Marvin J. Chomsky Movies

Former policewoman Dorothy Uhnak wrote the book upon which this 150-minute TV movie was based. The central characters of Law and Order are the male members of an Irish-American family--three generations of police officers. The bulk of the drama concerns the conflicts between Deputy Chief of Public Affairs Brian O'Malley (Darren McGavin) and his Vietnam-vet son (Art Hindle), who has become a beat cop. In addition to his problems at home, Chief O'Malley must contend with rumors of departmental corruption. Law and Order was designed as the pilot film for a Police Story-style series with a family slant. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Live a Little, Steal a Lot and You Can't Steal Love were both alternate titles for the fact-based crime caper Murph the Surph. In the early 1960s, a "celebrity beach bum" named Jack Murphy--aka Murph the Surph--helped mastermind the stealing of the Star of India sapphire from the American Museum of Natural History. The film concentrates on the sociopathic pre-theft activities of Murphy (played by Don Stroud) and his partner in crime Allan Kuhn (excellently impersonated by Robert Conrad). The hollowness of Murph and Kuhn's Miami Beach lifestyle is offset with their never-ending search for "kicks"--the last of which earned them both stiff prison terms. Live a Little, Steal a Lot successfully plays its material for laughs throughout, but in the end both erstwhile criminals seem more pathetic than amusing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Fresh from his Broadway triumph in The Boys in the Band, Leonard Frey guest-stars as Thomas Burke, a pscyhopathic doctor who brainwashes underworld fugitives into becoming political assassins, then committing suicide before the cops catch up with them. The IMF must not only put Burke out of commission, but also his boss, Syndicate chieftan Alex Pierson (Donald Moffat. Originally broadcast on October 9, 1971, "Mindbend" was written by James D. Buchanan and Ronald Austin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Luther Adler guest stars as Leo Vorka, an aging European dictator who intends to purge his country of all young artists and intellectuals. The IMF hopes to topple Vorka from power and install his friendlier deputy Bartzin (Ben Astar) in his place. The mission: To drive Vorka insane and convince his deputies that the old man must be deposed immediately. The success of the scheme hinges upon a cleverly arranged series of "ghostly" visions, courtesy of a rigged closed-circuit TV. Antoinette Bower, who'd played the damsel in distress in the second-season Mission: Impossible story "The Slave", is here cast as IMF agent--and erstwhile phantom--Nora Bennett. Originally broadcast on February 8, 1970, "Phantoms" was written by Laurence Heath. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The fate of a Middle Eastern nation hangs in the balance as terrorist Ismet El Kabir (Michael Tolan) is scheduled to be pardoned from prison. The IMF must prevent Kabir's release, thereby forcing him into an escape attempt that will cost him his life. The plan involves the infiltration of Kabir's terrorist organization--and yet another of the IMF's patented "prison break-ins". Written by Laurence Heath, "Terror" made its network broadcast debut on February 15, 1970. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Fresh from her eight-season run on Bewitched, Elizabeth Montgomery embarked upon a whole new career as everyone's favorite TV-movie star in the ABC production Mrs. Sundance. Shamelessly promoted as a sequel to the movie megahit Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the film cast Montgomery as Sundance's schoolteacher widow Etta Place, the role played in the earlier movie by Katherine Ross. Like her outlaw husband, Etta finds herself on the lam from the law, with a $10,000 bounty on her head. Resigned to spending the rest of her life in hiding, Etta is ultimately flushed out by the rumor that Sundance is still very much alive (In truth, the authorities never found Etta Place, and even the date of her death is shrouded in mystery). Lensed on location near Lone Pine, California, the film represented the first on-screen teaming of Elizabeth Montgomery and her real-life future husband Robert Foxworth. Mrs. Sundance premiered January 15, 1974. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Originally telecast as an ABC Theatre of the Month special, My Body, My Child nobly attempts to tackle the abortion issue--but does so with a painfully contrived, mazelike Perils of Pauline script. Irish-American schoolteacher Vanessa Redgrave, married to Italian fireman Joe Campanella and already the mother of three daughters, believes that she's pregnant. Her doctor pooh-poohs the notion and prescribes several forms of drugs to counter her "faux" morning sickness. The effect of the narcotics, coupled with the fact that Redgrave's invalid father (Jack Albertson, in his final role) has been charged with the mercy killing of her mother, lead the poor schoolmarm to attempt suicide. This time the doctor on the scene announces that Redgrave is pregnant, and that her previous drug intake will result in a deformed, retarded child. Now arrive at the abortion issue: With all the cards stacked against her, what will Redgrave do in regards to her body and her child? Unfortunately, after raising so many diverse social issues, My Body, My Child drops many of those issues in order to rush towards its climax. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A TV mini-series, this is a visually pleasant movie about the life of Russia's colorful ruler, from childhood on. Big name cast is wasted on small roles, however. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

This award-winning six-part historical epic was one of the first examples of the miniseries format and one of the highest-rated television programs in broadcasting history. Based on the best-selling novel by author Alex Haley, Roots chronicles the progress of Haley's own family across many generations, from the kidnapping of an African warrior by American slave traders to eventual post-Civil War freedom. Kunta Kinte (LeVar Burton) is a young tribesman of coastal Africa who has passed the rituals marking his transition into manhood. Searching for wood to build a drum, he is set upon by slavers who sell him in the United States after a nightmarish Atlantic crossing. Defiant, Kunta refuses to consider himself a slave, despite some sage advice from his mentor, the more mature Fiddler (Louis Gossett Jr.). As the years pass, the aging Kunta (John Amos) is hobbled for his repeated escape attempts. Realizing he'll never return to Africa, Kunta settles down, becoming husband to Bell (Madge Sinclair) and father to Kizzy (Leslie Uggams), a girl infused with her father's independent spirit. Sold and then raped by her new master, Kizzy has a son, Chicken George (Ben Vereen), a happy go lucky cockfighting expert who uses his skills to buy his freedom. George paves the way for his children, the great-grandchildren of Kunta Kinte, who finally become free in the aftermath of the Civil War. Roots (1977) was followed by a sequel miniseries, Roots: The Next Generations (1979), and a made-for-television feature, Roots: The Gift (1988), as well as another telefilm based on the family history of the Haley clan, Queen (1993). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

This episode finds Captain Kirk, Dr. McCoy and Mr. Spock exploring the planet Sarpeidon, whose sun is about to go nova. They discover cities and other components of an advanced civilization, but no inhabitants save one, a mysterious man (Ian Wolfe) who identifies himself as the "librarian." They learn that the "library" is a time portal, and that the inhabitants have escaped the doom of their world by taking new lives in past eras. Kirk accidentally steps through the portal and becomes trapped in this world's equivalent of the 17th century, and accused of witchcraft; Spock and McCoy, in turn, are stranded in the planet's brutal ice age, where they meet Zarabeth (Mariette Hartley), an unwilling prisoner of that era. Kirk must try to avoid execution, while Spock -- quickly reverting to his primordial Vulcan nature, brutal and lustful, as a result of moving into the past -- finds his growing love for Zarabeth interfering with his efforts at escape. And that escape becomes even more imperative when they learn that because of the particular way they were transported, they can only survive for a matter of hours. ~ All Movie Guide

The crews of the Enterprise and an enemy Klingon vessel find themselves in uncomfortably close quarters during this episode of the 1960s science fiction series. When both the Enterprise and a Klingon warship claim to be responding to a distress call from a disputed planet, Captain Kirk attempts to settle the matter diplomatically, agreeing to beam a number of the Klingons aboard his ship. However, almost immediately after the Klingons are aboard, the Enterprise is hit with turbulence; the resulting damage traps the Klingons and a number of Enterprise crew members together in the same part of the ship. Old hatreds soon rise to the surface, and the tension brings the groups to the brink of a private war -- but the situation soon changes when they realize that a mysterious third party may have had a hand in orchestrating the conflict for purposes of its own. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

Cybill Shepherd takes a ride into the dark side in this two-part TV movie, purported based on a true story. Shepherd is cast as wealthy and seductive Phoenix socialite Faith Kelsey, who opts not to get mad but to get even when her husband, Terry (Christopher McDonald), enters into an affair with Stacey Eckhart (Denise Gentile), herself a married woman with children. When Stacey is brutally murdered, the police have great difficulty linking either of the Kelseys to the crime -- and no one has more difficulty than Detective Jay Jensen (Ken Olin), who, entranced by Faith's beauty and charm, concludes that she is as "much a victim" as the dead woman. But as the story unfolds, it becomes painfully clear that Faith has hatched an elaborate scheme to get away with murder, and to cover her tracks by persuading a number of people -- mostly male people -- to help her cover her tracks and leave the dots unconnected. But will Jensen finally wrest free of Faith's alluring spell and see to it that justice is done? And of more importance, can this be done before Faith makes her good her plan to leave the country and totally escape extradition? Telling Secrets was originally seen over NBC on January 17 and 18, 1993. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide