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| Seventies & Eighties Made-For-TV Movies - D | 
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D.A.: CONSPIRACY TO KILL
1970
100 min.
Robert Conrad, Belinda Montgomery, William Conrad, Don Stroud, Steve Ihnat. Directed by Paul Krasny.
Standard crime drama that has an energetic district attorney proving a drugstore owner is a robbery master-mind
involved in murder. Unconvincing characters but fair action. Average.
D.A.: MURDER ONE
1969
100 min.
Robert Conrad, Howard Duff, Diane Baker, J.D. Cannon, Alfred Ryder, Scott Brady, Gerald S. O'Laughlin. Directed by
Boris Sagal.
Good cast struggles through Jack Webb production featuring Conrad as a stereotyped deputy D.A. showing up his superiors
in a case involving an insulin overdose. Average. Retitled MURDER ONE.
DADDY, I DON'T LIKE IT LIKE THIS
1978
100 min.
Talia Shire, Burt Young, Doug McKeon, Melanie Griffith, Erica Yohn. Directed by Adell Aldrich.
A youngster withdraws into his own world unable to cope with the bickering of his parents because of their unfulfilled
dreams. Veteran director Aldrich's daughter Adell made her own directing debut here, working with a somewhat pallid
script by star Burt Young. Average.
THE DAIN CURSE
1978
118 min.
James Coburn, Hector Elizondo, Jason Milloer, Jean Simmons, Beatrice Straight. Directed by E. W. Swackhamer.
Coburn, in his return to television, stars in this measured adaptation of the Dashiell Hammett novel. Although the
convoluted plot drags, it is palatable. Originally a six-hour TV movie, which didn't win any critical hosannas
either. Average.
DALLAS COWBOY CHEERLEADERS
1979
100 min.
Jane Seymour, Laraine Stephens, Bert Convy, Lauren Tewes, Pamela Susan Shoop, Katherine Baumann, Bucky Dent. Directed
by Bruce Bilson.
Featherweight "inside story" about the famed cheerleading squad whose suggestive attire and movements spice many Sunday
afternoon football halftime shows. Below average.
DALLAS COWBOY CHEERLEADERS II
1980
100 min.
John Davidson, Laraine Stephens, Roxanne Gregory, Duane Thomas, Julie Hill, Texie Waterman. Directed by Michael
O'Herlihy.
Witless sequel to one of the highest-rated and most jiggly made-for-TV movies. For those deeply concerned, it focuses
on the concocted conflicts the cheerleader squad faces while preparing to dance routines for Super Bowl Sunday! Below
average.
DAMIEN: THE LEPER PRIEST
1980
100 min.
Ken Howard, Mike Farrell, William Daniels, Wilfrid Hyde-White, David Ogden Stiers, Logan Ramsey, Roger Bowen, Irene
Tsu. Directed by Steven Gethers.
Disappointing drama based on the life of the Roman Catholic priest who dedicated himself to serving the Hawaiian leper
colony on Molokai a century ago. A somewhat miscast, bewigged Howard replaced David Janssen, to whose memory this film
is dedicated. Average.
DANGER IN PARADISE
1977
100 min.
Cliff Potts, John Dehner, Ina Balin, Bill Lucking, Jean-Marie Hon, Michael Mullins. Directed by Marvin Chomsky.
Dreary action drama with stock characters -- all unsympathetic. Prodigal son Potts battles wicked stepmother Balin, in
cahoots with land developers, for control of his ailing father's Hawaiian ranch estate. Below average.
DANGEROUS COMPANY
1982
100 min.
Beau Bridges, Carlos Brown, Karen Carlson, Jan Sterling, Kene Holiday, Ralph Macchio. Directed by Lamont Johnson.
Dramatization of the true story of Ray Johnson, his 27 years of violent crime and imprisonment (with various escapes
and recaptures), and his rehabilitation. Listless script nearly undermines Bridges' tour-de-force performance. Based on
Johnson's book TOO DANGEROUS TO BE AT LARGE. Average.
THE DANGEROUS DAYS OF KIOWA JONES
1966
83 min.
Robert Horton, Diane Baker, Sal Mineo, Nehemiah Persoff, Garry Merrill. Directed by Alex March.
Fair Western adventure features Horton in a good performance as a drifter agreeing to transport a criminal to jail.
Average.
DARK MIRROR
1984
100 min.
Jane Seymour, Stephen Collins, Vincent Gardenia, Hank Brandt, Ty Henderson, Jack Kruschen. Directed by Richard Lang.
Disappointing remake of the Olivia de Havilland good twin/evil twin murder thriller. Scripter Corey Blechman (BILL)
painted this one with too broad a stroke; glum cast plays second fiddle to Jan and Jane, both overly flamboyant.
Average.
DARK NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW
1981
100 min.
Charles Durning, Robert F. Lyons, Claude Earl Jones, Lane Smith, Tonya Crowe, Larry Drake, Jocelyn Brando. Directed by
Frank De Felitta.
Satisfying if predictable chiller about a young girl's innocent friendship with the town dummy, whose killing by a
group of vigilantes leads to a series of inexplicable events. Above average.
THE DARK SIDE OF INNOCENCE
1976
78 min.
Joanna Pettet, Anne Archer, John Anderson, Kim Hunter, Lawrence Casey, Claudette Nevins. Directed by Jerry Thorpe.
Contemporary soap opera focusing primarily on Pettet, an affluent housewife oppressed by her domesticity, who walks
out on her husband and two kids, and Archer, her sister embittered by a recent divorce. Average.
DARK VICTORY
1976
150 min.
Elizabeth Montgomery, Anthony Hopkins, Michele Lee, Janet MacLachlan, Michael Lerner, John Elerick, Vic Tayback.
Directed by Robert Butler.
Updated version of the Bette Davis classic has Montgomery as a TV producer who falls in love with the doctor who tells
her she has a brain tumor. Former four-hankie weeper now is curiously unaffecting, despite the professionalism of its
cast. Updating failed to help the old chestnut, nor did subsequent slicing to an hour. Average.
DAUGHTER OF THE MIND
1969
73 min.
Ray Milland, Gene Tierney, Don Murray, George Macready. Directed by Walter Grauman.
Professor Constable (Milland), convinced his daughter is trying to communicate from beyond the grave, hires
a parapsychologist; the FBI steps in due to the scientist's previous work with the government. Wide-eyed and
inconsequential. Adapted by Luther Davis from Paul Gallico's THE HAND OF MARY CONSTABLE. Average.
THE DAUGHTERS OF JOSHUA CABE
1972
73 min.
Buddy Ebsen, Karen Valentine, Lesley Warren, Sandra Dee, Jack Elam, Leif Erickson, Don Stroud. Directed by Philip
Leacock.
A new homesteading law and the refusal of daughters to return West forces trapper Cabe (Ebsen) to hire three women to
pose as his children. Typical unbelievable Western. Average; spawned two sequels.
THE DAUGHTERS OF JOSHUA CABE RETURN
1978
78 min.
Dan Dailey, Ronne Troup, Christina Hart, Brooke Adams, Dub Taylor, Carl Betz, Arthur Hunnicut, Terry Wilson, Kathleen
Freeman. Directed by David Lowell Rich.
Second sequel to the 1972 movie with Dailey taking over as the rascally rancher, who, with the three shady ladies he
has hired to pose as his daughters, is outwitted by the real dad of one of them, who holds her for a ransom Cabe cannot
pay. Average.
DAVID COPPERFIELD
1970
110 min.
Robin Phillipls, Susan Hampshire, Edith Evans, Michael Redgrave, Ralph Richardson, Laurence Oliver, Wendy Hiller, Emlyn
Williams, Richard Attenborough. Directed by Delbert Mann.
Top-drawer cast in a moody new version of the classic. The giants of the English theater give what support they can to
a rather limp script and an unanimated lead. Average.
THE DAY AFTER
1983
120 min.
Jason Robards, JoBeth Williams, Steve Guttenberg, John Cullum, John Lithgow, Bibi Besch, Lori Lethin, Amy Madigan, Jeff
East. Directed by Nicholas Meyer.
The chilling after-effects of the catastrophic nuclear bombing of Lawrence, Kansas, in a potent drama written by Edward
Hume. Probably the most controversial TV movie of its time, with unrelenting grimness, performances ranging from sturdy
to overwrought, and a rare musical score by David Raksin, with Virgil Thompson's "The River" interpolated. Above
average.
THE DAY CHRIST DIED
1980
150 min.
Chris Sarandon, Colin Blakely, Keith Michell, Hope Lange, Jonathan Pryce, Barrie Houghton. Directed by James Cellan
Jones.
A tedious retelling of the events leading to the Crucifixion. Sarandon's mannered and sullen Jesus is counterbalanced
by Michell's colorful Pilate in this script by James Lee Barrett and Edward Anhalt, "suggested" by Jim Bishop's book.
Average.
A DAY FOR THANKS ON WALTON'S MOUNTAIN
1982
100 min.
Ralph Waite, Ellen Corby, Judy Norton-Taylor, Eric Scott, Jon Walmsley, Robert Wightman, Mary Beth McDonough, David W.
Harper, Kami Colter, Joe Conley, Ronnie Clare Edwards, Richard Gilliland, Melinda Naud. Directed by Harry Harris.
It looks like the Walton clan won't be together for Thanksgiving, though the outcome is never really in doubt. Average.
THE DAY THE BUBBLE BURST
1982
150 min.
Richard Crenna, Blanche Baker, Robert Vaughn, Dana Elcar, Robert Hays, Bill Macy, Donna Pescow, Laurette Spang,
Franklin Cover, Audra Lindley, Rue McClanahan, David Ogden Stiers, Caroline McWilliams. Directed by Joseph Hardy.
The personal lives of Wall Street wizards, average Joes, and jazz babies dovetail on Black Tuesday, when the stock
market crashed. Written episodically and univolvingly by Stanley R. Greenberg (who was responsible for PUEBLO and THE
MISSLES OF OCTOBER) from the best-seller by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts. Average.
THE DAY THE EARTH MOVED
1974
78 min.
Jackie Cooper, William Windon, Beverly Garland, Lucille Benson, Kelly Thordsen. Directed by Robert Michael Lewis.
Aerial photographers Cooper and Little have less trouble predicting an imminent earthquake than in convincing some
townspeople to get out before the walls come tumbling down on them. Modest thriller with competent performances and
special effects. Average.
THE DAY THE LOVING STOPPED
1981
100 min.
Dennis Weaver, Valerie Harper, Dominique Dunne, James Canning, Ally Sheedy, Sam Groom, Stacey Glick. Directed by Daniel
Mann.
Two young girls experience the emotional turmoil of their parents' separation. Average.
THE DAY THE WOMEN GOT EVEN
1980
100 min.
Jo Ann Pflug, Georgia Engel, Tina Louise, Barbara Rhoades. Gerald Gordon, Rick Aviles, Julie Hagerty. Directed by Burt
Brinckerhoff.
Am undistinguished comedy about four suburban housewives who band together to foil an unscrupulous talent agent's plan
to blackmail them with compromising photos. Average.
THE DEAD DON'T DIE
1975
78 min.
George Hamilton, Ray Milland, Linda Cristal, Ralph Meeker, Joan Blondell, James McEachin. Directed by Curtis Harrington.
Creaky 1930s thriller by Robert Bloch has Hamilton, out to clear his executed brother's name, clashing with a crazed
zombie master who has hatched a plot to rule the world with his army of living dead. Below average.
DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES
1971
73 min.
Christopher George, Judy Carne, Patricia Barry, Richard Anderson. Directed by Walter Grauman.
Engaging chase-thriller with a sense of humor. Paid assassins mistake a travel photographer (George) for real quarry.
Carne stars as a former girlfriend who decides to help the hero. Above average.
THE DEADLIEST SEASON
1977
98 min.
Michael Moriarty, Kevin Conway, Meryl Streep, Sully Boyar, Jill Eikenberry, Walter McGinn, Andrew Duggan, Patrick
O'Neal, Mason Adams. Directed by Robert Markowitz.
Hard-hitting pro hockey drama about a defenseman (Moriarty) whose aggressiveness endears him to the fans and his bosses
until he critically injures another player and is tried for manslaughter. Thought-provoking but violent Ernest Kimoy
screenplay marred only by Moriarty's curiously mannered performance in the leading role. Above average.
DEADLOCK
1969
99 min.
Leslie Nielsen, Hari Rhodes, Dana Elcar, Max Julien, Melvin Stuart, Ruby Dee, Aldo Ray. Directed by Lamont Johnson.
Intelligent study of election-year politics and ghetto turmoil. D.A. Washburn (Rhodes) accepts the mayor's assignment
to head a special investigatory panel in the death of a newspaperman who had covered a touchy racial issue. Excellent
performances, realistic tension. Above average.
DEADLY DREAM
1971
73 min.
Lloyd Bridges, Janet Leigh, Leif Erikson, Carl Betz, Don Stroud, Richard Jaeckel, Phillip Pine. Directed by Alf Kjellin.
Poor examination of dream-vs.-reality issue. A man has a recurring and episodic dream that strange men belonging to a
"tribunal" chase after him. Adequate performances, but the script and direction are a real nightmare. Average.
DEADLY ENCOUNTER
1982
100 min.
Larry Hagman, Susan Anspach, James Gammon, Michael C Gwynne. Directed by William A Graham.
Nonstop aerial action with Hagman as an ex-combat helicopter ace who's persuaded by old flame Anspach to help her flee
from syndicate thugs. Great copter stunt work keeps this one moving briskly. Above average.
DEADLY HARVEST
1972
73 min.
Richard Boone, Patty Duke, Michael Constantine, Murray Hamilton, Jack Kruschen. Directed by Michael O'Herlihy.
Semi-idyllic existence of an ex-spy-turned-grape-grower shattered when a bomb shows up in his pickup truck.
Frustratingly uneven; some good performances, some bad; occasional good mood, often too rushed. Adapted by Dan Ullman
from Geoffrey Household's WATCHER IN THE SHADOWS.
THE DEADLY HUNT
1971
74 min.
Jim Hutton, Anjanette Comer, Tony Franciosa, Peter Lawford, Tim McIntire. Directed by John Newland.
Young businessman and wife (Hutton & Comer) on a hunting trip discover themselves targets of paid assassins, cuaght in
a forest fire. Good location and stunt work are the major distinctions of this acceptable chase-thriller, adapted by
Jerrold Ludwig and Eric Bercovici from Pat Stadley's novel. Above average.
DEADLY LESSONS
1983
100 min.
Donna Reed, Larry Wilcox, David Ackroyd, Diana Franklin, Ally Sheedy, Donald Hotton, Deena Freeman. Directed by William
Wiard.
A crazed killer stalks an exclusive girls school. Donna Reed, as headmistress, adds a misplaced touch of class to TV's
contribution to slasher movie mania. Average.
THE DEADLY TOWER
1975
100 min.
Kurt Russell, Richard Yniquez, John Forsythe, Ned Beatty, Pernell Roberts, Clifton James, Paul Carr, Alan Vint, Pepe
Serna, Maria Elena Cordero. Directed by Jerry Jameson.
Fact-based drama about Charles Whitman (Russell), who holed up in the University of Texas tower in August, 1966, and
fired at all in sight, killing 13 and wounding 33. Authentic, well-made recreation of the fateful event, with acting
honors going to Yniquez as a Mexican-American police officer and Beatty as a passerby who reluctantly agrees to help
him. Above average.
THE DEADLY TRIANGLE
1977
78 min.
Dale Robinette, Taylor Larcher, Geoffrey Lewis, Robert Lansing, Diana Muldaur, Linda Scruggs Bogart. Directed by
Charles Dubin.
An ex-Olympic downhill racer turned sheriff investigates a murder in his ski-resort town. Run-of-the-mill series
pilot followed by CRISIS IN SUN VALLEY. Average.
DEAR DETECTIVE
1979
90 min.
Brenda Vaccaro, Arlen Dean Snyder, Michael MacRae, John Dennis Johnston, Jack Ging, Stephen McNally, M. Emmet Walsh,
Constance forslund, R.G. Armstrong. Directed by Dean Hargrove.
Detective Vaccaro investigates killings of politicians, has romance with college professor Snyder. Forgettable
mystery-comedy benefits from the presence of Vaccaro. Remake of the 1977 feature; pilot for the TV series. Average.
DEATH AMONG FRIENDS
1975
78 min.
Kate Reid, John Anderson, A. Martinez, Martin Balsam, William Smith, Lynda Day George, Denver Pyle. Directed by Paul
Wendkos.
An affable lady police lieutenant tries to solve the murder of an international financier. Reid nearly succeeds in
pulling this police story up from the predictable. Average.
DEATH AT LOVE HOUSE
1976
78 min.
Robert Wagner, Kate Jackson, Sylvia Sidney, Joan Blondell, Dorothy Lamour, John Carradine, Bill Macy, Marianna Hill.
Directed by E.W. Swackhammer.
A "nostalgia thriller" about the obsession of a young writer (Wagner) for a long-dead movie queen who was supposed to
have had an affair with his father and whose spirit reaches out from her glass tomb to destroy him. Creepy and
unbelievable, but it's fun to see screen veterans and the magnificent Harold Lloyd estate where this was filmed.
Average.
DEATH BE NOT PROUD
1975
100 min.
Arthur Hill, Jane Alexander, Robby Benson, Linden Chiles, Ralph Clanton, Wendy Phillips. Directed by Donald Wrye.
Sterling version of John Gunther's 1949 account of his son's courageous battle against the brain tumor that killed him
at 17. Perceptive portrayals by Hill as the famed author and Benson as young Johnny, with a glowing one by Jane
Alexander. Memorable true-life drama. Above average.
DEATH CRUISE
1974
78 min.
Richard Long, Polly Bergen, Edward Albert, Kate Jackson, Celeste Holm, Tom Bosley, Michael Constantine, Cesare Danova.
Directed by Ralph Senesky.
Three couples win all-expenses-paid vacations, then realize on board the ship that they are marked for death. A
disaster drama that sails along familiar seas. Below average.
A DEATH IN CANAAN
1978
120 min.
Stephanie Powers, Paul Clemens, Tom Atkins, Brian Denehy, Jacqueline Brooks, James Sutorius. Directed by Tony
Richardson.
Dramatization of the sensational Connecticut murder case involving a local teenager suspected of the mutilation murder
of his mother. Richardson made his American TV directing debut here, and Clemens, the son of actress Eleanor Parker,
made his acting debut as Peter Reilly, the accused. Adapted by Thomas Thompson and Spencer Eastman from the book by
Joan Barthel (played by Powers). Above average.
DEATH MOON
1978
89 min.
France Nuyen, Robert Foxworth, Joe Penny, Barbara Trentham, Debralee Scott. Directed by Bruce Kessler.
Plodding tale of an executive (Foxworth) tangling with a witch with supernatural powers while vacationing in Hawaii.
Below average.
DEATH OF A CENTERFOLD: THE DOROTHY STRATTEN STORY
1981
100 min.
Jamie Lee Curtis, Bruce Weitz, Robert Reed, Mitchell Ryan, Tracy Reed, Bibi Besch. Directed by Gabrielle Beaumont.
Exploitative, fact-based story of a starstruck teenager from Canada who goes to Hollywood looking for the big break,
becomes Playmate of the Year, and finds tragedy. Stratten's sad story, scripted by Donald Stewart, was also utilized by
Bob Fosse in STAR 80. Average.
DEATH OF A SALESMAN
1985
135 min.
Dustin Hoffman, Kate Reid, John Malkovich, Stephen Lang, Charles Durning. Directed by Volker Schlondorff.
A stunningly powerful and moving television adaptation of Arthur Miller's play, adapted from an acclaimed Broadway
production with the same cast. Hoffman isn't what we expect as Willy Loman -- whiny rather than overbearing and finally
ineffably touching -- and his scenes with Malkovich's brilliantly nuanced Biff are a fine display of American acting
style. Above average.
A DEATH OF INNOCENCE
1971
73 min.
Shelley Winters, Arthur Kennedy, Tisha Sterling, Ann Southern, John Randolph. Directed by Paul Wendkos.
Parents from Idaho (Winters & Randolph) journey to N.Y.C. to attend their daughter's murder trial; the visit becomes a
major emotional experience for the mother. Better than average script, by Joseph Stefano (from Zelda Popkin's novel),
overblown performances, good direction. Above average.
THE DEATH OF ME YET
1971
73 min.
Doug McClure, Darren McGavin, Richard Basehart, Rosemary Forsyth, Meg Foster, Dana Elcar. Directed by John Llewellyn.
A happily married newspaper editor in a small town, actually an ex-spy for the U.S. in Russia, is suddenly questioned by
a government agent (McGavin) and sought by another agent. Good suspense, adequate performances. Above average.
THE DEATH OF OCEAN VIEW PARK
1979
100 min.
Mike Connors, Martin Landau, Diana Canova, Perry Lang, James Stephens, Caroline McWilliams, Mare Winningham. Directed
by E.W. Swackhammer.
A hurricane levels a seaside amusement park on a holiday weekend, and lots of familiar TV personalities panic with
conviction. The special effects are surprisingly mediocre, considering that an actual park was destroyed for the film.
Average.
DEATH ON THE FREEWAY
1979
100 min.
Shelley Hack, George Hamilton, Frank Gorshin, Peter Graves, Harriet Nelson, Barbara Rush, Dinah Shore, Abe Vigoda, Hal
Needham. Directed by Hal Needham.
A comely TV reporter goes after the maniac methodically terrorizing lone women drivers with his van on the L.A.
freeways. Stunt work (supervised by Needham) more than compensates for nonacting of the leading lady. Average.
DEATH PENALTY
1980
100 min.
Colleen Dewhurst, Dana Elcar, Joe Morton, David Labiosa, Dan Hedaya, Ted Ross. Directed by Waris Hussein.
Slow-moving drama abut a strong-willed psychologist's struggle to save a street-gang teenager from going to the
electric chair for a double murder. Average.
DEATH RACE
1973
73 min.
Lloyd Bridges, Doug McClure, Roy Thinnes, Eric Braiden, Dennis Rucker. Directed by Lowell Rich.
Two Americans in a wounded fighter plane vs. a German tank separated from its squad; drawn-out, boring WW2 adventure.
Below average.
DEATH RAY 2000
1981
100 min.
Robert Logan, Ann Turkel, Maggie Cooper, Clive Revill, Ji-Tu Cumbuka, Dan O'Herlihy, Penelope Windust, Paul Mantee. Directed
by Lee Katzin.
The pilot movie to the 1979-80 Robert Conrad series A MAN CALLED SLOANE has a flamboyant agent (here, Logan) and his
associates ordered to retrieve an exotic device capable of destroying the world. Average.
DEATH RIDE TO OSAKA
1983
100 min.
Jennifer Jason Leigh, Ann Jillian, Thomas Byrd, Mako, Carolyn Seymour. Directed by Jonathan Kaplan.
A Sweet Young Thing (Leigh) gets her big chance to sing and dance her way over in the mysterious Orient; little does
she know what those tired Japanese businessmen like to do for relaxation. Solid support from Jillian as a jaded sexual
chorine expected to strut her stuff in better hotel suites everywhere. (a.k.a. GIRLS OF THE WHITE ORCHID). Average.
DEATH SENTENCE
1974
78 min.
Cloris Leachman, Laurence Luckinbill, Nick Nolte, William Schallert, Alan Oppenheimer, Yvonne Wilder. Directed by E.W.
Swackhammer.
Juror Leachman discovers that the wrong man is on trial for murder and finds her own life threatened by the real one --
her husband. If you can accept a sequestered juror slipping away at night to play sleuth, you'll accept anything. Below
average.
THE DEATH SQUAD
1974
78 min.
Robert Forster, Michelle Phillips, Claude Akins, Mark Goddard, Melvyn Douglas, Ken Tobey, Dennis Patrick. Directed by
Harry Falk.
A tough ex-cop is recruited to root out rotten apples on the police roster, a self-styled assassination squad that
methodically executes criminals released on legal technicalities. If it all sounds familiar, refer to MAGNUM FORCE.
Below average.
DEATH STALK
1974
78 min.
Vince Edwards, Anjanette Comer, Robert Webber, Carol Lynley, Vic Morrow, Neville Brand, Norman Fell. Directed by Robert
Day.
Two men desperately try to save their wives, abducted by four convicts fleeing in rubber rafts down a treacherous
river. Hokey suspense tale wastes a good cast and splendid scenery, including the expected rapids-run. Below average.
DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY
1971
73 min.
Melvyn Douglas, Myrna Loy, Yvette Mimieux, Monte Markham, Maureen Reagan. Directed by Robert Butler.
Silly update of the 1934 version with Death on Earth trying to understand why people cling to existence, falling in
love with a beautiful woman. Unbearable script, sloppy direction. Below average.
THE DEERSLAYER
1978
74 min.
Steve Forrest, Ned Romero, John Anderson, Victor Mohica, Joan Prather, Charles Dierkop. Directed by Dick Friedenberg.
Trim "Classics Illustrated" treatment of the James Fenimore Cooper tale, a follow-up to a companion version of THE
LAST OF THE MOHICANS also with Forrest and Romero as Hawkeye and Chingachgook. Later expanded to 100 min. Average.
THE DEFECTION OF SIMAS KUDIRKA
1978
100 min.
Alan Arkin, Richard Jordan, Donald Pleasence, John McMartin, Shirley Knight. Directed by David Lowell Rich.
Absorbing drama, based on the Lithuanian seaman's abortive 1970 attempt at freedom by jumping ship in Portsmouth, New
Hampshire. Arkin added another intriguing portrait to his personal acting gallery, and director Rich won an Emmy Award.
Exceptionally well written by Bruce Feldman. Above average.
DELANCEY STREET: THE CRISIS WITHIN
1975
78 min.
Walter McGinn, Carmine Caridi, Michael Conrad, Lou Gossett, Mark Hamill, Barbara Babcock. Directed by James Frawley.
Fact-based drama of a San Francisco halfway house helping ex-cons and former junkies to get back on their feet. Earnest
performance, admirable story by Robert Foster. Above average.
DELIVER US FROM EVIL
1973
78 min.
George Kennedy, Jan-Michael Vincent, Bradford Dillman, Jack Weston, Jim Davis, Charles Aidman, Allen Pinson. Directed
by Boris Sagal.
Five "honest" men catch and kill a skyjacker during a camping trip and then get greedy about his $600,000 loot. So-so
variation on THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE. Average.
DELTA COUNTY, U.S.A.
1977
100 min.
Jim Antonio, Doney Oatman, Peter Donat, Joanna Miles, Jeff Conaway, Robert Hays, Lola Albright, Michele Cary. Directed
by Glenn Jordan.
Contemporary multi-story drama dissecting life in a rural Southern community, involving old-line families, traditional
values and restless youth. PEYTON PLACE with a different accent. Average.
THE DEMON MURDER CASE
1983
100 min.
Kevin Bacon, Liane Langland, Eddie Albert, Andy Griffith, Cloris Leachman, Richard Masur, Ken Kercheval, Joyce Van
Patten, Charlie Fields. Directed by Billy Hale.
Demonologisth Griffith, psychic Leachman, and priest Albert attempt to frighten the Devil out of young Fields. Also
called THE RHODE ISLAND MURDERS. Average.
DEMPSEY
1983
150 min.
Treat Williams, Sam Waterston, Sally Kellerman, Victoria Tennant, Peter Mark Richman, Jesse Vint, Robert Harper, John
McLiam, Bonnie Bartlett, James Noble. Directed by Gus Trikonis.
Earnest but plodding dramatization of the Manassa Mauler's colorful boxing career and his marriage to silent-screen
star Estelle Taylor. A singularly humorless Williams punches his way through the story which Edward DiLorenzo adapted
from Dempsey's autobiography. Average.
THE DEPUTIES
1976
100 min.
Jim Davis, Don Johnson, Charles Martin Smith, Nicholas Hammond, Barbara Parkins, Glenn Corbett, Andrew Prine, Moses
Gunn, Darleen Carr. Directed by Virgil W. Vogel.
Frontier lawman Davis and young deputies seek a psychopath with a vendetta against prostitutes. Old West melodrama best
described as THE ROOKIES on horseback. Average.
DESPERATE INTRUDER
1983
105 min.
