Robert C. Thompson Movies

Love Lives On is the apotheosis of all made-for-TV "problem" films. The focus is on 15-year-old Susan Wallace (Mary Stuart Masterson), who in the course of the film's 97 minutes runs the gamut of crises from drug addiction to unwed pregnancy to cancer. In the climax, poor Susan must decide whether or not to bring into the world a baby that may be even less healthy than she. Add to this mixture the alcoholic father and battered mother of Susan's erstwhile boy friend, and one has the quintessential "disease of the week" flick--though, incredibly, it is all based on actual events. The film earned an Emmy award for "Lullaby", an original song by Douglas Brayfield and James Di Pasquale. Love Lives On made its ABC network debut on April 1, 1985. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Computer-firm CEO James Randolph (Charles Aidman) has hired Magnum (Tom Selleck) to investigate the possibility of industrial espionage within his organization. And, oh yes, Randolph also wants the detective to find out if Mrs. Randolph (Nancy DeCarl) is cheating on him. The second part of the assignment proves to be the toughest when Magnum discovers that Mrs. Randolph's current paramour is his none other than his old pal Rick (Larry Manetti, who in real life was married to guest actress Nancy DeCarl). Meanwhile, Higgins (John Hillerman) goes to extreme lengths to impress his old flame Lady Ashley (Olga Marr). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Clearly inspired by the theatrical feature Norma Rae, The $5.20 an Hour Dream stars Linda Lavin as a recently divorced woman supporting herself and her 12-year-old daughter. The highest-paying job at the Oregon engine factory where she works is on the assembly line--which has traditionally been an all-male operation. Bucking the system (and several stereotyped "chauvinist pigs"), Lavin eventually wins a place on the line, as do several of her female friends. As always, Linda Lavin (for whom this film was a pet project) looks far too self-reliant to ever be considered a "victim," so the climax of $5.20 an Hour Dream is a foregone conclusion. This made for TV movie received an award from the National Commission of Working Women. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Lanigan's Rabbi is the pilot for the subsequent TV series based on Harry Kemelman's novels about crimesolving Rabbi David Small. Stuart Margolin plays the Rabbi, while Art Carney is top-billed as the police detective who frequently relies on Small's intuition. This initial episode, adapted from Kemelman's Friday the Rabbi Slept Late concerns the murder of a woman whose body is discovered on the steps of the Rabbi's California synagogue. The mystery is given equal time with Small's concern over his pregnant wife, who is about to give birth at any minute. When Lanigan's Rabbi became as series, Stuart Margolin was committed to Rockford Files, so Bruce Solomon became the new Rabbi Small. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This filmization of John Jay Osborn Jr.'s novel Paper Chase ended up one of the surprise hits of the 1973-74 movie season. Timothy Bottoms stars as the Minnesotan Hart, a brilliant but naive first-year student at the Harvard Law School. Like most of his fellow aspiring attorneys, Hart is in fearful awe of his demanding, ego-deflating instructor, Professor Kingsfield (John Houseman). He is not so much intimidated by Kingsfield, however, as to resist falling in love with the professor's pretty daughter (Lindsay Wagner). An eminent theatrical and film producer, John Houseman won an Oscar for his first important film role (no, it wasn't his first film role ever; he'd played an unbilled cameo in 1964's Seven Days in May), launching Houseman on a latter-day acting career wherein he spent most of his time playing variations of Kingsfield. Houseman also recreated the role for a Paper Chase TV series, which first ran on CBS, then on public television, then on the Showtime pay cable service. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi