This Film Has Been Made for Television
I grew up in a time before movies were readily available everywhere you looked. I was one of those kids who grew up with three channels. It wasn’t until high school that I had access to things like cable TV and the VCR.
When I was growing up, you saw movies in a theater or you waited until one of those three channels showed something you wanted to see and then you watched it cut to shreds and riddled with commercials.
I also grew up in a time when those three channels took it upon themselves to produce movies on their own. This trend began in the mid sixties and I was fortunate enough to enjoy its heyday from the comfort of my own couch.
What follows are my ten favorite made for tv movies. Nine of the ten were made from 1971-1979 (when I was 9-17), so these films hit me early, hit me hard, and made an impact.
And they were all made for television.
Made for TV movies attracted many major motion picture stars of the day, and it was sometimes odd to see them in a “TV movie.” Charles Bronson, Peter Finch, James Caan, Billy Dee Williams, John Lithgow, Kurt Russell, and Jack Warden all made TV movies.
Young directors also got a chance to direct a TV film before moving on to the big screen. Michael Mann directed one of these TV movies. Another was directed by Steven Spielberg.
I guess the point I’m trying to make is that “made for TV” did not equal “junk.” We’re not talking Hallmark Movies here. These movies were nominated for a combined 40 Primetime Emmy Awards, and they won 13. Not too shabby.
Unfortunately, only four of the ten are available for screening today. Those four titles are available for rent on Amazon Prime. I’ve listed those titles at the end of this blog.
Films are listed in alphabetical order. A whopping 8 of the 10 aired on the ABC television network! Kudos to those in charge back in the day. Quality stuff!
Brian’s Song (1971 - ABC)
11 Primetime Emmy Nominations - 5 Wins
Golden Globe Nominee: Best Motion Picture Made for Television
Brian’s Song was a milestone film for me. I was nine and loved football, so I wanted to watch. When it was over I was surprised because I didn’t get a football story as much as I got a love story.
Brian’s Song told the true story of Brian Piccolo, a halfback for the Chicago Bears, and his friendship with teammate Gale Sayers. Piccolo died of cancer in 1970 at the age of 26.
I remember learning about football and learning about cancer for the first time. I came for the football, but this story transcends football.
The thing I remember most though is crying. I cried my eyes out. Every time I watched it. I think this is the first movie that made me feel that emotional. I also remember talking about the movie at school the next day and admitting that I cried. A bunch of classmates said they watched, but didn’t cry.
I knew they were lying.
“I love Brian Piccolo, and I’d like all of you to love him, too.” ~Gale Sayers
The Day After (1983 - ABC)
12 Primetime Emmy Nominations - 2 Wins
Chronologically speaking, The Day After is the last of the ten films on this list. It aired in 1983, which is around the same time that HBO began producing its own films. I look at this as the “end” of the TV movie as I knew it. HBO and the cable networks/platforms that followed began creating content that the networks no longer felt the need to compete with.
Watching The Day After was like getting kicked in the head with a steel-toed boot. Aired right smack dab in the middle of The Cold War, it took an ultra-realistic look at nuclear war. It blew people’s minds while scaring the collective shit out of them.
It originally aired on November 20, 1983 (Happy Thanksgiving!) and remains the most watched TV movie in U.S. history. An estimated 100 million Americans watched it. The population of the U.S. at the time was 234,000,000. That is mind-boggling viewership.
This was not just a movie, this was an event. No commercial time was sold after the nuclear war broke out in the movie, so the second half was aired commercial-free.
ABC set up special 1-800 hotlines for people to call if they got upset about the film. The “day after” airing, it was really the ONLY topic of conversation at workplaces and college classrooms alike. It got everyone thinking about the possibilities, and horrors, of a nuclear war.
This is a perfect example of a film being able to do more than entertain or even educate. It opened entire dialogues centering around what was, at that time, the elephant in the room.
The Deadly Tower (1975 - NBC)
The Top 10 for July featured a film titled Tower which was an animated documentary about Charles Whitman and the events of August 1, 1966. This made for TV movie from 1975 tells the same story with Kurt Russell portraying Whitman.
After killing his mother and wife, Whitman went to the observation deck of the clock tower building on the University of Texas at Austin campus and began shooting. In the 96 minutes before Whitman was shot and killed by police officers, he had killed 15 people and wounded 31.
This is an extremely sad story and it was a terrifying film. It was also my introduction to mass shootings which have, unfortunately, become part of our everyday lives.
Duel (1971 - ABC)
2 Primetime Emmy Nominations - 1 Win
Golden Globe Nominee: Best Movie Made for TV
Read that program description from TV Guide if you will. It’s amazing! TV Guide was an important companion to me during my early TV viewing. There are so many special memories I have about that little weekly magazine, and one of them was the “Close Up,” which is what that program description is. Just read that! What a phenomenal writeup! Great synopsis work!
I’m sure you noticed that the Duel poster on the left looks an awful lot like the JAWS poster. That’s because this TV movie was directed by Steven Spielberg. It’s also because Duel is kind of like JAWS on the highway.
This is a heart-stopping suspense film centering around road rage. It’s also what I call one of those “WWYD?” movies as in What Would You Do? if you were in this situation? Dennis Weaver is exceptional as the everyman driver of the car terrorized by “10 tons of rolling death.”
There was something special about this movie when I saw it. It was different in some way. There was something that I hadn’t seen before. That something turned out to be Spielberg.
The Jericho Mile (1979 - ABC)
4 Primetime Emmy Nominations - 3 Wins
I was a huge fan of ABC’s sprawling miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man from 1976. Talk about a cast! Check out that roster one of these days, it’s quite impressive. The brothers that the story centers around are played by Nick Nolte and Peter Strauss. I was so impressed by Strauss that I was all in when I saw he was going to be in a new TV movie where he played a prisoner who was a long distance runner.
Like Duel, I remember watching this and thinking that I was seeing something different. There was something different about how the director was telling his story. I wasn’t sure if it was the cinematography, the music, the individual shots…turns out the something in this case was director Michael Mann. The Jericho Mile was his first feature movie.
Mann went on to direct Thief, The Last of the Mohicans, Heat, and Collateral. It’s difficult to describe what being a “Mann” film means, but you know it when you see it.
And it’s usually very good. The Jericho Mile is no exception. It is a true underdog story told in a compelling way.
Pray for the Wildcats (1974 - ABC)
Full disclosure: this movie isn’t that good. Leading up to this point I featured films that I loved that were also critically acclaimed and award nominated. Films that dealt with important social issues or personal triumphs and tragedies. None of that is here. This is purely a “guilty pleasure,” but I included it because this is what a majority of made for TV movies were like in the 70s.
I watched this just to see Mike Brady, Captain Kirk, and Captain Cocaine (Marjoe Gortner himself!) get hunted for sport in the desert by Sheriff Andy Taylor.
Any time you feature “the world’s most dangerous game” in your plot line, I’ll be interested. This was no exception. It was fun seeing Robert Reed, William Shatner, and Andy Griffith play something other than their iconic TV show characters.
This is strictly popcorn fare, and there is NOTHING wrong with that!
Raid on Entebbe (1976 - NBC)
10 Primetime Emmy Nominations - 2 Wins
Golden Globe Winner: Best Motion Picture Made for Television
This is an example of how some of our TV movies in America were then shown theatrically overseas. One look at this movie poster alone and you know it’s not your run of the mill made for TV movie. The cast will also lead you in that direction. Peter Finch, Charles Bronson, Jack Warden, and others were still very busy making theatrical films at the time.
Raid on Entebbe details the true story of a daring Israeli commando assault on the Entebbe Airport in Uganda to free hostages of a terrorist hijacking. Airplane hijackings were a big thing during the 70s, so this film detailing a story straight out of the headlines was destined for high viewership.
This was a tense thriller with fine performances including Yaphet Kotto as Idi Amin!
Shirts/Skins (1973 - ABC)
I was in 5th grade in 1973. When you’re a 5th grade boy who lacks self-esteem and athletic talent there are two words that turn your blood cold when you hear them used in gym class; “Shirts/Skins!”
I’m going to be one of the last players picked, I’m certainly NOT going to contribute anything positive to the team, so PLEASE spare me the indignity and embarrassment of also having to remove my shirt!!!
I recognized and liked a lot of the cast (Bill Bixby, Doug McClure, McLean Stevenson, Ron Glass, Loretta Swit) so I knew I was going to tune in.
What I didn’t know is how much I’d end up enjoying it. I remember re-enacting scenes with my friends on the playground the next day. We also re-enacted the rumble from West Side Story on that same playground after seeing that movie. How wasn’t I a theater kid?!?!
As the synopsis reads, this all starts out as a friendly game, but it ends in a bitter dispute. It’s a comedy that gets dark at times and shows what can happen when a joke goes “too far.”
Trapped (1973 - ABC)
1 Primetime Emmy Nomination
Another of those What Would You Do? movies as James Brolin is accidentally locked in a department store overnight and is forced to deal with the store’s security system…a pack of dobermans!
Nothing “important” here. Just a tense, entertaining, action packed 90 minutes as Brolin tries to outsmart the dogs who are bent on his destruction.
Was this common? I worked at Caldor when I was in high school, and I do NOT remember us having a security staff of bloodthirsty dogs.
And look at that promo? Who schedules Trapped after Brian’s Song?!? Come on!
Trilogy of Terror (1975 - ABC)
Trilogy of Terror was off the charts lunacy. It was the very FIRST thing we all discussed at school the next day.
Karen Black is tremendous. I think it was actually her best work. She plays four different roles in the three stories, all of whom are tormented women.
I’ll be totally honest, I don’t remember the other two stories. I don’t think anyone does. The only one we all remember was the last segment. The one with the little creepy doll.
The final piece of the trilogy was titled “Amelia.” In it, Black plays a woman who is terrorized by a little Zuni fetish doll. She is the only person in the entire piece. It reminded me a lot of that “Twilight Zone” episode with Agnes Moorehead being terrorized by the little spaceman. The special effects may pale in comparison to today’s standards, but in 1975, that little guy scared the hell out of us!
And…that’ll do it! Thanks for joining me for a stroll down memory lane and that unique, somewhat forgotten genre of film; the made for TV movie.
Duel, Brian’s Song, Raid on Entebbe, and The Deadly Tower are the only titles currently available for screening. They can all be found for rent on Amazon Prime. And, just for fun, here are the ratings of each film according to IMDb:
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