Meg Foster, Nick Mancuso, Claude Akins, Robert Hogart, Stephen Keep, Lisa Jane Persky. Directed by Nick Havinga.
Formula thriller: a blind woman in an isolated beach house takes in a mysterious stranger and falls for him, unaware
that he's an escaped con and his sadistic buddy is on the way. Below average.
DESPERATE LIVES
1982
100 min.
Diana Scarwid, Doug McKeon, Helen Hunt, William Windom, Art Hindle, Tom Atkins, Sam Bottoms, Diane Ladd, Dr. Joyce
Brothers. Directed by Robert Lewis.
Story of a brother and sister who become involved in drugs in high school and their guidance counselor's battle againts
dope. Average.
THE DESPERATE MILES
1975
78 min.
Tony Musante, Joanna Pettet, Jeanette Nolan, Lynn Loring, John Larch. Directed by Daniel Haller.
Fact-based drama of a disabled Vietnam vet who makes a grueling 130-mile trip in a wheelchair to prove his
independence. Sunk by a maudlin, cliche-ridden script and Musante's monotonous performance. Below average.
DESPERATE MISSION
1971
100 min.
Ricardo Montalban, Slim Pickens, Earl Holliman, Ina Balin, Roosevelt Grier, Robert J. Wilke, Antony Caruso. Directed by
Earl Bellamy.
Hokey Western with Montalban as Joaquinn Murietta, a Mexican bandit-folk hero portrayed here as a frontier Robin Hood.
Adequate performances, forgettable resolution. Average.
DESPERATE VOYAGE
1980
95 min.
Christopher Plummer, Cliff Potts, Christine Belford, Lara Parker, Nicholas Pryor, Jonathan Banks. Directed by Michael
O'Herlihy.
Plummer is marvelously evil as a modern-day pirate who does his high-seas hijacking from a battered, diesel-powered
fishing boat. Alvin Sapinsley adapted his dandy thriller from Ray Kytle's novel LAST VOYAGE OF THE VALHALLA. Above
average.
DESPERATE WOMEN
1978
100 min.
Susan St. James, Dan Haggerty, Ronee Blakely, Ann Dusenberry, Max Gail. Directed by Earl Bellamy.
Three scrappy female prisoners, abandoned in the desert, team up with a laconic ex-gunslinger to outsmart a ratty gang
of desperados in this ragtag western comedy. Average.
DESTINY OF A SPY
1969
99 min.
Lorne Greene, Rachel Roberts, Anthony Quayle, James Donald, Patrick Magee, Patrick Newell. Directed by Boris Sagal.
A dissatisfied Russian spy (Greene) reluctantly comes out of retirement, accepts an assignment in London investigating
the death of a British scientist. Effective subplot involving a budding love affair with a British double agent
(Roberts). Good production. Adapted by Stanford Whitmore from John Blackburn's THE GAUNT WOMAN. Above average.
THE DEVIL AND MISS SARAH
1971
73 min.
Gene Barry, James Drury, Janice Rule, Donald Moffat, Logan Ramsey, Charles McGraw, Slim Pickens. Directed by Michael
Caffey.
Thoroughly predictable minor Western featuring a battle for possession of her sanity by a young bride: will Satanist
outlaw Barry win out over her husband? Below average.
DEVIL DOG: THE HOUND OF HELL
1978
100 min.
Richard Crenna, Yvette Mimieux, Kim Richards, Ike Eisanmann, Victor Jory, Martine Beswick. Directed by Curtis
Harrington.
Chiller about a family falling under the spell of a dog imbued with the spirit of Satan. Love that title! Average.
DIAL HOT LINE
1969
100 min.
Vince Edwards, Chelsea Brown, Kim Hunter, Lane Bradbury, June Harding. Directed by Jerry Thorpe.
Unconvincing lead performance by Edwards as the head of a psychiatric telephone service with a story centering around
three different young subjects. Average.
DIAL M FOR MURDER
1981
100 min.
Angie Dickinson, Christopher Plummer, Anthony Quayle, Michael Parks, Ron Moody, Gerry Gibson. Directed by Boris Sagal.
Playwright Frederick Knott's mystery classic adapted by John Gay, about an ingenious murder conceived as the perfect
crime given a straightforward refilming with many of Hitchcock's touches meticulously recreated. Average.
THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK
1980
100 min.
Melissa Gilbert, Maximilian Schell, Joan Plowright, Doris Roberts, James Coco, Scott Jacoby, Clive Revill. Directed by
Boris Sagal.
Straightforward but affecting remake of this still-powerful play, based on the 1959 Frances Goodrich-Albert Hackett
script. A good showcase for young Gilbert in the title role, surrounded by a fine cast. Above average.
THE DIRTY DOZEN: THE NEXT MISSION
1985
104 min.
Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Richard Jaeckel, Ken Wald, Larry Wilcox. Directed by Andrew McLaglen.
Second-rate, sanitized TV version of the original violent put powerful action flick that doesn't offer the rip-roaring
thrills of its predecessor. Marvin returns with a suicide mission against the Nazis, along with firmer Dirty Dozeners
Borgnine and Jaeckel. Average.
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF FLIGHT 412
1974
78 min.
Glenn Ford, Bradford Dillman, Guy Stockwell, David Soul, Robert F. Lyons, Kent Smith, Jack Ging, Greg Mullavey.
Directed by Jud Taylor.
After two jets from commander Ford's unit mysteriously vanish while pursuing UFO's, he rips through military red tape
to find out why the Air Force officially will not recognize the incident and stumbles onto a right-wing conspiracy.
Average.
DISASTER ON THE COASTLINER
1979
100 min.
Lloyd Bridges, E.G. Marshall, Robert Fuller, Pat Hingle, Yvette Mimieux, William Shatner, Paul L. Smith. Directed by
Richard Sarafian.
A vengeful computer genious sets two passenger trains on a collision course in this fairly intelligent suspense
thriller with lots of unplugged holes. Average.
DIVORCE HIS -- DIVORCE HERS
1973
148 min.
Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Carrie Nye, Barry Foster, Gabriele Ferzetti. Directed by Waris Hussein.
Adequate examination of a husband-wife relationship in limbo, in two sections: first, through the eyes of the husband
arriving in Rome, then through the eyes of the wife who has a new lover. Uneven script has embarrassing moments, good
performances. Average.
DIVORCE WARS: A LOVE STORY
1982
100 min.
Tom Selleck, Jane Curtin, Candy Azzara, Joan Bennett, Maggie Cooper, Charles Haid, Viveca Lindfors, Philip Sterling.
Directed by Donald Wrye.
A high-powered divorce attorney finds trouble at home beyond him in this remarkably intelligent drama about a failing
marriage. Script by Wrye and Linda Elstad. Above average.
DIXIE: CHANGING HABITS
1983
100 min.
Suzanne Pleshette, Cloris Leachman, Kenneth McMillan, John Considine, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Judith Ivey. Directed by
George Englund.
Amusing tale of a flamboyant who clashes with the Mother Superior (Leachman) of a local convent where she is sent for
rehabilitation after her establishment is shut down. Pugently written by actor Considine and directed by Leachman's
husband (both their sons also participated). Above average.
DO YOU TAKE THIS STRANGER
1970
100 min.
Gene Barry, Lloyd Bridges, Diane Baker, Joseph Cotten, Susan Oliver, Sidney Blackmer. Directed by Richard Heffron.
OK drama featuring Barry as a man who has a milion dollars within his grasp if he can persuade another to assume his
identity; a terminal disease victim is the likely candidate. Good complications, fair performances. Average.
DOCTOR FRANKEN
1980
100 min.
Robert Vaughn, Robert Perrault, David Selby, Teri Garr, Josef Summer, Cynthia Harris. Directed by Marvin J. Chomsky.
Contemporary rehash of Mary Shelly's Frankenstein saga tells, in this prospective series pilot, how a single-minded New
York surgeon rebuilds a shattered body from spare parts he acquires at work. And it's acted perfectly straight! Average.
DR. MAX
1974
78 min.
Lee J. Cobb, Janet Ward, Robert Lipton, David Sheiner, Katherine Helmond, Sorrell Brooke. Directed by James Goldstone.
Irascible old G.P. remains dedicated to his less affluent patients in a run-down Baltimore neighborhood, tending to
their personal and medical problems and those of his own family. Cobb is his usual larger-than-life self as the
curmudgeonly medic. Average.
DR. SCORPION
1978
100 min.
Nick Mancuso, Christine Lahti, Richard T. Herd, Roscoe Lee Browne, Denny Miller, Sandra Kerns. Directed by Richard Lang.
Another of the fondly remembered comic book heroes comes to TV to thwart a power-mad genius' plot to rule the world.
The popcorn brigade might go for the silliness. Below average.
DR. STRANGE
1978
100 min.
Peter Hooten, Clyde Kusatsu, Jessica Walter, John Mills, Philip Sterling. Directed by Philip DeGuere.
A Marvel Comics Group hero gets a shot at a series in this pilot dealing in the occult, with tongue firmly in cheek.
The plot has him joining forces with a world weary sorcerer (played con brio by Sir John Mills) to stop a beautiful
witch from adding to her collection of men's souls. Above average.
DOCTORS' PRIVATE LIVES
1978
100 min.
John Gavin, Donna Mills, Ed Nelson, Barbara Anderson, Bettye Ackerman, John Randolph. Directed by Steven Hilliard
Stern.
Sudsy drama about the medical profession which spanned the mercifully brief (four-show) hospital-based series in the
spring of 1979. Average.
DOG AND CAT
1977
78 min.
Lou Antonio, Kim Basinger, Matt Clark, Charles Cioffi, Richard Lynch, Dale Robinette, Dick Wesson. Directed by Bob
Kelljan.
A flip streetwise detective and a hip country girl he inherits as a partner delve into the porno business to nail a
kingpin. Offbeat characters and glib dialogue try to life a formula cop show out of the ordinary. Average; pilot for
the series.
THE DOLLMAKER
1984
140 min.
Jane Fonda, Levon Helm, Geraldine Page, Amanda Plummer, Susan Kingsley, Ann Hearn, Dan Hedaya, Christine Ebersole,
Studs Terkel. Directed by Daniel Petrie.
Fonda won an Emmy for her TV-movie debut in this poignant, powerful adaptation of Harriette Arnow's novel about an
illiterate mother from the Kentucky hills who must learn a new way of life when she moves to Detroit during WW2.
Hume Cronyn cowrote the screenplay with Susan Cooper. Above average.
DON'T GO TO SLEEP
1982
100 min.
Dennis Weaver, Valerie Harper, Ruth Gordon, Robert Webber, Claudette Nevins, Robin Ignacio, Kristin Cummings. Directed
by Richard Lang.
Ned Wynn (Keenan's son) wrote this very effective shocker about a dead daughter reaching from the grave to take her
family with her one by one. Above average.
DON'T LOOK BACK: THE STORY OF LEROY "SATCHEL" PAIGE
1981
98 min.
Louis Gossett, Jr., Beverly Todd, Cleavon Little, Ernie Barnes, Clifton Davis, Hal Williams. Directed by Richard A.
Colla.
The white-washed story of the legendary baseball star Paige, adapted from his book MAYBE I'LL PITCH FOREVER. Colla
replaced George C. Scott as director. Average.
DON'T PUSH, I'LL CHARGE WHEN I'M READY
1977
100 min.
Enzo Cerusico, Sue Lyon, Cesar Romero, Dwayne Hickman, Jerry Colonna, Edward Andrews. Directed by Nathaniel Lande.
Acceptable WW2 comedy has an Italian P.O.W. in America drafted into the Army. Filmed in 1969. Average.
DONNER PASS: THE ROAD TO SURVIVAL
1978
100 min.
Robert Fuller, Andrew Prine, Michael Callan, Diane McBain, John Anderson, John Doucette. Directed by James L. Conway.
"Classics Illustrated" version of the true-life travails of a wagon train of pioneers who were snowbound on their
westward trek and forced to return to cannibalism. Family adventure despite the grim underlying theme. Average.
THE DOOMSDAY FLIGHT
1966
Jack Lord, Edmond O'Brien, Van Johnson, Katherine Crawford, John Saxon, Michael Sarrazin. Directed by William Graham.
Occasional suspense in a Rod Serling-scripted story of a madman (O'Brien) black-mailing an airline, planting an
altitude activated bomb. As a thriller, pretty good; otherwise, characterization and dialogue cliched. Notable for a
number of copycat bomb threats it allegedly inspired.
DOUBLE INDEMNITY
1973
73 min.
Richard Crenna, Lee J. Cobb, Samantha Eggar, Kathleen Cody, Arch Johnson, John Fiedler, Robert Webber. Directed by Jack
Smight.
Remake of the 1944 version with Eggar seducing insurance investigator Crenna into a husband-murdering scheme. Follows
the original almost shot-for-shot, but the overall effect is lifeless, unconvincing. Average.
DRAGNET
1969
97 min.
Jack Webb, Harry Morgan, Vic Perrin, Virginia Gregg, Gene Evans, John Rosenboro. Directed by Jack Webb.
Friday and Gannon investigate a series of murders of pretty models with a vaguely identified male the only suspect.
Slightly better production than the series; direction and dialogue same as show. Average.
DRAW!
1984
98 min.
Kirk Douglas, James Coburn, Alexandra Bastedo, Graham Jarvis, Derek McGrath, Jason Michus, Len Birman. Directed by
Steven Hilliard Stern.
This made-for-cable Western puts two veteran stars of Western action flicks back in the saddle with surprisingly
felicitous results. A semicomic riff on the durable plot line of the trusty sherrif (Douglas) who must bring an
old-time desperado (Coburn) to justice. An entertaining sagebrush saga from which genre fans will draw a lot of
pleasure. Above average.
DREAM HOUSE
1981
100 min.
John Schneider, Marilu Henner, Michael Gross, Remak Ramsey, Miguel Fernandes. Directed by Joseph Hardy.
Agreeable tale of a good old boy from Georgia who falls for a prety Manhattan woman and decides to build his dream
house in a New York ghetto. Above average.
THE DREAM MAKERS
1975
78 min.
James Franciscus, Diane Baker, John Astin, Kenny Rogers, Mickey Jones, Jamie Donnelly, Devon Ericson, Steven Keats.
Directed by Boris Sagal.
College professor Franciscus leaves the security of the campus to become a recording company executive, only to be
enmeshed in a payola scandal. A muddled attempt at an expose of the recording industry; Rogers' acting debut. Below
average.
THE DREAM MERCHANTS
1980
200 min.
Mark Harmon, Morgan Fairchild, Morgan Brittany, Eve Arden, Kaye Ballard, Vincent Gardenia, Red Buttons, Robert Culp,
Howard Duff, Jose Ferrer, Robert Goulet, David Groh, Carolyn Jones, Fernando Lamas, Ray Milland, Jan Murray. Directed
by Vincent Sherman.
Pedestrian tale of a young moviemaker's rise in the silent era. Based on the Harold Robbins novel, this was originallly
shown in two parts. Average.
DREAMS DON'T DIE
1982
100 min.
Ike Eisenmann, Trini Alvarado, Israel Juarbe, Mark Gordon, George Coe, Judi West, James Broderick, Paul Winfield.
Directed by Roger Young.
Teenagers in the urban drug-saturated war zone, with unrealistically pat solutions. Below average.
DRIVE HARD, DRIVE FAST
1969
73 min.
Brian Kelly, Joan Collins, Henry Silva, Joseph Campanella, Karen Huston, Todd Martin. Directed by Douglas Heyes.
Odd murder drama with a professional racing backdrop. A scheming wife (Collins) involves an innocent man in her
husband's plan. Typical complications and doublecrosses in a hohum script which the cast can't save. Below average.
DROP-OUT FATHER
1982
100 min.
Don Taylor, Dick Van Dyke, Mariette Hartley, George Coe, William Daniels, Monte Markham, Arthur Rosenburg, Jacques
Aubuchon. Directed by Don Taylor.
Perceptive contemprary comedy about the effect on himself and his family when successful advertising executive Van Dyke
decides to quit the rat race. Written and coproduced by Bob Shanks. Above average.
DUMMY
1979
100 min.
Paul Sorvino, LeVar Burton, Brian Dennehy, Rose Gregorio, Gregg Henry. Directed by Frank Perry.
Real-life account of the relationship between a deaf and dumb black youth accused of murder and the deaf court-
appointed attorney who defended him in the precedent-setting Chicago trial. Tour-de-force roles for Sorvino,
exceptionally good as the lawyer, and Burton. Ernest Tidyman's script another plus. Above average.
DYING ROOM ONLY
1973
74 min.
Cloris Leachman, Ross Martin, Ned Beatty, Louise Latham, Dana Elcar, Dabney Coleman. Directed by Phillip Leacock.
A couple traveling back to L.A. via the desert by car stop off at a roadside diner; the husband mysteriously
disappears. Excellent mood thanks to Richard Matheson's surprise-ending script, thoughtful direction, and small
ensemble cast. Above average.
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Made-For-TV-Movies - C
