Carol Lynley Movies
A busy teenaged model, Carol Lynley rose to fame by virtue of a series of popular hair-conditioner commercials. Her first important acting assignment was as a high-school-age murderess on a 1958 episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, directed by Robert Altman. The blonde ingenue played a more sedate role in her first film, Disney's The Light in the Forest. Carol Lynley continued essaying a variety of sympathetic and menacing roles into the 1990s, earning extensive press coverage for her portrayal of film-legend Jean Harlow in a 1965 "electronivision" production, released at the same time as another Harlow biography starring Carroll Baker. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
Carol Lynley makes her first significant TV appearance in this episode, which also represents an early directorial effort by Robert Altman. Lynley is cast as Janice, a psychotic 17-year-old girl who uses a thirtysomething lout named Tex (Vince Edwards) as a pawn in her scheme to rid herself of her nagging aunt, Mae (Jeanette Nolan), so that she can marry her impoverished boyfriend Stan (Stephen Joyce). At episode's end, it appears that the conniving Janice has outsmarted herself...or has she? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
Bad Georgia Road, an unpleasant little thriller directed by John Broderick, is the story of a young woman (Carol Lynley) who inherits an illegal liquor distillery from a relative. She turns it into a money-making business only to come up against the mob, who is her chief competition. The direction by Broderick is haphazard, the performances are uniformly poor, and there is little emphasis on production values or plot coherence. The only saving grace of this dismal melodramatic thriller is an appearance by Andy Warhol star and underground film-actress Mary Woronov who gives some life to her role. All in all, Bad Georgia Road is a poor, forgettable film. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- 1982
This is a soap opera about a rich, suave, but self-aggrandizing villain and the women who either love or hate him. The melodrama sudses up with Ernie Stoddard's (Tony Curtis) determination to bring legal gambling to an island off the California coast and a local councilman's equally strong determination to stop him. The catch is Stoddard's ex-wife Erin (Carol Lynley) is now married to the councilman, but her heart still skips a beat when Stoddard walks into the room. The councilman is her third husband; her first, Stoddard's partner, was apparently killed by parties unknown. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Curtis, Carol Lynley, (more)
Cashing in on director Larry Hagman's fame as star of Dallas, a canny distributor reissued Beware! the Blob (aka Son of Blob) with the come-on line "The Film That J.R. Shot!" Picking up where the original Blob (1958) left off, the film begins as the pudding-like goo thaws out and begins wreaking havoc on the civilized world. Steve McQueen, star of the first Blob, is understandably absent; this time the heroics are handled by Robert Walker Jr., who takes on the Blob himself when the local authorities fail. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Stahl, Godfrey Cambridge, (more)
- 1988
Joseph Stefano, the screenwriter of the original Psycho, wrote and co-produced this somewhat similar suspense-thriller. Gail O'Grady (Eight Is Enough) returns to her childhood home and is plagued by nightmares and disturbed by her cold-hearted mother (Carol Lynley). There is a screwdriver-stabbing and a few predictable revelations about the family's dark past and why O'Grady's father is missing, but the film is generally forgettable. Joanna Miles co-stars. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carol Lynley, Gail O'Grady, (more)
- 1959
A surprisingly serious and well-acted major studio variation on the "teens in trouble" films that AIP and Allied Artists cranked out in the 1950's, Blue Denim stars Brandon De Wilde and Carol Lynley as Arthur and Janet, a pair of high school sweethearts who find in each other the love and understanding they don't receive from their emotionally distant parents. However, teenage romance leads to adult consequences when Janet finds herself pregnant; neither of the teens can broach the subject with their parents, and since they're regarded as too young to get married, they're forced to seek out an illegal abortion before Janet is no longer able to hide her condition. While time has dated the story, Blue Denim still comes off as sincere and well-crafted (the sequence where the teen lovers meet the abortionist is still a bit spooky all these years later), and was considered quite frank in its day. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carol Lynley, Brandon de Wilde, (more)
Based on the mystery novel by Marryam Modell (using the pseudonym Evelyn Piper), Bunny Lake Is Missing is a bizarre study in motherhood, kindness, enigma, and insanity. Ann Lake (Carol Lynley), an American freshly relocated to England, wishes to drop off her daughter Bunny for the girl's first day at a new nursery school. Oddly, Ann cannot locate any teachers or administrators, only the school's disgruntled cook (Lucie Mannheim). She is forced to leave Bunny unsupervised in the building's "first day" room, under the reassurance that the cook will be responsible for the child. When Ann returns in the afternoon, the cook has quit and Bunny Lake is missing. The school's remaining employees vehemently deny ever seeing the child, and Ann desperately calls her older brother Stephen (Keir Dullea) for help. Ann was raised fatherless and never married; she and Bunny have lived under Stephen's care and protection for the majority of both their lives. Stephen is enraged by the irresponsibility of the staff, but as Scotland Yard begins its investigation, it comes to light that he had never officially enrolled a child at the school. When Police Superintendent Newhouse (Laurence Olivier) begins to unravel the Lakes' lives and search their belongings, he discovers that not only did Ann once have an imaginary childhood daughter named "Bunny," but that the young Bunny seemed to have no tangible possessions at the Lake apartment. Bunny Lake (whom we have yet to see onscreen) may not be missing: she may not even be real. Terrified that Newhouse will now abandon the search for the girl, the hysterical Ann sets out to prove her sanity and, in the process, surprisingly uncovers the true psychosis behind the disappearance of her little Bunny Lake. ~ Aubry Anne D'Arminio, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carol Lynley, Keir Dullea, (more)
- 1971
Also known as Cross Current, The Cable Car Murder emulates the 1971 theatrical feature Tick, Tick, Tick by teaming a black homicide lieutenant (Robert Hooks) with a white partner (Jeremy Slate). Simon Oakland costars as the team's apoplectic superior (is there any other kind?) Set in San Francisco, the story involves the cable-car murder of a shipping mogul's son, which was committed in broad daylight. Is Special Guest Star Robert Wagner the guilty party? Designed as the pilot for a TV series, Cable Car Murder received very little word of mouth when it premiered on November 19, 1971; after all, everyone was still talking about Steven Spielberg's Duel, which received its first telecast six days earlier. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1968
British agents drop like skeets in this convoluted espionage film. Jonas Wilde (Richard Johnson) is a successful British secret agent who wants to hang up his license to kill and retire. His superior, Canning (Harry Andrews), agrees to accept his resignation if he agrees to one last case -- killing a Czechoslovakian defector currently being held by the Americans. Wilde goes along with Canning's plan and, with the help of his housekeeper Rhoda (Diana Dors), completes the mission. But then Jonas is captured by CIA agent Lucinda (Sam Wanamaker), who reveals that an unknown agent in the British secret service is the force behind getting fellow British agents killed. When Jonas and Canning's wife, Barbara (Sylvia Syms), travel to Canning's headquarters, he is told that a British agent has been murdered. Jonas proceeds to take the dead agent's niece Mari (Barbara Bouchet) onto a boat for questioning and discovers false names, deceptions and increasing amounts of dead bodies. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Johnson, Carol Lynley, (more)
- 1986
- R
A successful architect (Jenny Agutter) is in the middle of a large building project, but a series of murders among the construction crew disrupts her plans. She gradually realizes that the unseen force is actually the ghost of her long-dead husband. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Moriarty, Jenny Agutter, (more)
- 1974
In this made-for-TV thriller, a vacation for two men turns deadly when their wives are kidnapped by several escaped convicts. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
Barbara Hershey stars in this understated road movie. Kate (Hershey) flags down a cab one rainy night in Times Square and tells the British-Indian cabbie (Naveen Andrews) to drive until they get to the desert. Fleeing from an abusive relationship, she offers the driver $300 a day for a week. As they wend their way through America's wide expanse, these two lonely souls begin to talk and understand one another. Drowning on Dry Land was screened at the 1999 Flanders Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Hershey, Naveen Andrews, (more)
- 1977
The long-running Aaron Spelling TV series Fantasy Island was launched with a two-hour pilot film, which originally aired January 14, 1977. Ricardo Montalban stars as the enigmatic, sartorially splendiferous Mr. Roarke, who welcomes those willing to pony up the $50,000 to spend a weekend on "Fantasy Island." Roarke's assistant, the diminutive Tattoo ("De plane, boss! De plane!") is played by Herve Villechaize. The special guest stars indulging in their fantasies this time around include Bill Bixby, Sandra Dee, Carol Lynley, Peter Lawford, Hugh O'Brian, Eleanor Parker, Victoria Principal, Dick Sargent and Tina Sinatra. Parker plays a wealthy woman who wants to attend her own funeral, just to see what her relatives really think of her. Businessman Bixby is sent back in time to a bittersweet wartime romance. And bored hunter O'Brian wants to see what it's like to be "the hunted." Mr. Roarke indulges all these fantasies with his usual finesse, just as he would in the series proper, which ran from January 28, 1978 through August 18, 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 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
This time, the overgrown-lizard hero is confronted by a mechanical doppelganger, courtesy of an army of extraterrestrial apes. Unable to best his metallic twin in combat, Godzilla seeks out the aid of Okinawan monster god King Seeser. The film is peppered with moments of humor; so much happens in the final reel that one is disappointed not to see the kitchen sink. After the TV popularity of The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla was rechristened Godzilla vs. the Bionic Monster. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Masaaki Daimon, Kazuya Aoyama, (more)
- 1965
Hurriedly assembled to capitalize on the Paramount feature of the same name, Magna Pictures' Harlow was shot in less than two weeks, utilizing a glorified TV-kinescope process called Electronovision. Carol Lynley is physically an excellent choice to play 1930s Hollywood "platinum blonde" Jean Harlow, though she has little of Harlow's casual charisma. Pushed into a movie career by Mama Jean (Ginger Rogers) in order to support her dysfunctional family, Jean rises from 2-reel comedies to big-budget features in the space of a year. Though one of the highest-priced stars at MGM, Jean's fortune is rapidly depleted by her high-living (and, it is hinted, incestuous) stepfather Marino Bello (Barry Sullivan). Seeking happiness and security, Jean marries producer Paul Bern (Hurd Hatfield), only to have him commit suicide due to his impotence. Just when her misery is about to be ended by her marriage to movie star William Mansfield (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.)--a thinly disguised William Powell, who refused to allow his name or likeness to be used--Jean dies of uremia at the age of 26. If you can get past those miserable Laurel & Hardy imitators at the beginning of Harlow, you might be able to survive the rest of the picture, which gives a whole new meaning to the word "cheap." Watch for boxing champ Sonny Liston in a one-scene bit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carol Lynley, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., (more)
- 1977
Like 1976's "Part One," Having Babies, Part 2 is a multiplotted TV movie about the effect of parenthood on four couples. The first film concentrated on a natural childbirth class. This second film broadens the subject matter with glances at adoptions and unwanted pregnancies. Among the many new parents are Tony Bill (taking time off from his producing career), Carol Lynley, Wayne Rogers, Lee Meriweather and Rhea Perlman. The film closes on some actual footage of twins being born. One year later, a third Having Babies film was telecast, under the imaginative title Having Babies III. Repeating her role from "Part 2" was Susan Sullivan, whose obstetrician character became the basis of the short-lived series Julie Farr, MD. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
Director Henry Levin followed up this light romantic comedy with Where the Boys Are and started a beach trend going. This conventional story stars one of his favorite actors Clifton Webb as Robert Dean, the father of two lively teen-age daughters. He and his wife Mary (Jane Wyman) accompany their daughters on a South American junket. Meg (Jill St. John) and Betsy (Carol Lynley the 17-year-old model turned actress) are the teens. Since Robert is a psychiatrist, one would assume he has the inside scoop on the teen years, but as the family make stops in Lima, Sao Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro it is clear that the daughters are winning the day. Handsome young men enter the picture, and it is not long before romance follows right behind. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clifton Webb, Jane Wyman, (more)
- 1959
A rustic drama set in the early 20th century, Hound Dog Man is the simple story of a young man, Spud Kinney (Dennis Holmes) constantly in hot water for disobeying his mother (Betty Field). The lad should be watching the family farm, but he falls in with his older brother, Clint (pop music's teen heartthrob Fabian), and his reckless buddy Blackie Scantling (Stuart Whitman) who take him hunting in hillbilly country. The boy falls in love with a beautiful mountain girl (Carol Lynley), while Blackie has his own fling with another attractive hillbilly maiden, Nita Stringer (Dodie Stevens), and then becomes mixed up with an older, married woman, Sussie Bell (Margo Moore). Not much else happens, but perhaps not much else is needed. This leisurely little film represents the film debut of Fabian, who not unexpectedly sings several songs (some written by another teen idol, Frankie Avalon). Lynley and Whitman would team up again several years later for the much underrated Shock Treatment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fabian, Carol Lynley, (more)
- 1985
Carole Lynley and Christopher Cazenove star in the British TV movie In Possession. The stars play a married couple who move into a "disturbed" English house. On cue, Lynley and Cazenove are plagued by hallucinations and visitations. And inevitably, one of them is possessed by malevolent spirits. In Possession premiered in America over the USA cable etwork on January 12, 1985, in tandem with another British production, A Distant Scream. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
Lt. Kojak (Telly Savalas) faces an inter-departmental crisis when his fellow detective Bobby Crocker (Kevin Dobson) accidentally shoots and disables fashion model Polly Ames (Carol Lynley), who was caught in the crossfire during a fur robbery. With Crocker's future on the Force in serious jeopardy, Kojak searches desperately for a means of clearing his friend and colleague. The supporting cast features a young--and impressively threatening--Christopher Walken. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
An abandoned teen attempts to learn the rules of the road after being left by his mother at a roadside motel in this quirky crime drama starring screen veterans Carol Lynley, Barbara McNair, and William Smith. Upon realizing that his mother has abandoned him at a seedy motel in the middle of nowhere, innocent teen Otis (Matt Dotson) sets out to find his place in the world with little more than a compass, a bag of Twinkies, and dreams of Las Vegas. Soon making the acquaintance of female bandits Faith (Lynley) and Grace (McNair), Otis tags along for the ride in hopes of making his way to Sin City. Little does Otis know that the two wanted women are about to rendezvous with seasoned con artist Clyde (Smith), who currently has his sights set on a high-stakes poker game that will serve as his last big score before retiring from a life of crime. Just as Otis thinks he is becoming savvy to the criminal code, he learns the hard way that the only rule on the road is to survive at any cost. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
