John Furia, Jr. Movies

This television miniseries derives its plot from The Sun Also Rises, the 1926 novel by Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961). Set in France and Spain, the miniseries follows the lives of several expatriate Americans and their acquaintances in the decade after World War I. These expatriates -- part of the so-called lost generation of Americans bitter about the war and disillusioned by prevailing U.S. values -- drink, roam, ruminate, and chase women. The central character, journalist Jake Barnes (Hart Bochner), pals up with fellow countrymen Bill Gorton (Zeljko Ivanek), an amiable war veteran, and Robert Cohn (Robert Carradine), a novelist and college-trained boxer, to enjoy Paris night life. Barnes runs into beautiful and sophisticated Lady Brett Ashley (Jane Seymour), whom he romanced in England while she was a volunteer nurse and he was recuperating from a war wound that left him impotent. She is soon to divorce her husband to marry Mike Campbell (Ian Charleson), a hard-drinking Scot. Still smitten by her, Barnes follows her everywhere. So do Gorton and Cohn. Cohn falls hard for her. But Lady Brett says she wants to live happily ever after with many men, not just one, in spite of her betrothal to Campbell, a liaison with Cohn, and her affection for Barnes. Such is the scope of her appetite for men. For a new diversion, bullfighting, all of the principals -- including Campbell -- go to Pamplona, Spain. There, matador Pedro Romero (Andrea Occhipinti) whets Lady Brett's appetite all over again with his derring-do in the bullring. After Cohn discovers her in bed with Romero, he beats the bullfighter livid. It is all for naught. To Lady Brett, Cohn is an interesting toy, nothing more. The story reaches its conclusion when Romero -- purple with Cohn's bruises -- enters the arena to challenge a bull. Will Romero survive? Will Lady Brett choose him over Barnes? Will she marry Campbell? ~ Mike Cummings, Rovi

Arthur Hailey's novel Hotel had already served as the inspiration for a 1967 theatrical film when this TV pilot came along on September 21, 1983. Bette Davis stars as Laura Trent, the entrenched owner of the Hotel St. Gregory (moved from the novel's New Orleans to San Francisco, to allow for location filming at San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel). In true Love Boat fashion, Ms. Trent and hotel manager Peter McDermott (James Brolin) oversee four separate plot strands. A hooker (Morgan Fairchild) is raped in the hotel by a bunch of preppies who'd hired her for "just talk". A neurotic aspiring singer (Erin Moran) tries to interrupt the act of the hotel's lounge entertainer Mel Torme (himself). A very-married lady (Shirley Jones) checks in to conduct an illicit affair. And a feisty young woman (Connie Sellecca, a regular on the subsequent series) shows up unhired as McDermott's assistant manager. The Hotel series ran from 1983 to 1988, during which time an ailing Bette Davis was replaced by Anne Baxter; in the early 1990s, reruns of the series popped up rather incongruously on cable's E! Entertainment Network. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The hustler in Hustler of Muscle Beach is fast-talking New York promoter Nick Demec (Richard Hatch). Hoping to cash in on the bodybuilding craze, Demec stages a muscleman -- and musclewoman -- contest in Venice, CA (where the film was shot). The hero's get-rich-quick scheme gets him into hot water when he selects a most unusual candidate for his protégé. Several real-life male bodybuilders appear onscreen, including Franco Columbu and Frank Zane, but the film's ad campaign focused on the bikini-clad female contestants. Hustler of Muscle Beach was first broadcast May 16, 1980, on ABC. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Based on a Joseph Wambaugh story, this police drama centers on tough, aging cop Bumper Morgan's search for the man who killed his partner. His investigation leads him deep into the bowels of the drug world. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

David Carradine first stepped into the sandals of taciturn martial-arts expert Caine in the made-for-TV pilot film Kung Fu. A Chinese/American priest, Caine must flee to the United States after he is forced to kill a royal nephew. He wanders the American West of the 1860s, keeping his cool until it is necessary to display his kung-fu skills full force. Most often, he must meditate and conjure up a flashback dominated by Master Po (Keye Luke) before he is galvanized into action. In the pilot, Caine comes to the rescue of a group of Chinese coolies who are working on the railroad. First telecast February 22, 1972, Kung Fu spawned a long-running series of the 1970s--not to mentioned the "updated" syndicated weekly of the 1990s, which also starred the inscrutable Mr. Carradine. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

John Ritter makes his first appearance as Matthew Fordwick, the new minister on Walton's Mountain. No sooner has the sober, upright Rev. Fordwick arrived than he pays a visit to his distant relatives, the Baldwin sisters. Innocently consuming far too much of the Baldwins' special "recipe," the Reverend ends up making a drunken spectacle of himself. It is up to John Walton (Ralph Waite) -- who'd initally been offended by Fordwick's overbearing religious fervency -- to persuade the poor man not to leave the Mountain in disgrace. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Written by John Furia, Jr., this hilarious 60-minute Twilight Zone entry stars Howard Morris as nebbishy George P. Hanley, who, while seeking out a birthday present for his secretary Ann (Patricia Barry), purchases a battered old oil lamp. Sure enough, the lamp contains a Genie (played with withering sarcasm by Jack Albertson), who grants George the standard three wishes. Unable to decide what to wish for, George mulls over several possibilities, including one scenario that finds him serving as President of the U.S. His indecision results in a variety of comic complications, capped by an outrageous denoument. A scattershot satire of early 1960s pop culture and politics, "I Dream of Genie" was originally telecast March 21, 1963. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi