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Scott Walker Movies

1979  
G  
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Kermit the Frog and Fozzie Bear, from of the large crew of loveably fuzzy characters created by puppetmaster Jim Henson, have embarked on a quest for stardom. They take a trip to Hollywood, riding in or on a wide variety of vehicles along the way. They begin their journey on a bicycle pedalled by Kermit, but friends accumulate along the way, and they change vehicles to accomodate them. They have the additional challenge of fending off the entreaties of the heartless Doc Hopper (Charles Durning), who wants Kermit to make some advertisements promoting fried frog legs. Kermit must also cope with his amorous feelings for Miss Piggy, and hers for him. This appealing children's adventure movie has numerous scenes which do homage to classic films, and features a huge cast of Hollywood greats, from Edgar Bergen to Orson Welles, in cameo roles. A great box-office success, this movie paved the way for a number of sequels. One of the film's many songs, The Rainbow Connection, was nominated for an Oscar. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

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Starring:
Jim HensonFrank Oz, (more)
 
1979  
 
An angry John Cooper (Bo Hopkins) decides to take the law in his own hands when his pal Jim (James Garner) is beaten and his sister Gail (Laurie Jefferson) is raped by members of the Rattlers motorcycle gang. Harking back to his own leather-jacket days as a member of the Vincent Black Shadow gang, Coop takes his cycle out of mothballs and goes undercover to exact vengeance against Rattlers leader Willie Green (Paul Koslo). Meanwhile, Jim has recovered sufficiently to chase after Coop in hopes of preventing him from committing cold-blooded murder. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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1978  
PG  
President Richard Nixon's legal counsellor Charles Colson was tried for several criminal charges relating to the Watergate cover-up, eventually spending some time in prison. This film explores Colson's personal crisis, and the religious convictions which, crossing party boundaries, worked to bring about his conversion from being a cynical politician to becoming a committed Christian. Far from being corrupted in prison, Colson (Dean Jones) became a missionary for his beliefs and worked to reform many of the 'hard cases" he encountered there. After the period covered by the film, it is worthwhile to note that Colson chose a new career for himself following his release from prison -- prison missionary. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

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Starring:
Dean JonesAnne Francis, (more)
 
1977  
 
J. Lee Thompson directs Charles Bronson in this strange western variation on Herman Melville's Moby Dick. Bronson plays a man named James Otis, who is disturbed by dreams of a giant white buffalo. He returns to the west under his new name --Wild Bill Hickok. Amongst his travels, he meets Chief Crazy Horse (Will Sampson), who is roaming the plains in an obsessive search for the giant white buffalo that killed his young daughter. Chief Crazy Horse wants to slay the beast in revenge for his daughter's death, and Wild Bill Hickok teams up with him to hunt down the giant white buffalo. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

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Starring:
Charles BronsonJack Warden, (more)
 
1977  
 
Claude Lelouch's Another Man, Another Chance is set in 1870. Fleeing from the Franco-Prussian war, Jeanne (Genevieve Bujold) and boyfriend Francis (Francis Huster) escape to the American west. Their course does not run smooth, and soon Jeanne is left alone to care for her baby. Meanwhile, American veterinaran Jimmy (James Caan), an absolute stranger to Bujold, endures his share of woes, not least of which is the rape and murder of his wife by desperadoes. Inevitably, Caan and Bujold meet and fall in love. Having already suffered the death of Huster, Jeanne tries to dissuade Jimmy from his single-minded pursuit of his wife's murderers. This character conflict determines the outcome of the film's final scenes. Another Man, Another Chance was distributed in the US by United Artists. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
James CaanGeneviève Bujold, (more)
 
1977  
PG  
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Another big-budget monster movie from producer Dino de Laurentiis, Orca concerns the mutual revenge pact between an obsessive whaler (Richard Harris) and an angry killer whale, whose pregnant mate Harris killed. The whale strikes back by biting off Bo Derek's leg, so Harris and concerned biologist Charlotte Rampling follow it to frozen northern waters for the climactic showdown. Just in case you like Jaws better than Moby Dick, there's a killer shark thrown in for good measure. Ponderous, pretentious, and dull, this opportunistic disaster fittingly sank at the box office. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

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Starring:
Richard HarrisCharlotte Rampling, (more)
 
1976  
 
Undercover cop Tony Baretta (Robert Blake) works side by side with a federal agent to find the courier for a dealer in illegal weapons. Normally, Baretta's assignment would be fraught with danger. This time, however, that danger comes from an unsuspected but deadly source: Tony, his partner, and the fugitive have all been exposed to a particularly vicious form of contagious spinal meningitis. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
Robert BlakeEdward Grover, (more)
 
1975  
 
George Pal's final film is a kiddie action saga based on the popular comic strip and action book series by Kenneth Robeson. Ron Ely is all flash and charmless brawn as the blonde-haired superhero Doc Savage, the Man of Bronze. When his father is mysteriously murdered, Savage gathers together five of his cronies -- The Amazing Five -- to head off on an expedition to South America to find some answers. There he battles Captain Seas (Paul Wexler) and "the green death." Along the way, he charms native girl Mona (Pamela Hensley), who immediately falls for the blonde chiselhead. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

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Starring:
Ron ElyPaul Gleason, (more)
 
1975  
PG  
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"The German Air Force is not at all what it used to be," says Anne Bancroft's Countess, about 16 minutes into The Hindenburg, pausing and then adding, "But then, nothing is these days." That seems to sum up the ponderous, irony-laden script and plot of Robert Wise's movie, which is posited -- in true post-Watergate fashion -- upon notions of conspiracy and cover-up behind the destruction of the German airship. The movie opens with a handy Universal newsreel that gives a vestpocket history of lighter-than-air flight, and that carries us to 1937 Germany. Colonel Franz Ritter (George C. Scott), a former hero pilot now working for military intelligence, finds himself assigned to the flight of the Hindenburg as chief of security; reports and rumors about the destruction of the zeppelin have circulated both in Germany and America, and the Nazi government takes these very seriously. What Ritter walks in on is a "Grand Hotel" of the air, several dozen passengers and crew whose ranks contain enough red herrings to keep Ritter (and us) jumping through hoops for most of the first half of the film, when we're not watching glorious shots of the zeppelin in flight. The answer to the script's presentation of the plot against the airship,and theidentityof the bomber and his motivations, are actually presented in the first 15 minutes, but there are so many false leads, subplots, and blind alleys put before us that the solution will probably pass by unnoticed. In the meantime, Ritter dances around with his ex-paramour (Bancroft), scheming businessmen (Gig Young), and passengers with skeletons in their closets (Alan Oppenheimer), an entertainer (Robert Clary) with a knack for offending loyal Nazis, several officers and crew with known "political" differences with the Nazi Party, a Gestapo man (Roy Thinnes) who's got an agenda of his own, and two genuine mystery men (Burgess Meredith, Rene Auberjonois) who don't seem to have any reason for traveling on this particular voyage. It's all a little tiring, or would be, if the setting and special effects weren't that interesting, and the cast wasn't so entertaining to watch in these relatively thankless roles. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

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Starring:
George C. ScottAnne Bancroft, (more)
 
1973  
R  
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"Who are you?" the dwarf Mordecai (Billy Curtis) asks Clint Eastwood's Stranger at the end of Eastwood's 1973 western High Plains Drifter. "You know," he replies, before vanishing into the desert heat waves near California's Mono Lake. Adapting the amorally enigmatic and violent Man With No Name persona from his films with Sergio Leone, Eastwood's second film as director begins as his drifter emerges from that heat haze and rides into the odd lakefront settlement of Lago. Lago's residents are not particularly friendly, but once the Stranger shows his skills as a gunfighter, they beg him to defend them against a group of outlaws (led by Eastwood regular Geoffrey Lewis) who have a score to settle with the town. He agrees to train them in self-defense, but Mordecai and innkeeper's wife Sarah Belding (Verna Bloom) soon suspect that the Stranger has another, more personal agenda. By the time the Stranger makes the corrupt community paint their town red and re-name it "Hell," it is clear that he is not just another gunslinger. With its fragmented flashbacks and bizarre, austere locations, High Plains Drifter's stylistic eccentricity lends an air of unsettling eeriness to its revenge story, adding an uncanny slant to Eastwood's antiheroic westerner. Seminal western hero John Wayne was so offended by Eastwood's harshly revisionist view of a frontier town that he wrote to Eastwood, objecting that this was not what the spirit of the West was all about. Eastwood's audience, however, was not so put off, and an exhibitors' poll named Eastwood a top box-office draw for 1973. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

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Starring:
Clint EastwoodVerna Bloom, (more)
 
1973  
 
A meek, downtrodden man named Staley (Mario Roccuzzo) hopes to get even for a lifetime of being browbeaten and humiliated. His plan involves planting a time bomb in a high-rise office building, then tipping off the FBI. The problem facing Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) is the fact that Staley has neglected to reveal the name of the city where the building is standing! Prominently featured in the cast is Victor French, soon to be a fixture of such Michael Landon-produced efforts as Little House on the Prairie and Highway to Heaven. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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1973  
PG  
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John Wayne plays a lawman who has to deal with the problems of fatherhood in a big way in Cahill: United States Marshall. Wayne is J.D. Cahill, whose singular desire to track down law breakers strains his relationship with his two teenage sons --17-year-old Danny (Gary Grimes) and 12-year-old Billy Joe (Clay O'Brien). The film begins as Cahill is hot on the trail of a gang of outlaws. After the big showdown, he returns to town to discover that the local bank has been robbed. The sheriff and the deputy have been killed, and four bank robbers are imprisoned in the jail. He is stunned when he finds out that one of the robbers in jail is Cahill's son Danny. It seems that during Cahill's absence from home, his two sons have been enticed into a criminal life by nefarious outlaw Abe Fraser (George Kennedy). ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

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Starring:
John WayneGary Grimes, (more)
 
1972  
 
Charles Chioffi plays the title character in the thrill-packed Bonanza installment Shanklin. Hoss Cartwright is shot by a band of ex-rebel soldiers who want Ben Cartwright to finance the formation of a Second Confederacy. Only Shanklin, the man who pulled the trigger, can save Hoss' life-and he refuses to do so unless Ben forks over $25000 immediately. Rance Howard, father of Ronnie, appears as Bogardus. First telecast on February 13, 1972. "Shanklin" was written by William Felley. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
Lorne GreeneMichael Landon, (more)
 
1972  
 
Claude Akins appears as Jason Peale, a glib con artist with an ego as big as all outdoors. Peale's latest scam involves poses as an elusive, Howard Hughes-like tycoon in order to sell bogus stock. Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) makes it his mission to nip Peale in the bud, with or without the assistance of the man's gullible victims. Featured in the cast is a pre-Bionic Woman Lindsay Wagner and a pre-Alice Vic Tayback. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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1972  
 
Several years before achieving stardom in the TV miniseries Rich Man--Poor Man, Peter Strauss is cast in this episode as temporarily paroled convict Bobby Jepson. Ordered to find a job during a 36-hour-pass or return to prison, Jepson runs headlong into a stone wall of prejudice and hostility, with only Detective Stone (Karl Malden) willing to give the man a break. But even Stone's compassion is sorely tested when Jepson is accused of murder--and the evidence seems air-tight and irrefutable. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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1972  
R  
Dirty Little Billy thankfully does not try to glorify its subject. Instead, Billy the Kid (Michael J. Pollard) is depicted as the homicidal mental defective that history has proven him to be. The film recounts Billy's formative years, exploding legends and myths all along the way. The Old West is not prettied up in the least; there seems to be mud everywhere, even in the houses. Dirty Little Billy was the last production to be supervised by legendary mogul Jack L. Warner, who had severed his ties with Warner Bros. in 1972 and was releasing through onetime arch rival Columbia Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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1971  
 
The worst has happened: The United States has been invaded and occupied by an unfriendly foreign power. At least, that is what the IMF wants American turncoat Whitmore Channing (Kevin McCarthy) to believe. The purpose of this charade is to prevent Channing from handing over top secret information to the Enemy. The real fun in this episode lies in watching guest star Kevin McCarthy undergo the same paranoia he earlier exhibited in the classic sci-fi film Invasion of the Body Snatchers) (1971). First telecast on November 13, 1971, "Invasion" was written by James L. Henderson and Sam Roeca. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
Peter GravesGreg Morris, (more)
 
1971  
 
Neville Brand makes another Bonanza appearance in the December 5, 1971 episode "The Rattlesnake Brigade." This time, Brand is cast as the vicious head of the Doyle Gang, who hold Jamie and three other teenagers hostage while making their escape. Jamie's adoptive father Ben Cartwright agonizes along with parents of the other hostages as the wagon bearing the Doyles and their youthful prisoners gets farther and farther away. The topnotch supporting cast includes such familiar character actors as David Sheiner, Severn Darden, Don Keefer, and Richard Yniquez. The 400th episode of Bonanza, "The Rattlesnake Brigade" was written by Gordon T. Dawson. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
Lorne GreeneMichael Landon, (more)
 
1970  
 
Far from the Ponderosa, Ben Cartwright is badly injured in a fall from his horse. Seeking help in a nearby town, Ben's son Joe finds himself in the middle of a range feud, with no one willing to come to his assistance-except for an enigmatic stranger named Thornton (played by frequent Bonanza supporting actor Gregory Walcott). Written by Preston Wood, the episode is highlighted by a jaw-dropping nightmare sequence which still packs a jolt after all these years. "Thornton's Account" was originally broadcast on November 1, 1970. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
Lorne GreeneMichael Landon, (more)
 
1969  
 
European business tycoon Carl Vandaam (Alf Kjellin) hopes to recoup his lost fortune by building a hydrogen bomb and selling it to the highest bidder. The IMF's mission is to stop Vandaam in his tracks, a strategy that requires Rollin to pose as one of the potential buyers. The more dangerous aspect of the mission is to remove the plutonium from the completed bomb without blowing up everyone and everything in sight. "Doomsday" was written by Laurence Heath; the episode made its network broadcast debut on February 16, 1969. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
Peter GravesBarbara Bain, (more)