Dennis McCarthy Movies

The authorities are certain that a teenager found with a bullet through his head was a suicide victim. It so happens that the victim's mother is a friend of policewoman Fran Belding (Elizabeth Baur), who can't bring herself to believe that the boy took his own life. Fran's boss Ironside has his doubts as well, and begins his own investigation--a daunting task, in that virtually each new clue contradicts the previous one. This is one of several Ironside episodes to feature an original song by Marty and David Paich, in this case "Your Time is Coming", performed by Carol Carmichael. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This episode reunites Ironside star Raymond Burr with his former Perry Mason costar Barbara Hale. Chief Ironside (Burr) comes to the aid of Marsha Connell (Hale) when she is implicated in the murder of a member of an improvisational comedy group. The killing takes place during a stage performance, so naturally all the actors--and everyone in the theater, for that matter--fall under suspicion. The episode's highlight is the bravura performance of Roddy McDowell as a washed-up child actor attempting a comeback as an improv comic. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Even though Jason Banning (Carl Betz), a hard-drinking Police Pension Fund investment manager, has confessed to the murder of his secretary, all existing evidence proves otherwise. Ironside (Raymond Burr) takes it upon himself to find out if Banning is actually guilty, or if he is simply suffering from a really bad cases of the D.T.s. If the latter is true, then who DID kill the secretary--and why? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Film star Gloria James (Lynn Borden has disappeared and her maid Janet Loomis (Ena Hartman) is kidnapped just before relating some vital information to Mark (Don Mitchell). These events, coupled with a conspicuously phony letter and an attempt on Mark's life, lead Ironside to suspect that the key to the mystery is Gloria's estranged husband, a fiercely possessive mob kingpin named Frank Rich (William Smithers). But Ironside had better confirm his suspicions in a hurry; if Gloria James and Janet Loomis aren't already dead, they soon will be! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Heavily in debt to a homicidal gambler named Burton (John Vernon), San Francisco banker Lawrence Reynolds (Bradford Dillman) embezzles two million dollars and heads to Puerto Rico with his Bostonian fiancee Beverly Kingman (Davey Davison), who is unaware of Reynolds' crime and is convinced that she's on a honeymoon trip. Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) must catch up with the fugitive Reynolds before the vengeful Burton beats him to it. This episode has a particularly violent opening sequence involving Reynolds' long-suffering manservant Yoshimura, played by celebrated Japanese character actor Mako. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

To escape arrest, small-time bookie Steve Boland (Charles Bronson) joins the army. Soon he figures that he'd have been better off in jail: an unrepentant foul-up, Boland just can't seem to get in step with military protocol. All this changes when Steve falls in love with level-headed Ilsa (Violet Rensing). In a thoroughly out-of-left-field plot development, Steve becomes a hero when acting upon Ilsa's warning that there's a communist plot afoot to assassinate President Eisenhower! The trade magazine Variety observed that the banality of When Hell Broke Loose could be gauged by the fact that two of the characters are named "Brooklyn" and "Jonesey." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though Richard Eyer and Philip Abbott get top billing, the real star of The Invisible Boy is Robby the Robot of Forbidden Planet fame. Based on a short story by Edmund Cooper (which, incidentally, contained no robots!), the film finds electronics genius Dr. Merrinoe (Abbott) developing a huge talking computer. While Merrinoe is the master of his laboratory, he has trouble controlling his rambunctious son Timmie (Eyer). When the doctor takes Timmie to the lab with him, hoping to impress his son with the importance of his work, Timmie is interested only in reassembling a robot left behind by Merrinoe's predecessor. Though the robot has been programmed not to bring harm to human beings, the poor clunking creature falls under the spell of Merrinoe's "super computer," which has developed a demonic mind of its own. The computer arranges to launch a rocket, with the robot at the controls, that will enable it to control the earth's orbit. But Timmie, who has stowed away on board the rocket, is able to bring the robot to its "senses" and save the day. Impressive on a technical level, The Invisible Boy is relentlessly silly storywise, which of course adds to the enjoyment. Best line: "Timmie, if you don't bring that rocketship back this instant, you'll get the spanking of your life!" ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on the Dragnet radio broadcast of September 6, 1955, this episode focuses on the frustrating legal limitations placed upon police officers when dealing with known criminals. Searching for a huge shipment of heroin, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) search and detain suspected dope pusher Sam Free (Sidney Gordon). Though the detectives manage to build a strong case against Free, deputy DA Dan Lauren (Dennis McCarthy) throws out the evidence--because the suspect was neither placed under arrest nor asked permission to be search, and because there was no search warrant. As a knee-jerk reaction to the California State Supreme Court's recent "Charles Cahan" decision, this controversial episode was severely criticized by certain citizen's-rights pressure groups (though according to Dragnet historian Michael Hayde, no one protested the earlier radio version). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Most of the story in this five-hanky British melodrama takes place over a 50 year period within a single London home, 99 Wiltshire Place, the birth place of a noted general who has not been back since he was a young man and had a terrible wrenching fight with his sister over his love for their adopted sister. Just before he stormed out, he vowed that he would never return until the troublesome sibling, who was always jealous of the beautiful orphan girl, died. Many years pass and the general now sits there alone with his old butler musing about his lost love. His American granddaughter, an ambulance driver for the war effort, shows up distraught. It seems she has fallen in love with the Canadian nephew of the general's old flame and is undecided whether she marry him right away or wait until after the war. He then tells her his tragic tale in hopes that she will change her mind. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide