Wilford Brimley Movies
With varied rugged experiences ranging from blacksmith to horse trainer, portly, handlebar-mustached Wilford Brimley entered films in the 1960s as a cowboy stunt man. Save for a few billed appearances on TV cowboy series like Gunsmoke, Brimley worked primarily in supporting roles until finally achieving star status in the 1980s via his gruff, fatherly roles in such films as The Thing (1981), Hotel New Hampshire (1984), The Natural (1984) and Cocoon (1986). On television, Wilford Brimley starred in the 1980s family dramedy Our House. In addition to his film and television work, Brimley worked for a time as the commercial spokesperson for the Quaker Oats company. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1974
Feeling sorry for travelling book salesman George Reed (Ben Piazza), Olivia (Michael Learned) makes a sizeable deposit on the "Five-Foot Shelf" collection, consisting of fifty "Harvard Classics." When he finds out that Reed has spent the money to buy his little girl a doll, John (Ralph Waite) is outraged and orders the peddler off Walton's Mountain, never to return. But this doesn't answer the episode's burning question: Will Olivia pony up a second deposit when those fifty books are delivered to the Walton doorstep? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
The Walton kids purchase a Ouija board from storekeeper Ike (Joe Conley), and immediately set about to contact the spirit world. Though Olivia (Michael Learned) and Grandma (Ellen Corby) regard this activity as diametrically opposed to their religious beliefs, the kids' friend Luke (Kristopher Marquis) hopes that the board will help him communicate with his deceased mother. Sure enough, an unseen force seems to be guiding the children's hands as they spell out an ominous message, warning Luke to cancel a planned train trip--and not long afterward, word arrives that the train has crashed! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
Hoping to woo and win a girl named Sally Ann Harper (played by Happy Days' Erin Moran), Ben (Eric Scott) recommends her to Jason (Jon Walmsley) as a band singer, and even suggests that she introduce Jason's latest song "Will You Be Mine" (actually written by Walmsley). The scheme backfires disastrously (and predictably!) when Sally falls in love with Jason instead. As the romantic rivalry between the two brothers intensifies, Grandpa (Will Geer) and John (Ralph Waite) likewise have trouble seeing eye-to-eye during a billiard competition. This episode was directed by series regular Richard Thomas (John-Boy). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
Olivia Walton's namesake Young Olivia (Deborah White) brings her city-bred husband Bob (Bruce Davison) to Walton's Mountain for their wedding. Realizing that Bob would neither understand nor appreciate the old mountain custom of the "shivaree", in which the local boys kidnap the groom on his wedding night, John-Boy calls off this traditional event. But John-Boy's prankish friends Ike (Joe Conley) and Yancy (Robert Donner) are determined to go through with the shivaree anyway--and as a result, Young Olivia's marriage is nearly over before it begins. Director Lee Philipsappears as a minister. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
Poor John Walton (Ralph Waite) finds himself under attack from all sides in this episode. For starters, John's lumber business is threatened by a new and more efficient competitor. For another, Olivia (Michael Learned) is outraged that John has allowed their son Ben (Eric Scott) to leave home and strike out on his own. And as if this wasn't enough trouble, Ben ends up landing a job with the rival lumber firm--just as John is under pressure to deliver a huge shipment before a rapidly-approaching deadline! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
While driving through a particularly treacherous stretch of woods, Olivia (Michael Learned) and her two youngest children Elizabeth (Kami Cotler) and Jim-Bob (David W. Harper) are stranded by a flat tire. In their efforts to find their way home, the three Waltons end up getting lost. After briefly taking refuge in a cabin owned by a bootlegging family, they are driven even deeper into the bear-infested woods--and now, storm clouds are ominously gathering on the horizon. Without tipping off the climax of this episode, it can be noted that the "hero" turns out be the least expected candidate. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
Jason (Jon Walmsley) falls in love with Vanessa (Lynda Purl), the sister of his brother-in-law Curt (Tom Bower). Unfortunately, Vanessa arrives on the mountain with considerable "baggage": she has deserted her husband to pursue a singing career. Blind to Vanessa's fickle, opportunistic nature, Jason begins neglecting his schoolwork to help her fulfill her ambitions. Meanwhile, John-Boy (Richard Thomas) tests out public reaction to his novel by publishing excerpts in the "Blue Ridge Chronicle." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
With America's entry into WW2 still several months away, Mary Ellen's husband Curt (Tom Bower) is drafted in to the US Army Medical Corps, while Erin's erstwhile soldier boyfriend G.W. (David Doremus) returns on furlough. At the same time, Jason's rambunctious pal Yancy (Robert Donner) decides to enlist, pausing only long enough to wed his girlfriend Sissy (Cissy Wellman). The episode ends on a tragic note as one of the Mountain's three soldiers returns home in a coffin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
The Waltons decide to hold a big celebration to commemorate the final payment on their mortgage and a lucrative new lumber contract. But in the midst of all the revelry, the family discovers that someone else is having a streak of very bad luck--namely, storekeeper Ike Godsey (Joe Conley), without whose help the Waltons' lumber business might never have gotten off the ground. Elsewhere, the Walton girls conspire with Corabeth Godsey (Ronnie Claire Edwards) and Maude Gormley (Merie Earle) to find a wife for Rev. Buchanan (Peter Fox). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
The sixth season of The Waltons) gets under way minus two longtime series regulars: Richard Thomas as John-Boy and Ellen Corby as Grandma Walton (though both actors would return during the season as guest stars). It is 1939, and as war clouds gather in Europe, a battle of a more spiritual nature is brewing on Walton's Mountain with the arrival of new minister Hank Buchanan (Peter Fox). Though many parishioners, notably Olivia Walton (Michael Learned), are turned off by Buchanan's unorthodox approach to his calling, John Walton (Ralph Waite) warms up to him immediately--if only because the Reverend is not the traditional "hell-fire and brimstome" type. Even more impressed by Buchanan is Olivia and John's daughter Erin (Mary Elizabeth McDonough), whose fascination with the newcomer soon develops into a crush! Meanwhile, Grandpa Walton (Will Geer) and grandson Jim-Bob (David W. Harper) try to kill the chicken hawk that has been systematically raiding the local coops. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A cowboy-turned-huckster unexpectedly finds love as he tries to regain his self-respect in this romantic comedy drama. Sonny Steele (Robert Redford) is a one-time rodeo star whose career as a cowboy has ground to a halt. He makes a good living as a spokesman for Ranch Breakfast, a sugar-coated cereal for kids, but he's lost most of his self-respect in the process; his boss, corporate mogul Hunt Sears (John Saxon), considers him a property rather than a human being, and Sonny has developed a serious problem with alcohol. Sears' cereal company is negotiating a highly profitable merger with another firm and brings Sonny to Las Vegas for a publicity stunt, in which Sonny, wearing a garish cowboy outfit complete with blinking lights, will ride on-stage at Caesar's Palace aboard prize-winning thoroughbred stallion Rising Star. When Sonny discovers Sears' men have drugged the horse so that it will be able to walk on an injured leg, he's appalled, and he rides Rising Star off the stage at Caesar's and into the Nevada desert, looking for grazing land where he and the horse can heal their wounds. Sears is shocked to discover that Sonny has run off with a 12 million dollars, and he realizes that Sonny knows enough to make his firm look very bad in the press, potentially scotching the merger. Sears files charges against Sonny and posts a reward for Rising Star's safe return, though he implies that it wouldn't bother him if Sonny died in the rescue attempt. Hallie Martin (Jane Fonda), a television journalist covering Sonny's Vegas appearance, is convinced that something is fishy and manages to catch up with him in the desert; as Hallie tries to get Sonny to tell her his story, the has-been cowboy and the city-girl reporter fall in love. The Electric Horseman also stars Valerie Perrine and Willie Nelson; the country & western star made his screen debut in this film and has a very memorable line about tequila and trailer hitches. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Redford, Jane Fonda, (more)
This gripping 1979 drama about the dangers of nuclear power carried an extra jolt when a real-life accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania occurred just weeks after the film opened. Kimberly Wells (Jane Fonda) is a TV reporter trying to advance from fluff pieces to harder news. Wells and cameraman Richard Adams (Michael Douglas, who also produced) are doing a story on energy when they happen to witness a near-meltdown at a local nuclear plant, averted only by quick-thinking engineer Jack Godell (Jack Lemmon). While Wells and Adams fruitlessly attempt to get the story on their station, Godell begins his own investigation and discovers that corporate greed and cost-trimming have led to potentially deadly faults in the plant's construction. He provides evidence of the faulty equipment, which could lead to another meltdown (the "China syndrome" of the title), to the station's soundman to deliver to Wells and Adams at a hearing on nuclear power. However, on the way to the hearing, the soundman is run off the road by evil henchmen, leading Godell to realize that his own life is threatened, possibly by his bosses at the plant. Driven to the edge of a breakdown, Godell takes over the plant's control room at gunpoint and demands to reveal his findings on TV. The plant's management, however, has other plans, and the facility itself is becoming dangerously unstable. Whether or not you agree with the film's clear anti-nuclear bias, its sobering message and riveting, realistic story and performances are still difficult to ignore. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon, (more)
- 1979
In the made-for-television film Wild, Wild West Revisited, the classic comedy/espionage/western television series is brought up to date with a story featuring government agents Jim West and Artemus Gordon leaving retirement to battle Miguelito Loveless, who is planning to conquer the earth by cloning world leaders. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Conrad, Ross Martin, (more)
- 1980
One of several syndicated TV miniseries of the 1980s, Roughnecks was part of the same "Golden Circle" project that previously yielded the multipart Wild Times. The title refers to a group of two-fisted oil wildcatters, among them self-made millionaire Paul Marshall (Steve Forrest), his lifelong pal and business partner, Plug Champion (Harry Morgan), and up-and-coming young "roughneck" O'Dell Hartman (Sam Melville). Avoiding the temptation of carbon-copying such previous oil-drilling movies like Boom Town, Flowing Gold, and Tulsa, this two-parter devoted much of its screen time to the hero's efforts to help Marshall's former sweetheart Ida McBride (Vera Miles) save her ranch by bringing in a valuable methane well. In most local markets, Roughnecks was telecast the third week of August (usually the 15th and 16th of that month) in 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1980
- R
Charles Bronson switches from his traditional role as a vigilante to playing an actual lawman in this crime drama. Jeb Maynard (Bronson) is a border patrol agent who is trying to stem the tide of illegal aliens from Mexico into the United States. Jeb is hot on the trail of Hotchkiss (Ed Harris), a "coyote" who brings illegals into the United States for a hefty price and with little concern for their safety. But while Jeb is sworn to keep illegal immigrants out of America, he finds his relationship with Elena Morales (Karmin Murcelo) becoming more than professional. Elena is an illegal alien who wants to cooperate with Jeb by leading him to Hotchkiss, who smuggled her into the United States. But businesslike Jeb soon finds that the plight of Elena and her young son, who are desperate to build a better life for themselves, has touched a soft spot inside him. While the story may sound similar to the Tony Richardson/Jack Nicholson picture The Border, Borderline actually preceded it by two years. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Bronson, Bruno Kirby, (more)
The Rodeo Girl is 26-year-old Sammy Garrett (Katherine Ross). Despite opposition from the good-ole-boy network, Sammy is determined to succeed as a bronco buster. But her plans may be thwarted when Sammy becomes pregnant. Even if she doesn't lose the baby, it's likely that she'll lose the love of the baby's father (Bo Hopkins) if she continues her rough-and-tumble lifestyle. Inspired by real-life rodeo world champion Sue Pirtle, the made for TV Rodeo Girl first aired September 17, 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Katharine Ross, Bo Hopkins, (more)
Fact-based drama starring Robert Redford as Henry Brubaker, the new inmate at a run-down Southern prison that's become notorious for corruption and violence. After he witnesses several instances of gross misconduct and defuses a tense confrontation with a crazed inmate (Morgan Freeman), Brubaker reveals to the guards and administrators that he's not a criminal at all, but the new warden, assigned by the governor to infiltrate the facility undercover. His identity confirmed, Brubaker takes office and sets about shaping up policies and procedures, despite resistance from, incredibly, even some of the more entitled convicts. With the help of the prison's chief trustee (Yaphet Kotto) and a compassionate ally (Jane Alexander), the warden effects some positive change, but powerful business interests line up against him when his ideas threaten their financial bottom line. A reform-minded, socially conscious, and politically liberal picture of the type usually associated with director Norman Jewison, this fact-based prison drama was the result of a troubled production that saw original director Bob Rafelson replaced with Cool Hand Luke (1967) and The Amityville Horror (1979) helmsman Stuart Rosenberg. Despite the backstage turmoil, Brubaker was an acclaimed release and an Oscar-nominated, career-finale triumph for co-screenwriter Arthur A. Ross, creator of Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954) and father of successful writer/director Gary Ross. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Redford, Yaphet Kotto, (more)
- 1981
Actor/producer Robert Blake tried and failed three times to launch a TV detective weekly titled Joe Dancer. The first such attempt was the feature-length pilot The Big Black Pill. As Joe Dancer, Blake struts and frets his way around Beverly Hills in search of a killer. Blake's then-wife Sondra co-stars as Joe Dancer's physically challenged assistant. The Big Black Pill went down in one gulp on January 29, 1981. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1981
- R
While traveling across Arizona with his divorced mother and her new boyfriend, a precocious young boy stumbles onto a grisly murder scene, placing the three of them in mortal danger at the hands of a pair of good-ol'-boy twin psychopaths. It's hard to tell whether the producers of this film decided to "dress up" a standard slasher script with spooky desert vistas and quality actors (including cuddly little Peter Billingsley, who forever endeared himself to viewers of the perennial favorite A Christmas Story), or rather chose to inject gratuitous T&A and gore scenes into an otherwise more sophisticated Hitchcockian thriller to lure the Friday the 13th crowd. Whatever the motivation, the end result is a muddled mishmash of family drama and sleazy dead-teen mayhem that never found an audience. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Le Mat, Catherine Hicks, (more)
In this legal drama from director Sydney Pollack, Sally Field stars as Megan, an ambitious newpaper reporter who, based on information from FBI investigator Rosen, played by Bob Balaban, writes a scathing article that implicates Gallagher, a reclusive business-owner played by Paul Newman, in the recent disappearance of a labor leader. When Gallagher confronts Megan and sets her straight, the two team together to prove his innocence and have a few romantic interludes along the way. Wilford Brimley and Melinda Dillon also star. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Newman, Sally Field, (more)
- 1982
Amber Waves is the tale of two radically different personalities, united by crisis. Dennis Weaver plays a midwestern wheat harvester, coarsened by his lifelong struggle with poverty and the elements. Kurt Russell plays an obnoxious Manhattan-based male model, who has coasted through life on his charm and has never gotten his hands dirty. When Russell finds himself facially disfigured and penniless, he takes a job on Weaver's farm. Though the two men dislike each other at first, they reach a common ground when Weaver suffers a serious personal dilemma. Beautifully lensed in Alberta, Canada, Amber Waves was one of the high points of the 1979-80 TV movie season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
John Carpenter's The Thing is both a remake of Howard Hawks' 1951 film of the same name and a re-adaptation of the John W. Campbell Jr. story "Who Goes There?" on which it was based. Carpenter's film is more faithful to Campbell's story than Hawks' version and also substantially more reliant on special effects, provided in abundance by a team of over 40 technicians, including veteran creature-effects artists Rob Bottin and Stan Winston. The film opens enigmatically with a Siberian Husky running through the Antarctic tundra, chased by two men in a helicopter firing at it from above. Even after the dog finds shelter at an American research outpost, the men in the helicopter (Norwegians from an outpost nearby) land and keep shooting. One of the Norwegians drops a grenade and blows himself and the helicopter to pieces; the other is shot dead in the snow by Garry (Donald Moffat), the American outpost captain. American helicopter pilot MacReady (Kurt Russell, fresh from Carpenter's Escape From New York) and camp doctor Copper (Richard Dysart) fly off to find the Norwegian base and discover some pretty strange goings-on. The base is in ruins, and the only occupants are a man frozen to a chair (having cut his own throat) and the burned remains of what could be one man or several men. In a side room, Copper and MacReady find a coffin-like block of ice from which something has been recently cut. That night at the American base, the Husky changes into the Thing, and the Americans learn first-hand that the creature has the ability to mutate into anything it kills. For the rest of the film the men fight a losing (and very gory) battle against it, never knowing if one of their own dwindling number is the Thing in disguise. Though resurrected as a cult favorite, The Thing failed at the box office during its initial run, possibly because of its release just two weeks after Steven Spielberg's warmly received E.T.The Extra-Terrestrial. Along with Ridley Scott's futuristic Alien, The Thing helped stimulate a new wave of sci-fi horror films in which action and special effects wizardry were often seen as ends in themselves. ~ Anthony Reed, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, (more)
In this sports-oriented drama, Art Long (Dennis Quaid), a loser as a country singer, starts competing in local fist-fight matches in order to bring home a little extra cash -- and is caught up in his successes enough to continue on to the big national finals. Predictable from the first round onwards, Long is supported by his wife (Carlene Watkins), his father (Wilford Brimley), his mother (Fran Ryan), his friends, his fight promoter (Warren Oates) and just about everyone except his opponents in the ring. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Quaid, Carlene Watkins, (more)
- 1983
O'Malley (Tom Selleck) is a heavy-drinking, tough biplane pilot flying the skies of China for fun and profit when Eve (Bess Armstrong) seeks him out to help her find her father before he is declared dead and she loses an inheritance to the evil Bentik (Robert Morley). O'Malley does not really want Eve around, but adventure and the challenge beckon. If only their journey together had been sparked by a little excitement, clever humor, snappy dialogue, and seductive romantic chemistry, this bland film would be a different trip altogether. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Selleck, Bess Armstrong, (more)
Mac Sledge (Robert Duvall), a once-famous country western singer, wakes up broke, alone and hung over in a tiny Texas motel run by widowed Rosa Lee (Tess Harper). Having nowhere else to go, Sledge takes a job at the motel, and through the kindness and faith of Rosa he changes his self-destructive ways. He marries Rosa (after he's baptized at her urging) and becomes a father/pal to her son (Allan Hubbard). Given an opportunity to make a comeback, Sledge considers leaving his new family behind, but after a reunion with his own unhappy daughter (Ellen Barkin), he vows never again to ruin anyone else's life. A simple story simply told, Tender Mercies is a warm, persuasive tale of redemption, with Robert Duvall giving one of his finest performances. Also appearing is Betty Buckley as Duvall's ex-wife, a Dolly Parton-type country star, and Wilford Brimley as Duvall's former manager. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Duvall, Tess Harper, (more)
