Desperado (film series)

This article is about the 1980s American series. For the British TV series, see Desperados (TV series). For the trilogy including the 1995 film, Desperado, see Mexico Trilogy.

Desperado is a series of five Western television films starring Alex McArthur as the honest cowboy, Duell McCall, beginning with the 1987 installment also titled Desperado and directed by Virgil W. Vogel.

Throughout the film series, McCall is "a man of principle who roams the West of yesteryear helping people in trouble while struggling to get himself out of trouble—clearing himself of a false murder charge".[1] McCall's quest centers on "searching for a witness who can prove his innocence".[2] The first TV movie was originally intended to serve as the pilot for a weekly TV series, but the series did not materialize, and the film instead had four TV movie sequels, also starring McArthur as McCall.[3] The title was inspired by the 1973 Eagles song Desperado, which also served as the theme music for the series, performed by Don Henley.[4]

  1. ^ Vincent Terrace, Encyclopedia of Television Pilots, 1937–2012 (2013), p. 73.
  2. ^ Douglas Brode, Shooting Stars of the Small Screen: Encyclopedia of TV Western Actors (1946–Present) (2010), p. 216-17.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Day was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Walter Mirisch, I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History (2008), p. 372-74.