Vincent Van Patten Movies

The Travel Channel's highest rated program, World Poker Tour delivers exactly what its title promises: A tour of the top poker-playing locales and tournaments, featuring the best players in the business. Season Three deals out twenty episodes, each with commentary by pro poker player Mike Sexton, actor (Vince Van Patten), and Vince's sister-in-law Shana Hiatt. Opening the season is the fifth session of "Hollywood Home Game", featuring such celebrity poker enthusiasts as Daisy Fuentes, William Shatner, Mena Suvari, Skeet Ulrich, Kevin Wiseman and Chuck Woolery. Joining the fun in subsequent "Home Games" this season are the likes of LeVar Burton, Mekhi Phifer, Bob Eubanks, Mark L Walberg, Kathy Griffin and Jeremy Sisto. Elsewhere, the World Poker Tour players again compete at several events visited the previous seasons, including the third edition of the WPT Invitational. Among the new events covered this season are the Mirage Poker Showdown and the Doyle Brunson North American Championship. Of the occasional "special" episodes (originally telecast outside the official World Poker Tour season), the most intriguing is "The Young Guns of Poker", featuring some of the best players under the age of 25: Joe Cassidy, David Williams, Scott Fischman, Pete Lawson and Thomas Keleler. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The true story of one of the most gifted card players in history provides the basis for this hard-hitting drama. Stu Ungar (Michael Imperioli) was barely in his teens when he first discovered his talent for playing cards, especially poker and gin rummy. His father, a nightclub owner and small-time bookmaker connected with the mob, was impressed with his son's abilities but worried where Stu's reckless instincts towards gambling could take him. As it happens, Stu's father was right to worry; the boy managed to lose all his bar mitzvah money during an afternoon at the racetrack (for all his skills at the card table, Stu had no talent for picking the ponies), and by the time he was 20, Stu was deep in debt to mob loan sharks. Vincent (Michael Nouri), a mob boss who knew Stu's father, gives him a chance to pay off his debts by entering a gin rummy tournament in Las Vegas; Stu wins big and soon finds the Las Vegas lifestyle is to his liking. Stu becomes something of a celebrity when he wins the World Series of Poker tournament in 1980 and 1981, but his appetite for racetrack betting, drugs and prostitutes took its toll, and the great card shark hit bottom before returning from nowhere to win the WSOP a third time in 1996; however, Stu's comeback would turn out to be tragically short lived. High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story also features appearances by Pat Morita, Renee Faia, Joe La Due, and Vincent Van Patten. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The World Poker Tour covers a series of "elimination" poker tournaments in the top casinos throughout the world. Individual episodes boasted such colorful titles as "Bellagio Five Diamond," "Bicycle Casino," and "Ultimate Bet." The concluding program was a winner-take-all competition at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino, with each of the surviving contestants required to pony up 25,000 dollars to play against the previous year's tour winners. World Poker Tour made its Travel Channel bow on March 30, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The second television film to capitalize on the classic original, The Deadly Mission concerns another team of convicts, this time assigned to rescue Nazi scientists working on a chemical-weapons project. Telly Savalas plays a different role than he did in the original (unlike Ernest Borgnine). ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

Two cultures clash when a young American man and a French-Canadian woman fall in love while studying at a Montreal college. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Lawrence Kerwin stars as James Hunter, a gawky Oregon teenager who moves to Boston with his family. Suffering the requisite growing pains and insecurities, James has a few problems "fitting in" with his new crowd. The boy's sincerity and likability eventually wins the day, but the ending of the film is left open-ended enough to accommodate the subsequent TV series. Linden Chiles and Lynn Carlin co-star as James' parents, while Kate Jackson plays an "older woman" art student who sets James on the right course when the boy tries to run away from home. This 2-hour pilot first aired on September 5, 1977; the series proper (its name changed to James at 16 on the occasion of the protagonist's first sexual experience!) premiered on October 27, 1977. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This Emmy-winning TV cartoon special focuses on the last two remaining curlews, tall striped birds who once thrived around the Arctic shore land. In order to save their species, the two birds must find appropriate mates. Alas, the curlews are being tracked down by a pair of relentless hunters to whom "eco-friendliness" is a foreign term. Produced by Hanna-Barbera and boasting the vocal talents of Ross Martin and Vinnie Van Patten, The Last of the Curlews originally aired as the debut episode of ABC Afterschool Special. ~ All Movie Guide

The beautiful black stallion given by Ben Cartwright as a birthday present to his son, Joe, is stolen. Searching for the horse, Joe comes across a family of drifters, and is soon embroiled in a potentially deadly rivalry between Bill Brenner (Clu Gulager) and his son, Tommy (Vincent Van Patten). Mitzi Hoag appears as Bill's wife, Alice. Written by Jack B. Sowards, Mort Zarcoff, and Juanita Bartlett, this episode is highlighted by a climactic "race for life" between a horse and a train; by the lush location photography, filmed in the Sierra Foothills near Sonora; and by the musical score of David Rose, which would later serve as the main theme music for the subsequent Michael Landon-starring series Little House on the Prairie. Alas, by the time "Stallion" was originally broadcast on November 14, 1972, NBC had already cancelled Bonanza, which had never recovered ratings-wise from the loss of Dan Blocker or its move from Sunday to Tuesday evening. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Officers Jim Reed (Kent McCord) and Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) round up some kids who have been committing minor crimes while playing hookey. Though society at large is willing to write off these youngsters as incorrigible, Reed decides to appeal to the kids' parents to help curb truancy. . .and to find out just how many crimes can actually be attributed to the truants, or to someone older who is acting as a ring leader. Barbara Nichols, one of Hollywood's favorite "dumb blondes" (dumb on film if not real life, that is), is seen as Mrs. Stephens. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The eleventh season of Bonanza was wrapped up on April 19, 1970 with the powerhouse episode "A Matter of Circumstance." Though several prominent actors-notably young Vincent Van Patten-appear in the supporting cast, the episode is virtually a one-man show, focusing on Michael Landon as Joe Cartwright. Left alone at the Ponderosa to await the arrival of a new cook, Joe is injured by a fall from his horse. Dazed and confused, Joe tries to stay conscious and treat his own injuries-even if it means amputating his own arm! The episode is distinguished by the subjective-camera direction of William F. Claxton, wherein we see most of the action through Joe's eyes. "A Matter of Circumstance" was written by B.W. Sandefur. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Newlywed Game host Bob Eubanks produced this action film, starring his son Corey as a convict who escapes prison to exact revenge for his brother's death and ends up romancing a small-town sheriff's daughter. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

In this youthful adventure, six adolescents head for a vacation in Arizona and end up stranded in the desert after their car crashes. They decide to hike to the closest town. En route they encounter drug smugglers who are willing to kill to keep their location a secret. Bloody mayhem ensues as the young people try to flee for safety. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide