Ted Markland Movies

Mother Nature's fury clashes with Hollywood has-been determination as a group of down and out filmmakers attempt to resurrect a dying sci-fi franchise by keeping their production afloat long enough to shoot their big climax with the "Big One" as the backdrop. In just seventy-two hours, Los Angeles will finally get the earthquake that folks have been anticipating for decades. The Generic News Network is capitalizing on public panic in typically tacky fashion, and the cast of the hopelessly irrelevant Cyxork sci-fi film franchise is ready to risk their lives for some free special effects. But while square-jawed star Rex Anderson (Ray Wise) just wants to keep his film career afloat and earn enough money so that he and his wife can move out of the public appearance bus they call a home, director Angela LaSalle (Sonya Smith) is seeking to transform schlock cinema into celluloid art. When Rex goes over Angela's head in an attempt to get her fired, the plan backfires and they both end up out of work. The production effectively shut down, Rex and Angela decide that their only hope is to put aside their differences, pretend they are still in production, and work under the radar to finish the film. But who would be foolish enough to try and shoot a film during what promises to be the biggest earthquake in recorded history? As the crew races to get the film finished before the studio finds out, the entire state of California braces for the big rumble and hopes for the best. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

John Barrett, star of American Kickboxer 1 (1991), is nowhere to be found in American Kickboxer 2 (1993). In fact, much of the emphasis this time is not on the title character, but on the heroine. When her daughter is kidnapped, Kathy Shower calls upon the two most important men in her life. Those worthies are her kickboxing ex-lover (Dale "Apollo" Cook) and her equally athletic ex-husband. Evidently she could never make a commitment-but her two "ex"s certainly can! This film's official title is American Kickboxer 2: To the Death. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The 152nd and final episode of Hunter focuses on the titular detective's superior officer, Captain Charles Devane (Charles Hallahan). For reasons that he cannot possibly understand, Devane has been asked to be best man at the wedding of a small-time crook named Jake Hutton (played by frequent Hunter director Tony Mordente).At the same time, several of Hutton's former cellmates are pressuring him to participate in a crime, intending to frame him for murder. Blissfully unaware of all these intrigues is Jake's intended, dance instructor Wanda Crebbs (Jean Kasem). As for Hunter (Fred Dryer)...well, he manages to find himself in the thick of things long before the couple exchanges their final vows. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Originally prepared for European release under the title Catchfire, Backtrack wasn't given a wide distribution until 1991, and then only to capitalize on the Oscar win of Silence of the Lambs star Jodie Foster. In Backtrack, Foster plays a youngish innocent who witnesses a mob hit. Professional assassin Dennis Hopper is contracted to silence Foster for keeps. Instead, he falls in love with her. Directed by star Hopper, Backtrack has some of the feel of his earlier, better Easy Rider: the cast is populated by such old Hopper chums as Dean Stockwell, Charlie Sheen, Joe Pesci, Bob Dylan, Vincent Price and Julie Adams; and, like Easy Rider, it looks as though the story was improvised during filming. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

To keep Hunter (Fred Dryer) alive long enough to testify against mob boss Max Crane (Wolf Muster), Captain Devane (Charles Hallahan) orders the detective to go on a fishing trip at a remote sporting lodge. Almost immediately upon arrival, Hunter meets and falls in love with a girl named Nicki (Lydia Cornell). Meanwhile back in LA, McCall (Stepfanie Kramer) gets word that a paid assassin has been dispatched to "off" Hunter--and just guess whom that assassin turns out to be! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In his own inimitable (and fatheaded) "no questions asked" fashion, Boss Hogg (Sorrell Booke) hires a trio of crooks to rob a moving boxcar. For this purpose, the crooks intend to knock the boxcar off the train, using remote-control explosives. The Duke boys become intimtately involved in the intrigure when the villians steal the "General Lee" and wire the car to blow up on the railroad tracks, destroying the "money train" and everyone on it in the process! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This time the A-Team takes up the cause of migrant workers who are being treated as slaves--and cheated out of their meager salaries in the bargain--by evil landowner Ted Jarrett (played by prison-movie perennial John Vernon). Once on the scene, the Team sets about to organize the beleagured workers into a union, a task that necessitates the conversion of a huge cabbage-bailing machine into an armored vehicle. Meanwhile, the Team's perennial nemesis Col. Decker (Lance LeGault) continues to breathe down the Good Guys' necks. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jim (James Garner) picks up his phone and hears a threat against his life: the caller, it turns out, has dialed the wrong number. The intended recipient of the threat is self-absorbed social climber Jay Rockfelt (John Pleshette), who in his eagerness to make an impression on the world has inadvertently insulted--and publicly humiliated--a notorious gangster. Though he has no vested interest in Jay's plight, Jim nonetheless tries to orchestrate a rescue when the bad guys (so bad that they even poison a harmless little dog!) kidnap Jay's sister. Rock star Rick Springfield appears as (Surprise! Surprise!) a rock star, whose number-one hit provides this episode with its seemingly nonsequitur title. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Meeting largely mixed reviews during its first run in 1971, counterculture icon Peter Fonda's directorial debut was restored and remastered for its 30-year anniversary. The film opens with three drifters greeting the morning by cavorting in a sun-dabbled mountain river. Harry Collings (Fonda) catches a fish and gives it to Arch Harris (Warren Oates) who grills it over a low fire, while Dan (Robert Pratt) -- the youngest of the three -- bathes in the swift moving current. Later, as they head into Del Norte, a small town in the middle of nowhere, Dan talks breathlessly about going to California while Collings suddenly decides to return home after a seven-year absence. After Dan runs afoul of a group of unsavory characters lead by McVey (Severn Darden), Collings vows vengeance for the lad's death and blows off McVey's feet. Collings and Harris bury Dan and flee from the town riding hundreds of miles to Collings' homestead. His wife Hannah (Verna Bloom) -- now called "Widow Collings" by the local townsfolk -- is none too pleased to see her wayward husband at her doorstep. Taking his wife's anger in stride, he asks only to be allowed to work as a hired hand. Just as Hannah and Collings start to move beyond the years of anger and estrangement, disaster strikes. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Blackbeard's Ghost was one of the first Disney productions released after Walt's death. Peter Ustinov stars as the eponymous wraith, who returns to Earth to come to aid of his descendant, elderly Elsa Lanchester. The villains want to kick Lanchester and her friends out of their group home so that they can build a crooked casino. Good guy Dean Jones evokes the spirit of Blackbeard to thwart the bad guys. The supporting cast ranges from Richard Deacon to Gil Lamb, while Peter Ellenshaw performs the visual effects with mattes, miniatures, and process screens. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A horse thief with a price on his head is shot by both Joe Cartwright and his friend, stone-broke farmer Morgan Tanner (Dean Harens). When the authorities arrive, Joe takes full credit for the killing-and claims the reward, which Morgan and his family need desperately. Why is Joe acting in this seemingly cold and selfish manner? Also in the cast are Luana Patten and Regina Gleason as Morgan's wife Lorna and daughter Martha. Written by Frederic Louis Fox, "Credit for a Kill" first aired on October 23 1966. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Paladin (Richard Boone) is hired by a mortally woman named Mrs. Kilmer (Lillian Bronson), who wants to learn the whereabouts of her long-long son before she dies. The trail of clues leads Paladin to Harper City, a town held in the grip of the wealthy--and psychotic--Fred Harper (Charles Aidman). Clearly, Harper knows something about Mrs. Kilmer's prodigal son, but he isn't telling...and Paladin is fully aware that the previous detective hired to locate the boy turned up dead. This is the final episode of Have Gun, Will Travel's third season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide