Barry Van Dyke Movies

Dick Van Dyke draws heavily from both his classic 1960s sitcom and his later detective-series vehicle Diagnosis Murder as star of the made-for-cable whodunit Murder 101. Van Dyke is cast as Dr. Jonathan Maxwell, a retired detective who teaches a course on criminology in a small-town college. Though he tends to trip over his own feet and bump into doors with alarming regularity, Maxwell's deductive skills are as sharp as ever, as proven when he is called upon to prove the innocence of Cheryl Collins (Tracey Needham), an investigative reporter charged with the murder of corrupt CEO Nelson Raymond (Tony Denison). It is clear that Cheryl has been framed, but who did the framing? Was it Raymond's vindictive ex-wife Louise (Lisa Thornhill), or his shady business associates Max Arnholdt (Bradford English) and Karl Larch (Camren Argeniano)--or could it be the proverbial Least Likely Suspect? Dick Van Dyke's son Barry Van Dyke, who previously costarred with his dad in Diagnosis Murder, is seen as private eye Mike Bryant, while Barry's son (and Dick's grandson) Wes Van Dyke shows up briefly as one of Dr. Maxwell's students. Clearly intended as the pilot for an ongoing series of Hallmark Channel TV movies, Murder 101 first aired on January 7, 2006. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Two years after its cancellation, the long-running TV mystery series Diagnosis Murder briefly resurfaced in this two-hour "movie." Dick Van Dyke returned to the role of crime-solving medico Dr. Mark Sloan who, at the beginning of the story, is basking in the glow of his daughter Carol's (Stacy Van Dyke) marriage to Arabian-American Anton (Fahan Tahir). Not long afterward, however, Mark receives a frantic phone call from Carol who was stranded with her husband in a remote small town. Upon his own arrival in the village, Mark was forced to confront the horrible prospect that Carol and Anton might have been murdered. With the help of his police-detective son Steve (Barry Van Dyke), his fellow doctors Jesse (Charlie Schlatter) and Amanda (Victoria Rowell), Mark tried to get to the bottom of his daughter's disappearance -- and in the process, he unearthed a hotbed of intrigue, treachery, race hatred, and political corruption. The more tragic elements of the story were leavened by the presence of Dick Van Dyke's grandson, Carey Van Dyke, as a clumsy thief. Filmed in the spring of 2001, Diagnosis Murder: A Town Without Pity was aired by CBS on February 6, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In a 1991 episode of Jake and the Fatman, Dick Van Dyke guest-starred as Dr. Mark Sloan, who couldn't seem to keep his nose out of a murder investigation. Diagnosis of Murder is the two-hour TV-movie spin-off of that episode. This time, Dr. Sloan tags along with his police-sergeant son (Barry Van Dyke, the real life son of you-know-who) on another homicide case. The victim is a powerful business magnate whose questionable ethics have given plenty of people plenty of motive for the killing. Somehow or other, Dick Van Dyke finds time between his hospital rounds and his clue-hunting to perform a brief soft shoe. Diagnosis of Murder was the pilot for a potential series, which was sold under the slightly truncated title Diagnosis Murder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jessica (Angela Lansbury) shows up on Wall Street, there to make her very first personal investment in the stock market. As inevitably as night follows day, Jessica's stockbroker promptly turns up murdered. The police figure that the dead man's secretary is the culprit...but as usual, Jessica doesn't take stock (ouch!) in the conventional wisdom, and sets out to find the real murderer on her own. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cancelled by CBS at the end of its third season, the high-tech adventure series Airwolf was brought back for a fourth and final season through the good graces of the USA Network, beginning in January of 1987. As before, the series' title referred to a remarkable, futuristic helicopter, equipped with state-of-the-art accessories and a full complement of weaponry, created on behalf of a secret government agency known as the Firm, but in the control of maverick pilot String Hawke (Jan-Michael Vincent). Although he had agreed to fly death-defying missions on behalf of the Firm, String refused to return Airwolf to them until they located his brother, St. John Hawke, who'd been missing in action since Vietnam. The season begins as String climbs into Airwolf for the purpose of rescuing St. John (portrayed by new cast member Barry Van Dyke) , whose whereabouts have at long last been confirmed. During this mission, String is seriously injured, whereupon St. John becomes the head of the Airwolf team (Jan-Michael Vincent had by this time left the series). Meanwhile, String's longtime partner Dom Santini (played in previous seasons by Ernest Borgnine) has been killed in an explosion, obliging his niece Jo (Michele Scarabelli) to take over her uncle's business, Santini Aviation. Jo also becomes St. John's partner in various missions, with hotheaded Major Mike Rivers (Geraint Wyn Davies) functioning as St. John's copilot. And yes, the team continues to take orders from the Firm -- or as it is now known, the Company -- but no longer from that organization's mysterious, ethereal liaison man Michael Archangel (played by Alex Cord). Their new contact man at the Company is Jason Locke, played by Anthony Sherwood. Although the production values and budgets of the USA Network Airwolf episodes suffered in comparison with the CBS episodes (studio facilities had shifted from California to Canada), the series still delivered full entertainment and excitement value -- especially when relying upon stock aviation footage from the series' first three seasons! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Duke boys save the life of movie star Brock Curtis (Barry Van Dyke), who narrowly escapes a fatal accident while making a film in Hazzard County. As a reward, the boys are offered parts in a Hollywood movie, obliging Boss (Sorrell Booke) and Roscoe (James Best) to accompany the family to Tinseltown in order to make sure they don't break parole. It turns out that the "accident" which nearly claimed Brock's life was no accident--and now the would-be murderers have added Bo (John Schneider) and Luke (Tom Wopat) to their hit list! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The guests at Robin Master's Spring Equinox party find themselves trapped on the estate by a raging typhoon. Unfortunately, among the revellers are a number of uninivited guests, including a pair of gun-wielding escaped convicts, a pregnant woman about to go into labor, and a person whose mission in life is to murder Masters. As for Magnum (Tom Selleck), he can't help but notice that this perilous situation bears more than a passing resemblance to one of his favorite Humphrey Bogart pictures, Key Largo--but this is no movie, and a happy ending may not be in the cards! Featured in the supporting cast is Sondra Currie, whose real-life husband Alan J. Levi directed this episode. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This TV movie consists of two episodes of Galactica 1980 edited together. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

An Americanized version of Truffaut's The Wild Child, this drama centers on the attempts of a behavioral psychologist to educate a boy, raised in the wilds by dogs, and teach him how to function in society. This film spawned a brief television series, Lucan. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide