Michael Connors Movies
Born Krekor Ohanian, American actor Mike Connors was born and raised in the heavily Armenian community of Fresno, California. He studied law at UCLA, but distinguished himself in sports (he'd gotten in on a basketball scholarship). While in the Air Force, Connors switched his career goals to acting on the advice of producer/director William Wellman, who'd remembered Connors' college athletic activities. Hollywood changed young Mr. Ohanian's last name to Connors, and since this was the era of "Rocks" and "Tabs" it was decided that the actor needed a suitably rugged first name. So Connors spent his first few acting years as Touch Connors, a nickname he'd gotten while playing college football. His first picture was the Joan Crawford vehicle Sudden Fear (1952) but handsome hunks were a glut on the market in the early '50s, so Connors found himself in "B" pictures, mostly at bargain-basement American International studios. Renaming himself "Mike," Connors was able to secure the lead role as an undercover agent on the 1959 detective series Tightrope. The series was a hit but was dropped from the network due to complaints about excessive violence, though it cleaned up in syndication for years afterward. After a few strong but non-starring roles in such films as Good Neighbor Sam (1963) and Where Love Has Gone (1964), Connors landed the title role in Mannix (1967), a weekly TV actioner about a trouble-prone private eye. For the next eight high-rated seasons, Connors' Joe Mannix was beaten up, shot at, cold-cocked and nearly run over in those ubiquitous underground parking lots each and every week. The series ran in over 70 foreign countries, allowing Connors a generous chunk of profits percentages in addition to his lofty weekly salary-- which became loftier each time that the actor announced plans to retire. Mike Connors has starred in the 1981 series Today's FBI and filmed a cop-show pilot titled Ohanian (playing a character with his own real name), but nothing has quite captured the public's fancy, or been as lucrative in reruns, as Connors' chef d'ouevre series Mannix. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
- PG
Lee Marvin plays a CIA agent who lures a Soviet biological warfare expert aboard a European train in the hopes of murdering the expert, thus eliminating a world threat. Things go awry when the train is caught in an avalanche. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Shaw, Lee Marvin, (more)
- 1980
Nick (Mike Conners) is the owner of a luxury liner and casino which cruises its way to action and adventure for those on board. Lackluster direction by Don Chaffey is not aided by a cast including Gary Burghoff, Joseph Cotten, Lynda Day George, Bo Hopkins and Robert Loggia, who seem to all be slightly embarrassed to be in the film. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- 1960
Historically, one of the members of the infamous Dalton Brothers outlaw gang, Emmet Dalton, did escape with his life after that fateful 1892 shootout in Coffeyville, Kansas. He lived to a ripe old age, touring the country and lecturing on the evils of dishonesty. In the 1960 low-budgeter The Dalton That Got Away, Emmet is played by future Mannix star Michael Connors. As depicted herein, Emmet's post-bandit activities are heaps more exciting than we've been led to believe. The preponderance of Latino names in the cast and crew of The Dalton That Got Away lead us to conclude that the film was not lensed in Kansas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1954
The best way to described the economically assembled religious picture Day of Triumph is "sincere". Though the film details the Last Days of Jesus Christ (Robert Wilson), top billing is bestowed upon Lee J. Cobb as Zadok, leader of the Zealots. The all-character-actor cast includes James Griffith as Judas, Tyler McVey as Peter, Lowell Gilmore as Pilate and veteran western heavy Anthony Warde as Barabbas. The biggest "name" in the cast is Joanne Dru as Mary Magdalene, while relative newcomer Touch (later Michael) Connors appears as Andrew. The film was directed by Irving Pichel, who'd previously helmed the independently produced religious drama Martin Luther. Once an annual Easter TV attraction, Day of Triumph has in recent years been relegated to limited exposure on America's UHF religious stations. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lee J. Cobb, Robert Wilson, (more)
Mel Brooks does it again with this send-up of vampire films. That Leslie Nielson plays the great blood-sucking count gives viewers a good idea as to what they are in for. This Dracula takes himself very seriously despite the fact that he's a bit of a klutz with a tendency to slip in the bat guano that adorns his castle floor. Staying very close to Bram Stoker's original story, Brooks also pays sly homage to other major vampire film classics, including Nosferatu. Though silly but subtle gags abound in this outing, Brooks has taken great care to recreate the late 19th-century atmosphere in rich detail and harkens back to Hammer horror movies popular during the '50s and '60s. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Nielsen, Peter MacNicol, (more)
- 1988
- R
George Rivero stars in Fist Fighter as C.J. Thunderbird, a participant in the dangerous, illegal world of bare-knuckle boxing. Working the bare-knuckle circuit in Mexico, Thunderbird forms a business partnership with old buddy Harry "Punchy" Moses (Edward Albert). This angers avaricious promoter Billy Vance (Mike Connors), who'd like to have complete control over Thunderbird. Vance pulls all sorts of dirty tricks to undermine Thunderbird's effectiveness--including having Our Hero thrown into prison on a trumped-up charge, and kidnapping leading lady Ellen (Brenda Bakke)--but the champ gets even during a climactic set-to with goonish Moreno (Simon Andreu). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jorge Rivero, Edward Albert, (more)
- 1957
One of the least-known of the American-International "B" westerns of the 1950s, Flesh and the Spur offers the spectacle of the inimitable John Agar in a dual role. When his twin brother Mathew is killed, Luke Random goes gunnin' for his brother's murderer. Along the way, he teams up with gunslinger Stacey (Touch Connors, aka Mike Connors), who is also seeking out an old enemy. Five points to anyone who guesses before the fadeout who Mathew Random's killer turns out to be. Written by A-I regular Charles B. Griffith, Flesh and the Spur was originally released on a double bill with Naked Paradise. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Agar, Marla English, (more)
- 1964
Disgusted by the smarminess of his 1963 vehicle Under the Yum Yum Tree, Jack Lemmon vowed that his next effort would be a wholesome family picture. Good Neighbor Sam is suitable for all ages, to be sure, but that doesn't stop producer-writer-director David Swift from injecting plenty of double-entendre dialogue and harmlessly risque situations. Lemmon plays ad executive Sam Bissell, happily married to all-American blonde Minerva (Dorothy Provine). Anxious to land the Nurdlinger's milk account, Sam is carefully scrutinized by the prudish Simon Nurdlinger (Edward G. Robinson), a staunch advocate of old-fashioned family values.
Meanwhile, Minerva welcomes her old school friend, sexy Janet Langerlof (Romy Schneider) into her home. Janet is in line to inherit a fortune, but only if she's married. Unfortunately, Janet is currently separated from her insanely jealous spouse Howard Ebbets (Michael Connors), so big-hearted Minerva volunteers Sam to pose as Janet's husband. The ensuing comic complications come to a head when Nurdlinger elects Sam and Janet as the nation's ideal "married" couple, and posts their pictures on billboards all over town! Some of the smaller pleasures in this film are provided by Louis Nye as a high-tech private eye, Barbara Nichols as a squeaky-voiced call girl, Robert Q. Lewis as Sam's lascivious neighbor, and an uncredited Gil Lamb as a genial wino. An amusing running gag involved the Hertz "man in the driver's seat" commercials of the 1960s has sometimes been cut from TV prints of Good Neighbor Sam. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Meanwhile, Minerva welcomes her old school friend, sexy Janet Langerlof (Romy Schneider) into her home. Janet is in line to inherit a fortune, but only if she's married. Unfortunately, Janet is currently separated from her insanely jealous spouse Howard Ebbets (Michael Connors), so big-hearted Minerva volunteers Sam to pose as Janet's husband. The ensuing comic complications come to a head when Nurdlinger elects Sam and Janet as the nation's ideal "married" couple, and posts their pictures on billboards all over town! Some of the smaller pleasures in this film are provided by Louis Nye as a high-tech private eye, Barbara Nichols as a squeaky-voiced call girl, Robert Q. Lewis as Sam's lascivious neighbor, and an uncredited Gil Lamb as a genial wino. An amusing running gag involved the Hertz "man in the driver's seat" commercials of the 1960s has sometimes been cut from TV prints of Good Neighbor Sam. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Lemmon, Romy Schneider, (more)
- 1965
Of the two competing Jean Harlow biopics released in 1965, producer Joseph E. Levine's Harlow is the more slickly professional, though neither film is exactly a cinematic landmark. Carroll Baker plays 1930s "platinum blonde" Jean Harlow, who, in keeping with the portrait painted by biographer Irving Schulman and Arthur Landau (upon whose book this film is based) was a forlorn waif tossed around like a football by the predatory males of wicked old Hollywood. Prodded by a hellish stage mother (Angela Lansbury) and an implicitly incestuous stepfather (Raf Vallone), Harlow rises to the pinnacle of movie stardom but never finds true happiness. The wedding-night revelation that her new husband, producer Paul Bern (Peter Lawford), is impotent is just another devastating blow for the poor girl. After all she goes through in the film, Harlow's premature death at age 26 is almost a relief. The only person who truly, deeply, sincerely cares about her is her lovable agent Arthur Landau (played by lovable Red Buttons) who, it will be remembered, co-authored the original Harlow book. Movie buffs will derive some perverse pleasure by the script's many distortions of the facts. Whatever its shortcomings, Harlow posted a huge profit for Joe Levine and Paramount Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carroll Baker, Martin Balsam, (more)
- 1993
Stefanie Powers and Robert Wagner return as the Harts, married private eyes who in this made-for-TV movie interrupt their carefree lives to investigate a group of corrupt government contractors. Lionel Stander also returns as their sidekick Max, with Mike Connors and Ken Howard as guest stars. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1979
Though tenuously based on fact, High Midnight is the sort of TV movie that could only have been made in the fuzzy-headed 70s. David Birney is a blue-collar type whose wife and daughter are killed in a no-knock drug bust. Nasty narcotics officer Michael Connors refuses to admit that he's made a mistake. Connors tries to cover up his own ineptitude, and eventually targets Birney for elimination. With the help of sympathetic cop Christine Belford, Birney avenges his family's murder. It's not likely that a TV movie in which a narcotics cop is the villain will get much play in the 1990s, but High Midnight is a nonetheless fascinating time capsule. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
During World War II, a Military Air Transport Command DC-3 piloted by a civilian crew is forced down in northern Labrador. The five men, led by Dooley (John Wayne), have barely any food and almost no way to keep warm, and their power supply is fading fast, but they have to find a way of staying alive until search planes find them. At first, even Dooley is overwhelmed by the responsibility for his crew's safety, and he is too lax in handling them -- but after one man dies, frozen to death just steps from help, he takes over and pushes his men and himself to the limits of their endurance; he even seems ready to crack himself at one moment. Meanwhile, the men who fly with Dooley push themselves and their machines past their endurance limits searching the arctic wastes for the downed plane. Island in the Sky -- based on the book by Ernest K. Gann (perhaps the best aviation novel ever written), which was, in turn, based on a true incident that happened during the war -- is one of the most startling movies in Wayne's output. He doesn't even look like the "star" John Wayne, but like a real pilot, and the cast, made up of familiar faces, all look like the real article; indeed, this movie should have been in the running for Academy Awards for costuming and makeup, just for making these familiar performers, such as Lloyd Nolan (in maybe his best performance) and Andy Devine (ditto), look like real pilots and ordinary men, rather than familiar actors. You end up feeling like you're watching a documentary, and the effect is bracing and unsettling, and dramatically unparalleled in Wayne's entire output. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Lloyd Nolan, (more)
- 1956
Though Mickey Rooney is listed as coproducer of Jaguar, the star of the proceedings is East Indian actor Sabu, here cast as a young South American. Though raised in a civilized atmosphere, Juano (Sabu) cannot quite shake the savage instincts of his jungle-bred forefathers. When he is falsely accused of three murders, Juano is willing to believe that he committed the crimes thanks to the influence of a powerful narcotic. It turns out that our hero has been set up as a fall guy, but he goes through hell and back before he can prove his innocence. Jaguar was scripted by John Fenton Murray, who later specialized in such TV sitcomery as McHale's Navy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
In this low-budget crime drama a runaway girl joins a gang of jewel thieves and finds herself leading an exciting luxurious life until her older sister shows up during a caper and gets her and the rest of the gang in trouble. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Murphy, Norma Eberhardt, (more)
- 1978
Stephanie Zimbalist stars as the brilliant, athletic teen-aged daughter of Cloris Leachman and Michael Connors. Stephanie's perfect world is shattered when she is caught in the middle of a bus-train collision. She survives, but suffers severe brain damage and the loss of a leg. Zimbalist must make the "long journey back" to recovering her health and self-esteem, with her parents and friends helping every step of the way. Originally telecast December 15, 1978, Long Journey Back was adapted for television by Audrey Davis Levin from a true story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
Convicted murderer Clete Overton (Ed Kemmer) escapes from jail on the eve of his hanging. Bart tries to prove Cleve's innocence when the fugitive insists that he was charged on circumstantial evidence. Unfortunately, someone is determined that Clete remain under the shadow of the noose--and that someone is willing to kill Bart to make sure that the execution goes on as scheduled. Featured in the guest cast is future Mannix star Michael Connors, former Make Room for Daddy regular Sherry Jackson, and soap opera diva Jeanne Cooper. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
Bret (James Garner) befriends a charming young couple, Molly Gleason (Karen Steele) and Ralph Jordan (a pre-Mannix Michael Connors). Alas, what Molly and Ralph currently have in mind is not so charming. The two lovebirds intend to use the trusting Bret as the fall guy for a bank robbery --and the plan requires Bret to be killed and Molly to tearfully identify him as Ralph. Though filmed as the pilot episode of Maverick, "Point Blank" was originally shown as the series' second telecast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1993
Making her annual pilgrimage to Ireland, Jessica (Angela Lansbury) is determined to catch up with the sightseeing that has so often been interrupted in the past by murder. Alas, it isn't long before our heroine is involved in another homicide case. This time around, the eldest son (Gordon Currie) of Jessica's widowed friend Fiona Griffith (Fionnula Flanagan) is accused of killing the American cousin (Andrew Robinson) who had planned to horn in on the family business. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1966
An evil scientist attempts to use his newly designed satellite to sterlize everyone on earth. Fortunately two savvy secret agents are set on the case to stop him. Basically this is a low grade, low budget Italian mish-mash of comedy and spy films. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Connors, Dorothy Provine, (more)
- 1962
Frank Pagano, mobster and head of Pagano Enterprises, needs to lose $500,000 within thirty days to avoid paying a large sum in income taxes. Deciding on an ingenious plot to produce a flop television pilot, he hires Philipe Fontaine (Maurice Chevalier), a fizzled star who can no longer find work. Philipe's screen-girl is to be played by Angela (Jayne Mansfield), a prostitute aspiring to be an actress--who also happens to be quite close to Frank. Though Philipe tries his best to make what he can of the role, the project seems doomed under the direction of inept Pandowski (Akim Tamiroff). When Philipe finds out what is really going on, he sneaks a copy of the project to the Venice Film Festival as a comedy feature--slightly setting Frank's plan askew. Shot in Rome and Venice, this comedy based on a story by independent producer Ron Gorton took three years to finish. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jayne Mansfield, Michael Connors, (more)
- 1976
In this drama, a gentle geologist, distraught after the rape of his wife, becomes a killer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
