David Karp Movies

Ace in the Hole documents the search for and eventual capture of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein months after the initial invasion by American led military forces in early 2003. The film offers footage of the underground bunker where Hussein was apprehended. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

After the mysterious death of seven-year-old Christopher Reano, Quincy (Jack Klugman) checks into reports that a foster group home called Green Springs is endangering its charges with brutal treatment and unsanitary conditions. Pediatrician Dr. Curtis (played by former Leave It to Beaver cotar Tony Dow) hopes that Quincy will help him close Green Springs down: trouble is, the youngsters will then be shipped off to a reformatory that is even worse. It is up to Quincy's psychologist wife Elaine (Anita Gillette) to come up with a radical--but compassionate--solution to the problem. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Made for television, The Family Rico was adapted from the same Georges Simenon novel that served as the basis of the 1958 Columbia theatrical feature The Brothers Rico. Ben Gazzara plays a powerful mobster put in an embarrassing position by younger brother Sal Mineo. When Mineo refuses to carry out a contract killing, Gazzara is ordered to rub out his own brother. Eventually he ascertains the identity of Mineo's "hit" and realizes that his brother was acting more out of loyalty than cowardice. While the original Brothers Rico concentrates on the one honest member of the Rico brood, The Family Rico adheres to Godfather tradition by dealing solely with the criminals in the family. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this badly misconceived pseudo-biography of the legendary Cuban revolutionary -- played, incredibly, by Omar Sharif -- Che Guevara takes up the cause as a rebel fighter under the direction of Fidel Castro, played -- also incredibly -- by Jack Palance. Guevara, a young Argentine doctor, proves his worth under the heat of guerilla warfare and, gaining the respect of his men, becomes the leader of a patrol. Castro is impressed by Guevara's tactics and strict discipline and makes him his chief advisor. When Castro defeats the Cuban dictator Batista after two years of fighting, Guevara, under Castro's nod, directs a series of massive reprisals -- but Guevara dreams of fermenting a worldwide revolution. After Castro backs down during the Cuban Missile Crisis, Guevara accuses Castro of being a Soviet dupe and leaves Cuba. Under disguise, Guevara lands in Bolivia, where he attempts to begin his dream of a worldwide peasant revolution, but the Bolivian poor will not follow his lead, and his band find themselves starving in the Bolivian jungle and pursued by the Bolivian army. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Sol Madrid isn't a western, as might be gathered, but a drug-ring melodrama. David McCallum shows up early in the film as a spaced-out junkie. But Man From UNCLE fans need not worry: McCallum is actually an undercover agent, looking for the source of heroin being trafficked by the Mafia. The top man in the Mexican-based narcotics operation is the man you'd least likely expect -- especially when one remembers the sort of roles the guilty party had previously played in his long career. Based on Robert Wilder's novel Fruit of the Poppy, this went out to British moviehouses under the title The Heroin Gang. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lloyd Nolan appears in this episode as the first of several actors who would portray notorious mob boss George "Bugs" Moran on The Untouchables (later Morans included Robert Wilke and Harry Morgan). To sway the outcome of a truckers-union election, Bugs kidnaps the son of union leader Larry Halloran (Jack Warden). When Halloran goes to the Untouchables for help, he is told that kidnapping is not yet a federal offense. Even so, the Feds have a plan to trap Moran: let Bugs win the election, the better to give him enough rope to hang himself. With Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) on assignment in Washington, the plan is overseen by his stalwart colleague Martin Flaherty (Jerry Paris). This episode was originally listed in TV Guide as "The Velvet Touch". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The distinguished CBS dramatic anthology Studio One moved from New York to Hollywood with this adaptation of David Karp's cautionary novel The Brotherhood of the Bell. In an indeterminate future, government agent James Waterson (Cameron Mitchell) must choose between friendship and blind loyalty. Years earlier, Waterson had joined a secret order called the Brotherhood of the Bell, which promised him a multitude of professional opportunities in exchange for certain favors. Now the Brotherhood wants Waterson to fire his assistant and close friend, Clark Sherrell (Tom Drake), and replace him with another member of the order. Now that things have gotten personal, Waterson's eyes are opened to the inescapable fact that the Brotherhood of the Bell will stop at nothing to achieve its goal of total world domination. Ten years after this 1958 Studio One telecast, The Brotherhood of the Bell was remade as a TV movie starring Glenn Ford as "Andrew Paterson," who had been transformed from a government functionary to a college professor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide