Zebradelic

Meg Foster on Bronk

When looking over Meg Foster's long list of film and television credits, one will most likely see many familiar items. But how about those obscure titles? I'm always looking for opportunities to check out any Meg Foster performances from the 1970s I haven't yet seen...so I jumped when the chance came along to view her guest role on the 70s cop show Bronk.

Bronk was TV detective series from 1975. It starred the legendary Jack Palance as the title character and the show itself was created by another legend, Carroll O'Connor. Unfortunately, probably due in part to the glut of 70s cop shows, Bronk was cancelled after just one season.

In the Bronk episode "Short Fuse," Meg Foster plays the wife of a man who is killed in an airplane explosion. She has a few key scenes in the episode including one where she really hams it up as she tearfully explains to Lieutenant Bronkov why her dead husband was paid 25,000 dollars to take a mysterious briefcase onto the plane.

Meg Foster, perhaps at the absolute peak of her time as a perennial television guest star, is appropriately beautiful in her role on Bronk. She handles her role with great ease (she could do this type of thing in her sleep by this point) and helps to make this episode of Bronk a nice piece of fluffy entertainment. Of course, its really just another success in a long list of successes for the prolific actress, but it is sure fun to watch Meg Foster in her prime!

Louise Fletcher in the Old West

Before she starred in a bunch of big movies in the the mid 1970s and beyond, Louise Fletcher worked the television guest star scene from 1958-1961. While the actress appeared on a variety of shows, roughly half of her roles were on Westerns.

I'm quite familiar with many of Louise Fletcher's major film roles but it honestly had not occurred to me to take a look at her early work. As it turns out, the actress was quite visually appealing during her formative years on TV and, while giving very solid performances, only hinted at the intensity and high camp she would offers viewers later in her career. Any Fletcher fan, if they haven't already, would do well by investigating some of her early roles.

The following is a chronological pictorial of Louise Fletcher's work on TV westerns between 1958 and 1961.

Bat Masterson - "Cheyenne Club" (1958)

Yancy Derringer - "Old Dixie" (1958)

Lawman - "The Encounter" (1959)

Maverick - "The Saga of Waco Williams" (1959)

Wagon Train - "The Andrew Hale Story" (1959)

Wagon Train - "The Tom Tuckett Story" (1960)

Sugarfoot - "Funeral at Forty Mile" (1960)

Tate - "The Bounty Hunter" (1960)

The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp - "The Law Must Be Fair" (1961)

Jennifer Holmes in The Demon

In 1981, Jennifer Holmes starred in a South African horror movie called The Demon. The film also featured the ever-hammy Cameron Mitchell as a psychic.

The Demon is not the best horror movie ever but neither is it the worst. It's just an interesting film that one may see as they traverse the wonderful world of horror cinema. Hey, at least this one has some good ideas and some intriguing camerawork. It's a decent watch for those with time on their hands and fans of Jennifer Holmes won't be disappointed (she appears sans clothing several times).

Charlotte Rampling in Sequestro di Persona

Charlotte Rampling appeared in four films that were originally released in 1969 and the first of those was Sequestro di Persona. This movie has also been released under quite a few different names, the most popular being Sardinia Kidnapped. The film was dubbed into English for the American market but the version I watched was with Italian language and English subtitles.

Sequestro di Persona is about kidnapping on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia. Charlotte Rampling's character is in Sardinia with a friend from her university in Rome who comes from the island. They are driving down a country road when a kidnapping incident occurs. Afterwards, Rampling wants to go the police to report the incident but her friend's family insists that she does not. Franco Nero, a friend of the family, also advises her not to contact the police or her friend will be killed. She eventually does go the authorities but to no avail. In the end it is up to Franco Nero to take down the kidnappers and whoever is controlling them.

Charlotte Rampling is rather stunning in Sequestro di Persona and it is no wonder that the British actress/model was so sought after for continental European film projects. Her unique looks obviously translated to many different movie markets and she is perfectly lovely here. The actress actually gets quite a bit of screen-time and is worked into the story quite a bit and is not just a token beauty. Any Rampling fan should take a look.