Elizabeth Rogers Movies
Richard Gere plays Zack Mayo, an aloof, taciturn man who aspires to be a navy pilot. Once he's arrived at training camp for his 13-week officer's course, Mayo runs afoul of abrasive, no-nonsense drill sergeant Emil Foley (Louis Gossett Jr.). Mayo --or "Mayonnaise," as he is dubbed by the irascible Foley -- is an excellent cadet, but a little cold around the heart. Foley rides Mayo mercilessly, sensing that the young man would be prime officer material if he weren't so self-involved. Zack's affair with working girl Paula Pokrifi (Debra Winger) is likewise compromised by his unwillingness to give of himself. Only after Mayo's best friend Sid Worsley (David Keith) commits suicide over an unhappy romance does Zack come out of his shell and mature into a real human being. Take away the R-rated dialogue and the sex scenes, and Officer and a Gentleman could have been a 1937 MGM flick, maybe with Robert Taylor as Zack, Wallace Beery as Foley, and Jimmy Stewart as Sid. An Officer and a Gentleman was nominated for 7 Oscars, with wins to Gossett and to the hit song "Up Where We Belong." The closing scene has surely become a classic of movie romance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Gere, Debra Winger, (more)
Killer bees migrate to the United States from Africa via South America in this disaster film produced and directed by the genre's chief architect, Irwin Allen, and written by Stirling Silliphant, scribe of The Poseidon Adventure. Haughty entomologist Brad Crane (Michael Caine) shows up at a secret military base full of dead soldiers, shocking the attendant General Slater (Richard Widmark). Crane announces that the soldiers are the victims of killer bees with amazingly potent venom; he's been tracking huge swarms of the things and fears they'll kill millions before they're through. Eventually, the president asks Crane to lead the battle against the killer insects and he assembles a team of crack scientists. Meanwhile, the bees overpower a family picnic in nearby Marysville; only the son, Paul (Christian Juttner), escapes with his life. Crane and military physician Helena Anderson (Katherine Ross) head to Marysville to warn the populace about the impending danger. Among the citizens in the direct path of the bees are schoolmarm Maureen Schuster (Olivia de Havilland) and her competing suitors, Felix (Ben Johnson) and Clarence (Fred MacMurray). Eventually, the bees stage a massacre in Marysville and then set their sights on Houston. Neither pesticides, firebombing, nor the heroic sacrifice of scientist Dr. Krim (Henry Fonda) seems to offer a solution for the impending disaster. Universally reviled by critics, The Swarm failed to continue Allen's winning streak at the box office. Caine would re-team with his director the following year for Beyond the Poseidon Adventure. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Caine, Katharine Ross, (more)
In exchange for being allowed to make his directorial debut in Grand Theft Auto, Ron Howard agreed to take no salary as a director, merely as star and co-screenwriter (with his dad Rance). The plot finds Sam Freeman (Howard) eloping with his heiress girlfriend Paula Powers (Nancy Morgan). Her mob-connected dad Bigby Powers (Barry Cahill) vehemently opposes the marriage, and isn't about to change his mind now that Sam has stolen his Rolls-Royce and sped off to Las Vegas with his daughter in tow. Marion Ross, Howard's Happy Days mom, turns in an offbeat supporting characterization. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ron Howard, Nancy Morgan, (more)
A teenager tries to win the girl of his dreams with the hottest van in town in this '70s sex comedy. Bobby (Stuart Goetz) has just graduated from high school, but he's too preoccupied with girls to think much about his future. Bobby hasn't had much luck with the ladies, and he's convinced it's because of his lack of cool wheels, so after months of slaving at a car wash owned by Andy (Danny DeVito), he blows the money he'd been saving for college on a down payment on his dream machine: a canary yellow custom Dodge van, a bachelor pad on wheels complete with mirrored ceiling, 8-track stereo, television monitors, and (natch) a waterbed. Bobby turns his attentions to class hottie Sally (Connie Lisa Marie), who happens to be dating ill-tempered bully Dugan (Steve Oliver), while his buddy Jack urges him to date the more available Sue (Marcie Barkin), who's friends with his girlfriend, Tina (Deborah White). Andy uses the car wash as a front for his bookmaking business, and when a few bets don't go his way, he asks Bobby to lend him some money. Bobby gives Andy the cash he'd earmarked for his next payment on the van, but when Andy can't pay him back, Bobby's new van may be soon be in the hands of the repo man. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stuart Getz, Deborah White, (more)
- 1976
Having already exhausted the dramatic possibilities of fire with The Towering Inferno, producer Irwin Allen turns to water in the made-for-TV Flood! The film is set in a small community, conveniently (for the purposes of the plot) located near a huge earthen dam. As the flood waters rise and the dam threatens to collapse, we are made privy to the individual reactions of such all-star victims-to-be as Robert Culp, Martin Milner, Richard Basehart, Cameron Mitchell, Barbara Hershey, Teresa Wright and Carol Lynley. As in Inferno, helicopter pilots come to the rescue. Most of the film was shot in Eugene, Oregon. Flood! first aired on November 24, 1976. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Rare indeed is the feature-length documentary that captures the migratory lifestyle of nomadic peoples and remains gripping throughout, as in the 1925 film Grass. Rarer still is such a feat duplicated 50 years later, with closely related subjects. Here the Babadi clan of the same Bakhtiari Persians who appeared in the earlier film are seen as they move from one major seasonal campground to the other. Narrated by James Mason, the exploits, negotiations and thoughts of the headman, Jafar Qoli, give the film its structure. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1975
