David Shaw Movies
Though most commonly recognized for his authorship of the hit comedy If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969) -- a kind of Mad, Mad World-style farce about a bunch of nutty international tourists hotfooting it through Europe -- screenwriter David Shaw actually qualified as one of the most vital contributors of television scripts in the early days of the medium. The younger brother of playwright and novelist Irwin Shaw, David followed the elder's lead by migrating to Los Angeles and launching his career scripting myriad episodes of such anthology series as Philco Television Playhouse and Playhouse 90. 1958's The Man Inside, a caper-themed adventure about the exploits of a jewel thief (Nigel Patrick), marked Shaw's debut as a scenarist of features; he landed an additional big-screen credit in the early '70s, with King, Queen, Knave (1972). In addition to his feature and television work, Shaw culled a tremendous amount of respect as a Broadway playwright, on such productions as Redhead and Tovarich. In 2003, he appeared in David Zeiger's acclaimed HBO documentary Funny Old Guys, about the decades-old friendships between a number of legendary Hollywood writers. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- 1979
One of two 1979 TV pilot films concerning the exploits of crimefighting movie stuntmen (the other was Stunts Unlimited), Stunt Seven was telecast May 30, 1979. Christopher Connelly heads the cast as ace stunter Hill Singleton. His six-person "team" includes Skip (Christopher Lloyd), Elena (Morgan Brittany), Wally (Bob Seagren), Kenny (Soon Teck Oh), Horatio (Brian Brodsky) and Dinah (Juanin Clay). This time around, "Stunt Seven" must rescue sexy movie star Elke Sommer from the clutches of a well-guarded modern pirate. The fact that the villain is played by Patrick MacNee of Avengers fame should tip one off that Stunt Seven was conceived with tongue firmly in cheek. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
Partners in Crime was the second attempt by Richard Levinson and William Link to create a TV series featuring a female ex-judge and male ex-con: the first was 1971's The Judge and Jake Wyler. This time, Lee Grant is the former jurist turned sleuth, while Lou Antonio is the onetime prisoner turned legman. In this 90-minute pilot film, Judge Grant searches for a stolen $750,000. Partners in Crime was telecast on March 24, 1973, back-to-back with the pilot for the Jack Webb TV series Chase. Chase flew, while Partners never got off the ground. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
Even Bette Davis showed up in a TV-movie pilot from time to time. The Judge and Jake Wyler stars the indestructible Davis as a hypochondriac former judge who becomes a private detective. Davis puts paroled ex-con Doug McClure to work as her "leg man," searching for clues in the supposed suicide of the heroine's (Joan Van Ark) businessman father. Had Judge and Jake Wyler sold as a series, Davis would have had to choose between this project and another projected weekly, Madame Sin; the decision was made for her when neither series sold. Two years later, Judge and Jake Wyler was rewritten, recast with Lee Grant and Lou Antonio, and repitched as a pilot under the title Partners in Crime (which also didn't fly). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
Based on a novel by Vladimir Nabokov, this English-language satirical drama details the experiences of Frank (John Moulder Brown), a young orphan who finds himself deep in the romantic clutches of his uncle's sensual wife. After Frank's parents die, he goes to live with his aunt Martha (Gina Lollabrigida) and uncle Charles (David Niven). Sexy Martha entices Frank into her embrace then wants him to kill her husband so that they can live off of his money. Frank wouldn't mind so much, but he really likes his uncle. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Niven, Gina Lollobrigida, (more)
- 1969
- G
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A mid-1960s TV documentary special (and a New Yorker cartoon before that) was the inspiration for If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium. The film is a likeable satire of "packaged" European tours, where the nonplused tourists are expected to rush from one landmark to another in a breathless 18 days. Ian McShane stars as the amorous tour guide, with Suzanne Pleshette as the American department store buyer he falls for; their romance ends when Pleshette decides that the supposedly worldly McShane is too immature for her. An all-star cast, including Murray Hamilton, Peggy Cass, Pamela Britton, Marty Ingels, John Cassavetes and Vittorio De Sica, pops up in comic cameo roles. Our favorite bit: an American and German tourist, simultaneously regaling their respective wives with wildly divergent accounts of the same wartime confrontation. If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium was reworked in 1987 as a made-for-TV movie, cleverly title If It's Tuesday, It Still Must be Belgium. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Suzanne Pleshette, Ian McShane, (more)
- 1958
Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward made a rare joint TV appearance in this live Playhouse 90 broadcast of 1958. Newman is cast as former college football star Christian Darling, whose legendary 80-yard run in the mid-1920s won him fame, adulation, a beautiful wife named Louise (Joanne Woodward), a profitable business set up by his father-in-law, and a generously yearly stipend. All this changed with the Crash of 1929: Now broke and unemployed, Christian sits morosely at home, with only the memory of his gridiron glory keeping him company. Meanwhile, Louise has landed a good job at a fashion magazine--but as she moves up in the world, the embirtterd Christian seriously considers moving out. "The 80 Yard Run" was adapted from Irwin Shaw's short story by the author's brother David Shaw. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, (more)
- 1958
A stellar cast redeems the tawdry European-filmed melodrama 3DThe Man Inside3D. Nigel Patrick plays Sam Carter, a mild-mannered British clerk who spends half his life fantasizing about stealing a valuable diamond. When he is finally able to pull off this heist, it is at the cost of another man's life. Escaping to the Continent, Sam lives like a king, throwing his money around and romancing an unending stream of willing females. Private detective Milo March (Jack Palance) suspects that Sam is in some way tied in with the jewel theft, as are several less reputable types. Among the latter category are femme fatale Trudie Hall (Anita Ekberg) and two-bit crooks Lomer (Bonar Colleano, whose last film this was) and Rizzio (Sean Kelly). Anthony Newley also shows up briefly as a comedy-relief cabbie. If 3DThe Man Inside3D seems like a dry run for the "James Bond" films of the 1960s, it may be because the film was produced by Albert "Cubby" Broccoli and scripted by Richard Maibaum, both mainstays of the Bond series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Palance, Anita Ekberg, (more)
- 1949
William Powell stars in Take One False Step as a happily married college professor who foolishly agrees to a reunion supper with old flame Shelley Winters. Winters later disappears, and the evidence points to murder. To allay suspicion--and to avoid losing an important financial grant to his university--Powell starts his own investigation. The trail leads him to San Francisco, where poor Powell becomes mired in a confusing crime plot. Fortunately, Winters is still alive; unfortunately, Powell may not be for long. Adapted from the Irwin Shaw novel Night Call, Take One False Step is saved from tawdriness by the innate dignity of William Powell. Also, the film is leavened by unexpected moments of humor, notably the relaxed banter between Powell and Shelley Winters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Powell, Shelley Winters, (more)
- 1948
Writer/director Billy Wilder (in collaboration with producer/writer Charles Brackett) earned his first critical condemnation with A Foreign Affair. Reviewers accused Wilder (as they would so often in the future) of moral bankruptcy, challenging him to prove what could possibly be funny about the Nazi war guilt, the bombed-out city of Berlin, the postwar European black market or attempted suicide. All of these elements are in Foreign Affair, and all are very funny. John Lund is an American army captain carrying on a casual affair with Berlin songstress Marlene Dietrich, who accepts Lund's attentions so long as there are contraband cigarettes and nylons added to the bargain. Iowa congresswoman Jean Arthur is sent as part of an American fact-finding delegation to Berlin, and Lund is compelled to clean up his act--or at least pretend to. Despite her initial shock at the corruption all around her, straitlaced Arthur eventually falls for Lund, but Dietrich has been at this game a lot longer. For an interesting cinematic and sociological exercise, A Foreign Affair should be shown in tandem with Wilder's 1961 Cold War comedy One, Two, Three. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Arthur, Marlene Dietrich, (more)
