Jack Cassidy Movies

Larry Cohen's pseudo-biography of J. Edgar Hoover (Broderick Crawford) was virtually howled off the screens upon its release in 1977. Today, with the cross-dressing Hoover so much a matter of historical record that even Oliver Stone didn't bother to make too much of a point of it in Nixon, the Cohen film plays more like a dramatic re-enactment rather than the puerile paranoid fantasy it appeared to be at the time. Unfortunately, Cohen's method is part exploitation and part historical tableau. On the one hand, Cohen dramatizes historical moments in Hoover's momentous life story -- the shooting of John Dillinger in front of Chicago's Biograph Theater, his first arrest -- with a deadening solemnity (even abandoning the backlot facsimiles to shoot on the actual historical locations). On the other hand, Cohen relishes his scenes of Hoover's homosexuality and his propensity for sitting in the dark with a bottle of whiskey, replaying tapes of the amorous liaisons of high government officials -- the decadently homosexual Hoover built his political power base by getting all the dirt he could on the government's movers and shakers -- particularly their sexual liaisons -- and blackmailing them for their support when he could not get it in any other way. A true schizophrenic masterwork in its time, the film is now muted by a reality more incredible than Cohen ever imagined in his wildest dreams. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

When a British lord and jewel thief arrives in America, the thief becomes a murder suspect. ~ All Movie Guide

Now You See Him was one of the more popular installments in the Columbo TV series. Jack Cassidy guest stars as "The Great Santini," master magician. Encumbered by a blackmailer, Santini decides to bump the fellow off. But he can't possibly be the guilty party--because, you see, he was on stage performing his famous "water tank" trick at the time of the murder. Lt. Columbo (Peter Falk) performs a few dextrous tricks of his own to wangle a confession out of Santini. Bob Dishy, Robert Loggia and Nehemiah Persoff co-star in this February 29, 1976 Columbo offering. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Clint Eastwood both directed and starred in this thriller based on a novel by Trevanian. Dr. Jonathan Hemlock (Eastwood) is a professor of art history who formerly had a deadly secret life; he was a hired assassin working with an international intelligence organization. Normally content to collect and study art, Hemlock is forced by blackmail to perform one last hit, or, as the organization euphemistically calls it, a "sanction." The victim will be one of three men attempting a dangerous ascent of the Eiger, a beautiful but punishing mountain range in Swiss Alps. While Hemlock is an experienced mountaineer and willing to make the climb, he's troubled to discover that he does not know which of the other three men scaling the Eiger is his true target. The supporting cast includes George Kennedy and Jack Cassidy; the latter earned enthusiastic reviews for his over-the-top performance as a flamboyantly gay secret agent. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this thriller, an enigmatic phantom lives in the dank tunnels running beneath the ramshackle back lot of a former movie lot. When prospective buyers endeavor to purchase the property, the furious phantom goes on the rampage. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Time for Love, aka New Kind of Love, was the pilot for an unsold anthology series. The throughline of the anthology was to have been "Opposites Attract," to which many viewers added, "Yeah? And then what?" The two stories comprising the pilot both trod the tired old "Shy and Nonshy" route. In one story, conservative junior executive John Davidson falls for swinging convention hostess Lauren Hutton. In the other, timid teacher Bonnie Bedelia is enchanted by rock star Chris Mitchum, who is trying to escape his screaming fans. Time for Love was the brainchild of Stirling Silliphant, one of the most prolific and successful writers of TV's so-called Golden Age. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this made-for-TV comedy, the writer for a hit TV show learns that the lead actress is about to marry the show's wealthy sponsor, thus putting him (and the rest of the show's cast and crew) out of a job. To get his revenge, he writes her into a kidnaping scheme -- and then turns it into fact. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide

Would you believe Bette Davis and Ernest Borgnine as a pair of free-spirited hippies on a crime spree? That's the premise of this unlikely comedy starring the two Oscar-winning veterans. Bunny O'Hare (Bette Davis) is an elderly woman living in New Mexico who is trying to keep herself afloat financially while supporting her two grown children, both of whom have fallen into bad straits. Thanks to a mistake by her bank, Bunny is evicted from her home, which is quickly torn down, but not before one Bill Green (Ernest Borgnine) can repossess her commode. Bunny is left with nowhere to go, and Bill allows Bunny to tag along in his trailer after he leaves. Bunny soon learns that Bill was once a bank robber who is still on the run from the law, and she persuades him to show her the ropes so she can steal her nest egg back from the bank. Dressed as hippies, Bunny and Bill pull the job, but rather than escape to Mexico, Bunny decides to stay in the Southwest and rob more banks with Bill to help keep her kids out of hock. Bunny O'Hare also features Jack Cassidy, John Astin, and Jay Robinson; ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Jack Cassidy guest stars as George Dinsdale, Darrin's newest client. An unregenerate playboy, Dinsdale falls in love with Samantha's lookalike cousin, Serena, and refuses to believe that Sam and Serena are not one in the same. Before she is able to straighten out this mess, Sam is obliged to briefly transform Dinsdale into a parrot. Scripted by John L. Greene, "A Chance on Love" made its first network appearance on March 19, 1970. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Mistaking Samantha for her lookalike cousin Serena, a jealous witch named Brunhilde (Barbara Morrison) zaps Sam back to 1868 New Orleans. Unable to remember who she really is, Sam will remain spellbound in the past until she willingly kisses a mortal. Jack Cassidy guest stars as Southern "gentleman" Rance Butler, who ends up challenging Darrin to a duel. Also in the cast is Isabel Sanford of Good Times fame as family retainer Aunty Jenny. Written by Ed Jurist, "Samantha Goes South for a Spell" first aired on October 3, 1968. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Still under the spell of the James Bond movie they've just seen, Lucy (Lucille Ball) and the countess (Ann Sothern) spot a pair of sinister-looking men at a restaurant. Jumping to the conclusion that the two men are enemy spies, the ladies trail them to a deserted warehouse, with a reluctant Mooney (Gale Gordon) in tow. This broad spoof of the mid-'60s "spy craze" features Jack Cassidy as a bearded gentleman who talks into a Man From U.N.C.L.E.-style miniature phone ("Napoleon who? You've got the wrong number!") and is capped by Lucy's hilarious imitation of Carol Channing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide