Eric Braeden Movies

Eric Braeden, Billy Zane, and Sean Young headline this traditional western about one man who stood tall against injustice in a time when corruption corroded the souls of once-decent men. His family slaughtered before his very eyes, plantation supervisor Reese Paxton (Braeden) is subsequently convicted of the crime by Judge Duke (Kennedy) and his sadistic son Billy (James Patrick Stuart) - the very men responsible for carrying out the diabolical deed. But the Dukes never expected that Paxton would return one fateful day to seek justice. When he does, not even the most powerful men in the county will be able to escape his undying wrath. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

This spectacular epic re-creates the ill-fated maiden voyage of the White Star Line's $7.5 million R.M.S Titanic and the tragic sea disaster of April 15, 1912. Running over three hours and made with the combined contributions of two major studios (20th Century-Fox, Paramount) at a cost of more than $200 million, Titanic ranked as the most expensive film in Hollywood history at the time of its release, and became the most successful. Writer-director James Cameron employed state-of-the-art digital special effects for this production, realized on a monumental scale and spanning eight decades. Inspired by the 1985 discovery of the Titanic in the North Atlantic, the contemporary storyline involves American treasure-seeker Brock Lovett (Bill Paxton) retrieving artifacts from the submerged ship. Lovett looks for diamonds but finds a drawing of a young woman, nude except for a necklace. When 102-year-old Rose (Gloria Stuart) reveals she's the person in the portrait, she is summoned to the wreckage site to tell her story of the 56-carat diamond necklace and her experiences of 84 years earlier. The scene then shifts to 1912 Southampton where passengers boarding the Titanic include penniless Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) and society girl Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet), returning to Philadelphia with her wealthy fiance Cal Hockley (Billy Zane). After the April 10th launch, Rose develops a passionate interest in Jack, and Cal's reaction is vengeful. At midpoint in the film, the Titanic slides against the iceberg and water rushes into the front compartments. Even engulfed, Cal continues to pursue Jack and Rose as the massive liner begins its descent.

Cameron launched the project after seeing Robert Ballard's 1987 National Geographic documentary on the wreckage. Blueprints of the real Titanic were followed during construction at Fox's custom-built Rosarito, Mexico studio, where a hydraulics system moved an immense model in a 17-million-gallon water tank. During three weeks aboard the Russian ship Academik Keldysh, underwater sequences were filmed with a 35mm camera in a titanium case mounted on the Russian submersible Mir 1. When the submersible neared the wreck, a video camera inside a remote-operated vehicle was sent into the Titanic's 400-foot bow, bringing back footage of staterooms, furniture and chandeliers. On November 1, 1997, the film had its world premiere at the 10th Tokyo International Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Jessica (Angela Lansbury) heads to Washington to attend a special concert performed by an Eastern Bloc orchestra. Before long, Jessica is kidnapped and swept into a maelstrom of intrigue involving a pair of defecting musicians and a murdered British intelligence agent. The man behind Jessica's abduction is none other than the redoubtable M16 agent Michael Haggerty, whom Jessica had previously encountered in the Season Two episode "Widow Weep for Me"--and who is played by Angela Lansbury's onetime costar in the Broadway musical "Sweeney Todd", Len Cariou. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The science-fiction and detective-story genres are combined in the made-for-TV The Aliens are Coming. Tom Mason plays an astrophysicist who is convinced that malevolent extraterrestrials are in our midst. It is Mason's contention that the invaders have assumed human form, in preparation for world conquest (sound familiar?) Originally telecast March 2, 1980, The Aliens are Coming later showed up in an expanded version as a two-parter, shown on NBC over two consecutive weekends. The project began as a TV pilot film titled Alien Force. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Capitalizing on her sudden Three's Company-engendered superstardom, Suzanne Somers topped the cast of this innocuous made-for-TV comedy. Somers is cast as Mattie, a backwoods girl with big-city ambitions. Mattie is in love with fellow mountaineer Jack (Bruce Boxleitner), but she also craves stardom as a country-western singer. Things come to a head when Mattie is given her big showbiz chance in Las Vegas. In the course of things, Somers belts out a duet with co-star John Rubinstein, "You Made a Believer Out of Me." Happily Ever After first aired September 5, 1978. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This made-for-TV espionage drama chronicles the adventures of Hawaiian secret agent Diamond Head, who begins impersonating a notorious gambler so he can get close to those who are planning to steal an extremely lethal chemical capable of wiping out all life. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The 1975 TV movie Death Scream is based on the shameful Kitty Genovese affair of 1964, in which a N.Y.C. woman was stabbed to death while 38 witnesses locked their windows and doors and pretended not to hear. Raul Julia stars as the detective who investigates the murder and stirs up the guilt feelings of those who refused to help. The film casts celebrity actors in the roles of the witnesses (Diahann Carroll, Cloris Leachman, Lucie Arnaz, Nancy Walker, Art Carney, et al.). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Laurence Luckinbill is cast as novice diamond smuggler James Danzer, who while eluding the FBI searches high and low for a buyer to take some stolen gems off his hands. In the course of events, Danzer kidnaps a blind woman named Claire (Elizabeth Ashley). Unless Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) can catch up with Danzer, both smuggler and captive may meet an untimely end at the hands of a none-too-ethical private eye. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The vanishing chalice is a rare Greek treasure that disappears from a museum. That's not all; the chalice vanishes while in full view of a group of nonplussed witnesses. This sounds like a case for troubleshooting detective Banacek (George Peppard) -- and indeed, it is, in this episode from the Banacek series. John Saxon, Sue Ann Langdon, Cesar Romero, and Eric Braeden are the special guest suspects in this episode, which originally aired January 15, 1974. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Lloyd Bridges' gloriously unconvincing German accent is but one of the guilty pleasures of Death Race. Set during the African campaign of World War 2, this made-for-TV nailbiter pits Nazi general Bridges against wounded American pilot Roy Thinnes. Manning the controls of a tank, Herr Bridges intends to blast Thinnes into eternity-but it ain't gonna be that easy. Billed third as "Stoeffer" is Eric Braden, who under his given name of Hans Gudegast was one of the stars of a previous desert-war TV series, The Rat Patrol (1966-68). Death Race first plotted its course on November 10, 1973. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Even Bette Davis showed up in a TV-movie pilot from time to time. The Judge and Jake Wyler stars the indestructible Davis as a hypochondriac former judge who becomes a private detective. Davis puts paroled ex-con Doug McClure to work as her "leg man," searching for clues in the supposed suicide of the heroine's (Joan Van Ark) businessman father. Had Judge and Jake Wyler sold as a series, Davis would have had to choose between this project and another projected weekly, Madame Sin; the decision was made for her when neither series sold. Two years later, Judge and Jake Wyler was rewritten, recast with Lee Grant and Lou Antonio, and repitched as a pilot under the title Partners in Crime (which also didn't fly). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Enemy agents hope to persuade defecting cabinet official Victor Dorman (David Frankham) to return to his own country--or, failing that, they plan to have him killed. For this purpose, the bad guys engage the services of Nicholas Blok (Eric Braeden), a coldblooded troubleshooter who specializes in abduction and assassination. Blok endeavors to force his prey into the open by kidnapping Dorman's daughter Katrina (Dinah Anne Rogers)--and he has no intention of allowing FBI Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) to get in his way. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Mask of Sheba was the pilot film for a potential TV series titled Quest. Eric Braeden, Stephen Young and Corinne Camacho play three daring adventurers with a predilection for archeology. They are hired to locate a missing safari in Ethiopia. The safari had been searching for an ancient golden mask of the Queen of Sheba. Off our threesome goes to Ethiopia (which looks a lot like Mexico, where the film was shot), encountering dangers and double-crosses along the way. Mask of Sheba has enough plot for three TV movies--and none of them would have made it as a weekly series, either. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi