Les Crane Movies
- 1973
I Love a Mystery was a campy TV revival of Phillips Lord's old radio series. The three adventure-loving heroes are Jack, Doc and Reggie (Les Crane, David Hartman and Hagan Beggs), insurance investigators hired to tackle a mystery at a remote island mansion. Ida Lupino plays a domineering matriarch whose billionaire husband is missing, and who seems to know more than she's letting on. The mystery's ingredients include the eerie nocturnal sound of a crying baby and a series of related murders and kidnappings. The heroes are occasionally distracted from their work by Lupino's nubile daughters Faith, Hope and Charity (Karen Jensen, Deanna Lund and Melodie Johnson). The script for I Love a Mystery was based on Philips Lord's classic radio serial "The Thing That Cries in the Night," but there's nothing classic or even remotely entertaining about the derisive, patronizing treatment of the source material herein. This made-for-TV "busted pilot" gathered dust for seven years before its 1973 premiere, and not without just cause. A further note: Though Don Knotts is advertised as one of the "stars," he shows up to sputter one miserable line at the end of the film! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1968
There may be blood in the streets when the chief of staff of the "Second Force", a paramilitary vigilante group ostensibly set up to fight crime, is murdered. Despite his distaste for the group's racist rantings, Ironside dedicates himself to solving the man's murder before the vigilantes begin exacting vengeance against their supposed enemies. In the course of events, the Chief uncovers the group's true motives--and they are not pure in any way, shape or form. TV talk show host Les Crane appears as himself. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1966
An American Dream is adapted from the Norman Mailer novel of the same name. Stuart Whitman plays an acerbic TV talk show host who kills his wife Eleanor Parker during an argument. Whitman exerts his influence to cover up his crime, and the official verdict is suicide. But Whitman has not reckoned with the "Hell hath no fury" intensity of his cast-aside mistress Janet Leigh. When An American Dream bombed at the box office, the desperate distributors re-titled the film See You in Hell, Darling. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stuart Whitman, Janet Leigh, (more)
- 1964
On the air for exactly one year - from November of 1964 through November of 1965 - this after-hours talk program very deliberately resembled NBC's Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Its timing was instructive: Carson had debuted exactly two years earlier, in October of 1962, and his network ratings soared through the roof. In response, ABC desperately wanted to compete with NBC, and tried to accomplish that bid by tapping Les Crane, a handsome young pundit from San Francisco, with an aggressive, off-the-cuff demeanor; a refreshing level of informality; and more intellectually and politically-oriented guests than Carson. Originally entitled The Les Crane Show and filmed in Manhattan, with 105-minute episodes every evening, it featured an audience-in-the-round, and found Crane seated center-stage, on a stool, where he conversed with guests. One of his favorite devices involved the employment of a "shotgun microphone," which he could easily control from his post and direct to any member of the audience who had something instructive to add. Early guests included politicians John V. Lindsay and William F .Buckley and journalist Max Lerner. Unfortunately, the program (which had been renamed ABC's Nightlife) failed to glean enthusiastic ratings from critics and never connected with a sizeable audience; in response to this, the show's producers dismissed Crane after four months and replaced him with a succession of temporary hosts, including Pat Boone, to generally disappointing ratings. By late June of 1965, Crane returned for another 4 1/2 month stint, this time filmed in Los Angeles. None of these changes helped Nightlife find an audience, however. The program aired for the final occasion on November 12, 1965. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Les Crane
