Whit Bissell Movies

First telecast November 4, 1996, this Deep Space Nine episode was a harkback to the classic 1967 Star Trek installment "The Trouble with Tribbles." Charlie Brill, a holdover from the original episode, reprises his role as renegade Klingon agent Arne Darvin, who sets the plot in motion by hurtling the Defiant and its crew some 105 years into the past. Upon getting their bearings, the crew finds themselves on board the original Enterprise, where they come face to face with James T. Kirk, not to mention thousands and thousands of those pesky and prolific Tribbles, one of which has been booby-trapped. "Trials and Tribble-ations" was scripted by Ronald D. Moore and Rene Echevarria from a story by Ira Steven Behr and Hans Beimler. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season Five of Quincy, M.E. begins with a typically perplexing case for police medical examiner Quincy (Jack Klugman). Performing an autopsy on a teenage girl, Quincy finds that the girl succumbed to a disease more commonly found in old people. After the victim's boyfriend dies in a similar fashion, Quincy determines that both were heavy drug users--and that the marijuana they'd been smoking had been treated with chemical designed to stimulate plant growth (the resemblance to the controversial defoliant Paraquat was clearly not coincidental). Determined to prevent any further damge, Quincy goes after Ralph Peters (Gary Wood), publisher of the magazine which advertised the deadly stimulant. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cajun quarter-horse trainer Lloyd Bourdelle (Walter Matthau) struggles to eke out a decent living for himself and his three sons Buddy, Randy and Casey (Andrew A. Rubin, Stephen Burns and Michael Hershewe). Their prize horse is thoroughbred foal Casey's Shadow, named after the youngest son (Hershewe). The question is whether or not Lloyd, a life-long loser, can take advantage of the opportunity for bettering his lot afforded by Casey's Shadow. Alexis Smith co-stars as Sarah Blue, a wealthy woman who becomes Matthau's strongest ally when she offers to buy the horse rather than allow the vindictive Mike Marsh (Robert Webber) to destroy it. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A progressive scientist builds a machine that allows him time travel in this adaptation of the classic from H.G. Wells. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

James Fenimore Cooper's frequently filmed 1826 novel The Last of the Mohicans was given the TV-movie treatment late in 1977. Steve Forrest stars as frontier-scout Hawkeye, with Ned Romero and Don Shanks as, respectively, his Indian companions Chingachgook and Uncas. At the height of the French and Indian war in Canada, Hawkeye and friends agree to escort a small group of British settlers-including Alice and Cora Munro (Jane Actman and Michele Marsh), daughters of the Fort William Henry commander, through unfriendly territory. Their hopes for a safe trip are thwarted by the treacherous Magua (Robert Tessier), who has cast his lot with the French. This fourth film version of the Cooper novel was originally telecast November 23, 1977. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Having already exhausted the dramatic possibilities of fire with The Towering Inferno, producer Irwin Allen turns to water in the made-for-TV Flood! The film is set in a small community, conveniently (for the purposes of the plot) located near a huge earthen dam. As the flood waters rise and the dam threatens to collapse, we are made privy to the individual reactions of such all-star victims-to-be as Robert Culp, Martin Milner, Richard Basehart, Cameron Mitchell, Barbara Hershey, Teresa Wright and Carol Lynley. As in Inferno, helicopter pilots come to the rescue. Most of the film was shot in Eugene, Oregon. Flood! first aired on November 24, 1976. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this thriller, an innocent man is wrongfully committed to an asylum for the criminally insane. While there he learns how to tap into his psychic powers and to affect the lives of others via astral projection. These skills come in mighty handy after he is released and he heads out for revenge against those who framed him. This movie was originally filmed as The Kirlian Force. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

While still grieving over the murder of her son, Joanna Portman (Kim Hunter) is visited by a young girl (Gretchen Corbett) claiming to her daughter Gail--who for several years has been presumed dead. Though Joanna is delighted by the girl's arrival, Ironside suspects that Gail's sudden reappearance is too good to be true. Sure enough, it turns out that there are sinister forces who are trying to kill off Joanna's entire family...and that the girl calling herself Gail may be at the center of the carnage! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Three armed criminals invade a bank, take everyone inside hostage, and nervously await the arrival of a payroll truck. Among the hostages is Chief Ironside (Raymond Burr), who hopes to take advantage of the robbers' internal squabbling in order to play one against the other--but the thieves may be a bit too smart to fall for that trick. Reportedly based on a true story, this episode features a young actress named Kathleen Gackle, better known in later years as Kathleen Lloyd. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This espionage thriller is based on a spy novel by Helen MacInnes and tells the tale of a Yankee lawyer who goes to the lovely little Austrian city on vacation and ends up hopelessly entangled in an international web of rival spies and neo-Nazis searching for a chest that holds the names of Nazi collaborators and war criminals. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

"Broad" is right. This gloriously overacted TV movie stars Richard Boone as a movie star who suffers an accident, leaving him totally blind. Boone's wife (Suzanne Pleshette) takes advantage of hubby's infirmity to plot an illicit romance with a local stud (Fred Beir). But remember that Boone's an actor, and as such has heightened senses. He can feel that his wife is scheming right under his nose (literally!), and cooks up his own murderous revenge. The plan is contingent upon Boone's ability to convince witnesses that he can actually see. In Broad Daylight may be florid stuff, but it works beautifully with an audience. Scripter Larry Cohen would later apply his ability to hold the crowd's attention despite the most ludicrous of set-ups in such later films as It's Alive and Q. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Airport had enough plot and enough star power in its cast for three feature films, and it only encompassed about half of the complexity or characters found in Arthur Hailey's best-selling potboiler. Essentially built around 12 harrowing hours at a major Midwestern airport, the film had everything an audience of the period could have wanted -- suspense, romance, drama, and comedy -- all spread across a vast canvas. Mel Bakersfeld (Burt Lancaster) is the manager of Lincoln Airport, facing a night beset by the worst blizzard in a decade, a wife (Dana Wynter) who announces she wants a divorce, a primary runway blocked by an airliner stuck in a snowdrift, and a governing board ready to fire him. Bakersfeld's cynical, smooth-talking brother-in-law, Vernon Demerest (Dean Martin), won't let up on his criticism of the management at Lincoln, but he has his own problems as well, mostly in the form of a young stewardess, Gwen Meighen (Jacqueline Bisset), who is pregnant by him and whom he finds he genuinely loves. Add to that the presence of an old lady stowaway (Helen Hayes) and a mentally disturbed passenger (Van Heflin) carrying a bomb, and there's more than enough plot to keep viewers engrossed for two hours plus. Airport became one of the top-grossing movies of its era, racking up seven-digit box-office numbers and spawning an entire film genre -- the disaster movie. With Jean Seberg, George Kennedy, Lloyd Nolan, Barry Nelson, and Maureen Stapleton filling out the rest of the leading roles, there was something for almost everyone in this film. The movie still has a lot to offer if only as a prime example of Hollywood at its most successfully glitzy, but, if possible, viewers should try and see the letterboxed version of Airport on DVD (released May 2001). ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Dean Martin and Robert Mitchum play deadly adversaries in this curious mixture of the western and mystery genres. During a poker game in Rincon, Colorado, a stranger in the game is lynched for cheating. One of the gamblers, Van Morgan (Dean Martin), tries to prevent the lynching but is rebuffed and promptly leaves town. Soon a gold rush hits Rincon, bringing all manner of men and women -- including self-ordained preacher, Rev. Jonathan Rudd (Robert Mitchum) and brothel madame Lily Langford (Inger Stevens). Learning that two of the men in the poker game have been murdered, Van returns to Rincon to find out why. Once in town, Van is diverted from his investigation by the attentions of Lily and of Nora Evers (Katherine Justice). But when two more of the poker game's participants are killed, Van must spring into action to track down the killer. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide