Noble Willingham Movies

Season eight of Walker, Texas Ranger resolves the cliffhanger finale of season seven, as Cord Walker (Chuck Norris), his partner Jimmy Trivette (Clarence Gilyard Jr.), his fiancée Alex Cahill (Sheree J. Wilson), and his best friend C.D. (Noble Willingham) survive a harrowing plane crash. The trick now is to get back to Dallas in time to prevent elusive serial killer Thomas Openshaw (Stephen McHattie) from being released for lack of evidence. Once this crisis is resolved, Walker and Alex begin a season-long preparation for their marriage, which will occur during the two-part season eight finale (we hope). Meanwhile, Walker's crime-fighting team has taken in two new members: undercover police officers (and masters of disguise) Francis Gage (Judson Mills) and Sydney Cooke (Nia Peeples). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Inscrutable, karate-chopping Cord Walker (Chuck Norris) and his more "by the book" partner Jimmy Trivette (Clarence Gilyard Jr.) continue to cleanse Dallas of the worst sort of criminal vermin during season six of Walker, Texas Ranger. Walker and Trivette are occasionally given backup this season by a brace of recurring characters: Dallas detective Carlos Sandoval (Marco Sanchez) and youthful martial arts instructor Trent Malloy (James Wlcek), who become weekly regulars after the late-season episode "Undercover." This season yields a pair of two-episode adventures, "Lucas" (featuring a pre-Sixth Sense Haley Joel Osment) and "Last of a Breed," both of which were syndicated as movies in TV markets outside the United States. In the season's cliffhanger finale, Walker is about to propose marriage to his longtime sweetheart, Assistant D.A. Alex Cahill (Sheree J. Wilson), when she is struck down with bullets fired by one of her old enemies! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Flinty-eyed, karate-chopping Cord Walker (Chuck Norris) continues to dispense his own rather direct brand of justice on a wide variety of miserable miscreants as Walker, Texas Ranger enters its fourth season. Standing shoulder to shoulder with Walker is his partner, Ranger Jimmy Trivette (Clarence Gilyard Jr.), who may not entirely approve of Walker's violent methods but is certainly grateful that the man is on his side. Also, the relationship between Walker and his sometime legal adversary, Assistant D.A. Alex Cahill (Sheree J. Wilson), grows ever stronger during this season (though wedding bells were still far in the future). This year, in addition to the usual homicidal robbers, cold-blooded drug runners and repulsive rapists, Walker broadens his "eye for an eye" base to include Irish militants and the Russian Mafia. In one exhilarating episode, things take on a personal slant as the man who killed Walker's parents thirty years earlier "returns from the dead," a turn of events that may bode very, very ill for everyone whom Walker holds near and dear, including Alex, Jimmy, and his best friend C.D. Parker (Noble Willingham). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a true story, Woman with a Past is about a prosperous real estate agent whose hidden life is revealed when federal agents arrest her for her past crimes. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Introduced as a two-hour TV movie, the long-running modern Western Walker, Texas Ranger was given a three-week trial run in the spring of 1993 -- which, one supposes, qualifies as the series' first season. In the movie-length pilot, the partner of taciturn Texas Ranger Cord Walker (Chuck Norris) is killed in a bank robbery. As he tracks down the murderers to exact his own special brand of vengeance (which is generally dispensed with karate chops and kicks), Walker learns that the robbery was only a rehearsal for a more ambitious scheme to knock over four banks simultaneously. The series' extremely short debut season not only establishes the character of Walker, but also that of his new partner, Ranger Jimmy Trivette (Clarence Gilyard Jr.). A former football pro whose knee has gone bad, Trivette may have grown up in the mean streets of Baltimore, but he prefers more scientific and court-approved peacekeeping methods than Walker, who if not reigned in by his sagacious Native American uncle Roy Firewalker (Floyd Red Crow Westerman) would just as soon exercise the old Scriptural prerogative of "an eye for an eye." Also introduced in the three earliest episodes is Dallas assistant D.A. Alex Cahill (Sheree J. Wilson), who is very fond of Walker, but not of his methods. Rounding out the regulars is Walker's best buddy, ex-Ranger C.D. Parker, played by Gailard Sartain in the pilot and by Noble Willingham thereafter. Having retired from the service after getting a bullet in the knee, C.D. has opened up his own restaurant/bar, which will serve as the favorite gathering place for Walker, Trivette, and Alex for the balance of the series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Karate-champion-turned-movie-star Chuck Norris was ideally cast as the title character in the contemporary Western series, Walker, Texas Ranger. Introduced as a two-hour TV movie on April 21, 1983, the weekly, hour-long CBS series starred Norris as Cordell Walker, who worked out of the Dallas office of the Texas Rangers with his youthful partner, Baltimore-born former football pro Jimmy Trivette (Clarence Gilyard Jr.). While Jimmy, like his superiors, preferred to rely upon modern crime fighting techniques -- computers, forensic science, strict adherence to civil liberties and due process -- the impassive, taciturn Walker was generally of the opinion that criminals were subhuman scum, worthy only of a slug in the face or a kick in the groin. Kicking, in fact, was a Walker specialty, notably whenever he came within close proximity of a locked door or bolted window. Though she didn't always approve of his methods, Walker's off-and-on girlfriend, assistant D.A. Alex Cahill (Sheree J. Wilson), admired his strong sense of justice and fair play, especially when protecting those weaker than himself. Too, Alex found Walker extremely handy whenever she got kidnapped, which seemed to happen at the rate of once every other week! Despite his loyalty to his friends, those close to Walker remained so at their own risk, inasmuch as the bad guys were not above hurting them to get to him. Others within Walker's orbit included his old pal C.D. Parker (Noble Willingham), a former Ranger who, after being invalidated out of the service, opened up a restaurant; Uncle Ray Firewalker (Floyd Red Crow Westerman), the sagacious old Native American who raised Walker from childhood and had taught him the value of restraint and contemplation -- unless of course, violence was absolutely called for; Carlos Sandoval (Marco Sanchez), an undercover detective who owed his life to Walker; and Walker's former martial arts student Trent Malloy (James Wlcek), who owned a karate school (and who, teamed with Carlos Sandoval, was briefly spun off into his own TV series, Sons of Thunder). During the series' final seasons, undercover Rangers Francis Gage (Judson Mills) and Sydney Cooke (Nia Peeples) linked up with Walker's team. In the course of events, Uncle Ray Firewalker passed away; C.D. Parker was killed by a band of elusive assassins who intended to work their way up to Walker in their efforts to knock off every Texas Ranger in Dallas; and in the series' seventh season, Walker and Alex became engaged, with wedding bells ringing at the end of season eight and the birth of a baby daughter in the final episode. After ending its CBS run on July 28, 2001, Walker, Texas Ranger launched what was apparently an endless rerun cycle in syndication and on cable. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama, ruthless Bobby Stiles busts out of a maximum security prison and makes a bee-line for his hometown where he plans to get revenge upon his double-crossing brother. Bobby ends up hijacking a married couple and forcing them to take him there. It's a long journey and perceptive Bob realizes that their marriage is ready to disintegrate. The opportunistic crook begins sleeping with the sexy wife and then plots the demise of her spouse. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Made for the TNT cable network, The Court Martial of Jackie Robinson concentrates on the wartime service of major league baseball's first black player. Robinson (Andre Braugher), a star athlete at UCLA, is drafted during World War II. He hopes that his academic record will assure him entry into Officers Candidate School, but the racism inherent in the military at the time puts several roadblocks in his way. After finally making OCS, Robinson's belief in himself is strengthened tenfold--to the point that he refuses to bow to the "Jim Crow" laws regarding the seating arrangements on an Army bus, and is subsequently threatened with a court martial. Stan Shaw costars as boxing great Joe Louis, likewise a victim of prejudice during the war years (the script intimates that Louis was more willing to roll with the punches than Robinson). Ruby Dee, who played the ballplayer's wife in the 1950 film The Jackie Robinson Story, is here seen as Robinson's mother. The Court Martial of Jackie Robinson premiered on October 15, 1990. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Road Raiders was not, as might be expected, an American rip-off of The Road Warrior. It is instead a made-for-TV combat film, set during World War II. Bruce Boxleitner heads a group of "Black Sheep Squadron" style misfits, stationed on a lonely South Pacific island (along with the requisite voluptuous nurses). When they can find the time, Boxleitner's raiders bedevil the Japanese. Road Raiders had all the earmarks of a pilot film for a proposed series--including a quickie TV playoff when the series didn't sell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama set during the Vietnam War, a group of men working as wire-service photographers begin seeing their world in a whole new light. The film was originally made as a pilot for a television series that never aired. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This is the true story of Los Gatos (California) high school football coach Charlie Wedemeyer (Michael Nouri). At 31, onetime football pro Wedemeyer is living the American dream; a winning team, a happy marriage and public adulation. Then in 1977, Charlie is diagnosed as suffering from ALS, a degenerative neurological ailment better known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Given only one year to live, Charlie determines to continue leading his Los Gatos Wildcats to a state championship -- which he eventually does, despite losing all powers of speech and movement. Several notches above the usual "disease of the week" TV movie, Quiet Victory: The Charlie Wedemeyer Story was directed by Roy Campanella II -- himself the son of a physically disabled pro athlete, baseball star Roy Campanella. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this made-for-HBO thriller, Pierce Brosnan stars as an ex-convict who seeks revenge on the racetrack partner (Tom Skerritt) who framed him. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

A sprawling adaptation of the same-named novel by David Nevin, the three-part CBS miniseries Dream West starred Richard Chamberlain as colorful, controversial American explorer John Charles Fremont (1813-1890). The story detailed the visionary (and occasionally mercenary) Fremont's lifelong war against shortsided authority figures, beginning with his early skirmishes with the "brass" as an Army officer. In 1842, Fremont embarked upon his greatest adventure, heading an expedition to map the Oregon Trail -- the first step towards opening the entire North American continent to free and unimpeded exploration. His mission pitted Fremont against hostile Indians, the Mexican army, and the U.S. government itself. Along the way, he crossed paths with scores of historical figures, including Kit Carson, Jim Bridge, John Sutter, and President Abraham Lincoln. Alice Krige, Richard Chamberlain's vis-à-vis in the earlier Wallenberg: A Heroes' Story, co-starred as Jessie Benton, the headstrong senator's daughter who became Fremont's wife. Running seven hours in all (plus commercials), Dream West was originally telecast from April 13 to 15, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide