SMALL SCREEN, BIG SCORES: PART SIX

By Scott Bettencourt

ACTOR - Billy Goldenberg
1977/1978 Emmy nominee Music Composition - Special (Dramatic Underscore); PBS musical biopic of Paul Muni, directed by Norman Lloyd, with Michael Kidd, Walter Matthau and Herschel Bernardi

AND I ALONE SURVIVED - Laurence Rosenthal
Docudrama with Blair Brown as the sole survivor of a plane crash in the Sierras; shot by Jordan Cronenweth (Blade Runner)

AND THE SOUL SHALL DANCE - Lee Holdridge

ARE YOU IN THE HOUSE ALONE? - Charles Bernstein
Babysitter Kathleen Beller is menaced in this adaptation of a young adult novel, co-starring Blythe Danner, Tony Bill and Dennis Quaid

THE AWAKENING LAND - Fred Karlin
1977/1978 Emmy nominee Music Composition - Series (Dramatic Underscore); mini-series with Elizabeth Montgomery as a frontierswoman, featuring William H. Macy in an early supporting role, directed by Boris Sagal

THE BASTARD - John Addison
Syndicated mini-series from John Jakes' Revolutionary War novel, with Andrew Stevens as the titular bastard and co-starring Buddy Ebsen, Lorne Greene, Olivia Hussey, Patricia Neal, Eleanor Parker, Donald Pleasence, and William Shatner as Paul Revere

THE BEASTS ARE ON THE STREETS - Gerald Fried
Wild animals on the loose; produced by, oddly enough, Hanna-Barbera

BETRAYAL - Paul Chihara
Patient Lesley Anne Warren accuses psychiatrist Rip Torn of forcing her to sleep with him; directed by Paul Wendkos

BJ AND THE BEAR - John Cacavas
Pilot movie for the series, teaming up trucker Greg Evigan with a chimp

BLACK BEAUTY - John Addison
Miniseries from the Anna Sewell classic, directed by Daniel Haller, featuring William Devane, Van Johnson, and Warren Oates among many others

BUD AND LOU - Fred Karlin
Harvey Korman is Abbott, Buddy Hackett is Costello

CENTENNIAL - John Addison
12-episode Western miniseries from the James Michener novel, with William Atherton, Barbara Carrera, Richard Chamberlain, Robert Conrad, Andy Griffith, Merle Haggard, David Janssen, Sally Kellerman, Donald Pleasence and Robert Vaughn, among many others

CHILD OF GLASS - George Duning
Children's ghost story set in the South

COPS AND ROBIN - Charles Bernstein
Sequel to Future Cop

CRUISE INTO TERROR - Gerald Fried
Mummy aboard a cruise ship; Fried's score evokes Goldsmith's The Omen

DADDY, I DON'T LIKE IT LIKE THIS - David Shire
One of the great, unsubtle child abuse titles of the era; Rocky's Burt Young and Talia Shire (David's then-wife) play the parents, Young wrote the script

THE DAIN CURSE - Charles Gross
Stylish adaptation of the Dashiell Hammett novel, with James Coburn as The Continental Op (here named Hamilton Nash to evoke Hammett), with Jason Miller, Jean Simmons, Beatrice Straight, Hector Elizondo, and an early appearance by Brent Spiner

THE DARK SECRET OF HARVEST HOME - Paul Chihara
Miniseries from Tom Tyron's novel Harvest Home, about sinister goings on in a small New England town; with Bette Davis, Rosanna Arquette, Michael O'Keefe; directed by Leo Penn (father of Sean)

DEADMAN'S CURVE - Fred Karlin
Richard Hatch and Bruce Davison as pop duo Jan & Dean

A DEATH IN CANAAN - John Addison
Paul Clemens (The Beast Within) as an innocent teen coerced by police into confessing to his mother's murder; directed by Tony Richardson

DEATH MOON - Paul Chihara
Werewolf in Hawaii

THE DEFECTION OF SIMAS KUDIRKA - David Shire
1977/1978 Emmy nominee Music Composition - Special (Dramatic Underscore); docudrama with Alan Arkin as a Lithuania seaman attempting to defect to the U.S.; co-starring Richard Jordan, Donald Pleasence, George Dzundza, Shirley Knight

DEVIL DOG: THE HOUND OF HELL - Artie Kane
Satan's pooch terrorizes a suburban family (Richard Crenna, Yvette Mimieux, and those two kid actors from the Witch Mountain films); directed by Curtis Harrington; CFQ editor Jeff Bond proclaims it "the best '70s TV movie title"

DR. STRANGE - Paul Chihara
From the Marvel comic, with Peter Hooten as the doctor, co-starring Jessica Walter and Oscar winner John Mills (!)

FAME - Arthur B. Rubinstein
Drama by Arthur Miller; the eclectic cast includes Richard Benjamin, Raf Vallone, Linda Hunt, Tom Poston, and Nipsey Russell

A FAMILY UPSIDE DOWN - Henry Mancini
Fred Astaire and Helen Hayes as an ailing couple

A FIRE IN THE SKY - Paul Chihara
A meteor hurtles toward Phoenix; starring Richard Crenna and Elizabeth Ashley, not recreating their roles in The War Between the Tates; directed by Jerry Jameson

FOREVER - Fred Karlin
Teen romance with Stephanie Zimablist, from the Judy Blume novel; they filmed some of this at my high school -- I was even an extra in it, though only my shirt was visible (actually my brother's shirt -- he asked me to wear it)

GETTING MARRIED - Craig Safan
Romantic comedy with Richard Thomas, Mark Harmon, Bess Armstrong

THE GIFT OF LOVE - Fred Karlin
Expansion of the classic O. Henry story The Gift of the Magi, starring Marie Osmond and Timothy Bottoms; directed by Don Chaffey (Jason and the Argonauts)

HAVING BABIES III - Lee Holdridge
Third in the TV movie series, which spawned a short lived regular series

HISTOIRES DE VOYOUS: LA SAISON DES VOLEURS - Georges Delerue

HISTOIRES DE VOYOUS: LE CASSE DES ROIS MAGES - Georges Delerue

HUMAN FEELINGS - John Cacavas
God (Nancy Walker) sends angel Billy Crystal to Earth to investigate humanity

IL BALORDO - Luis Bacalov

THE IMMIGRANTS - Gerald Fried
Two-part movie from a Howard Fast novel, with Stephen Macht as an Italian immigrant in the U.S. at the turn of the century

ISHI: THE LAST OF HIS TRIBE - Maurice Jarre
Fact based story of professor Dennis Weaver and his relationship with the sole survivor of the reclusive Yahi Indian tribe; the story was told again in 1992 as an HBO movie, The Last of His Tribe (score by John Keane), with Jon Voight, Graham Greene and Anne Archer

JUST ME AND YOU - Fred Karlin
Romantic comedy with Louise Lasser (who wrote the script) and Charles Grodin

KATIE: PORTRAIT OF A CENTERFOLD - Charles Bernstein
Kim Basinger in the title role

KEAN - Michael J. Lewis
British biopic with Anthony Hopkins as the actor Edmund Kean

KIDNAPPED - Vladimir Cosma
Mini-series from the Robert Louis Stevenson classic, with David McCallum as Alan Breck, co-starring Andrew Kier, Patrick Magee

KILLING STONE - David Rose
Gil Gerard as an innocent man freed after ten years in prison; written and directed by Michael Landon

KING - Billy Goldenberg
1977/1978 Emmy winner Music Composition - Series (Dramatic Underscore); Paul Winfield as Martin Luther King, Cicely Tyson as Coretta, with Roscoe Lee Browne, Ossie Davis, Steven Hill, and Tony Bennett as himself

KISS MEETS THE PHANTOM OF THE PARK - Hoyt Curtin, Fred Karlin
The rock band battles mad scientist Anthony Zerbe; directed by Gordon Hessler

LACY AND THE MISSISSIPPI QUEEN - Barry De Vorzon
Comedy Western about two sisters

LADY OF THE HOUSE - Fred Karlin
Dyan Cannon as Sausalito's madam-turned-mayor Sally Stanford; written by Ron Koslow

LANGRISHE GO DOWN - Carl Davis
British romantic drama, adapted by Harold Pinter; recently received a U.S. theatrical release (25 years after its TV airing) because of the increased popularity of its two stars, Judi Dench and Jeremy Irons

THE LAST TENANT - Lee Holdridge
Family drama with Lee Strasberg, Christine Lahti, Danny Aiello

LE MANI SPORCHE - Ennio Morricone
Score CD on CAM, paired with Mio Caro Assassino

LEAVE YESTERDAY BEHIND - Fred Karlin
John Ritter is paralyzed in a polo accident, falls for Carrie Fisher

LES GRANDES CONJURATIONS: LE CONNETABLE DE BOURBON - Vladimir Cosma

LIKE MOM, LIKE ME - Lee Holdridge
Linda Lavin and Kristy MacNichol as a mother and daughter

LITTLE WOMEN - Elmer Bernstein
Yet another version of the Louisa May Alcott classic, with Susan Dey as Jo, Meredith Baxter, Ann Dusenberrry and Eve Plumb as her sisters, Dorothy Maguire as "Marmee", Greer Garson (!) as the aunt, Robert Young as the grandfather, and William Shatner (plus 70s TV movie staple and future Star Trek "Q" John de Lancie); no soundtrack was ever issued, but Bernstein's theme was released as sheet music; directed by David Lowell Rich

LONG JOURNEY BACK - Fred Karlin
Stephanie Zimbalist loses her leg after a field trip bus accident

LOVEY: A CIRCLE OF CHILDREN PART II - Jerry Fielding
Jane Alexander returns in this sequel to A Circle of Children (scored by Nelson Riddle), as a teacher of mentally disturbed children; co-starring Ronny Cox, Helen Shaver, Karen Allen, Danny Aiello

MANEATERS ARE LOOSE! - Gerald Fried
Maneating tigers menace a small California town; with Tom Skerritt, Harry Morgan, Diana Muldaur, Dabney Coleman

THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE - Carl Davis
Two cues on the DRG LP Carl Davis: Music For Television; Alan Bates in a BBC miniseries of the Thomas Hardy classic, adapted by Dennis Potter; remade as the 2000 feature The Claim, and as a recent TV movie with Ciaran Hinds in the lead

THE MILLIONAIRE - Frank DeVol
Attempt to revive the classic TV series, starring Martin Balsam, Ralph Bellamy, Jane Wyatt and William Demarest, and co-starring 70s TV staples The Hudson Brothers (one of whom fathered Oliver & Kate Hudson)

MORE THAN FRIENDS - Fred Karlin
Woody Allen-ish romantic comedy with (then) couple Rob Reiner and Penny Marshall; co-written by Reiner, directed by James Burrows

MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA - Maurice Jarre
PBS miniseries of the classic Eugene O'Neill play, with Bruce Davison, Jeffrey DeMunn, Joan Hackett, Roberta Maxwell, Josef Sommer, Peter Weller

THE NATIVITY - Lalo Schifrin
Madeleine Stowe (nine years before Stakeout) as Mary, John Shea as Joseph, co-starring Jane Wyatt, Paul Stewart (Charles Foster Kane's butler), Freddie Jones, John Rhys-Davies, and Leo McKern

NIGHT CRIES - Paul Chihara
Susan Saint James believes her stillborn child may still be alive

NO ROOM TO RUN - Brian May
Australia-set thriller with Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss

THE OTHER SIDE OF HELL - Leonard Rosenman
Patient Alan Arkin witnesses a murder in a mental institution and tries to escape

OUT - George Fenton
British crime miniseries starring Tom Bell (Prime Suspect)

PEARL - John Addison
Mini-series set around the bombing of Pearl Harbor, written by Stirling Silliphant; with Angie Dickinson, Dennis Weaver, Robert Wagner, Lesley Ann Warren, Brian Dennehy

PERFECT GENTLEMEN - Dominic Frontiere
Comic caper as the wives (Lauren Bacall, Ruth Gordon, Sandy Dennis, Lisa Pelikan) of four convicts rob a bank disguised as men; directed by Jackie Cooper, written by Nora Ephron before she became a director and singlehandedly destroyed big screen romantic comedy

PHOTO-SOUVENIR - Georges Delerue

THE PRESIDENT'S MISTRESS - Lalo Schifrin

A QUESTION OF GUILT - Artie Kane
Tuesday Weld as a woman suspected of murdering her children

A QUESTION OF LOVE - Billy Goldenberg
Gena Rowlands as a lesbian fighting for custody of her son, Jane Alexander as her lover

THE PIRATE - Bill Conti
Harold Robbins adaptation with Franco Nero, Anne Archer, Olivia Hussey, Christopher Lee, Eli Wallach; teleplay by Julius J. Epstein, directed by Ken Annakin

RAINBOW - Charles Fox
Andrea McArdle as the young Judy Garland, Don Murray and Piper Laurie as her parents, Martin Balsam as Louis B. Mayer, Michael Parks as Roger Edens, Moosie Drier as Mickey Rooney; directed by Jackie Cooper

REBECCA - Ron Grainer
One score cue on the Stet/DRG LP Tales of the Unexpected: the Exciting Television Music of Ron Grainer; BBC version of the Daphne DuMaurier classic, with Joanna David as the nameless heroine, Jeremy Brett as Max, Anna Massey as Mrs. Danvers

RESCUE FROM GILLIGAN'S ISLAND - Gerald Fried
The title alone should be sufficient explanation

RETURN ENGAGEMENT - Arthur B. Rubinstein
Romantic drama with Elizabeth Taylor and Joseph Bottoms

RETURN TO FANTASY ISLAND - Laurence Rosenthal
Second movie leading up to the famous series, with guests including Adrienne Barbeau, Horst Bucholz, George Chakiris, Joseph Cotton, George Maharis, France Nuyen

RING OF PASSION - Bill Conti
The famous boxing match between Joe Louis (Bernie Casey) and Max Schmeling (Stephen Macht), co-starring Allen Garfield (as Damon Runyon) and Britt Ekland

SIEGE - Charles Gross
Martin Balsam tries to defend his urban apartment building against gangs; co-starring Sylvia Sidney, directed by Richard Pearce

SKI LIFT TO DEATH - Barry De Vorzon
Another title requiring no further explanation; featuring Howard Duff, Veronica Hamel, Don Johnson

SOMEONE'S WATCHING ME - Harry Sukman
John Carpenter wrote and directed this Hitchcock homage with Lauren Hutton as a high-rise dweller menaced by a stalking voyeur, co-starring Adrienne Barbeau

SUDDENLY, LOVE - David Rose
Romantic drama pairing Cindy Williams and Paul Shenar; co-starring Eileen Heckart, Lew Ayres

SUMMER OF MY GERMAN SOLDIER - Stanley Myers
Kristy McNichol falls for WWII POW Bruce Davison

SUPERDOME - John Cacavas
Thriller involving the Superbowl, directed by Jerry Jameson (who directed Airport '77, also scored by Cacavas) and featuring David Janssen, Edie Adams, Ken Howard, Van Johnson, Jane Wyatt and Tom Selleck

THADDEUS ROSE AND EDDIE - Charles Bernstein
Drama starring Johnny Cash and Bo Hopkins in the title roles, written by William D. Witliff (Raggedy Man, Lonesome Dove)

THE THIEF OF BAGHDAD - John Cameron
Remake of the fantasy classic, featuring an unusually impressive cast -- Terence Stamp, Peter Ustinov, Ian Holm, Frank Finlay and Roddy McDowall; directed by Clive Donner

THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT ADULTERY - Paul Chihara
Directed by Delbert Mann, starring Louise Fletcher, Wayne Rogers, Bert Convy, Robert Reed; TV movie in a projected series of movies exploring the Ten Commandments; this idea was done in an infinitely superior version for Polish television called The Decalogue, director Kristof Kieslowski's masterpiece (scored by Zbigniew Preisner)

THE TIME MACHINE - John Cacavas
Sunn Classic produced this remake of the H.G. Wells classic, starring John Beck as the time traveler and co-starring Priscilla Barnes as Weena

TO KILL A COP - Lee Holdridge
Pilot movie for the Joe Dan Baker cop series Eischeid, teleplay by Ernest Tidyman (The French Connection, Shaft) from a Robert Daley (Prince of the City) novel, directed by Gary Nelson

THE USERS - Maurice Jarre
Dominick Dunne adapts gossip columnist Joyce Haber's Hollywood novel; with Jaclyn Smith, Tony Curtis, Red Buttons, Joan Fontaine, John Forsythe, George Hamilton, Darren McGavin

VEGA$ - Dominic Frontiere
Pilot movie for the Robert Urich series, co-starring Will Simpson, Michael Lerner, Red Buttons, Scatman Crothers; written by, of all people, Michael Mann

WHEN EVERY DAY WAS THE FOURTH OF JULY - Walter Scharf
Producer-director Dan Curtis took a break from horror with this autobiographical, To Kill a Mockingbird-ish childhood memoir; for this rare occasion, Curtis worked with Walter Scharf instead of his usual composer, Robert Cobert, and Curtis and Scharf reunited for a sequel movie, The Long Days of Summer, in 1980

WHO'LL SAVE OUR CHILDREN? - Fred Karlin
Shirley Jones and Len Cariou try to adopt a pair of homeless children

WILD AND WOOLY - Charles Bernstein
A female action Western 16 years before Bad Girls

THE WINDS OF KITTY HAWK - Charles Bernstein
Michael Moriarty and David Huffman as the Wright brothers;

THE WORD - Alex North
1978/1979 Emmy nominee Music Composition - Limited Series or a Special; engrossing miniseries from the Irving Wallace novel, about the alleged discovery of a previously unknown New Testament gospel; with David Janssen, Jamse Whitmore, Eddie Albert, Geraldine Chaplin, Hurd Hatfield, Ron Moody, Diana Muldaur, Kate Mulgrew, Nicol Williamson, John Huston

THE WORLD BEYOND - Fred Karlin
JoBeth Williams is terrorized by a golem (but then you probably could have guessed that)

1977/1978 Emmy nominees:

MUSIC COMPOSITION - SERIES (DRAMATIC UNDERSCORE)

Billy Goldenberg - King
Morton Gould - Holocaust
Fred Karlin - The Awakening Land
Morton Stevens - Wheels
Patrick Williams - Columbo (Try and Catch Me)

MUSIC COMPOSITION - SPECIAL (DRAMATIC UNDERSCORE)

Dick De Benedictis - Zeigfeld: The man and His Women
Billy Goldenberg - Actor
Jimmie Haskell - See How She Runs
David Shire - The Defection of Simas Kudrika

PAGE COOK'S YEAR IN TV MUSIC

For once, Films In Review's film music critic Page Cook listed his best and worst in TV scores as well as feature scores in his year-end wrap-up.

BEST TV SCORES OF THE YEAR (in alphabetical order):
Battlestar Galactica - Stu Phillips
Count Dracula - Kenyon Emrys-Roberts
Fantasy Island - Elliot Kaplan
Return Engagement - Arthur B. Rubinstein
The Waltons: "December 7, 1941" - Alexander Courage
The Word - Alex North

WORST TV SCORES OF THE YEAR
The Bastard - John Addison
Centennial - John Addison
The Immigrants - Gerald Fried
Lovey: A Circle of Children - Jerry Fielding
Pearl - John Addison
A Question of Love - Billy Goldenberg

ACT OF VIOLENCE - Paul Chihara
Elizabeth Montgomery's outlook on life is changed when she's beaten and robbed by a street gang; directed by Paul Wendkos

AND BABY MAKES SIX - Fred Karlin
Middle aged mother Colleen Dewhurst discovers she's pregnant yet again; Warren Oates is her husband, Timothy Hutton one of her sons

AND YOUR NAME IS JONAH - Fred Karlin
James Woods and Sally Struthers discover that their son is actually deaf, not mentally handicapped

BEACH PATROL - Barry De Vorzon
More serious precursor to Baywatch, co-starring Jonathan Frakes

THE BEST PLACE TO BE - Henry Mancini
Two-part romantic drama with Donna Reed as a widow coping with her children as well as an affair with a younger man

BLIND AMBITION - Fred Karlin, Walter Scharf
Watergate again, from John Dean's perspective; with Martin Sheen and Theresa Russell as the Deans, William Daniels as G. Gordon Liddy, Christopher Guest (!) as Magruder, John Randolph as Mitchell, and Rip Torn as Nixon

BORN TO RUN - Ron Goodwin
Disney family drama directed by Don Chaffey

THE CASTAWAYS ON GILLIGAN'S ISLAND - Gerald Fried
The gang gets rescued and turns the island into a resort

CHARLESTON - Elmer Bernstein
Gone With the Wind-ish Civil War story with Delta Burke, co-starring Mandy Patinkin

CHARLIE MUFFIN - Christopher Gunning
David Hemmings as a spy, from the Brian Freemantle novel

THE CHISHOLMS - Elmer Bernstein
Robert Preston and Rosemary Harris as the parents of a frontier family, adapted by Evan Hunter from his novel; became a short-lived series

THE CORN IS GREEN - John Barry
Remake of the Emlyn Williams play, with Katharine Hepburn as a schoolteacher in a small Welsh town; directed by George Cukor

THE CRACKER FACTORY - Billy Goldenberg
Natalie Wood as a housewife battling alcoholism and depression

THE DARKER SIDE OF TERROR - Paul Chihara
Scientist Robert Forster clones himself to seduce his rival's wife; not to be confused with the lighter side of terror

DINKY HOCKER - Kenyon Hopkins
After School Special with Wendie Jo Sperber as a high school girl with an eating disorder

DISASTER ON THE COASTLINER - Gerald Fried
Passenger trains headed on a collision course; with Lloyd Bridges (I guess he picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue), Raymond Burr, Yvette Mimieux, William Shatner; directed by Richard C. Sarafian

THE 11TH VICTIM - Michel Colombier
Thriller with Bess Armstrong, directed by Jonathan Kaplan

THE FAMILY MAN - Billy Goldenberg
Ed Asner cheats on his wife with Meredith Baxter

THE FRENCH ATLANTIC AFFAIR - John Addison
Disappointing miniseries about the hijacking of a cruise ship, from Ernest Lehman's novel (asked his opinion of the show, Lehman remarked "It failed to fill me with joy"); the cast includes Horst Bucholz, Jose Ferrer, John Houseman, Richard Jordan, Louis Jourdan, Donald Pleasence, Telly Savalas, and Poseidon Adventure veterans Stella Stevens and Shelley Winters (coincidentally, they also played villains in the Cleopatra Jones movies); Addison gave the dismal proceedings a lively main theme

FRIENDLY FIRE - Leonard Rosenman
1978/1979 Emmy winner Music Composition - Limited Series or a Special; docudrama with Carol Burnett and Ned Beatty as parents trying to uncover the truth about their son's death in the Vietnam War, co-starring Sam Waterston and Timothy Hutton, teleplay by Fay Kanin

FRIENDSHIPS, SECRETS AND LIES - Angela Morley
Mystery involving a baby's skeleton found in an old sorority; the gimmick -- no male actors are ever visible onscreen; cast includes Cathryn Damon, Shelley Fabares, Sondra Locke, Tina Louise, Paula Prentiss, Stella Stevens, Loretta Swit

FROM HERE TO ETERNITY - Walter Scharf
Mini-series remake of the James Jones classic; William Devane as Sgt. Warden, Natalie Wood as his lover, Roy Thinnes as her husband, Steve Railback as Prewitt, Kim Basinger as Lorene, Peter Boyle as Fatso, and Joe Pantoliano as Maggio; became a short-lived series with Devane, Thinnes and Basinger, plus Barbara Hershey replacing Wood, and Don Johnson playing Prewitt's brother

THE GHOST OF FLIGHT 401 - David Raksin
Ghostly apparitions of a crashed plane's crew begin appearing on other flights; with Ernest Borgnine, Kim Basinger

GOLD OF THE AMAZON WOMEN - Gil Melle
Cheesy jungle adventure with Bo Swenson and Donald Pleasence, directed by Mark L. Lester

THE GOLDEN GATE MURDERS - Sol Kaplan
Cop David Janssen and nun Susannah York investigate a priest's fall from the Golden Gate Bridge; features a not especially convincing soundstage recreation of the bridge

THE GREEN JACKET - Luis Bacalov

HIGH MIDNIGHT - Jerry Fielding
1979/1980 Emmy winner Music Composition - Limited Series or a Special (Dramatic Underscore); David Birney seeks revenge when cops (led by Mike Connors) kill his family in a botched drug raid

THE HOUSE ON GARIBALDI STREET - Charles Bernstein
The hunt for Eichmann, with Topol, Janet Suzman, Martin Balsam, Charles Gray, and Leo McKern as David Ben-Gurion

IKE - Fred Karlin
Robert Duvall as Eisenhower and Lee Remick as his mistress

THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY OF DOCTOR MEG LAUREL - Gerald Fried
Lindsay Wagner as a doctor in 1930s Appalachia, co-starring "Miss Jane Wyman" and James Woods

INSTITUTE FOR REVENGE - Lalo Schifrin
Unsold pilot/TV movie about a group of good guy revenge seekers going up against evil George Hamilton

JOSEPHINE OU LA COMEDIE DES AMBITIONS - Georges Delerue

A LAST CRY FOR HELP - Miles Goodman
Linda Purl as a suicidal teen, Shirley Jones and Murray Hamilton as her parents

THE LAST GIRAFFE - Fred Karlin
Simon Ward and Susan Anspach try to save an endangered giraffe

LAWMAN WITHOUT A GUN - Fred Karlin
Civil rights worker Louis Gossett Jr. runs for mayor of his Southern town during the 60s

LE JEUNE HOMME VERT - Georges Delerue

LETTERS FROM FRANK - Ernest Gold
Family drama with Art Carney, Maureen Stapleton, Lew Ayres and Michael J. Fox

LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE - John Addison
Mentally handicapped Shaun Cassidy and Linda Purl fall in love and want to marry; not to be confused with No Other Love

THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE - Michael J. Lewis
Score CD released as a composer promo; animated version of the C.S. Lewis classic

LOVE'S SAVAGE FURY - John Addison
Yet another Gone With the Wind-esque Civil War drama, with Jennifer O'Neill, Raymond Burr, Robert Reed and Connie Stevens

LUNDI - Georges Delerue

MADAME SOURDIS - Antoine Duhamel

A MAN CALLED INTREPID - Robert Farnon
Miniseries with David Niven as William Stephenson, founder of World War II's O.S.S. (which later became the CIA), co-starring Michael York and Barbara Hershey

MARCIANO - Ernest Gold
Tony LoBianco as boxer Rocky Marciano

MARY AND JOSEPH: A STORY OF FAITH - Robert Farnon
Blanche Baker and Jeff East (who's played both Huckleberry Finn and the teenage Clark Kent on the big screen) as Jesus's parents

MIND OVER MURDER - Paul Chihara
Deborah Raffin has mysterious nightmares; co-starring Bruce Davison and Robert Englund; directed by Ivan Nagy, who received unwanted publicity in the Heidi Fleiss case

THE MIRACLE WORKER - Billy Goldenberg
Remake of the William Gibson play, with Melissa Gilbert as Helen Keller and Patty Duke graduating from Keller (her Oscar winning role) to Anne Sullivan

MISS - Claude Bolling

MR. HORN - Jerry Fielding
14:46 of score on the limited edition Bay Cities CD The Film Music of Jerry Fielding; William Goldman (!) teleplay about famous Western tracker Tom Horn, with David Carradine in the title role, co-starring Richard Widmark and Karen Black; a year later came a feature version of the same story, Tom Horn, starring Steve McQueen (in his penultimate role) and featuring a terrific Ernest Gold score

A MOVIE STAR'S DAUGHTER - Brad Fiedel
After School Special with Trini Alvarado as the daughter of actor Frank Converse; directed by Robert Fuest (the Dr. Phibes films)

NO OTHER LOVE - Charles Gross
Mentally handicapped Richard Thomas and Julie Kavner fall in love and want to marry; not to be confused with Like Normal People

ORIENT-EXPRESS - Ennio Morricone

ORPHAN TRAIN - Laurence Rosenthal

THE PARADISE CONNECTION - Bruce Broughton
Criminal lawyer Buddy Ebsen visits Maui, where he finds danger and the tropical scent of an unsold pilot

PIERROT MON AMI - Georges Delerue

PORTRAIT OF A STRIPPER - Arthur B. Rubinstein
Lesley Ann Warren is the stripper; photographed and directed by ace cinematographer John A. Alonzo (Chinatown, Scarface, Star Trek Generations)

THE POWER WITHIN - John Addison
Lightning strikes pilot Art Hindle and gives him superpowers

PRINCE REGENT - Carl Davis
Score LP on Decca; the youthful days of the future King George IV, co-starring Nigel Davenport and Susannah York

THE REBELS - Gerald Fried
Mini-series sequel to The Bastard, with Andrew Stevens, Richard Basehart, Joan Blondell, Kim Cattrall, Anne Francis, Forrest Tucker and Robert Vaughn

ROOTS: THE NEXT GENERATIONS - Gerald Fried
Sequel mini-series to the classic Alex Haley adaptation, the huge cast including Olivia de Havilland, Henry Fonda, Robert Culp, Paul Winfield, Andy Griffith, Diahann Carroll, and Howard E. Rollins, with James Earl Jones as Haley and Marlon Brando as white supremacist George Lincoln Rockwell

S.O.S. TITANIC - Howard Blake
Yet another telling of the classic disaster, with David Janssen, Cloris Leachman, Susan Saint James, David Warner, Ian Holm, Helen Mirren, and Harry Andrews as the captain; photographed by Christopher Challis (Arabesque, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes)

SALEM'S LOT - Harry Sukman
1979/1980 Emmy nominee Music Composition - Limited Series or a Special (Dramatic Underscore); faithful adaptation of one of Stephen King's earliest and scariest books, directed by Tobe Hooper with David Soul leading an impressive cast including Bonnie Bedelia, Lew Ayres, Elisha Cook Jr., Marie Windsor, George Dzundza, Ed Flanders, Kenneth McMillan, Fred Willard, Reggie Nalder, Barbara Babcock and James Mason; Sukman's full-bodied orchestral score is a fan favorite which has, unfortunately, yet to see a soundtrack release; the book is currently being remade for TV with yet another impressive cast -- Rob Lowe, Andre Braugher, James Cromwell, Rutger Hauer and Donald Sutherland

SALVAGE - Walter Scharf
Junkyard owner Andy Griffith builds a spaceship to salvage NASA junk from the moon; became a series, Salvage 1

SAMURAI - Fred Karlin
Joe Penny plays a lawyer-by-day, samurai-by-night

THE SCARLET LETTER - John Morris
Score CD on Super Tracks; PBS miniseries from the Nathaniel Hawthorne classic, with Meg Foster as Hester, John Heard as Dimmesdale, and Kevin Conway as Chillingworth

THE SEEKERS - Gerald Fried
Mini-series followup to The Bastard and The Rebels, featuring John Carradine, George Hamilton, Brian Keith, Gary Merrill, Vic Morrow, and Ed Harris

SON-RISE: A MIRACLE OF LOVE - Gerald Fried
James Farentino and Kathryn Harrold raise their autistic son

STRANGERS: THE STORY OF A MOTHER AND DAUGHTER - Fred Karlin
Terminally ill Gena Rowlands reunites with her estranged mother, Bette Davis

STUNT SEVEN - Bill Conti
A stuntman leads the rescue of a kidnapped actress

THE SUICIDE'S WIFE - David Raksin

SURVIVAL OF DANA - Craig Safan
High school student Melissa Sue Anderson slips into a life of juvenile delinquency

TESTAMENT OF YOUTH - Geoffrey Burgon
9:37 of score on the Silva CD Brideshead Revisited: The Television Scores of Geoffrey Burgon; BBC drama about a young Englishwoman during World War I

TRANSPLANT - Fred Karlin
Young exec Kevin Dobson has a heart transplant; co-starring Melinda Dillon and Helen Hunt, photographed by Jordan Cronenweth (Blade Runner)

THE TRIANGLE FACTORY FIRE SCANDAL - Walter Scharf
The infamous 1911 fire that killed 146 people, mostly young seamstresses, in New York City

A VACATION IN HELL - Gil Melle
Five tourists get lost in the tropics and are menaced by natives

VAMPIRE - Fred Karlin
20:06 of score on the Reel Music CD The Fred Karlin Collection Volume 1; God Told Me To's Richard Lynch plays an ancient vampire in modern day San Francisco; co-starring Jason Miller, E.G. Marshall, Kathryn Harrold, and co-written by Steven Bochco

WALKING THROUGH THE FIRE - Fred Karlin
Pregnant Bess Armstrong discovers she has Hodgkin's Disease

WAYS IN THE NIGHT - Wojciech Kilar

WILLA - John Barry
Deborah Raffin as a waitress/mother who becomes a truck driver; you know, typical John Barry material

YOU CAN'T GO HOME AGAIN - Charles Gross
Ralph Nelson directed this adaptation of the Thomas Wolfe classic, starring Chris Sarandon, Lee Grant and Hurd Hatfield

YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU - Arthur B. Rubinstein
Remake of the Kaufman & Hart play, with Jean Stapleton, Barry Bostwick, Blythe Danner, Kenneth Mars, Harry Morgan, Mildred Natwick and Art Carney

1978/1979 Emmy nominees:

MUSIC COMPOSITION - SERIES

Dick De Benedictis, Dean De Benedictis (Dear Detective)
Charles Fox, Norman Gimbel - The Paper Chase (A Day in the Life)
David Rose - Little House on the Prairie (The Craftsman)
Patrick Williams - Lou Grant (Prisoner)

MUSIC COMPOSITION - LIMITED SERIES OR A SPECIAL

Peter Matz - First You Cry
Alex North - The Word
Leonard Rosenman - Friendly Fire
Ken Welch, Mitzie Welch - The Hal Linden Special

SUBJECT: Correction to Today's TV Movie Column
 
Love your ongoing series on TV movies, a staple for me (I remember so many so well, and lust for the music for many, especially Columbo).

One correction today (confirmed by IMDB). You wrote:

LANIGAN'S RABBI - Leonard Rosenman
Based on Harry Kemelman's mystery novels, starring Art Carney as the cop and Bruce Solomon as the rabbi; became a short-lived series

True of the series, but the pilot movie starred Stuart Margolin as the mild rabbi, in a wonderful change-of-pace for the actor/director who was inimitably "Angel" in THE ROCKFORD FILES. I remember being quite disappointed when the series debuted without Margolin (though I remember Janet Margolin as the Rabbi's wife in the series and I always wondered if they were related -- still can't find out).

FROM: "Dick Dinman"

HELTER SKELTER was the first project which my newly-formed casting company was hired for, and to the best of my recollections, Scorsese was not offered the Manson role, though he wanted to do it. The problem, as I remember it, was his distinctively staccato New York accent.

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