Larry Carroll Movies

Practically everyone who previewed the USA network adventure series Peacemakers before its July 30, 2003, debut arrived at the same descriptive conclusion: "CSI Goes West." The series was set in the 1880s, in the frontier town of Silver City. Tom Berenger starred as Jared Stone, a hard-bitten, set-in-his-ways federal marshal who found himself teamed with Larimer Finch (Peter O'Meara), a British-born Pinkerton detective and specialist in the brand-new field of forensic science. Although Stone preferred to use tried-and-true methods in tracking down criminals, he begrudgingly acknowledged that Finch's newfangled techniques ("They're called fingerprints!") were of some value. Also joining in the weekly investigations was Katie Owen (Amy Carlson), a medical student who had returned to Silver City to run her family's undertaking parlor. Viewers with long memories may have noted some striking resemblances between Peacemakers and the old Richard Boone Western series Hec Ramsey. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A much-hated slumlord who has long been victimizing the denizens of his racially mixed neighborhood heads to the local church to seek absolution from the priest--who happens to also be the slumlord's son. The sinner subsequent dies, and it is determined that a poison spray was the murder weapon. As luck would have it, Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) is teaching a course on mystery writing in the selfsame church...and she has just finished discussing the various and sundry uses of poison! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This unforgettable episode is set at Universal Studios, where Jessica (Angela Lansbury) has arrived to supervise the film version of her novel "Messengers of Midnight." It isn't long before Jessica has had a confrontation with the film's abrasive producer Darryl Hayward (Ron Leibman), who seems to revel in making enemies, among them his leading lady Leonora Holt (Paula Prentiss). While paying a visit to the infamous "Bates Hotel" set from Hitchcock's Psycho, Jessica stumbles across Darryl's dead body--in the shower, of course! Henry Gibson appears as an obsessed fan of Leonora's, who just happened to be in the "Psycho House" when the killing occurred. Naturally, the episode is brimming with "inside" movie and pop-culture references, courtesy of scriptwriter (and future Babylon 5 maven) J. Michael Straczynski. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Four cops make the painful discovery that not everyone on the force is upholding the law in this crime drama. Frank Daly (Brian Dennehy), Wayne Gross (Joe Pantoliano), Ricky Rodriguez (Jeff Fahey), and Howard Jones (Bill Patxon) are four undercover cops with the Los Angeles Police Department who work as a team to solve the cases that their colleagues consider too tough to handle. Under Daly's supervision, the four are trying to get the goods on a drug dealing operation working out of a meat packing plant. However, a raid on the plant uncovers little practical evidence, and Daly, a moody and hard-drinking loose cannon, is sharply criticized by his superiors for planning the bust without the input from the department heads or the FBI. Convinced that there's more to the case than they've been able to find so far, the four men begin looking into the matter on their own time. The deeper they dig, the more shocking the evidence becomes, as they learn that the police, the FBI, and even the Federal Government are involved in the smuggling operation, and the parties involved are perfectly willing to use violence and murder to keep troublemakers out of their way. After Jones is murdered while collecting evidence on a businessman in on the operation, the other three quit the police force, determined to see justice done even if they have to overstep the boundaries of the law to do it. Last of the Finest was also released under the titles Blue Heat and Street Legal. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This inventive low-budget action-fantasy from producer Charles Band was released briefly as Swordkill before undergoing a title change for home video. Basically a samurai variant on Iceman, the story involves the discovery of 400-year-old Japanese warrior Yoshimita (Hiroshi Fujioka) encased in glacial ice in the hills of Motosuka, Japan. Revived at a high-tech cryogenics facility in Los Angeles by scientist Dr. Chris Welles (Janet Julian), Yoshimita is forced to acclimate himself to the modern age, but his samurai code of honor compels him to continue the quest for his long-lost bride that he began in his own time. The standard fish-out-of-water premise is helped along considerably by the appealing Fujioka, who exhibits an appropriately stoic demeanor amid a blur of computerized, MTV-styled culture shock, and some well-handled action sequences. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Face (Dirk Benedict) unexpectedly receives a pardon after "evidence" surfaces proving him innocent of the Vietnam bank robbery which landed the A-Team in prison. Hannibal (George Peppard) is convinced that there is something fishy about the pardon--especially since he knows darn well that Face was at that bank along with the rest of the Team! Meanwhile, Face basks in the glow of being a celebrity, hiring a public relations firm to handle his fan base. Alas, it turns out the the PR guys are actually CIA agents, who hope to smoke out a fugitive Viet Cong general by setting Face up as a sitting duck. This episode introduces Jack Ging in the role of General Bull Fullbright. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The deaths of two teenagers alert Quincy (Jack Klugman) to the perils of deceptively harmless "lookalike drugs", which can be legally sold over any pharmacy counter. The crusading coroner is determined to ban these drugs and to punish those merchants who sell them to underaged customers. Unfortunately, neither the law nor human nature can be changed so easily--and it looks as though future tragedies are a foregone conclusion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this gory sci-fi outing, shot and originally released in 3-D, Dr. Paul Dean (Robert Glaudini) is a scientist living in the near future, after America has fallen under the control of a repressive paramilitary regime. Dean's research causes him to absorb an especially voracious parasitic worm, which feeds inside the human stomach until it becomes strong enough to burst out in search of a new host. In time, Dean is able to extract the creature from his body, but soon it escapes from captivity, and Dean and his friend Patricia (Demi Moore) must find a way to stop it as they find themselves on the run from brutal government agent Merchant (James Davidson) and a gang of thugs led by Ricus (Luca Bercovici). Parasite was Demi Moore's second film, shot while she was still a regular on the daytime serial General Hospital. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

An evangelist suspected of financial impropriety is found dead in a motel room, apparently from an overdose of drugs and alcohol. Was it an accident, a suicide, or a murder? Quincy (Jack Klugman) is pressured by the authorities to solve the mystery--a task which may or may not be expedited by Dr. Paul Chase (Stephen Elliott), who insists upon performing a "psychological autopsy" on the victim. This episode was originally scheduled to air on October 25, 1979. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The 8-hour TV miniseries Blind Ambition was originally telecast May 20 through 23, 1979. This 105-minute feature-film version, prepared in 1982, seems a bit rushed at times, but overall does a credible and coherent job of storytelling. Based on John Dean's book Blind Ambition, with elements of Maureen Dean's Mo woven in by screenwriter Stanley R. Greenberg, this is the saga of the Watergate affair, as experienced by Dean (Martin Sheen) and hia wife Maureen (Theresa Russell). As the Nixon administration goes down in flames, the Deans' marriage is sorely tested-as is Dean's success-at-any-price credo. Rip Torn plays Nixon like something out of a Greek Tragedy; some viewers accepted his interpretation, others found it jarringly inaccurate. Others in the cast of "usual suspects" include Michael Callan as Charles Colson, Lonny Chapman as L. Patrick Gray, William Daniels as G. Gordon Liddy, Fred Grandy as Donald Segretti, Christopher Guest as Jeb Magruder, Lawrence Pressman as H. R. Haldeman, William Windom as Richard Kleindienst, James Greene as E. Howard Hunt, Logan Ramsey as J. Edgar Hoover, and Al Checco as judge John Sirica. Also known as The John Dean Story, Blind Ambition earned two Emmy nominations. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season Six of Emergency! begins as paramedics John Gage (Randolph Mantooth) and Roy Desoto (Kevin Tighe) considering themselves lucky to have pulled duty at a football game at LA Coliseum. Alas, their enjoyment of the gridiron activity is constantly interrupted by emergency first-aid calls involving a choking spectator, an injured sidelines photographer, and a TV announcer (played by comedian Jack Carter) who suffers a heart attack. And outside the stadium, the emergency team deals with a man who has fallen into a tree (yes, into a tree). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the third of the feature-length Quincy, M.E. episodes produced for the NBC Sunday Mystery Movie package, the LA County Coroner's Officer swings into action when movie star Roberta Rhodes dies under mysterious circumstances (note the repetitious initials, and then guess who "Roberta Rhodes" is really supposed to be). Though the police are convinced that Rhodes committed suicide, Quincy (Jack Klugman) thinks otherwise, and through the auspices of scandal-sheet publisher Reardon (William Daniels) Quincy discovers that the dead woman's secret lover, Congressman Charles Sinclair (Robert Foxworth), was with her at the time of her death--and may have been her murderer. Unable to accept the notion that his good friend Sinclair is a killer, Quincy goes off on his own investigation, quickly discovering that the gossip-mongering publisher may have a sinister hidden agenda. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide