The best David Janssen’s crime movies
We present our ranking of the best David Janssen’s movies. Do you love cinema? Or are you looking for a movie of your favorite actor to watch tonight? Surely you have some to see or that you did not know yet about David Janssen.
Warning Shot
6.7/10
Hounded by the press for shooting a doctor, an ousted Los Angeles policeman (David Janssen) works his own case.
Superdome
2.9/10
It's Superbowl. And there's a lot of drama, one of the players, Dave Wolecki, has been so preoccupied with the game and if his bum knee will hold out until the game, has been completely ignoring his wife. And McCauley, the team's star quarterback, is being courted by a management firm, and the man the firm has assigned to get him into the firm has been told that if he doesn't get him, he will be out. But that's nothing compared to the real drama. There's a killer running around. It seems that the syndicate doesn't want the highly favored Cougars to win. They tried to get the team's trainer to drug or incapacitate some players, and when he refuses he is killed. So, the team's manager has to try and find out who the killer is, before he does some real damage.
Golden Rendezvous
5.4/10
Action-packed suspense thriller finds innocuous-looking purser Carter (Harris) the unlikely hero when the floating casino on which he works is hijacked by a heavily armed group of mercenaries, led by John Vernon. Complicating matters, a nuclear warhead has been smuggled aboard as collateral for a rendezvous with another ocean liner, loaded with gold bullion. A cast full of supernovas, dazzling set & stunt work, and a catchy theme tune by Jeff Wayne create a pleasing audio-visual experience light on logic but fast paced and entertaining nonetheless.
Smile Jenny, You're Dead
6.7/10
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.
Covert Action
5.4/10
Janssen plays an ex-CIA agent who has become an author, writing both non-fiction exposes (Phillip Agee was in the news at this time) and fiction spy novels. The CIA is on his case, in the person of Arthur Kennedy, CIA chief in Athens, where Janssen is staying. Janssen is pursuing a case that interests him, while dodging the traps set for him by Kennedy and trying to help Maurizio Merli, a former colleague with personal problems.
Twenty Plus Two
6.1/10
A famous movie star's fan club secretary has been brutally murdered. She has in her office old newspaper clippings regarding a missing heiress. Did the secretary know something about the mystery of the heiress? David Janssen investigates.
The Swiss Conspiracy
4.9/10
A Swiss bank discovers some of its clients are becoming the victim of a brilliant blackmailer. The bank's president contacts David Christopher, a former agent with the U.S. Treasury, to help discover who the blackmailer is and to foil his plot. As Christopher delves into the mystery, he uncovers a complicated web of intrigue, car chases, and shoot-outs that takes all of his wits to unravel.
King of the Roaring 20's – The Story of Arnold Rothstein
5.6/10
Gambler Arnold Rothstein marries an actress, avenges his buddy and meets an underworld fate.
The Golden Gate Murders
6.5/10
An elderly, venerable priest goes over the side of the Golden Gate Bridge and everyone except his nurse, Sister Benecia, believes that it was suicide. Sister Benecia finally manages to convince the police department to assign a detective, the cynical, irascible Paul Silver, to investigate. The "Mad Nun" and the "Mad Cop" become a formidable investigative team -- and much, much more.
Ring of Fire
6.2/10
Frank Gorshin and his girlfriend, Joyce Taylor, are on the run from the law when apprehended and arrested by the Sherriff..
Such Dust as Dreams Are Made On
7.1/10
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.
