Paul Sorenson Movies

When last we left the crew of the star ship Enterprise, they were heading home following a skirmish with the despotic Khan. The unpleasant incident had cost the life of Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy)--or so it seemed. Admiral Kirk (William Shatner) is informed by Spock's father Sarek (Mark Lenard) that his son is being kept alive in the thoughts of one of the crew members. It now becomes necessary to search for Spock's body, so that flesh and soul can be rejoined on Vulcan. It turns out that Spock's spirit is residing within the mind of the Vulcan's longtime shipmate, "Bones" McCoy (DeForrest Kelley). Finding the body is another matter, since the Enterprise has been consigned to the trash heap and thus is out of Kirk's jurisdiction. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Rocky (Noah Beery Jr.) decides to open up a roadside restaurant with a chance acquaintance named Vinnie Whithead (Ken Lynch). From the outset of this enterprise, Rocky can't help but notice that an elderly man is watching every move he and Vinnie make. . .and no sooner has the restaurant opened than someone breaks into the joint. Investigating, Jim (James Garner) discovers that Vinnie is a retired mob boss, and that his trail has been dogged for the last 50 years by retired federal officer Eddie LaSalle (Victor Jory). Somehow, all this is tied in with a lawsuit brought about by Bruce Woodstock (Jess Nadelman), a total stranger who has managed to fall off the roof of Jim's trailer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In Randal Kleiser's telemovie Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway, Eve Plumb stars as Dawn, who leaves home at 15 for the glamour of L.A. Friendless, she is taken in by the smooth line of Swan (Bo Hopkins), who offers to be her protector. Before long, Dawn has become a streetwalker, with Swan taking a sizeable chunk of her earnings. She finds true friendship in the form of another runaway, male hustler Alex (Leigh McCloskey) -- whose own story would be delineated in a 1977 sequel, Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn. Having learned a lesson with its controversial airing of Born Innocent, NBC preceded the September 27, 1976, premiere of Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway with a "parental discretion" disclaimer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The S.W.A.T. team is saddled with Meredith Cooper (Darleen Carr), a beautiful but obnoxious reporter from an anti-establishment alternative newspaper. Intent on exposing examples of police brutality, she wangles departmental approval to tag along with the team during the next few days. This, of course, does not sit well with team leader Hondo (Steve Forrest), who is having enough trouble tracking down a particularly vicious band of thieves and kidnappers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the conclusion of Ironside's two-part Season Seven finale (originally telecast as a single two-hour episode), new San Francisco police chief Amy Prentiss (Jessica Walter) runs up against a wall of hostility and resistance from the town's all-male establishment. Fortunately, Amy can count former chief Ironside (Raymond Burr) and his team among her supporters. But even Ironside may not be able to help Chief Prentiss as she is assigned a "make-or-break" murder case. This episode served as the pilot for the spinoff series Amy Prentiss, with supporting player Art Metrano retained in the series proper as Amy's aide Tom Pena. Johnny Seven, here seen in his standard Ironside role as Lt. Carl Reese, would join the Amy Prentiss cast as Detective Contreras, while the role of Joan, here played by Joan Pringle, would be taken over by Gwen Mitchell (Pringle would be compensated with a recurring Ironside role as the new wife of Chief Ironside's former bodyguard Mark Sanger [Don Mitchell]). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Victimized by one of Chet's (Tim Donnelly) practical jokes, John (Randolph Mantooth) maps out a sweet revenge. The rest of the Rampart team is kept busy with Old Bill, a chronic "faker" who continually figures out ways to get checked into the hospital in order to entertain the kiddie patients--and who has suffered a real medical crisis at home. Also, a child swallows ant poison; another youngster is trapped in a treehouse by a fire; and a woman's efforts to keep her husband quiet end in disaster. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comical Disney western, a cavalry rider goes AWOL in the midst of a raid to save the lives of a band of Indian women and children. He then takes off across the New Mexican desert astride a camel. En route, he meets a young white boy who was raised by an Indian. The Indian is trying to find his tribe and so enlists the aid of the wayward soldier. Later they encounter a widow and her daughter. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In the first half of a two-part story (originally telecast as a single two-hour episode), John-Boy (Richard Thomas) is afforded the opportunity to qualify for a scholarship at Boatwright University--and, as icing on the cake, his former girlfriend Jenny (Sian Barbara Allen) is paying a return visit to Walton's Mountain. But joy turns to despair when John-Boy is injured in an accident, which may render him permanently blind. Meanwhile, Jason (Jon Walmsley) is beginning to have second thoughts about accepting a job from the dithery Baldwin Sisters (Mary Jackson, Helen Kleeb). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

If you think that Oliver Stone invented the "political paranoia" movie, take a glance at Executive Action sometime. Based on Mark Lane's Rush to Judgment, the conspiracy theorist's bible, Executive Action perpetuates the popular urban legend that John F. Kennedy was assassinated at the behest of a right-wing cartel with military and industrial interests. The film further hypothesizes that Lee Harvey Oswald not only didn't pull the trigger, but was also set up as a disposable dupe (this notion wasn't even new in 1973). Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan and Will Geer play the sinister conspirators. In the film's coda, still photos of 18 witnesses to the assassination are shown, while the accompanying text informs us that all of these people had died between 1963 and 1973. We are further told that the odds against this coincidence are one in a trillion. When Oliver Stone's thematically similar JFK came out in 1991, viewers with long memories were quick to notice the eerie similarities between the Stone film and Executive Action -- right down to choice of camera angles. Hmmm....a conspiracy, perhaps? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

"Committed" was first telecast on January 22, 1972, the same day that the latest cast of Mission:Impossible appeared on the cover of TV Guide. Bert Freed guest stars as Syndicate chieftan Leon Chandler, whose trial for murder may end in acquittal thanks to the actions of a corrupt lieutenant governor. The key witness against Chandler, Nora Dawson (Susan Howard), is slowly being driven insane in a mob-controlled mental hospital. The IMF's mission: To infiltrate the hospital, rescue Nora, and expose Chandler's political stooge. Series regular Lynda Day George steals the show with her impersonation of a deranged woman. "Committed" was scripted by Arthur Weiss, from a story by Laurence Heath. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

War Games is the streamlined reissue title for the satirical Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came? The story is set in a sleepy Southern town, the site of a tranquil army base. Commanding officer Col. Flanders (Don Ameche), anxious to win the hearts and minds of the locals, invites the populace to an ice-breaking dance. When the festivities degenerate into a fistfight, right-wing militia leader Billy Joe Davis (Tom Ewell) declares war against the Army. The film's romantic subplot is carried by Tony Curtis as a love-'em-and-leave-'em sergeant and Suzanne Pleshette as a smarter-than-she-looks local gal. Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came? was reworked as in 1984 as Tank. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As with the previous season's "Twitching for UNICEF," this Bewitched episode is a half-hour endorsement for the United Nations Children's Fund. Not wishing to see her "national holiday" exploited, Endora refuses to allow Samantha and Tabitha to go trick-or-treating on behalf of UNICEF. When Sam defies her, Endora retaliates by transforming Darrin into a hideous Halloween witch. By episode's end, however, Endora is won over to the UNICEF cause -- and so, presumably, is the viewer. Written by Shirley Gordon, "To Trick or Treat or Not to Trick or Treat" first aired, appropriately enough, on October 30, 1969. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide