Chad Allen Movies

In this action movie, a wanderer goes looking for a missing woman's brother and instead gets entangled in a war between two gangs of smugglers along the Arizona-Mexico border. The film is also titled "Dalton." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The 1985 TV movie The Bad Seed is the second film version of Maxwell Anderson's 1956 Broadway play. Carrie Wells plays Rachel Penmark, a 9-year-old girl who is perfection itself--unless she's crossed or challenged. Several disturbing recent incidents have led Rachel's mother Christine (Blair Brown) to suspect that her child is a latent murderess. Upon discovering that she herself is the daughter of a convicted killer, Christine becomes convinced that sweet little Rhoda is a "bad seed"--an inherent killer who feels no remorse because she doesn't know any better. David Carradine co-stars as a moronic handyman who comes too close to Rhoda's secret to live, while Lynn Redgrave essays the Evelyn Varden role of Monica Breedlove, a garrulous landlady. Originally aired February 7, 1985, this version of The Bad Seed avoids the many cop-outs in the 1956 theatrical film version by retaining Maxwell Anderson's ironic final scene. Film historians will note that producers changed the title character's name from "Rhoda" to "Rachel" for this version, perhaps to lend the story a more contemporary feel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The endurance of an upper-middle-class family is put to the test in this well-made television drama about drug abuse. Based on the book of the same name by Beth Polson, Viveka Davis (Shoot The Moon) stars as Susan Bowers, the teenage daughter of a successful surgeon (George Segal) and homemaker (Stockard Channing). When innocent-looking Susan's secret life as a druggie comes to light, her parents try anything and everything to get her clean. Unable to make any headway, they turn to a strict drug-treatment center, where streetwise counselors deal with tough kids on their own terms. The Bowers soon learn that their daughter's rehabilitation will not only be a long haul but also an exercise in family dynamic exploration. Young Davis is compelling as the rebellious daughter, and Channing and Segal are wholly believable as the bewildered parents. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide

The hokey TerrorVision is more an unintentional model of how horror films were made in the early '50s than a trend-setting story about the TV monster who ate them all. When Stanley (Gerrit Graham) goes outside to adjust his family's satellite dish, a living, organic alien monster-cum-garbage-disposal is zapped into the TV sets in Stanley's household. The monster pops out of the sets once in awhile to grab a quick snack of anyone within reach. Hopefully, the young boy in the family -- the only one close to normal in the house -- might have a solution to their problem. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Familiar faces from television sitcoms abound in this kids-at-camp TV-movie. John Ratzenberger stars as Colonel Marv Schector, a former accountant who fulfills his life-long dream to run a summer camp. Typical teen shenanigans soon get underway, in the vein of 1985's Poison Ivy. G. Gordon Liddy makes an unusual comedic appearance in a subplot about the mistaken identity of a camp inspector. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide

Helen Hunt stars as Pamela Smart, the schoolteacher who seduced one of her students into murdering her husband, in this torn-from-the-headlines made-for-TV effort. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Enjoying astonishing (and well-deserved) popularity at a time in TV history when dramatic programs trafficking in "family values" were few and far between, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman was also one of the last of that hardy breed known as the "TV Western." Set in Colorado Springs, CO, in the years just following the Civil War, the weekly, 60-minute series starred Jane Seymour as Michaela "Mike" Quinn, one of a handful of women doctors west of the Mississippi (or anywhere else!) during the second half of the 19th century. After the death of her father and medical partner, Dr. Mike left her hometown of Boston to set up practice in the hardscrabble village of Colorado Springs. Not surprisingly, she encountered much hostility and mistrust from the townsfolk, but gradually won them over not only because of her medical brilliance, but because she was almost unerringly "in the right" at all times. When one of her first patients, Charlotte Cooper (Diane Ladd), died of a snakebite, Dr. Mike inherited the woman's three children, who at the outset of the series ranged in age from 10 to 17. Oldest son Matthew Cooper (Chad Allen) grew up to become the town's sheriff, and later went off to study law; daughter Colleen (played by Erika Flores from 1993 to 1995, thereafter by Jessica Bowman) eventually followed Dr. Mike's footsteps by pursuing a medical career, and ultimately married her foster mother's young assistant, Dr. Andrew Cook (Brandon Douglas); and youngest Chandler boy, Brian (Shawn Toovey), got into many a scrape -- some of them near-fatal -- in the course of the series.

Also in the cast was Joe Lando as taciturn mountain man Byron Sully, who spent most of his time communing with nature (including his pet wolf) and commiserating with the local Cheyenne Indian tribe. In the early episodes, Sully was merely the man who owned the house rented by Dr. Mike and her "instant" family; later on, he and Mike fell in love, got married, and had a daughter named Katie. The huge, rotating cast of recurring characters included curmudgeonly (and, initially, downright nasty) storekeeper Loren Bray (Guy Boyd in the pilot episode, Orson Bean thereafter); Bray's sister-in-law, Dorothy Jennings (Barbara Babcock), editor of the town newspaper; Grace (Jonelle Allen), a black woman who owned the town diner; telegraph operator Horace Bing (Frank Collison) and his bride, Myra (Helene Udy), a former saloon girl; Myra's ex-boss Hank (William Shockley), owner of the local "sporting house"; Rev. Timothy Johnson (Geoffrey Lower), who functioned as the town schoolteacher until Teresa Morales (played first by Michelle Bonilla, then by Alex Meneses) took over; Loren Bray's conniving buddy, barber Jake Slicker (Jim Knobeloch); Sully's old pal, wealthy ex-prospector Daniel Simon (John Schneider); and the much-maligned Cheyenne medicine man Cloud Dancing (Larry Sellers), whose persecution at the hands of the U.S. military aroused the fire-breathing activism of pioneering feminist and humanitarian Dr. Mike.

Our heroine also fought tirelessly for the rights of blacks, Hispanics, battered wives and practically everyone else who suffered under the weight of bigotry and misunderstanding in the Old West. Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman was far and away CBS' most successful and beloved Saturday-night series throughout its five seasons on the air, and has remained an audience favorite on cable and in syndication. ~ All Movie Guide

Season two of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman introduces a new arrival in the town of Colorado Springs: Dorothy Jennings (Barbara Babcock), sister-in-law of crotchety storekeeper Loren Bray (Orson Bean). Given shelter by Dr. Michaela "Mike" Quinn (Jane Seymour) while escaping the wrath of her abusive husband, Dorothy must subsequently stand trial for her spouse's murder. In other dramatic developments, the growing affection between Dr. Mike and mystical mountain man Sully (Joe Lando) is threatened by, of all things, the ghost of Sully's late wife; Loren Bray's duplicitous buddy, town barber Jake Slicker (Jim Knobeloch), nearly incites a bloody war when he accidentally kills one of the local Cheyenne Indians; a typhus epidemic reveals a hitherto hidden government plan to commit full-scale genocide; the townsfolk react prejudicially to the arrival of a troop of black "Buffalo Soldiers"; a bitter strike at the local mine pits friend against friend; the Ku Klux Klan tries to persuade Dr. Mike's foster son Matthew (Chad Allen) to join their ranks; and Dorothy's disturbed war-veteran son puts the town on edge. On a happier note, in the two-part episode "Where the Heart Is," Dr. Mike returns to her native Boston to be with her ailing mother, a brief sojourn that culminates in a declaration of love -- and a marriage proposal -- from the heartsick Sully. This season concludes with another two-parter, wherein Dr. Mike is forced to choose between Sully and her former fiancé, David Lewis (Maxwell Caulfield) -- whom she assumed had been killed in the Civil War. ~ All Movie Guide

Kevin Rogers guest stars as David Watkins, a famed Civil War photographer. As the townsfok argue over who will be include and who will be left out of Watkins' proposed panoramic portrait of Colorado Springs, Dr. Mike (Jane Seymour) comes to realize that the photographer is suffering from diabetes -- and refuses to have it treated, even though he is rapidly losing his eyesight. Meanwhile, the dying Mrs. Bing (Rosemary Murphy) staunchly opposes the marriage between her son Horace (Frank Collinson) and Myra (Helene Udy). This was the final episode of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman's first season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide