James McCallion Movies

John Williams guest stars as Bill Walston, a British police inspector who shows up in San Francisco, ostensibly to a attend a convention. Linking up with his old friend Ironside (Raymond Burr), Walston effusively offers to help the Chief in his investigation of a robbery. What Ironside doesn't know is that Walston is seriously ill--and that the good Inspector was himself the mastermind behind the heist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Just before assuming his "Howard Cunningham" duties on Happy Days, Tom Bosley guests in this episode as two-bit thief Eddie Coughlin. The hapless Eddie makes a potentially fatal mistake when he burglarizes a business that is being used as a front by The Syndicate. Sheree Northcostars as Eddie's long-suffering spouse Donna. A good portion of this episode was location-filmed on Alcatraz Island. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Crime Club was the umbrella title given a series of monthly mystery novels in the 1930s and 1940s. Several films and radio programs ostensibly based on "Crime Club" stories were produced during that same period. The title was revived for a TV pilot film in 1972; this time the "Crime Club" referred to a high-tech crime solving organization which numbered among its members a private detective, a federal agent, a policeman and a judge. In the pilot, the private eye (Lloyd Bridges) and the judge (Victor Buono) pool their skills to solve the murder of a fellow club member. The film failed to lead to a weekly series, but another Crime Club pilot was commissioned in 1975. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The title of this Mission:Impossible episode refers to a potentially devastating new biological weapon. Traitorous government scientist Paul Morse (Ross Elliot) intends to sell TOD-5 to Gordon Holt (Peter Haskell), special representative of a terrorist organization known as the Alpha Group. With time rapidly running out, the IMF must locate the Alpha's headquarters and neutralize the weapon. Ray Walston guest-stars as Dr. Flory, while Barbara Anderson makes her third series appearance as erstwhile IMF agent Mimi Davis. First telecast on October 14, 1972, "TOD-5" was written by James D. Buchanan and Ronald Austin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ed Nelson guest stars as Vinnie Paquette, a war hero fallen upon hard times. Hoping to recapture some of his past glory, Vinnie gets mixed up in a high-stakes jewel robbery. This episode is capped by a thrilling helicopter chase, filmed high above California's Antelope Valley. Featured in the cast is Lee Meriwether, who'd been seen during the first season of The F.B.I as the erstwhile girlfriend of Inspector Lew Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this syrupy comedy, a father attempts to reconnect with his troubled, estranged son, a philosophy professor. The chance at reconciliation comes when the son learns that his father, whom he hasn't seen in years is fighting a strange nameless movie disease in a French hospital. The young man's wife is not pleased. While aboard the jet, the son reflects upon his upbringing and the fights that would erupt between his mother, a fundamentalist Christian, and his father, an atheist. He remembers how his father turned to a free-spirited artist for comfort. Just before she left him, the artist gave the father a lovely poem. Later after his son became a teacher, the father decides to enter to piece in a poetry contest and wins $10,0000, which he plans to donate to his son's department. Unfortunately someone discovers that the artist's "original" poem is anything but and the father is publicly humiliated while his son is passed for promotion. Seeing how unhappy his son has become, the father decides to go to a church and pray for his son to get promoted. It works, but unfortunately a man had to die for the son to get it leaving the father to be wracked with guilt. Fortunately with the son's arrival comes the father's salvation. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The FBI is summoned to a ranching community to investigate a possible Civil Rights violation. Sheriff William Temple (James Olson) has been accused of excessive brutality and attempted murder by Peter Griffith (Bill Hickman), who has been arrested for smuggling illegal aliens. Faced with overwhelming evidence, Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) has no choice but to place Temple in custody--but Erskine can't shake the feeling that the sheriff is being framed by his longtime enemy, rancher Cliff Wyant (J.D. Cannon). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Guest star Joan Collins plays the title character in this offbeat Mission: Impossible episode. While on a particularly delicate recovery mission, Phelps is shot, wounded and left for dead. Upon awakening, he finds that he has been nursed back to health by the beautiful Nicole. Despite being trained to trust no one, Phelps begins to fall in love with Nicole--while she pumps him for information on behalf of her boss, enemy intelligence officer Anton Valdas (Logan Ramsey). Written by Stuart Hagmann, "Nicole" first aired on March 30, 1969. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Officers Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) and Jim Reed (Kent McCord) answer a summons from a bemused suburbanite, who can't figure out why over fifty Mexican youngsters have "adopted" him as a surrogate father and camped out on his front lawn. Elsewhere, the two patrolman capture a robber, and try to extricate a sniper from a small bungalow. And it what may turn out to be the most terrifying incident on their shift, Pete and Jim try to break up a fistfight between two drunken middle-aged ladies. Featured in the guest cast are Batman's former "Chief O'Hara" Stafford Repp, and frequent Jerry Lewis costar Del Moore. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Clint Eastwood stars as Walt Coogan, an Arizona deputy sheriff who has been sent to New York City to extradite escaped killer James Ringerman (Don Stroud). On arrival, he's forced to wait by NYPD detective Lieutenant McElroy (Lee J. Cobb), who informs him that Ringerman is recovering from a bad acid trip at Bellevue Hospital. After briefly flirting with attractive probation officer Julie Roth (Susan Clark), Coogan heads for Bellevue, where he's able to con the hospital's staff into releasing the criminal. The cop and the fugitive are on the way to catch a flight back to Arizona, when Ringerman's hippie girlfriend Linny (Tisha Sterling) and a large accomplice spirit the killer away, leaving Coogan unconscious. Luckily, Julie is the girl's probation officer, and Coogan manages to get her address from the woman's files while getting to know her better. He tracks the girl to a popular psychedelic club, whereupon, deciding she likes the deputy, she takes him back to her apartment for further interrogation. The first in a series of films on which Eastwood would collaborate with director Don Siegel, it features a memorable scene in which a battle fought with billiard balls and cue sticks suggests the birth of a new martial art. Although its seemingly innocuous scenes of sex and violence drew criticism at the time, it served as the source for television's considerably more benign McCloud, starring Dennis Weaver as the laconic fish out of water. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide

As "Ben Lewis", Kimble (David Janssen) eludes a police dragnet and escapes to the Northwest. But "escape" turns out to be a relative term when Kimble is waylaid by John Mallory (Laurence Naismith), a hermit who dropped out of civilization back in 1953--and who, desperate for companionship, holds Kimble prisoner with a pair of snarling German Shepherds. Ultimately, however, Kimble must rely upon Mallory and another recluse, female sculptor Andrea Cross (Antoinette Bower) to slip through the fingers of the Law in the final scene. This episode was directed by series regular Barry Morse, aka "Lt. Gerard." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Never once does Bobby Darin sing "Mack the Knife" or "Splish Splash" in Gunfight in Abilene. Instead, he plays a peaceable western sheriff, determined to stave off an outlaw invasion. The head outlaw is Leslie Nielsen, which makes this film very hard to watch with a straight face these days. The Universal City backlot gets a good workout in the blood-spattered finale of Gunfight in Abilene, which barely made the theatrical rounds before entrenching itself on late night television. The film should not be confused with Gunfighters of Abilene, a 1960 oater starring Buster Crabbe. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide