Desperado (TV)
Studio: Universal TV, 1987
Source: Based on the Elmore Leonard Original Screenplay, “Duell McCall”.
Length: 111 min
Available Formats:
Genre: Crime/Contemporary
Special Notes:
Director: Virgil W. Vogel
Producer:: Walter Mirisch
Screenwriter:: Elmore Leonard
Cast:: Alex McArthur, David Warner, Yaphet Kotto , Donald Moffat , Stephen Davies, Lise Cutter, Sydney Walsh, Robert Vaughn , Gladys Knight , Pernell Roberts, Richard Marcus, (I) Dirk Blocker , Ed Adams ,(I) Linda Almond, William P. Brown
Jacket Copy:
Reviews:
Desperado was designed as the pilot for a weekly series, centered around around the exploits of itinerant cowboy Duell McCall (Alex McArthur). Instead, it was the first of several feature-length TV movies, produced between 1987 and 1989. Elmore wrote the first one. “Universal asked me to do anything I wanted that might become a series,” he said. “Walter Mirisch, the producer, suggested a western. ‘Silverado’ and ‘Pale Rider’ were out then. I wrote a treatment. Brandon Tartikoff [president of NBC Entertainment] said, “Okay.” He liked westerns. In July of ‘85, I did a revision. I started out with cattle and then I changed it to mining.’’ I didn’t hear anything more until the following January when I heard it went in production.” Desperado first aired April 27, 1987.
In Desperado, Duell McCall (Alex MacArthur) finds himself in the middle of a deadly feud in a small mining town. As the only honest man in the territory, he is naturally double-crossed. Framed for the murder of Sheriff Whaley (Robert Vaughn), McCall wanders the frontier to find the one man who can clear him. Desperado was alright TV but the movie didn’t have the Elmore Leonard western feel of his original script.
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