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
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)
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
- 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)
- 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
- 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)
- 1979
The life and times of Spanish superstar Julio Iglesias are dramatized in this semi-autobiographical outing that stars the great crooner himself. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1978
Future Cop had been a disastrous 1977 TV series about a human cop and his "biosynthetic android" (or robot) partner. Not content to leave bad enough alone, Paramount Television attempted to revive the Future Cop concept under the title The Cops and Robin. As in the earlier TV series, Ernest Borgnine is the flesh-and-blood policeman, teamed with humanlike robot Michael Shannon. Borgnine and Shannon are assigned to protect Robin (Natasha Ryan), the 6-year-old daughter of the witness to a cop killing. Even if Cops and Robin had made it as a series, it would have run into trouble from authors Harlan Ellison and Ben Bova, who sued the producers on the basis that this TV-movie pilot was swiped from their own short story Brillo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1978
The cartoon firm of Hanna-Barbera produced the live-action TV movie The Beasts are On the Streets. No, the beasts aren't Yogi Bear, Snagglepuss and Scooby-Doo, but instead a contingent of dangerous jungle animals. A tanker truck has smashed through the fence at a Texas game preserve, releasing the beasts upon a screaming and scrambling populace. Zoologist Carol Lynley tries to predict where the animals are most likely to strike-and strike they do, 'cause they're smarter than the av-er-age beasts. Filmed on location in Grand Prairie, Texas, The Beasts are On The Streets was first telecast May 18, 1978. ~ 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 1976
In the second of the feature-length Quincy, M.E. episodes produced for the NBC Sunday Mystery Movie anthology, medical examiner Quincy (Jack Klugman) performs an autopsy on Margo Bentley (Joanna Barnes), a novice writer who at the time of her death was working on a scandalous "roman a clef" about the Hollywood elite. Since the woman was suffering from cirrhosis, the police are quick to conclude that she died of alcoholism. But Quincy has a different diagnosis, one involving murder. While pursuing his own personal investigation, the feisty Quincy crosses the path of a fraudulent coroner--and ascertains a link between Margo's death and the murder of a New York literary agent. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
An all-star "disaster" flick set in an elevator: is there no limit? This made-for-TVer top-bills James Farentino as a bank robber suffering from claustrophobia. Fleeing from his latest crime, the criminal is forced to take an elevator, populated with the likes of Roddy McDowall, Craig Stevens, Teresa Wright, Myrna Loy and Carol Lynley. Naturally, the elevator stalls between floors, high above ground level. The Elevator debuted as an ABC Movie of the Week on February 9, 1974. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 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
- 1972
Seedy newspaper reporter Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) is assigned the Las Vegas police beat by his boss Tony Vincenzo (Simon Oakland). A series of murders has been plaguing the Glitter Capital; the victims, all beautiful showgirls, have had the blood drained from their bodies. Kolchak can't understand why the authorities are so uncooperative as he probes the case. Nor can he believe the evidence he's gleaned on his own: There can't possibly be a Dracula-like vampire stalking Las Vegas, or can there? Adapted by Richard Matheson from a novel by Jeff Rice, The Night Stalker debuted January 11, 1972 - -and on that fateful evening, this thriller became the highest-rated TV movie up to its time, as well as an instant cult classic. The film spawned a popular sequel, The Night Strangler (1972), and a 1974 TV series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Darren McGavin, 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)
- 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
- 1970
In this romance, an ex-Marine begins looking for a fellow Vietnam vet in hopes of making it as musicians in New York. He does not realize it, but he is driving in stolen cars. After being chased by the police, he ditches the cars and hitchhikes the New York. By the time he arrives, his pal has already left. At the friend's former apartment, the Marine gets romantic with a hippie chick and begins singing in the Village where he finds audiences unreceptive. He then boards a bus where he meets a young woman on her way to marry a Marine who ends up refusing to marry her. Soon she and the musical Marine are traveling companions. They are accompanied by a trick chicken, and a midget. Just as he finally finds his friend, the girl states that she is pregnant and the honorable fellow offers to marry her, but she will not. Then her old fiancé appears and a fight ensues. She ends up going with him. When the singer finally gets his big chance, he sees the girl watching him and realizes they are in love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glen Campbell, Kim Darby, (more)
- 1970
In this drama, two kidnappers begin looking for a new victim after they accidentally kill their latest hostage. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1969
The Immortal is the pilot film for a TV series that reversed the concept of Run For Your Life: Instead of a hero with only a few years to live, the hero of The Immortal can never die! Injected with an experimental serum, Christopher George finds that his blood system has built up an immunity to all diseases and that his ageing process has been halted. That should have been the end of the story, but a dying millionaire (Barry Sullivan) hopes to drain George of his blood and transfuse it to his own body. George is forced to go into hiding; in the subsequent series, he did the "Fugitive" bit, travelling from town to town and touching the lives of the citizens therein. The Immortal was based on a novel by James Gunn. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1968
Roy Thinnes was the star of this 1967-1968 science fiction series, about an Earth poised on the brink of alien takeover. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
