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The Best Episodes of Frontline Season 3

Every episode of Frontline Season 3 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Frontline Season 3!

Binge this in 1h 50m•Peaking at 8.5/10

Since it began in 1983, Frontline has been airing public-affairs documentaries that explore a wide scope of the complex human experience. Frontline's goal is to extend the impact of the documentary beyond its initial broadcast

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Frontline Season 3 Episode 1 - Vietnam Under Communism
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #1 - Vietnam Under Communism

    S3:E1

    Frontline takes a rare look inside the new Vietnam, 10 years after the fall of Saigon and the US pullout. While the Vietnamese celebrate their victory, the countryside remains scarred and war-torn. Frontline examines the legacies of the longest and most unpopular war in American history on the country where it was fought.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. Frontline Season 3 Episode 2 - Shootout on Imperial Highway (1)
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #2 - Shootout on Imperial Highway (1)

    S3:E2

    Seventy-two year-old James Hawkins,Sr. has turned his home and business into an armed camp. Living in the Watts section of Los Angeles, Hawkins is fighting gang members who live across Imperial Highway. It's a war being fought on the streets and in the courtroom between gang members and the Hawkins family.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. Frontline Season 3 Episode 3 - Shootout on Imperial Highway (2)
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #3 - Shootout on Imperial Highway (2)

    S3:E3

    The trial of gang members accused of conspiracy concludes this special two-part report. Through interviews in prison and inside the housing project where they live in the Watts section of Los Angeles, gang members talk about gangs and why they form, and the threat they pose to ordinary citizens.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. Frontline Season 3 Episode 4 - The Lifer and the Lady
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #4 - The Lifer and the Lady

    S3:E4

    He was a convicted murderer. She was a prison volunteer. They fell in love. Frontline follows the story of Ron Cooney, who tries to work his way through the prison system to parole from a life sentence, and Lesley Earl, the woman who wants to help him go straight.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. Frontline Season 3 Episode 5 - The Child Savers
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #5 - The Child Savers

    S3:E5

    Over a million cases of child abuse were reported in 1984-and the figure is growing. Frontline follows a dedicated group of case workers from the Emergency Children's Service of New York into homes where they confront violent parents and battered children.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. Frontline Season 3 Episode 6 - Down for the Count
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #6 - Down for the Count

    S3:E6

    Professional boxing is one of the most popular and profitable sports in America. It can also be fatal. Frontline goes inside the world of fighters, promoters, and fans who love the sport-and critics who say it should be banned.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. Frontline Season 3 Episode 7 - Retreat from Beirut
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #7 - Retreat from Beirut

    S3:E7

    They went to keep the peace. But 241 died-caught in a military and political cross fire.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. Frontline Season 3 Episode 8 - Buying the Bomb
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #8 - Buying the Bomb

    S3:E8

    Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Seymour Hersh presents his first television investigation for Frontline. After six months of work, Hersh uncovers the story of a Pakistani businessman who tried to ship electrical devices which can be used as nuclear bomb triggers out of the US to Pakistan.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. Frontline Season 3 Episode 9 - A Class Divided
    8.5/10(203 votes)

    #9 - A Class Divided

    S3:E9

    One day in 1968, Jane Elliott, a teacher in a small, all-white Iowa town, divided her third-grade class into blue-eyed and brown-eyed groups and gave them a daring lesson in discrimination. This is the story of that lesson, its lasting impact on the children, and its enduring power 30 years later.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. Frontline Season 3 Episode 10 - Potomac Fever
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #10 - Potomac Fever

    S3:E10

    Every two years, a desire to represent their home districts in Washington brings a group of first-time freshmen congressmen to the nation's capital on the shores of the Potomac river. Frontline follows two newly elected representatives from their homes to Washington where they experience the rewards-and the frustrations-of making the transition from citizen to congressman.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. Frontline Season 3 Episode 11 - Crisis in Central America 1: Yankee Years
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #11 - Crisis in Central America 1: Yankee Years

    S3:E11

    From the Spanish-American War in 1898 until the 1950's, US preeminence in Central America and the Caribbean was never successfully challenged. Part 1 looks at these turbulent years that set the stage for today's crises-from the glory days of building the Panama Canal, through the early US Marine occupation of Nicaragua, to the Cold War crisis in Guatemala in 1954, which resulted in the CIA's first 'covert' war in the region.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. Frontline Season 3 Episode 12 - Crisis in Central America 2: Castro's Challenge
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #12 - Crisis in Central America 2: Castro's Challenge

    S3:E12

    The Cuban revolution of the 1950's was the first successful challenge to US preeminence in the Western hemisphere. Part 2 looks at the roots of the revolution, Fidel Castro's rise to power, the establishment of the first Communist state in the Americas, the support for his revolution abroad, and Cuba's troubled history with the United States.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. Frontline Season 3 Episode 13 - Crisis in Central America 3: Revolution in Nicaragua
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #13 - Crisis in Central America 3: Revolution in Nicaragua

    S3:E13

    In 1979, the Sandinistas led a revolution that overthrew the Somoza dynasty which had ruled Nicaragua for almost 50 years. It was a revolution the US first tried to prevent, then tried to court, and later tried to undermine. Part 3 traces the evolution of US involvement in Nicaragua and the struggle for control of the revolution.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. Frontline Season 3 Episode 14 - Crisis in Central America 4: Battle for El Salvador
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #14 - Crisis in Central America 4: Battle for El Salvador

    S3:E14

    Many Americans had never heard of El Salvador until a few years ago. It is now the focus of American policy in Central America. Part 4 traces the evolution of El Salvador's civil war and the US policy toward El Salvador.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. Frontline Season 3 Episode 15 - Men Who Molest
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #15 - Men Who Molest

    S3:E15

    Experts estimate there are at least four million child sexual abusers in the US, and they do not fit our stereotypes. Almost half of those guilty of incest also molest children outside the family. Many also commit adult rape-and they come from every social background. Should they be treated, punished, or both? Frontline examines a controversial Seattle, Washington, program aimed at treating child sexual abusers.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. Frontline Season 3 Episode 16 - Catholics in America: Is Nothing Sacred?
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #16 - Catholics in America: Is Nothing Sacred?

    S3:E16

    One in four American citizens is Catholic, yet few seem to agree with-or follow-every doctrine and practice of their church. Frontline examines the conflicts within the American Catholic Church and its ongoing struggle with the Vatican.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. Frontline Season 3 Episode 17 - The American Way of War
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #17 - The American Way of War

    S3:E17

    Frontline examines the complex relationship between the US Army, its fighting doctrine, the American people, and the government in an effort to understand the army's role in fighting modern wars.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. Frontline Season 3 Episode 18 - Memory of the Camps
    8.5/10(300 votes)

    #18 - Memory of the Camps

    S3:E18

    Forty years ago, Allied troops invaded Germany and liberated Nazi death camps. They found unspeakable horrors which still haunt the world's conscience. Frontline presents the world broadcast of a 1945 film made by British and American film crews who were with the troops liberating the camps. The film was directed in part by Alfred Hitchcock and is broadcast for the first time in its entirety on Frontline.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Colin Wills

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  19. Frontline Season 3 Episode 19 - You Are in the Computer
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #19 - You Are in the Computer

    S3:E19

    You go to rent an apartment and are turned down without any obvious reason. Then you find out your name is in a computer file of undesirable tenants and every other landlord in the city has access to the information. Correspondent Robert Krulwich investigates computerized information systems and the issues of privacy they raise.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. Frontline Season 3 Episode 20 - What About Mom and Dad?
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #20 - What About Mom and Dad?

    S3:E20

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. Frontline Season 3 Episode 21 - Breaking the Bank
    8.2/10(10 votes)

    #21 - Breaking the Bank

    S3:E21

    In 1984, there were more bank failures in the US than at any time since the Great Depression. Correspondent Judy Woodruff investigates one of the largest banks that failed, Penn Square in Oklahoma City, and another which nearly failed, Continental Illinois in Chicago, to examine the implications on the nation's banking system.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Season 3 Ratings Summary

"Vietnam Under Communism" is the best rated episode of "Frontline" season 3. It scored /10 based on 0 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 1/15/1985. This episode is rated 0.0 points higher than the second-best, "Shootout on Imperial Highway (1)".