Leonard B. Stern Movies

In this comedy thriller two dopey pals try to solve a puzzling riddle. If they succeed, one of them will inherit a valuable artifact, an object desired by a number of suspicious characters willing to do just about anything to obtain it. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Arthur Penn takes a crack at subverting the espionage film genre in Target. Walter Lloyd (Gene Hackman) is a quiet and unassuming lumberyard owner in Dallas, Texas. Chris (Matt Dillon) has dropped out of college to pursue a career as a race car driver. But all mundane tasks come to an end when Walter's wife Donna (Gayle Hunnicutt) is kidnapped while on a European trip. Walter flies to Paris with Chris to see what can be done. Once in Europe, Chris is shocked to discover that his dad was once a top CIA agent. Together, the two visit all of Walter's old CIA contacts in an effort to locate Donna. Finally, Walter discovers that Donna has been kidnapped by a rogue spy seeking revenge for an incident that happened eighteen years earlier. Now Walter must apply his old and vicious CIA tricks to save his wife from an old and vicious CIA operative. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

When an heiress is falsely accused of the murder of her husband, she is assisted by 2 crafty criminal lawyers. ~ All Movie Guide

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, All Movie Guide

First telecast December 16, 1972, The Snoop Sisters was the pilot for a Richard Levinson/William Link detective series. Helen Hayes and Mildred Natwick play a couple of mystery writers who happen to be siblings. With the help of their pragmatic chauffeur (Art Carney), the Snoop Sisters take it upon themselves to solve real-life mysteries. In this instance, the ladies try to uncover the truth behind the murder of reclusive film star Paulette Goddard. The highlights of The Snoop Sisters include a slapstick car chase and an extended vignette from Ms. Goddard's 1940 feature film The Ghost Breakers. Also worth noting is the early supporting-cast appearance by Jill Clayburgh. When packaged for local syndication, The Snoop Sisters was retitled Female Instinct. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A longtime television holdout, movie star Rock Hudson made his TV-movie debut in Once Upon a Dead Man, originally telecast by NBC on September 17, 1971. Hudson was cast as Stewart "Mac" McMillan, the wealthy, fashion-plate police commissioner of San Francisco. Helping Mac solve the murder at hand (though not without resistance from Mac) was his highly intelligent young wife Sally, played by Susan Saint James.
A Thin Man for the '70s, Once Upon a Dead Man promptly spawned a spin-off TV series, which premiered September 29, 1971, as McMillan and Wife. Added to the cast at this point were Nancy Walker as the McMillan's acerbic housekeeper, Mildred, who was frequently and reluctantly drafted into amateur sleuthing by the indefatigable Sally; and John Schuck as police sergeant Charles Enright, who definitely was not as slow-witted as he looked. During its first season on the air, McMillan and Wife was one of several rotating 90-minute components of The NBC Mystery Movie, a weekly crime anthology. The series would remain a Mystery Movie fixture throughout its run, in the process occasionally expanding from 90 to 120 minutes an episode. Whatever its length, the series, for the most part, adhered to a well-worn but highly entertaining formula: No matter what they did or where they went, the McMillans invariably stumbled upon a criminal case, with Mac handling the "official" investigation and Sally providing backup in her own busybody fashion. Several changes were wrought upon McMillan and Wife for its sixth and final season on the air. Having left the show during a contract dispute, Susan Saint James was abruptly written out of the series; it was explained that Sally had perished in a plane crash, leaving Mac a widower -- and after a respectable period of mourning, a swinging bachelor. Likewise ditching the project was Nancy Walker, who had been cast in her own starring series. Her replacement was Martha Raye as Mildred's sister Agatha, a character who had been introduced near the end of season five. As for Sgt. Enright, he had been promoted to lieutenant, his former duties as Commissioner McMillan's right-hand man being taken over by Sgt. Steve DiMaggio, played by Richard Gilliland. Also add to the cast at this juncture was Gloria Stroock as Mac's new secretary Maggie. Finally, in view of McMillan's solo status, the series' title was changed to McMillan, though the sixth-season episodes have been released under the McMillan and Wife banner for rerun syndication. The concluding McMillan episode aired on August 21, 1977. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ralph Kramden swells with pride when he wins an award as the safest bus driver in New York City. Alas, Ed Norton throws cold water on the proceedings by predicting that Ralph will be involved in an accident before the evening of the award's presentation. Making matters worse, Ralph and Ed's wives Alice and Trixie get involved in a pre-ceremony squabble when they discover that they're wearing identical dresses. As expected, a nervous Ralph does get involved in a minor fender-bender en route to the ceremony -- and the other party in the accident turns out to be Judge Hurdle, the man selected to present the award! First telecast on May 19, 1956, "The Safety Award" was written by Leonard Stern and Sydney Zelinka. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Alice Kramden and Trixie Norton are "steamed" over the fact that their husbands Ralph and Ed never take them out anywhere. Hoping to make amends, Ralph invites Alice and the Nortons to join him in visiting his pal Bert Wedemeyer and Bert's sexy new wife Rita (wonderfully played by Freda Rosen, the wife of Arnie Rosen, one of Jackie Gleason's top writers). Since Bert is the new general manager of the Gotham Bus Company, Ralph hopes to curry favor by lavishing praise and compliments on Rita. Unfortunately, Alice, who has made a considerable effort to "glamorize" herself for the evening, angrily assumes that the glamorous but empty-headed Rita has swept Ralph off his feet. In a fascinating form of retaliation, the next evening Alice dresses as flashily as Rita and begins fawning all over Ralph, uttering such inanities as "I call you 'Killer' because you 'slay' me." A nonplussed Ralph is convinced that Alice has been "hittin' the rum candy again" -- but by episode's end, all misunderstandings are swept away, and a chastened Ralph reconfirms his opinion that Alice is "the greatest." Best ad lib: "Leave it there, the cat'll get it." Originally shown on June 2, 1956, "Alice and the Blonde" was written by Leonard Stern and Sydney Zelinka. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ralph is coerced into essaying the leading role in a money-raising stage production put on by the Ladies' Auxiliary of the Raccoons. His ego expanding to the size of his waistline, Ralph is certain that he will score a hit and be whisked off to Broadway or even Hollywood -- until he learns that he will be acting opposite the redoubtable Ed Norton. Driven crazy by Norton's miscues and eccentric improvisations, Ralph nonetheless puts on a grand show -- only to discover that the true star of the proceedings is his wife Alice, who is offered a contract by celebrated Hollywood producer Herbert J. Whiteside (Alexander Clark). Best verbal bit: The "string of poloponies." Written by Leonard Stern and Sydney Zelinka, "On Stage" originally aired on April 28, 1956. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A newspaper reporter stops Ralph and Ed on the street, asking each of them who is the "head" of their respective households. Demonstrating anew that he has a BIG MOUTH, Ralph expansively insists that he is the king of his castle, while Ed demurs, worried that his words will backfire when his wife Trixie reads them in the paper. Ed's worries prove to be well-founded when Alice reads Ralph's interview; at first willing to forgive Ralph for his grandiose statements, Alice is driven to rage when Ralph tries, rather too loudly, to assert his superiority. Things promise to get worse when Ralph's fellow bus driver Joe Fensterblau (Dick Bernie) expresses his doubts over Ralph's king-of-the-castle status -- whereupon Ralph, forgetting Alice's anger of the previous night, invites Joe to a "command supper" at the Kramden household. The episode's best scene finds Ralph and Ed getting "drunk" on grape juice -- a wish-fulfillment gag affectionately lifted from the 1930 Laurel and Hardy comedy Blotto. First broadcast on March 31, 1956, "Head of the House" was written by Leonard Stern and Sydney Zelinka. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A nervous Ralph Kramden appears as a contestant on the popular quiz show "The $99,000 Answer." No sooner has he selected his category -- popular music -- than the show runs out of time. Invited to return on next week's program, Ralph is determined to win the grand prize by memorizing every musical composition ever written. Installing a piano in the Kramden apartment, Ralph drives Alice -- and the rest of the neighborhood -- crazy by loudly announcing the titles of the tunes plunked out on the ivories by his pal Ed Norton. Meanwhile, Ed drives Ralph crazy by "warming up" before each piano selection with a few bars of "Swanee River," a seemingly minor plot device that will figure prominently in the uproarious climax of this award-winning Honeymooners episode. Real-life TV announcer Jay Jackson appears as fictional quiz-show host Herb Norris, while Zamah Cunningham makes one of her periodic appearances as the Kramdens' neighbor Mrs. Manicotti. First telecast on January 28, 1956, "The $99,000 Answer" was written by Leonard Stern and Sidney Zelinka. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Against Ralph's orders, Alice has a telephone installed in their apartment. When Ralph finds out, he explodes, then storms out of the apartment. While sitting in the barbershop and rehearsing an apology to his wife, Ralph overhears two strange men discussing Alice's "availability." Our hero jumps to the obvious conclusion, little realizing that Alice has made herself "available" as a baby-sitter so that she can pay the phone bills. The misunderstanding is played to the hilt, with Ralph elaborately staging a "discovery and renunciation" scene to catch his wife in the act of infidelity. Written by Leonard Stern and Sidney Zelinka, "The Baby-sitter" originally aired on January 21, 1956. (Trivia alert: The phone number mentioned throughout the episode -- Bensonhurst 3-7741 -- turned out to be an actual working number; that's why the first digit has been bleeped out of all existing prints). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Three for the Show is a musical remake of the 1940 comedy Too Many Husbands, which in turn was based on a play by Somerset Maugham. In her next-to-last film, Betty Grable plays Julie, a popular musical comedy stars whose husband Marty (Jack Lemmon) is reported missing in action during WW2. After an appropriate waiting period, Julie makes plans to marry Marty's best friend Vernon (Gower Champion), even though she still carries a torch for her "late" husband. After the wedding, who should show up but Marty, demanding his rights as a husband. At first appalled, Julie eventually begins to enjoy the notion of two husbands. In the original film, the plot was never resolved; in the remake, Marge Champion plays a sidelines character named Gwen, so it's a safe bet that Vernon will lose out to Marty in the Julie sweepstakes. Most of the songs in Three for the Show are old standards, written by such notables as the Gershwin brothers, Gene Austin and Hoagy Carmichael. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide