Michael Anderson, Jr. Movies

In this explosive action drama, Johnny Price (Don "The Dragon" Wilson) was once a high-ranking officer in the military and a decorated war hero, but after he was convicted of a crime he didn't commit, he was given a dishonorable discharge and has never been able to live down the disgrace. When a band of terrorists led by Bartel (Roddy Piper) seize Hoover Dam and threaten to blow it up if their demands are not met, Price is called in and given a shot at redemption as the only man who can fend off the invaders and prevent a disaster that could cost thousands of lives. Terminal Rush also features Michael Anderson, Jr., Brian Warren, and Kate Greenhouse. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Sunset Grill directed by Kevin Connor is a suspenseful, well-written and acted contemporary film noir with an idiosyncratic look at life on the wild side. Ryder Hart (Peter Weller) is a burnt-out former L.A. private detective who hears about the murder of a trafficker in illegal aliens, but who does not get involved until his wife is murdered. Investigating the murder, Ryder meets tycoon Shelgrave (Stacy Keach), who collects Mayan art, and his seductive assistant Loren (Lori Singer). The rather complicated plot includes double-crosses, possible murders of illegal aliens to sell their organs, and it culminates in a bloody shootout. Director Conner deftly ties up all the loose ends of the plot and gives them an internal consistency, as one incident leads to and explains another, creating a portrait of a complex, anti-hero, whose pain is explained but not sentimentalized. The plot is over-complicated, and the supporting cast contains more lunatics than most asylums, however Sunset Grill delivers what it promises: complex, contemporary mystery at its very best. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

Joan Collins tops the cast of the made-for-TV The Making of a Male Model. No, silly: Joan doesn't play the title role. Rather, she is cast as the barracudalike owner of a top modelling agency, while Jon-Erik Hexum (at the time, a real-life male model) costars as a Nevada rancher whom Joan selects for stardom-or, if you prefer, hunkdom. Watch for Rosemary Stack, the wife of actor Robert Stack, in a juicy cameo as Collins' chief rival. Making of a Male Model was originally telecast October 9, 1983. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Originally titled D.A.'s Investigator, Kiss Me Kill Me stars Stella Stevens as Stella Stafford, "leg woman" for the LA district attorney's office. The case at hand is the murder of a young, highly respected schoolteacher. Stella is certain that she has the killer dead to rights--but this is before she learns the down-and-dirty about the murder victim's secret life. Supporting Ms. Stevens is an impressive guest cast, including Dabney Coleman, Pat O'Brien, Bruce Boxleitner and Robert Vaughn. First telecast May 8, 1976, Kiss Me Kill Me was the pilot for an intended TV series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A mental hospital is the scene of several strange and unexplained deaths. Hoping to determine the reason for the carnage--and to flush out a possible murderer--Steve Keller (Mike Douglas) goes undercover as a mental patient, after police doctor Murchison (Fred Sadoff) administers a drug that will temporarily transform Keller into a raving lunatic! Once he's inside the asylum, the detective finds that it is next to impossible to get out...alive. Among the supporting players are two former TV-series regulars: December Bride's Frances Rafferty and Ben Casey's Bettye Ackerman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The made-for-TV Shootout in a One-Dog Town is a rare foray into straight-faced adventure by "comedy western" specialist Burt Kennedy. Richard Crenna stars as a banker in a heat-parched Southwestern town. Richard Egan and his gang mosey into town with the barely concealed intention of relieving the bank of $200,000. With everyone else in town shaking in their cracked boots, Crenna decides to thwart the robbery on his own. Filmed in Durango, Mexico, Shootout in a One-Dog Town was written by Larry Cohen, better known for such horror exercises as It's Alive and Q. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Made for television, The Family Rico was adapted from the same Georges Simenon novel that served as the basis of the 1958 Columbia theatrical feature The Brothers Rico. Ben Gazzara plays a powerful mobster put in an embarrassing position by younger brother Sal Mineo. When Mineo refuses to carry out a contract killing, Gazzara is ordered to rub out his own brother. Eventually he ascertains the identity of Mineo's "hit" and realizes that his brother was acting more out of loyalty than cowardice. While the original Brothers Rico concentrates on the one honest member of the Rico brood, The Family Rico adheres to Godfather tradition by dealing solely with the criminals in the family. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Paul Newman served as co-producer of this allegorical drama and stars as Rheinhardt, a opportunistic drifter who ends up in New Orleans and hits up his old friend Farley (Laurence Harvey), a con man-turned-phony preacher, for a job. Farley is able to get Rheinhardt hired on as an announcer at a local radio station, WUSA, but the station is a right-wing propaganda mill that devotes its air time to venomous tirades against political and social progress. Rheinhardt is happy to be making decent money, and he makes the friendly acquaintance of a local working girl, Geraldine (Joanne Woodward), so he refuses to look his gift horse in the mouth. However, when he finds out that WUSA is actually involved in shadowy political actions, he is at a loss for what to do, especially after a naïve and troubled social worker (Anthony Perkins) is tricked into starting a race riot. Robert Stone wrote the screenplay, adapted from his novel A Hall of Mirrors. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Henry Hathaway directs the 1965 psychological Western The Sons of Katie Elder. Four sons reunite in their Texas hometown to attend their mother's funeral. John (John Wayne) is the gunfighter, Tom (Dean Martin) is the gambler, Matt (Earl Holliman) is the quiet one, and Bud (Michael Anderson Jr.) is the youngest. They soon learn that their father gambled away the family ranch, leading to his own murder. The brothers decide to find their father's killer and get back the ranch, even though they are discouraged to do so by local Sheriff Billy Wilson (Paul Fix). When the sheriff turns up dead, the Elder boys are blamed for the murder. Deputy Sheriff Ben Latta (Jeremy Slate) joins forces with the only witnesses of the murder: Morgan Hastings (James Gregory) and his son Dave (Dennis Hopper). A gunfight breaks out between the Hastings gang and the Elder gang. After his brother Matt is killed, John decides to settle the ranch dispute in a court of law with a judge (Sheldon Allman). However, Tom decides to take matters into his own hands by kidnapping Dave. After the final climactic gunfight, John and the wounded Bud retreat to a rooming house owned by Mary Gordon (Martha Hyer). ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Sam Peckinpah's 1965 feature Major Dundee was recut and rescored for re-release theatrically in 2005, 40 years after its original release. The "Extended Version," as it is known officially, tells essentially the same story as the original but with clearer motivations for the characters (which often seemed vague or obscure in the 1965 edition) and much greater effectiveness. Major Amos Charles Dundee (Charlton Heston) is a West Point graduate who somehow -- it's not clear -- exceeded his orders while serving in the Battle of Gettysburg and, as punishment, has been taken out of combat and put in charge of a Union prison in New Mexico. He then gets word that marauding Apaches under Sierra Charriba (Michael Pate) have raided an American settlement, slaughtering the troops who were pursuing them and kidnapping three young boys, whom they've taken to their lair south of the Rio Grande (and if this sounds a lot like the plot of John Ford's Rio Grande, it's because they used the same story as inspiration). Dundee assumes responsibility for capturing or destroying the raiders and rescuing the captives, but because he has far too few men, he's forced to recruit prisoners, including his one-time friend, Confederate Captain Benjamin Tyreen (Richard Harris), and other "gentlemen of the South," to fill out his ranks. Tyreen and his men despise Dundee, but agree to serve on this mission in exchange for the chance for possible pardon of commutation of sentence (Tyreen and some of his men are facing the rope, for killing a guard in an escape attempt).

The mission takes them deep into Mexico, where they free the children but now find themselves being stalked by the very Apaches that they were hunting, as well as having to fight off the French troops stationed there. And as they quickly see, the French troops, though white and supposedly "civilized" like themselves, treat the native Mexicans in ways that make the Apaches look almost saintly. In the end, this ragtag group of soldiers, malcontents, deserters, traitors, and criminals finds a larger cause in their quest -- bigger even than their own survival -- as they discover something uniquely fine and honorable in being an American, and in American ideals. It takes the sacrifice and deaths of many to get to that point, but the movie -- in this version -- gets us there convincingly, if in decidedly grim and bittersweet fashion. Though based on fiction and shot under incredibly (indeed, legendarily) chaotic conditions, the movie ultimately proves to be a rousingly disturbing examination of what it means to be an American, and the meaning of American ideals. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

A stodgy British patriarch sends his naive daughter to Europe so that her rock & roll singing boyfriend will dump her. Unfortunately, things don't go as planned when she ends up linked with a handsome pop idol and his band. Fortunately, she is a good girl at heart and ends up learning some valuable lessons about live, love and rock & roll. Many popular singers from the early '60s perform in this tuneful outing. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide