Clarence Williams III, best known for portraying Linc on TV’s The Mod Squad, has died at the age of 81, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The actor’s management team confirmed that Williams died Friday in Los Angeles, from colon cancer.
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Recommended by Bill Cosby to producer Aaron Spelling for the role of Lincoln “Linc” Hayes, Williams...
The actor’s management team confirmed that Williams died Friday in Los Angeles, from colon cancer.
More from TVLineGood Doctor EP Reflects on Shaun and Lea's Finale Milestone -- and Saying Goodbye to Claire Ahead of Season 5The Good Doctor: Osvaldo Benavides Promoted to Series Regular Following Antonia Thomas' Surprise ExitGood Doctor Shocker: Antonia Thomas Leaving After 4 Seasons
Recommended by Bill Cosby to producer Aaron Spelling for the role of Lincoln “Linc” Hayes, Williams...
- 6/6/2021
- by Nick Caruso
- TVLine.com
Some of the greatest (or at least heavily favored) American television shows got the big screen treatment when they were selected to have their small screen following turn into a cinematic experience. Unfortunately, for every beloved nostalgic television show that translated successfully in movie theaters (The Brady Bunch Movie, Star Trek, Batman, etc.) there are boob tube stinkers that overtake the good crop. Sure, there are middle-of-the-road movie adaptations of television programs that have a mixed bag reception (1997’s Leave It To Beaver, 1987’s Dragnet, 2012’s Dark Shadows, etc.). Nevertheless, it is always the unflattering fare that receive the bulk of the attention (do you register, 1999’s The Wild, Wild West ?).
In Boob on the Tube: Top Ten Worst Movie Adaptations of TV Shows we will take a look at the top ten televised offenders that dared to venture into cinema’s stratosphere only to end up floating down shamefully...
In Boob on the Tube: Top Ten Worst Movie Adaptations of TV Shows we will take a look at the top ten televised offenders that dared to venture into cinema’s stratosphere only to end up floating down shamefully...
- 2/27/2015
- by Frank Ochieng
- SoundOnSight
DVD Release Date: Nov. 19, 2013
Price: DVD $269.99
Studio: Vei
Clarence Williams III (l.), Peggy Lipton and Michael Cole are The Mod Squad.
In November, ABC Television’s wildly popular action crime drama series The Mod Squad, which ran for five seasons from 1968 through 1973, will be issued in a 39-disc, complete series DVD collection for the first time ever.
The show revolved around three youthful and very cool investigators – Julie (Peggy Lipton), Pete (Michael Cole) and Linc (Clarence Williams III) – who solved crimes, apprehended heinous criminals and addressed social injustice. Being products of the flower-child era, they didn’t carry guns (or make the ultimate arrests), but instead wore beads and mod clothing, peppering their dialogue with slang of the day – like “groovy,” “keep the faith” and “solid” – all backed by a rock ‘n’ roll soundtrack.
Led by the straight-laced, frequently perturbed Captain Adam Greer (Tige Andrews), the show portrayed a multi-cultural society,...
Price: DVD $269.99
Studio: Vei
Clarence Williams III (l.), Peggy Lipton and Michael Cole are The Mod Squad.
In November, ABC Television’s wildly popular action crime drama series The Mod Squad, which ran for five seasons from 1968 through 1973, will be issued in a 39-disc, complete series DVD collection for the first time ever.
The show revolved around three youthful and very cool investigators – Julie (Peggy Lipton), Pete (Michael Cole) and Linc (Clarence Williams III) – who solved crimes, apprehended heinous criminals and addressed social injustice. Being products of the flower-child era, they didn’t carry guns (or make the ultimate arrests), but instead wore beads and mod clothing, peppering their dialogue with slang of the day – like “groovy,” “keep the faith” and “solid” – all backed by a rock ‘n’ roll soundtrack.
Led by the straight-laced, frequently perturbed Captain Adam Greer (Tige Andrews), the show portrayed a multi-cultural society,...
- 10/31/2013
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
When it came time to give "The Mod Squad" the big-screen treatment, there were a few options.
The movie version could be (a) set in the late 1960s counterculture like the TV series; (b) contemporized with a late 1990s spin; or (c) given the satirical "Austin Powers" fish-out-of-water treatment with, everybody's favorite hippie cops suddenly finding themselves having to cope on the cusp of a new millennium.
As it turned out, the filmmakers went with (b), as in boring, turning out a dull, stone-faced, listless approximation of the original minus the Nehru collars, the afros, the groovy music and the other happening touches that gave the otherwise generic crime series its pop flavor.
Stripped of its spirit and weighted down with countless scenes of mind-numbing introspection, this "Mod Squad" will likely have to amend its old "no badges, no guns" credo with the words "no audience."
Taking over where Michael Cole, Clarence Williams III and Peggy Lipton left off, Giovanni Ribisi, Omar Epps and Claire Danes are Pete, Linc and Julie, respectively, a trio of juvies on probation who are recruited by fatherly Capt. Adam Greer (Dennis Farina) to infiltrate the seedy Southern California drug and crime scene.
Pete, as before, is the troubled rich kid who was booted out of his Beverly Hills home and subsequently nabbed for breaking and entering. Linc, now from the 'hood (formerly the ghetto), has been charged with arson; while reformed drug addict Julie (once the runaway daughter of a San Francisco hooker) was brought in for assault.
Their assignment is to work undercover in the kind of establishments where the scourge of society preys on the impressionable young. But when a cache of drugs goes AWOL from the police lock-up and Capt. Greer turns up dead, the kids suddenly have to fend for themselves.
The picture's corrupt cop plot line (credited writers include director Scott Silver & Stephen Kay and Kate Lanier) is so tired and uninspired that even the characters comment on it. Both script and direction cry out for a hefty shot of adrenalin.
And while Danes, Ribisi and Epps are all proven, capable actors, here they're all hopelessly unconvincing as streetwise delinquents. They might as well be doing a production of "The Mod Squad: The School Play".
Certainly their written characters, as such, aren't much help. Although Ribisi's Pete has been outfitted with a short fuse that provides a little comic relief, both Danes' Julie and particularly Epps' Linc have been given precious little in the way of defining personalities.
The supporting players, including Farina, Josh Brolin as a potential flame from Julie's past and Richard Jenkins as an adversarial detective, find themselves in the same, uncharted boat. Only Michael Lerner gets to have a little fun as an oddball, drug-dealing music talent manager.:
At least "The Mod Squad" gets the desired visual tone right thanks to Ellen Kuras' ("Swoon") edgy camerawork; while the audio end is given a jittery alterno-techno-hip hop hybrid courtesy of composer BC Smith and an eclectic song mix that includes contributions from Busta Rhymes, Bjork, Curtis Mayfield and the Crash Test Dummies.
THE MOD SQUAD
MGM
Executive producers: Aaron Spelling, David Ladd
Based on characters created by: Buddy Ruskin
Director: Scott Silver
Producers: Men Myron, Alan Riche, Tony Ludwig
Screenwriters: Stephen Kay & Scott Silver and Kate Lanier
Director of photography: Ellen Kuras
Production designer: Patrick Sherman
Editor: Dorian Harris
Costume designer: Arianne Phillips
Music: BC Smith
Music supervisor: Randy Gerston
Casting: Christine Sheaks
Color/stereo
Cast:
Julie: Claire Danes
Linc: Omar Epps
Pete: Giovanni Ribisi
Capt. Adam Greer: Dennis Farina
Billy Waites: Josh Brolin
Det. Briggs: Steve Harris
Det. Robert Mothershed: Richard Jenkins
Howard: Michael Lerner
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
The movie version could be (a) set in the late 1960s counterculture like the TV series; (b) contemporized with a late 1990s spin; or (c) given the satirical "Austin Powers" fish-out-of-water treatment with, everybody's favorite hippie cops suddenly finding themselves having to cope on the cusp of a new millennium.
As it turned out, the filmmakers went with (b), as in boring, turning out a dull, stone-faced, listless approximation of the original minus the Nehru collars, the afros, the groovy music and the other happening touches that gave the otherwise generic crime series its pop flavor.
Stripped of its spirit and weighted down with countless scenes of mind-numbing introspection, this "Mod Squad" will likely have to amend its old "no badges, no guns" credo with the words "no audience."
Taking over where Michael Cole, Clarence Williams III and Peggy Lipton left off, Giovanni Ribisi, Omar Epps and Claire Danes are Pete, Linc and Julie, respectively, a trio of juvies on probation who are recruited by fatherly Capt. Adam Greer (Dennis Farina) to infiltrate the seedy Southern California drug and crime scene.
Pete, as before, is the troubled rich kid who was booted out of his Beverly Hills home and subsequently nabbed for breaking and entering. Linc, now from the 'hood (formerly the ghetto), has been charged with arson; while reformed drug addict Julie (once the runaway daughter of a San Francisco hooker) was brought in for assault.
Their assignment is to work undercover in the kind of establishments where the scourge of society preys on the impressionable young. But when a cache of drugs goes AWOL from the police lock-up and Capt. Greer turns up dead, the kids suddenly have to fend for themselves.
The picture's corrupt cop plot line (credited writers include director Scott Silver & Stephen Kay and Kate Lanier) is so tired and uninspired that even the characters comment on it. Both script and direction cry out for a hefty shot of adrenalin.
And while Danes, Ribisi and Epps are all proven, capable actors, here they're all hopelessly unconvincing as streetwise delinquents. They might as well be doing a production of "The Mod Squad: The School Play".
Certainly their written characters, as such, aren't much help. Although Ribisi's Pete has been outfitted with a short fuse that provides a little comic relief, both Danes' Julie and particularly Epps' Linc have been given precious little in the way of defining personalities.
The supporting players, including Farina, Josh Brolin as a potential flame from Julie's past and Richard Jenkins as an adversarial detective, find themselves in the same, uncharted boat. Only Michael Lerner gets to have a little fun as an oddball, drug-dealing music talent manager.:
At least "The Mod Squad" gets the desired visual tone right thanks to Ellen Kuras' ("Swoon") edgy camerawork; while the audio end is given a jittery alterno-techno-hip hop hybrid courtesy of composer BC Smith and an eclectic song mix that includes contributions from Busta Rhymes, Bjork, Curtis Mayfield and the Crash Test Dummies.
THE MOD SQUAD
MGM
Executive producers: Aaron Spelling, David Ladd
Based on characters created by: Buddy Ruskin
Director: Scott Silver
Producers: Men Myron, Alan Riche, Tony Ludwig
Screenwriters: Stephen Kay & Scott Silver and Kate Lanier
Director of photography: Ellen Kuras
Production designer: Patrick Sherman
Editor: Dorian Harris
Costume designer: Arianne Phillips
Music: BC Smith
Music supervisor: Randy Gerston
Casting: Christine Sheaks
Color/stereo
Cast:
Julie: Claire Danes
Linc: Omar Epps
Pete: Giovanni Ribisi
Capt. Adam Greer: Dennis Farina
Billy Waites: Josh Brolin
Det. Briggs: Steve Harris
Det. Robert Mothershed: Richard Jenkins
Howard: Michael Lerner
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 3/26/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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