Warren Kemmerling Movies

Hannibal's perennial nemesis Colonel Lynch (William Lucking) is in a festive mood when he finally succeeds in capturing the A-Team. But Lynch's exultation is short-lived: He is ordered to release the team by his superiors, who want Hannibal (George Peppard) and company to head to Borneo, there to rescue kidnapped army general Ludlam (Warren Kemmerling) and his daughter Kathy (Amy Steel). The assignment proves most difficult for B.A. (Mr. T) who once cold-cocked the General back in Vietnam. Future 24 and The Unit star Dennis Haysbert appears in a minor role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This well-acted but wildly disjointed sci-fi/horror film stars William Devane as a writer who takes a personal interest in a series of baffling decapitation murders in the L.A. area, all of which seem to indicate some kind of supernatural force at work. He is joined in his investigation by a TV reporter (Cathy Lee Crosby), while detective Dave Mooney (Richard Jaeckel puzzles over evidence that the killer may not even be human. Their subsequent monster hunt is both stylish and suspenseful but completely collapses at the end, trashing any attempt at explanation by revealing the murderer as a lumpy-browed alien brute with ill-fitting slacks and laser-beam eyes. After a tension-filled 80-minute set-up, the moronic climax brings the suspense to a jarring halt and was probably added late in the game by a lame-brained studio executive who decided in mid-production to change the killer into an alien. Directorial duties were originally assigned to Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), who bailed out early to be replaced by John "Bud" Cardos. Enough said. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Raid on Entebbe constitutes one of two all-star made-for-TV reenactments of the Entebbe rescue of July 4, 1976. On June 27, 1976, a jet carrying an international mix of passengers is hijacked by pro-Palestinian revolutionaries. The plane lands in Entebbe, Uganda, where President-for-life Idi Amin (Yaphet Kotto) struts about feigning concern, though his sympathy toward the hijackers is obvious. Many of the passengers are released, but 103 Israelis are kept in custody, and it becomes apparent that the revolutionaries plan to use these unfortunates as a bargaining chip for the release of imprisoned terrorists throughout the world. With virtually no other option, the Israeli government gives the go-ahead for Operation Thunderbolt, a commando raid on the Entebbe airport. The cast includes Charles Bronson as General Shomron, Jack Warden as Mordecai Gur, Sylvia Sidney as ill-fated passenger Dora Bloch, and, as Prime Minister Rabin, Peter Finch, whose performance (his last) won him an Emmy nomination. Raid on Entebbe first aired on January 9, 1977. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Alfred Hitchcock's final film was adapted from Victor Canning's novel The Rainbird Pattern by Ernest Lehman, who previously wrote the screenplay for Hitchcock's North by Northwest. Barbara Harris plays Blanche, a phony psychic, hired by wealthy Julia Rainbird (Cathleen Nesbitt) to trace the whereabouts of her nephew, who'd been given up for adoption years earlier and who is now heir to a fortune. Blanche's cohort is "investigator" Lumley (Bruce Dern), who is fully prepared to milk the last dollar out of Julia before locating the long-lost nephew. Meanwhile, we are introduced to elegant kidnappers Adamson and Fran (William Devane and Karen Black). The fates of the two couples are inextricably intertwined by the search for the missing heir. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

To help his friend Nancy (Cindy Fisher) pay a clandestine visit to her "scandalous" mother in Charlottesville, Ben (Eric Scott) secretly borrows John-Boy's car. Unfortunately, the vehicle is stolen, and is later involved in a hit-and-run accident. Ben's refusal to reveal the reason for his Charlottesville trip may result in big trouble for both himself and the hapless John-Boy (Richard Thomas). Featured as one of the carjackers is a young Susan Blu, later to become one of the TV industry's busiest cartoon-voiceover directors. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Director Phil Karlson harks back to the no-nonsense, no-thrills directness of his 1950s "B" pictures in Framed. Joe Don Baker, Karlson's star in Walking Tall, plays Ron, a high-rolling gambler with a streak of integrity. Framed by the film's villains--including a cartel of corrupt cops--Ron is carted off to prison. Upon his release, he embarks upon a carefully calculated campaign of revenge. The film's stylistic ties to the enormously successful Walking Tall include the screenwriting contributions of Mort Briskin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In 1945, private Eddie Slovik, a "born loser" who made no secret of his desire to escape the army in any way possible, became the first American to be executed for desertion since the Civil War. William Bradford Huie's chronicle of this unfortunate wartime episode, The Execution of Private Slovik, was published in 1954. Frank Sinatra optioned the movie rights for the book, intending to cast Steve McQueen as Slovik and to have blacklisted writer Albert Maltz write the screenplay. The US military reluctantly agreed to okay the film on the proviso that Slovik would not be portrayed sympathetically. Out of deference to his friend John F. Kennedy, Sinatra abandoned the project, and that was that -- until the award-winning TV-writing team of Richard Levinson and William Link became intrigued in the Huie book. After a series of convoluted negotiations, Levinson and Link were finally able to put The Execution of Private Slovik on the small screen on March 13, 1974 (Albert Maltz, upset that the pair had decided upon a strict "no villains" policy in their adaptation, washed his hands of the whole affair). Martin Sheen was selected to play Slovik, though for a while Dustin Hoffman was seriously considering taking a cut in salary to essay the role. Abandoning the linear style of Huie's book, the writers adopted a Citizen Kane approach, using flashbacks to illustrate the events leading up to the execution. It is made clear throughout the film that no one, neither the military brass nor Slovik himself, truly believed that the private would ever face a firing squad; the usual custom was to postpone the execution until after the war, then reduce the sentence to a long prison term. Thanks to an unfortunate chain of misunderstandings and snafus, Slovik ended up dying by gunfire in a lonely French courtyard -- a fact long withheld from the public (Slovik's wife Antoinette learned of her husband's true fate for the first time from author Huie). The film's most famous scene, in which Slovik nervously repeats his "Hail Marys" as the hood is being fitted over his head, was Martin Sheen's own idea. Filmed on location in California and Canada, The Execution of Private Slovik won a Peabody award for the NBC television network. Originally running a full 120 minutes, it was re-edited into a 97 minute version for theatrical release overseas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Upon his return from Vietnam, ex-POW Mike Doyle (Cliff Potts) is certain that he sees his police-officer father (Warren Kemmerling) waiting for him at the airport--just before disappearing in the crowd. But the Commissioner (Gene Lyons), and everyone else who knows and cares about Mike, insists that the elder Doyle was killed in a car crash two years earlier. Worried that he is losing his mind, Mike conducts a frantic search for his father...while Ironside (Raymond Burr), who knows the whole truth about the father's reported "death" but is honor-bound to remain silent, tries to prevent the hapless veteran from going off the deep end. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In Sidney J. Furie's interminable caper film, Billy Dee Williams is a federal agent who takes matters into his own hands after the government refuses to do anything about French drug trafficking. After his daughter dies of an overdose of heroine and the authorities seem unconcerned, Nick Allen (Williams) takes it upon himself to organize a small independent task force of mercenaries to travel to France in order to kill the nine leaders of a Marseilles drug syndicate. This motley group of angry American citizens who are out for blood include the rabid Mike Willmer (Richard Pryor); the sedate Sherry Nielson (Gwen Welles); the robust Dutch Schiller (Warren Kammerling); and the kindly old Jewish couple, Ida (Janet Brandt) and Herman (Sid Melton), who want to inflict Old Testament revenge upon the dope peddlers. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Sidney Poitier stars as John Kane, a heavenly emissary who pays a visit to the Alabama town where he was born. Making it his mission to purge the community of all hatred and prejudice, "Brother John" is nothing less than the Messiah returned to earth. Trouble is, he's black, and it's Alabama-so who's going to pay attention? Will Greer costars as a local town doctor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An epidemic of rustling has fueled the flames of a possible range war between the cattlemen and the nesters. Ex-sheriff Dan Logan (Steve Forrest) is hired to stop the war before it starts, while rancher Slater (Warren Kemmerling), convinced that the nesters are responsible for the trouble, offers a $300 dollar reward for every rustler brought in by Logan, dead or alive. The Cartwrights become involved when Slater himself commits murder, then tries to frame Logan for the crime. A poignant subplot involves Logan's efforts to reform an ex-prostitute named Anita (Miriam Colom), a denizen of Viriginia City's notorious D Street. First shown on October 19, 1969, "To Stop a War" was written by Carey Wilbur. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ed (Don Galloway) and fellow police officer Ray Leonard (Linden Chiles) are suspected of killing a dope peddler in cold blood. Even worse, Ray was driving the dead man's "business" car while moonlighting as a cabbie, suggesting that he himself was involved in drug-running. Though suspended from the force, Ed mounts his own investigation to clear himself and prove his colleague's innocence beyond all doubt. Featured in the cast are two craggy-faced gangster movie veterans, John Marley and Eduardo Ciannelli). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide