Robert Culp

This surprisingly warm-and-fuzzy episode is narrated by child actress Evelyn Rudie, here cast as minister's daughter Hildegarde Fell. Against the wishes of her father (Hugh Marlowe), Hildegarde insists upon trying to make friends with crabby old John Anderson (Cedric Hardwicke), an elderly recluse whom everyone in town assumes to be a former judge, famous for his harsh and merciless sentences. Only after Anderson's death does the wide-eyed Hildegarde reveal the unvarnished truth about the "greatly beloved" man. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

"Consider the possibilities," read the ads for Paul Mazursky's 1969 satirical comedy about what happens when the sexual revolution hits affluent bourgeois life. After a weekend of "beautiful" emotional honesty at an Esalen-type retreat, married wannabe hipsters Bob (Robert Culp) and Carol (Natalie Wood) return to their well-heeled Los Angeles life determined to apply the principles of free love and complete openness to their marriage. To the respective curiosity and repulsion of their married best friends, Ted (Elliott Gould) and Alice (Dyan Cannon), Bob and Carol have affairs that they happily reveal to everyone. Inspired by all that openness during the quartet's trip to Vegas, Ted admits an affair of his own, provoking the outraged Alice to demand that this new ethos be taken to its obvious conclusion: a mate-sharing foursome. Once they're bedded down and ready to go, however, they start to have second thoughts. Without sacrificing authenticity for comedy, first-time director Mazursky and co-writer/producer Larry Tucker delve into the confusion of the Eisenhower generation when faced with the temptations of the counterculture. Too old to be hippies and too young to be fogies, the would-be California swingers sincerely attempt to try on the lifestyle, but it never looks quite right. A then-controversial example of the New Permissiveness both onscreen and off, Bob & Carol debuted at the New York Film Festival to great praise, particularly for Gould and Cannon. Whether they wanted to laugh at their elders' faux looseness or see what their peers might be doing, audiences turned Bob & Carol into a substantial hit, and its observations about marriage and sex remain humorously sharp even if the encounter group jargon is past its vogue. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

Director Bob Clark would graduate from the Canadian Breaking Point to such films as Porky's and A Christmas Story, proving beyond a doubt that it is possible to overcome a bad start. Bo Svenson stars as a mild-mannered teacher--glasses and all. He witnesses a mob murder, whereupon he is put into a witness protection program by cop (Robert Culp). When mobsters show up to rub out Svenson, the authorities are helpless, so suddenly "Mr. Peepers" becomes "Rambo". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Where Columbo (Peter Falk) goes, can murder be far behind? In Columbo Goes to College, the rumpled TV sleuth shows up on campus as a guest lecturer on criminology. His visit coincides with the machinations of two rich and arrogant frat boys (Justin Rowe and Cooper Redman) who utilize "remote control" to kill the professor who's threatened to expel them. In the tradition of Compulsion, the snide young killers flaunt their intellectual superiority before the seemingly ingenuous Columbo. No wonder these boys were on the verge of flunking out--they'd never bothered to check up on Columbo's previous track record for convictions. Outside of the novel setting, Columbo Goes to College is a by-rote rehash of an old formula; even Peter Falk seems bored. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this youthful film, to juvenile delinquents must spend a year in a military academy. They immediately begin driving their superior officers crazy. The film is also titled Combat Academy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Cynthia Is Alive and Living in Avalon is a rare comic episode from the usually dead-serious TV series Name of the Game. Cynthia (Barbara Feldon) is an elusive jet-setter who has of late become a political activist. She refuses all interviews and keeps hidden in a rambling house on the island of Avalon. At the urging of his pal Mickey Rooney, reporter Robert Culp decides to make a name for himself by getting the exclusive story on Cynthia. For some reason, this October 2, 1970 Name of the Game installment was given far more press and promotional coverage than was customary for the series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dissolute Civil War surgeon Doc Eli (Robert Culp) is now barnstorming with his own "Kickapoo Indian Miracle Elixir" medicine show. At first regarding Eli as a charlatan, Dr. Mike (Jane Seymour) is forced to rely on his long-dormant surgical skills when Myra (Helene Udy) falls victim to an ovarian cyst. Similarly, Sully (Joe Lando) tries to "redeem" a disillusioned Cheyenne named Franklin (Pato Hoffman). As a bonus, two of the series' prominent supporting characters get engaged in this episode. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Having already exhausted the dramatic possibilities of fire with The Towering Inferno, producer Irwin Allen turns to water in the made-for-TV Flood! The film is set in a small community, conveniently (for the purposes of the plot) located near a huge earthen dam. As the flood waters rise and the dam threatens to collapse, we are made privy to the individual reactions of such all-star victims-to-be as Robert Culp, Martin Milner, Richard Basehart, Cameron Mitchell, Barbara Hershey, Teresa Wright and Carol Lynley. As in Inferno, helicopter pilots come to the rescue. Most of the film was shot in Eugene, Oregon. Flood! first aired on November 24, 1976. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The very healthy looking Susan Anton is appropriately cast in Goldengirl. The daughter of a former Olympic athlete, Goldengirl (that's her name!) has been groomed for athletic competition since childhood. Her hero worship of her dad (Curt Jurgens) comes to an abrupt end when she finds out that he was an intimate of Adolf Hitler and that, through experimentation, he has converted his darling daughter into a near android. Somehow, Goldengirl must regain her humanity and sustain her integrity in the face of a myriad of celebrity endorsement deals. Originally intended as a two-part TV movie to be run in conjunction with the 1980 Olympics, Goldengirl was re-edited and released theatrically when the U.S. pulled out of competition. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It's hard to discern the filmmakers' true point of view on Hannie Caulder. On one hand, you've got the heavily somber story of Raquel Welch's efforts to exact vengeance on the men who raped her and killed her husband. On the other hand, you've got the leisurely-paced, lightly amusing sequences in which saddle-tramp Robert Culp tries to teach Welch how to be a gunslinger in her own right. And on the third hand (and who's got one of those?), you are offered the goofy Three-Stooges-like antics of the principle villains: Ernest Borgnine, Strother Martin and Jack Elam. This British-financed western features one-time sexpot Diana Dors as a zoftic madam and an uncredited Stephen Boyd as an ineffectual preacher. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide