The Death Squad (film)

Last updated
The Death Squad
Genre Crime
Drama
Written byJames D. Buchanan
Ronald Austin
Directed by Harry Falk
Starring Robert Forster
Michelle Phillips
Claude Akins
Mark Goddard
Melvyn Douglas
Music by Dave Grusin
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
Producers Leonard Goldberg
Aaron Spelling
CinematographyTim Southcott
EditorStefan Arnsten
Running time74 minutes
Production companies Spelling-Goldberg Productions
20th Century Fox Television
Release
Original network ABC
Original releaseJanuary 8, 1974 (1974-01-08)

The Death Squad is a 1974 American made-for-television crime drama film directed by Harry Falk and starring Robert Forster, Michelle Phillips, Claude Akins, Mark Goddard and Melvyn Douglas. [1]

Contents

Plot

A cop goes after a group of police who have turned vigilante.

Cast

Reception

The Los Angeles Times says the subject matter was explored "sincerely but not well" and was hampered by "a vastly overpopulated and needlessly complicated plot." However it said it had a "sturdy, driving thriller structure and excellent telling dialogue" and "Harry Falk has directed with plenty of punch" and Forster gives "perhaps his best performance to date." [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park and Mortuary</span> Cemetery in Los Angeles, California, US

Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park & Mortuary is a cemetery and mortuary located in the Westwood Village area of Los Angeles. It is located at 1218 Glendon Avenue in Westwood, with an entrance from Glendon Avenue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michelle Phillips</span> American singer and actress

Michelle Gilliam Phillips is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as a vocalist in the musical quartet The Mamas & the Papas in the mid-1960s. Her voice was described by Time magazine as the "purest soprano in pop music". She later established a successful career as an actress in film and television beginning in the 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Forster</span> American actor (1941–2019)

Robert Wallace Foster Jr., known professionally as Robert Forster, was an American actor, known for his roles as John Cassellis in Medium Cool (1969), Captain Dan Holland in The Black Hole (1979), Abdul Rafai in The Delta Force (1986), and Max Cherry in Jackie Brown (1997), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vic Morrow</span> American actor (1929–1982)

Victor Morrow was an American actor. He came to prominence as one of the leads of the ABC drama series Combat! (1962–1967), which earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Series. Active on screen for over three decades, his film roles include Blackboard Jungle (1955), King Creole (1958), God's Little Acre (1958), Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (1974), and The Bad News Bears (1976). Morrow continued acting up to his death during filming of Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) when he and two child actors were killed in a helicopter crash during filming.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Culp</span> American actor (1930–2010)

Robert Martin Culp was an American actor and screenwriter widely known for his work in television. Culp earned an international reputation for his role as Kelly Robinson on I Spy (1965–1968), the espionage television series in which co-star Bill Cosby and he played secret agents. Before this, he starred in the CBS/Four Star Western series Trackdown as Texas Ranger Hoby Gilman in 71 episodes from 1957 to 1959. The 1980s brought him back to television as FBI Agent Bill Maxwell on The Greatest American Hero. Later, he had a recurring role as Warren Whelan on Everybody Loves Raymond, and was a voice actor for various computer games, including Half-Life 2. Culp gave hundreds of performances in a career spanning more than 50 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Avery</span> American actress

Margaret Avery is an American actress and singer. She began her career appearing on stage and later had starring roles in films including Cool Breeze (1972), Which Way Is Up? (1977), Scott Joplin (1977), and The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh (1979).

Peter Hyams is an American film director, screenwriter and cinematographer known for directing 1977 conspiracy thriller film Capricorn One, the 1981 science fiction-thriller Outland, the 1984 science fiction film 2010: The Year We Make Contact, the 1986 action/comedy Running Scared, the comic book adaptation Timecop, the action film Sudden Death, and the horror films The Relic and End of Days.

Connie Kreski was born Constance Joanne Kornacki. She was an American model and actress. In January 1968, Kreski posed in the centerfold as Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month. She subsequently won Playmate of the Year honors for 1969. She was also Miss January 1969 in the Playboy calendar for that year and featured again in the 1970 calendar. Kreski briefly worked as a psychiatric nurse at a hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan before being discovered at a University of Michigan football game by a Playboy scout.

<i>The Last Movie</i> 1971 film by Dennis Hopper

The Last Movie is a 1971 metafictional drama film directed and edited by Dennis Hopper, who also stars as a horse wrangler named after the state of Kansas. It is written by Stewart Stern, based on a story by Hopper and Stern, and stars an extensive supporting cast including Stella Garcia, Don Gordon, Peter Fonda, Julie Adams, Sylvia Miles, Samuel Fuller, Dean Stockwell, Russ Tamblyn, Tomas Milian, Toni Basil, Severn Darden, Henry Jaglom, Rod Cameron, and Kris Kristofferson & Michelle Phillips in their film debuts. The plot follows a disenfranchised stuntman (Hopper), who begins a filmmaking-centric cargo cult among Peruvian natives after going into self-imposed exile.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Collins (actor)</span> American film, stage and television actor

Jack Richard Collins was an American film, stage and television actor. He played Mike Brady's boss, Mr. Phillips, in the television series The Brady Bunch, and Peter Christopher's boss, baby-food manufacturer Max Brahms, in the short-lived sitcom television series Occasional Wife. For filmgoers, Collins is easily best remembered for having played San Francisco Mayor Robert Ramsay in Irwin Allen's all-star-cast, box-office-smash, disaster-movie epic The Towering Inferno (1974).

<i>The Shining Hour</i> 1938 film by Frank Borzage

The Shining Hour is a 1938 American romantic drama film directed by Frank Borzage, based on the 1934 play The Shining Hour by Keith Winter, and starring Joan Crawford and Margaret Sullavan. The supporting cast of the MGM film features Robert Young, Melvyn Douglas, Fay Bainter and Hattie McDaniel.

<i>Growing Up Brady</i>

Growing Up Brady: I Was a Teenage Greg is a 1992 autobiography written by actor Barry Williams with Chris Kreski and a foreword by Robert Reed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">El Rancho Hotel & Motel</span> United States historic place

El Rancho Hotel, Gallup, New Mexico, is a historic hotel built by R.E. “Griff” Griffith, the brother of film director D.W. Griffith. The pair encouraged early film production in the surrounding area. It is located on old U.S. Route 66 and became the temporary home for many Hollywood movie stars.The rambling, three-story hotel building has a large portico with a central balcony reminiscent of the Southern Plantation style. The National Park Service describes it as having a “rusticated fantasy appearance.” Materials include brick, random ashlar stone, and roughewn wood with a wood shake roof and brick and stone chimneys. The lobby features a spectacular walk-in fireplace made of brick and random ashlar stone surrounded by twin stairways made of split logs that lead to the second floor guest rooms. The slogan “Charm of Yesterday, Convenience of Tomorrow” is rendered in neon above the main entrance.

<i>The Last of the Mohicans</i> (1936 film) 1936 film

The Last of the Mohicans is a 1936 American historical western adventure film directed by George B. Seitz and starring Randolph Scott, Binnie Barnes and Henry Wilcoxon. The screenplay by Philip Dunne was based on the 1826 novel of the same name by James Fenimore Cooper. It was produced by Edward Small and distributed by United Artists.

Growing Up Brady is a 2000 American made-for-television biographical film based on the 1992 autobiography Growing Up Brady: I Was a Teenage Greg written by actor Barry Williams with Chris Kreski. Directed by Richard A. Colla, it starred Williams, Adam Brody, Kaley Cuoco, Daniel Hugh Kelly and Michael Tucker, and was originally broadcast May 21, 2000 on NBC.

<i>Extreme Justice</i> (film) 1993 American film by Mark L. Lester

Extreme Justice is a 1993 American crime action thriller film directed by Mark L. Lester and starring Lou Diamond Phillips, Scott Glenn, and Chelsea Field. Originally intended to be released theatrically in April 1993, Trimark Pictures cancelled its release due to the 1992 Los Angeles riots and shifted the film to air on HBO on June 26, 1993; the film was first theatrically released in the Philippines on May 5, 1993.

<i>Love Before Breakfast</i> 1936 film

Love Before Breakfast is a 1936 American romantic comedy film starring Carole Lombard, Preston Foster, and Cesar Romero, based on Faith Baldwin's short story Spinster Dinner, published in International-Cosmopolitan in July 1934. The film was directed by Walter Lang from a screenplay by Herbert Fields assisted by numerous contract writers, including Preston Sturges.

Code 3 is an American crime drama that aired in syndication in 1956 and 1957. The stories were all based on actual files of the Los Angeles sheriff's office.

<i>Need for Speed</i> (film) 2014 film directed by Scott Waugh

Need for Speed is a 2014 action crime film directed and co-edited by Scott Waugh and written by George and John Gatins. It is the film adaptation of the racing video game franchise of the same name by Electronic Arts. The film stars Aaron Paul, Dominic Cooper, Scott Mescudi in his feature film debut, Imogen Poots, Ramón Rodríguez, and Michael Keaton. It tells the story of street racer Tobey Marshall, who sets off to race cross-country as a way of avenging his friend's death at the hands of a rival racer, Dino Brewster.

Coffee, Tea or Me? is a 1973 American TV film based on the book of the same name. It was directed by Norman Panama.

References

  1. "The Death Squad (1974)". Moviefone . Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  2. Thomas, K. (Jan 8, 1974). "TV MOVIE REVIEWS". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest   157455276.