Here’s the IMDB description of this TV movie/pilot: “A road warrior vigilante avenges his brother’s death at the hands of a crazy motorist by using his souped-up pickup to apprehend drunken drivers and others who abuse their driving privileges.”

Sounds like a Mad Max clone, right? But what if I told you that it starred Ken Wahl pre-Wiseguy and was directed by Abel Ferrera (The Driller Killer, Ms. 45)?

Rick Benton (Wahl) is a mechanic that loves two things: working on cars and his little brother. However, a killer is on the loose named Skull, who uses a death car (Death Car on the Freeway!) to randomly kill other drivers. One of his victims is Rick as he’s teaching his brother to drive. The accident costs his brother his life and leaves Rick in a coma.

To get back, Rick becomes a vigilante that uses an armed pickup truck that can take on any car. He drives at night, making sure drunk drivers are off the roads and that the Skull can be found. He calls in citizen’s arrests but the cops don’t want his help. And the public is divided on whether he’s a help or a hindrance.

Originally airing on February 3, 1986, this film was shot as if it were to be a feature. It also has Nancy Allen as the love interest Susan Neville, who is also a talk show host that allows a Greek chorus of public sentiment to appear in the film. Robert Culp shows up as Lieutenant Frank Mason. Also, look out for 1980’s DJ and “Disco Duck” singer Rick Dees, Stan Shaw (Detective Sapir from The Monster Squad) and Robert Phalen, who played Dr. Terence Wynn in the original Halloween (his role was taken over by Mitch Ryan in Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers).

If you’re coming to The Gladiator wanting The Road Warrior, you aren’t going to find it. That said, it’s a tale of one man wanting to avenge his brother’s death, more Frank Castle than Max Rockatansky.

Five of the 1969 Dodge Chargers used in The Gladiator had been General Lee’s from The Dukes of Hazzard. Two of the five survived production and were given to Smith Brothers Restorations by the original show’s stunt coordinator. Even better, John Schneider donated the engine from his General Lee to this restoration process.  

The Gladiator is available on Amazon Prime and TubiTv.

Originally airing on May 7, 1977, The Possessed is the kind of movie where you say, “This would be a good series.” That’s because it’s a back door pilot for a show that never happened. I really wish that it would have.

Kevin Leahy (James Farentino) is a Catholic priest who has fallen from his faith. He drunkenly smashes his car and dies, but God sends him back to our world to stop evil.

That divine mission brings him to the Helen Page School, where Ellen Sumner (Claudette Nevins, All the Marbles, Tuff Turf) is having issues dealing with her daughter Weezie (Ann Dusenberry, Jaws 2) and sister Louise, but soon has an even bigger problem — people and objects like her typewriter are suddenly bursting into flames.

The other schoolgirls play a prank on Weezie and are reprimanded, but soon, the curtains in Weezie’s room are on fire. Oh these bad girls! There’s Lane (Diana Scarwid, Christina from Mommie Dearest!), Alex, Celia (Dinah Manoff, daughter of Lee Grant and the first person to be killed by Chuckie in Child’s Play and also Richard Mulligan’s daughter on Empty Nest) and Marty (P.J. Soles!). Lane is the next to go up in flames at graduation practice, which brings Sergeant Taplinger around, investigating everyone.

There are plenty of subjects and people misbehaving, like Paul Winjam (Harrison Ford!), a teacher who has been romantically involved with Louise and now Weezie. And soon, Paul Leahy comes to help, but Paul soon dies when he catches on fire.

Soon, Louise has gone full Regan, spitting fluids and nails at our priest hero. He puts out her fire, saves her and disappears into a burning pool, one assumes to continue onto another occult adventure that will never happen.

The Possessed is pretty decent, taking it’s time to set up who the killer is and having a hero who really comes off as cold and cynical. It’s worth watching, even if it’s to spot the actor and see plenty of your favorites in early roles.

Sammy Davis Jr. battled racism throughout his career, even from the wings of the stage as his Rat Pack cohorts would call him racist names like smokey.

In an interview with Roots author Arthur Haley in Playboy, the entertainer talked about the first time he came up against his race: in the Army. He was beaten for looking at a white female commanding officer while she was giving him orders, with his body covered with anti-black graffiti and covered in turpentine. That night, as in every night he served, he was still asked to perform for the troops. That’s when Davis learned he’d have to fight to be respected. And once he was in, he’d stay in by any means necessary — even coming off as insincere.

Despite being a member of the Hollywood crowd, Davis still could never be a full member. His romance with white girls like Kim Novak rubbed people the wrong way. And even though he was a large financial supporter of the Civil Rights Movement, he still had a complex relationship with the black community.

For example, he earned plenty of ire when he supported Nixon in 1972. Although he was originally a Democrat and supported JFK in 1960 and RFK in 1968, John F. Kennedy would go on to revoke an inauguration invitation to “Mr. Show Business” because he married white actress May Britt. So maybe his conversion makes sense because Nixon invited him to be the first black guest at the White House.

Once, Jack Benny asked Sammy about his handicap on the golf course. He answered, “Handicap? Talk about a handicap. I’m a one-eyed Negro Jew.”

That said — it’s also believed that Davis was introduced to Anton LaVey’s Church of Satan at an orgy at the nightclub that he owned, The Factory. This also makes sense. There are plenty of stories about how Sammy loved the free-swinging sex scene of the 70s, even learning how to deep throat from the woman who introduced it to the zeitgeist, porn star Linda Lovelace.

Anyways — I could go on about Sammy Davis Jr. He was a fascinating man — who could smoke four packs of cigarettes a day, draw and fire a Colt Single Action Army Revolver in a quarter of a second and was able to both be a parody of himself and parody himself seemingly at the same time. But today, we’re here to discuss a strange TV pilot that Davis was in, one that would lead to him accepting an honorary second-degree membership in the Church of Satan.

Originally airing on February 14, 1973, on NBC, Sammy would star as Sammy in this series pilot. He’s a demon who has screwed up for the last thousand or so years and now wants to succeed and prove himself to his boss Lucifer, who is played by Christopher Lee. If you don’t immediately stop reading this and go watch this show, allow me to share this photo of Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee CBE, CStJ, with a gorgeous head of hair.

To win over his boss, Sammy has to convince Burnett J. Emerson (Jack Klugman!) to sell his soul. In return, he’ll get revenge on his boss (Adam West!) and gain wealth for seven years (and then go to Hell for eternity, which is a lot like Miami, only less humid). 

Davis would flirt with The Church of Satan for some time, painting one fingernail red, wearing the Baphomet medallion and flashing the horns from time to time before dropping out by the mid-1970s (around the time that Anton LaVey went into seclusion).

One wonders where this show would have gone if it had become a weekly series. Would the Devil tempt a new celebrity every week? Would Klugman stick around? Would LaVey make a cameo?

All we have is this pilot, which is filled with Satanic imagery, a lack of a laugh track and plenty of early 1970s strangeness. What a weird time to be alive, one that we’ll never truly comprehend today. Still, if all that came of this was this photo of Davis with LaVey and future Temple of Set leader Michael Aquino, I’ll consider it a success.

Occult investigator Norliss has disappeared, but his legacy lives on in a series of tapes that unfold the gripping narratives of his many escapades, such as his encounter with a widow and her undead artist husband. Originally developed as a series pilot by NBC, it was eventually broadcast as a TV movie on February 21, 1973.

Written by William F. Nolan (Logan’s Run, Trilogy of Terror, Burnt Offerings) and produced by Dan Curtis (Dark Shadows, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Curse of the Black Widow and pretty much any TV horror you’d see in the 1970s), this was initially entitled Demon.

Sanford Evans, our guide into the mysterious world of David Norliss (Roy Thinnes, Airport 1975, TV’s The Invaders), listens to the tapes that explain Norliss’s sudden disappearance.

A recent case concerned Ellen Cort (Angie Dickinson of TV’s Police Woman), whose husband has come back from the dead. It turns out that before his death from a mysterious disease, he had become involved with Mademoiselle Jeckiel (Vonetta McGee, Blacula), who gave him a scarab that he was buried with. Sheriff Tom Hartley (Claude Atkins!) doesn’t believe any of this, even when James keeps draining the blood of young women and a gallery owner who tries to break into his coffin and take his ring.

Bullets won’t stop the undead man, who’s also created a sculpture made of human blood that will bring the Egyptian deity Sargoth into our world. Our hero, Norliss, is kind of ineffectual, as the undead artist kills Jeckiel, killing Ellen’s sister and raising the demon. He finally stops the monster by setting the studio on fire with everyone inside, the dictionary definition of a pyrrhic victory.

That’s when Evans finishes the tape and wonders if this is Norliss’ last adventure. Nope. There’s another tape, even if the series never happened.  That didn’t stop this TV movie from being aired in syndication and on the CBS Late Movie.

Originally airing on May 22, 1977, this attempt at a weekly series comes from director Paul Wendkos (The Mephisto Waltz, Secrets, Haunts of the Very Rich) and Hammer veteran Jimmy Sangster (The Legacy; Scream, Pretty Peggy; Horror of Dracula; The Revenge of Frankenstein).

I was really excited about the potential of this one, which promises from its Amazon listing that writer Andy Stuart (Dack Rambo) teams up with an exorcist named Father Kemschler (Dan O’Herlihy!) to battle Satan and a group of devil worshipers led by Mr. Rimmin (Richard Lynch!).

Seems like Rimmin has been after a girl named Jessica from the moment she was born, as her mother was drugged and attended to by nuns who took her baby away the moment it was born. Her mom was then killed by a black cat and Jessica is raised by his people, with her origins kept a secret.

When Andy and Jessica hook up and decide to get married, she’s unable to even get near the altar. That’s because she’s been promised to the demon Astaroth and must be kept a virgin until the beast comes back and puts a devil baby in her womb. Now, the cult that has been behind every moment of her life must keep her a virgin by cockblocking Andy at every turn.

I was totally prepared for pure 1970’s Satanic bliss, only to find myself in the midst of a relationship drama for much of the films first half. Sure, there was a flashback where a woman imagined a nearly nude and totally burned up Lynch — he came by those scars the hard way — attacking her. I was thinking — is this the TV movie version of Enter the Devil — only for cruel reality to make me learn differently.

That said, there are some good moments here, like a woman being killed by her own housecats under Rimmin’s command. And Elyssa Davalos as Jessica has plenty of great qualities that make her a wonderful horror heroine in distress. And while she’s top billed when you look this film up, Kim Cattrall makes a short appearance.

I wanted to love this. It has all the elements that you would think would lead to magic. Yet it can’t put them all together. Sometimes when you deal with the devil, you don’t get what you wanted.

If you’d like to see this for yourself, it’s on Amazon Prime or you can grab the Nightmare Worlds boxset from our old friends at Mill Creek Entertainment.

Believe it or not, there was once a time when Star Trek wasn’t a movie franchise and its stars had to find other projects. For Leonard Nimoy, that meant plenty of TV movies, including this pilot for a British show that wasn’t bought.

Race car driver Tom Kovack (Nimoy) begins to see psychic visions, causing him to crash. He meets up with Michelle Brent, a paranormal expert, to help him figure out what is happening. Soon, they find themselves part of an occult mystery in England.

It’s not all that great, to be honest. It’s mostly worthwhile to see Nimoy play against Spock type. Instead of being cold and emotionless, he’s a playboy. And given to wearing some natty fashion, like plenty of hats!

Before Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Nimoy would go on to scare the shit out of me repeatedly as a child by hosting In Search Of, which convinced me that all monsters were real and constantly trying to kill me.

Even better, the original specials — before the series — try to find out the truth about ancient astronauts (the 70’s!), aliens, mysteries and more. Other than the final one, which was released as Manbeast! Myth or Monster they’re narrated by Rod Serling.

Strangely enough, The History Channel is redoing this show. The host? Today’s Spock, Zachary Quinto.

Originally broadcast on January 15, 1972, this film emerged at the tail end of the superspy craze to present a truly insane idea for a weekly series that was never to be: Bette Davis as a villainous vixen who commands an army beneath the Scottish highlands to do her bidding. Imagine if Dr. Evil were the lead in his own show and you have a vague idea of how completely bonkers this movie is.

Arming her men with sonic weaponry and possessing the ability to implant memories that make people do whatever she wants, what the titular vaguely Asian spiderlady wants is to get her very own nuclear submarine.

Helping and hindering her in this plan is Anthony Lawrence (Robert Wagner), whose father was a past lover/adversary of Madame Sin. She’s helped by Malcolm De Vere (Denholm Elliot) and a huge army of sycophants, including numerous women who dress like nuns.

If it seems like I am describing a dream I had that is my best film idea ever, this is close. Imagine if Bette Davis were a villainess on The Avengers, but one that — spoiler warning — wipes out every single person who faces her and even dares to imagine kicking the British Royal Family out of Buckingham Palace.

While intended to be an ABC in the U.S. and ITC in the U.K. co-production, this film sadly wasn’t picked up. It’d be hard to see this level of quality continued week in, week out, such as shooting everything at Pinewood Studios.

Madame Sin was directed by David Greene, who was also behind the film version of Godspell and big TV event movies like Roots and Rich Man, Poor Man. One of its writers, Barry Shear, was the director of Wild in the Streets.

Ah the 1970’s, when spy movies like this would just show up as Movies of the Week and then disappear into the ether, only to remain in our subconsciousness or perhaps a replay on the CBS Late Movie.

You can get this from Shout! Factory.

Originally airing on January 20, 1979, the pilot called Salvage debuted to high ratings — and was brought to us by Harve Bennett, who previously gave us The Six Million Dollar Man. It was an intriguing start to a series. Harry Broderick (Andy Griffith) and his Jettison Scrap and Salvage Co. have a dream, as stated in the show’s opening words: “I want to build a spaceship, go to the moon, salvage all the junk that’s up there, bring it back and sell it.”

Along with former astronaut Addison “Skip” Carmichael and NASA fuel expert Melanie “Mel” Slozar (who have a past history), they create The Vulture, a spaceship made entirely from reclaimed salvage and powered by monohydrazine (Isaac Asimov was the science consultant for this program).

The TV movie was followed by 15 episodes (20 were produced), with the last 4 shows only running decades later. Despite the initial success, ABC put this show up against WKRP in Cincinnati and Little House on the Prarie. That explains why it died a quick death.

I remember loving the initial TV movie and this was discussed often in our home as a series that had so much potential and was stopped too quickly. Luckily, CBS Late Night would replay the original pilot and the two-part episodes “Golden Orbit” and “Hard Water” as movies. CBS Late Night was an amazing, wonderful way to spend the summer as a kid in the 1970’s and 80’s, as in the pre-digital (and even VCR era) it was the only way to see shows like Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Avengers, Return of the Saint, Thriller and The Prisoner. That said, a 60-minute show would be stretched out and padded with commercials. But we didn’t have many options back then!

The CBS Late Night movie also played some really incredible films, like The Fearless Vampire Killers, Trog, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, The World, The Flesh and the Devil, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, Frankenstein Created Woman, Dracula, Prince of Darkness, THX 1138, Gargoyles, She Waits, The Bad Seed, Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?, Count Yorga, The Victim, The Abominable Dr. Phibes, Dr. Phibes Rises Again!, The Bat People, Frogs, edited movies of Columbo, Cannon, Kojak, McMillan and Wife and Banacek, Necromancy, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, House of 1,000 Dolls (“quite possibly the sleaziest AIP movie ever made”), The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (!), Rowan and Martin’s The Maltese Bippy, Killdozer, Ruby, Beyond the Door, The Devil’s Rain!, the Dr. Strange TV movie, Mitchell, The Initiation of Sarah, Patrick, Ator: The Fighting Eagle, KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park, The Apple (!), It’s Alive, It Lives Again, Q: The Winged Serpent, Fulci’s The Psychic (!), even supposedly the legendary lost movie The Astrologer (although this list doesn’t have that). These ran on free TV, folks. Where anyone could find them. I’m still just freaked out that this was available, way into the late 1980’s.

Just watch this and try not to be sad that the world is not as perfect as it once was.

If you want to see Salvage 1, you’ll have to rely on YouTube. Or try DVD Rare, which has every episode in one set.

* Starlog-issued souvenir magazine image courtesy of Kochcomics/eBay.

Long ago, in a remote corner of the world, ancient astronauts landed from a distant planet with a gift for mankind…the Phoenix. For a thousand years, he has waited…suspended in time. Now, he’s awakened to complete his mission. He searches for his partner, Mira. For only she knows his ultimate assignment on Earth. Dependent on the sun for his trek for survival, endowed with a superior intelligence, he has fully developed the powers of the human mind. Relentlessly pursued by those who seek to control him, he must stay free. The Phoenix.

In 1981, a young Sam (Becca was just a glimmer at this point) was obsessed was science fiction, ancient aliens and television. This TV movie — and the four episodes that followed — were repeatedly discussed in the Panico household as a show that seemed to have such promise and then suddenly just disappeared.

Judson Scott (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) played Bennu, an ancient astronaut who is awakened from suspended animation within an Incan pyramid. He’s constantly on the run, as the government wants to either control or cut him up (they’re led by Richard Lynch from Bad Dreams).

In the movie, he acquires a love interest who is killed as a result of his escape. The whole movie is pretty dark, actually, setting Bennu up as someone above human emotion and morality who learns how important life on our planet is. His home planet is called Aurica in the movie, but Eidebran for the series.

He has plenty of powers, too. Physical levitation, telepathy, astral projection, precognition, clairvoyance and telekinesis, which are all helped by his Phoenix Amulet and its ability to draw use solar energy.

Beyond Richard Lynch’s Justin Preminger antagonist, Bennu must also contend with another alien named Yago. Just like our hero uses the sun, he uses our moon. It’s hinted that Lucifer and Dracula are both fictionalized versions of this villain, who can deafen with his Bells of Thon and has a musical instrument named the Black Moonball that allows him to teleport or change his appearance. Even more interesting to me, at least, is that his original name in the show was to be Aiwaz, the angel who read The Book of the Law to Crowley!

Bennu isn’t all alone, though. He’s helped by Dr. Ward Frazier (E.G. Marshall, Creepshow) and spends the series searching for his mate, Mira (Sheila Frazier, Super Fly).

The show was created by Anthony Lawrence, who wrote several Elvis movies and created the TV series The Sixth Sense that was often syndicated along with Night Gallery. And get this, a few of the episodes were directed by Douglas Hickox (Theater of Blood)!

There’s never been an actual release of this series, but you can find it on iOffer and other grey market sites.

Before Mandy. Before The Wicker Man. Before Face/Off. Hell, before Fast Times at Ridgemont High and anything else he did, Nicholas Cage appeared in this blast of odd, a failed TV pilot from 1981 that was supposed to be the Laugh-In for the video generation.

This absolute mess was directed by Don Mischer, who today is better known for being the master of big scale appointment TV. From Motown 25 to the Emmys, the Billboard Music Awards, Superbowls, the Academy Awards, the Kennedy Center Honors and more, Mischer is the go-to guy for these glitzy events. But before that, he was directing specials for Donna Summer, Barry Manilow and Goldie Hawn. Which makes sense, as he was also trying to get Laugh-In relaunched in 1977 and was part of the Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell that kept the SNL trademark name until it went off the air in just three episodes.

In addition to the future Nick “Kinski of the West Coast” Cage, here billed as Nicholas Coppola, we have one of my favorite actors ever, Crispin Glover as the wacky host of the show. There are moments where he acts ridiculous, such as dancing to a cassette of the Talking Heads — the music being played is notably not played by the Talking Heads but instead probably some library music — but he shows none of the undercurrent of menace that would soon inform so many of his characters.

Here where this gets really odd — the teenagers on the show play themselves, with even Glover’s real-life mom playing the voice of his show mom. However, the few adults in the show, such as Mr. O’Reilly, the owner of the store where everyone gathers, who is played by Jackie “I ruined Caddyshack 2” Mason. Actually, I kid. Everything ruined Caddyshack 2.

In addition to Cage and Glover, there’s Jill Schoelen — yes, from The Stepfather and Popcorn — playing the cute girl of the bunch, plus original Facts of Life cast member Julie Piekarski, future CSI writer David Rambo, Kevin Cortes, Lisa Hope Ross and rocking guitarist Janet Robin, who was actually a student of Randy Rhodes and was Jennifer Jason Leigh’s guitar coach for The Hateful Eight.

The show starts with Glover breaking the fourth wall and speaking right to the camera, somewhat awkwardly, about the plight of the kids in 1981: “Well, we’re all teenagers and we’re all treated as faceless members of this society. Our parents bug us at home, our teachers always hassle us at school, and when we drive, the cops are always on our backs. And everyone thinks you’re on dope! Well, I just want you to know that teenagers are woven into the fabric of American life, and, without us, there’s no future.”

There are plenty of these dialogue-heavy soliloquies that break up the show, which is somewhat episodic, somewhat bursts of sketches (again, think Laugh-In), such as a moment where Cage flexes for the camera and drops a heavy dose of reality on the show:

“But you don’t think there’s gonna be a war, do ya? I wish my dad wouldn’t talk about it all the time. My mom looks at me and starts to cry! And dad says the Army’ll make a man outta me. Look at that! Huh? I thought I was a man already.”

This wildly uneven collection of material continues with a moment discussing teen runaways that goes from upsetting to jokey to, well, upsetting again and then, there are musical numbers. That’s right — you haven’t lived until you’ve seen Nick Cage wearing overalls and no shirt singing the most soulless version of “9 to 5” ever committed to video. There’s also an equally milquetoast rendition of “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” just to cement the fact that this show is going to hit you with musical choices on the level of Cop Rock.

The Best of Times is a true oddity, but it’s also a pop culture time capsule of what Hollywood thought that youth culture was before MTV even rocketed into space just three weeks after this show aired for the first and only time.