Barbara Luna Movies

A private detective becomes involved in a new cast when her partner's guardian is murdered. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

While in the Florida Keys to prevent deposed dictator Luis Berezan's (Michael Pate) return to power, the IMF tragically loses one of its best agents, the lovely Casey Randall. Thus, the team's efforts to thwart Berezan and his Evita-like wife Emilia (Barbara Luna) becomes a personal vendetta. Jane Badler makes her first Mission:Impossible appearance as agent Shannon Reed, replacing the late Casey Randall (Terry Markwell)--whose very existence was, of course, "disavowed" by the "Secretary." Ironically, guest star Barbara Luna, here cast as one of the villains, played a likewise expendable IMF agent in "Elena", a 1966 episode from the original Mission: Impossible. First telecast on February 18, 1988, "The Fortune" was written by Robert Brennan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Steve Forrest, in his last starring role before moving permanently to series television with S.W.A.T., plays James Devlin, a once-notorious gunman who is wrongfully convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Through an accident -- though the priest Father Alvaro (Rafael Campos) insists it was divine intervention -- he survives the hanging, barely, and is set free, a death certificate having been duly and lawfully issued by the doctor (William Bryant) who examined the "body." A near walking corpse, with an odd, dark fire in his eyes and a strangely low body temperature and heartbeat, Devlin doesn't know what to do with the rest of his life, however long that may be -- he's got enemies still walking around who would like to finish the job, and neither the doctor nor the priest can tell him how long he might live. Having already reformed before he was convicted, he goes the rest of the way and decides to spend what time he's been given, and use the skills he still has as a gunman and soldier of fortune, on the side of the angels, helping people who need it. He quickly finds himself up to his neck in a deadly land war between an ambitious mining tycoon (Cameron Mitchell) and a young widow (Sharon Acker) for the property she owns. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

With nothing to lose, terminally ill American agent Anton Malik (Morgan Sterne) has planted an detonation device in a nuclear reactor. It is up to the IMF to convince the embittered Malik to remove the device. Their strategy involves a dangerous waiting game which may result in the deaths of all concerned. Barbara Luna, who played the title role in the first-season Mission:Impossible episode "Elena," is here cast as IMF agent Wai Lee. Written by Paul Playdon, "Time Bomb" was originally telecast on December 14, 1969. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda headline this western in which an old lawman (Stewart) attempts to keep his town safe from a band of recent returnees from the Missouri range wars and their villainous leader (Fonda), who threaten to destroy it with their drunken revelry. The old sheriff usually avoids the town, preferring to live on the outskirts of town with his pregnant wife. He is a bit of a pacifist, and when he sees what the outlaws are doing to the peaceful little village, he decides he must intervene, as no one in town seems to have the grit to fight back. At first the lawman attempts to reason with the outlaws. He fails at this, and even more violence ensues, forcing the sheriff to use a stronger form of persuasion. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Having previously played a homicidal kidnapper during The F.B.I.'s inaugural season, Wayne Rogers upholds his villainous tradition in this episode as a bigoted extortionist. Harboring a pathological hatred for all Latinos, Tyler Cray (Rogers) devises a nasty method of extorting $200,000 from a Mexican-American rancher (Ray Avila). Can this be the same Wayne Rogers who appeared as an upright federal agent in the 1975 TV movie Attack on Terror: The FBI vs. the Ku Klux Klan? Stephen Brooks makes his final series appearance as Special Agent Jim Rhodes in this, the last episode of The F. B.I.'s second season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

John Drew Barrymore, Joan Blondell, John Dehner, and Dan Duryea star in this made-for-television remake of the 1950 James Stewart Western about a two brothers who both covet the titular repeating rifle. As the dedicated officer and the crafty ex-con face off to determine who will walk away with rifle in hand, family bonds are violently shattered by the desire for cold steel and hot lead. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) is assigned to capture escaped bank robber-murderer Robert Charles Porter (Earl Holliman). Going undercover, Erskine quickly learns that Porter is the latest client of a gang that specialize in smuggling criminals out of the US. In the episode's thrilling climax, Erskine finds himself reluctantly sharing a "last ride" with the wounded Porter and his terrified girlfriend Linda (Barbara Luna). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Many viewers avoided Mail Order Bride upon its first release, assuming (thanks to MGM's shoddy promotional campaign) that the picture had been slapped together to capitalize on the popularity of Beverly Hillbillies star Buddy Ebsen. In truth, the film is an engaging and involving western drama, with Ebsen playing a character far removed from Jed Clampett. The mail order bride in question is not for Ebsen but for the wild young frontiersman in his charge (Keir Dullea). It is Buddy's hope that the girl will tame the boy (the son of an old friend) and give him some sense of responsibility. Lois Nettelton is the proper young lady who fills the bill. In the closing scenes, director Burt Kennedy restages the climactic shootout from 1962's Ride the High Country, which Kennedy scripted. Mail Order Bride is not only a satisfactory vehicle for Buddy Ebsen, but it also allows him an opportunity to sing the title song. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dr. Stuart Peters (Michael Forest) arrives in Los Angeles from upstate New York, with his ne'er-do-well younger brother Jory (Scott Marlowe) in tow, to take a job at NORCO, an energy research laboratory. After an odd encounter with a guard -- who tries to warn him away from NORCO -- he reports for work and immediately goes incommunicado for a week. When he reappears, Peters looks worn, haggard, and preoccupied -- and dies when something seems to explode in his chest. The medical examiner determines that the cause of death was a faulty heart pacemaker. The problem, for the police detective (Edward Asner) investigating the death, and for the victim's grief-sticken brother, is that the physicist was in perfect health and had never worn a pacemaker. They want to know what happened to him during the week he was unaccounted for at NORCO -- and why the staff, from the director (Kent Smith) on down, won't cooperate with the investigation. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Charles Bronson guest stars as Janos Kolescu, a renegade gypsy hired by the Syndicate to establish a new illegal-liquor market amongst his own people in Chicago. Kolescu has an intensely personal reason for casting his lot with the Mob: He intends to carry out an old vendetta against the head of Chicago's "gypsy senate", who back in the Old Country had stolen a religious icon and shifted the blame to Kolescu's father. In his efforts to bring Kolescu to justice, Elliot (Robert Stack) finds himself up against one of his most elusive--and most deadly--adversaries. This episode features the first of four Untouchables appearances by future Lou Grant star Edward Asner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide