford a lawyer, Gideon is sentenced to five years in prison. His treatment by the Florida judicial system, a clear violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, is brought to the attention of the Supreme Court. As a result, a landmark decision is reached, assuring free legal representation for anyone accused of a crime in the United States. Also appearing are Jose Ferrer as Gideon's attorney Abe Fortas, John Houseman (who also produced) as the Chief Justice, and Fay Wray as the owner of the lodging establishment where Gideon lived. Gideon's Trumpet premiered on April 30, 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lewis Teague directed this sly horror-comedy from a script by John Sayles, which plays off the old urban legend about the dangers of flushing one's pet alligator down the toilet. One such unlucky reptile is "Ramon," who survives in the subterranean cesspool by feeding on the steroid-saturated carcasses of dogs dumped there by chemical company researchers and eventually bulks up to the size of a Winnebago. When assorted sewage workers start disappearing into Ramon's massive maw, hard-boiled cop David Madison (Robert Forster), who has a history of unlucky partners, reveals a strong personal interest in the case. Deemed a jinx and a nutcase by his superiors, he's kicked off the force and must go underground (literally) to destroy the beast with the help of young reptile-expert Marion (Robin Riker). The witty screenplay is filled with clever references, eccentric characters and in-jokes aplenty (a style reflective of Joe Dante's Piranha and The Howling, both of which Sayles also scripted), which combines with decent effects and a good amount of suspense (particularly in the sewer scenes) to make this an entertaining romp overall. Highlights include Henry Silva's over-the-top performance as a misplaced big-game hunter who recruits urban "native guides" in his back-alley search for the elusive Ramon. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Walton's Mountain may be in for a name change when both the Baldwins and the Godseys come across evidence that their families, and not the Waltons, were the first to settle on the mountain. The Baldwin sisters are so certain that they will be able to prove their "ownership" that they begin formulating plans for a gala Founder's Day celebration -- only to have their bubble burst by dear old Grandma Walton (Ellen Corby). Elsewhere, Jason (Jon Walmsley) is under great pressure to compose a classically-based piece for his final examination at Klineberg Conservatory. This final episode of The Waltons' seventh season is capped by the touching "closure" narration of the adult John-Boy Walton, which was written by series creator Earl Hamner under the assumption that the series had been cancelled by CBS (It wasn't). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dr. Andrew Boran (Kirk Scott) is picking up strange signals from outer space that seem to predict natural disasters. When he and his wife (Sue Lyon) decide to investigate, they find themselves held captive in a convent that's been infiltrated by aliens with plans to destroy the world. As alien leader Zindar (Christopher Lee) explains, the earth is a hotbed of disease that cannot be permitted to continue polluting the galaxy. ~ Fred Beldin, All Movie Guide

The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case, based on newspaper coverage, court testimony and eyewitness accounts, was dramatized for television by J.P. Miller. Cliff DeYoung and Sian star as Charles Lindbergh and his wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh. The couple's 2-year-old son Charles Jr. is kidnapped from the family's Hopewell, New Jersey home on March 1, 1932; though the ransom is paid, the child's body is found a few days later. All circumstantial evidence points to German expatriate Bruno Richard Hauptmann (Anthony Hopkins) as the kidnapper/murderer. While never seriously challenging the notion of Hauptmann's guilt, the film raises several questions concerning the fairness of his trial. The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case first aired in a three-hour timeslot on Febrary 26, 1976. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A crazy pilot embarks on various escapades in this adventure film. (AKA Great Lester Boggs) ~ All Movie Guide

