Desperado (film series)
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". McCall's quest centers on "searching for a witness who can prove his innocence". 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. The title was inspired by the 1973 Eagles song Desperado, which also served as the theme music for the series, performed by Don Henley.
''Desperado'' (April 27, 1987)
In the first film, McCall "finds himself caught in the middle of a deadly feud in a frontier mining town", and falling in love with a local girl named Nora, played by Lise Cutter. The original screenplay was written by Elmore Leonard, who, with Walter Mirisch, convinced Brandon Tartikoff of NBC to finance the project. The film was produced by Mirisch's son Drew, who initially hired John Byrum to direct, but Byrum agreed to withdraw from the position when disharmony arose over the work he was producing. Virgil W. Vogel was then brought in to direct, and helmed the project to completion.Although the film received "excellent notices and ratings", NBC declined to pick up it up as a series, preferring to order additional 2-hour TV movies continuing the story of the original.