Howard Duff Movies

13-year-old Robert Mueller (Mark Gruner) is obsessed with guns and has a morbid fascination with death. He is also deeply resentful over the fact that his widowed mother Elaine (Diane Baker) has married Paul Hamilton (Ed Nelson). Despite all this, Elaine could never believe that her darling boy was in any way responsible for a recent campaign of terror waged against Paul, even when an unsolved homicide enters the picture. But Paul knows full well that he is next on little Robert's hit list--a fact that Robert does not even bother to keep a secret. Adapted from a novel by Fielden Farrington, the made-for-TV A Little Game made its ABC bow on October 30, 1971. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In the Glitter Palace was the first made-for-TV movie in which lesbianism was a crucial plot factor. Chad Everett stars as a defense lawyer and erstwhile detective, whose gay client is Barbara Hershey. She is on trial for murdering her slimy blackmailer (played by that master of sliminess, Anthony Zerbe). Among Hershey's lesbian friends are Salome Jens and Diana Scarwid, who may know more than what they're telling Everett. Just because In the Glitter Palace was a groundbreaker in regards to its subject matter doesn't make it a better movie; strip away the "relevance," and you've got just another by-rote whodunit. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Battered concentrates upon three female victims of spousal abuse. Chip Fields is the new wife of struggling young Levar Burton. Joan Blondell is the alcoholic middle-aged spouse of the equally bibilous Howard Duff. And Karen Grassle (who cowrote the screenplay) is married to Ivy leaguer Mike Farrell. While a bit too cut-and-dried, Battered handles the issues at hand with intelligence and an avoidance of sensationalism. Made for television, the film debuted September 26, 1978. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Howard Duff guest-stars as Sam Clemens, who in the days before his fame and fortune as "Mark Twain" could be found working as a reporter on the Virginia City Enterprise. The Cartwrights come to Clemens' assistance when the young journalist endeavors to expose an illegal collusion between Judge Yerrington (John Litel) and a powerful railroad executive. Featured in the cast are Dorothy Green as Minnie andAnn Whitfield as Rosemary. Written by Harold Shumate and first broadcast October 10, 1959, "Enter Mark Twain" might prove an interesting comparison to the 1972 Bonanza episode "The 26th Grave," in which Sam Clemens is also a central character. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Burt Lancaster had one of his first starring roles in this hard-hitting prison drama. Capt. Munsey (Hume Cronyn) is a cruel, corrupt prison guard who has his own less-than-ethical ways of dealing with inmates, enough so that Joe Collins (Lancaster) -- the toughest inmate in the cell block -- has decided to break out. Collins tries to persuade Gallagher (Charles Bickford), the unofficial leader of the inmates and editor of the prison newspaper, to join him, but Gallagher thinks Collins' plan won't work. However, Collins does have the support of his cellmates, most of whom, like himself, wandered into a life of crime thanks to love and good intentions. Tom Lister (Whit Bissell) was an accountant who altered the books so he could buy his wife a mink coat. Soldier (Howard Duff) fell in love with an Italian girl during World War II and took the rap for her when she murdered her father. Collins pulled a bank job to raise money to pay for an operation that could possibly get his girl out of a wheelchair. And Spencer (John Hoyt) made the mistake of getting involved with a female con artist. After Munsey drives Tom to suicide and prevents Gallagher from obtaining parole, Gallagher joins up with Collins and his men in the escape attempt. Director Jules Dassin would next direct the influential noir drama The Naked City; six years later, he would move to Europe after political blacklisting prevented him from continuing to work in the United States. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Hanley (Rick Jason) is ordered to take three of his men on a mission into German territory to rescue Hoby Jabko (Howard Duff), a commander of the 465th Bombing Wing. Forced to parachute out of his crippled plane, the wounded Jabko is being hidden in a French farmhouse by the Resistance. Though help is on the way, Jabko is reluctant to leave his new sweetheart, farm girl Denise (Maria Machado). But circumstances will forever alter cases--especially when the Resistance fighters discover that there's a traitor in their midst. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