Astronaut Neil Stryker (Glenn Corbett) returns from space, only to find himself held incommunicado by government security people he's never seen before, in a hospital facility that he's never heard of. He escapes from the hospital and, to his shock, sees a night sky lit up by three moons. He now knows that he's not on Earth -- but on some sort of near-duplicate of Earth, a parallel planet. He learns that the planet is called Terra by its inhabitants; and it resembles Earth in gravity, atmosphere, and environment -- it could pass for Earth, and the place where he is stranded might pass for any northeastern American city; but this world is ruled by a totalitarian government called The Perfect Order, which regiments day-to-day life on a level that would make even the worst Communist regime seem like amateurs; and it is ever on the lookout for unbelievers, non-conformists, subversives, and potential sources of contamination -- of which Stryker is a prime example, as someone from another world. Security agent George Benedict (Cameron Mitchell) is on his trail, and quite prepared to prevent any "contamination" that Stryker leaves behind along the way, even sending the rather high-ranking physician (Tim O'Connor) who spent time interrogating Stryker to the dreaded "Ward E," where his memory, free-will, and reasoning ability are cleaned and reshaped. Stryker quickly discovers that it's virtually impossible to trust anybody, because almost 100% of the population is in the Perfect Order's hold. He manages to find an ally in a young doctor (Sharon Acker), who enlists the help of her free-thinking mentor (Lew Ayres) on Stryker's behalf. But his only hope of true escape is to reach the government's launch facility, commandeer a spacecraft, and try to return to Earth. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Former TV ingenue Lori Saunders plays Gloria in this gruesome thriller. Already mentally unsound, Lori is driven further round the bend by visions of a malignant axe-murdering ghost. To top it off, she is victimized by the film's number one "human" villain, Dean Jagger. The question: are Gloria's problems are truly in her mind, or is she being haunted for real? For the answers to these and other questions, you'd have had to stay up late in the early 1980s, when So Sad About Gloria was a TV midnight-movie perennial. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A group of new prisoners, including a political science professor, Jonathan Paige (Alan Alda), and a student, Allan Campbell (Kristoffer Tabori), arrive at a state prison, along with a new guard, Brian Courtland (Clu Gulager). Paige is a serving a year for manslaughter -- he accidentally killed a driver who had run down and injured his wife -- but his education doesn't prepare him for what he finds in prison. Nor does Courtland understand everything he sees in his new job, where he hopes to do some good. The warden (Dean Jagger) is spoken of as being on "short time," as though he were serving a sentence; the guard captain, Pagonis (G. Wood), is totally cynical about his work and his job; and one veteran guard, Brown (Roy Jenson), seems to be serving some of the prisoners -- and that small group of inmates have more to do with the running of the prison than does the administration. First among them is Hugo Slocum (Vic Morrow), a lifer who controls the flow of drugs and other contraband to the cons, wielding money and power without challenge until Paige gets assigned by the warden to the prison pharmacy, and -- thanks to his own sense of righteousness -- blocks Slocum's pipeline, a move that could get the professor killed. Meanwhile, Paige is trying to understand Lennox (Billy Dee Williams), the lifer he works with in the pharmacy, and discovers in him a true political visionary and leader, who lives the stuff that Paige has only ever lectured about. Lennox is black and proud, and a killer, and also (incidentally) smarter than Paige; he is also respected as a leader by the other blacks in the prison and feared just enough by the whites, including Slocum, to stay alive. Paige should only learn from him, but the professor is too set in his ways and too arrogant in his assumptions to do that. Complicating things further, Slocum has taken a decidedly physical liking to Paige's cellmate, Allan, a college student who is in on a marijuana charge and too naïve to recognize why the tough con is being so good to him until he rejects Slocum's advances. In retaliation, Allan is gang-raped on Slocum's orders, and later kills himself. Nor has Slocum forgotten about Paige or the pharmacy -- when Paige tries to reach out to another inmate, Sinclair (Edward Bell), who shows promise as a writer, Slocum destroys Sinclair's work and targets him, as well. Before he's killed, however, Sinclair reveals to Paige that, as Slocum's sometime bagman and former bookkeeper, he's recorded every transaction for the past eight years -- including every hit ordered by Slocum and how it was paid off, including the bribes to guards to look the other way -- and he passes the book with that record to the professor. It comes down to a do or die situation for Paige and Slocum, as each now has the power and the need to destroy the other to stay alive; the only question is whether Paige will figure out in time that he may have to back up his good intentions with lethal force. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Richard Sarafian directed this minimalist chase film, starring Barry Newman as ex-marine, ex-race car driver and cop named Kowalski. He drives into Denver to deliver a car and pick up another vehicle to drive to San Francisco. To make the fifteen-hour drive to San Francisco bearable he pops a load of pep pills and drives off. Almost immediately, he is told to pull over by the police, but Kowalski refuses to stop. Ignoring the cops, a police chase ensues. Egging Kowalski on is a blind black disc jockey, Super Soul (Cleavon Little), who announces his comings and goings on his local radio show, praising Kowalski to the skies as "the last American to whom speed means freedom of the soul." Super Soul's hype makes Kowalski a media sensation and Kowalski fans mount up -- as do the police cars chasing him -- as he races against time to deliver both the car and himself to his San Francisco destination. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

In this holiday fantasy episode, the Partridges' bus breaks down in a Nevada ghost town on Christmas Eve. Enter grizzled old prospector Charlie (Dean Jagger), who regales the stranded family with a Yuletide story set 100 years earlier, when the then-thriving town was in a tizzy over a stolen Christmas bell. This segues into an elaborate "Old West" flashback, with most of the regular characters re-emering in different roles: Keith (David Cassidy) as "Sheriff Swell", Shirley (Shirley Jones) as saloon thrush "Belle", Laurie (Susan Dey) as the town schoolmarm, and Reuben (Dave Madden) and Danny (Danny Bonaduce) respectively recast as outlaws "Mean Sidney" and "Little the Kid." Songs: "Winter Wonderland" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama, a Vietnam vet goes to his California hometown and discovers that two Mexicans have murdered his brother, the chief stockholder in a successful racetrack, during a robbery. The vet begins investigating and discovers that the theft was a cover-up for the killing and that another shareholder is behind it all. The vet then engineers a confession from the culprit. Unfortunately, the shareholder is then found dead. Enlisting the aid of an ex-lover, the vet resumes his investigation and soon finds the mastermind, whom he kills during a fight. Later the vet, being the only remaining shareholder, takes over the track. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide