Dick Wesson Movies

Rollercoaster was a by-product of the brief "Sensurround" craze of the 1970s. Nutsoid Timothy Bottoms sabotages an amusement-park roller coaster, killing several innocent revelers. After several other acts of terrorism, Bottoms (whose character is credited as Young Man) presents his demands to the authorities via audio tape: one million dollars, or he'll stage five roller-coaster disasters simultaneously in five different parks. Because detective Harry Calder George Segal evinces a grudging respect for the elusive extortionist, Bottoms declares that only Detective Calder will be permitted to deliver the money. Thus the stage is set for an explosive climax, which during the film's original run was accompanied by the Sensurround effect, a gimmick that electronically caused the filmgoer's chairs to begin shaking and vibrating during the "thrill scenes." As with most disaster flicks of the era, Rollercoaster is top-heavy with "guest stars," including Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda, Harry Guardino, and Susan Strasberg. Watch for 13-year-old Helen Hunt as Detective Calder's spunky daughter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the third of the feature-length Quincy, M.E. episodes produced for the NBC Sunday Mystery Movie package, the LA County Coroner's Officer swings into action when movie star Roberta Rhodes dies under mysterious circumstances (note the repetitious initials, and then guess who "Roberta Rhodes" is really supposed to be). Though the police are convinced that Rhodes committed suicide, Quincy (Jack Klugman) thinks otherwise, and through the auspices of scandal-sheet publisher Reardon (William Daniels) Quincy discovers that the dead woman's secret lover, Congressman Charles Sinclair (Robert Foxworth), was with her at the time of her death--and may have been her murderer. Unable to accept the notion that his good friend Sinclair is a killer, Quincy goes off on his own investigation, quickly discovering that the gossip-mongering publisher may have a sinister hidden agenda. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the second of three episodes filmed in New York City, Phil Silvers guest stars as glib con artist Shifty Shafer. Posing as one "Honest John," Shifty has already sold Central Park to the impressionable Clampetts. Now for good measure, he throws in the Staten Island Ferry ("picked up last month from my friend Alexander Staten") and, inevitably, the Brooklyn Bridge ("picked up at auction last week from the estate of Oscar Brooklyn"). "The Clampetts in New York" first aired on November 5, 1969. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, sweet and honest Tammy is hired as a secretary by a powerful industrialist with a handsome young son. Meanwhile a society dame is angered that the millionaire hired Tammy because she wanted her own girl to have a shot at the son. To ruin the new secretary's chances, the dame and her conniving daughter try to smear Tammy's reputation at every turn. They even try to sic the IRS on her for evasion of back taxes; the government agency retaliates by trying to take away Tammy's house to repay the debt. Fortunately, the hapless girl's grandpa and uncle show an old deed that proves that they do indeed own the house. Not only that, according to the deed, the little family also owns the property of the wealthy socialite and her family. Tammy disagrees with her family's plan and fears that her backwoods relatives will ruin her life. She is saved by her boss who secretly pays the taxes and then holds a riotous party in which her family acts like fools. Fortunately, everyone forgets about it and she and the son live happily. This is the last of four pictures about Tammy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Rosemary DeCamp, who would appear in later Petticoat Junction episodes as the Bradley girls' Aunt Helen, is here seen as Emily Mapes, an old school friend of Kate Bradley (Bea Benadaret). Having recently remarried, Emily is convinced that the widowed Kate should take upon herself a second husband. To this end, she enlists the aid of Kate's daughters to round up all the local eligible bachelors--who even by Hooterville and Pixley standards are a sad lot indeed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This week Uncle Joe (Edgar Buchanan) has created a talent contest for the young folk of Hooterville and Pixley. Of course, Joe has more in mind than simply helping a local person to stardom. In fact, he plans to "fix" the contest so that one of his nieces will win--whereupon he will pocket the prize money himself! Two-reel comedy veteran Maxine Semon makes the first of two series appearances as townswoman Mabel Snark. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Hooterville bank will extend credit to Kate (Bea Benadaret only on one condition: That she stir up a lot of business for the Shady Rest Hotel immediately. Thus it is that Kate works overtime currying favor with her current guest Clara Watkins (Doris Packer), who if she likes the Shady Rest will recommend it to all her influential friends. Naturally, Uncle Joe (Edgar Buchanan) and the girls are determined to help matters along by making it seem as though hundreds of customers are already clamoring to book themselves into the hotel--and this requires a lot of telephone activity, even though the Shady Rest doesn't have a telephone. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Strictly speaking, there are but four basic plotlines during the first season of Petticoat Junction. The first concerns the efforts by widow Kate Bradley (Bea Benaderet) to make a financial go of the Shady Rest, the quaint traveler's hotel she owns in the Illinois town of Hooterville. The second involves the romantic travails of Kate's three extremely attractive daughters, Betty Jo (Linda Kaye) , Billie Jo (Jeannine Riley), and Bobbie Jo (Patricia Woodell). The third is devoted to the limitless get-rich-quick schemes hatched by Kate's lazy uncle Joe Carson (Edgar Buchanan), in lieu of seeking out anything resembling gainful employment. And the fourth is manifested in the tireless and fruitless crusade by Homer Bedloe (Charles Lane), scheming troubleshooter for the C.F.&W. Railroad line, to shut down and scrap the Hooterville Cannonball, the line's sole surviving steam locomotive -- thereby throwing venerable engineers Charley Pratt (Smiley Burnette) and Floyd Smoot (Rufe Davis) out of work.
Worth noting this season are the various actors cast as the boyfriends of the Bradley girls, including Ken Osmond of Leave It to Beaver fame in one of his rare non-Eddie Haskell roles; and Jack Bannon, the son of series regular Bea Benaderet and later a regular on Lou Grant. In other casting notes, Elvia Allman, who in subsequent seasons played Kate Bradley's obnoxious social rival Sema Plout, appears in a different role in the episode "A Night at the Hooterville Hilton"; Dennis Hopper, five years removed from Easy Rider, plays a bearded itinerant poet in "Bobbie Jo and the Beatnik"; future Batman leading man Adam West is seen as doctor in "Hooterville vs. Hollywood"; Steve Franken, fresh from his stint as the insufferable Chatsworth Osborne Jr. on Dobie Gillis, is equally insufferable as the son of Homer Bedloe in "Bedloe & Son"; and another Dobie Gillis alumnae, Sheila James (aka Zelda Gillis), joins the three Bradley sisters to form a female version of the Beatles in "The Ladybugs." (No, her character name isn't "Bingo"!) The final episode of the season introduces Hank Patterson and Barbara Pepper as Mr. and Mrs. Ziffel, who would be firmly established as the "parents" of porcine superstar Arnold the Pig on the Petticoat Junction spinoff Green Acres. Ranking fourth in the 1963-1964 Nielsen ratings, the first season of Petticoat Junction was filmed in black-and-white -- and as such, has been removed from the series' all-color syndicated package. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Herbert Rudley guest stars as Beverly Hills psychiatrist Dr. Twombley. When Jethro needs a certificate of health for his fifth-grade classroom, he decides to visit Mrs. Drysdale's doctor, who, of course, turns out to be Twombley. The results of this momentous meeting would send Sigmund Freud back to Vienna in search of new subliminal symbols, especially when Jethro offers his own peculiar interpretation of a series of ink-blots. "The Clampetts Get Psychoanalyzed" first aired on May 8, 1963. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This jerry-built Allied Artists musical is also known as Showtime, Fresh From Paris. The film's plot is constructed around a single evening's performance at Hollywood's Moulin Rouge (don't expect the level of nudity you'd see in real Parisian show). Forrest Tucker plays a threadbare entrepreneur who wants to open up his own dinner theatre. His "angel" is Lloyd Corrigan, ostensibly an eccentric millionaire but actually merely eccentric. The singing Whiting sisters-Margaret and Barbara--slightly overshadow the film's "official" leading lady Martha Hyer. Most of the onstage acts are surprisingly tame, notably the Sportsmen Quartet. Filmed in a fast five days, Paris Follies of 1956 could not help but make back its cost within a week. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Doris Day looks no more like the real Calamity Jane than you or I do, but this 1953 film is intended as a lighthearted musical, not a historical tract. As portrayed by the freckled Ms. Day, Jane is a rootin', tootin' shootin' hoyden in the western town of Deadwood. When she isn't tearing up the town, Jane spends her time cussing out Wild Bill Hickok (Howard Keel). The plot gets under way when Jane promises the citizens of Deadwood that she can persuade classy Chicago stage star Adelaide Adams (Gale Robbins) to perform at the local opry house. Through a case of mistaken identity, Jane brings Adelaide's maid Katie (Allyn Ann McLerie) back to town. Katie proves to be a success all the same, and out of gratitude promises to make a "lady" out of Jane, who is sweet on handsome Lt. Gilmartin (Philip Carey). When the lieutenant chooses Katie over Jane, our heroine is heartbroken--until she realizes that she has loved Wild Bill Hickok all along, and that the feeling is mutual so far as Hickok is concerned. The peppy musical score by Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster includes the Oscar-winning Secret Love, which became a million-selling hit for Doris Day. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

About Face is a musicalized remake of the old stage and film comedy Brother Rat. The basic story remains the same, as military-school cadet Boff Roberts (Eddie Bracken) tries to keep his forbidden marriage to Alice Wheatley (Phyllis Kirk) a secret. Meanwhile, Boff's roommates Tony Williams (Gordon MacRae) and Dave Crouse (Dick Wesson) do their best to woo and win lovely Betty Long (Virginia Gibson) and Lorna Carter (Ailene Stanley Jr.). Cliff Ferre co-stars as the much-hated Lt. Jones, who turns out to be an accomplished tap-dancer in the film's closing sequence (but that's only after he's been "humanized" when his hair is dyed blue!) Future Cabaret star Joel Grey has a few funny moments as a put-upon "plebe." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A Girl for Joe was the reissue title for the 1951 WWII romantic drama Force of Arms. William Holden and Nancy Olson, previously teamed in Sunset Boulevard and Union Station, co-star once more as, respectively, an Army sergeant and a WAC officer. While on leave, Holden and Olson fall in love, but before long Holden is sent back to the front. Surviving the battle of San Pietro, Holden is tortured by the fact that he may have "choked" under fire, indirectly causing the deaths of his CO Frank Lovejoy and several of his comrades. Even after his happy marriage to Olson, Holden cannot purge himself of his guilt feelings. Despite his wife's protestations, Holden re-ups to atone for past mistakes. Told that Holden is missing in action, Nancy refuses to give her husband up for dead and heads for the front herself. Officially based on a short story by Richard Tregaskis, this drama is actually a semi-remake of Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, previously filmed in 1932 (this may partially explain why Warner Bros., producers of Force of Arms, purchased the rights to the 1932 film). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide