Leonard Katzman Movies

Scientist Mitch McAfee (Jeff Morrow) cannot convince anyone that an enormous bird, evidently here from outer space, has arrived on Earth and is grabbing planes from the sky, gobbling up the passengers and crew. However, the bird (The Claw) eventually makes its presence more that adequately known, as it begins to attack people more openly. But the giant bird is surrounded by a kind of force field, making all weapons useless on it. Mitch finds its nest and blows holes in its colossal egg, infuriating The Claw, which heads south, destroying the United Nations building on its way. Mitch struggles to find a way to penetrate the anti-matter shield around The Claw. This would have been an ordinarily bad movie of its type, with a good performance by Jeff Morrow, if the special effects had been industry standard for the time. That, however, is not what happened. The Claw is not just badly rendered, it is hilariously rendered, resembling nothing so much as Warner Bros. cartoon-character Beaky Buzzard. Once seen, you will never forget this awesomely silly creation. ~ Bill Warren, All Movie Guide

Based on Jenny Angel, a novel by Elise Oaks Barber, Angel Baby is a gloves-off study of the faith-healing racket. The title character, played by Salome Jens, is a mute whose speech is ostensibly restored by Bible-thumper George Hamilton. Angel Baby is then exploited on the evangelical circuit by crooked promoter Burt Reynolds (in his feature film debut). She becomes disillusioned, but her faith is restored when she apparently heals a crippled child. Any opportunity to see stage actress Salome Jens in one of her rare movie roles is always to be treasured; in this instance, Ms. Jens is backed up by an equally stellar supporting cast, including Mercedes McCambridge, Joan Blondell, and Henry Jones. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Having twice "cheated the hangman" by eluding CBS' efforts to cancel the series, the venerable western Gunsmoke was still safely imbedded in its by-now-familiar Monday evening slot for a sixteenth season--the longest-running dramatic series in TV history, with no end in sight! Still in harness after all those years were three of the series' original regulars: James Arness as Matt Dillon, Amanda Blake as Kitty Russell, and Milburn Stone as Doc Adams. Likewise in attendance were two relative newcomers, no less popular: Ken Curtis as Festus Haggen and Buck Taylor as Newly O'Brien. Among the guest actors passing through Dodge this season are Ricardo Montalban, Suzanne Pleshette, Vera Miles, Loretta Swit, L.Q. Jones, Annette O'Toole, Anthony Zerbe, Forrest Tucker and David Carradine. Perhaps the most interesting episode of the season is "Captain Sligo", which was directed by William Conrad, the actor who originated the role of Marshal Matt Dillon in the original radio version of Gunsmoke. A close second in the "most interesting" category is the two-part "Pike", in which Jeanette Nolan guest stars as a grizzled female desert rat named "Dirty Sally" Fergus, a recurring character who proved entertaining enough to be spun off into her own series, Dirty Sally, in January of 1974. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

With the cancellation of Bonanza in December of 1972, Gunsmoke remained standing as the last of the "golden age" TV westerns as it entered its record-breaking eighteenth season on the air. Heading the cast just as they had way back when the show got under way in 1955 are James Arness as Marshal Matt Dillon, Amanda Blake as Kitty Russell, and Milburn Stone (back from a brief respite while recovering from a heart attack) as Doc Adams. Also, Buck Taylor returns for his sixth season in the role of gunsmith Newly O'Brien, just as Ken Curtis is back for his ELEVENTH season as deputy Festus Haggen. If nothing else, Gunsmoke certainly afforded job security to actors! The season begins with one of the series' rare two-parters, "The River", a showcase for star James Arness as Matt is ambushed, left to drown in a raging river, and rescued by a brace of "raft" kids. Figuring prominently in the proceedings are several reliable character actors, among them Jack Elam and Slim Pickens. Subsequent episodes would provide ample acting opportunity for such familiar players as Richard Kiley, Mariette Hartley, Victor French, Anne Francis, Vic Tayback, Harry Morgan, Alan Hale Jr., Diana Hyland, Margaret Hamilton, William Devane and a young, pre-stardom Harrison Ford and Richard Dreyfuss! By season's end, it was clear as crystal that Gunsmoke had not yet worn out its welcome: The series closed out its eighteenth season as America's fourth highest-rated TV series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The record-breaking 20th season of Gunsmoke also proved to be the series' last stand--not because it had lost its huge fan base (the series still managed to rank among the 30 highest-rated series for the 1974-75 season) but because, after two decades, James Arness had decided to move beyond his familiar role of Matt Dillon, US Marshall of Dodge City, Kansas. Of the six main characters, only Arness and Milburn Stone had been with the show from the get-go; Ken Curtis as Festus Haggen was a comparative newcomer, having joined the cast during Season Eight, while Buck Taylor as Newly O'Brien was practically a babe in the woods, with a mere eight seasons to his credit. Wait, we said six regulars, and that's only five. What of Amanda Blake as Miss Kitty Russell, owner of the Long Branch Saloon, a role she too had been essaying since 1955. Well, actress Blake had opted to call it quits at the end of Season 19, after nearly six hundred episodes of warning her erstwhile sweetheart Matt Dillon to "be careful". Rather than hire a Kitty lookalike as Blake's replacement, the produced chose an older, less glamorous but no less talented performer as the new owner of the Long Branch: Fran Ryan, cast as "Miss Hannah". This cast change aside, life went on as usual in Dodge, with stalwart Marshal Dillon keeping a tight rein on his jurisdiction and making sure that outlaws, drunks, bullies, rapists and other riffraff would not remain in town for long (though he no longer shot down an unidentified miscreant in the middle of main street, as he'd done in the opening sequence of the earlier episodes: That particular sequence had long since been replaced by an "action" shot of Matt Dillon riding his horse on the open Kansas prairie). The 635th and final episode, "The Sharecroppers", was a low-key comic exercise emphasizing Festus, in no way suggesting that a two-decade era was about to come to an abrupt end. In point of fact, it hadn't ended--at least not for James Arness, who would star in half a dozen feature-length Gunsmoke specials produced between 1987 and 1995. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Having proven itself as a viewer magnet during its five-episode trial in the spring of 1978, the multi-plotted prime-time serial Dallas launched its second season (and its first "full" one) in the fall of that same year, though it would not be until the series was moved from Saturday to Friday night that it would begin its rapid upward climb in the ratings. Already established as the series' antihero is the charming but thoroughly untrustworthy J.R. Ewing, eldest son of Texas oil millionaire Jock Ewing (Jim Davis) and his wife, Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes). Throughout the second season, J.R. carries on a two-pronged battle, not only feuding with the politically ambitious Cliff Barnes (Ken Kercheval), the son of Jock's hated rival Digger Barnes (played briefly by David Wayne before the role is taken over by Keenan Wynn), but also engaging in a fierce power struggle over control of Ewing Oil with his honest younger brother, Bobby (Patrick Duffy) -- who happens to be married to Cliff's sister, Pam (Victoria Principal). This season marks the first appearance by J.R. and Bobby's other brother, Gary, played in the first three episodes of the year by David Ackroyd, who would be replaced by Ted Shackelford when it was decided to spin Gary and his wife, Valene (Joan Van Ark), into their own series, Knots Landing.

Perceiving Gary as a threat, J.R. connives to get Gary's daughter Lucy (Charlene Tilton) to move out of the family mansion, Southfork; however, many of his schemes come a cropper, such as his plan to marry off Lucy to millionaire Kit Mainwaring (Mark Wheeler) -- who turns out to be gay. J.R. also does his best to undermine Bobby by trying to break up his marriage to Pamela. This may not be too difficult, inasmuch as Bobby is considerably put out when he discovers that Pam was married before, to Vietnam veteran Ed Haynes (Robin Clarke). Meanwhile, J.R.'s troubled wife, Sue Ellen (Linda Gray), worried that Pam will bear a child before she will, embarks upon a "conception race" with her sister-in-law. Also, the viewer is introduced to Pam's mother, Patricia (Martha Scott), and her younger sister Kristin, played in two episodes this season by Colleen Camp (the role would be taken over on a permanent basis by Mary Crosby in season three). Almost immediately upon arrival, Kristin makes a play for Bobby -- which of course delights the devious J.R. In other developments, Morgan Fairchild makes her one and only appearance as Bobby's old flame Jenna Wade, a role that would ultimately be played, as a "regular," by Priscilla Presley. Miss Ellie faces a crisis when her presumed-dead brother, Garrison (Gene Evans), shows up, insisting that he is rightful owner of Southfork; Susan Howard is introduced as the politically well-connected Donna Culver, who proceeds to cheat on her husband with Southfork's sullen and secretive manager, Ray Krebbs (Steve Kanaly); and after facing political ruin at the hands of J.R., Cliff Barnes steps up his vendetta against the "man you love to hate." As the season rushes to a close, a pregnant Sue Ellen is rushed to the hospital to bear a son, John Ross Ewing III -- but J.R., who doesn't trust his wife any farther than he can throw her (he's already tried to have her locked away in a sanitarium), is convinced that his rival Cliff is the baby's father! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

"Who shot J.R.?" Those were the words on the lips of Dallas fans throughout the world as the popular prime-time serial launched its fourth season on CBS. Speculation ran high over the identity of the person who, at the tail end of season three, had pumped several slugs in the chest of the sublimely unprincipled Texas oil tycoon J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman). It was one of the best-kept secrets in the annals of popular entertainment; indeed, not even the cast members knew "who dun it" (to cover their bets, the producers filmed scenes of every member of the cast pulling the trigger -- including Larry Hagman). During the fifth episode of the season, which became the second highest-rated show in TV history, the culprit is exposed -- and it is giving nothing away at this late date to reveal that J.R.'s would-be assassin was his cast-off mistress Kristin (Mary Crosby), younger sister of his own wife, Sue Ellen (Linda Gary). Upon his recovery, J.R. resumes his power struggle with younger brother Bobby (Patrick Duffy), who in J.R.'s absence has assumed control of Ewing Oil. Almost immediately upon returning to his office, J.R. hires sharkish PR agent Leslie Stewart (Susan Flannery) to promote his "new" image as "The All-American Businessman" -- even as he tries to undermine his own country's foreign affairs by engineering a political coup in a faraway country in order to increase his wealth!

Meanwhile, Sue Ellen's lover, Dusty Farlow (Jared Martin), urges her to leave J.R. and take her son, John Ross (now played by Tyler Banks) with her. After numerous dead-end love affairs, J.R.'s niece Lucy (Charlene Tilton) decides to marry Mitch Cooper (Leigh McCloskey), a poor medical student who is troubled by the Ewing's affluence; J.R. doesn't think much of Mitch, but he develops a hankerin' for his sister, Afton (Audrey Landers), a professional singer. And in one of the season's most momentous developments, Southfork manager Ray Krebbs (Steve Kanaly) is revealed to be the illegitimate song of J.R. and Bobby's dad, Jock Ewing (Jim Davis) -- whereupon Ray further increases his influence in the community by wedding the politically powerful Donna Culver (Susan Howard). In an effort to whip up audience interest in the same manner as the previous season's cliffhanger, season four of Dallas closes as attorney Cliff Barnes (Ken Kercheval), sworn enemy of J.R. Ewing, finds the body of a woman floating in the Ewings' swimming pool. Even if this contrivance hadn't occurred, CBS had no fear that Dallas would lose its audience; as of the end of its fourth season, the series was America's top-rated series -- the first dramatic program to pull off this coup since Marcus Welby, M.D. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season six of Dallas opens with the resolution of the cliffhanger that ended season five, as Cliff Barnes (Ken Kercheval), hated rival of conniving oil tycoon J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman), recovers from his suicide attempt. Though ostensibly ruined and disgraced through J.R.'s machinations, Cliff rises from the ashes to become president of Barnes/Wentworth, the oil company owned by his mother. Rebecca Barnes Wentworth (Priscilla Pointer) -- who, incidentally, will not survive the season. More so than ever before, Cliff is determined to beat J.R. at his own game in the open marketplace. Meanwhile, back at Southfork, J.R. has reconciled with his wife, Sue Ellen (Linda Gray), and despite the impassioned intervention of Sue Ellen's lover, Dusty Farlow (Jared Martin), she remarries J.R. in early December. At this point, Dusty disappears from view, not to be seen again for several more seasons. At the same time, J.R. again tangles with younger brother Bobby (Patrick Duffy), the bone of contention being their late father's will. Also, Donna Krebbs (Susan Howard), wife of J.R.'s half brother, Ray (Steve Kanaly), tries to expose J.R.'s questionable business practices with the help of the Texas Energy Commission. In retaliation, J.R.'s deft manipulates the media, stirring up public sympathy for himself -- even as he secretly embarks upon an illegal financial deal in Cuba! Throughout all this intrigue, J.R. finds time to attempt to "conquer" attractive rival oil executive Holly Harwood (Lois Chiles). And there's more!

As the marriage between Bobby and Cliff Barnes' sister, Pam (Victoria Principal), slowly unravels, wealthy Mark Graison (John Beck) tries his best to win Pam's love. Later on, Pam divorces Bobby and has a nervous breakdown, much to the delight of the manipulative J.R. -- yet she still manages to gain custody of her adopted son, Christopher. Plus, the romance between J.R.'s widowed mother, Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes) and Dusty Farlow's millionaire father, Clayton (Howard Keel), heats up. And in another development, J.R.'s divorced niece Lucy (Charlene Tilton) takes up with Ray Krebbs' ne'er-do-well cousin Mickey Trotter (Timothy Patrick Murphy), a fling that ends violently when Mickey is paralyzed in a car accident that may or may not have been caused by an inebriated Sue Ellen. Season six ends with the traditional Dallas cliffhanger, as a fistfight between J.R. and Ray Krebbs results in a fire that threatens to consume all of the Southfork mansion, with J.R., Sue Ellen, and their son, John Ross, trapped inside! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As season eight of Dallas gets under way, Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy) painfully convalesces from the gunshot wound that felled him at the end of season seven. The most likely suspect would seem to be Cliff Barnes (Ken Kercheval), the brother of Bobby's ex-wife, Pam (Victoria Principal), but in fact the would-be killer is Cliff and Pam's obsessive half-sister, Katherine (Morgan Brittany), who was incensed that Bobby had spurned her in favor of his fiancée, Jenna (Priscilla Presley). Had Katherine but waited a while, she could have saved a bullet; Bobby breaks up with Jenna, who ends up wedding a former lover, Renaldo Marchetta (Daniel Pilon) -- and is then accused of Marchetta's murder! In other romantic developments, despite all of the evil J.R. Ewing's (Larry Hagman) efforts, his mother, Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes), has tied the matrimonial knot with Clayton Barlow (Howard Keel), millionaire father of Dusty Barlow, the former lover of J.R.'s wife, Sue Ellen (Victoria Principal). But is it really Miss Ellie who walks down the aisle? Well, technically, it is -- but it isn't the same actress who has been playing the character since Dallas began. Citing illness and exhaustion, Barbara Bel Geddes had left Dallas at the end of its seventh season. Her replacement is Donna Reed, light years removed from the innocuous 1950s sitcom that bore her name in the title. Getting back to the Miss Ellie-Barlow nuptials, all is not peach blossoms and roses. It turns out that Clayton has a demented sister named Jessica (Alexis Smith) -- who very nearly commits wholesale murder before she's caught and institutionalized.

Newcomers to the cast this season include Joshua Harris as Christopher Ewing, Bobby and Pamela's adopted son; Jenilee Harrison as cousin Jamie Ewing, who is destined to wed Cliff Barnes after aligning with him to wrest a piece of Ewing Oil from J.R.; and Deborah Shelton as Mandy Winger, who arouses the libido of both J.R. and Cliff, but who definitely prefers one over the other. Conversely, two of Dallas' stalwart leading players make their exits this season: Charlene Tilton as Lucy Ewing (though she'd eventually return), and more spectacularly, Patrick Duffy as Bobby Ewing. Honoring Duffy's insistence that he wanted to leave the series to pursue different roles, the writers contrived to have Bobby get killed while trying to save Pamela from a deranged hit-and-run driver (Katherine Wentworth again!). Thus, the season ends with the hospitalized Bobby "flatlining" -- thereby setting the stage for the series' notorious "dream" season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

At the tail end of Dallas' ninth season, Pamela Ewing (Victoria Principal) was awakened from her troubled slumbers by the sound of a familiar voice in her bathroom. Investigating, she peeked past the shower curtains -- and was astonished to find her ex-husband, Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy), who had presumably been killed at the end of the series' eighth season, alive and well! How could this be? Well, the opening scene of season ten explains all. Bobby was never killed -- and the entire ninth season was all a nightmare, dreamed up by poor Pamela! Thus, the writers have blithely negated everything that has happened during the previous season, and from this point forward, not even the most loyal of the series' fans will ever be able to take Dallas entirely seriously again. Be that as it may, season ten does offer a few interesting plot developments, as well as a handful of new characters. Having been humiliated time and again by her ruthless oil-tycoon husband, J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman), Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) gets even by setting up her own lingerie business, using J.R.'s erstwhile mistress Mandy Winger (Deborah Shelton) as his star model.

Meanwhile, Southfork is invaded by April Stevens (Sheree J. Wilson), former wife of J.R.'s cousin Jack Ewing, who like everyone else in the family is determined to carve out her own piece of the Ewing millions, by hook or by crook. (April will eventually marry J.R.'s brother Bobby, though he is blissfully unaware of this now.) Also making his first appearance is Ben Stivers (aka Wes Parmalee, played by Steve Forrest), who throws a monkey wrench into the connubial bliss of Miss Ellie Ewing (Barbara Bel Geddes) and her second husband, Clayton Barlow (Howard Keel), by posing as Miss Ellie's presumed-dead first husband, Jock. And in another development, the marriage between J.R.'s half-brother, Ray Krebbs (Steve Kanaly), and his ambitious wife, Donna (Susan Howard), totally collapses when Donna attaches herself to the influential Senator Dowling (Jim McMullan). Getting back to Pamela and Bobby, the couple decides to celebrate his "return from the grave" by getting married all over again. Alas, a happy ending is not in the cards: at the end of season ten, Pamela is seriously injured in an auto accident. Since Victoria Principal had announced her intention to leave the series, viewers braced themselves for the likelihood that Pamela has been killed -- and at the same time, they cynically awaited another likelihood, that the whole thing was yet another "Bobby in the shower" hoax! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Having avoided getting shot by his frustrated wife, Sue Ellen (Linda Gray), at the end of Dallas' 11th season, ruthless oil tycoon J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman) decides to relax a bit as season 12 gets under way. Embarking on a hunting trip to Arkansas, serial philanderer J.R. has brief tryst with hillbilly gal Cally Harper (Cathy Podewell) -- which turns out to be a major mistake when Cally's brothers, in cahoots with a crooked sheriff, contrive to have J.R. arrested and sentenced to a work farm! In order to save himself, J.R. agrees to divorce Sue Ellen and marry Cally -- who isn't quite as vacuous and guileless as she looks. Once J.R. and Cally are hitched, the vengeful Sue Ellen purchases a movie studio for the express purpose of collaborating with screenwriter Don Lockwood (Ian McShane) on a shocking filmed exposé of J.R. and his highly questionable business practices. (This collaboration reaps unexpected benefits when Sue Ellen and Lockwood are married!) Season twelve marks the exit of two longtime Dallas regulars: Steve Kanaly and his character, J.R.'s half brother, Ray Krebbs, bid farewell early in the season; and by mid-year, Linda Gray (aka Sue Ellen) is also gone. Conversely, Audrey Landers as Afton Cooper, former sister-in-law of J.R.'s niece Lucy (Charlene Tilton), returns after an absence of several seasons. Newcomers to the cast include George Kennedy as rival oil man Carter McKay, who after purchasing Ray Krebbs' ranch takes over Westar Oil and mounts a range war (both literal and figurative) against the Ewing family, hoping not only to destroy J.R. but also to remove Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy) as head man of Ewing Oil. The McKay-Ewing conflict would spread far beyond the boundaries of Texas and extend into the wilds of Washington, D.C., Austria, and Russia! Along with Carter McKay, Carter's unhappy wife, Rose (Jeri Gaile), and his profoundly troubled children, Tommy (J. Eddie Peck) and Tracy (Beth Toussaint), make their first appearances this season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The 14th and final season of Dallas finds ruthless oil executive J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman) escaping from a mental institution, then resuming his Herculean efforts to wrest control of Ewing Oil from his brother Bobby (Patrick Duffy). It turns out that poor Bobby may well be vulnerable to J.R.'s conniving: his new wife, April (Sheree J. Wilson), has just been kidnapped and killed during their Parisian honeymoon by the insane Sheila Foley, alias Hillary Taylor (played by daytime-drama diva Susan Lucci). Even so, Bobby is determined to keep Ewing Oil out of J.R.'s hands, and to that end his sells his interests to billionairess LeeAnn De La Vega (played by Larry Hagman's onetime I Dream of Jeannie co-star Barbara Eden!), who is determined to get even with J.R. for seducing and abandoning her back in college. LeeAnn in turn sells the business to April Stevens' sister Michelle (Kimberly Foster), now the wife of J.R.'s illegitimate son, James Beaumont (Sasha Mitchell). After murdering Sheila Foley to avenge her sister's death, Michelle breaks up with James, but not before selling half-interest in Ewing Oil to J.R.'s lifelong enemy, Cliff Barnes (Ken Kercheval). With startling rapidity, J.R.'s world falls apart. First, Cliff gains full control of Ewing Oil; next, J.R. fails in his efforts to regain his fortune by purchasing Ewing Oil; then, his beloved son, John Ross (Omri Katz), abandons him to live in Europe with J.R.'s ex-wife, Sue Ellen; and James Beaumont likewise relocates abroad with his new bride, Debra Lynn (Deborah Tucker). J.R. doesn't even own the Southfork estate any more -- it's in the hands of Bobby, who generously but contemptuously doles out an allowance to his once-swaggering brother. Besotted with alcohol, J.R. contemplates ending it all -- -whereupon a rather odd-looking "angel" (Joel Grey) appears to show J.R. what life in Dallas would have been like if he'd never been born. And it is with this perverse spin on It's a Wonderful Life, capped by another "cliffhanger," that the 14-year saga of Dallas comes to an end. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide