Richard Deacon Movies

Just as Tony (Larry Hagman) developed amnesia in the first-season episode "I'll Never Forget What's Her Name", so too does Jeannie (Barbara Eden) lose her memory in this third-season offering. Unable to remember anything, Jeannie refuses to believe that she is a genie, going so far as to hire a lawyer (Richard Deacon) to sue NASA for the accident that caused her amnesia. Tony (Larry Hagman) must race against time to prevent Jeannie's doctor (Chet Stratton) from learning the truth about the girl--and to rescue Dr. Bellows (Hayden Rorke), whom Jeannie had previously transformed into a laboratory mouse bound for the moon! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After five long years, Rob (Dick Van Dyke) finally finishes his autobiography. As he prepares to submit the masterpiece to a publisher, the series' cast revels in selected chapters -- thereby cuing lengthy excerpts from such past Dick Van Dyke Show episodes as "Where Did I Come From?," "The Attempted Marriage," and the unforgettable "That's My Boy??." This final episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show (but not the final one filmed) comes full circle when Alan Brady (Carl Reiner) options Rob's book as a possible TV situation comedy! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It is hardly surprising that Rob's overbearing, egotistical boss Alan Brady (Carl Reiner) has commissioned a filmed documentary about a "typical" day in his life. Nor is it unusual that Alan wants to film a key scene from the documentary in the living room of Rob (Dick Van Dyke) and Laura (Mary Tyler Moore). But it is highly inconvenient -- and ultimately disastrous -- when Alan and his camera crew insist upon invading the Petrie home on the night that Rob and Laura are throwing an anniversary party for Jerry and Millie Helper (Jerry Paris, Ann Morgan Guilbert). Perennial dumb blonde Joyce Jameson figures prominently into the (literally) gut-wrenching climax of this episode. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Rob (Dick Van Dyke) and Sally (Rose Marie) suspect that something is amiss when Buddy (Morey Amsterdam) starts behaving strangely, making secret phone calls and leaving work before quitting time. At first, it seems that Buddy is visiting a psychiatrist -- but then, evidence falls in Rob's lap that the very married Buddy is seeing the proverbial "other woman." Without giving away any more of the plot, it can be noted that the woman in question (played by Pippa Scott) is the wife of Buddy's rabbi. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Although he has grown accustomed to being insulted by his boss (and brother-in-law) Alan Brady (Carl Reiner), Mel Cooley (Richard Deacon) is nevertheless devastated when Alan loudly humiliates him in public. Disgusted by this spectacle, Rob (Dick Van Dyke) advises Mel to go into Alan's office and demand an apology. Emboldened, Mel acts upon Rob's advice -- and is promptly fired! This is the episode in which even Mel's longtime nemesis Buddy Sorrell (Morey Amsterdam) stands up for Mel's rights, casting a vote from "Mr. Jewish" against Alan "Captain Bligh" Brady. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though overlong even for a Hayley Mills vehicle, That Darn Cat is an expert blend of laughs and suspense. The eponymous feline is D.C., a Siamese belonging to sisters Hayley Mills and Dorothy Provine. One evening, D.C. comes flouncing home with a lady's wristwatch attached to her neck. The watch contains an unfinished plea for help scribbled on its back, written by Grayson Hall, a bank teller held captive in a neighboring house by robbers Neville Brand and Frank Gorshin. Mills and Provine contact the FBI, who send agent Dean Jones (who's allergic to cats) to investigate. In their efforts to locate and rescue Hall and capture the crooks, Jones and the two sisters embark upon a series of slapstick misadventures involving an unending stream of top character actors. The highlight is a lengthy sequence at the drive-in movie theatre managed by ulcerated Richard Deacon. That Darn Cat is based on Undercover Cat, a somewhat more serious suspense novel by The Gordons. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Billie is a screen version of Ronald Alexander's perennial stage favorite Time Out For Ginger. Patty Duke plays a tomboyish high schooler who excels in athletics but who continues to strike out socially. Jim Backus and Jane Greer perform yeoman service as Duke's parents, who wonder how long it's going to be before their daughter stops trying to be their son. Backus is particularly concerned because he's running for mayor on a platform of "male supremacy" (this is 1965, remember?). From time to time, Duke expresses her frustration in song: her big number finds her holding her gym shoes in one hand, a bottle of perfume in the other. Warren Berlinger also stars as Duke's long-suffering boyfriend. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Rob (Dick Van Dyke) and Buddy (Morey Amsterdam) are dying with curiosity about the handsome stranger Sally (Rose Marie) met on a Caribbean cruise. Instead of prattling on and on about her latest "fella," Sally refuses to reveal anything about Anthony Stone (Richard Angarola) -- and that includes what Anthony does for a living. Playing detective, Buddy and Rob make a startling discovery about the mystery man. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After he, Buddy (Morey Amsterdam), and Sally (Rose Marie) have labored for hours on this week's "Alan Brady Show" script, Rob (Dick Van Dyke) proceeds to lose the only copy of the script at Grand Central Station. Fortunately, the precious manuscript is recovered by a seedy bum (Gene Baylos); unfortunately, the bum demands a 2,500-dollar ransom for the script's safe return! It's a toss-up as to which moment in this episode is the funniest: Rob's encounter with haughty hobo Hilyard Decker (Tiny Brauer), or the superb climactic scene with legendary standup comic Gene Baylos. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Against his better judgment, Rob (Dick Van Dyke) allows his son Ritchie (Larry Mathews) and the Helpers' son Freddie (Peter Oliphant) to be cast in a TV commercial. Just as Rob had feared, Laura (Mary Tyler Moore) and Millie Helper (Ann Morgan Guilbert) transform into the Stage Mothers from Hell, arguing over billing, number of lines, and which of the two boys' faces will be obscured by a catcher's mask. Colin Male, the announcer heard introducing the cast at the beginning of every Dick Van Dyke Show episode, makes a rare onscreen appearance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy classic, Jerry Lewis plays Jerome Littlefield, an orderly in a mental hospital in this slapstick situation comedy that makes full use of Lewis's patented brand of screwball comedy. Dr. Jean Howard (Glenda Farrell) is the exasperated head of the sanitarium who almost becomes a patient after the antics of the frantic employee. Jerome takes on the symptoms of most of his patients and helps Susan Andrews (Susan Oliver) go from a woman considering suicide to an alluring woman of sensual confidence. When talkative patient Alice Pearce relates her maladies to Jerry, he hilariously has psychosomatic symptoms that mirror those of the woman. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Politics and sports clash in this occasionally funny spoof centered around a downed U2 pilot and an extravagant oil sheik. John Goldfarb (Richard Crenna), a former football player, now pilot, sent on a reconnaissance mission over the Soviet Union, is lost and crash-lands in the Middle Eastern kingdom of Fawzia. King Fawz (Peter Ustinov) is constructing a football team to defeat Notre Dame and demands that Goldfarb coach his team or be handed over as a spy. In the interests of international relations, the U.S. State Department not only complies with King Fawz's request to bring the Notre Dame team to his country but in true diplomatic form insists that they throw the game. The romantic interest appears in the form of Jenny Ericson (Shirley MacLaine), an American reporter on an undercover assignment in the king's harem. A pleasant view in scanty harem garb, she lends mild amusement to the story with attempts to avoid the king's amourous advances. Although the humor falls short of its potential, the film was fortuitously saved from obscurity due to publicity generated by an unsuccessful lawsuit brought agianst the studio by the University of Notre Dame, which objected to a scene involving Notre Dame players fraternizing with harem girls. The screenplay for John Goldfarb, Please Come Home was written by William Peter Blatty who was later known for his award winning novel and screenplay The Exorcist. ~ Lucinda Ramsey, All Movie Guide

In the first episode of a two-part story, the staff of "The Alan Brady Show" is invited to put on a performance for the men in the state penitentiary. The convict arranging the show is Lyle Delp (Don Rickles), who turns out to be an old friend of Rob (Dick Van Dyke) and Laura (Mary Tyler Moore). In flashback, Rob recalls how he and a pregnant Laura first met Lyle when the hapless habitual criminal tried to hold them up at gunpoint (or rather, "comb-point") in a stalled elevator. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide