A Coven of Killers (3 Mar. 1975)

A prisoner is broken out of the prison ward of County General Hospital. His name is Joey Hopper and his followers are referred to as the Hopper Family. The 'family' consists of alienated ... See full summary »

Director:

George McCowan

Writers:

Robert Hamner (creator), Rick Husky (developer),

Stars:

Steve Forrest, Robert Urich, Rod Perry

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Steve Forrest	...	Lieutenant Dan 'Hondo' Harrelson
Robert Urich	...	Officer Jim Street
Rod Perry	...	Sergeant David 'Deacon' Kay
Mark Shera	...	Officer Dominic Luca
James Coleman	...	Officer T.J. McCabe
Ellen Weston	...	Betty Harrelson
William Windom	...	Ross Collins
Sal Mineo	...	Joey Hopper
James Keach	...	Arlie Warren
Belinda Balaski	...	Judy Collins
Elisha Cook Jr.	...	Harry Thorne (as Elisha Cook)
Richard O'Brien	...	Chief Roman
Peggy McCay	...	Laura Huston
Mimi Maynard	...	Pam Morgan
Dan Spelling	...	Craig Huston

Storyline

A prisoner is broken out of the prison ward of County General Hospital. His name is Joey Hopper and his followers are referred to as the Hopper Family. The 'family' consists of alienated youths who view Joey Hopper as their spiritual leader. All escape routes out of the city have been closed And SWAT's job is to conduct a sweep of the city and find them. Hopper's goal is to exact revenge against all those who prosecuted him...including 'Hondo' Harrelson.

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Plot Keywords:

reference to dirty harry

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 March 1975 (USA)

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Spelling-Goldberg Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

50 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

References Dirty Harry (1971)

User Reviews

One Of The Last Looks At Sal Mineo

It was interesting to see Sal Mineo again. It's been decades since I've seen him in anything as this episode is one of the Season One DVD of S.W.A.T from 1975. Mineo was murdered a year after this episode aired.

In here, he plays "Joey Hopper," a Charles Manson-like psycho who does his own killing. After having just escaped from prison, Joey goes out looking to kill those who put him in prison. Second on his "hit list" is "Lt. Dan Harrelson" (Steve Forest), the leader of the S.W.A.T. team.

It also was interesting to see one of my favorite film noir characters of the 1940s and 1950s films, Elisha Cook Jr., His role was very small, just two quick scenes as some old-man "weirdo," as they called him.

In the story, the editor of the "underground newspaper," was some middle-aged guy who looked fairly straight. No underground paper at that time had a guy that would look like this man (William Windom, playing "Ross Collins.")

Overall, it was a decent episode but it looked a little too dated and I'm not sure if I would that interested in seeing the whole season's worth of shows. I'd have to think about that.