Warner Archive Collection New Releases Oct. 15: Commies, Cabbage & Pilots

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Featuring Efrem Zimbalist Jr, Helena Bonham Carter, Bill Maher, Kim Basinger, Louis Gosset Jr, Sam Jones, Joan Bennet, David Carradine & Keye Luke as Master Po.

 

ERSKINE VS. THE SEVENTIES

THE FBI: THE COMPLETE SIXTH SEASON (1970-71) At the dawn of the 70s the Culture War captured as much attention as the Cold War, and the storylines seen in this season of The FBI reflected this. While still on the watch for saboteurs and spies, Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.), Special Agent Colby (William Reynolds), and Assistant Director Ward (Philip Abbott) were just as likely to be tasked with tracking down psychotic Vietnam veterans or stopping college kids with a terrorist bent. All-star actors who battle the FBI as kidnappers, bank robbers, and extortionists or play the innocent victims whose aid Erskine and co. come to include Martin Sheen, Joan Van Ark, Billy Dee Williams, Robert Loggia, Bradford Dillman, Dabney Coleman, Suzanne Pleshette, and William Shatner as a mob drug dealer gone rogue!


BACK DOOR PILOTS

KUNG FU: THE MOVIE (1985) Bridging the gap between the classic original series and its syndicated hit sequel Kung Fu: The Legend Continues is this mid-eighties movie of the week. Ten years after we last saw Kwai Chang Caine, the man of peace gets dragged into stateside fallout from the Opium Wars. Brandon Lee, son of the Caine-that-almost-was, adds to the action with the grace and gravity that propelled him to superstar status before his tragic death. Also stars Martin Landau and Keye Luke.

SIDEKICKS (1974) The James Garner/Lou Gosset comedy western The Skin Game gets a small screen sequel in this pilot movie that pairs Lou Gossett with Larry Hagman in the Garner role. Conman Quince Drew (Hagman) travels the west with his freeborn crony Jason O’Rourke (Gossett), playing a slavery shell-game that involves repeatedly selling his pal, then escaping with the money. On the run from a vengeful posse, the pair get tangled up in the schemes of a bankrobber. Also stars Blythe Danner, Harry Morgan and Jack Elam. 

THE EYES OF CHARLES SAND (1972) This first-rate paranormal TV thriller sees Peter Haskell playing Charles Sand, a businessman who comes into the family legacy – or curse – on the death of his uncle. Now possessed of a second sight, Sand is powerless in the face of his new fate and drawn into a macabre world of murder, madness and spectral visitors. Joan Bennett and Adam West co-star.

 THE SPIRIT (1987) Will Eisner’s immortal creation, the non-super hero The Spirit, gets a small screen tryout (and Ted’s Sam Jones) in this tongue-in-cheek crime caper. This fish-out-of-water take updates the setting by four decades, and makes Denny Colt, The Spirit, the straight man that the twisted world of the 80s deperately needs. Nana Visitor (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) plays Denny’s galpal, Ellen Dolan.

CLUB MED (1986) World-renowned vacation hot spot Club Med (Ixtapa) provides the exciting and new, albeit stationary, location for love and romance for a diverse group of globe-trotting revelers. Young mom Kate (Linda Hamilton, Beauty and the Beast) travels from Boston in the wake of her marriage break-up and discovers her old flame O’Shea (Jack Scalia) is running the joint; runaway French blue-blood Simone (Traci Lind) sneaks into the resort thanks to some avuncular subterfuge courtesy of English widower Gilbert Anthony Paige (Patrick Macnee). Sinbad (Sinbad) costars as club comedian and Bill Maher plays a wisecracking mixologist that has trouble making the guests laugh.

 

PRIMETIME FARE

KILLJOY (1981) Prolific helmer John Llewellyn Moxey directs a young Kim Basinger in this neo-noir murder mystery set around the delicious soapy confines of a major modern medical center. Surgeon Max Heller (Steven Macht) and pathologist Paul Trenton vie for the attentions of Laury Medford (Basinger) and the chief administrator’s job that comes with it. Laury gets wind that Max might have a secret side practice of his own by the name of Joy Morgan but when she gets murdered, plot twists come faster than the cry of “Stat!” Also stars Nancy Marchand as Paul’s scheming mother and Robert Culp as a relentless investigator. Winner of the Mystery Writers of America’s annual Edgar Award for Best TV Feature.

FATAL DECEPTION: MRS LEE HAVEY OSWALD (1992) A young and gifted Helena Bonham Carter stars in this biopic about Lee Harvey Oswald’s forgotten victims – his wife and children. Carter plays Marina, Oswald’s Soviet spouse who sees her world turned upside down while a living as a stranger in a strange land. Frank Whaley plays Lee, an enigma even to the woman who knew him best. Was he just a troubled soul or a man with a troubling secret? Robert Picardo (Star Trek: Voyager) plays the conspiracist that leads Marina to question events and reopen some very deep wounds.

 

DO THE CABBAGE PATCH

THE CABBAGE PATCH KIDS’ FIRST CHRISTMAS/THE LITTLE TROLL PRINCE HOLIDAY DOUBLE FEATURE Fire up your Yule log and get set for an early Xmas, courtesy of Xavier Roberts and a wannabe gnome! The Cabbage Patch Kids First Christmas (1986) finds the magical brood leaving the safety of their Georgia hidden patch in search of the Christmas spirit in the big city courtesy of  Ruby Spears. Beyond the protection of their human guardian Xavier Roberts and Colonel Casey the stork, the kids find that the big city has its own brand of menace, one very similar to their own… Can they find the Christmas Spirit in time to help a very special orphan? The second feature, The Little Troll Prince (1984), finds Hanna-Barbera mixings Scandinavian folklore with traditional holiday spirit for a charming concoction about a royal monster that trades in menace for a simple life of domestic gnome-dom. An all-star voice brings the tale to life, including Vincent Price, Jonathan Winters, Don Knotts and Cloris Leachman.

NOTE: These DVDs are Manufactured on Demand (MOD); to order, fans must visit The Warner Archive Collection or WB Shop.com

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