Donald Moffat Movies

Paul Newman made his directorial debut and Newman's wife, Joanne Woodward, stars as Rachel Cameron, a 35-year-old unmarried schoolteacher who feels as though she's wasted her life. Rachel's best friend, Calla Mackie (Estelle Parsons), invites her to attend a religious revival meeting. Here Rachel is swept up in the emotional fervor orchestrated by a young guest preacher (Terry Kiser). This is the first of several cathartic incidents which convince Rachel to kick over the traces and express her own needs and emotions. She has a brief sexual liaison with an old family friend (James Olson), and is delighted at the notion that she might have become pregnant. Rachel ends up alone and childless (her "pregnancy" was nothing more than a benign cyst), but still determined to forge a new life for herself. Based the novel A Jest of God by Margaret Laurence, Rachel, Rachel won New York Film Critics awards for both Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman, and an Oscar nomination for Joanne Woodward. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Set against the political turmoil of the late 60's, R.P.M. (Revolutions Per Minute) stars Anthony Quinn as "Paco" Perez, a free-thinking liberal college professor whom the campus leftists regard as an authority figure they can understand. Perez is also free-thinking enough to have a grad student as a mistress, Rhoda (Ann-Margret). When the University President is forced out of office by a radical group, Perez is given the job, but his credibility with the activists comes into question when he's unable to meet their demands as quickly as they would like. Rossiter (Gary Lockwood) and Dempsey (Paul Winfield), two of the activist leaders, threaten to destroy the university's new computer network (remember, this was back in the day before you could buy a computer for a thousand bucks), and Perez calls in the cops, which only fans the flames of a tense situation. R.P.M. was written by Erich Segal, before he was to find success with another story set (in part) on a college campus, Love Story. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Neta (Jewel Blanch), a teenaged friend of Ben Cartwright's adopted son Jamie, witnesses the murder of Mr. Trunkett, but is too frightened to say anything about it. Meanwhile, the murderer, a man named Bannon (Bradford Dillman), impersonates the dead man in order to inherit a fortune. The danger to Neta intensifies when the incognito Bannon is hired by the Cartwrights. Originally shown on November 14 1971, "Face of Fear" was written by Ken Pettus. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Father Daniel Berrigan, at the height of the Vietnam War, was arrested along with eight other protesters (including his brother Philip) in Baltimore in 1968, for burning draft records. Berrigan later penned a didactic play, based upon the incident, which was the basis for this film. The motives behind the Vietnam War protesters are examined during their trial, but the plea for individual responsibility and personal action concerning the war is rejected by the judge, and the Nine are found guilty and sentenced to imprisonment. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Ironside (Raymond Burr) and Ed (Don Galloway) head to London (courtesy of the Universal back lot), there to attend an international police convention. No sooner has he arrived than Ed witnesses the assassination of the British police official--and is subsequently targeted for death himself. To solve the murder and keep his assistant from harm, Ironside works side by side with his old friend and colleague, Superintendant Faber (Lloyd Bochner)...but gradually grows suspicious of Faber's mercurial and oftimes obstructive behavior. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by Michael Crichton, Terminal Man is a sci-fi thriller about a scientist who decides to be the lab rat in an experimental surgery to control his violent tendencies. During the surgical procedure, a miniature computer is implanted in his head. Unfortunately, the mechanism malfunctions, and he becomes a vicious killer. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

Elizabeth Ashley guest stars as Laura Keyes, who after suffering a heart attack crashes her car into Ironside's van. Laura is rushed to a hospital, where the doctors discover that the woman had had a bullet lodged near her heart for years. Ironside (Raymond Burr) is amazed to discover that, not only is Laura unconcerned about her wound, but she doesn't even remember being shot! His curiosity further aroused when Laura refuses to let the doctors remove the bullet, Ironside launches an investigation...and ends up reopening a cold murder case. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Exo-Man is a made-for-TV attempt to prolong the Six Million Dollar Man concept into yet another series. David Ackroyd stars as physics professor Nick Conrad, who is shot and crippled while trying to prevent a holdup. Returning to his lab, Conrad invents a superpowered suit that will enable him to reactivate his withered limbs. Six Million Dollar Man creator Martin Caiden was also the brains behind Exo-Man. According to Caiden, undue network interference killed the project's chances of becoming a weekly series. The 2-hour Exo-Man pilot first aired on June 18, 1977. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

First aired March 13, 1977, Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years was the brilliant follow-up to the equally praiseworthy 1976 TV movie Eleanor and Franklin: The Early Years. The film is framed in a flashback experienced by first lady Eleanor Roosevelt (Jane Alexander) while accompanying the casket carrying the body of her husband Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Edward Herrmann) to its final resting place in Hyde Park. Elected in 1933, FDR endeavors to pull the country out of the Depression with the New Deal during his first term, while Eleanor emerges as a formidable public figure in her own right during the second term, tirelessly working on behalf of social change and reforms. Ever under the baleful eye of his mother Sara (Rosemary Murphy), Roosevelt tries to maintain family equilibrium in the White House as he seeks an unprecedented third term. Sara dies in December of 1941, two days before Roosevelt, in his "Day of Infamy" speech, declares war on Japan. Despite health problems, FDR successfully pursues a fourth term in 1944; he dies in office in April of 1945, a scant few months before the end of World War II. Despite her long-standing displeasure over her husband's long-ago affair with artist Lucy Mercer (Linda Kelsey), a stiff-lipped Eleanor puts on a brave front when Roosevelt dies in the company of Deakins at a health spa in Georgia. Based on Joseph P. Lash's Pulitzer prize-winning biography, Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years earned Emmies for "Outstanding Special" and for director Daniel Petrie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In search of the person who stuffed a note reading "Be My Friend" in a bottle, Charles (Michael Landon) and Laura (Melissa Gilbert) come upon an abandoned baby. It soon develops that the child's unwed, teenaged parents were forced to part by the girl's resentful father. While Charles tries to patch things up with the couple's families, Laura grows increasingly attached to the baby. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This made-for-TV movie begins in 1975, when Technical Sergeant Leonard Matlovich (Brad Dourif), a highly decorated Vietnam veteran, faces a court-martial and possible discharge. Matlovich's "offense:" He is an admitted homosexual. Knowing full well that the military has a long-standing ban on gays, Matlovich deliberately makes public his sexual preferences in order to test the ban in court. John McGreevey's teleplay is based on actual court transcripts, with no deviations from the facts at hand. Sergeant Matlovich vs. the U.S. Air Force was originally telecast August 21, 1978. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by the iconoclastic Richard Condon (of Manchurian Candidate and Prizzi's Honor fame), Winter Kills was one of the vanguard efforts in the "JFK conspiracy" school of literature. Jeff Bridges stars as Nick Kegan, the scion of a powerful Kennedyesque family, who has done his best to make himself obscure after the assassination of his older brother, the former president of the U.S. While working as an oil rigger, Nick is introduced to a terminally ill gentleman who claims to have been "the second assassin." His curiosity aroused, Nick begins digging into what was supposed to be a closed case -- and, predictably, what he finds out isn't pretty. This, however, is the only predictable element of this mesmerizingly mazelike yarn. A failure when first released, Winter Kills fared somewhat better when director William Richert arranged to rerelease the film through his own company and restore several scenes that had been cut by its previous backers. Elizabeth Taylor appears uncredited as one "Lola Comante." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide