William Sadler goes toe-to-toe with Edward Woodward’s Robert McCall in Shades of Darkness. Written by Jack V. Fogarty this episode was first aired on 5 November, 1986. Sadler plays Rick Dillon, a murderer, rapist, sociopath and ex-soldier who has murdered a woman but Dan Turner (Lenny von Dohlen) is arrested for it when he’s found…
Tag: revenge
The Equalizer (1985) – The Defector, and The Lock Box
Very quickly The Equalizer has shown that its willing to go dark and gritty, and while there are some dark moments in The Defector, The Lock Box is even darker. The Defector was written by Heywood Gould and first debuted on 2 October, 1985. An old friend, and former agent of the USSR, Felix (Joe…
Angels & Demons (2009) – Ron Howard
Tom Hanks reunites with Ron Howard to bring Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon back to the screen in his second adventure (his first in the novels). Once again the renowned symbologist finds himself in over his head, but his wits and knowledge will be key to surviving. When the pope dies, the Vatican seals itself off…
The Quick and The Dead (1995) – Sam Raimi
Sam Raimi brings his frenetic style of zooming cameras and powerful camera angles to the western genre with a tale of revenge riding across the plains into an unforgiving town. Sharon Stone who looks absolutely stunning in western getup stars as Ellen, a woman bent on vengeance. She rides into a frontier town to take…
M*A*S*H (1981) – Identity Crisis, Rumor at the Top, and Give ‘Em Hell, Hawkeye
David Ogden Stiers slips into the director’s chair for Identity Crisis which was written by Dan Wilcox and Thad Mumford and had an original airdate of 2 November, 1981. Father Mulcahy (William Christopher) gets some of the spotlight in this episode when he encounters a wounded soldier played by a young Joe Pantoliano. He claims…
Mission: Impossible (1971) – Cat’s Paw, and The Missile
Things get personal for Barney (Greg Morris) this week as I dig into some more assignments from Mission: Impossible – The Complete Series on blu-ray. Cat’s Paw was written by Howard Browne, and first aired on 9 January, 1971. Barney’s older brother is murdered for getting too close to a high tech criminal organization, which…
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979) – Vegas in Space, and The Plot to Kill a City: Part 1
Buck (Gil Gerard) gets pulled into another Earth Defense Directorate plan when they need his help gambling. Vegas in Space was penned by Anne Collins and was first broadcast on 4 October, 1979. Amos Armat (Cesar Romero!) comes to ask Huer (Tim O’Connor) for help. He’s a ‘legitimate’ business man, who is desperate to get…
The Prisoner (1967) – Checkmate, and Hammer Into Anvil
Number Six (Patrick McGoohan) squares off against Number Two (this time played by Peter Wyngarde) in a layered scheme in Checkmate. Written by Gerald Kelsey, this episode first debuted on 24 November, 1967. Inspired by a life-sized chess game, Six begins canvassing his own pieces, fellow prisoners, as he’s reasoned out how to tell the…
Beneath Her Skin (2021) – C.S. Porter
Nimbus Publishing, under its Vagrant Press, brings a new voice, C.S. Porter to the mystery genre, with their first novel, Beneath Her Skin, a lean, brisk, thriller. With the sub-title A Kes Morris File, one can assume that this will be Porter’s first foray into a series around their creation of Kes Morris, a female…
Tank (1984) – Marvin J. Chomsky
1984. A few short months before my family would be posted to a new home in the middle of the ocean, I was of an age that I was allowed to go see movies in the theatre with my friends (despite the fact that the theatres were in the city proper and not on the…
The Mind Reels 