The A-Team (TV Series) The Bend in the River: Part 1 (1984) User Reviews

The A-Team was great fun; this movie-length episode is a good example

[tarwaterthomas · 8/10 · 19 July 2019]

Those soldiers of fortune, Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith, B.A. Baracus, "Faceman" Templeton, and "Mad Dog" Murdock, attempt to find missing archaelolgist Brian Lefcourt (Barry Van Dyke) who was going to explore the lost city of Del Rio somewhere in the Amazon Basin but was captured by the notorious El Cajon (who keeps a sawed-off shotgun in his wooden leg) and his band of river pirates. In a surprising turn of events, the A-Team and the pirates take on a bunch of modern day Nazis who plan to bring on the Fourth Reich by constructing a nuclear power reactor for manufacturing nuclear weapons. There is plenty of gunfire, explosions, vehicles overturning, action, and great stunt work---but nobody gets killed (par for the course in this television movie). The special effects were supervised by Al DiSarro. Frank Lupo and Stephen J. Cannell wrote this episode's script, while William Cruse took care of the art direction, and Craig R. Baxley supervised the second unit direction and stunt coordination. THE A-TEAM went downhill right after Robert Vaughn became a cast member and played the head of a super-secret agency. 1960s leading actor John Ashley served as producer, while Mike Post and Pete Carpenter handled the musical score. There was a series of novels based on THE A-TEAM series, and they were published under the house name of Charles Heath; most of the novels were written by freelance author Ron Renauld. By the by, Brian Lefcourt and his fiancee Tawnia Baker (Marla Heasley), who called on the A-Team to find her man, are married by El Cajon!. Loads of fun for one and all.

First half of a decent two parter

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 8 April 2018]

THE BEND IN THE RIVER: PART 1 is the first half of a two-hour A-Team special that came at the beginning of season three. It picks up considerably from the lackluster first episode, with the foreign locale adding to the exoticism and plenty of well-established fun from the characters. I'm not sure how the old gag involving Mr. T's hatred of planes keeps on working but somehow it does. The story features larger than life characters, familiar faces, and a palpable sense of menace.

Tawnia Baker's departure: Part 1

[safenoe · 7/10 · 14 April 2024]

The Bend in the River: Part 1 sees Tawnia Baker (courageously played by Marla Heasley) being phased out through marriage of all things, and in some ways this was reflecting of a time when if a teacher got married, they would have to resign believe it or not. Anyway, I remember watching The Bend in the River: Parts 1 and 2 when it debuted, and it was sad to see Tawnia Baker leave, especially knowing that it was George Peppard who objected to her character. Anyway, Barry Van Dyke, who later gained fame in his own series one decade later, Diagnosis Murder, plays Tawnia's fiancee so that's it init.

Versatile

[bevo-13678 · 10/10 · 7 December 2020]

Ha ha this show is not just cars flipping over. They have boats too