Cook, Fielder

The Waltons - The Complete Seventh Season

World War II has a profound impact on The Waltons: The Complete Seventh Season, as does the absence of John-Boy Walton (Richard Thomas), central figure in the first six years of the popular television drama. With John-Boy offscreen, stationed in England and writing for the American "Stars and Stripes" military magazine, The Waltons places its entire focus on the rest of the clan. One can feel a gap in the show, but The Complete Seventh Season holds up largely because of the war's influence on storylines. Patriarch John Sr. (Ralph Waite), his wife Olivia (Michael Learned), and their large brood spend 1941 adjusting to ceaseless changes, beginning with increased demand on John's lumber mill to meet defense contract demands. With John spending more and more time off the mountain negotiating with the government like a buttoned-down businessman, operation of the Waltons' mill falls to his son Ben (Eric Scott), who has to learn what it means to be the boss of hired hands. Meanwhile, Jason (Jon Walmsley) gets closer to graduation and still makes his way by playing piano at the Dew Drop Inn. He also finds himself feeling guilty over not enlisting in the war effort, but is uncertain about whether or not he might be a conscientious objector--a position that doesn't sit well with some of the men in town.

Jim-Bob (David W. Harper) dreams (and dreams) of becoming a pilot but is too young to enlist. The laconic teen also falls in love with a girl leaning toward entering a convent--the experience is painful, to say the least. But something in Jim-Bob grows up after that and stays that way. As for the girls, Mary Ellen (Judy Norton Taylor) struggles with a full-time job as a nurse while leaving her baby at home, though none of those complications compares with the loss she endures the day Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, where her doctor husband is stationed. Erin (Mary Beth McDonough) and Elizabeth (Kami Cotler) carry on with work and school, and Grandma (Ellen Corby) gets around pretty well while suffering the long-term results of a stroke. The war affects everything on Walton's Mountain, including race relations, the clientele at the Dew Drop Inn, the employment scene. But if that's not enough change for The Complete Seventh Season, there's a whopper of a development midway through the year affecting the health and presence of Olivia in the show. There's always change on The Waltons, but none has ever been quite as extensive or sad as what happens on The Complete Seventh Season. Despite (or even because of) the withdrawal of Richard Thomas from The Waltons, there is a delicate balance between the other characters heretofore unseen. --Tom Keogh

Viewers will be captivated by the seventh season of The Waltons which is comprised of 24 episodes that will make consumers laugh cry and cheer. As the season unfolds the United States entry into World War II brings big changes to Waltons Mountain. The family mourns the loss of Grandpa. Mary Ellen and Erin get an apartment in Charlottesville. Jim-Bob falls in love with a young girl who is preparing to be a nun. Elizabeth creates a poltergeist when she refuses to grow up. Olivia is diagnosed with Tuberculosis and must visit a sanitarium. Ben takes a new bride named Cindy with whom he sets up housekeeping in the shed. Godsey Hall is turned into a canteen for soldiers. Mary Ellen prepares to see Curt in Hawaii until news of Pearl Harbor hits and the family learns of his death.System Requirements:Running Time: 1200 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 883929010233 Manufacturer No: 1000037093

The Waltons - The Complete First Season

The Waltons' nearly 10-year run on network television grew out of the popular, 1971 made-for-TV movie The Homecoming, which was derived from a Depression-era, rustic setting ("Walton's Mountain"), and characters based on Earl Hamner Jr.'s autobiographical novel Spencer's Mountain--itself the source for a very nice 1963 feature film starring Henry Fonda and Maureen O'Hara. That's a lot of entertainment sprouting from Hamner's prose. But something about his seminal story of family values, rugged independence, and big dreams amidst a hardscrabble existence captured the hearts of American audiences, many of whom personally recalled severe economic adversity in the 1930s.

The Waltons: The Complete First Season collects those initial episodes from the series building on the strengths of the Homecoming pilot, which introduced the extended Walton clan led by a strong-willed mill owner, John (Andrew Duggan), and his equally resolute wife, Olivia (Patricia Neal). The Waltons recast those key roles (as well as a few others) with Ralph Waite and Michael Learned (yup, a female), but Richard Thomas carried over as oldest child John-Boy Walton, an aspiring writer whose cusp-of-manhood view informs the series. Will Geer (Seconds) replaced Edgar Bergen as Grandpa Walton, Ellen Corby remained as Grandma, and John and Olivia's large brood (seven kids in all) were filled out by largely unknown, young actors. The episodes, still delightful and touching, strong on production values and unusually tight and polished for primetime drama, tended to focus on creator Hamner's pet themes of self-sacrifice and heroic effort when the going got tough.

Year 1 highlights include "The Carnival," in which the impoverished Waltons, who can't pay for tickets to see a circus performance, end up sheltering stranded carney folk. "The Typewriter" is a classic about John-Boy "borrowing" a museum's antique typewriter, only to have his sister Mary Ellen (Judy Norton) sell it as junk. "The Sinner" concerns the arrival of a fundamentalist minister on Walton's Mountain, finding comfort in the words of religious iconoclast John Walton after the clergyman makes a fool of himself with moonshine. That's Hamner himself providing touches of narration. During the long run of the multiple-award-winning The Waltons, there were many changes in casting and storylines. But this boxed set reveals a fine series in its pristine state. --Tom Keogh

They built their home on the timeless mountain that bears their name. They built their lives on even stronger stuff: the bedrock of family. This 5-disc set features all 24 Year-One episodes of the beloved series that ran 9 years and won 5 Emmy Awards its inaugural year including Outstanding Drama Series. Richard Thomas plays the key role of John-Boy Walton a youth on the verge of manhood during the Great Depression and a fledgling writer whose observations are filled with the growing-up lessons and love he receives from father John mother Olivia Grandma Grandpa and all the rest of The Waltons.System Requirements:Running Time 1248 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 085393226220

The Waltons - The Complete Sixth Season

It's a big year for welcomes on Walton's Mountain. Welcome back to John- Boy visiting from New York and to Grandma finally home from the hospital. And welcome to the family for Mary Ellen and Curt's baby boy John Curtis. But all that joy is set against the tragedy of events in the outside world. As the fall of 1939 turns into the spring of 1940 war rages in Europe...and the Waltons are soon caught in its chilling grasp. Curt is called up for duty. Soldiers train on Walton property. The first local enlistee dies. British children flee the Blitz for the safety of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Depression is ending...but even tougher times lie ahead.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS UPC: 085391201137 Manufacturer No: 120113

The Waltons - The Complete Third Season

The Waltons: The Complete Third Season finds series creator Earl Hamner's running story about the proud, Depression-era family living and working on Walton's Mountain going through some changes. The big news is that oldest son John-Boy (Richard Thomas) is now a freshman at Boatwright University, pursuing his dream of becoming a writer but encountering a lot of tough challenges and distractions. Still living at home but driving to classes every day, John-Boy gets an unpleasant taste of hazing from arrogant upperclassmen, grief from impatient professors, insecurity in a competitive writing class, and an ever-broadening sense of how the other half lives through exotic, quirky, yet sometimes sweet and attractive young women he meets on campus.

Meanwhile, John-Boy's father, John Walton (Ralph Waite), nurses a dream of opening a father-and-son-operated lumber mill, knowing full well that the very busy John-Boy can't do much without sacrificing his education. (John also discovers next-in-line son Jason (Jon Walmsley) is already dreaming about his own career beyond the mountain.) Walton mom Olivia (Michael Learned) looks wistful over the speed with which her children are growing up, and Grandpa (Will Geer) tries to do his part for the family's well-being within the limits of his age and rocky health. The Complete Third Season starts powerfully with a story about Walton kin, living elsewhere on the mountain, who refuse to leave their generations-long home in an eminent domain struggle with the government. Glimpses of the world Grandpa grew up in--full of moonshine, guns, and hardheaded men and women--abound in this fascinating episode. Other dramas concern heart problems for Grandpa; a runaway crisis when Jim-Bob (David W. Harper) bolts from home; a proper (and long-delayed) wedding for formerly eloped couple John and Olivia; a horse race that's supposed to be fun but takes on greater dimension; and troubles for John-Boy with a femme fatale and Boatwright's flawed honor code. --Tom Keogh

They built their home on the timeless mountain that bears their name. They built their lives on even stronger stuff: the bedrock of family. This 5-disc set features all 25 Season-three episodes of the beloved series that ran 9 years and won 5 Emmy Awards including Outstanding Drama Series. Through another hard year of the Depression Season 3 entails the Walton family's discovery that the true richness in life comes from the joy they bring each other while fans also relive John-Boy's first year at college.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/CLASSICS UPC: 012569768598 Manufacturer No: 76859

The Waltons - The Complete Fifth Season

The Waltons: The Complete Fifth Season finds the Depression-era, Blue Ridge Mountains family a little more in touch with the outside world, largely because of the aspirations of the growing Walton children. The most dramatic example, over numerous epsiodes, results from the assertiveness of professional journalist John-Boy (Richard Thomas) as he insists on publishing national and international news in the small-circulation Blue Ridge Chronicle he writes, edits, and publishes. A lot of people in the county are mystified as to why John-Boy would want to bring Walton's Mountain closer to epochal events in Germany, or why he would choose to provide coverage of the Hindenburg zeppelin's aerial triumphs despite its link to the Nazis. Yet John-Boy is just as interested in his backyard as the world stage: In season opener "The First Edition," he stands up to strong pressure to kill a story about a judge whose drunk-driving offense causes costly property damage. In "The Fire Storm," locals are appalled when he prints excerpts from Hitler's Mein Kampf in order to make readers aware of what kind of madman the German chancellor is.

While John-Boy stands up to popular opinion, brother Jason (Jon Walmsley), a talented musician, has to take a job playing piano at a roadhouse to make up for the loss of his college scholarship. The decision doesn't go down too well with the Walton women, but Jason's presence at the Dew Drop Inn allows for some interesting scenes over the course of the season, none more so than the unexpected visit of a fire-and-brimstone evangelist in "The Baptism." In that same show, father John Walton, played by Ralph Waite, notorious in his Christian community for eschewing church services, faces renewed pressure from wife Olivia (Michael Learned) to accept her faith, making for one of the most interesting episodes of the season. Meanwhile, John-Boy's sister, Mary Ellen (Judy Norton), is wooed by a couple of different men and hears wedding bells with one of them. She also pursues her nursing degree and misdiagnoses an ailment of Grandma Esther (Ellen Corby), resulting in long-term hospitalization and no end of grief for Grandpa Zeb (Will Geer). The other, increasingly restless Walton boys and girls grab their share of the spotlight, too, but The Complete Fifth Season is, once again, John-Boy's year, capped by dramatic developments in his career and vision of himself. --Tom Keogh

Front-page news! The Blue Ridge Chronicle hits the streets with publisher John-Boy Walton covering everything from a local break-in (Ben is among the suspects) to his eyewitness account of the crash of the Hindenburg. And in a story filled with surprises and a ceremony filled with beauty Mary Ellen becomes the first Walton child to marry. More adventures await including Jason's job in a honkytonk Grandma's set-to with the minister and an exciting heartwarming Christmas episode that's sure to become a holiday favorite with your family. And along the way old friends return new friends arrive and the family bedrock of love endures in this 5-Disc 24-Episode Season-5 Set of one of television's most enduring series.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS UPC: 085391109716 Manufacturer No: 110971

The Waltons - The Complete Second Season

Year two of Earl Hamner's The Waltons still finds the original cast complete and the show humming along nicely on nostalgia for an earlier America, specifically the Depression-era 1930s, a time of sacrifice and family unity as The Waltons portrays it. The characters we came to know so well in season one (see The Waltons: The Complete First Season) continue to live in a spirit of cooperation and generosity, and with hope that a younger generation of Waltons will prosper and dream new dreams for everyone.

The 24 episodes included in this box set feature a number of very strong stories, including a handful of classics, all immersed in the series' typically old-Hollywood production values. (Several season two shows were directed by Waltons' star Ralph Waite.) Among the best is the premiere, "The Journey," in which the ever-noble, college-bound John-Boy (Richard Thomas) passes on a school dance and an important date to take an aging neighbor, Maggie Mackenzie (Linda Watkins), on a special, final journey. "The Separation" finds Grandpa (Will Geer) and Grandma (Ellen Corby) Walton feuding—even living apart--after the former crafts a secret plan to raise money to pay the family's electricity bill. (Their reconciliation is one of the series' most enjoyable and tender moments.) The memorable "The Thanksgiving Story" is a nail-biter in which John-Boy, facing a hopeful future as he awaits college and a visit from his girlfriend, endures a head injury in the family mill and must undergo surgery. Finally, "The Honeymoon" sees John (Waite) and Olivia (Michael Learned) finally taking their honeymoon after 19 years of marriage and seven kids. Throughout all the major storylines is a constant buzz of subplots concerning John-Boy's younger siblings—their joys and disappointments, first loves, accomplishments and relationships with one another. The Waltons never slows down, but it is capable of revealing the most delicate of feelings within shared or private moments. --Tom Keogh

They built their home on the timeless mountain that bears their name. They built their lives on even stronger stuff: the bedrock of family. This 5-disc set features all 24 Year-Two episodes of the beloved series that ran 9 years and won 5 Emmy Awards its inaugural year including Outstanding Drama Series. Richard Thomas plays the key role of John-Boy Walton a youth on the verge of manhood during the Great Depression and a fledgling writer whose observations are filled with the growing-up lessons and love he receives from father John mother Olivia Grandma Grandpa and all the rest of The Waltons.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS UPC: 012569681392

The Waltons - The Complete Fourth Season

Chronicles the life of the Walton family living in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia during the Great Depression.
No Track Information Available
Media Type: DVD
Artist: WALTONS
Title: SEASON 4
Street Release Date: 05/01/2007
Domestic
Genre: TELEVISION

The Waltons: The Complete Fourth Season finds life on Walton's Mountain changing in some significant ways. The first episode, "The Sermon," sets the tone with a story in which oldest son John-Boy Walton (Richard Thomas) is asked by the local preacher (John Ritter) to substitute for him at one Sunday service. Meanwhile, John-Boy's mother, Olivia (Michael Learned), is asked by the local schoolteacher to fill in for her for a week. Each of these Waltons has doubts that they're up to the task (Olivia has an especially hard time, since her charges include several of her own children). But they persevere, and Olivia finds herself teaching on and off throughout the season. Meanwhile, patriarch John (Ralph Waite) has a midlife crisis that causes him to leave home for a stretch, a cousin of Olivia's comes to grieve the death of her husband, the family closely follows the abdication of King Edward from the throne in England, and musician Jason Walton (Jon Walmsley) has a crisis of confidence as a performer. Special episodes include "The Fighter," starring Cleavon Little as a boxer who takes a paying job working for the Waltons, and whose presence upsets Olivia and Grandma (Ellen Corby). "The Genius" finds John-Boy being asked by his school to supervise a brilliant but socially cold 16-year-old who has to learn a lot about life. --Tom Keogh

The Homecoming: A Christmas Story

A true television classic, The Homecoming was the second movie (after 1963's Spencer's Mountain) based on Earl Hamner's autobiographical writings about love, pride, faith, and survival in rural America during the Great Depression. The Homecoming introduced the Walton family, a 1930s mountain clan living a hardscrabble existence that forces patriarch John Walton (Andrew Duggan) to seek work, far from home, in the city. When John fails to return home, as promised, on Christmas Eve, his iron-willed wife Olivia (Patricia Neal) keeps a lid on their children's worry. Oldest son John-Boy (Richard Thomas), who privately dreams of becoming a writer but worries about disappointing his parents, is dispatched to find his dad. Graceful yet harder-edged than the subsequent TV series The Waltons (which recast several characters and ran for nine years), The Homecoming reveals, albeit understatedly, much about the pain of poverty even as the family draws strength and closeness through endurance. --Tom Keogh

No Description Available.
Genre: Feature Film Family
Rating: PG
Release Date: 23-SEP-2003
Media Type: DVD

A Big Hand for the Little Lady

It's the day of the annual high-stakes poker game in Laredo, an eagerly anticipated event reserved for the richest men of the territory. But into the smoke-filled backroom of the host saloon comes a weak-willed family man (Henry Fonda), who's coincidentally passing through town with a large wad of money in his possession. Despite the protests of his demure wife (Joanne Woodward), he's drawn into the game, which holds many twists for everybody. This plain-looking Western plays like a TV movie that got an upgrade to an A-level cast: along with Fonda and Woodward, there's a choice array of character players at or near the poker table, including Jason Robards, Kevin McCarthy, Charles Bickford, Burgess Meredith, Paul Ford, and veteran heavy Robert Middleton. All of which makes it easy to ignore the cheap production values and enjoy the enormous bluff at the heart of the game. The director was Fielder Cook, a longtime veteran of high-quality television (including series teleplays from the Fifties golden age and the superb Waltons pilot, The Homecoming), an able hand with this kind of thing. The denouement won't shock too many people, but it makes for a satisfying hand--not a straight flush, but a nice little three of a kind. --Robert Horton

As the biggest high-stake poker game in the West begins, compulsive gambler turned homesteader, Meredith, is drawn into the game. With the entire family fortune at stake, he suffers a heart attack when delt a winning hand. Mary, his pluck penny-pinching, long-suffering wife, steps in. As she plays the hand, she assails her rivals with fortitude and guts. Each is transformed into a model of sensitivity. But a twist ending reveals Mary has had more than fortitude up her sleeve all along.

The Dean Martin Double Feature - Who Was That Lady / How To Save A Marriage

First in "How to Save a Marriage (And Ruin Your Life)" (1968) Dean Martin shines as a lawyer who discovers that his best friend is having an affair. Trying to save his pal's marriage by seducing his buddy's mistress Dino makes matters worse when he woos the wrong woman. With Stella Stevens Eli Wallach Anne Jackson. Then in "Who Was That Lady?" (1960) Martin helps married college professor pal Tony Curtis cook up an explanation when his wife (played by Curtis' then real-life spouse Janet Leigh) catches him smooching a student. But when the ruse gets out of hand a series of wacky adventures ensues.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 043396167223 Manufacturer No: 16722