Garry Marshall Movies

A man who has spent much of his life wandering through a haze of liquor and drugs learns that clearing his mind isn't an easy process in this independent comedy-drama. Truman (J.R. Bourne) is a hard-drinking cab driver who lives and works in Fairbanks, Alaska, driving home boozers and tourists who can't find their way in the frozen winter nights. While Truman is intrigued by a rough-edged stripper named Eleanor (Emily Wagner) who is a regular fare, for several years he's been dating Emily (Stacy Edwards), an aspiring novelist, and when she leaves him for another man, he takes the news hard. After a long night's bender of booze and LSD, Truman attempts suicide, and wakes up in a metal hospital where he dries out and tries to put his life back together with the help of a good natured psychiatrist (Garry Marshall). While attending group therapy, Truman notices a familiar face -- Eleanor, who is dealing with demons of her own and is willing to let Truman into her life. Truman falls in love with Eleanor, but once he is settled back in Fairbanks and tries to restart his life, he falls prey to the bad habits and poor choices that have dogged him for years. Also featuring Paul Dooley, Jeffrey Scott Jensen and Dan Butler, Chronic Town was the first feature film from director Tom Hines. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Two parents worry about the feelings of their love-struck teenage son in this engaging romantic comedy. Grif (James Garner) and wife Jenny (Debbie Reynolds) are concerned about their son Davey (Donald Losby). When his girlfriend is slated for a tour of Europe, the teenage boy is heartbroken. Grif, a photographer by trade, draws the assignment as a photo journalist to cover the girl's tour. Jenny is swindled by Mr. Tilly (Terry-Thomas) who takes her money as rent payment on a Riviera villa. The house is owned by a French playboy who allows the pretty mom to stay. Comedy ensues when a jealous Grif discovers wife Jenny in a bikini given to her by the amorous Frenchman. Prolific songwriter Jimmy Webb provides the music for this feature. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Having lost the grand prize at four previous Shotz Brewery talent shows, Laverne (Penny Marshall) are determined to make the fifth time the charm. Unfortunately, the girls' spirited "Cabana" calypso number may never make it through the tryout process thanks to their main rival, former Rockette Gloria Lubitz (Leland Palmer). Eddie Mekka (Carmine) did the choreography for this episode, and also sings a medly of Tony Bennett tunes. Other highlights include Laverne and Shirley's rendition of "I Believe", and Lenny and Squiggy's performance of the original tune "Star Crossed", written by Michael McKean (Lenny). And yes, that's series producer Garry Marshall as one-third of the girls' backup trio. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ending its first season as America's second most popular TV series (its "inspiration," Happy Days, was the first), Laverne & Shirley held fast to the second-place slot throughout season two. Still set in the late '50s, the series continues to star Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams as Milwaukee brewery workers and best friends/roommates Laverne De Fazio and Shirley Feeney, with Phil Foster as Laverne's pizzeria-owner dad, Frank, Eddie Mekka as Laverne's off-and-on boyfriend Carmine, and Michael McKean and David L. Lander as the girls' zany co-workers Lenny and Squiggy. New to the series this season are Betty Garrett as Laverne and Shirley's warmhearted landlady, Edna Babish, and in a recurring role, Carole Ita White as the girls' overbearing high-school chum Rosie Greenbaum. Highlights this season include the episodes "Bachelor Mothers" and "Excusie Me, May I Cut In?," both crossovers with Happy Days featuring Henry Winkler as Fonzie in the first episode, Ron Howard and Anson Williams as Richie and Potsie in the second; "Brother Can You Spare a Father," in which Shirley has an uncomfortable reunion with her ne'er-do-well dad (played by Scott Brady); and "Christmas Eve at the Booby Hatch," the first of the series' several "let's put on a show" outings, showing off the musical talents of the regulars. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season four of Laverne & Shirley found the series' time frame progressing from the late '50s to the early '60s. The season opener is the two-part "Festival," wherein Laverne (Penny Marshall), Shirley (Cindy Williams), and the other series regulars leave their familiar Milwaukee environs for a trip to New York. In a related development, Laverne aspires to get into a Broadway show in "Chorus Line," featuring a guest-starring turn by famed dancer/choreographer Tony Basil. Speaking of guest stars, future Tonight Show emcee Jay Leno turns up as a character named Joey in "The Feminine Mistake." And after scoring excellent ratings with its one "serious" episode of its third season, "The Slow Child," the series served up another superb blend of comedy and drama, "A Visit to the Cemetary," in which an embittered Laverne at last settles accounts with her deceased -- and much despised -- mother. For the second year in a row, Laverne & Shirley ended its season as America's number one-rated program. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

To counteract a precipitous drop in its ratings during its previous season, Laverne & Shirley launched season six by shifting the series' locale from Milwaukee, WI, to Burbank, CA. Fired from their jobs when Shotz Brewery decides to switch to automation, Laverne (Penny Marshall) and Shirley (Cindy Williams) pack their bags and leave Beertown in favor of the Golden State, where Laverne's dad, Frank (Phil Foster), and his new bride (and the girls' former landlady), Edna (Betty Garrett), have already resettled and opened a restaurant called Cowboy Bill's. In the interests of continuity, Laverne and Shirley are soon joined in California by their zany ex-co-workers Lenny (Michael McKean) and Squiggy (David L. Lander), and by Laverne's erstwhile boyfriend Carmine (Eddie Mekka). Moving into an apartment managed by part-time stuntman Sonny St. Jacques (Ed Marinaro), Laverne and Shirley immediately come into contact with their new neighbor, airheaded model-dancer Rhonda Lee (Leslie Easterbrook), and not long afterward the girls land jobs in the gift-wrapping section of Bardwell's Department Store. They also launch an ongoing effort to break into the movies, beginning with the famous episode in which Troy Donahue appears as himself. Evidently, several years have passed between season five, which was ostensibly set in the very early '60s, and season six. How else can one explain how Lenny and Squiggy end up as guests on TV's The Dating Game, which didn't debut until December of 1965, or how Frank and Edna, who were married in the early months of season five, are suddenly celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary? Highlights this season include the return of Vicki Lawrence as the redoubtable Sgt. Plout of the WACS, now seeking help from her former "grunts" Laverne and Shirley as she goes AWOL; Eric Idle and Peter Noone, showing up as pot-smoking rock singers in the episode "I Do, I Do"; Lenny and Squiggy imagining themselves as silent movie stars in "Born Too Late"; and "Laverne's Broken Leg," which may well have been the first sitcom episode inspired by the 1946 feature film It's a Wonderful Life (but certainly not the last)! The move from Milwaukee to Burbank did wonders for Laverne & Shirley's ratings: not even showing up in the Top 30 during season five, the series shot up to 20th place for season six. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Laverne & Shirley was Laverne & Shirley in name only as the series entered its eighth and final season. For a variety of reasons, chief among them her feelings that she was being overshadowed by co-star Penny Marshall (Laverne) and that the producers were insensitive to the work limitations imposed by her pregnancy, Cindy Williams had walked off the series after completing only two season-eight episodes. Providentially, the first of these, the season opener of September 28, 1982, had contrived to marry off Shirley to an army medic named Walter Meany (making her Shirley Feeney Meany!), thereby explaining away the many absences that Williams was expected to take before giving birth. No one (except perhaps the actress herself) could have suspected that the next episode telecast, "Window on Main Street, would constitute Williams' last appearance on the series. Thus, Laverne soldiered on throughout the rest of the season without Shirley, as the writers tried to recapture the old magic by briefly teaming Penny Marshall with such guest stars as Julie Brown, Carrie Fisher, Laraine Newman, Carol Kane, and Vicki Lawrence, the latter reprising her role as bombastic WAC sergeant Plout. And in an unrelated distaff development, series co-star David L. Lander, normally cast as the goofy Squiggy, shows up in drag as Squiggy's sister Squendolyn! Perhaps the highlight of the season is future Tonight Show host Jay Leno's guest appearance as duplicitous radio DJ Bobby Bitts in the episode "Do the Carmine." Ranking 25th in the ratings during its terminal season -- not bad, but far below its onetime ranking as America's Number One series -- Laverne & Shirley concluded with the unremarkable episode "Here Today, Hair Tomorrow." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Laverne DeFazio (Penny Marshall) and Shirley Finney (Cindy Williams) are promoted from their memorable Happy Days guest appearance to their own spinoff series as Laverne and Shirley launches its first season. In the opener, the girls--lifelong friends and fellow "bottle-cap technicians" at Milwaukee's Shotz Brewery--have just settled down in their new apartment when Shirley is invited to a ritzy party held by the nephew (Richard Stahl) of their boss. Though Shirley is thrilled at the prospect, Laverne is upset that she wasn't invited as well. Of course, both girls ultimately show up at the facilities wearing gowns borrowed from a wax museum, courtesy of their wacky would-be suitors Lenny (Michael McKean) and Squiggy (David L. Lander). Happy Days' resident cool guy Fonzie, aka Henry Winkler, makes a guest appearance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Making its first appearance on November 14, 1988, the long-running, Emmy-winning CBS sitcom Murphy Brown starred Candice Bergen as the title character, the driving, driven, often overbearing but essentially likable star reporter of the Washington, D.C.-based TV magazine "FYI." A thorough professional, Murphy never gave less than her best before the cameras -- but behind the cameras, it was a different story. Constitutionally incapable of doing anything by halves, Murphy told her colleagues exactly what she thought of them at all times, seldom made a comment that wasn't laced with sarcasm, and was addicted to tobacco and, for a while, booze (this last shortcoming required her to do some time at the Betty Ford Clinic). Though the rest of the "FYI" staffers were accustomed to Murphy's mood swings and idiosyncrasies, outsiders tended to be scared off by our heroine: indeed, one of the series' most famous running gags was the fact that Murphy had a different secretary in practically every episode! Also in the cast were Charles Kimbrough as "FYI"'s uptight, humorless anchorman Jim Dial; Joe Regalbuto as the show's gonzo (and obviously toupeed) investigative reporter Frank Fontana, Faith Ford as "FYI"'s voluptuous, somewhat vacuous cub reporter and ex-Miss America Corky Sherwood, who considered Murphy to be her role model (often to Murphy's dismay) and who eventually married staff writer Will Forest (Scott Bryce), thereby becoming -- are you ready? -- Mrs. Corky Sherwood Forest; and Grant Shaud as "FYI"'s nebbishy executive producer Miles Silverberg, not exactly what one would call a born leader of men (or of Murphy!).

When not on the set of her show, Murphy could be found in her townhouse apartment, often conversing with quirky, philosophy-spouting house painter Eldin Bernecky (Robert Pastorelli), who spent day and night trying to finish redecorating Murphy's living room -- a job he still hadn't entirely completed when he left the series in season seven. Murphy also hung out with her co-workers at a neighborhood bar owned by another erstwhile philosopher named Phil (Pat Corley), at least until he reportedly died, whereupon Murphy and company purchased the bar themselves (as it turned out, reports of Phil's death were slightly exaggerated -- by Phil!). Additionally, Jay Thomas appeared intermittently as Geraldo-like journalist Jerry Gold, with whom Murphy frequently clashed -- when they weren't romancing one another, that is. As the series progressed, the basic throughline, and the characters, underwent a few changes. After her divorce from Will Forest, Corky eloped with Miles Silverberg, though she stayed in Washington when he left to run a CNN-style news service in New York. Murphy's brief fling with her ex-husband, Jake (Robin Thomas), produced a baby named Avery (who apparently grew up rather quickly, since he was played during the final season by Haley Joel Osment) -- and also stirred up a controversy when no less than Vice President Dan Quayle chastised Murphy Brown for eroding "family values" in America by bearing a child out of wedlock. Later on, dashing international reporter Peter Hunt (Scott Bakula) joined the "FYI" staff, sweeping Murphy off her feet and ultimately asking her to marry him (she didn't). Other additions to the cast included Garry Marshall as new network president Stan Lansing, who waged an ongoing war with Murphy over her non-PC attitude; Paul Reubens (aka Pee-Wee Herman) as Stan's whiny nephew Andrew, who was forced upon Murphy as her secretary -- and actually kept the job for more than a single episode; Christopher Rich as "FYI" co-anchor Miller Redfield, just the sort of gorgeous-looking, empty-headed TV personality whom Murphy despised with every fibre of her being; and Lily Tomlin as Kay Carter-Shepley, "FYI"'s imperious, and not altogether competent, new executive producer. In addition to the main and supporting cast, the series featured a number of real-life news personalities as "themselves," among them Walter Cronkite, Connie Chung, Larry King, Katie Couric, and Paula Zahn. The series' tenth and final season found Murphy undergoing treatment for breast cancer, an outwardly grim situation that, amazingly enough, never intruded upon the laughter. Murphy Brown ended its network run on August 10, 1998. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Having resigned from "FYI" in the wake of his controversial confrontation with Big Tobacco, Jim (Charles Kimbrough) accepts the position of news-division head at the upstart ICN network. Much to dismay of the "FYI" staffers, dimbulb Miller Redfield (Christopher Rich) is chosen as Jim's replacement. It finally falls to Murphy (Candice Bergen) to try to coax Jim back into the fold--a job which she thinks will be easy considering the cacophonous chaos within ICN headquarters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Murphy (Candice Bergen) desperately seeks an ally at the network when Kay (Lily Tomlin) presumptively decides to move the entire "FYI" staff to California. The situation prompts Murphy to join forces with Mr. Lansing's weaselly nephew Andrew (Paul Reubens), now ensconsed in a Buddhist monastery. Unfortunately, Andrew proves to be an even greater threat to "FYI" than Kay, whereupon Murphy comes up with "Plan B" (or is it "Plan C"). Watch for a hilarious cameo by Drew Carey Show regulars Diedrich Bader and Ryan Stiles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide