Walter Brooke Movies

Ex-crime reporter turned novelist Raymond St. Ives (Charles Bronson) is drawn back into the world of his former profession by wealthy Abner Procane (John Houseman). St. Ives is hired to locate a stolen set of ledgers that, if made public, could trigger an all-out mob war. Amazingly, St. Ives fails to recognize who his real friends and enemies are in the course of his investigation, and it takes all his mental and physical resources to keep from being exterminated. One of the characters who isn't all that she seems is sexy Janet Whistler (Jacqueline Bisset). While the "main" cast is serviceable, the lineup of future stars in minor roles (Daniel J. Travanti, Jeff Goldblum, Robert Englund, Michael Lerner) is fascinating. Based on The Procane Chronicle, a novel by Oliver Bleeck. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Big Bus is set aboard a nonstop, nuclear-powered luxury bus commandeered by Joseph Bologna. Naturally, Bologna is a tortured hero with a deep dark secret (he keeps insisting he didn't eat all those passengers on his last disastrous drive). Stockard Channing and Harold Gould play the designers of the big bus, and of course they have a few skeletons in their closet. In fact, there isn't a passenger on the all-star manifest that isn't hiding something. The supporting cast features contributions by René Auberjonois (parodying his M*A*S*H role), Ned Beatty, José Ferrer, Ruth Gordon (doing a devastating send-up of Airport's Helen Hayes), Sally Kellerman, Richard Mulligan, and many others; Murphy Dunne contributes a memorable bit as a smarmy cocktail pianist. Unfortunately, The Big Bus was dumped onto the summer 1976 release schedule without fanfare by Paramount, and it sank without a trace. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When the editor shuts down the newspaper where he works, John-Boy is given the opportunity to start up a periodical of his own. But before he can issue the first edition of the "Blue Ridge Chronicle", he must purchase the old paper's printing press--and thus he takes a full-time job to raise the money. His new responsibility cut into his study time at college, and it seems as though John-Boy's journalism teacher Professor Parks (Paul Jenkins) has no intention of cutting the boy any slack. . .but Parks may not be quite as cold-hearted as he seems. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Richard Basehart heads an impressive guest cast as Bishop Tim Farrow, who has fallen victim to a would-be murderer. When Stone (Karl Malden) and Keller (Michael Douglas) question the Bishop, he steadfastly refuses to identify his assailant. Is the guilty party a fanatical atheist who has threatened Bishop Farrow in the past--or is the victim protecting someone close to him? Much of this episode was filmed on location at Mission Dolores, previously seen in the Alfred Hitchcock classic Vertigo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A woman struggles to rebuild her life after a devastating accident in this drama based on the true story of Jill Kinmont. Kinmont (played by Marilyn Hassett) was a top ranked amateur downhill skier who seemed assured of a place on the 1956 Olympic team. But while racing in Utah's Snow Cup competition, Kinmont suffered a serious fall from a mountain that left her paralyzed from the shoulders down. Kinmont became severely depressed; her career as an athlete was over, and her fiancée, who couldn't deal with the emotional toll of her accident, left her. But when she met pilot Dick Buek (Beau Bridges), she found both love and a new inspiration to make a career for herself as a teacher. But Kinmont discovered she still had more mountains to climb when Buek died in the crash of a small plane. Marilyn Hassett won a Golden Globe award for her performance as Jill Kinmont, and she reprised the role in a sequel two years later. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This episode marks the first appearance of Gretchen Corbett as attorney Beth Davenport, erstwhile girlfriend of private eye Jim Rockford (James Garner). Characteristically, Beth has called upon Jim for a teeny-tiny favor: namely, to prove the innocence of her impoverished client Ann Calhoun (Patricia Smith), who is accused of killing her husband. Dutifully, Rockford heads to Parker Arizona, the hometown of Ann's late husband Kevin, in hopes of gathering new evidence. Before long both Jim and Beth find their lives threatened by a certain party who is harboring a sinister secret--in this case, the fact that Kevin Calhoun wasn't Kevin Calhoun at all. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this fact-based drama, the quiet life of an average family is torn apart when a SWAT team bursts in and arrests them for drug dealing. Though they plead their case in court, no one believes them and they undergo a terrible ordeal as they try to prove their innocence. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The made-for-TV Stowaway to the Moon may be regarded by some as an excellent argument for birth control. Michael Link plays E.J., an 11-year-old boy fascinated by manned space travel. While visiting Cape Canaveral, E. J. accidentally finds himself on board a space missile. By and by, he is accidentally launched to the moon. But don't despair--this is a kiddie movie. Also in the cast is Lloyd Bridges, Jeremy Slate, and, in the role of a TV commentator, real-life former astronaut Pete Conrad. Curiously, the full-color Stowaway to the Moon was often telecast in black and white when it went into local syndication. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Stone (Karl Malden) and Keller (Michael Douglas) are obliged to track down a perpetrator who under normal circumstances might have been the heroine of the story. Refusing to believe that her baby was stillborn, young mother Barbara Talmadge (Kity Winn) goes on a desperate search for her child, who has been spirited away by a crooked adoption agency. By the time the hapless Barbara catches up with the unwitting couple who have adopted her baby, she has already committed murder--and is willing to kill again if necessary! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

If you think that Oliver Stone invented the "political paranoia" movie, take a glance at Executive Action sometime. Based on Mark Lane's Rush to Judgment, the conspiracy theorist's bible, Executive Action perpetuates the popular urban legend that John F. Kennedy was assassinated at the behest of a right-wing cartel with military and industrial interests. The film further hypothesizes that Lee Harvey Oswald not only didn't pull the trigger, but was also set up as a disposable dupe (this notion wasn't even new in 1973). Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan and Will Geer play the sinister conspirators. In the film's coda, still photos of 18 witnesses to the assassination are shown, while the accompanying text informs us that all of these people had died between 1963 and 1973. We are further told that the odds against this coincidence are one in a trillion. When Oliver Stone's thematically similar JFK came out in 1991, viewers with long memories were quick to notice the eerie similarities between the Stone film and Executive Action -- right down to choice of camera angles. Hmmm....a conspiracy, perhaps? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The "Andromeda Strain" is a deadly extraterrestrial virus. It is brought to Earth when a research satellite crashes near a tiny Arizona town. Everyone in the community dies within days, except for a baby and an "insulated" drunkard. Recruited from labs all over North America, doctors Charles Dutton (David Wayne), Jeremy Stone (Arthur Hill), Ruth Leavitt (Kate Reid), and Mark Hall (James Olson) don radiation suits and race against time to isolate and destroy the virus. The film is based on a novel by Michael Crichton. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Frequent F.B.I "guest villain" Louis Jourdan returns, this time in the role of enemy spy Henry Dulac. Determined to smash Dulac's espionage ring, Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) goes undercover as another Red agent. Erskine subsquently finds himself caught in the crossfire when two warring spy factions clash over some top-secret tapes. Also in the cast is David Birney, who'd achieve TV stardom one year later in the sitcom Bridget Loves Bernie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide