Jerry Thorpe
1926 - 2018
Such Dust as Dreams Are Made On
Jerry Thorpe
David Janssen, Martin Sheen
David Janssen plays Harry Orwell, a retired L.A. cop who was shot during a robbery and whose partner was killed in the incident. Harry is in constant pain due to the bullet lodged near his spine, but he works off and on as a private detective to supplement his pension. Late one night, Harry is approached in his home by one of the men who shot him (Martin Sheen) to help find the other man (Sal Mineo) involved in the robbery, who he says is trying to kill him. Is it a setup? This was the first pilot for the ABC detective series *Harry O*, which (after a second pilot, *Smile Jenny, You're Dead*, was picked up) aired from September 1974 to April 1976.
Such Dust as Dreams Are Made On
Stickin' Together
Jerry Thorpe
Clu Gulager, Lory Walsh
A Hawaiian beach bum finds himself surrogate uncle to five orphaned children, helping them stay together, in this pilot movie for a TV series which turned up briefly in the spring of 1979 as "The Mackenzies of Paradise Cove."
Stickin' Together
Smile Jenny, You're Dead
Jerry Thorpe
David Janssen, Andrea Marcovicci
Harry Orwell has been retired from the force ever since he caught a bullet that lodged inoperably in his back. But that doesn’t mean the man called Harry O is out of the action. Moonlighting as a private sleuth, fighting off daily back pain and typically traveling by public bus instead of his own car (“It gives a man a chance to think”), he’s on the trail of the lowlife who murdered his pal’s son-in-law. It won’t be the only time the killer strikes before Harry closes in. David Janssen (The Fugitive) portrays dogged detective Harry in the telefilm that was the second of two pilots preceding his memorable Harry O series. Among the highlights: young Jodie Foster as Liberty, the wise-beyond-her-years homeless waif Harry befriends.
Smile Jenny, You're Dead
I Want to Keep My Baby!
Jerry Thorpe
Mariel Hemingway, Susan Anspach
A 15-year-old girl becomes pregnant by her boyfriend and decides to keep the baby and raise her on her own, instead of initially choosing abortion at the insistence of her boyfriend, or raising the baby at home with her meddling mother.
I Want to Keep My Baby!
Blood & Orchids
Jerry Thorpe
Kris Kristofferson, Jane Alexander
Hester Murdoch is found naked and nearly beaten to death by four young Hawaiian men on the beach and taken to the hospital. Some of the men didn't want to get involved, fearing they might be blamed, because she was white, but do so anyway. Almost immediately everyone suspects they are to blame. When Hester's politically influential mother Doris finds out what really happened, she fearing a scandal, forces her daughter to blame the men who rescued her, of raping and beating her. It's up to detective Curt Maddox, to find out what really happened, and their Hawaiian lawyer to do the impossible. Convince a white court of law, that they are innocent.
Blood & Orchids
All God's Children
Jerry Thorpe
Richard Widmark, Ned Beatty
Big city judge Parke Denison is involved in a forced busing dispute at the climax of his long career. The friendship between two families -- one white, one black -- and their sons, who are buddies, provides the microcosm of this major social issue that has been argued for several decades.
All God's Children
Crosscurrent
Jerry Thorpe
Robert Hooks, Jeremy Slate
Two San Francisco detectives investigating a murder committed on one of the city's famous cable cars discover that the victim was the son of a shipping tycoon. The trail leads to a drug dealer, a shady physician and a nervous police captain
Crosscurrent
