LEATHER & LACE: A LIST OF THE MADE FOR TV MACHISMO & SMALL SCREEN SCREAM QUEENS OF THE 1970S THAT ROCKED OUR WORLD
BY AMANDA REYES
There is a reason why the 1970s is the golden age of the made for television movie. While many of the stories, and sometimes the lurid advertising, drew us to the small screen, it was the cast that kept us glued to our La-Z-Boys. Actresses struck a chord as they asserted a new female-friendly strength in the age of feminism. Telefilms attempted to strike a balance between jiggle and enlightenment and many female characters were beginning to challenge men in the workplace and at home, although they still fell victim far too often. For men it was the stoic seventies, and television evoked images of a heavy drinking smoker who was a great adventurer or at least delivered a good knuckle sandwich. Of course, not all of these images were positive or correct, and many spun a myth that no mere mortal could ever hope to realize, but it made for great TV. And isn’t that all that matters?
SMALL SCREEN SCREAM QUEENS
Karen Black Karen only starred in two genre TV movies in the seventies, Trilogy of Terror (1975) and The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver (1977), but it was her turn as four different put-upon characters in Trilogy that got her on the list. OK, it’s really her performance in the segment ‘Amelia’ that left an indelible mark as she is chased around her groovy apartment by a small but scary Zuni fetish doll. And the ending… Oh, that ending! So many of us found our way into the world of horror via Black’s toothy grin at the conclusion of her excellent foray into small screen terror.
Can you tell which one of these is a Zuni fetish doll? (Trilogy of Terror)
Original TV Guide ad for Five Desperate Women.
Barbara Eden Barbara sought to change her sexy genie image through several interesting telefilms. She re-teamed with her I Dream of Jeannie costar, Larry Hagman in the eerie mystery A Howling in the Woods (1971), but it was her turn as a schizoid mother-to-be in the excellent The Stranger Within (1974) where she was allowed to dive into more hearty material that had real impact. Barbara also reminded us that she had more curves than the Pacific Coast Highway in the flawed but ridiculously fun pilot movie Stonestreet: Who Killed the Centerfold Model (1977), which was sadly never realized as a series.
Elizabeth Montgomery Liz was another actress who did her best to escape her good girl image, in this instance after Bewitched went off the air in 1972. She turned in a string of interesting performances, but it was her depiction as the maybe-murderess in The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975) that got people to take notice (and won her an Emmy nomination). Afterwards, the honey blonde actress found a home in television movies. Although she garnered nine Emmys during her memorable career (three times for TV movie performances), she unfortunately never took home the award. Beautiful and talented, Liz made TV magic post-Bewitched without ever twitching her nose.
Donna Mills While she is best known for playing the venomous Abby Cunningham on Knots Landing in the eighties, Donna’s seventies TV movie filmography is vast and notable. Starting with the esoteric and confounding (and entertaining) Haunts of the Very Rich (1972), the beautiful blonde starred in at least one television movie a year throughout the decade. Her most outrageous appearance was as a ravishing woman on the run from a giant spider in Curse of the Black Widow (1977), and it might also be her most memorable. Seriously, how could anyone forget that?.
Stefanie Powers Any decent put-upon heroine list needs a lovely redhead, and Stefanie fits the bill. She made a slew of made for TV movies (fifteen to be exact), many of them horror/thrillers, and she always added a touch of class to the proceedings. The characters that Stefanie portrayed weren’t always in control, such as the distraught Rachel in Sweet, Sweet Rachel (1971), but there is such a sense of independence behind that beautiful smile, that we knew it would all work out by the end credits.
THE 1970S SCREAM QUEEN TELEFILMS
As far as story conventions go, the damsel in distress motif is as old as the hills. Keying into that classic rule, the Small Screen Scream Queen became a prevalent fixture in the 1970s, with a slew of female-friendly thrillers to keep us home at night. However, many times this women-are-victims theme got a fresh spin, and the Scream Queen emerged, with a spatula in one hand and a bag of sass in the other…
Do Not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate (1970) If The Golden Girls liked to swill liquor and play pranks, they’d be the women in this enchanting little movie about four older ladies who create a fake beauty for a computer dating service. They unwittingly lure a psychopath into their lives but he’ll need more than a menacing presence to scare these feisty ladies off!
Five Desperate Women (1971) Five women find themselves stranded with two men, one of whom is a cold blooded killer. But which one? Women is flawed but full of some wonderfully campy moments, such as when Joan Hackett mourns the loss of a stray dog by screaming, “He was a good little doggie and he liked me!” This proto-slasher is a little light on the splat but makes up for it with lots of great acting from the mostly female cast.
Home for the Holidays (1972) Four daughters from a highly dysfunctional family come to their curmudgeon of a father’s house at Christmas only to learn he thinks his new wife is trying to kill him. If only these women cared! However, the tables are turned when someone starts impaling the delish siblings on a pitchfork! The twist ending gives an extra dash of TV movie goodness to an already tight thriller.
Trilogy of Terror (1975) A cult favorite. The audience tends to forget the first two stories of the trilogy, concentrating on the outrageous Zuni fetish doll segment, but there is plenty of fun to be had, particularly in the segment titled ‘Millicent and Therese’. While the twist is fairly predictable, Karen acts her little heart out (especially as the predatory Therese) and carries this potboiler on her creepy back!
A Vacation in Hell (1979) Four women and a lucky man find themselves stranded on a tropical island. They are pursued by a beefy native guy who, according to the asexual Barbara (Andrea Marcovicci), must be trouble because “He’s a man, isn’t he?” There’s tons of female bonding, but the gorgeous Priscilla Barnes does it in a bikini! Hippie-dippie never looked so good! A great B-movie, Vacation is an honest attempt to bring the grindhouse experience into your living room.
MADE FOR TV MACHISMO
David Janssen While most people associate David with The Fugitive, he owned the airwaves during the 1970s as the world-weary P.I., Harry O. The 1974 pilot movie Smile Jenny, You’re Dead (which was actually the second pilot, the first didn’t sell) set the tone for many a gritty cop show to follow. He appeared in fifteen other made for television films throughout the decade, including A Sensitive, Passionate Man, which earned him an Emmy nod in 1977. Despite his brooding appearance, David came across as thoughtful and a complete professional in every film he appeared in. No small feat considering his silly snakes-on-a-submarine telefilm, Fer-de-Lance (1974)!
Darren McGavin Darren was an established and seasoned actor by the time the ‘Me Decade’ arrived. However, It was his role as Kolchak in the incredible telefilm The Night Stalker (1972), and the subsequent short-lived series that made him a small screen legend (the sequel TV film The Night Strangler from 1973 fell between the first telefilm and the series). His gravelly voiced, sloppily dressed charm didn’t create television magic right away (the series was cancelled after only twenty episodes) but rather a legacy that would eventually lead to the creation of The X-Files. Long-term hotness? Darren knew how to do it right.
Life is a horrifying highway for Dennis Weaver in Duel.
Marjoe Gortner, Robert Reed, Andy Griffith and William Shatner hit the road in Pray for the Wildcats.
William Shatner It is sometimes easy to forget that William was once a stud among studs, especially in the arena of the TV movie. He holds a long and fascinating résumé that extends well beyond the seventies and into infinity (or at least into the eighties). He played it straight and serious in Sole Survivor (1970) and he took it over-the-top as a charming con artist in Disaster on the Coastliner (1979). However, his finest TV movie moment might be Pray for the Wildcats (1974), which attempts to pull apart the false mythologies behind seventies masculinity through hippie psychobabble (and it’s awesome).
Martin Sheen From the sensitive and groundbreaking That Certain Summer (1972) to donning James Dean bravado in The California Kid (1974) to the cult hit Sweet Hostage (1975), Sheen appeared in an astounding sixteen telefilms and was on the fast track to talented small screen hunk. His lean and mean style represented the world outside of constructed norms and it was that rebellious spirit that also made him a big screen hottie during the same decade.
Dennis Weaver Any machismo list needs a good cowboy and Dennis wore that cowboy hat beautifully. If he’d starred in no other telefilm other than Duel (1971) he would have cemented his fate as lone wolf stud, but he went on to make several telefilms in the 1970s. While it’s tough to even hold a candle to Duel, Weaver also flexed his macho in Rolling Man (1972) and Terror on the Beach (1973). And who could forget his iconic performance as McCloud? A cowboy strolling through the streets of New York on a horse? Only Weaver could make it so damn sexy.
In a homosocial setting, the all-powerful provider flexes his muscles, savoring the danger that may lie ahead. He is uncompromisingly male, and sometimes overwhelmingly burly (Clint Walker, I’m looking at you). When you are in the mood for some macho men in action, these films should whet the old whistle.
Deliver Us From Evil (1973) A disparate group of men go on a camping adventure that leads to robbery and murder. George Kennedy plays a guy named Cowboy, which is the tipoff that the audience is in for some Old West style survival via seventies machismo. Jim Davis and Jan-Michael Vincent are the voices of reason but the theme may well be that when money talks, macho often walks!
Pray for the Wildcats (1974) While Angie Dickinson and Lorraine Gary have their share of screen time, this film is a decidedly male adventure as the the four leads (William Shatner, Robert Reed, Andy Griffith and Marjoe Gortner) take off across the desert on motorcycles, smoking pot and killing hippies. Well, kinda. Andy Griffith plays the rich-man-turned-evil with so much despicable zeal that he makes up for the other three floundering wannabe “cool” guys. When Griffith sneers, “I’m a hippie with money,” you know you are in for a lack-of-morals rollercoaster ride.
Killdozer (1974) This preposterous thriller takes place at a remote construction site where no women are to be found. Instead we’ve got macho mano-a-possessed-bulldozer and only the most testosterone driven will survive. It’s essentially a tale of the blue collar stud going up against the man, if the man was a fifty-ton construction vehicle. What’s not to love?
Melvin Purvis, G-Man (1974) and The Kansas City Massacre (1975) If a man is measured by the size of his gun, then these guys are hot stuff. Purvis was a pilot movie that was never realized as a full series but was popular enough to spawn the sequel, Kansas City Massacre. Dale Robertson plays Purvis, “the toughest FBI Agent.” He tracks down gangs, goes on shoot-outs and enjoys a good cigar. He takes down people like Machine Gun Kelly and Pretty Boy Floyd, and he likes it, do you hear that, he likes it! Classic cars, can-cans and what seem like non-stop shoot-outs make these films a feast of testosterone!
