Mitchell

Told to lay off a case involving an attorney who shot an intruder in his home, headstrong police detective Mitchell ignores the order and proceeds to get tangled up in an investigation that connects the lawyer (John Saxon), the head of an import racket (Martin Balsam) and a scheme to unload a million-dollar cache of stolen heroin. Joe Don Baker, who made a name for himself as club-wielding sheriff Buford Pusser in the drive-in classic Walking Tall and whose later credits include a notable role in 2013’s Mud, plays the title role in an action film that’s gained a following among connoisseurs of guilty pleasures. At the center of all the action, of course, is Mitchell, giving as good as he gets in pell-mell sequences involving shootings, brawls, car chases, suicidal dune buggy jousts and a rappel from a police helicopter onto the racketeer’s speeding getaway boat. Linda Evans and Merlin Olsen are also in the cast.