Jack Lord Movies
Brooklyn-born actor John Joseph Patrick Ryan borrowed his stage name "Jack Lord" from a distant relative. Spending his immediate post-college years as a seafaring man, Lord worked as an engineer in Persia before returning to American shores to manage a Greenwich Village art school and paint original work; he flourished within that sphere (often signing his paintings "John J. Ryan,") and in fact exhibited the tableaux at an array of prestigious institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Modern Museum of Art. Lord switched to acting in the late 1940s, studying under Sanford Meisner at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse. In films and television from 1949, Lord (a performer with stark features including deep-set eyes and high cheekbones) played his share of brutish villains and working stiffs before gaining TV fame as star of the critically acclaimed but low-rated rodeo series Stoney Burke (1962).
At around the same time, Lord played CIA agent Felix Leiter in the first James Bond film, Dr. No. From 1968 through 1980, Lord starred on the weekly cop drama Hawaii Five-O; producers cast him as Steve McGarrett, a troubleshooter with the Hawaii State Police who spent his days cruising around the islands, cracking open individual cases, and taking on the movers and shakers in Hawaiian organized crime, particularly gangster Wo Fat (Khigh Dhiegh), who eluded capture until the program's final month on the air. Lord also wrote and directed several episodes. After Hawaii 5-0 folded, Jack Lord attempted another Hawaii-based TV series, but M Station: Hawaii (1980) never got any farther than a pilot film. Lord died of congestive heart failure in his Honolulu beachfront home at the age of 77, in January 1998. He was married to Marie Denarde for 50 years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1980
Not a police series as might be deduced from the title, M Station: Hawaii concentrated on the activities of a team of oceanic explorers. Jared Martin heads the team, working on behalf of the government. In this TV pilot film, M Station is hired to recover a sunken Russian submarine which may have been carrying Soviet secrets. The team finds that they have stiff competition in the form of KGB agents in disguise. Jack Lord, fresh from twelve years of Hawaii 5-0, produced and directed this film and appeared in a cameo role as a U.S. Admiral. Another 5-0 alumnus, Moe Keale, recreates his role as Tom "Truck" Kealoha. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jared Martin, Jo Ann Harris, (more)
- 1979
Detective Steve McGarrett becomes entangled in controversy between the Hawaiian underworld and a group of natives who are attempting to control a labor union and Hawaii's tourist business. ~ All Movie Guide
Filmed entirely on location in Hawaii, the show followed Jack Lord as he played Steve McGarrett, head of an elite state police unit investigating "organized crime, murder, assassination attempts, foreign agents, felonies of every type." James MacArthur played his second-in-command Danny ("Danno") Williams, with local actors Kam Fong, Zulu, Al Harrington, and Herman Wedemeyer, among others, playing members of the Five-O team. Guest stars included Helen Hayes, Ricardo Montalban, Leslie Nielsen, Herbert Lom, Hume Cronyn among others. McGarrett's nemesis is the evil Wo Fat â "a Red Chinese agent in charge of the entire Pacific Asiatic theatre.
Filmed entirely on location in Hawaii, the show followed Jack Lord as he played Steve McGarrett, head of an elite state police unit investigating "organized crime, murder, assassination attempts, foreign agents, felonies of every type." James MacArthur played his second-in-command Danny ("Danno") Williams, with local actors Kam Fong, Zulu, Al Harrington, and Herman Wedemeyer, among others, playing members of the Five-O team. Guest stars included Helen Hayes, Ricardo Montalban, Leslie Nielsen, Herbert Lom, Hume Cronyn among others. McGarrett's nemesis is the evil Wo Fat - "a Red Chinese agent in charge of the entire Pacific Asiatic theatre.
Filmed entirely on location in Hawaii, the show followed Jack Lord as he played Steve McGarrett, head of an elite state police unit investigating "organized crime, murder, assassination attempts, foreign agents, felonies of every type." James MacArthur played his second-in-command Danny ("Danno") Williams, with local actors Kam Fong, Zulu, Al Harrington, and Herman Wedemeyer, among others, playing members of the Five-O team. Guest stars included Helen Hayes, Ricardo Montalban, Leslie Nielsen, Herbert Lom, Hume Cronyn among others. McGarrett's nemesis is the evil Wo Fat - "a Red Chinese agent in charge of the entire Pacific Asiatic theatre.
- 1968
This action drama is adapted from a TV movie, The Faceless Man. The story centers around a secret service agent who goes undercover as hitman into a counterfeit ring. Most of the story takes place at a waterfront bar. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Lord, Shirley Knight, (more)
- 1968
Hawaii Five-O's Jack Lord stars in this odd little thriller directed by Gunnar Hellstrom. Lord plays a Hungarian man named Lipa who meets the beautiful Mickey (Susan Strasberg) while wandering the highways of Arizona. Mickey runs a gas station in the desert with her mother (T.C. Jones) and two sisters and invites Lipa to stay with them. He does, not knowing that the entire family is stark-raving mad. The usual psychological games ensue, with Lipa being attacked by a rattlesnake, seduced by the psychotic sisters, and run over with a car before figuring out the predictable truth -- that "Mom" is really a man. Gorgeous photography by Vilmos Zsigmond and some amusingly sadistic set-pieces accent this enjoyably trashy thriller. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Lord, Susan Strasberg, (more)
Filmed entirely on location in Hawaii, the show followed Jack Lord as he played Steve McGarrett, head of an elite state police unit investigating "organized crime, murder, assassination attempts, foreign agents, felonies of every type." James MacArthur played his second-in-command Danny ("Danno") Williams, with local actors Kam Fong, Zulu, Al Harrington, and Herman Wedemeyer, among others, playing members of the Five-O team. Guest stars included Helen Hayes, Ricardo Montalban, Leslie Nielsen, Herbert Lom, Hume Cronyn among others. McGarrett's nemesis is the evil Wo Fat - "a Red Chinese agent in charge of the entire Pacific Asiatic theatre.
- 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
The movie opens as two outlaws are just being rescued from being hung as thieves by an old friend. They go their separate ways, but keep running into each other across the country on their way to California as they alternately are on the good and bad side of the law. Their rescuer becomes the infamous "Black Bandit," the nemesis of the Wells Fargo line, they work for the line and have to protect it. They decide to rob the line.... ad infinitum. Good working relationship between the actors makes this a much more comfortable movie than it might have been with the hackneyed plot line. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Lord, James Farentino, (more)
- 1966
When hitchhiker Frank Schroeder (a pre-Hawaii 5-0 Jack Lord) gallantly saves a young Mexican girl named Teresa (Pilar Seurat) from being sexually assaulted, she gratefully tags along with him on his Eastward journey. What Teresa doesn't know is that Frank is a triple murderer who for several days has been eluding a nationwide FBI dragnet. The girl is also blissfully unaware that her travelling companion is planning to pull off a million-dollar diamond heist--and to kill anyone who has the bad luck to get in his way. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1966
Under the alias "Bill Garrison", fugitive Richard Kimble (David Janssen) falls in love with sexy nightclub chanteuse Gail Martin (Marlyn Mason). Though she quickly ascertains Kimble's true identity, Gail nonetheless arranges for him to be hired as a chauffeur by Alan Bartlett (a pre-Hawaii 5-0) Jack Lord), the husband of wealthy invalid Norma Bartlett (Patricia Smith). What Kimble doesn't know is that Gail and Alan are planning to murder Norma and pin the blame on...guess who. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1966
In this made-for-TV movie, a deadly bomb is concealed aboard a passenger jet in a devious plan to blackmail the airline company. With the bomb threatening to go off any minute, the passengers and crew aboard the plane must search to find and dismantle the deadly device. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1965
Saunders (Vic Morrow) and his men are assigned to provide coverage for a wire-laying team led by Communications Sergeant Barney McKloskey (played by a pre-Hawaii 5-0 Jack Lord). Openly contemptuous of the Infantry, McKloskey is certain that Saunders will be of no help at all. Later on, a sniper kills one of McKloskey's men, which serves only to confirm his suspicions. This is one of several Combat episodes in which two antagonists must set aside their differences and unite against a common enemy--before it's too late. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Terence Young directed this first of a long line of screen adventures with Ian Fleming's unflappable British Secret Service Agent 007 in a fast-paced, tongue-in-cheek style that set the tone for the rest of the popular series. Sean Connery sets the standard by which all future takers must measure themselves as the insouciant and devil-may-care James Bond. The story concerns Bond being sent to Jamaica to investigate the murders of a British agent and his secretary. During his investigation, he comes into contact with the evil and unscrupulous Chinese scientist Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman) who, living on an island called Crab Key, is hard at work in a nuclear laboratory. Dr. No's scheme is to divert rockets being fired from Cape Canaveral off their charted course and to blackmail the United States to get their rocket launches restored to normal. Helping Bond is Ursula Andress (mostly undressed in a bikini throughout most of the film), as well as bad gals like Zena Marshall, who almost leads Bond to his death in her bedroom, and Eunice Gayson, a Bond pickup in a London gambling house who proves herself a greater adversary than even James Bond can handle. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Connery, Ursula Andress, (more)
- 1960
Having double-crossed his mob associates, popular newspaper reporter Jake Lingle (Herb Vigran) is gunned down in a subway. Investigating the murder, Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) is advised by the higher-ups to prevent the public from learning the truth: that the "crusading" Mr. Lingle had his fingers in several crooked pies. Meanwhile, ex-convict turned private detective Bill Hagen (played by a pre-Hawaii 5-0) offers to help Ness nab Lingle's killers, but the price he asks for has very little to do with the $25,000 reward posted by the authorities. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
