Turnover Smith (1980)

Thaddeus "Turnover" Smith (Conrad) is a hard-as-nails detective. He is investigating the case of a serial strangler who preys on young women in the city. Complicating the case is that the ... See full summary »

Director:

Bernard L. Kowalski

Writer:

Richard Jessup

Stars:

William Conrad, Belinda Montgomery, Hilly Hicks

Cast

Credited cast:
William Conrad	...	Thaddeus Smith
Belinda Montgomery	...	Kelly (as Belinda J. Montgomery)
Hilly Hicks	...	Eddie
James Darren	...	Georgie Green
Michael Parks	...	Lt. Brophy
Cameron Mitchell	...	Colonel Simmons
Tracy Reed	...	Anini
Nehemiah Persoff	...	Ashmed Amad
Richard Dimitri	...	Sharif
Nita Talbot	...	Sgt. McCallister
Gail Landry	...	Dr. Rita Downey
Sondra Blake	...	Victoria Simmons
Adam Ageli	...	Bob Faud
Ben Wright	...	Franz
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Brianne Leary

Storyline

Thaddeus "Turnover" Smith (Conrad) is a hard-as-nails detective. He is investigating the case of a serial strangler who preys on young women in the city. Complicating the case is that the locations in which the killer strikes seems to fit into no discernible pattern... until Smith happens across two young college students playing chess on campus. Consulting a chess historian, he finds that the killer is placing a chess board over a map of the city and striking in locations that corresponds to the moves in a chess game where a bright European up-and-comer named Guiseppe Verdi was defeated by a young woman who extricated herself from a lost game via a brilliant queen sacrifice. Now Turner must race to save the life of his young woman partner, Kelly-- who lives in the same area as the killer's projected next striking location; the area corresponding to the square on the board where the young woman sacrificed her queen in the chess game to defeat Guiseppe Verdi.

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Plot Keywords:

killer | criminologist | investigator | police | murder | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 June 1980 (USA)

Also Known As:

Sacrifice the Queen

Filming Locations:

San Francisco, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Wellington Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Originally filmed as a TV Movie of the Week titled "Sacrifice the Queen," meant to be a pilot for a proposed TV series. The series was never made, and when this TV Movie was aired it was re-titled to "Turnover Smith," which would have been the series name. The creation of this TV Movie is discussed in detail and used as examples in producer Everett Chambers's book PRODUCING TV MOVIES.

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