The Queen is a luxury cruise ship, "played" by the Queen Mary in this made-for-TV thriller. The villain has it in for one of the ship's millionaire passengers. Accordingly, he (or she-we're not telling) plans to destroy the vessel and everyone on board. The producer of this all-star disasterfest was-drum roll, please-Irwin Allen. TV movie "regulars" John Gay and David Lowell Rich served as scripter and director, respectively, for Adventures of the Queen, which first sailed into American homes on February 14, 1975. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
Although the family is convinced that Mary Ellen (Judy Norton-Taylor) is a shoe-in at the University of Virginia Nursing School, she may not be able to qualify because she has never taken algebra or chemistry. Normally, Mary Ellen would turn to brother John-Boy (Richard Thomas) to help her pass the entrance exams, but it turns out that algebra and chemistry were his two worst subjects in school. Thus, Mary Ellen solicits the aid of local Public Health nurse Nora Taylor (Barbara Eda-Young)--who happens to have a few problems of her own at the moment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
In the seventh episode of a seven-part story arc, Samantha and Darrin conclude their vacation abroad with a visit to an ancient British castle hotel. Like most such structures, the castle is haunted by a ghost, namely Henry, Eighth Duke of Whitset (Patrick Horgan), who falls madly in love with Sam. When she refuses to return his affections, the persistent Henry possesses the body of Darrin, who of course gets into a passel of trouble as a consequence. Written by Ed Jurist, "The Ghost Who Made a Spectre of Himself" originally aired on October 27, 1971. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick Sargent, (more)
- 1971
A young Steven Spielberg helmed the made-for-TV Something Evil. Johnny Whitaker (Family Affair) is cast as Stevie Worden, an angelic child whose parents move into a foreboding Pennsylvania mansion. It isn't long before Stevie is possessed with the house's resident demonic spirit. In anticipation of The Exorcist and The Omen, the spirit within Stevie never lets anyone know when it's going to strike -- but everyone knows full well when it does. Spielberg evokes horror throughout by contrasting the most terrifying events with the plodding commonplace of day-to-day life. Something Evil was Spielberg's last TV-movie assignment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1969
Filmed in 1966 (when screenwriter Richard Breen was still around), this made-for-TV feature marked the return of Jack Webb's classic 1950s cop series Dragnet after a seven-year absence. Ordered to cut his vacation short, Sgt. Joe Friday (played by Jack Webb) is assigned to investigate the mysterious disappeances of two beautiful models and a pretty young war widow. In concert with partner Bill Gannon (Harry Morgan), Friday does his best to follow the trail of evidence, only to be continually stymied by contradictory or reluctant eyewitnesses. Before arriving at the disturbing conclusion that the missing girls have been the victims of a voyeuristic serial killer, Joe and Bill manage to solve another, unrelated murder involving a visiting Frenchman. Several members of Jack Webb's radio and TV Dragnet stock company are cast in colorful supporting roles, including Virginia Gregg, Victor Perrin, and Herb Ellis, while L.A. Dodgers catcher John Roseboro is seen as a fellow cop. A powerful opening sequence and an thrilling action climax more than compensate for the unevenness of the script (the last such by veteran Webb collaborator Richard Breen) and the occasional pokiness of the direction. Although this 97-minute Dragnet was good enough to convince NBC to revive the vintage Jack Webb series on a weekly, half-hour basis (it ran successfully for three seasons), the film itself was shelved for several years, not making its network TV debut until January 27, 1969. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1967
Visiting the Blackwell farm, Joe Cartwright is aghast to learn that his friend Tom Blackwell (Jason Evers) has turned to crime. Enter a gang of outlaws, who hold Joe, Blackwell's wife Ellie Sue (Elizabeth Rogers) and the couple's son captive, thereby forcing Mrs. Blackwell to tend to the injuries of wounded outlaw boss Wade Hollister (John Ericson). Joel Murcott wrote the teleplay for this nail-biting drama. "Journey to Terror" was first telecast on February 5, 1967. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, (more)
- 1965
Virginia City is visited by one Thomas Crippen (Ashley Cowan), an Englishman who has travelled all over the world in search of the man who "murdered" his wife on the operating table. Crippen is convinced that a doctor named Mundy is guilty of the crime-and as it turns out, Mundy is the real name of Professor Poppy (Michael Rennie), a medicine showman whom Hoss Cartwright has befriended. Partially based on fact, "Once a Doctor" was written by Martha Wilkerson. The episode first aired on February 28, 1965. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, (more)
