Kenneth O'Brien Movies

Richard Pryor gives a compelling performance in Some Kind of Hero, playing a Vietnam veteran who tries to readjust to civilian life. Pryor plays Eddie Keller, who has just spent five years in a North Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp. Most of the time there, Eddie was able to hold his own against his captors, but he eventually was forced to sign a statement denouncing United States involvement in the Vietnam War. Eddie decided to sign the document in order to insure that his friend Vinnie (Ray Sharkey) would be given proper medical treatment. Because of this denunciation, when Eddie returns home from the war he is denied his back pay. He also discovers that his wife has left him for another man, his business has fallen apart, and his mother has been sent to an asylum. Eddie falls into a deep depression and hits rock bottom. But he meets a friendly prostitute, Toni (Margot Kidder), who helps him straighten out his life. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Boss Hogg (Sorrell Booke) transforms Stonewall Jackson Day into a huge, elaborate celebration for Hazzard County. Of course, Boss is not motivated by any sort of Confederate patriotism; he has merely figured out a method to steal General Jackson's famous sword, sell it to the highest bidder, and then frame the Dukes for the theft. Saving the day for the good guys is a hitherto unknown and unseen cousin, Jeb Stuart Duke (Christopher Hensel) (who, if we are to believe contemporary accounts, was originally intended to be a recurring character). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The story of Philadelphia-based rock 'n' roll starmaker Bob Marcucci is given a pointed a clef treatment in The Idolmaker. Ray Sharkey plays Vincent Vacarri, who takes a couple of raw young kids (Peter Gallagher and Paul Land) and molds them into teen idols. If Gallagher and Land seem at times to be clones of Fabian and Frankie Avalon, then you've gotten the point. As played by Sharkey, Vacarri comes off as both maven and monster: he gives his boys everything they need professionally and everything they want personally, but it's subliminally clear that his interest is purely mercenary (incredibly, Bob Marcucci is the film's technical advisor). An excellent, clear-eyed view of show biz mechanics, The Idolmaker falters only in its anachronisms, notably the style of music performed by Vacarri's proteges. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Having solved many a crime in the past, Quincy finds himself in the uneviable position of being accused of criminal behavior. The family of 21-year-old kidney donor Jack Murphy insist that Quincy declared the man dead prematurely in order to harvest his organs. In his efforts to clear his name, Quincy butts heads with sleazy, ambulance-chasing malpractice attorney Raymond Morrison (Granville Van Dusen), who will go to any lengths to win a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the entire LA Coroner's Office. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Kojak moved from its traditonal Sunday-night timeslot to a new Saturday evening berth for this concluding episode of a two-part story. Though suspended from the force, Kojak is determined to track down a serial murderer known as The Clothesline Killer. It's a personal crusade for the troubled detective: Back in 1969, he allegedly shot the Clothesline Killer to death--and now there is every possibility that he gunned down the wrong man. Diane Baker appears in flashback as the detective's former love Irene. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Cliff Gorman, the star of such Broadway hits as "Boys in the Band" and "Lenny", guests in this episode as San Quentin guard Earl Mack. Out of sympathy for four model prisoners, Sgt. Mack generously affords them a "time-out" period in the city of San Francisco. The cons return the favor by escaping, whereupon Mack vows to bring them back all by himself--whether Stone (Karl Malden) and Robbins (Richard Hatch) want him to or not. Largely location-filmed on the USF campus, this episode brings the five-season run of Streets of San Francisco to a close. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Also known as Banjo Hackett: Roamin' Free, this TV pilot film stars Don Meredith in the title role. Banjo Hackett is a western horsetrader, circa 1885, who travels in the company of his orphaned nephew (Ike Eisenmann). While searching for a rare Arabian mare stolen from the nephew's late mother, Hackett occasionally pays a visit to Mollie (Jennifer Warren), a ranch owner whom Banjo would marry if he'd only admit he loved the woman. Millionaire Dan O'Herlihy and untrustworthy bounty hunter Chuck Connors are also after the stolen horse. The film's storyline is as rambling as Banjo Hackett himself, which was both its charm and curse. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

As a favor to pretty young sociologist Lindsay Walker (Sian Barbara Allen), Kojak (Telly Savalas) embarks on a search for her boyfriend, paroled convict Lou Giordino (played by a pre-Starsky and Hutch Paul Michael Glaser). But Lou has no intention of being located by Kojak or any other law-enforcement official. He has jumped parole in order to locate his ex-wife--and also settle accounts with his former cohorts, who had let him take the fall for a crime while they escaped scot-free. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Four years after setting box offices ablaze in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and director George Roy Hill re-teamed with similar success for The Sting. Redford plays Depression-era confidence trickster Johnny Hooker, whose friend and mentor Luther Coleman (Robert Earl Jones) is murdered by racketeer/gambler Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw). Hoping to avenge Luther's death, Johnny begins planning a "sting" -- an elaborate scam -- to destroy Lonnegan. He enlists the aid of "the greatest con artist of them all," Henry Gondorff (Paul Newman), who pulls himself out of a drunken stupor and rises to the occasion. Hooker and Gondorff gather together an impressive array of con men, all of whom despise Lonnegan and wish to settle accounts on behalf of Luther. The twists and surprises that follow are too complex to relate in detail -- suffice to say that you can't cheat an honest man, and that you shouldn't accept everything at face value. The Sting became one of the biggest hits of the early '70s; grossing 68.5 million dollars during its first run, the film also picked up seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Adapted Score for Marvin Hamlisch's unforgettable setting of Scott Joplin's ragtime music. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This is the first of several episodes of The Streets of San Francisco in which the viewers bear witness to crimes in progress and are provided all the evidence virtually from the outset, placing them several steps ahead of Detectives Stone (Karl Malden) and Keller (Michael Douglas). In this case, the catalyst for the story is street vendor Wally Sensibaugh (David Wayne), who takes it upon himself to track down the muggers who have stolen his life savings. Sensibaugh's odyssey leads him down several strange paths--all of them linked with the murder of a city housing commissioner. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Another bomb threat occupies most of the time of Officers Jim Reed (Kent McCord) and Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) in this episode. The two mobile cops also contend with a group of grown men who get their jollies out of playing with dynamite (literally), and a vituperative lady drunk. The episode's title refers to a precocious 11-year-old boy (Stephen Hudis), whose photographic memory comes in handy as Jim and Pete pursue a burglary investigation. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi