Gary Nelson Filmography

Fugitive Nights: Danger in the Desert

Crew: Director

Actors: Teri Garr, Sam Elliott, Thomas Haden Church, Warren Frost, Geno Silva

Synopsis: This police drama is set amidst the warm splendor of Palm Springs. A boozy cop, an eager-beaver rookie, and a local gumshoe must team up to discover the identity and mission of a mysteriously well-connected stranger in town. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

The Return of Ironside

Crew: Director

Actors: Raymond Burr, Don Galloway, Barbara Anderson, Don Mitchell, Elizabeth Baur

Synopsis: In this feature-length reprise of the popular '70s police drama Ironside Raymond Burr returns as the wheelchair-bound police chief. This time, he is drawn out of retirement by a puzzling murder and the San Francisco police department's need to find a new chief. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Revolver

Crew: Director

Synopsis: In this made-for-TV actioner, a stray bullet forced a secret service agent into a wheelchair and early retirement. Much of the story centers on his attempts to adjust to his new life. The rest chronicles his revenge against the gangster that destroyed his life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

The Sands of Time

Crew: Director

Actors: Deborah Raffin, Michael Nouri, Ramy Zada, Amanda Plummer, Kim Weeks

Synopsis: In this two-part adventure drama based on a thriller by author Sidney Sheldon, three nuns must run for their lives from a cruel colonel. Their flight leads them straight to a renowned Spanish rebel. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

The Hit Man

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Contrary to expectations, The Hit Man is not about a mob torpedo but instead deals with a Spielberg-style moviemaker, played by Dennis Boutsikaris. The villain is a loan shark (Nick Pryor) who's been reducing honest folks to penury. Utilizing the special-effects trickery at his disposal Read More

Memories of Midnight

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Adaptation of Sidney Sheldon's novel features an amnesiac who works to recover her identity and the Greek billionaire who works to make sure that she never does. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

The Lookalike

Crew: Director

Actors: Melissa Gilbert

Synopsis: Drawn from the novel by Kate Wilhelm, this made-for-cable thriller stars Melissa Gilbert as a grieving young mother who doubts her sanity after seeing the daughter she lost in a car accident. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide Read More

Get Smart, Again!

Crew: Director

Actors: Dave Ketchum, Bernie Kopell, King Moody, Dick Gautier, Don Adams, Barbara Feldon

Synopsis: The second feature-length revival of the Get Smart television series (1965-1970) of blessed memory, Get Smart Again reunited Don Adams as bumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart and Barbara Feldon as his wife, sultry "fellow" agent 99. Smart coerces 99 to drop her public-sector job and join him in Read More

Shooter

Crew: Director

Synopsis: In this drama set during the Vietnam War, a group of men working as wire-service photographers begin seeing their world in a whole new light. The film was originally made as a pilot for a television series that never aired. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Police Story: The Watch Commander

Crew: Director

Synopsis: In this made-for-TV cop drama, a police officer's wife worries that her husband has become so involved with his colleague's problems and lives that he is heading toward a breakdown. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

James Clavell's Noble House

Crew: Director

Actors: Pierce Brosnan, Deborah Raffin, Tia Carrere

Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold

Crew: Director

Actors: Richard Chamberlain, Sharon Stone, James Earl Jones, Henry Silva, Robert Donner

Synopsis: After receiving a mysterious gold piece, Quatermain travels to Africa to find his brother, who is searching for a lost white tribe. In his search, Quatermain discovers a lost civilization. This film is a follow-up to King Solomon's Mines. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Houston Knights

Crew: Director

Synopsis: A hardened Chicago cop transfers to a Houston precinct where he is teams up with a relaxed cop causing problems between their differing work attitudes. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Murder in Three Acts

Crew: Director

Actors: Tony Curtis, Peter Ustinov

Synopsis: Agatha Christie's Murder in Three Acts represents Peter Ustinov's fifth appearance as Dame Agatha's brilliant, insufferable Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. The scene is Acapulco, where retired actor Tony Curtis hosts two separate parties--both of them were blighted by the fatal poisoning of a Read More

Lady Blue

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Known variously as "Skirty Harry" and "Dirty Harriet," beautiful but tough lady police detective Katy Mahoney (Jamie Rose) patrols the mean streets of Chicago. In her dealings with dope pushers, rapists, and loan sharks, Katy would just as soon dispense with Due Process and blast every outlaw away Read More

Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer: More Than Murder

Crew: Director

Actors: Stacy Keach, Don Stroud, Lindsay Bloom

Synopsis: Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer: More Than Murder was first telecast January 26, 1984, two days before the premiere of the Mike Hammer series proper. Stacy Keach stars as Spillane's bare-knuckled, chain-smoking private eye, with Lindsay Bloom costarring as his curvaceous secretary Velda. In More Read More

The Baron and the Kid

Crew: Director, Producer

Actors: Johnny Cash, Greg Webb, Tracy Pollan

Synopsis: The "Baron", played by Johnny Cash, is a legendary pool shark. The "Cajun Kid", played by Greg Webb, is the Baron's long-lost son. Once they're reunited, the Baron and the Kid embark upon numerous adventures, each exploit bringing them closer. Based on Johnny Cash's hit song "The Baron", this Read More

Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer: Murder Me, Murder You

Crew: Director

Synopsis: After a 1981 false-start pilot film featuring Kevin Dobson, a new TV series based on Mickey Spillane's fascistic p.i. Mike Hammer was heralded with the 1983 TV pilot Murder Me, Murder You. This time Stacy Keach steps into Mike Hammer's gumshoes, as Mike is hired to protect grand jury witness Michelle Phillips Read More

Murder in Coweta County

Crew: Director

Actors: Andy Griffith, Johnny Cash

Synopsis: Based on actual events from 1948 and made into a TV movie in 1983, this story concerns a corrupt Georgia businessman (Andy Griffith) who murders an employee and thinks he has gotten away with it. The local lawman (Johnny Cash) has other plans, but needs to gather enough evidence to prove his case. Read More

For Love and Honor

Crew: Director

Synopsis: First telecast September 23, 1983, For Love and Honor was the opening episode of the same-named TV series. Cliff Potts heads the cast as First Sergeant Gene Allard, assigned to a small "army town." His brothers (and sisters) in khaki include Shelley Smith as medical corps Captain Carolyn Engel, Gary Grubbs Read More

Jimmy the Kid

Crew: Director

Actors: Gary Coleman, Paul Le Mat, Dee Wallace, Don Adams, Walter Olkewicz

Synopsis: Gary Coleman stars as the title character, the bratty son of wealthy parents, who is kidnapped by a pair of bumbling crooks. The experience winds up teaching the pampered boy the realities of childhood. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide Read More

The Pride of Jesse Hallam

Crew: Director

Actors: Johnny Cash, Brenda Vaccaro, Eli Wallach

Synopsis: In this moving made-for-cable television drama, Jesse Hallam is a poor and illiterate coal miner (Johnny Cash) who must learn to read in order to get a job in the city. He was forced to leave after one of his daughters becomes terribly sick. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

The Black Hole

Crew: Director

Actors: Maximilian Schell, Anthony Perkins, Robert Forster, Joseph Bottoms, Yvette Mimieux

Synopsis: An ambitious sci-fier from the Disney folks, The Black Hole takes place in the future. A quintet of space travelers stumble across a "black hole." Not wishing to be sucked into the void, the crew prepares to flee, but stops long enough to investigate a mysterious space vessel near the entrance of Read More

To Kill a Cop

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Joe Don Baker stars as chief of detectives, Eischeid, in the 4-hour, 2-part TV film To Kill A Cop. Eischeid must contend with a series of seemingly unrelated bank robberies and the vicious murders of two police officers. Eischeid deduces that the culprits are members of a violent African-American Read More

Washington: Behind Closed Doors

Crew: Director

Synopsis: This 12-hour TV miniseries (expanded from a 2-hour concept) was based on the political "roman a clef" The Company, by Watergate coconspirator John Erlichman. It was originally titled simply Washington; the Behind Closed Doors part was added to avoid a potential lawsuit from Gore Vidal Read More

Panache

Crew: Director

Actors: Charles Siebert

Synopsis: Panache, that dashing 17th century poet, swordsman and lover, is played by Rene Auberjonois. In true Alexander Dumas fashion, Panache is accompanied in his adventures by two musketeers, naive Alain (Charles Frank) and worldly Donat (David Healy). In this made for TV pilot film, Panache and his Read More

Freaky Friday

Crew: Director

Actors: Barbara Harris, Jodie Foster, John Astin, Patsy Kelly, Dick Van Patten

Synopsis: Prolific television director Gary Nelson made the Walt Disney live-action comedy Freaky Friday, based on the novel by Mary Rodgers. Barbara Harris stars as suburban housewife Ellen Andrews, the wife of Bill (John Astin) and the mother of Annabel (Jodie Foster) and Ben (Sparky Marcus). Ellen just Read More

The Boy Who Talked to Badgers

Crew: Director

Synopsis: The Boy Who Talked to Badgers is portrayed by Christian Juttner. A young Canadian farm boy, Juttner has no use for people; in fact, he seems to communicate better with animals. Befriending a hunted badger, Juttner heads out to locate the animal. Before long, the boy finds himself being carried far Read More

Medical Story

Crew: Director

Synopsis: In this pilot film for the NBC TV series Medical Story, idealistic young intern Dr. Steve Drucker (Beau Bridges) clashes with three of his superiors over whether a prominent actress should have a hysterectomy. The woman in question is played by Harriet Karr, who had undergone a similar experience Read More

The Girl on the Late, Late Show

Crew: Director

Actors: Van Johnson, Cameron Mitchell, John Ireland

Synopsis: Don Murray stars as slick network news producer William Martin in The Girl on the Late, Late Show. In addition to his administrative duties, Martin is a news reporter, and it is in this capacity that he investigates a series of Hollywood murders. The unifying link between the killings would seem Read More

Kojak: Requiem for a Cop

Crew: Director

Synopsis: No one is more grief-stricken than Kojak (Telly Savalas) when his old friend, a veteran detective, is found murdered with $10,000 in cash on his body. It appears that the victim was on the take, and as such has been slated for what the NYPD calls "burial with dishonor." Kojak has only 48 hours to Read More

Santee

Crew: Director

Actors: Robert Mellard, Glenn Ford, Dana Wynter

Synopsis: A bounty hunter holds dear the memory of his son who was killed by outlaws several years before. One day he kills a crook and then takes in his son, who swears vengeance upon his adopted father. This western chronicles their adventures together. The bounty hunter is happy with his new charge and Read More

Molly and Lawless John

Crew: Director

Actors: Sam Elliott, Vera Miles

Synopsis: After an outlaw (Sam Elliott) is brought to justice, he begins to work on the sheriff's wife (Vera Miles) and eventually gets her to help him escape from prison. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide Read More

The Boy From Dead Man's Bayou

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Made-for-TV, this originally aired in 1971 under the title Bayou Boy. Mitch Vogel plays an orphan who inherits a tiny silver bell, made by his late father. Vogel loses the precious heirloom somewhere in the treacherous waters of a Louisiana Bayou. Together with his cousin Mike Lookinland, Vogel Read More

The Secrets of the Pirates' Inn

Crew: Director

Actors: Ed Begley, Sr., Charles Aidman

Synopsis: Secret of the Pirate's Inn stars Ed Begley in one of his last roles, playing a retired Irish sea captain. Three kids (Jimmy Bracken, Annie McEveety, Patrick Creamer), try to help the old salt locate the lost treasure of pirate Jean Lafitte. A reporter (Charles Aidman) tags along, ostensibly to get Read More

Gilligan's Island: The Secret of Gilligan's Island

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Some ancient stone tablets unearthed on the island may provide the Castaways with the means to return to Civilization. Only one problem--the hieroglyphics on the tablets are virtually indecipherable, not to mention incomplete. As the main plotline plays itself out, Gilligan (Bob Denver) dreams Read More

Gilligan's Island: Court-Martial

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Isn't it amazing that, whenever the Castaways turn on the radio, they invariably hear a news bulletin pertaining to them? On this episode, a radio newscaster announces that the Marine Board of Inquiry has concluded that the Skipper (Alan Hale Jr.)--and the Skipper alone--was responsible for the Read More

Gilligan's Island: Gilligan, the Goddess

Crew: Director

Actors: Stanley Adams, Mickey Morton, Robert Swimmer

Synopsis: Stanley Adams guest stars as King Killiwani, a native chieftan who comes to the island in search of a White Goddess. Naturally, the female Castaways are thrilled at the prospect of being chosen for this honor. But when it turns out that the White Goddess is slated to be sacrificed to a volcano Read More

Gilligan's Island: It's a Bird, It's a Plane

Crew: Director

Actors: Walt Hazzard

Synopsis: Once again, a useful piece of government-commissioned equipment has washed ashore on the Island. This time it's an Air Force jetpack, with which the Castaways hope to alert the authorities as to their location. Gilligan (Bob Denver) is elected to strap on the jetpack and fly into the Read More

F Troop: The Return of Wrongo Starr

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Henry Gibson returns as "jinxed" Army private Wrongo Starr, a character introduced in the first-season episode " Wrongo Starr and the Lady in Black" (excerpts of which are seen in sepia-tone). The troopers of Fort Courage are horrified to learn that Pvt. Starr has been assigned to guard a load of Read More

F Troop: Survival of the Fittest

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Comic actor George Furth, who later cowrote the hit Broadway musical "Company", appears in this episode as by-the-book Army captain Jonathan W. Blair. Arriving at Fort Courage, Capt. Blair chooses O'Rourke (Forrest Tucker) and Agarn (Larry Storch) in a grueling survival test. Equipped with only a Read More

Gilligan's Island: Mr. and Mrs.???

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Yet another of those ubiquitous radio broadcasts from Civilization carries the news that the minister who married Mr. and Mrs. Howell (Jim Backus, Natalie Schafer) was actually a phony. That's right, folks: This the Obligatory Sitcom Episode in which two of the characters learn that they're not Read More

Gilligan's Island: Topsy-Turvy

Crew: Director

Actors: Edward Little Sky, Roman Gabriel, Allen Jaffe

Synopsis: After a bump on the head, Gilligan (Bob Denver) sees two of everything. The Professor (Russell Johnson) declares that the only cure for Gilligan's double vision is the rare captivora berry, sending the other Castaways on a wild berry hunt. Unfortunately, once he's consumed the "cure", Gilligan Read More

The Andy Griffith Show: Malcolm at the Crossroads

Crew: Director

Actors: Bernard Fox, Howard Morris, Howard McNear

Synopsis: Bernard Fox makes a return visit to The Andy Griffith Show in the role of resourceful Britisher Malcolm Merriwether. This time around, Andy appoints Malcolm as Mayberry's crossing guard, replacing the unreliable Ernest T. Bass. Outraged, Ernest T. invokes his Irish heritage and challenges the Read More

Gilligan's Island: Gilligan Gets Bugged

Crew: Director

Synopsis: When Gilligan (Bob Denver) is bitten by a strange green-and-yellow insect, the Skipper (Alan Hale Jr.) grimly declares that his first mate has fallen victim to the deadly Mantis Carni bug--and that he has only 24 hours to live. As bad as this sounds, it gets worse when everyone else on the island Read More

Gilligan's Island: Physical Fatness

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Both the Skipper (Alan Hale Jr.) and Gilligan (Bob Denver) hope to qualify for the Navy if they ever get off the island. Unfortunately, the Skipper has gotten too fat over the years, while Gilligan is way too thin. As the Skipper manfully tries to keep on a rigorous diet (failing miserably all the Read More

Have Gun, Will Travel: The Cage at McNaab

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Paladin (Richard Boone) is hired to arrange a jailhouse meeting between Nora Larson (Jacqueline Scott) and her husband Brian (Brian Larson), who has been condemned to death. Unfortunately, Nora has hatched a scheme whereby her husband will escape--and Paladin will hang in his place. Lon Chaney Jr. Read More

Have Gun, Will Travel: Two Plus One

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Paladin (Richard Boone) eagerly looks forward to a rendezvous with a former lady friend, a Frenchwoman named Francine (Gail Kobe). En route, Paladin rescues an Indian maiden named Taymanee (Susan Silo) from a pair of scurrilous outlaws. In gratitude, Taymanee declares that she now "belongs" to Read More