Howard Rodman Movies
Writer Howard Rodman has spent the bulk of his career writing for and creating television series such as The Six Million Dollar Man (1974-1978) and Harry O (1974-1976). Educated at Brooklyn College and Iowa University, Rodman started out writing scripts for such distinguished series as Goodlier Playhouse and Playhouse 90 in the '50s. He also penned a few feature-film scripts, including Coogan's Bluff (1968) and Charley Varrick (1973). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1985
Burt Lancaster is eminently hissable as a tabloid publisher in the made-for-TV Scandal Sheet. The current target of Lancaster's smears is alcoholic actor Robert Urich, who is on the verge of making a comeback through the auspices of his movie-star wife Lauren Hutton. Ruthlessly going after Urich merely for the purpose of selling newspapers, Lancaster "persuades" impoverished reporter Pamela Reed, the best friend of Urich and Hutton, to help him wield the hatchet. Sublimely trashy, Scandal Sheet is held together by the despicably dynamic performance of Burt Lancaster. The film was of course made long before tabloid publishers were being lauded as "news analysts" on TV talk shows. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
Exo-Man is a made-for-TV attempt to prolong the Six Million Dollar Man concept into yet another series. David Ackroyd stars as physics professor Nick Conrad, who is shot and crippled while trying to prevent a holdup. Returning to his lab, Conrad invents a superpowered suit that will enable him to reactivate his withered limbs. Six Million Dollar Man creator Martin Caiden was also the brains behind Exo-Man. According to Caiden, undue network interference killed the project's chances of becoming a weekly series. The 2-hour Exo-Man pilot first aired on June 18, 1977. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
Mixing humor and melodrama, this curiosity has a husband-and-wife detective duo investigating Satanic goings on in an American suburb, all the while bickering about their in-laws and other domestic problems. ~ Mark Hockley, All Movie Guide
- 1975
Not technically a movie, Antonio and the Mayor originated as a 90-minute CBS TV special. Set in rural Mexico in the 1920s, the play stars Diego Gonzales as Antonio, a 10-year-old boy of limited education who happens to be a whiz at all things mechanical. Gonzales dearly covets a bicycle so that he may pedal the distance to school. But the bike belongs to ineffectual mayor Gregory Sierra who, angered that he can't make it work to his satisfaction, tosses the vehicle into a deep ravine. Marvelously photographed and extremely well acted, Antonio and the Mayor debuted on January 7, 1975. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
David Janssen stars as private eye Harry Orwell in the made-for-TV Smile, Jenny, You're Dead. Investigating the murder of his friend's son-in-law, Harry sizes up the dead man's wife Jenny (Andrea Marcovicci) as the most likely suspect. The actual killer--and we're really not giving anything away here--is Zalman King, a psycho photographer who carries a torch for Jenny. There's a particularly exciting rooftop climax in this one, made doubly so by Andrea Marcovicci's depiction of stark, raw, terror. First telecast February 3, 1974, Smile, Jenny, You're Dead served as the 72-minute pilot for the David Janssen TV series Harry O. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Don Siegel directed this offbeat crime thriller which stars Walter Matthau as the titular Charley Varrick. Varrick is a small-time stick-up man who, in tandem with his partner Harman Sullivan (Andrew Robinson), makes plans to rob a small bank in New Mexico. Varrick and Sullivan are expecting a modest payday for a simple heist, but to their surprise they walk away with $750,000 in cash. But it turns out this isn't entirely good news; the bank was flush with cash because a number of well-connected Mafia chieftains have been using the bank to launder their ill-gotten gains, and they're determined to get their money back. Before Varrick can figure out a way to return the money, sadistic hired killer Molly (Joe Don Baker) is on his trail, forcing Varrick to outwit both the cops and the robbers if he is to stay alive.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Matthau, Joe Don Baker, (more)
- 1972
In this drama, two private investigators must find a serial killer after the 12-year investigation of the police fails miserably. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1971
The City was the pilot film for the brief Anthony Quinn TV series Man and the City. Quinn joined such movie luminaries as Jimmy Stewart and Shirley MacLaine in migrating to the small screen for the 1971-72 season--unsuccessfully, as it turned out. He portrays Thomas Jefferson Alcala, the progressive mayor of an unspecified Southwestern city (the film was shot in Albuquerque). Future MASH regular Mike Farrell is also on hand as Mayor Alcala's conservative aide. The City finds Hizzoner tackling urban problems, a theme carried over to the Man and the City series itself. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Successful racecar driver Capua (Paul Newman) falls in love with Elora (Joanne Woodward). The two marry and settle down with Elora's 13-year-old son Charley (Richard Thomas). The honeymoon is short-lived as Capua must spend his time away from home on the racing circuit. Soon the racer's luck begins to change as his main rival Luther Erding (Robert Wagner) begins to best him at every race. Capua has a one-track mind and realizes too late that his wife is being lapped by the rival racer not only on the track but in the bedroom as well. He comes home to find his wife in bed with Luther, and he promptly leaves. Young Charley hitchhikes across country in an attempt to bring the couple towards a reconciliation. Richard Thomas, who would later star in the television series "The Waltons," makes his film debut. Spectacular footage from Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin and Indianapolis is used, including a 17-car pile-up. Cameo appearances are made by racers Bobby Unsur and Tony Human. After doing all his own driving during filming, Paul Newman would develop a lifelong passion for auto racing beginning with this film. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, (more)
It's a seemingly peaceful spring morning in New York City -- graduation day at the Police Academy -- and Police Commissioner Anthony X. Russell (Henry Fonda) is looking forward to giving a speech to the new officers. But all isn't well: Russell's been given apparently incontrovertible evidence that his oldest friend, Chief Inspector Charles Kane (James Whitmore), is shaking down a bar owner, and a black minister (Raymond St. Jacques) is claiming that his son was brutalized when he was picked up for questioning in a rape/assault case. Then Russell gets a call informing him that two first-grade detectives, Daniel Madigan (Richard Widmark) and Rocco Bonaro (Harry Guardino), allowed small-time hood Barney Benesch (Steve Ihnat) to get the drop on them, steal their guns, and escape while they were trying to pick him up for questioning at the request of Brooklyn detectives -- and Benesch is now a suspect in that earlier murder in Brooklyn. Madigan has other problems, including the fact that the commissioner -- his ex-captain -- doesn't trust him, always believing him to be a loose cannon who has taken advantage of the badge in accepting favors and cutting corners where peoples' rights were concerned. Madigan also has a beautiful, upwardly mobile wife (Inger Stevens) who loves him but can't abide all the time his job takes him away from her or crimps her socializing; and he has never fully gotten over Jonesy (Sheree North), a saloon singer he knew before he was married. Madigan and Bonaro are given 72 hours to bring in Benesch and begin beating the bushes for leads. They get help from "Midget" Castiglione (Michael Dunn), a bookmaker and an old enemy of Benesch's, and a nervous, long-haired punk named Hughie (Don Stroud). While the clock ticks away on Madigan's and Bonaro's careers, the commissioner must decide how to deal with Kane, whose father -- also a police officer -- was like his own, and he must also fathom how a four-star chief could be involved with anything as tawdry as pressuring a tavern owner. Russell genuinely believes that there must be "one standard, one rule" for any member of the department, but in the course of this one weekend, he finds this notion shattered by what he discovers about Madigan, King, and himself. Meanwhile, Benesch is still on the loose, acting like a complete psycho and a threat to anyone who crosses his path. Russell's and Madigan's paths finally cross personally, as the detective proves -- and the commissioner discovers -- just how good a cop he is. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda, (more)
Clint Eastwood stars as Walt Coogan, an Arizona deputy sheriff who has been sent to New York City to extradite escaped killer James Ringerman (Don Stroud). On arrival, he's forced to wait by NYPD detective Lieutenant McElroy (Lee J. Cobb), who informs him that Ringerman is recovering from a bad acid trip at Bellevue Hospital. After briefly flirting with attractive probation officer Julie Roth (Susan Clark), Coogan heads for Bellevue, where he's able to con the hospital's staff into releasing the criminal. The cop and the fugitive are on the way to catch a flight back to Arizona, when Ringerman's hippie girlfriend Linny (Tisha Sterling) and a large accomplice spirit the killer away, leaving Coogan unconscious. Luckily, Julie is the girl's probation officer, and Coogan manages to get her address from the woman's files while getting to know her better. He tracks the girl to a popular psychedelic club, whereupon, deciding she likes the deputy, she takes him back to her apartment for further interrogation. The first in a series of films on which Eastwood would collaborate with director Don Siegel, it features a memorable scene in which a battle fought with billiard balls and cue sticks suggests the birth of a new martial art. Although its seemingly innocuous scenes of sex and violence drew criticism at the time, it served as the source for television's considerably more benign McCloud, starring Dennis Weaver as the laconic fish out of water. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clint Eastwood, Lee J. Cobb, (more)
- 1966
In the first episode of a two-part story, Solo and Illya investigate the mysterious disappearance of a famed biochemist -- and the equally mysterious fact that the missing person appears to have suddenly become 30 years younger. The answer to the puzzle lies with a beauty salon run by Madame De Sala (Vera Miles), the sweetheart of elderly, power-hungry British politician Sir Norman Swickert (Maurice Evans). Also in the cast are actress/scriptwriter Ann Elder as nurse Joanna Sweet, comic actor Bernard Fox as THRUSH agent Jordin, and future Star Trek regular James Doohan as Philip Bainbridge. Scripted by Howard Rodman from a story by Henry Slesar, "The Bridge of Lions Affair, Part One" originally aired on February 4, 1966; one year later, parts one and two were merged as the theatrical feature One of Our Spies Is Missing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1966
In the conclusion of a two-part story, both UNCLE and THRUSH continue their search for the inventor of a rejuvenation process. Figuring mightily in the proceedings is British politician-turned-merchant Sir Norman Swickert (Maurice Evans), who covets a return to youth and power; Madame DeSala (Vera Miles), whose apparent affection for Sir Norman may mask a sinister ulterior motive; wide-eyed nurse Joanna Sweet (Ann Elder), the inevitable innocent-in-the-middle; and THRUSH agent Jordin (Bernard J. Fox. And what's up with those disappearing cats? First telecast on February 11, 1966, "The Bridge of Lions Affair, Part Two" was scripted by Howard Rodman from a story by Henry Slesar. In 1967, parts one and two were combined into a single theatrical feature, One of Our Spies Is Missing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1966
One of Our Spies is Missing was cobbled together from a two-part episode of the American TV series Man From UNCLE, then shipped overseas as a feature film. Robert Vaughn and David McCallum head the cast as Napoleon Solo and Ilya Kuryakin, U.N.C.L.E's top agents. The original two-parter, "The Bridge of Lions Affair" (telecast February 4 and 11, 1966), concerns a biochemist who develops a rejuvenation process. The chemist disappears, so it's up to Solo and Kuryakin to recover or destroy the process before it falls into the hands of the enemy spy organization THRUSH. Padding out the proceedings in One of Our Spies is Missing is a newly-filmed subplot concerning the niece (Yvonne Craig) of U.N.C.L.E. head honcho Alexander Waverly (Leo G. Carroll). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1960
Marianne Darelle (Norma Crane) wants to spend her vacation at the ocean resort of Woodmere, but for some curious reason the travel agent sells her a ticket to the town of Seaside instead. Even after Marianne exchanges the ticket, she ends up in Seaside all the same. Also in the same resort is a married couple, Mr. and Mrs. Bromley (Charles Aidman, Louise Lorimer), who have likewise been redirected to Seaside despite their desire to go to Woodmere. Just what exactly is going on here--and more specifically, what does fate have in store for Miss Darelle and Mr. Bromley? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1960
Blaming his daughter Sally (Anne Whitfield) for the death of her brother, Pa Ellis (George Mitchell) forces the girl out of their home. Soon, however, Pa regrets his harsh words and begs her to come back. And on a dark and stormy night some seven years later, a truck driver (Pat McCaffrie) picks up a hitchhiking Sally, follows her directions, and takes her home--where a shocking surprise awaits him. This classic episode was inspired by the centuries-old legend "The Vanishing Hitchhiker." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1960
This episode is a showcase for character actor Parker Fennelly, best remembered as the dour "Titus Moody" on radio's Fred Allen Show. Fenelly plays Abraham Lee, an elderly farmer who owns a tiny patch of land bordering the property of wealthy and powerful rancher George Advent (Denver Pyle). Upset that Lee's farm prevents the fence surrounding his own land from forming a "perfect" line, Advent has declared war on the old codger--and of course, Paladin (Richard Boone) has cast his lot with the underdog. Essential to the story's outcome is Lee's Native American adopted son, played by My Three Sons' Don Grady). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
This 28 1/2-minute drama was produced by the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai Brith. Based on a true story, the film demonstrates the insidious evil of racial prejudice. A young girl's life is thrown into turmoil when her neighbors mistakenly assume that she's Jewish. As in the 1947 Gentlemen's Agreement, the moral of the story seems to be that it requires a Gentile to awaken others to the wickedness of anti-Semitism. The cast is populated by several top New York talents, including Frank Overton, Audra Lindley, and 12-year-old Patty Duke. American Girl was the 16th in a series of films prepared for simultaneous TV and theatrical release by the Anti-Defamation league. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frank Overton, Audra Lindley, (more)
- 1956
An original story by no less than Jackie Gleason was the basis of this one-hour drama, originally telecast live on the CBS dramatic anthology Studio One. Decked out in white robes and a cute little halo, comedian Red Buttons stars as St. Emergency, a celestial troubleshooter whose aid is summoned by St. Barnabas (Henry Jones), guardian angel of the town of Morton's Wish. Alas, the little community is rife with corruption, and it looks as though the citizens are doomed to a fiery punishment. But if St. Emergency can find one honest man in Morton's Wish within 24 hours, the community will be saved. Luck of luck, an honest man does indeed exist -- but it's Joe Tinker (Joe Barton), the town drunk, and hardly a candidate for Heavenly redemption. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
