John Kellogg Movies

Two brothers kidnap a boozy gangster and try to hold him for ransom in this psychological thriller. Harold (Albert Finney) is lured from a saloon by Treat (Matthew Modine) to their squalid tenement. He and his reclusive and agoraphobic brother, Phillip (Kevin Anderson), have no idea Harold is a mobster, only that he looks prosperous. Harold is reminded of his impoverished youth when he sees how the brothers live, and he offers to help the aspiring young thugs. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Blind Justice is a fact-based TV movie starring Tim Matheson, here made to look "normal" with glasses and mustache. The innocent Matheson is fingered by witnesses as an armed robber/kidnapper/rapist. For the next 14 months, his life is hell. Too much circumstantial evidence surrounds the case, and too much information leaks out to the public; even if Matheson beats the rap, he'll be ruined in his community. Blind Justice was first telecast on March 9, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Joe Cartwright is kidnaped by a band of impoverished Mexicans, who hope to save their rundown village by collecting a $25,000 ransom from Joe's father Ben. Meanwhile, a pair of thieves named Anderson (John Kellogg) and Perkins (Eddie Ryder) prepare to steal the ransom before it can be delivered, and to that end they join a rescue party, ostensibly to "save" the hapless Joe. John Saxon heads the guest cast in the role of Blas. Written by Walter Black, "The Conquistadores" first aired October 1, 1967. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In anticipation of a raid by the deadly Wagner outlaw gang, the townsfolk of Virginia City want to replace their ageing sheriff Roy Coffee, whom they feel is not equal to the task of standing up to the Wagners. Adam Cartwright is among the few who insists that Coffee remain in office-but even he has second thoughts when the Sheriff appears to be suffering from a latent case of cowardice. Written by Jerry Adelman, this episode was a tour de force for veteran character actor Ray Teal, here given a rare opportunity to deliver a performance that transcends the standard two-dimensionality of Sheriff Roy Coffee. Parley Baer, the original "Chester" on the radio version of Gunsmoke, is here cast as Mr. Amistead. "No Less a Man" originally aired March 15, 1964. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Career criminal Paul Perry (Edd Byrnes) has earned a measure of fame for his daring escapes from various jails and prisons. But it looks like Perry's luck has run out when he sentenced to serve a 15-year sentence in a maximum-security prison farm, where head guard Captain Tollman (Stephen McNally) is determined to keep Perry behind bars for keeps. Undaunted, Perry hatches a "foolproof" escape plan with an unlikely accomplice: an old "lifer" named Doc (Robert Keith), who works in the prison infirmary...and also prepares the coffin whenever an inmate dies. This literally claustrophobic episode was written by John Resko, a former death-row inmate who managed to parlay his last-minute reprieve into a lengthy literary career upon his release from Sing Sing in 1949. "Final Escape" was remade as an episode for the 1985 revival of Alfred Hitchcock Presents -- with actress Season Hubley in the Edd Byrnes role. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Based on the autobiography of convicted killer John Resko (played here by Ben Gazzara), this routine biographical drama looks at the crucial years between 1931 and 1949 in the convict's life. That period begins when Resko is convicted of killing a store owner and is sentenced to life in prison. After his arrival in prison Resko eventually gets involved in creating art, an activity that leads to a transformation in his character. That change became evident enough to garner the attention of the powers-that-be and by 1949, Resko receives a pardon. The prison system is shown as improving between the killer's first internment and his release, which in itself might make some viewers wonder what happened then, in the years between 1949 and the present. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Victor Buono, who skyrocketed to stardom by virtue of his work in the title role of the earlier Untouchables episode "Mr. Moon", returns to the series in a different characterization. This time Buono is cast as Parnise Surigao, whose booming bootlegging operation is cutting into the profits of Frank Nitti's operation. To put it mildly, Nitti (Frank Nitti) is displeased, and orders an all-out war against Surigeo--who proves nearly impossible to bump off. After an innocent bystander is killed in the crossfire, Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) vows to end the war and put both sides out of business, using a "straw man" subterfuge to accomplish his goal. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Broke again, Bart (Jack Kelly) accepts a job from rancher Cal Powers (Andrew Duggan), hauling ice from the nearby mountains. While on the job, Bart comes upon a corpse, frozen beneath the surface of an icy river. This discovery will prove to have dire consequence for our hero, thanks largely to villainous machinous of political boss Rath Lawson, played by Bruce Gordon in the same manner as the actor's interpretation of mobster Frank Nitti on The Untouchables. The heroine of the occasion is Shirley Knight, who went on to a stellar stage, film and TV career, including such memorable roles as the mother of Helen Hunt in the 1997 Jack Nicholson theatrical feature As Good as It Gets. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

After a nasty confrontation with business rival Joyce Chapman (Linda Lawson), career woman Karen Wadsworth (Joanne Linville) expresses the wish that Joyce were dead--and before long, the wish comes true. Coincidence? Karen doesn't think so, especially after it appears that she has "willed" the deaths of a few other people. Consulting a psychiatriast (John Kellogg), Karen is assured that she is only imagining things. It's a persuasive argument, at least until Karen makes just one more casual comment...or should we say, just one "famous last word"? ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Edge of the City is a modern morality play, acted out in the railyards of New York. AWOL soldier John Cassavetes takes a job as a railroad worker, where he is taunted and bullied by supervisor Jack Warden, a union functionary appointed by the Mob. Cassavetes befriends his African-American co-worker Sydney Poitier, whose very presence enrages the bigoted Warden. Poitier dies in an "accident" arranged by Warden; Cassavetes knows the truth, but is frightened into silence by the corrupt union. Inspired by Poitier's widow to stand up for what is right, Cassavetes challenges Warden in a climactic one-on-one battle. Edge of the City was produced by David Susskind, who'd previously staged Robert Alan Aurthur's screenplay for television under its original title, A Man is Ten Feet Tall. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Gorilla At Large is a more-or-less self-explanatory title for this thriller, set at an amusement park. The major attraction is the gorilla Goliath, and an act in which trapeze artist LaVerne Miller (Anne Bancroft) gets within inches of the ape's potentially deadly grasp. When fired employee Morse is found dead -- impaled on the spikes of the cage used in Goliath's act -- the police are called in; all signs point to the gorilla as the killer, except for the fact that Morse was dead before he was impaled, and as Sgt. Garrison (Lee J. Cobb) says, "Why would a gorilla do that?". A few rounds of questions uncover at least a half-dozen potential suspects, all of whom had opportunity and some with more possible motive than others. Among the more likely are Cyrus Miller (Raymond Burr), LaVerne's husband and the owner of Goliath; Joey Matthews (Cameron Mitchell), a new employee who was about to start a new act, wearing a gorilla suit; and Kovacs ($Peter Whitney), Goliath's keeper and a strange, hostile loner, who was insulted by Morse just before the latter's death. And then there's Owens (Charles Tannen), the publicist for the show and the most forthcoming of the witnesses, who seems to know more than he's telling. As it turns out, almost everyone involved has some kind of skeleton in their closet that could motivate them to kill -- but when new victims start turning up, almost too fast for Garrison to investigate, Garrison falls for a phony confession that sets up another killing. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi