Ken Kercheval Movies

Easygoing but psychotic Dennis (Anthony Perkins) is released from jail, where he has served a sentence for his complicity in a suspicious death. Wandering through a small, working-class New England town, Dennis befriends apparently normal high school A-student Sue Ann (Tuesday Weld). He fills her head with lies about his imaginary career as a secret agent. She is thrilled, and makes up her mind to join him in his further adventures. This jet-black "who's manipulating who?" seriocomedy was adapted by Lorenzo Semple Jr. from Stephen Geller's novel She Let Him Continue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A young married couple struggle with their personal problems and their union and the forthcoming birth oftheir unwanted child in this grim domestic drama. Much of the story centers on the husband, a former high school basketball star who is unable to leave the glory days behind and fashion a future for himself and his wife. Though pregnant, the wife is constantly drunk and the two constantly bicker. One night, they have row and the husband takes off to stay with his now-impoverished former coach thereby setting the stage for further turmoil and tragedy. The plot for Rabbit, Run is based on a John Updike novel. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

After a routine heist, two-bit car thief Artie Fowler (Mark Alaimo) is killed in cold blood. Kojak suspects that there's something bigger than a standard robbery going on--especially after Artie's girlfriend Maria (Lara Parker) lets slip that an upcoming "caper" will make fools of the authorities. It turns out that a $500,000 heist is in the works, masterminded by mob leader Hugh Jellicoe (Paul Lambert) and an unknown party whose theatrical bravado astonishes even the professional crooks. Future Dallas costar Ken Kercheval appears in a significant role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In 1931, nine young black drifters were arrested in Scottsboro, Alabama on the charge of gang-raping a white woman. Despite the flimsiness of the case and the questionable morals of the plaintiff, eight of the nine were sentenced to death by an all-white jury. The U.S. Supreme Court, sensing that the Scottsboro case was an example of racism run amok, reversed the decision. Arguing that the boys had not received proper council, the Court (in a landmark decision) demanded that the case be retried. The judge on the case is James E. Horton, a popular Decatur, Alabama jurist who places his career--and his life--on the line to see to it that the Scottsboro five are given a fair trial. Among the many iniquities arising from this hot-potato case was the utter vilification of the honest Horton by his former friends and associates; he died in 1973, a virtual pariah in his community. Arthur Hill stars as the judge in the made-for-TV Judge Horton and the Scottsboro Boys, which was written by John McGreevey and first telecast April 22, 1976. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the conclusion of a two-part story, any hopes of Kojak (Telly Savalas) enjoying a day off are dashed when a dead body is found in the trunk of a white Rolls Royce. Now the overworked detective must tear Manhattan apart in search of a woman (Kitty Winn) who has killed her husband, abandoned her child, and is now determined to commit suicide. And all the while, Kojak's romantic rendezvous with his lady friend Laura Martinson (Maud Adams) is repeatedly--and frustratingly--postponed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though not actually a film addressing the evil lure of cream-filled chocolate cakes, this amusingly cheesy made-for-TV opus from director Curtis Harrington pits a relatively normal suburban family against a slavering, demonically-possessed German shepherd whose hunger for human souls far exceeds that of the normal household pet. Although not above resorting to the usual throat-maulings, the satanic psycho-pup's preferred method of attack is to supernaturally cause the deaths of various friends and neighbors, in a style reminiscent of The Omen. Though the gory potential of this scenario is obviously dulled by the TV-movie format, there are enough implied shocks and chills to keep up the pace -- particularly a grueling scene in which Dad finds himself unable to resist the urge to plunge his hand into a spinning lawnmower blade, while the possessed pooch looks on with tongue-wagging glee. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Having proven itself as a viewer magnet during its five-episode trial in the spring of 1978, the multi-plotted prime-time serial Dallas launched its second season (and its first "full" one) in the fall of that same year, though it would not be until the series was moved from Saturday to Friday night that it would begin its rapid upward climb in the ratings. Already established as the series' antihero is the charming but thoroughly untrustworthy J.R. Ewing, eldest son of Texas oil millionaire Jock Ewing (Jim Davis) and his wife, Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes). Throughout the second season, J.R. carries on a two-pronged battle, not only feuding with the politically ambitious Cliff Barnes (Ken Kercheval), the son of Jock's hated rival Digger Barnes (played briefly by David Wayne before the role is taken over by Keenan Wynn), but also engaging in a fierce power struggle over control of Ewing Oil with his honest younger brother, Bobby (Patrick Duffy) -- who happens to be married to Cliff's sister, Pam (Victoria Principal). This season marks the first appearance by J.R. and Bobby's other brother, Gary, played in the first three episodes of the year by David Ackroyd, who would be replaced by Ted Shackelford when it was decided to spin Gary and his wife, Valene (Joan Van Ark), into their own series, Knots Landing.

Perceiving Gary as a threat, J.R. connives to get Gary's daughter Lucy (Charlene Tilton) to move out of the family mansion, Southfork; however, many of his schemes come a cropper, such as his plan to marry off Lucy to millionaire Kit Mainwaring (Mark Wheeler) -- who turns out to be gay. J.R. also does his best to undermine Bobby by trying to break up his marriage to Pamela. This may not be too difficult, inasmuch as Bobby is considerably put out when he discovers that Pam was married before, to Vietnam veteran Ed Haynes (Robin Clarke). Meanwhile, J.R.'s troubled wife, Sue Ellen (Linda Gray), worried that Pam will bear a child before she will, embarks upon a "conception race" with her sister-in-law. Also, the viewer is introduced to Pam's mother, Patricia (Martha Scott), and her younger sister Kristin, played in two episodes this season by Colleen Camp (the role would be taken over on a permanent basis by Mary Crosby in season three). Almost immediately upon arrival, Kristin makes a play for Bobby -- which of course delights the devious J.R. In other developments, Morgan Fairchild makes her one and only appearance as Bobby's old flame Jenna Wade, a role that would ultimately be played, as a "regular," by Priscilla Presley. Miss Ellie faces a crisis when her presumed-dead brother, Garrison (Gene Evans), shows up, insisting that he is rightful owner of Southfork; Susan Howard is introduced as the politically well-connected Donna Culver, who proceeds to cheat on her husband with Southfork's sullen and secretive manager, Ray Krebbs (Steve Kanaly); and after facing political ruin at the hands of J.R., Cliff Barnes steps up his vendetta against the "man you love to hate." As the season rushes to a close, a pregnant Sue Ellen is rushed to the hospital to bear a son, John Ross Ewing III -- but J.R., who doesn't trust his wife any farther than he can throw her (he's already tried to have her locked away in a sanitarium), is convinced that his rival Cliff is the baby's father! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

F.I.S.T. is author Norman Jewison's chronicle of an innocent and idealistic young man corrupted by power and success as seen through the rise of the United States labor movement. Sylvester Stallone plays a Jimmy Hoffa-inspired figure who rises through the union ranks during turbulent labor times. The film begins in 1937 during the burgeoning of the labor movement. Johnny Kovak (Sylvester Stallone) works on the dock unloading trucks for Win Talbot's (Henry Wilcoxon) trucking company. He turns to organizing the truckers for union representative Mike Monahan (Richard Herd). When Monahan is killed in a fight by strong-arm men hired by the company, Johnny becomes involved with Vince Doyle (Kevin Conway), the local gangster. After an angry response by the union, culminating in a massive riot, Johnny firmly aligns himself with Doyle, and the mob gets its meathooks further into the union. Thanks to the infusion of mob support, the union grows rich and powerful, along with Johnny. By the end of the 1950s, Johnny has so much power that he even manages to blackmail international union leader Max Graham (Peter Boyle) out of his job. Johnny is sitting on top of the world -- that is, until crusading United States senator Andrew Madison (Rod Steiger) targets Johnny's union for a federal investigation. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Steadily building up its viewership during its first few seasons, Dallas certainly gives its fans their money's worth during season three, which begins as the newborn son of the delightfully demonic oil tycoon J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman) and his wife, Sue Ellen (Victoria Principal), is kidnapped. Though this crisis is soon resolved, it is clear that the J.R.-Sue Ellen marriage is in big trouble, mainly because J.R. thinks that the baby's real father is his sworn enemy, attorney Cliff Barnes (Ken Kercheval). In other developments, Mary Crosby makes her first appearance as Sue Ellen's younger sister Kristin Shepard, with whom J.R. has an affair. While cheerfully manipulating Asian politics in order to control more overseas oil fields, J.R. still finds time to continue trying to sabotage the marriage between his younger brother Bobby (Patrick Duffy) and Bobby's wife (and Cliff Barnes' sister), Pamela (Victoria Principal). In the same spirit of bad will, lawyer Alan Beam (Randolph Powell) is hired to dig up enough dirt on J.R.'s niece Lucy (Charlene Tilton) so that she will be forced to leave the family's Southfork estate -- but Alan ends up proposing to Lucy, the better to get his mitts into the Ewing fortune. Elsewhere, Sue Ellen has a romantic fling with rodeo rider Dusty Farlow (Jared Martin), the son of a wealthy Texan. The affair between Southfork's secretive manager, Ray Krebbs (Steve Kanaly), and influential socialite Donna Culver (Susan Howard) intensifies. And J.R. and Bobby's mother, Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes), is diagnosed with breast cancer. The season concludes with one of the most famous "cliffhangers" in TV history, as the wheeling-dealing J.R., hanging around his office after working hours, is shot down and left for dead by an unseen assailant! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Having closed its fourth season with the unidentified body of a young woman floating in the Ewing family swimming pool, Dallas launches its fifth season by casting suspicion of murder on both of the series' chief antagonists: the cunning, consciousless Texas oil tycoon J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman) and J.R.'s lifelong enemy, attorney Cliff Barnes (Ken Kercheval). For a while, it appears as though J.R. is the guilty party, since he had the most motive. The dead girl turns out to be Kristin Shepard (Mary Crosby), the same person who had shot J.R. full of holes at the end of season three. Once this matter is settled, there are plenty of other crises to dwell upon. On the verge of breaking up her marriage with J.R., Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) sues for custody of her son, John Ross, at the behest of her current lover, Dusty Farlow (Jared Martin). This results in a confrontation between J.R.'s mother, Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes), and Dusty's millionaire dad, Clayton Farlow (Howard Keel) -- though this adversarial relationship will eventually dissolve in a surprising matter. Meanwhile, J.R. schemes to get even with Sue Ellen by temporarily shacking up with Serena Wald (Stephanie Blackmore)and scheming to financially ruin the Farlows; but at the end of the day, he relents and embarks upon a campaign to win Sue Ellen back (not for her sake, but so that he can wrest away custody of his son).

Elsewhere, the marriage between J.R.'s niece Lucy (Charlene Tilton) and medical student Mitch (Leigh McCloskey) comes to an end. Unable to have children of their own, J.R.'s brother Bobby (Patrick Duffy) and his wife, Pam (Victoria Principal), adopt a child named Christopher -- without revealing the fact that the child's biological parents are the late Kristin Shepard and her blackmailing paramour Jeff Farraday (Art Hindle). Cliff Barnes goes to work for his entrepreneur mother, Rebecca Barnes Wentworth (Priscilla Pointer), hoping to beat J.R. at his own game in the marketplace -- and in the process becoming almost as greedy and duplicitous as his rival! Conspicuous by his absence this season is Miss Ellie's husband, Jock Ewing. Although actor Jim Davis had died the previous season, the producers decided not to completely write out Davis' character of Jock Ewing, instead contriving a scenario whereby Jock is in South America on a mission for the government. Ultimately, Jock perishes in a helicopter crash, whereupon a grieving Miss Ellie finds solace in the arms of her former enemy, Clayton Farlow. In the series' traditional cliffhanger ending, Cliff Barnes, financially ruined and in disgrace thanks to the machinations of J.R., tries to commit suicide -- and if he dies, it will mean disaster for several of the main Dallas characters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season six of Dallas opens with the resolution of the cliffhanger that ended season five, as Cliff Barnes (Ken Kercheval), hated rival of conniving oil tycoon J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman), recovers from his suicide attempt. Though ostensibly ruined and disgraced through J.R.'s machinations, Cliff rises from the ashes to become president of Barnes/Wentworth, the oil company owned by his mother. Rebecca Barnes Wentworth (Priscilla Pointer) -- who, incidentally, will not survive the season. More so than ever before, Cliff is determined to beat J.R. at his own game in the open marketplace. Meanwhile, back at Southfork, J.R. has reconciled with his wife, Sue Ellen (Linda Gray), and despite the impassioned intervention of Sue Ellen's lover, Dusty Farlow (Jared Martin), she remarries J.R. in early December. At this point, Dusty disappears from view, not to be seen again for several more seasons. At the same time, J.R. again tangles with younger brother Bobby (Patrick Duffy), the bone of contention being their late father's will. Also, Donna Krebbs (Susan Howard), wife of J.R.'s half brother, Ray (Steve Kanaly), tries to expose J.R.'s questionable business practices with the help of the Texas Energy Commission. In retaliation, J.R.'s deft manipulates the media, stirring up public sympathy for himself -- even as he secretly embarks upon an illegal financial deal in Cuba! Throughout all this intrigue, J.R. finds time to attempt to "conquer" attractive rival oil executive Holly Harwood (Lois Chiles). And there's more!

As the marriage between Bobby and Cliff Barnes' sister, Pam (Victoria Principal), slowly unravels, wealthy Mark Graison (John Beck) tries his best to win Pam's love. Later on, Pam divorces Bobby and has a nervous breakdown, much to the delight of the manipulative J.R. -- yet she still manages to gain custody of her adopted son, Christopher. Plus, the romance between J.R.'s widowed mother, Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes) and Dusty Farlow's millionaire father, Clayton (Howard Keel), heats up. And in another development, J.R.'s divorced niece Lucy (Charlene Tilton) takes up with Ray Krebbs' ne'er-do-well cousin Mickey Trotter (Timothy Patrick Murphy), a fling that ends violently when Mickey is paralyzed in a car accident that may or may not have been caused by an inebriated Sue Ellen. Season six ends with the traditional Dallas cliffhanger, as a fistfight between J.R. and Ray Krebbs results in a fire that threatens to consume all of the Southfork mansion, with J.R., Sue Ellen, and their son, John Ross, trapped inside! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The made-for-TV Demon Murder Case has received an inordinate amount of airplay since its initial telecast on March 6, 1983. We suspect that this has something to do with its star, a young and callow fellow name of Kevin Bacon. Though he receives top billing, Bacon is hardly the hero of the piece; in fact, he's a murderer. Demonologist Andy Griffith (you read that right), priest Eddie Albert and clairvoyant Cloris Leachman deduce that Bacon was acting under the influence of Satan. Once this has been established, the threesome work overtime to exorcise Bacon's friend Charlie Fields. If you listen closely, you'll recognize Harvey (Torch Song Trilogy) Fierstein as the voice of the eponymous demon. Also starring Ken Kercheval, Richard Masur and Joyce Van Patten, Demon Murder Case was filmed on location in Newport, Rhode Island. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

19th century frontierwoman Martha Jane Canary (1852-1903)--better known as Calamity Jane--has been portrayed by actresses as diverse as Doris Day, Jean Arthur and Louise Dresser. Jane Alexander isn't exactly the living image of the legendary Jane, but at least she plays down the Hollywood glamour that afflicted Arthur's and Day's interpretations. This made-for-TV film details the private Jane rather than the public image. It was based on letters sent by Jane to her daughter back east; Suzanne Clauser's teleplay opines that the daughter was the illegitimate offspring of Calamity and her paramour Wild Bill Hickok (Frederic Forrest). Calamity Jane originally aired March 6, 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide