Best Tv Movie Movies of 1971

The Walton family is preparing for Christmas in the early 1930s. It's Christmas Eve, and they are waiting for Daddy Walton to come home from his job in the city some 50 miles away. Since he is late, everyone is worried and over the radio the mother and grandparents hear about an overturned bus and hurt travelers but keep this news from the rest of the family. The story is really a coming of age story about the oldest son John-Boy who must cut down the tree with his grandfather since his father isn't home and is eventually told about his missing father and sets out to find him. An all round heartwarming story, especially if you are a fan of The Waltons. A simple story about a simple family in simple times. Great family entertainment!

When one member of a mystery writing team wants to break from his less talented partner, he becomes the victim in a real-life murder mystery.

A housewife and her teenage daughter, fleeing their boring lives, stop in a diner in the California desert. She runs up against the diner's owner, a gruff, beer-drinking artist whose life's work is the neon sculptures he creates and attaches to the ceiling.

In a marvelously animated version of one of the most beloved of all Dr. Seuss tales, two youngsters find themselves at home with nothing to do on a rainy afternoon. But when the magical, mischievous Cat in the Hat arrives on the scene, they're all cat-apulted into a day of rousing, romping, outlandish antics they - and you - will never forget!

A war hero shoots and kills his business partner; an easily manipulated young divorcée is the only witness.

Frank Sinatra: In Concert at the Royal Festival Hall was an CBS musical television special starring Frank Sinatra broadcast on February 4, 1971, of a concert given by Sinatra at London's Royal Festival Hall on November 16, 1970. The special was directed by Bill Miller, and produced by Harold Davison. Sinatra was introduced on stage by Grace Kelly. Kelly had starred alongside Sinatra in the 1956 film High Society, the last film she made before her marriage to Rainier III, Prince of Monaco. Sinatra had been follicularly challenged for many years, hence all the hats in publicity stills, album covers etc. TV directors were forbidden to photograph him from the back because of this. However, at this concert, Sinatra had completed a very successful hair transplant and deliberately turned his back on the main audience a couple of times to acknowledge the audience sitting backstage, along with running his hand over the back of his head to draw attention to his new coiffure.

Based upon Paul Gallico's delicate novel, Patrick Garland's Golden Globe winning The Snow Goose is a stark and hauntingly beautiful drama set amongst the striking scenery of the Essex salt marshes during the early years of WWII. A bearded Richard Harris leads the modest cast with his sensitive portrayal of tormented soul Philip Rhayader, a lonely misshapen man shunned by society but with a great love of life; Harris isnt overly bitter of his treatment and expresses his compassion through his paintings and love of the waterfowl that surround him. Harris is ably supported by the waiflike Jenny Agutter as Frith, who radiates the requisite amount of youthful innocence and naivety, and won a best supporting actress Emmy Award for her performance.

Diana! is American singer Diana Ross' first solo TV special, which aired on ABC on April 18, 1971. The program was choreographed by David Winters of West Side Story fame, who at that time choreographed all of Ross' stage and TV shows. The special also featured appearances by Danny Thomas and Bill Cosby, plus performances by The Jackson 5, and also included Jackson 5 lead singer Michael Jackson's solo debut.

A hostile youngster who will stop at nothing to break up his mother's marriage is suspected of homicide, and his stepfather fears that he may be the boy's next victim.

Moreno (Bronson) is a tough ranch hand on the vast half million acre Garret Ranch. Rich in timber, gas, cattle and oil, the ranch is a major employer of rough rugged cowboys in northern New Mexico. Unexpectedly, Moreno has been accused , and tried for the murder of the daughter of the Garret ranch's popular foreman (Denver Pyle). As luck turns against the Garret ranch, each man endures struggles against nature, competitors, and each other in order to keep the operation profitable.

A newly blind actor discovers his wife is cheating on him with his best friend and hatches a plot to murder her and frame his friend for it.

A mother travels to New York to see her daughter who is awaiting trial for murder. The mother is totally convinced of her daughter's innocence and does all she can to help her. As the trial progresses however, the mother begins to have doubts.

In California, a young Caucasian girl and a Japanese-American boy defy local prejudices and secretly marry on Dec. 7, 1941, minutes before Pearl Harbor is attacked.

A young doctor returns to his New England home town after a long absence. He visits with the town's kindly old physician, Dr. Cook, a man he has admired since childhood. However, he soon finds out that the old doctor isn't quite what he seems to be, and the young doctor finds his life in danger.

The editor of a small-town newspaper has his past unexpectedly catch up with him: he finds out that a Soviet agent who knew him when he was a spy has been sent to the U.S. to kill him.

A rape case opens racial divisions in a small town. A black sheriff and his white deputy investigate allegations that a wealthy white businessman raped a black college student.

In a badly-overpopulated future, where each couple is only allowed one child and where people over 65 are forbidden medical care under a very draconian set of laws, a young couple, pregnant with their second child (the first died shortly after birth) enlist the help of an elderly former US Senator to help them escape to Canada.

Ryan O'Neal plays Russ Emery, a glib engineer who steals the heart of a fashion model named Sheila Blunden. She in turn leaves her jet setter fiance who turns out to be a psychotic who will not let go of Sheila that easily.

Scholar Dr. Black's seemingly mundane assignment of sorting through the assets of the Barchester Cathedral library takes an eerie turn when he comes across the papers of the late Archdeacon, who plotted to gain his position through murder. However, he soon comes to discover something truly horrific about the wooden choir stalls in the church, which are tied to a famous local tree and a sinister local legend.

Death takes a human form and visits Earth to try to find out why humans want so desperately to cling to life. He unexpectedly falls in love with a beautiful young woman.

Four elderly ladies with a lot of time on their hands get the idea to create a fictional "girl" for a computer dating service. However, things take a turn for the worse when their description of the "girl" attracts a psychopath.

Dames at Sea is a musical with book and lyrics by George Haimsohn and Robin Miller and music by Jim Wise. The musical is a parody of large, flashy 1930s Busby Berkeley-style movie musicals in which a chorus girl, newly arrived off the bus from the Midwest to New York City, steps into a role on Broadway and becomes a star. It originally played Off-Off-Broadway in 1966 at the Caffe Cino and then played Off-Broadway, starring newcomer Bernadette Peters, beginning in 1968 for a successful run. The television version was broadcast on the Bell System Family Theater on NBC on November 15, 1971. The cast had extra chorus girls and boys, and there were full production numbers, turning into the very thing it was spoofing. Ann Miller was singled out for praise, especially when "she was allowed to tap out her brassy...temperamental star..."

Three kids think they see a sea monster in the calm waters of Strawberry Cove, and set out to find what's behind the mystery.

On the day before she retires, a teacher discovers that a student she had flunked ten years previously is out to kill her.

On her way home from a stay at a mental institution after a traumatic rape, a woman realizes that someone is deliberately trying to drive her insane.

Television thriller in which a scheming doctor murders once for love and then has to kill again to cover it up.

The adventures of a newly married teenage couple in the Old West.

On a transcontinental flight, the flight crew suffer from food poisoning and become incapacitated. Now it's up to one of the passengers to safely land the plane.

A down-and-dirty town is forced to shape up when a new marshal (Clint Walker) comes to town. However, when a scheme is launched to destroy the lawman's authority, he must discover the perpetrators and preserve his reputation.

A deranged mother avenges herself on the man she thinks seduced her daughter by imprisoning him in a cage in her basement.

An ex-prostitute, feeling an emptiness in her life, decides to fill it by buying a car.

A prank that starts with a group of college students creating a fictitious person so they can get a credit card develops into a plot that leaves three of them dead.

Dr. Harvey Wallinger is one of Nixon's aides who rises through the ranks to become the "real" power behind the president.

Reverend John Keyes and his wife, Lorna, on their way to a new congregation out west, break down in the desert and are rescued by the residents of a nearby town. At first warm and welcoming, the townspeople become more and more solicitous of John and insistent that he stay on as their minister, against the wishes of Lorna, who goes unheeded and slowly becomes deathly ill. Will John realize the danger before it is too late?

A social climber/con artist schemes to inherit one million dollars by trading identities with a dying man.

A small-town district attorney is saddled with several major investigations, including a gambler's murder and a possible insurance scam.

Five young women vacation together at a resort on an isolated island. They are the resort's only customers and, aside from the boat captain who brought them here and the resort's handyman, Wylie, the island's only inhabitants. When one of the women is found dead, the others begin to fear the captain, who's been acting strangely. Wylie and the captain argue over the identity of the murderer, each accusing the other, and a fight erupts. Alarmed, the women attempt to leave the island, but the boat -- their only means of escape -- explodes and sinks before they can board it. Then Wylie comes to their aid, claiming to have killed the boat captain in self-defense and telling the women they're safe. But are they?

Ken Loach production for The Wednesday Play; a fictionalised account of the Pilkingtons Glass strike in St Helens, 1970.

A rancher comes home and finds that his son has been murdered and his daughter kidnapped by a bandit gang. He hires a professional tracker with a reputation for finding his quarry to help him find the gang and rescue his daughter.

A bachelor's life is interrupted by the appearance of a teenager who claims to be his son.

Lieutenant Columbo matches wits against Investigator Brimmer, a former cop turned private sleuth who tries to blackmail a client's wife. When she refuses, he accidentally kills her and it's up to Frank Columbo to nail him.

A Bronx working girl is drawn into an elaborate extortion plot after being kidnapped by a gang of sophisticated con men who force her, because of her remarkable resemblance, to impersonate a wealthy socialite. Based on E.V. Cunningham's (Howard Fast's) novel, "Shirley."

When one member of a mystery writing team wants to break from his less talented partner, he becomes the victim in a real-life murder mystery. Columbo is on the scene (even if he’s not on the same page).

A scientist's experiment could lead to the first man-made, functioning, living organism. An elite escape artist-private investigator is working to stop him.

Dennie has returned from a year among the hippies to her superficial, image-conscious suburban family. She must face their disapproval of her actions. They refuse to even try to understand. She must also deal with an ex-lover, and a beloved young sister who is following in her footsteps, wanting the idealistic hippie life but making some rash decisions in the process.

An enchanting tale of childhood in a sleepy Cotswold village during and immediately after the First World War.

A disillusioned housewife on a vacation in the woods is disturbed by her husband continually trying to get her to come home and, more ominously, a mysterious howling at night.

A girl goes on vacation to the mountains where she finds a wild horse named Hacksaw. With a little help, she captures the stud and it doesn't take long until the man who helped her starts wagon racing, since Hacksaw refuses to have any man or woman on his back.

In the near future, a space station dubbed Earth II is built for the purpose of scientific research and world peace. However, that peace is shattered when the Chinese send up a nuclear bomb that is orbiting just a few miles away from the station. Can the crew disarm the bomb before it detonates, not only destroying the station but setting off World War III?