Medford, Don

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. - The Complete Series

Cannon: Season One, Vol. 1

The weekly adventures of Frank Cannon an overweight balding ex-cop with a deep voice and expensive tastes in culinary pleasures who becomes a high-priced private investigator. Since Cannon's girth didn't allow for many fist-fights and gun battles (although there were many) the series substituted car chases and high production values in their place.System Requirements:Running Time: 615 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 097368924246 Manufacturer No: 892424

Airwolf - Season 1

Hip spy shows with covert agencies within agencies--like Alias and 24--are missing only one thing: A super-duper armor-plated helicopter with "nuclear-tipped shrike missiles." In the action series Airwolf, a mysterious national security agency called the Firm constructs a "Mach-one-plus chopper that can kick butt," only to have it stolen by the nefarious scientist who designed it (David Hemmings, Blowup, Barbarella). Desperate, the Firm turns to Stringfellow Hawke (Jan Michael Vincent), a soulful, cello-playing, art-loving, eagle-watching, guilt-ridden master pilot. Hawke refuses to help unless the Firm searches for his brother, who went MIA in 'Nam. Of course, he succeeds in his mission, but until the Firm fulfills its side of the bargain, he keeps the chopper--but also agrees to fly covert missions in exchange for tips about government efforts to retrieve Airwolf.

This elaborate setup proves surprisingly durable. The combat scenes in Airwolf are clumsily edited, but the scripts--though firmly in the cheesy techno-thriller vein of Robert Ludlum and Tom Clancy--are pleasantly zippy. While Vincent may have gone on to a straight-to-video career (appearing in such sterling titles as Hidden Obsession, Indecent Behavior, and Animal Instincts), he's a persuasive and sexy pilot; he's got the same kind of rangy, athletic physicality that makes Kevin Costner convincing as an athlete. Add to this mix the ever-zesty Ernest Borgnine (Marty, The Wild Bunch) and it's clear why Airwolf outlived the similar series Blue Thunder. Most episodes feature international skullduggery with foreign agents trying to steal Airwolf and sell it to the Soviets or Libya, but there are enough clever details to keep you from objecting to the larger absurdity of the all-powerful helicopter. Guest stars include Shannen Doherty (Beverly Hills 90210) and David Carradine (Kill Bill). It's too bad Hemmings didn't become a regular; his sadistic, lecherous traitor gave the two-hour pilot some real juice. --Bret Fetzer

Airwolf: Season Three

No Description Available.
Genre: Television
Rating: NR
Release Date: 22-MAY-2007
Media Type: DVD

Airwolf - Season 2

Get ready to take off for action and adventure as all 22 one-hour episodes of Airwolf Season Two soar on to a spectacular five-disc DVD set for the first time ever! Cruise the skies once again with Airwolf the cutting-edge high-tech surveillance and defense helicopter of the future and Stringfellow Hawke (Jan-Michael Vincent) its reclusive renegade pilot as they touch down on dangerous secret missions from Afghanistan to the jungles of Central America. From drug runners to dambreakers to demented businessmen there's no one who can hide from the Airwolf team's high-tech gadgetry and fighting power. Co-starring Ernest Borgnine and Alex Cord this suspenseful and daring Emmy-nominated series from TV producer Donald P. Bellisario (Magnum P.I. Quantum Leap) is sure to be a thrill-ride fans won't want to leave!System Requirements:Run Time: 193 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 025193182227 Manufacturer No: 31031822

Jan-Michael Vincent stars in Airwolf as Stringfellow Hawke, who, with trusty sidekick Dominic Santini (Ernest Borgnine), embarks on perilous missions for a top secret agency known as The Firm, which in turn allows him fairly free rein as he searches for his long lost brother. Vincent, then 40 years old, was still a year or two away from ruining his career with substance abuse problems, but his work here is hardly of Emmy-winning caliber; indeed, it's a lazy performance pretty much devoid of emotional resonance. Borgnine, on the other hand, is always reliable, but even the former Oscar winner (in 1955, for Marty) can't overcome Airwolf's procession of cardboard characters (especially the villains) and credulity-challenging scripts, which find our heroes traveling to a Laotian prison camp, battling nuclear terrorists in California, rescuing the president of a South American banana republic, investigating a religious cult, fending off jungle cats kept on a Texas hunting ranch, and saving a country singer from the nefarious machinations of her manager-husband, among other silliness. In fairness, creator-executive producer Donald Bellisario (who also brought us Magnum, P.I., Quantum Leap, and JAG) and his team make an effort to inject a human element; there's an episode in which Dominic is arrested for murdering his faithless wife, and a couple that find the guilt-ridden Hawke searching for his brother, Saint John (pronounced "Sinjin"), who was presumed lost during the Vietnam War when Stringfellow left him in the jungle. What's more, considering its relatively ancient pedigree, technology-wise, the effects work isn't bad, and there are some cool moments when the Airwolf helicopter does what it does best (i.e., blow stuff up).

It's unlikely that anyone will fondly look back at Airwolf as one of television's finest moments. That doesn't mean that this five-disc set containing all 22 episodes from the series' second season (1984-85) won't find an audience eager to re-live the adventures of a super high-tech helicopter and the renegade flyboy who pilots it (heck, even Knight Rider, featuring David Hasselhoff and his talking car, has its adherents). Nonetheless, low expectations are definitely in order for anyone who wasn't, say, ten years old when the show was on the air.But overall, the show lacks a strong vibe, a recognizable sense of style and pace to draw viewers in and make believers out of us. Not terrible, not terrific, Airwolf is just sort of there. --Sam Graham

The Fall Guy: The Complete Season 1

The hero of The Fall Guy, Colt Seavers--played by Lee Majors, the former Six Million Dollar Man--is a Hollywood stunt man, which lets the show do all kinds of spectacular car crashes with no justification whatsoever, and he's a bounty hunter, which lets him get into all kinds of fist fights and ridiculous plots with no justification whatsoever. It's the perfect 1980s TV show, and it's no surprise it was created by Glen Larson, the mastermind behind such hits as Knight Rider, Battlestar Galactica, and Magnum, P.I. Assisted by his handsome but not-too-bright cousin Howie Munson (Douglas Barr) and sexy stuntwoman Jody Banks (blonde bombshell Heather Thomas), Colt grapples with a corrupt sheriff, a mob hit man, a government secret agent, a neo-Nazi biker gang (which, naturally, Colt had to infiltrate through cunning disguise), women wrestlers, and more, more, more. Preposterous? Absolutely! It's all an excuse to set things on fire and parade scantily clad young women around (Thomas had a popular bikini scene that led to a top-selling poster), while the Hollywood setting allowed for cameo appearances by stars ranging from James Coburn (In Like Flint) to Lou Ferrigno (appearing as himself playing the Incredible Hulk--it's downright postmodern) to Farrah Fawcett (Charlie's Angels), Majors' just-divorced ex-wife.

But what kept The Fall Guy running for five seasons wasn't silly plots or leaping cars. Lee Majors is one of those relaxed, genial actors who were made for television. Manly but gentle, handsome but down-to-earth, Majors appealed to men and women equally, could toss off a snappy one-liner without effort, and gave the impression that, no matter what happened, it would come out all right in the end. He even sang his own theme song. The Fall Guy: The Complete First Season is pure comfort television. (Season 1 is the only season with Jo Ann Pflug as Colt's boss, "Big Jack"; her adult sexiness and worldly wit were much-missed on later seasons.) The only extras are a couple of brief but entertaining featurettes, featuring interviews with Majors, Thomas, and Larson. --Bret Fetzer

Lee Majors stars as the Fall Guy Colt Seavers a stunt man moonlighting as a bounty hunter who uses Hollywood stunt tactics to capture criminals.System Requirements:Running Time: 1068 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 024543426431 Manufacturer No: 2242644

The Hunting Party

Nobody steals from Brandt Ruger and lives. With a stellar cast led by Oscar® winner* Gene Hackman (Unforgiven) Emmy® winner Candice Bergen ("Murphy Brown") and Oliver Reed (Gladiator) this searing western fires round after round of emotional heat with a torrid frontier love triangle that can only lead to revenge.To cattle baron Brandt Ruger (Hackman) his beautiful wife Melissa (Bergen) is just one of his possessions. So when notorious bandit Frank Calder (Reed) kidnaps Melissa Ruger isn't concerned about her he's enraged that someone stole from him. Melissa finds her captor quite kind but Ruger is organizing a posse to hunt down the pair and recover his property dead or alive!System Requirements: Running Time 151 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: WESTERN/MISC. Rating: R UPC: 027616923554 Manufacturer No: 1008324

The Organization

The Organization was the second and final sequel to 1967's In the Heat of the Night and sees Sidney Poitier's homicide detective Virgil Tibbs called in to investigate the murder of a factory manager. In a lengthy, dialogue-free opening (the film's best sequence), it appears that we are witnessing the culprits in action. However, this group turns out to be a gang of idealistic young vigilantes who knew that the factory was a front for an international drugs cartel--the Organization of the title--and have made off with a haul of $5 million worth of heroin secreted there. Suspected of the manager's murder, they meet Tibbs and seek his cooperation. He agrees to help them, pitting himself not only against the Organization but his own police department.

Set in San Francisco, The Organization invites invidious comparisons with Bullitt: its somewhat cheesy contemporary soundtrack, derived from Miles Davis' Bitches Brew, certainly marks it as a piece of its period, as do the occasionally less-than-convincing action sequences, risible acting, and far-fetched plot. Poitier, as ever, lends the film a certain dignity and poise, worthy of better material to work with than this. The film is also notable for providing early showcases for two of Cop TV's most famous captains: Daniel J. Travanti (Hill Street Blues) and Bernie Hamilton (later Captain Dobey in Starsky & Hutch) are both assigned minor roles here. --David Stubbs

Academy AwardÂ(r) winner* Sidney Poitier (In the Heat of the Night) reprises his role as Lt. Virgil Tibbs in this taut drama that exposes the ruthless, high-stakes world of international drug trafficking. Co-starring Raul Julia (Presumed Innocent), this action-packed (Variety) crime thriller is edge-of-the-seat entertainment (Los Angeles Times). Under the cover of darkness, six masked figures raid a seemingly respectable furniture factoryand steal a multimillion-dollar cache of heroin! But these are no ordinary crooks. They're a passionate band of former users-turned-vigilantes whose frustration with the law's inability to combat the city's drug problem spurs them to take on a powerful narcotics ring. After contacting Tibbs, they confess to the break-in, beg him to keep silent and ask for his help. But once he reluctantly agrees to operate outside the law, Tibbs soon finds himself at odds with the police and a ruthless drug syndicate that will stop at nothing to silence him! *1963: Actor, Lilies of the Field; 2001: Honorary Award

The Fall Guy: The Complete Season 1, Vol. 1

Lee Majors stars as the Fall Guy Colt Seavers a stunt man moonlighting as a bounty hunter who uses Hollywood stunt tactics to capture criminals.System Requirements:Running Time: 528 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 024543426370 Manufacturer No: 2242638

The Fall Guy: The Complete Season 1, Vol. 2

Lee Majors stars as the Fall Guy Colt Seavers a stunt man moonlighting as a bounty hunter who uses Hollywood stunt tactics to capture criminals.System Requirements:Running Time: 528 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 024543426400 Manufacturer No: 2242641