Loretta Swit Movies

Based on actual events, this drama offers a chilling look at the lengths some youths will go in order to feel loved. Though devastated by the brutal slaying of her daughter Jenny (Tiffani-Amber Thiesson), kind-hearted mother Jean Monroe (Patty Duke) allows Jenny's troubled best friend Ellen (Margaret Welsh) to stay in her home. Despite the hard work of a tough police detective (Loretta Swit), no real progress is made on the case. A series of events, however, turn suspicions towards Ellen. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This nature video goes to the remote country in Wyoming to see the black-footed ferret. The black-footed ferret is a North American weasel that has yellow and brown markings, a black mask, and black feet. It is a cousin of the European polecat. The once-prevalent black-footed ferret is currently on the endangered species list. Inbreeding, contact with man, and disease have reduced its population to almost extinction. Ferrets bred in captivity have been reintroduced in Wyoming. The film follows how the species is adjusting to life in the wild. The viewer sees it hunting its favorite food, the prairie dog, and taking its place in the environmental chain. ~ Rose of Sharon Winter, All Movie Guide

A trio of wealthy but socially inept beachcombers enlist the help of two local surfers in hopes of learning the lingo and landing some ladies in this sex comedy that offers sun, sand, and just a little bit of naughty fun! When three friends purchase an oceanfront mansion on a hip Southern California beach, their party comes to a grinding halt when their overzealous pickup methods fall flat with the ladies. It's not long before the desperate wannabe beach studs meet a pair of bona fide surf hunks, and once they get the beach lingo down all bets are off! ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

This pilot film for the TV detective series Cagney and Lacey stars Loretta Swit as Chris Cagney and Tyne Daly as Mary Beth Lacey. C and L are NYPD undercover officers, spending their first week on the job disguised as hookers. It's all part of a plan to flush out the person who's been going around beating up prostitutes. The storyline, which also includes the murder of a diamond merchant, shifts from Cagney and Lacey's street duty to their constant struggle against sexism at precinct headquarters and at home. Executive producer Barney Rosenzweig claimed that he'd come up with the idea of Cagney and Lacey after reading a Molly Haskell piece concerning the patronizing treatment of women in films. First telecast on October 8, 1981, the pilot film for Cagney and Lacey held its own opposite the season premiere of Taxi, leading to a weekly series which lasted from 1982 to 1988. But when the series proper went into production, Loretta Swit was replaced by Meg Foster, who in turn was replaced by Sharon Gless (later the wife of executive producer Rosenzweig). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The real-life Mel Fisher was considered a mercenary by some, a visionary by others. Whatever the case, Fisher was a famous treasure hunter, who spent nearly decades searching for a Spanish Galleon which sank off the Florida Keys in the 17th century. Against all odds, Fisher and his crew were able to retrieve a fortune in gold from the galleon in July of 1985. The made-for-TV Dreams of Gold: The Mel Fisher Story first aired November 15, 1986, not long after a drawn-out court battle between Fisher and the U.S. government over ownership of the treasure had come to a conclusion. Cliff Robertson stars as Mel Fisher, while Loretta Swit is cast as his wife, Deo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The First Affair of the title is the one conducted by naïve but nubile college freshman Toby King (Melissa Sue Anderson). Struck by the girl's sense of responsibility, professor Jane Simon (Loretta Swit) hires Toby as a baby-sitter. Soon afterwards, however, Jane's susceptible husband Greg (Joel Higgins) finds himself being won over by Toby's unspoiled beauty and words of endearment. This standard-issue triangle drama was filmed under the title Freshman Year. Lensed on location at Harvard University, the made-for-TV First Affair premiered October 25, 1983. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on Babs H. Deal's novel The Walls Came Tumbling Down, Friendships, Secrets and Lies is about...just what the title says it's about. An old college building is bulldozed, revealing the skeleton of a newborn baby stuffed in the air shaft. Forensic tests prove that the infant died twenty years earlier, at which time the building had served as a girl's sorority house. Seven students were living in the house at the time of the death, and all currently live in the same city; at least six of these ladies had opportunity, and possibly motive, for the baby's murder. With the notable exception of the director of photography, virtually the entire cast and crew of Friendships, Secrets and Lies was female. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Suburban housewife Barbara Eden is the prime suspect when her husband is murdered. Shortly afterward, Eden's best friend turns up dead-and this time she's arrested. Now someone is trying to bump off Eden's daughter. It's all the handiwork of an old college rival, who believes that Eden stole her boyfriend. The homicidally inclined woman scorned is played by none other than Loretta Swit, cast spectacularly against type. The made-for-TV Hell Hath No Fury was first telecast March 4, 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This documentary looks at America's first "undeclared" war, and includes stories from the courageous survivors who fought in Korea, marking the 35th anniversary of the armistice. ~ All Movie Guide

One of the most famous and successful sitcoms of all time, M*A*S*H was based on the 1970 Robert Altman theatrical film of the same name--which, in turn, was inspired by an autobiographical novel by a former Army doctor, writing pseudonymously as Richard Hooker. Although set during the Korean War of 1950-1953, the staunch antiwar trappings of M*A*S*H, coupled with its relentlessly irreverent treatment of the military "big brass", were very much in tune with the sentiments of the Vietnam War era, during which both the film and the TV series were spawned. The action took place within the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (hence the anagrammatic title), a unit stationed behind the lines in South Korea. Most of the characters on the CBS television series had been introduced in the novel and film, but only one of the film's actors was carried over to the TV version. The main players were two surgeons, Captain Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce (Alan Alda) and Captain "Trapper" John McIntyre (Wayne Rogers), who though dedicated to their work were determined to has as much fun as possible during their off-hours, to break as many rules and regulations as traffic would allow, and to dally with as many pretty nurses as time permitted. The 4077th's commanding officer during the series' first three seasons was easygoing Lt. Col. Henry Blake (Maclean Stevenson, who though he regarded the operating room as his main priority, would sooner go fishing or goof off than anything else. The laid-back demeanor of Hawkeye, Trapper and Blake was not shared by uptight, arrogant, anal-retentive, xenophobic and generally inept surgeon Major Frank Burns (Larry Linville), whose strict adherence to Rules and Regulations usually ended up backfiring on him, or resulted in practical jokes at his expense. Also putting a damper on the fun-and-games was "regular Army" head nurse Major Margaret Houlihan (Loretta Swit), who would have liked nothing better than to see Hawkeye and Trapper. court-martialed. But though Margaret was more competent at her job than Frank Burns, she too became an object of ridicule, principally because she and the very married Burns were carrying on a torrid clandestine romance--which was why she was saddled with the demeaning nickname "Hot Lips." Rounding out the series' first-season regulars was the 4077th's timid, bespectacled, uncannily clairvoyant and endlessly resourceful company clerk, Cpl. Walter "Radar" O'Reilly--played by the same actor who essayed the role in the movie version of M*A*S*H, Gary Burghoff. In additon to the above-mentioned regulars, there were any number of recurring characters who wove in and out of the proceedings during season one, notably the 4077th's mild-mannered chaplain Father John Mulcahy, played in the pilot episode by George Morgan and thereafter by William Christopher); African American surgeon Spearchucker Jones (Timothy Brown); the well-named orderly Ugly John (John Orchard); sexy nurses Maggie Dish (Karen Phillip) and Leslie Scorch (Linda Meikeljohn), Ginger Ballis (Odessa Cleveland) and Maggie Cutler (Marcia Strassman); and the officer's Korean houseboy Ho-John (Patrick Adiarte). Another peripheral character, intended as one-shot "gag" appearance, was Corporal Maxwell Klinger (Jamie Farr), a doctor's aide who was so determined to get discharged from the Army on a "Section 8" that he always dressed in women's clothing. After his first fleeting appearance on M*A*S*H's seventh episode, Klinger proved so popular that he became a recurring character--and, like Father Mulcahy, ultimately a full-fledged regular. The first-season episodes of M*A*S*H are easily distinguishable from later installments in the series in several respects: there was more background music and a louder laughtrack (except during the operating-room scenes, in which canned laughter was never, ever heard); the practical jokes were crueler; the higher-ranking officers were almost invariably buffoons; and Hawkeye and Trapper were more hedonistic in their behavior towards the opposite sex. Opening to lukewarm reviews and mediocre ratings, M*A*S*H slowly but surely built up a following thanks to that old reliable known as "word of mouth". This came as something of a surprise to its parent network CBS, which had been none too enthusiastic about the project in the first place, and had accordingly scheduled the program as a "throwaway" opposite NBC's Sunday-night blockbuster The Wonderful World of Disney. But CBS eventually got the message, and moved M*A*S*H to a more desirable Saturday-night slot for its second season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

With an ever-increasing viewership and three Emmy awards to its credit, M*A*S*H had no trouble easing into a third successful season in the fall of 1974. Not wishing to tinker with the success, the series' producers retained all of the regular characters from previous years--Hawkeye (Alan Alda), Trapper John (Wayne Rogers), Frank Burns (Larry Linville), Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan (Loretta Swit), Henry Blake (Maclean Stevenson) and Radar O'Reilly (Gary Burghoff)--while steadily beefing up the roles of the series two most popular recurring characters, Father Mulcahy (William Christopher) and Cpl. Klinger (Jamie Farr). And in a piquant bit of guest-star casting, the third season opener "The General Flipped at Dawn", Harry Morgan was cast as a crackpot General named Bartford Hamilton Steele, whose adherence to regulations was matched only by the length and breadth of his certifiable insanity. Although General Steele would not be seen past this episode, Harry Morgan would of course return the following year in a radically different--and far more enduring--characterization. One person who would not be returning for a fourth season was Maclean Stevenson, who in a career move that has become legendary in its short-sightedness, opted to leave M*A*S*H to star in a new series of his own. The departure of Stevenson's character, the 4077th's beloved commanding officer Henry Blake, occurred during the third season's final episode, "Abyssinia, Henry", the conclusion of which was one of the best-kept--and most shocking--secrets in TV sitcom history. Having ended the 1973-74 season as the fourth most popular series on American television, M*A*S*H slipped ever so slightly to fifth place during 1974-75, a decline attributable to CBS' decision to move the program from its winning Saturday-night slot to a less desirable Tuesday-evening berth. Even so, M*A*S*H remained one of the jewels in CBS' crown, if for no other reason than the series copped its fourth Emmy during its fourth season: the winner was series co-creator Larry Gelbart, for his direction of the episode titled "O.R.", the first (but hardly the last) of the season's installments to completely dispense with a laugh track. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Although M*A*S*H entered its fifth season with the cast from season four intact--including relative newcomers Mike Farrell as B.J. Hunnicut and Harry Morgan as Col. Sherman Potter--the production roster was short one significant name. Producer and co-creator Larry Gelbart had exited the series at the end of the 1974-75, declaring that he had contributed all he could to the project and was now prepared to move on. This left the lion's share of the creative decisions in the hands of series star Alan Alda, aka Hawkeye Pierce, who had already written and/or directed a number of episodes. Another M*A*S*H stalwart was indicating that he, too, was feeling creatively confined by the series. Larry Linville, who since the beginning of the program in 1972 had functioned as the 4077th's resident nemesis in the role of xenophobic, incompetent surgeon Maj. Frank Burns, had been issuing public complaints that his character had not been allowed to grow and mature as had the other M*A*S*H regulars. Also, since the decision had been made to marry off Burns' mistress Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan (Loretta Swit) to dashing officer Donald Penobscott, Frank was becoming gratuitous and redundant. By the end of season five, Larry Linville followed the lead of such former regulars as Maclean Stevenson and Wayne Rogers) by leaving the series to pursue more artistically satisfying projects. Linville's discomfiture did not, however, extend to the other M*A*S*H cast members. In particular, William Christopher had every reason to welcome the beginning of the fifth season with open arms. Having long been consigned to the "featured players" roster in the closing cast of each episode, Christopher had finally graduated to series-regular status--with commensurate billing at the beginning of the program--in his role as the 4077th's mild-mannered but strong-willed chaplain, Father John Mulcahy. Having been toppled from the "Top Ten" by CBS's reckless decision to schedule the series opposite NBC's Friday-night blockbuster Chico and the Man during season five, M*A*S*H had begun regaining lost ground in December of 1975, when the network shifted the program to Tuesday evenings. It remained a solid Tuesday hit throughout the 1976-77 season, climbing back to fourth place in the ratings. The series also picked up two more Emmy Awards, for Gary Burghoff (aka Cpl. Radar O'Reilly) as best supporting player in a continuing series and for Alan Alda as best director (for the episode "Dear Sigmund"). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide