Robin Dearden Movies

Jessica (Angela Lansbury) is invited to speak at an exclusive club where only men are permitted as members. Despite her gender, Jessica is asks by the club's governing committee to help them solve a mystery involving the murder of a "rogue" member. This proves difficult when it becomes apparent that the killer may himself be on the committee. This episode is chock full of sly science-fiction and fantasy references--no surprise, inasmuch as it was written by J. Michael Straczynski, a guiding force behind the popular series Babylon 5. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

During a non-stop flight to London, a valuable necklace is stolen and the courier hired to guard the necklace is poisoned. One of the passengers is Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury), who of course offers her services to Scotland Yard as they try to retrieve the gems and catch the killer. Among the main characters in this melodrama are a famous actress, a taciturn former police officer, and a furtive-looking tourist couple. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the last of three feature-length pilot films for the unsold TV series Joe Dancer, Robert Blake again stars as hard-boiled private eye Dancer, this time at large in Hollywood. While investigating an old scandal that could potentially destroy the career of a big star and topple a major studio, Joe Dancer is himself framed for murder. Directing this energetic if derivative whodunnit was Reza S. Badiyi, who had previously helmed several episodes of Blake's earlier cop series Baretta (and surprisingly remained on good terms with the mercurial star). Originally telecast by NBC on June 5, 1983, Murder One, Dancer 0 (working titles: Joe Dancer III, Lights, Camera. . .Murder) is probably due for a revival thanks to the more recent real-life legal travails of the redoubtable Robert Blake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Series regular John Hillerman essays the first of several dual roles, appearing in both his familiar guise as the stuffy, erudite Jonathan Higgins and as Higgins' illegitimate half-brother, a rowdy Texan named Elmo Ziller. Reported killed several years earlier, Elmo has suddenly resurfaced, and his daughter Lexi (Robin Dearden) asks Magnum to protect him from a murder plot--which, according to Elmo, has been hatched by his ex-wife Marcella (Barbara Rhoades). Though unable to shake the belief that Higgins and Elmo are one and the same and that he is the butt of a practical joke, Magnum agrees t shield the Texan from harm--a job that eventually obliges our hero and his buddies to dress up as rodeo clowns! Gillian Dobb, later to join the cast as Agatha Chumley, appears as a hotel desk clerk. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The made-for-TV Fugitive Family questions the efficacy of the government's witness protection program. After sending syndicate kingpin Anthony Durano (Mel Ferrer) to prison, undercover agent Brian Roberts (Richard Crenna) and his entire family is marked for death by Durano's successor Peter Ritchie (Don Murray). Roberts and his brood are forced to change their names and move to a faraway city, there to start life anew. Vintner Olan Vacio (Eli Wallach) hires Roberts as a field worker, eventually making him his partner. This puts Vacio in the line of fire when Ritchie's hoods come calling. Fugitive Family first aired October 1, 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Goofy medical students have all kinds of rip roaring fun pulling crazy pranks such as scaring first year students by pretending to be cadavers. When the hijinks accelerate, the dean of the school tries to stop them. Filled with vulgarity, sexist and bathroom humor, the film's director Rod Holcomb, not wanting to take responsibility for the film, billed himself as "Allen Smithee," the official pseudonym of the Directors Guild. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide