Most Wanted Telefilms (1 Viewer)

I don't know if there has been a thread like this in the past or if this belongs in the TV Shows forum, but it seems to make more sense here. In several other recent threads people have made cases for made-for-tv films on DVD. Here are several I would very much like to see on the DVD format. Quite a few feature either Jennifer Jason Leigh, Trini Alvarado, Glynnis O'Connor--all are very fine actresses. Why didn't Ms. Alvarado and Ms. O'Connor find more fame?:

Why Me?
Skag
The Killing of Randy Webster
The Boy Who Drank Too Much
Paper Dolls
The Best Little Girl in the World
I Think I'm Having a Baby
Angel Dusted
Angel City
Dreams Don't Die
A Movie Star's Daughter
Starstruck
Private Contentment
Bad Ronald
That Certain Summer
The Execution of Private Slovik
The First Time
Freedom
Sessions
Contract on Cherry Street
Something for Joey
Bernice Bobs Her Hair
Verna U.S.O. Girl
Summer Solstice
Someone's Watching Me
Elvis
Senior Year
All Together Now
Little Mo
Terrible Joe Moran
The Death of Richie
Forever
James at 15

here are some more

FALLEN ANGEL
AMBER WAVES
JERICHO MILE
ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK
EXECUTIONER'S SONG (both R rated theatrical cut and longer Tv two parter cut)
CHIEFS
ERIC
SOMETHING EVIL
KILLDOZER
DEADMEN'S CURVE
WILL THERE REALLY BE A MORNING
WHEN EVERYDAY WAS THE 4TH OF JULY


glad someone else remember LITTLE MO, you must be fan of Glynnis O'Connor like I am!

Didn't you read the beginning of my post, Walter? I am quite a fan of Glynnis.
Let's get Ode to Billy Joe out while we're at it. Her work in that film and Jeremy is really impressive for such a young actress. She is also excellent in the made-for-tv Why Me? which I put on my list above.

I would love HBO's Long Gone with William Peterson and Virginia Madsen on DVD

Jon,

didn't read the beginning of your post! Trini is great too, glad I still have my old vhs copy of Trini's STARSTRUCK and DREAMS DONT DIE. Hopefully MGM/Sony will release Trini's RICH KIDS, a real neat little movie!

And yes, Glynnis was oh so enchanting in ODE TO BILLIE JOE, but let's hope Sony will put out her BABY BLUE MARINE and CALIFORNIA DREAMING eventually!!

A few that I would love to have...

The Haunted Starring Sally Kirkland and Jeffrey DeMunn. That movie scares the pants off of me! :frowning:

Don't be Afraid of the Dark

Unforgivable Starring John Ritter as a violent wife beater who makes a change for the better. IMO his greatest performance.

I can't remember the name of this one, but it stars Melissa Joan Hart as a girl who cons this unsuspecting boy into shooting her parents.

Deadly Relations with Robert Urich and a young Gwyneth Paltrow.

A Killing in Beverly Hills: The story of Eric and Lyle Menendez

America's baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure

Ah hell, just release Lifetime's entire catalog of titles and we'll call it a day. Gotta love those Lifetime movies.

The disney stuff like:
Mister the Lovesick Moose
The Hound who thought he was a Racoon.

I've been waiting ages to see MURDER BY NATURAL CAUSES on DVD -- it's an amazing, twisty thriller starring Hal Holbrook, Katharine Ross and Barry Bostwick.

It's been on VHS -- I worked at a video rental store in college, and I recommended it to customers all the time. Everyone raved when they brought it back.

The BILL movies with Mickey Rooney.

"Twisted Desire".

The Morning After. Great performance by Dick Van Dyke. It featured the Beatles' recording of Yesterday at the end so the dreaded music rights issue may come up. A substitute recording of the song might be possible as was done for Lathe of Heaven (a non-Beatles recording of We Can Work it Out was able to be approved to replace the origina used on first broadcast).

Sticks and Bones. One of the most disturbing things I've ever seen (I was 13 when it aired).

Yes, indeed to the two Sony titles. Was Baby Blue Marine ever released on home video? California Dreaming was released by Vestron, but the famous title song was rescored--atleast in my copy.

Here's Some More

The Cat Creature
Disaster On the Coastliner
Horror at 37,000 Ft
Curse of the Black Widow
Norliss Tapes
Devil's Triangle
Perry Mason movies
Wild Wild West Revisited and More Wild Wild West

My annual votes for The Legend of Lizzie Borden and A Case of Rape, both starring Elizabeth Montgomery. Now that Sybil is coming out, I can scratch that off my list (yeah!).

I'll probably keep adding to this list. The 1970s had a lot of great TV Movies. (BTW, "etc. means there are too many famous people to mention).

A Short Walk To Daylight (James Brolin)
A Cold Night's Death (Robert Culp & Eli Wallach)
The Blue Night (William Holden)
The Day the Earth Moved (Jackie Cooper, Stella Stevens, Cleavlon Little, etc.)
Welcome Home, Johnny Bristol (Martin Landau, Martin Sheen, etc.)
The President's Plane Is Missing (Buddy Ebsen & Rip Torn)
Isn't It Shocking (Alan Alda, Louise Lasser, Ruth Gordon, etc.)
Salvage 1 (Andy Griffith)
The Girl in the Empty Grave (Andy Griffith & James Cromwell)
Deadly Game (Andy Griffith)
Winter Kill (Andy Griffith)
Savages (Andy Griffith & Sam Bottoms)
Adams of Eagle Lake (Andy Griffith & Nick Nolte)
The Law (Judd Hirsch, Gary Busey, Bonnie Hunt, etc.)
One of My Wives Is Missing (Jack Klugman, James Fransicus, Elizabeth Ashley, etc.)
Killdozer (Clint Walker & Robert Urich)
Circle of Fear (Karen Black)
Where Have All the People Gone? (Peter Graves & Kathleen Quinlan)
Last of the Good Guys (Robert Culp & Larry Hagman)
Thursday's Game (Bob Newhart, Gene Wilder, etc.)
The Girl Most Likely To (Stockard Channing, Ed Asner, etc.)
Bad Ronald (Scott Jacoby, Kim Hunter, etc.)

and all the following by Gene Roddenberry
Genesis II
Spectre
Planet Earth
The Questor Tapes

Sticks And Bones- I remember that one! Didn't it end with someone literally thrown out with the trash? And the sons in the family were named "David" and "Ricky" as a commentary on the Nelsons.

Add my vote for The Legend of Lizzie Borden- Paramount owns this title. Another title worth mentioning is Amateur Night At The Dixie Bar & Grill- an early effort by Joel Schumacher that aired around 1980 with Victor French, Dennis Quaid, Tanya Tucker, Lulu Roman, Roz Kelly, Pat Ast, and Jamie Farr. It was produced by Motown(!) thru Universal, and aired on NBC.

And I'm still holding out for Rich Man, Poor Man.

The greatest era for the telefilm was the early 70s with ABC's Movie of the Week. Some of those productions are already out in public domain DVDs, but there are still some that I'm looking for, like:

Call Her Mom
Bad Ronald
Gidget Grows Up and Gidget Gets Married
Death Cruise
The Daughters of Joshua McCabe & its sequel
Betrayal
Say Goodbye, Maggie Cole- Susan Hayward's last role
Isn't It Shocking?
Home For The Holidays
The Eyes Of Charles Sand
Haunts Of The Very Rich
- and too many to mention!

Someone should make a boxed set of TV movies from 1969-75, as these films were a big part of my TV viewing as a kid (Yes, I am 40!!) and it's a pity that more original TV movies aren't done more regularly. The only ones that do it now are Lifetime, HBO and Showtime. You don't see stuff like this from the broadcast webs anymore, and that's a shame.

Meanwhile, here's a reference to just some of the hundreds of TV movies that were done during that golden era:

http://imdb.com/keyword/abc-movie-of-the-week/

The two Biggies for me are Frankenstein: The True Story which i believe is owned by Universal.
Also Sarah T.- Portrait Of A Teenage Alcoholic

but count me in for California Dreaming. If Its owned by Sony i have doubts it will ever show up (and would have to worry about its OAR if it did).
never heard of Little Mo, but O'Conner was a indeed fine young actress who never had as much fame as she should have. and Ode To Billie Joe (even though i heard it's pretty bad).

and i agree about the ABC Movies of the Week- some of that stuff would curl the toes of the sanctimonious biddies that abound today. i used to read a lot of reviews in magazines like Shock Theater which sounded quite amazing. i think there was one with Andy Griffith and Willam Shatner that was particularly incredible (in terms of storyline and the part Andy played)

Since Columbo, McCloud, MacMillan and Wife, and (I presume) Quincy are all being released as box sets, I'd like to see one or two box sets that cover the rest of the NBC Mystery Movie series:

Hec Ramsey (Richard Boone, Harry Morgan)
Madigan (Richard Widmark)
Cool Million ( James Farentino)
Banacek (George Peppard)
Tenafly (David Huddleston is the only guy I've heard of)
Faraday & Company (Dan Daily, Sharon Gless)
The Snoop Sisters (Helen Hayes, Mildred Natwick, Bert Convy)
Amy Prentiss (Jessica Walter, Helen Hunt)
McCoy (Tony Curtis)
Lanigan's Rabbi (Art Carney)

It would either be Pray for the Wild Cats or Go Ask Alice.

Oh, and the original TV movie The Six Million Dollar Man (before they knew it would be a series).