Do You Remember?: Desperado (The TV Movie Franchise)

In April of 1987, NBC debuted the western TV movie Desperado that starred Alex McArthur as Duell McCall, a man of principle who roamed the West helping people in trouble while struggling to get himself out of trouble, clearing himself of a false murder charge. Duell’s main quest centered on searching for a witness who could prove his innocence. Of course the title of the film was inspired by the 1973 song Desperado by the band The Eagles as performed by Don Henley.

The first film aired on April 27, 1987, finding Duell McCall caught in the middle of a deadly feud in a frontier mining town and falling in love with a local girl named Nora (Lise Cutter). Amon the cast members of that first film were veteran actors Donald Moffat (The Right Stuff film), Pernell Roberts (the original series Bonanza) and Robert Vaughn (the original series The Man From U.N.C.L.E.)

Desperado received “excellent notices and ratings,” but the network decided not to pick it up as a series, instead ordering an additional two-hour TV movie.

The Return of Desperado premiered on NBC on February 15, 1988, which centered on Duell dealing with a crooked sheriff committing crimes and blaming others. Among the cast members were Robert Foxworth (Falcon Crest), Vanessa Bell Calloway (What’s Love Got to Do with It movie) and Billy Dee Williams (the original Star Wars franchise).

After that sequel aired, NBC decided to move forward with a series, but a contract with series lead McArthur for a weekly series had expired, and the actor was no longer interested in being on a weekly series so the network decided to order two more movies in the franchise.

On May 24, 1988 the third film in the franchise Desperado: Avalanche at Devil’s Ridge aired, finding Duell being forced by a desperate man to find a kidnapped daughter. Legendary actors Hoyt Axton and Rod Stieger co-starred along with Lise Cutter reprising her role as Nora.

The four film Desperado: The Outlaw Wars premiered on October 10, 1989, which centered on Duell learning that he fathered a son with Nora (Lise Cutter, who once again reprised her role) and encountered a serious-minded lawman (the late great actor Richard Farnsworth), who just might be able to help him prove his innocence while bringing in a cold-blooded killer (James Remar from Black Lightning).

The fifth and final film, Desperado: Badlands Justice aired on December 17, 1989, which co-star Lord of the Rings alum John Rhys-Davies. Unfortunately by the end of this film, Duell still had not been able to clear his name, which made critics anticipate further installments of the film, but no more were made.

Do you remember the Desperado TV film franchise?

Make sure to check out our previous Do You Remember articles for Jake 2.0 and Terriers.