Ramon Bieri Movies

Planning a full assault on the forces of German General Stofle (Gilbert Green), the Allies order Hogan to detain Stofle for 24 hours. At first, the assignment seems to be a cinch, inasmuch as Stofle and Col. Klink are old buddies. The fly in the ointment is suspicious Gestapo officer Major Zolle (Gavin MacLeod), who has arrived in camp to investigate Klink's perfect no-escape record. Written by David Chantler and Jack H. Robinson, "Hello, Zolle" first aired on January 21, 1966. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Stephen McNally guest-stars as Nazi war criminal Kruger Schtelman, the only man who knows the whereabouts of a fortune hidden by the Germans during WW2. To prevent Schtelman from using the money to finance a neo-Nazi revolt, the IMF must trick him into revealing the whereabouts of the hidden cash. The solution: To convince Schtelman that the War is still in progress--and that he is on board a Nazi submarine (meticulously recreated by Mission: Impossible art director Gibson Holley). Lee Meriwether makes her second appearance as IMF agent Tracey. Written by Donald James, "Submarine" first aired on November 16, 1969. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The "Andromeda Strain" is a deadly extraterrestrial virus. It is brought to Earth when a research satellite crashes near a tiny Arizona town. Everyone in the community dies within days, except for a baby and an "insulated" drunkard. Recruited from labs all over North America, doctors Charles Dutton (David Wayne), Jeremy Stone (Arthur Hill), Ruth Leavitt (Kate Reid), and Mark Hall (James Olson) don radiation suits and race against time to isolate and destroy the virus. The film is based on a novel by Michael Crichton. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A seemingly benign nuclear arms treaty threatens to explode into another Cuban Missile Crisis. The IMF is assigned to squelch the treaty before any damage can be done. Their plan requires Paris to pose as both a fugitive and the fugitive's father--a tour de force that won an Emmy Award for makeup artist Bob Dawn. Familiar Mission:Impossible villains John Vernon and Will Kuluva make return appearances, while Cincinnati Reds catcher Johnny Bench makes his acting debut as a military guard. Written by Paul Playdon, "The Catafalque" was originally broadcast on February 6, 1971. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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, All Movie Guide

How mortifying! Keith Partridge, the heartthrob of millions of teenage girls, is failing his high school sex-education class! If his grades don't improve, Keith will be forced to take the class over during the summer, thus missing out on his family's concert tour. And worse still, his taciturn teacher Mr. Grisbee (Ramon Bieri) seems determined to fail Keith no matter how hard he tries (the operative word in this sentence is "seems", as revealed in the episode's final scene). Song: "It Means I'm in Love with You". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

"He wanted to die with me and I dreamed of being lost forever in his arms." A young couple goes on a Midwest crime spree in Terrence Malick's hypnotically assured debut feature, based on the 1950s Starkweather-Fugate murders. Fancying himself a rebel like James Dean, twentysomething Kit (Martin Sheen) takes off with teen baton-twirler Holly (Sissy Spacek) after shooting her father (Warren Oates) when he tries to split the pair up. Once bounty hunters discover their riverside hiding place, Kit and Holly head toward Saskatchewan, leaving dead bodies in their wake. As the law closes in, however, Holly gives herself up -- but Kit doesn't hold it against her, as he basks in his new status as a momentary folk hero. Inaugurating the use of voice-over narration that he would continue in Days of Heaven (1978) and The Thin Red Line (1998), Malick juxtaposes Holly's flat readings of her flowery romance-novel diary prose with the banal and surreal details of their journey. Singularly inarticulate with each other, Kit and Holly are more intrigued by mythic celebrity gestures, as Holly peruses her fan magazines and Kit commemorates key moments before orchestrating a properly dramatic capture for himself (complete with the right hat). The sublime visuals lend a dreamlike beauty to the couple's trip even as their actions are treated casually; Malick neither glamorizes Kit and Holly nor consigns them to the bloody end of their fame-fixated predecessors in Bonnie and Clyde (1967). With the couple's opaque dialogue and Holly's fanzine dream narration, Malick further denies an easy explanation for their crimes. Made for under 500,000 dollars, Badlands debuted at the 1973 New York Film Festival, along with Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets, and was released within months of two other outlaw-couple road movies, Steven Spielberg's The Sugarland Express and Robert Altman's Thieves Like Us. Although Badlands did not make an impression at the box office, its pictorial splendor and cool yet disquieting narrative established Malick as one of the most compelling artists to come out of early-'70s Hollywood. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

In this made-for-TV pilot, a government agent must stop a rogue operative from releasing a lethal virus. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

David Hartman stars as Lucas Tanner in this made for TV film. A former athlete and sportswriter, Tanner decides to become a high school teacher after losing his wife and son in an auto accident. His new career is almost over before it begins when Tanner is held responsible for the death of a student. Rosemary Murphy co-stars as Tanner's rules-are-rules principal. First telecast May 8, 1974, Lucas Tanner served as the pilot for the subsequent series of the same name, which also starred Hartman and Murphy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

For his TV-movie directorial debut, Michael Landon selected the autobiography of baseball-great Roy Campanella. It's Good to Be Alive begins when Campanella (Paul Winfield) is nearly killed in a car accident on January 26, 1958. He survives, but his fifth cervical vertebra has been fractured, meaning that he will be paralyzed for the rest of his life. Thanks to months of tireless efforts by physical-therapist Sam Brockington (Louis Gossett Jr.), Campanella is able to move about a bit, though he remains bitter about his condition. Campanella's accident causes a deeper rift in his already tottering marriage to his second wife Ruthie (Ruby Dee), and alienates his son David (Ty Henderson), who has been raised on his father's "never say die" philosophy. Realizing that by pitying himself he is letting his family down, Campanella sincerely adopts a more optimistic, upbeat outlook on life. Eventually, the wheelchair-bound Campanella accepts an offer to coach the LA Dodgers during spring training. In a finale reminiscent of Pride of the Yankees, Roy Campanella tearfully declares to an SRO audience at Los Angeles Coliseum that "It's good to be alive." When this 90-minute film first aired on February 22, 1974, it was introduced by the real-life Roy Campanella and his family (including his third wife Roxie). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jolene Hyland (Shelley Fabares), the wife of prison convict Gerald Hyland (Don Eichner), hires Jim (James Garner) to locate the stolen $500,000 which her husband claims to have hidden somewhere in Caledonia County. Before long, several shady characters are pressuring Jim to be cut in on the hidden loot. The trail of clues proves to be a painful one for the detective, but he soldiers on until reaching his destination--a Caledonia chicken ranch which harbors more than its share of surprises. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Alexander Main (Jack Lemmon) is a tired, middle-aged bail bondsman who hears from his former girlfriend Maritza (Genevieve Bujold) for the first time in quite a while. The news isn't good: Maritza is accused of the attempted murder of her abusive lover, and she hopes that Alex can get her out of jail. Alex arranges to have Maritza released into his custody, but while their romance begins to blossom once again, their relationship is still doomed to failure. This downbeat romantic comedy was based on the novel The Bailbondsman by Stanley Elkin. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this made-for-television drama, a doctor feverishly works to save a city from a potentially devastating epidemic. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide