Cult TV Essentials

Sword of Justice

Written by Christopher Crowe, Michael Gleason, and Glen A. Larson, Sword of Justice debuted in America on September 10th 1978 and ran for nine episodes (epsiodes nine and ten were shown as one long episode). It starred Dack Rambo as Jack Martin Cole, Bert Rosario as Hector Ramirez, and Alex Courtney as Arthur Woods.

In the series Jack Martin Cole (Rambo) is a man who has been recently released from prison where he was framed for embezzlement by enemies of his rich family. During his prison sentence Cole’s parents died, and his family fortune was almost totally destroyed by their enemies. This leaves Cole bitter, hateful, and rage-filled. He swears revenge andd uses the remainder of his sentence to learn many criminal skills and trades!

When he is released, to onlookers he simply returns to his life as a rich playboy but by night he is now secretly a troubleshooting mercenary using all the criminal skills he learned in prison, assisted by his former cell-mate Hector Ramirez (Rosario).

Cole’s attorney Arthur Woods (Courtney) is unaware of his activities at night. Woods unsuccessfully defended Cole on criminal charges, who – from his involvement in that case – was motivated to start a special federal task force for the Justice Department to fight white-collar crime. His associate and partner in the task force is a federal agent known only by the family name of Buckner (played by Colby Chester).

Cole would leaving a calling card – a “3” indicating how many years he spent behind bars. His enemies would find a a “3 of Clubs” with a written warning on it stating: “The club is the sign of vengeance–it holds no man as friend.” His friends, mainly Arthur, would often recived a “3 of Diamonds” containing some clue about uncovering a criminal scheme. If Cole was protecting someone they would receive a “3 of hearts” whilst the “3 of Spades” would mark the end of the game and included messages like “The spade is the sword of justice–its rapier marks the end.”

Familiar faces to look out for through the series include Larry Hagman, Robert Alda, Michael Baseleon, Len Birman, Katherine Cannon, J.D. Cannon, Frank Campanella, Edd Byrnes, Tara Buckman, Lorenzo Lamas, June Lockhart, Roz Kelly, Peter Kwong, Elaine Joyce, Ted Gehring, Robert Loggia, John Quade, and Belinda Montgomery.