The French Atlantic Affair (1979)

There's terror on the high seas when cult leader Telly Savalas and his fanatic followers, among whom is devoted Shelley Winters, seize a luxury liner commanded by Louis Jourdan and hold a stellar roster of film and TV luminaries for a ransom of $70 million in gold. Chad Everett is a successful novelist whose earlier sympathetic piece on the cult head makes him the candidate to play the hero and save the passengers. ABC had its high hopes for the first of its miniseries (since "Roots" and "Rich Man, Poor Man") dashed by audience apathy -- star-power to the contrary -- and it was to be more than a year before the network again tested the waters of the genre. Phill Norman won an Emmy Award for his title graphics and design.