An exceedingly complex plot with a few gaps in logic characterizes this uneven thriller by George Bloomfield. Photographer Michael (Michael Sarrazin) is now in a mental institution because after he got back from a dangerous assignment in the Middle East he found his wife raped and murdered. His mistress Paula West (Susan Clark) manages to get him released and then asks a private detective to keep an eye on him in case he flips out again. Trouble brews when the dead wife's lover (Anthony Perkins), who knows the truth about how she died, wants some remuneration for his silence. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Yvonne de Carlo is at her most smokily exotic in the Republic "special" Flame of the Islands. Filmed on location in the Bahamas, the story focuses on Rosalind Dee (Ms. DeCarlo), a cabaret singer who aspires to enter High Society. To this end, she comes into possession of a great deal of money through rather underhanded means. Rosalind forms a partnership with gambling-club owners Wade Evans (Zachary Scott) and Cyril Mace (Kurt Kasner), building the establishment into a gathering place for the Elite. Along the way, she attempts to rekindle a romance with randy playboy Doug Duryea (Howard Duff), but it is true-blue Kelly Rand (James Arness) who rescues Rosalind from gangland intrusion in the final reel. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Long before he became producer/director of The Tonight Show, Fred DeCordova helmed the Universal meller Illegal Entry. Howard Duff, who later worked with DeCordova on the TV series Mr. Adams and Eve, stars as Bert Powers, an undercover agent for the U.S. Department of Immigration. While attempting to bring a vicious gang of alien smugglers to justice, Powers falls in love with Anna Duvak (Marta Toren), a gang member who is Not What She Seems. The film leaves no cliché unturned, not even the familiar scene wherein the airborne smugglers dispose of their human cargo by way of a handy lever which causes the bottom of the plane's passenger section to drop out. Illegal Entry is staged in semi-documentary fashion, maintaining the then-prevalent tradition of such popular films as House on 92nd Street and Call Northside 777. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this drama, a young woman is hired to take care of an eerie old mansion. There she finds herself entangled with an enigmatic murderer. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Robert Benton's Oscar-winning adaptation of Avery Corman's bestseller takes on contemporary problems of divorce and shifting gender roles, as a jilted husband learns how to be a nurturing father. Manhattan housewife Joanna Kramer (Meryl Streep) walks out on her workaholic ad man husband Ted (Dustin Hoffman), leaving their young son Billy (Justin Henry) in Ted's less than capable hands. Through trial and error, Ted learns how to take care of Billy, devoting more energy to his family than to his work, and finally losing his high-powered job because of his new priorities. When Joanna returns with her own lucrative job and the intent to take custody of Billy, Ted finds employment that won't interfere with his paternal duties. Even though he proves that he can do it all, Joanna still wins in court. Joanna, however, rethinks her desires when she finally grasps how close father and son have become. Addressing the male side of the self-actualization question, previously explored from the female perspective in such 1970s movies as An Unmarried Woman (1978), Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), and The Turning Point (1977), Kramer focuses on Ted's evolution from absent parent to ideal father, as he learns to balance domestic and professional lives in the shifting late-1970s social landscape. Joanna's attempt to achieve the same, however, gets buried; only Streep's sensitive performance prevents Joanna from seeming an unsympathetic harridan. Critics praised the film's realistic depiction of Ted's travails, as well as the three lead actors' work; and audiences, perhaps facing the same questions of divorce and self-realization, turned it into a box-office smash. It went on to win five Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actress. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

Magnum, P.I. wraps up its eight-year run with a two-part final episode (originally telecast in a single two-hour timeslot). In Part One, Magnum returns to his home town for a family reunion, where his paternal grandfather (Howard Duff) offers to reinstate him as a Naval officer. But before Magnum can say "yes" or "no", he is summoned back to Hawaii by former girlfriend Linda Lee Ellison (Patrice Martinez), who insists that someone is stalking her. Upon his return, Magnum receives some startling information about his daughter Lily, whom he had presumed to be dead. Meanwhile, Rick (Larry Manetti) nervously prepares to marry the estimable Cleo Mitchell (Phyllis Davis). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi