James Tolkan

James Tolkan

Fiery, forceful and intimidating character actor James Tolkan has carved out a nice little niche for himself in both movies and television alike as a formidable portrayer of fierce and flinty hard-boiled tough guy types. James Stewart Tolkan was born on June 20, 1931 in Calumet, Michigan. His father, Ralph M. Tolkan, was a cattle dealer. James attended the University of Iowa, Coe College and Eastern Arizona College. After serving a year-long stint in the United States Navy, Tolkan went to New York and studied acting with both Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler at the Actors Studio. Short and bald, with beady, intense eyes, a wiry, compact, muscular build, a gruff, jarring, high-decibel voice, and an aggressive, confrontational, blunt-as-a-battle-ax, rough-around-the-edges demeanor, Tolkan has been often cast as rugged, cynical no-nonsense cops, mean, domineering authority figures, and various ruthless and dangerous criminals. Tolkan first began acting in movies in the late 1960s and was highly effective in two pictures for Sidney Lumet: He was a rabidly homophobic police lieutenant in the superbly gritty Serpico (1973) and a sneaky district attorney in the equally excellent Prince of the City (1981). Best known as the obnoxiously overzealous high school principal Gerard Strickland in the Back to the Future films, Tolkan's other most memorable roles include Napolean in Woody Allen's Love and Death (1975), a ramrod army officer in WarGames (1983), mayor Robert Culp's mordant, wisecracking assistant in Turk 182 (1985), the hard-nosed Stinger in Top Gun (1986), the choleric Detective Lubric in Masters of the Universe (1987), meek mob accountant Numbers in Dick Tracy (1990), and Wesley Snipes' bullish superior in Boiling Point (1993).

  • Title: James Tolkan
  • Popularity: 7.737
  • Known For: Acting
  • Birthday: 1931-06-20
  • Place of Birth: Calumet, Michigan, USA
  • Homepage:
  • Also Known As: James Tolkin, Jim Tolkan, James S. Tolkan, James B. Tolkan, James Stewart Tolkan, Джеймс Толкан
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James Tolkan Movies

  • 1985
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    Back to the Future

    Back to the Future

    8.3 1985 HD

    Eighties teenager Marty McFly is accidentally sent back in time to 1955, inadvertently disrupting his parents' first meeting and attracting his...

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  • 1989
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    Back to the Future Part II

    Back to the Future Part II

    7.8 1989 HD

    Marty and Doc are at it again in this wacky sequel to the 1985 blockbuster as the time-traveling duo head to 2015 to nip some McFly family woes in...

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  • 1990
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    Back to the Future Part III

    Back to the Future Part III

    7.5 1990 HD

    The final installment of the Back to the Future trilogy finds Marty digging the trusty DeLorean out of a mineshaft and looking for Doc in the Wild...

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  • 1983
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    WarGames

    WarGames

    7.1 1983 HD

    High School student David Lightman has a talent for hacking. But while trying to hack into a computer system to play unreleased video games, he...

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  • 2021
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    Val

    Val

    7.097 2021 HD

    For over 40 years Val Kilmer, one of Hollywood’s most mercurial and/or misunderstood actors has been documenting his own life and craft through...

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  • 1986
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    Top Gun

    Top Gun

    7.1 1986 HD

    For Lieutenant Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell and his friend and co-pilot Nick 'Goose' Bradshaw, being accepted into an elite training school for fighter...

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  • 1989
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    Family Business

    Family Business

    5.7 1989 HD

    Jessie is an aging career criminal who has been in more jails, fights, schemes, and lineups than just about anyone else. His son Vito, while...

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  • 1993
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    Boiling Point

    Boiling Point

    4.935 1993 HD

    Red is an aging scam-artist who's just been released from prison together with Ronnie, a young and not-so-bright hoodlum who is easily manipulated....

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  • 1990
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    Opportunity Knocks

    Opportunity Knocks

    5.7 1990 HD

    Eddie and Lou are a couple of two-bit con men on the lam from a loan shark. They hide out in someone's house and they hear on the answering machine...

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  • 1987
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    Masters of the Universe

    Masters of the Universe

    5.7 1987 HD

    The world of Eternia in the aftermath of Skeletor's war on Castle Grayskull, which he has won after seizing Grayskull and the surrounding city using...

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  • 1984
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    Iceman

    Iceman

    6.1 1984 HD

    A team of Arctic researchers find a 40,000 year-old man frozen in ice and bring him back to life. Anthropologist Dr. Stanley Shephard wants to...

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  • 1987
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    Made in Heaven

    Made in Heaven

    6.7 1987 HD

    Deceased drifter Mike arrives in Heaven and quickly falls for newborn soul Annie, soon to start her assignment on Earth. When Annie leaves, Mike...

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  • 2006
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    Heavens Fall

    Heavens Fall

    7.3 2006 HD

    Successful New York attorney Sam Leibowitz travels to the South in 1933 to defend nine young black men accused of raping two women on an Alabama...

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  • 1991
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    Problem Child 2

    Problem Child 2

    5.9 1991 HD

    Junior and his father, Ben, move from Cold River to Mortville. Junior becomes threatened by Ben's desire to date again and find a new mother for...

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  • 1986
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    Off Beat

    Off Beat

    4.9 1986 HD

    Joe Gower's job is skating through library shelves, fetching books. A police officer/friend of his is chosen to participate in a charity dance...

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  • 2004
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    7 Times Lucky

    7 Times Lucky

    6.2 2004 HD

    An aging con-man and a beautiful, ambitious student cross paths in a scam that promises to make them both rich.

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  • 1992
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    Bloodfist IV: Die Trying

    Bloodfist IV: Die Trying

    5.3 1992 HD

    When Danny unknowingly repossesses the car of a powerful arms merchant, it sets off a chain of violent retaliation. After his friends are killed and...

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  • 1986
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    Little Spies

    Little Spies

    6.4 1986 HD

    When a runaway stray dog is rescued by the local neighborhood kids, they discover a nearby gang is involved.

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  • 1988
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    Split Decisions

    Split Decisions

    5.1 1988 HD

    When a boxer is killed because he wouldn't take a dive, his brother tries to find a way to avenge him even if only symbolically.

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  • 1989
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    True Blood

    True Blood

    5.5 1989 HD

    Teenager Ray Trueblood is wrongfully accused of murdering a police officer after his fellow gang member Billy Masters does the deed. Hoping to elude...

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  • 2013
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    Phil Spector

    Phil Spector

    5.738 2013 HD

    A drama centered on the relationship between Phil Spector and defense attorney Linda Kenney Baden while the music business legend was on trial for...

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  • 2009
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    Looking Back to the Future

    Looking Back to the Future

    8 2009 HD

    A 9-part retrospective documentary from 2009 on the trilogy’s legacy.

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  • 1989
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    The Case of the Hillside Stranglers

    The Case of the Hillside Stranglers

    6.3 1989 HD

    The chilling true story of the "two of a kind" killing cousins, Angelo Buono and Kenneth Bianchi, better known as the Hillside Stranglers.

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  • 1975
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    Love and Death

    Love and Death

    7.525 1975 HD

    In czarist Russia, a neurotic soldier and his distant cousin formulate a plot to assassinate Napoleon.

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  • 1971
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    They Might Be Giants

    They Might Be Giants

    6.9 1971 HD

    After the death of his wife, wealthy retiree Justin Playfair creates a fantasy world for himself in which he is the legendary detective Sherlock...

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  • 1991
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    Hangfire

    Hangfire

    4.2 1991 HD

    When a large group of escaped convicts take Ike Slayton, a Vietnam veteran's wife hostage, Slayton enlists the help of his old army friend in a...

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  • 1979
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    The Amityville Horror

    The Amityville Horror

    6.3 1979 HD

    George Lutz, his wife Kathy, and their three children have just moved into a beautiful, and improbably cheap, Victorian mansion nestled in the sleepy...

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  • 1986
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    Armed and Dangerous

    Armed and Dangerous

    5.6 1986 HD

    After policeman Frank Dooley is framed for theft and loses his job on the force, he joins a security guard agency and teams up with inept former...

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  • 1997
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    Robo Warriors

    Robo Warriors

    5.3 1997 HD

    The year is 2036 and Earth has been invaded: hope lies with the last Robo Warrior - a towering fighting machine.

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  • 1985
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    Turk 182!

    Turk 182!

    5.8 1985 HD

    After New York City firefighter Terry Lynch is unable to receive any compensation for an injury incurred during the off-duty rescue of a young girl,...

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  • 1989
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    Second Sight

    Second Sight

    4.4 1989 HD

    Wills is an ex-cop who pairs up with Bobby, a wacky psychic, to form the "Second Sight Detective Agency." Bobby's clairvoyant abilities come in handy...

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  • 1988
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    Weekend War

    Weekend War

    2 1988 HD

    A group of reservists ("weekend warriors") are sent to Honduras to build a runway. Shortly after arriving an engineering group is sent to a small...

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  • 1973
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    Serpico

    Serpico

    7.534 1973 HD

    Frank Serpico is an idealistic New York City cop who refuses to take bribes, unlike the rest of the force. Frank's actions get him shunned by the...

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  • 1991
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    Driving Me Crazy

    Driving Me Crazy

    3.7 1991 HD

    An eccentric East German inventor and defector travels to Los Angeles, California to sell a prototype revolutionary new car that runs on vegetables...

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  • 1981
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    Prince of the City

    Prince of the City

    7 1981 HD

    New York City detective Daniel Ciello agrees to help the United States Department of Justice help eliminate corruption in the police department, as...

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  • 1988
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    Viper

    Viper

    3.3 1988 HD

    After Laura's husband James is murdered, she decides to find out who did it and why. She finds herself in a fight against an anti-terrorist...

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  • 1984
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    The River

    The River

    6.2 1984 HD

    Tom and Mae Garvey are a Tennessee farming couple battling violent floods to save their land. In addition to natural disasters, the Garveys fight to...

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  • 1995
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    Sketch Artist II: Hands That See

    Sketch Artist II: Hands That See

    6 1995 HD

    Police sketch artist Jack Whitfield helps blind rape victim Emmy describe her attacker – a serial rapist and murderer who is now out to get her.

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  • 2015
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    Bone Tomahawk

    Bone Tomahawk

    6.9 2015 HD

    During a shootout in a saloon, Sheriff Hunt injures a suspicious stranger. The doctor's assistant, wife of the local foreman, tends to him in prison....

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  • 1996
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    Underworld

    Underworld

    5.2 1996 HD

    A crook sets out to get revenge on the thugs who hurt his father in this bloody noir-style crime drama. After being released from prison, Johnny...

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  • 1982
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    Hanky Panky

    Hanky Panky

    5.3 1982 HD

    Naïve Michael Jordon is drawn into a web of government secrets when a girl carrying a mysterious package gets into a taxi with him. When she's...

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  • 1990
    imgMovies

    Dick Tracy

    Dick Tracy

    6.1 1990 HD

    The comic strip detective finds his life vastly complicated when Breathless Mahoney makes advances towards him while he is trying to battle Big Boy...

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  • 2015
    imgMovies

    Back in Time

    Back in Time

    6.5 2015 HD

    Cast, crew and fans explore the 'Back to the Future' time-travel trilogy's resonance throughout our culture—30 years after Marty McFly went...

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  • 1989
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    Ministry of Vengeance

    Ministry of Vengeance

    3 1989 HD

    David Miller is a Vietnam vet who renounced violence and became a minister after he was forced to blow up a Viet Cong kid in self defense, but years...

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  • 1985
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    Flanagan

    Flanagan

    1 1985 HD

    Aging New York cabbie Flanagan still has hopes of making it as a stage actor. He can recite any Shakespeare sonnet and is facile with accents, but he...

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  • 1966
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    The Three Sisters

    The Three Sisters

    1 1966 HD

    In a small Russian town at the turn of the century, three sisters and their brother live but dream daily of their return to their former home in...

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  • 2010
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    Tales from the Future

    Tales from the Future

    7.4 2010 HD

    Eighy-part retrospective documentary on the making of "Back to the Future" (and its two sequels) for the film's 25th anniversary.

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  • 1981
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    Wolfen

    Wolfen

    5.9 1981 HD

    A New York City cop and an expert criminologist trying to solve a series of grisly deaths in which the victims have seemingly been maimed by feral...

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  • 1973
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    The Friends of Eddie Coyle

    The Friends of Eddie Coyle

    7.2 1973 HD

    An aging hood is about to go back to prison. Hoping to escape his fate, he supplies information on stolen guns to the feds, while simultaneously...

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  • 1988
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    Question of Faith

    Question of Faith

    1 1988 HD

    A woman struck down by terminal cancer shuns conventional medical techniques at her husband's insistence and turns to alternative treatment to combat...

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  • 1982
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    Author! Author!

    Author! Author!

    5.8 1982 HD

    A broadway playwright is burning the candle at both ends. He is dealing with pressure from a production nearing premiere, a wife who is leaving him,...

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  • 1992
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    Sketch Artist

    Sketch Artist

    5.5 1992 HD

    A sketch artist for the police helps a witness recall who she saw leaving the scene of a murder, and discovers that the person is his wife. Not...

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  • 1969
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    Stiletto

    Stiletto

    5.2 1969 HD

    A rich, jet-setting playboy has a secret life: he's also a professional Mafia hitman. When he decides it's time to retire from that life, he finds...

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  • 1973
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    The Werewolf of Washington

    The Werewolf of Washington

    3.9 1973 HD

    After being unknowingly inflicted with the bite of a werewolf while on a visit to Europe, White House press secretary Jack Whittier begins to turn...

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  • 1990
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    Sunset Beat

    Sunset Beat

    7 1990 HD

    Police drama involving a team of young Los Angeles undercover cops posing as bikers to nail street

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  • 1983
    imgMovies

    Wings

    Wings

    1 1983 HD

    An elderly woman, a former aviatrix, is gradually recovering from a stroke.

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  • 2009
    imgMovies

    Looking Back to the Future

    Looking Back to the Future

    8 2009 HD

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  • 1982
    imgS5 E6

    Remington Steele

    Remington Steele

    7.1 1982 HD

    Laura Holt, a licensed private detective, opens a detective agency but finds that potential clients refuse to hire a woman, however qualified. To...

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  • 1990
    imgS6 E24

    The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

    The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

    7.943 1990 HD

    Will, a street-smart teenager, moves from the tough streets of West Philly to posh Bel-Air to live with his Uncle Philip, Aunt Vivian, his cousins...

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  • 1996
    imgS4 E20

    The Pretender

    The Pretender

    7.4 1996 HD

    Raised in a secret facility built for experimenting on children, Jarod is a genius who can master any profession and become anyone he has to be. When...

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  • 1996
    imgS4 E22

    Early Edition

    Early Edition

    7.3 1996 HD

    Gary Hobson thinks he may even be losing his mind when tomorrow's newspaper mysteriously arrives today giving him a disconcerting look into the...

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  • 1958
    imgS4 E34

    Naked City

    Naked City

    5.3 1958 HD

    Naked City is a police drama series which aired from 1958 to 1963 on the ABC television network. It was inspired by the 1948 motion picture of the...

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  • 1981
    imgS7 E22

    Hill Street Blues

    Hill Street Blues

    7.6 1981 HD

    A realistic glimpse into the daily lives of the officers and detectives at an urban police station.

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  • 1993
    imgS1 E22

    Cobra

    Cobra

    6.6 1993 HD

    Cobra is an American television action/adventure series starring Michael Dudikoff. It ran for just one season in syndication.

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  • 1985
    imgS4 E22

    The Equalizer

    The Equalizer

    7.1 1985 HD

    Robert McCall is a former agent of a secret government agency who is now running his own private crime fighting operation where he fashions himself...

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  • 1988
    imgS6 E22

    The Wonder Years

    The Wonder Years

    8.3 1988 HD

    The story of Kevin Arnold facing the trials and tribulations of youth while growing up during the 1960s and 70s. Told through narration from an adult...

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  • 1985
    imgS1 E13

    Mary

    Mary

    5 1985 HD

    Mary is an American sitcom that aired on CBS during the 1985-86 television season. The series stars Mary Tyler Moore in her return to series...

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  • 1992
    imgS1 E11

    The Hat Squad

    The Hat Squad

    6.8 1992 HD

    The Hat Squad is a crime drama television series that ran for only one season on CBS, during the 1992–1993 season. 13 episodes were made, but...

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  • 1995
    imgS1 E25

    Nowhere Man

    Nowhere Man

    7.5 1995 HD

    Thomas Veil is a documentary photographer who, in the course of one evening, seemingly has his whole existence erased... Nowhere Man is an American...

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  • 2001
    imgS2 E16

    A Nero Wolfe Mystery

    A Nero Wolfe Mystery

    7.8 2001 HD

    Genius detective Nero Wolfe and his right-hand man, Archie Goodwin, solve seemingly impossible crimes.

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  • 2001
    imgS2 E16

    A Nero Wolfe Mystery

    A Nero Wolfe Mystery

    7.8 2001 HD

    Genius detective Nero Wolfe and his right-hand man, Archie Goodwin, solve seemingly impossible crimes.

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  • 2001
    imgS2 E16

    A Nero Wolfe Mystery

    A Nero Wolfe Mystery

    7.8 2001 HD

    Genius detective Nero Wolfe and his right-hand man, Archie Goodwin, solve seemingly impossible crimes.

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  • 2008
    imgS5 E15

    Leverage

    Leverage

    7.566 2008 HD

    A five-person team comprised of a thief, a grifter, a hacker, and a retrieval specialist, led by former insurance investigator Nathan Ford, use their...

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  • 1989
    imgS7 E13

    Tales from the Crypt

    Tales from the Crypt

    7.957 1989 HD

    Cadaverous scream legend the Crypt Keeper is your macabre host for these forays of fright and fun based on the classic E.C. Comics tales from back in...

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  • 1984
    imgS5 E20

    Miami Vice

    Miami Vice

    7.5 1984 HD

    The story of the Miami Police Department's vice squad and its efforts to end drug trafficking and prostitution, centered on the unlikely partnership...

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  • 1954
    imgS34 E26

    The Wonderful World of Disney

    The Wonderful World of Disney

    7.6 1954 HD

    Walt Disney Productions has produced an anthology television series under several different titles since 1954. The original version of the series...

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  • 1970
    imgS2 E16

    The Wonderful World of Disney

    The Wonderful World of Disney

    7.8 1970 HD

    Genius detective Nero Wolfe and his right-hand man, Archie Goodwin, solve seemingly impossible crimes.

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