Lane Bradbury Movies

Six recently divorced males gather 'round a restaurant table and talk about their past lives and their recently failed marriages while trying to piece their lives back together. This drama is somewhat interesting for presenting the topic of life after a divorce from a man's point of view. (And yes, Neil Sedaka sings the smash title song over the final credits - so don't change that dial!) Originally made for television, and broadcast on ABC in two parts - one on Wed., Sep. 5, 1979, and one on Friday, Sep. 7, 1979 -- this film was reissued on video about ten years later to capitalize on Billy Crystal's growing fame. When it arrived on home video, the picture received its first MPAA rating (R) and was edited down from its original running time of 150 minutes to 96 minutes. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This made-for-TV actioner was designed as the pilot for a series based on the popular Walking Tall films of the 1970s. This time out, a young Brian Dennehy is cast as the stick-wielding, scrupulously honest Tennessee sheriff Buford Pusser (played in the films by Joe Don Baker and Bo Svenson), with Forrest Tucker repeating his role from Walking Tall: The Final Chapter as Pusser's father. After chasing down a speeding car, Pusser is disgusted to find that its teenaged occupants (two of them dead, two blinded for life) are stoned out of their minds on bad bootleg hooch. Bypassing due process and other such legal niceties, Pusser goes on a one-man rampage of destruction in order to square accounts with the evil disco owner-cum-moonshiner responsible for the tragedy. Making things difficult is the fact that one of the villains of the piece is also one of Buford's oldest pals. A Real American Hero made its CBS debut on December 9, 1978. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

At the request of Rocky's old friend Peter Preli (Dabbs Greer), Jim (James Garner) agrees to deliver the ransom for Peter's kidnapped granddaughter Houston (Lane Bradbury). Soon afterward, Houston turns up safe and sound--and Peter is found murdered. Suspected of committing the crime, Jim tries to find out what really happened...and to determine if Houston, who'd been laboring under the false assumption that her grandfather was wealthy, is in some way responsible for the whole sorry affair. This episode was originally slated to air on February 6, 1976. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This episode, filmed in part at the Hollywood Park racetrack, finds Banacek once again being called in to solve the unsolvable. This time it's the case of a 5,000,000-dollar racehorse that went out on its usual morning workout -- and returned as an entirely different horse. Among those questioned by Banacek are guest stars Anne Francis, Tim O'Connor, and Lane Bradbury. Horse of a Slightly Different Color was originally telecast as the January 22, 1974, episode of the weekly Banacek series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Martin Scorsese's first Hollywood studio production also marked his first (and only) foray into a woman-centered story. Alice Hyatt (Ellen Burstyn), a resigned Southwest housewife, takes advantage of her trucker husband's sudden death to hit the road with her bratty son Tommy (Alfred Lutter) and pursue her childhood dream of a singing career. She finds a job as a lounge singer, but after a horrific encounter with an abusive new beau (Harvey Keitel), she flees and winds up taking a waitress job at Mel's Diner, run by gruff cook Mel (Vic Tayback). With her career on hold, Alice soon finds strength and self-worth through her friendship with the other waitresses, saucy Flo (Diane Ladd) and spacy Vera (Valerie Curtin). When sensitive rancher David (Kris Kristofferson) starts courting her, Alice wonders if she wants to abandon her goals for domesticity again. To contrast Alice's dream life with her reality, Scorsese created a stylized opening sequence of Alice as a child reminiscent of The Wizard of Oz, Duel in the Sun and Gone With the Wind, before shifting into the present-day atmospheric immediacy of location shooting and scenes built out of improvisations. That opening sequence alone cost over twice as much as Scorsese's debut feature, Who's That Knocking At My Door?. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

Sally Field had her first significant dramatic role in this "generation gap" TV movie. After a year's time in the world of hippies and drugs, Field returns home to the parents who'd all but booted her out. Mom and Dad (Eleanor Parker and Jackie Cooper) try their best to understand their wayward daughter, but still can't overcome their judgmental attitude. When Field's younger sister (Lane Bradbury) begins experimenting with drugs, her parents react with the same blind, close-minded rage that had driven Field away the year before. Realizing that she can never really come home, Field leaves once more, hoping that someday she and her parents can solve their problems without recriminations and screaming. Unlike other "youth" films of the 1970s, Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring refuses to take sides: Field's hippie lifestyle is shown to be just as shallow as her parent's suburban existence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

William Windom guest stars as Frank Converse, an embezzler who hopes to elude the FBI by crossing the Canadian border. Unfortunately, Virgil Phipps (Bruce Dern), Converse's driver, knows about the stolen money and demands a piece of the action, thereby setting the stage for a deadly showdown. The evening's acting honors are claimed by Lee Meriwether as Converse's invalid wife Marian, who spends the entire episode encased in an iron lung. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide