1972 Moon of the Wolf David Janssen ABC Movie of the Week

Moon of the Wolf is an American TV movie broadcast on September 26, 1972 on ABC Movie of the Week. It stars David Janssen, Barbara Rush, Geoffrey Lewis and Bradford Dillman, with a script by Alvin Sapinsley (based on Leslie H. Whitten's novel of the same name). The film was directed by Daniel Petrie and filmed on location in Burnside, Louisiana. All of the downtown footage was from Clinton, Louisiana.
In the Louisiana Bayou town of Marsh Island, two farmers (Royal Dano and John Davis Chandler) discover the mauled, dead body of a local young woman. Sheriff Aaron Whitaker (David Janssen) is called. The victim's temperamental brother, Lawrence Burrifors (Geoffrey Lewis), arrives at the crime scene. He jumps to the conclusion that the girl's lover committed the murder, a man whose name her brother does not know. The town's Dr. Drutan (John Beradino) examines the body and concludes that the girl died from a blow to the head.

The sheriff investigates the crime, and residents have a variety of theories, including the belief that wild dogs killed her. A posse forms to track down the wild dogs with little success. Burrifors continues to insist the killer is his sister's mysterious lover, while the sheriff, in turn, is suspicious of him. The girl's sick and dying father, Hugh Burrifors, interviewed by the sheriff, warns him of the loup-garou. The sheriff does not understand the French term.