Joe Quinn Movies
- 1971
- R
Ocean View High is an upscale suburban school in an otherwise unidentified community. It's 1971, the point when the sexual revolution started moving into full swing and even a lot of Middle America, at least on the two coasts, admitted the existence of same revolution. It seems like the guys and girls at Ocean View are all loving pretty freely, and that extends to the school's resident faculty hero, football coach/guidance counselor "Tiger" McDrew (Rock Hudson), who -- despite his being married, with a child -- has been bedding many of the prettiest girls at the school. The only kid seemingly not "getting any" is Ponce de Leon Harper (John David Carson), who is starting to get neurotic and suffer academically, so much so that he seeks advice from McDrew, especially where his new substitute teacher, Miss Smith (Angie Dickinson), is concerned. But then various girls start turning up at the school dead, in various states of undress, with cryptic notes pinned to intimate parts of their anatomy. The lunkhead county sheriff (Keenan Wynn) is forced to defer to a state police investigator (Telly Savalas), who starts nosing around the school and uncovers more than he bargained for in terms of libidinous students, among other problems. Meanwhile, Ponce finds his problem taken care of by Miss Smith, at McDrew's request. But there's still a killer stalking the school.
If the plot and ambience of this movie seems shocking today, that's because it would be. Made at the outset of the sexual revolution, this was MGM's desperate attempt to run with the times, in terms of depicting a high school where sexual relations between students are considered routine and even those between faculty and students are accepted as long as they're kept quiet. Anyone trying to make such a movie in 2006 would face threats of prosecution, investigation, etc., and probably find it impossible to get the movie booked into theaters; MGM didn't have that easy a time in 1971, though (amazingly) the movie has been shown on television. Precisely what director Roger Vadim brought to Gene Roddenberry's screenplay (based on a novel by Francis Pollini) is difficult to tell, though he at least makes the sleazy and tawdry, smirky sex scenes and leering camera shots flow smoothly -- screenplay, director, and cameraman alike are fixated on the female anatomy throughout, though not in as distinctive a manner as Russ Meyer and his attachment to breasts. The presence of a couple of Star Trek co-stars and supporting villains, James Doohan and William Campbell, also makes this especially weird to watch. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
If the plot and ambience of this movie seems shocking today, that's because it would be. Made at the outset of the sexual revolution, this was MGM's desperate attempt to run with the times, in terms of depicting a high school where sexual relations between students are considered routine and even those between faculty and students are accepted as long as they're kept quiet. Anyone trying to make such a movie in 2006 would face threats of prosecution, investigation, etc., and probably find it impossible to get the movie booked into theaters; MGM didn't have that easy a time in 1971, though (amazingly) the movie has been shown on television. Precisely what director Roger Vadim brought to Gene Roddenberry's screenplay (based on a novel by Francis Pollini) is difficult to tell, though he at least makes the sleazy and tawdry, smirky sex scenes and leering camera shots flow smoothly -- screenplay, director, and cameraman alike are fixated on the female anatomy throughout, though not in as distinctive a manner as Russ Meyer and his attachment to breasts. The presence of a couple of Star Trek co-stars and supporting villains, James Doohan and William Campbell, also makes this especially weird to watch. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rock Hudson, Angie Dickinson, (more)
- 1970
- R
This film is based on the James Simon Kunen book about student unrest on the Columbia University campus. Simon (Bruce Davison) joins the campus protest movement to socialize with the various hippie girls. When a violent police assault breaks up the protest, Simon's thoughts quickly turn from female infatuation to more important social causes. He becomes active in protests against the Vietnam War, police brutality, student's rights and the draft. He is branded a Communist and becomes part of the great worldwide social revolution of his times. Music from Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Thunderclap Newman, Richard Strauss and John Lennon accurately reflect the turbulent times in which the film was released. Bud Cort, James Coco, and Kim Darby star in this uneven political drama. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Davison, Kim Darby, (more)
- 1965
After being hit on the head by a falling safe (!), Herman (Fred Gwynne) completely loses his memory. The police find Herman and take him into protective custody, whereupon Lily (Yvonne DeCarlo) and Grandpa (Al Lewis) try to figure out a way to get him back. They hit upon the brilliant idea of "adopting" Herman as their son--an idea that may not work, depending upon "John Doe" Herman's reaction to his "new" family. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
The 276th and final episode of the original 1950s version of Dragnet is an adaptation of a two-part radio drama, originally heard on January 3 and 10, 1952. An ex-convict tips off Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) about a huge shipment of Mexican heroin being smuggled into LA by a New York narcotics ring, fronted by a guy named Red. Going undercover, Friday poses as an interested buyer, risking life and limb to get the goods on Red and his cronies. But even after the "small fish" are rounded up, Friday must set up a trap for the elusive "Mr. Big" who is the real brains of the outfit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
A gang of thieves has been prowling around local bars and stealing payroll checks from inebriated employees, then forging the endorsements. Searching for the outlaws, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) get a rather grim break when an automobile accident kills one of the suspects. Unnerved by this tragedy, the dead man's partner is suddenly willing to rat on the gang's higher-ups. This episode was originally scheduled to air on March 13, 1958. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
The flourishing orchid business owned by Mildred Kimber (Anne Barton) may pass into the hands of unscrupulous florist Harry Marlow (Dan Seymour), who has arranged for Mildred's husband to lose all his money in a rigged poker game at the nightclub owned by Sam Lynk (Michael Emmett). Subsequently, Lynk is found poisoned to the death, and the evidence points to Mildred. Determined to prove Mildred's innocence, Perry (Raymond Burr) finds that DA Hamilton Burger (William Tallman) is more determined than ever to get a conviction--meaning that most of Perry's work will have to take place outside the courtroom! Based on a 1940 novel by Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner, this episode was remade in 1965 as "The Case of the Candy Queen." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
The opening episode of Dragnet's seventh TV season finds police detectives Friday (Jack Webb and Smith (Ben Alexander) rounding up a group of draft-dodging teenage dropouts who have turned to thievery. The kids hope to use their ill-gotten gains to establish their own country on an uninhabited island off the California coast, and have even gone so far as to draft their own self-serving "constitution." Although Friday puts the punks in their place with another of his long-winded patriotic speeches (backed up with a stirring rendition of America the Beautiful), it takes an ironic final plot twist to convince the youngsters that they've messed up. "The Big Constitution" was later updated as "The Big Make", an episode of the late-1960s Dragnet revival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1917
The Argyle Case was based on a play by Harvey J. O'Higgins and Harriet Ford, which in turn was inspired by the official files of the William J. Burns Agency, an international private detective organization. The head of the house of Argyle is murdered by espionage agents who wish to undermine the well-being of the United States (the film was made the same year that America entered the first World War). Robert Warwick (who also produced) plays the scientific detective who brings the miscreants to heel. The Argyle Case was directed by Ralph Ince, brother of silent-movie mogul Thomas Ince. The film would be remade as a talkie in 1929, with Thomas Meighan in the lead. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
