Lee Majors Movies

In this chilling blood-tale in "Psycho" style, Robert Bloch modernizes the Lizzy Borden story. A wife (Joan Crawford) literally axes her cheating husband and his lover, witnessed by her three-year-old daughter. Mom is packed off to the insane asylum for 20 years before reuniting with the daughter (Diane Baker). From this point, the axe murders continue along a contrived plot intended to lead the audience astray until the mystery is solved. Crawford's strong performance and the excellently constructed suspense are the best elements of the film -- and the chopping saves the show when the plot tends to slow. ~ Lucinda Ramsey, All Movie Guide

The Big Valley was the last major successful network Western series of the 1960s, running four seasons, from 1965 through 1969; none of the others that came after it, Branded, Hondo, Lancer, etc., even came close to that kind of longevity. Most of its appeal, besides high production values, lay in its casting and the starring role played by Barbara Stanwyck (or "Miss Barbara Stanwyck" as she was referred to in the credits) as Victoria Barkley, the matriarch ruling over a huge ranch outside of Stockton, CA, and the San Joachin Valley. Stanwyck was also a partner in the series' production company, Four Star. The Big Valley opens in the year 1876, six years after the death of Victoria's husband, Thomas Barkley, who was shot to death amid a battle with the railroad, and in the first episode the railroad is once more trying to take the land of the homesteaders adjacent to the Barkley ranch. The series' model was very obviously Bonanza (along with elements of the movie Duel in the Sun), which, with a relatively inexperienced cast, was already a hit in its fourth season at the time this series was conceived. The sensibilities of the period being what they were, Victoria Barkley could not have produced four siblings from different husbands, as Lorne Greene's Ben Cartwright had by different wives on Bonanza -- but her offspring were still as varied as the Cartwright family. The Barkleys, in the opening, include three brothers, Jarrod (Richard Long), the oldest and the lawyer, mature and deliberative; Nick (Peter Breck), the ramrod of the ranch, bold but also very hot-tempered; and Eugene (Charles Briles), the youngest, who looks up to both of his brothers (who goes off to college and, after the first season, is never seen or mentioned again); and one daughter, Audra (Linda Evans), who is by turns spoiled and vulnerable, and solitary.

In the first episode, a mysterious young man named Heath (Lee Majors) arrives at the ranch, claiming to be Tom Barkley's illegitimate son -- which sends Nick into a rage that nearly has him killing the visitor, until he joins the Barkley brothers in defending their neighbors from the railroad. The Barkley ranch may not have been as big as the Ponderosa on Bonanza, but it was just as attractive to would-be interlopers and troublemakers, and across four seasons the series managed to put some fresh twists on a lot of Western conventions, mostly by virtue of what Stanwyck's presence allowed in the way of scripting. With more acting and filmmaking experience than the rest of the cast combined, she could put her own stamp and fresh, interesting interpretations on stories as old as the "Vanishing Lady" ("The Disappearance") -- the same story that inspired Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes -- and even prison stories ("Four Days to Furnace Creek") in later seasons. The other prime actor in the series was, oddly enough, Lee Majors, who, at the outset of his career, understood the notion of less being more. His approach to the role of Heath in the first seaon is reminiscent of Steve McQueen with a touch of James Dean and Dennis Hopper. Whereas Richard Long did his best with a role that was usually fairly dullish, Breck tended to overact in his role, which, when it wasn't very physical, tended to get difficult speeches that required more subtlety than he had as an actor. As for Linda Evans, she was so untrained as an actress that she was actually occasionally interesting to watch in her scattershot approach to the role, which, as a solitary romantic dreamer, lent itself to a certain amorphous quality. To the audience's relief, she also got better during the later seasons of the show and was a fully competent actress by the series' end.

The first season of the series was devoted principally to establishing who the Barkleys were, the dimensions of their 30,000-acre ranch (which, in addition to cattle, included a mine, timber, a vineyard, orange groves, and -- in keeping with the sensibilities of the mid-'60s -- included at least one black ranch hand), and establishing the characters' individual personalities. Stanwyck evidently believed that scarcity created demand, and in many of the episodes, her work was confined to no more than two or three major scenes, enough to keep audiences satisfied while not overexposing her on the small screen. By the end of the season, youngest son Eugene was gone from memory and Jarrod, Nick, Heath, and Audra were the focus of the series, along with Victoria. The series was the creation of renowned author A.I. Bezzerides and Louis F. Edelman, and produced by Arthur Gardner, Arnold Laven, and Jules Levy. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Justice runs red in the deep South in this powerful drama. Steve Mundine (Lee Majors) is a young lawyer who, shortly after marrying his sweetheart Nella (Barbara Hershey), takes a position with a law firm in a small Southern town, run by his uncle Oman Hedgepath (Lee J. Cobb). L.B. Jones (Roscoe Lee Browne) is a well-to-do African-American funeral director who comes to Hedgepath's firm in search of legal representation. Jones wishes to divorce his wife Emma (Lola Falana), but his grounds make the case a hot potato -- Jones has learned Emma has been having an affair with Willie Joe Worth (Anthony Zerbe), a white police officer who is the father of Emma's unborn child. Worth does not want his affair dragged into a court of law, so he and his fellow officer Stanley Bumpas (Arch Johnson) violently take matters into their own hands. The last feature film from legendary Hollywood director William Wyler, The Liberation of L.B. Jones was based on a novel by Jesse Hill Ford. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This TV movie was the pilot for the popular series The Six Million Dollar Man. In this maiden effort, we are told just how astronaut Steve Austin became a bionic man. Surviving a near-fatal crash, the mutilated Austin is given artificial limbs (plus one faux eye) and reassembled into a part-human, part-electronic entity, endowed with superstrength and the ability to run faster than anyone--a feat which is always depicted in slow motion. Put to work by the Office of Strategic Information, Col. Austin answers to his immediate superior Darren McGavin (replaced by Richard Anderson in the series proper). Martin Balsam plays the doctor responsible for Austin's superhuman status (Balsam's character was played on the series by Martin Brooks) Filmed in part at Edwards Air Force Base, The Six Million Dollar Man was first telecast on March 7, 1973, where it performed admirably opposite a Bob Hope special; the series itself began on a monthly basis in October of 1973, then became a weekly in January of 1974. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jamie Somers, the "Bionic Woman" introduced on a 1975 episode of TV's Six Million Dollar Man, launched her own series with a two-part adventure. Part One was telecast as the January 11, 1976 installment of Six Million Dollar Man: in a comatose state, Jamie, the onetime fiancee of "bionic man" Steve Austin (Lee Majors), is rescued by emergency brain surgery. Retaining no memory of her relationship with Austin, Jamie starts a new life as a California schoolteacher. In Part Two, which served as the January 14, 1976 premiere of The Bionic Woman, we learn that Jamie, like Steve has been outfitted with electronic replacements for certain vital appendages: her legs, her right arm, her right ear. Moonlighting as a government agent, Jamie infiltrates the headquarters of evil businessman Dennis Patrick, who hopes to exploit her bionic accoutrements for his own nefarious purposes. In syndication, the two halves of the first Bionic Woman adventure were melded into one 2-hour TV movie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Actor James Stacy, who in real life lost and arm and a leg in a motorcycle accident, won an Emmy award for his performance as double-amputee Kenny Briggs in this made-for-TV movie. Disabled in Vietnam, Kenny is not only embittered by his plight, but also holds his best friend and fellow soldier Frank Logan (Lee Majors) responsible for the tragedy. In concert with Kenny's girlfriend, Nikki (Barbara Hershey), Logan tries to snap Kenny out of his self-pitying doldrums -- while Kenny himself struggles with physical rehabilitation, in hopes of returning to his favorite sport of skiing. Written and directed by Theodore J. Flicker (The President's Analyst), Just a Little Inconvenience debuted October 2, 1977, on NBC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When his father does not return from the Norse colony in Vinland (Greenland) for years and years, warrior son Thorvald (Lee Majors) organizes an expedition to find him. He and his co-commander Ragnar (Cornel Wilde) arrive and swiftly discover that King Eurich (Mel Ferrer) and his company were abducted by Native Americans and taken to neighboring lands. With the help of a friendly tribal princess, and the comical assistance of the Norse shaman "Death Dreamer" (Jack Elam), Thorvald is able to locate and battle the tribesmen for the life of his father. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Taking over for Gary Cooper, Lee Majors stars as Marshal Will Kane in this made-for-TV movie set a year after the original High Noon ends. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide