How about ABC Movie of the Week? (1 Viewer)

This was a classic. Not the later disease of the week garbage. And the series was so popular that it became a generic term where every made for TV movie began to be called a movie of the week. I'm talking about the movies that ran as a weekly series every Tuesday night (and later Wednesdays) on ABC from about 1969 to 1975. Most of them were produced by either Aaron Spelling or ABC Circle Films. So many classics which have virtually vanished from the airwaves. If they can do a box set of cheapo kids after school specials then they can certainly put together some of these.

I'd like to see some of these too. They should do double features since they usually ran about 73 minutes. I particularly liked the horror/supernatural ones. Lots of "golden age of Hollywood" stars made appearances: Bing Crosby, Olivia deHaviland, Gene Tierney, Edward G. Robinson, Stanwyck, Bette Davis, etc. Quite decent, a lot of them. Some of these do turn up on the various Starz channels.

Actually, several of those vintage teleflicks are already out on DVD in public domain releases, like Death Sentence with Cloris Leachman and Nick Nolte, The Affair with Robert Wagner & Natalie Wood, The Over-The-Hill Gang with Pat O' Brien and Walter Brennan, and its sequel The Over-The-Hill Gang Rides Again with Fred Asatire, Moon Of The Wolf with David Janssen. These are titles I can think of at the top of my head, but I'm sure that there are more out there.

I sure have a lot of fun memories of Tuesday nights at 8:30 and seeing those great opening credits, with Burt Bacharach's theme "Nikki" playing in the background.

Here's a great website about the ABC Movie Of The Week:
http://www.tvparty.com/vaultmov.html

Ok, here's a test of my memory...See if any of you remember these that come to mind...The Night Stalker, The Night Strangler, Bad Ronald, The Screaming Woman, When Michael Calls...I can't remember all of them, but I do remember these all gave me late night chills! I wish they'd release some of these. I know Stalker/Strangler is out on DVD, but how about the rest? Anyone else remember anymore ABC movie of the week titles?

Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark
The Stranger Who Looks Like Me
Killdozer
Tribes
Brian's Song
Short Walk To Daylight
Seven In Darkness
Home For The Holidays
How Awful About Alan
Crowhaven Farm
Intimate Strangers
Five Desperate Women
Daughter Of The Mind
The House That Would'nt Die
That Certain Summer
Maybe I'll Come Home In The Spring
Isn't It Shocking
When Michael Calls
The California Kid
The Execution Of Private Slovak
Someone I Touched
Dying Room Only
Trilogy Of Terror
Trapped
The Stranger Within
Haunts Of The Very Rich
Sarah T Portrait Of An Alcoholic
Death Car On The Freeway
Death Cruise
Diary Of A Teenage Hitchiker
Shirts/Skins
Cage Without A Key
A Cold's Night Death
Death Scream
You'll Like My Mother
The Secret Night Caller
Call Her Mom
The Astronaut
Carter's Army
Coffee,Tea or Me
Little Ladies Of The Night
Duel
The Screaming Woman
I grew up in the 70's and remember the Movie Of The Week fondly.Especially the great horror/suspense type films they seemed to be fond of.Would love to see all of these again.There are certainly more than a few gems here worthy to be seen again and get the recognition they deserve.

An update: Brian's Song, Duel(with additional footage), and Trilogy Of Terror have been commercialy released on DVD, while Maybe I'll Come Home In The Spring has had numerous public domain releases, under its original title and also as Maybe I'll Be Home In The Spring and Deadly Desire.

The one ABC Movie Of The Week I want to see on DVD above all others is 1973's The Girl Most Likely To..... starring Stockard Channing in a hilarious tale of revenge co written by Joan Rivers(!) and Agnes Gallin. It's never had a home video release!! This was an ABC Circle Film, and I think MGM/UA owns the video rights.

Oh, I would LOVE to see The Girl Most Likely To... on DVD. I adored that movie and watched it every time it repeated!

Does anyone remember those ABC Wide World Mystery Late Night movies? They were also done in the 1970s and the ones I remember were shot on videotape. I'd love to see some of those released!

One I haven't seen since it's original showing was "Smash-Up on Interstate 5". From what I remember, it was an attempt to bring disaster movies to the small screen.

Some decent stars in it: Buddy Ebsen, Vera Miles, Robert Conrad, Tommy Lee Jones, Harriet Nelson.

Steve

Some others that I remember are Night Of Terror with Donna Mills as a woman in a wheelchair being chased by a killer. Agnes Moorehead and Chuck Conners were in it too. The Longest Night about a girl kidnapped and buried alive in a coffin. Really disturbed me as a kid! As did The House On Greenapple Road, with Janet Leigh, where a young girl comes home from school to find blood all over the kitchen and her mother missing. The Feminist And The Fuzz, a comedy with Barbara Eden and David Hartman. One Of My Wives Is Missing, a mystery in which James Franciscus claims that Elizabeth Ashley is not his wife, but an imposter. And one whose title I can't remember, but it was about an astronaut stranded on a planet that looked alot like Earth, but it had 2 moons in the sky.

The "videotape" things you remember could be the repackaged episodes of the British series "Thriller" which is due out on DVD in R2. ABC used to run some of those in their late night slot.

SATAN'S SCHOOL FOR GIRLS is on about a million PD sets also. This one was remade in 2000 also.

The Girl Most Likely To... is very high on my want list.

Another made-for-TV movie that deserves a DVD release is The Legend of Lizzie Borden, starring Elizabeth Montgomery. As far as I know, this is the only dramatic narrative film about Borden, which alone makes it deserving of a release. The fact that it is an excellent film makes its absence all the more frustrating. I wrote to Paramount about it and they responded that they have no plans at present to release it.

I have vague memories of those shot-on-video ABC Late Night Mystery Movies. I seem to recall seeing a commercial for them, featuring a woman in a nightgown and lots of billowing curtains, and being absolutely terrified by it.

I've always had a fondness for 1970s made-for-TV movies, and would love to see as many released on DVD as possible.

Claude North: You are so right. The Legend of Lizzie Borden is an incredible film and really should be given a DVD release. Disappointing about Paramount's response. But perhaps if enough of us suggest it to them, they'll consider it. After Anchor Bay put out The Night Stalker, I wrote to them and suggested they pursue the rights to TLOLB, thinking it would be right up their alley, but I never got a response.

I wonder whatever to Sian Barbara Allen who was in many "Movie's Of The Week"?

Oh "Killdozer" would be great on DVD..go nicely with my copy of "The Car"..cool double feature..speaking of "The Car", I wrote Anchor Bay recently and asked what the chance was of a 30 year Anniversay version in 2007...since they have recently re-released the Jazz Singer for the 25th. No reply yet..seems like a no brainer it always sells well on ebay.

anyways back to topic..those movies were good, as a kid I can remember a few nightmares after watching some of those. I forget the name but I remember this one where a woman is dragged into a fireplace or something like that..the ending was very creepy, and definitely not happy.

That was Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark with Kim Darby as the woman dragged into a netherworld by creepy little creatures who inhabit her house. Remember "we want you, Sally- we want you"? A true ABC Movie of the Week classic. BTW, The Girl Most Likely To..... with Stockard Channing is now out on DVD thru MGM/UA-Sony.

Treeline Films, the company that released all of those 50 movie sets of public domain films has a collection of mostly (but not exclusively) made-for-TV movies titled "50-Movie All Stars Collection." It's the largest collection of made-for-TV movies that I've seen in a single collection, but I'm guessing that the quality is so-so (I have Treeline's 100 TV episodes collection). Here's the run-down of titles included (courtesy of Amazon.com):

Divorce His starring Elizabeth Taylor
Divorce Hers starring Richard Burton
The Brass Ring starring Dina Merrill
Catholics starring Martin Sheen
Rehearsal for Murder starring Lynn Redgrave
How Awful Aboout Alan starring Anthony Perkins
F. Scott Fitzgerald and "The Last of the Belles" starring Susan Sarandon
To All My Friends on Shore starring Bill Cosby
Anatomy of an Illness starring Ed Asner
Black Brigade starring Richard Pryor
A Christmas Without Snow starring John Houseman
Panic in Echo Park starring Dorian Harewood
Love is Forever starring Michael Landon
Betrayal starring Leslie Ann Warren
Intimate Agony starring Mark Harmon
The Disappearance of Flight 412 starring Glenn Ford
The Death of Richie starring Ben Gazzara
Shell Game starring John Davidson
Hustling starring Lee Remick
The Gun and the Pulpit starring Pamela Sue Martin
Coach of the Year starring Robert Conrad
Wake Me Up When the War is Over starring Ken Berry
Katherine starring Sissy Spacek
The Ballad of Andy Crocker starring Lee Majors
The Pride of Jesse Hallum starring Johnny Cash
The Voyage of the Yes starring Desi Arnaz Jr.
Cry of the Innocent starring Rod Taylor
All the Kind Strangers starring Stacy Keach
Children of the Night starring Mario Van Peebles
Maybe I’ll Come Home in the Spring starring Sally Field
Incident On a Dark Street starring William Shatner
A Tattered Web starring Lloyd Bridges
They Call It Murder starring Jim Hutton
Firehouse starring Richard Roundtree
James Dean starring Michael Brandon
Moon of the Wolf starring David Janssen
A Real American Hero starring Brian Dennehy
Get Christie Love starring Teresa Graves
Born to be Sold starring Linda Carter
The Hanged Man starring Steve Forrest
Evil Knievel starring George Hamilton
Stunts starring Robert Forster
Murder Once Removed starring John Forsythe
The Strangers in 7A starring Andy Griffith
Out starring Danny Glover
Good Against Evil starring Kim Catrall
Congratulations, It’s a Boy starring Bill Bixby
Snowbeast starring Bo Svenson
The New Adventures of Heidi starring Burl Ives
The Borrowers starring Eddie Albert

Also, here's a good site that does mini-reviews of many of the TV films of the Seventies:

http://www.superseventies.com/made-for-tv_movies.html

There's even a book that's been written on "The ABC Movie of the Week:"

http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/b...=0-595-35836-5

We used to watch all these things when I was a kid. Nice to see that others remember "Bad Ronald..." that was the scariest of all of them for some reason. I also remember one with Hope Lange where they think she's a witch and "brick" her. Can't remember the title. I suppose I could imdb it. I remember another one where Barbara Eden was impregnated by the devil...lots of dang strange films back in them thar dayz...

The Hope Lange film was Crowhaven Farm with Paul Burke, and the Barbara Eden movie was The Stranger Within, and it was about an alien pregnancy.

Some of these hold up fairly well. I've been tracking many of them down (after picking up the new book about the ABC Movies).