Darren McGavin Movies

Though it barely received big-city release (it lay on the shelf for nearly two years before it received any sort of release), The Petty Story did quite well on a regional basis. As indicated by the title, this is the story of the Petty family of stock-car racing fame. Richard Petty, who won over 200 races before his 1993 retirement, stars as himself, while Darren McGavin provides acting relief as Petty's father Lee. The film pulls no punches in charting the turbulent relationship between father and son. For those not interested in domestic melodrama, the film is chock-full of great racing scenes. Also appearing in The Petty Story are Kathie Browne (Mrs. Darren McGavin),Noah Beery Jr. (who went through most of the same paces in Big Fauss and Little Halsey), Lynne Marta and L.Q. Jones. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One of the most successful filmed biographies of the 1940s, A Song to Remember alleges to be the true story of Polish composer Frederick Chopin. Actually, it has about as much relation to truth as a Heckle and Jeckle cartoon, but with such gorgeous creatures as Cornel Wilde and Merle Oberon in the leads, who cared? Though Wilde, as Chopin, is the nominal lead, top billing goes to Paul Muni, hamming his way through the role of Chopin's mentor Professor Joseph Elsner. Reportedly, Muni developed his characterization long before shooting started, refusing to allow the performances of the other actors to alter his interpretation in the slightest. This may explain why Muni seems to be acting in a vacuum, frequently completely out of rhythm with the film and its characters. Otherwise, Cornel Wilde does a nice job as the tempestuous Chopin, whose patriotic fervency frequently takes priority over his music. Merle Oberon plays novelist George Sand, who despite her preference for male clothing proves to be "all woman" during her torrid, decade-long affair with Chopin. The film's money scene--the one that everyone talked about, keeping the picture "alive" long after its original release--occurs towards the end, when the tubercular Chopin begins hemorrhaging as he performs his Polonaise for the first time (Jose Iturbi is heard on the soundtrack, "doubling" for Wilde's ivory-tickling). Sumptuously photographed in Technicolor by Tony Gaudio and Allen M. Davey, A Song to Remember was the usually penurious Columbia Pictures' top production of 1945. Fifteen years later, the studio hoped to make lightning strike twice with its Franz Liszt biopic Song Without End, but the magic just wasn't there. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In a fleabitten Western town, gunslingers Dell Delaney (Gene Barry) and Red Hillman (Darren McGavin) challenge each other to a shootout. Local cook Maggie Flynn (Ellen Corby) does everything she can to talk the two cowpokes out of their challenge, but they are determined to slap leather the moment a clock on Maggie's mantle strikes the hour. Clearly, what Maggie needs to prevent bloodshed is something spectacular -- for example, a "Sign from God." And that is precisely what Maggie gets. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This made-for-cable version of Arthur Miller's play The American Clock was adapted for television by Frank Galati. Inspired partly by Studs Terkel's oral history Hard Times, and partly by Miller's own recollections, the film is set at the beginning of the Depression. When the stock market crashes, the well-to-do Baumler family (John Rubinstein, Mary McDonnell, Loren Dean) loses everything. The Baumlers are forced to move from their plush penthouse apartment to the less-attractive Brooklyn digs of Mrs. Baumler's sister (Joanna Miles). Twelve-year-old Lee Baumler (Dean), the Arthur Miller counterpart, hits the road to find out how others are coping with the Long National Nightmare. The alternately depressing and uplifting storyline moves along briskly to a surprisingly abrupt climax. Kelly Preston, David Strathairn, Eddie Bracken, Darren McGavin, and Estelle Parson co-star in The American Clock, which premiered over the TNT Cable Network on August 23, 1993. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Battle at Gannon's Bridge originated as an episode of the weekly TV series Name of the Game. Darren McGavin appears as ex-convict Eddie Gannon, who holds the lease on a converted church used as a halfway house for recently released prisoners. Renewal of the lease is endangered by a rash of unsolved crimes in the neighborhood. Gannon asks Crime magazine editor Dan Farrell (Robert Stack) to prove that none of his fellow ex-cons are responsible for the thefts. Battle at Gannon's Bridge was initially telecast October 9, 1970. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The press release for the TV movie Berlin Affair described how "an employee of a sophisticated international murder-for-hire syndicate is assigned to hunt down..." Fill in the blank. Is it (a) his wife, (b) his best friend, or (c) a good chili restaurant? If you answered "b", then you can fill in the rest of this predictable spy caper. Before murderer-for-hire Darren McGavin can finish his mission, he is drugged and beaten up by the bad guys, and romanced by pretty Pascale Petit. Also featured in Berlin Affair are Fritz Weaver, Claude Dauphin, and Berlin Itself. The film bears no relation to the 1985 theatrical espionager of the same name. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Billy Zane stars in this direct-to-video gem as a spectacularly unsuccessful car thief. Hoping to reform by leaving LA, Zane must scare up $400 worth of exit money. He decides to pull off one last job, stealing a TV from William Bastiani. An ill-tempered criminal, Bastiani stabs Zane, who then runs off blindly into a cemetary ("Blood" and "Concrete": get it?) Weaving around the tombstones, Zane makes the acquaintance of would-be suicide Jennifer Beals. Love blooms, but it might be too late for both of them: Bastiani is found murdered, and Zane is suspect number one-forcing him to hide out from both the cops and the mob. Luxuriating in its tawdriness and cheapness, Blood & Concrete: A Love Story actually has an offbeat charm all its own. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama, two dogged FBI agents are on the case to investigate one of the U.S.'s most infamous bank robberies. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Soviet radicals upset with the thawing of the Cold War explode a nuclear weapon in Russia, setting off a series of events that may very well trigger World War III. The president (Martin Landau) has been isolated after a helicopter accident and must outwit government and military officials who are attempting to go forward with the war. The film centers on the relationship between a pair of American pilots who have been ordered to bomb the U.S.S.R. and the attempts by some factions to bring them home before global Armageddon. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

After a scientist creates superhuman warrior Red Skull for the Nazis during WW II, she defects and does the same for the U.S.-- injecting a polio victim to transform him into the titular heroic beefcake. Forty years after a confrontation which left Captain America frozen in Alaska, he is found and thawed and must take on Red Skull once again. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

Crackle of Death is a hybrid feature film comprised of two episodes from the 1974 TV series Night Stalker. Series regulars Darren McGavin and Simon Oakland head the cast, playing, respectively, reporter Carl Kolchak and editor Tony Vincenzo. It was Kolchak's weekly habit on the series to run across an example of supernatural phenomena, then to try to convince the disbelieving Vincenzo to run the story. The two Night Stalker episodes represented herein are "The Energy Eater", in which a new hospital is bedevilled by a creature that thrives on electrical energy, and "Fire Fall", in which a famed pianist is troubled by his evil alter ego. Guest stars in the 94-minute Crackle of Death include Philip Carey, William Smith, Elaine Giftos. Directors for the individual components were Alex Grasshoff and Don Weis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Irregularly scheduled on NBC from 1954 through 1957, Producers' Showcase was a series of lavish, full-color 90 minute specials, bringing the best of Broadway to the 21 inch screen. On November 14, 1955, the series digressed from its usual format to present Dateline 2, the second annual variety show produced by NBC in cooperation with the Overseas Press Club. The theme of the program is "Freedom of the Press", and the subject matter ranges from the front page to the editorial column to the comics section. Highlights include a new Irving Berlin song composed for the occasion, "Free"; Robert Frost, poetically discussing "The Right to Know"; John Steinbeck's eulogy of legendary combat photographer Robert Capa, who had been killed on the job the previous year; and a one-act play, based on the Korean War experiences of correspondent Marguerite Higgins. On a lighter note, Janet Blair sings a paean to the funny pages, backed by a "Li'l Abner" ballet choreographed by Tony Charmoli (the Broadway musical version of Al Capp's hillbilly comic strip was still one year in the future). William Holden serves as master of ceremonies, with John Wayne delivering the opening remarks. Originally telecast live, Dateline 2 reportedly still exists in kinescope form, though prints are hard to come by for general audiences. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide