Lisa Eilbacher Movies

A lame racehorse is healed with the aid of a youngster's loving care and is able to enter the famed Kentucky Derby. ~ All Movie Guide

Richie Brockelman, the intellectual but naive 23-year-old private eye played by Dennis Dugan, was introduced in the 1976 TV movie Richie Brockelman: The Missing 24 Hours. He was revived for a 2-hour episode of James Garner's The Rockford Files, telecast February 24, 1978. Three weeks later, Richie Brockelman: Private Eye premiered on NBC as a five-week replacement for Rockford Files. The Diary of Richie Brockelman is a 2-hour syndicated TV "movie" comprised of highlights from the series and narrated by Dennis Dugan. Richie's case load includes suspected embezzlement, a stolen classic car, industrial espionage, a gambling ring, and a missing accident victim. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson play Franklin W. Dixon's teenage sleuths Joe and Frank Hardy in this 48-minute spine tingler, originally titled "Mystery of the Witches' Hollow." Things start hopping when the uncle of Joe and Frank's classmate Calley (Lisa Eilbacher) disappears. The only clues to Uncle's whereabouts are the mysterious drawings made by a young mute boy (Gary Springer). Could an ancient witches' curse be at the bottom of things? "Mystery of the Witches' Hollow" was first telecast February 13, 1977. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This videotape consists of the 48-minute TV drama "The Flickering Torch Mystery." Originally telecast January 30, 1977, it was the opening episode of The Hardy Boys, the third TV series based on Franklin W. Dixon's children's-book characters. Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson play Joe and Frank Hardy, the sleuthing teen-age sons of attorney Fenton Hardy (Edmund Glbert). When Fenton disappears, Joe and Frank don their parkas and seek him out. Their search leads inexorably to a graveyard and a supposedly haunted house. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Several major changes occur during the second season of The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries. Whereas in season one the series maintained a alternating-week format -- with teenaged detective Joe and Frank Hardy (Shaun Cassidy, Parker Stevenson) appearing in their own Hardy Boys Mysteries episode one week, followed the next week by 18-year-old sleuth Nancy Drew (Pamela Sue Martin) headlining her own Nancy Drew Mysteries installment -- beginning with the two-part season-two opener "The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Meet Dracula," all three leading characters would occasionally appear together, solving the same mystery. Thus, while Joe and Frank soloed in such efforts as "The Mystery of the African Safari" and "The Acapulco Story," and Nancy would go it alone in the likes of "Nancy Drew's Love Match" and "The Lady on Thursday at Ten," the Hardy Boys and Miss Drew would combine forces in such capers as the two-part "The Mystery of the Hollywood Phantom" -- which incidentally, featured cameo appearances by Robert Wagner, Jaclyn Smith, and Dennis Weaver. With the episode titled "Voodoo Doll," the two rotating series The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew officially merged into one, with the three major characters appearing together ever afterward. However, the series would do without the services of Pamela Sue Martin, who left the property in protest over having her separate series eliminated. Janet Louise Johnson takes over as Nancy in the aforementioned "Voodoo Doll," remaining with the series until Nancy Drew is completely written out at the end of season two. ~ All Movie Guide

Although the Hardy Boys books are credited to Franklin W. Dixon and the Nancy Drew mysteries are signed by Carolyn Keene, both of these children's literature properties were created by one man -- Edward R. Stratemeyer -- who, using a wide variety of pen names and a huge staff of ghost writers, churned out hundreds of "Hardy," "Drew," and similar book series from the WWI years onward. Curiously, while both The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew had been adapted for films and television, the two properties never "merged" until ABC got the bright idea of creating the Sunday-evening TV series The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries in late 1976. In this incarnation, teen heartthrobs Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson were respectively cast as Joe and Frank Hardy, the amateur-sleuth sons of celebrated private investigator Fenton Hardy (Edmund Gilbert), while Pamela Sue Martin was seen as Nancy Drew, the bright, insatiably inquisitive daughter of criminal lawyer Carson Drew (William Schallert). In keeping with their common "parentage," The Hardy Boys Mysteries and The Nancy Drew Mysteries both found their young protagonists seeking out clues and risking their lives in order to solve baffling cases, much to the dismay and disapproval of their respective parents -- not to mention the Hardy kids' aunt Gertrude (Edith Atwater) and the Drew family's maid Bess (Ruth Cox). Joe and Frank Hardy were occasionally assisted by their school friend Callie Shaw (Lisa Eilbacher), while Nancy Drew's partners in deducing were her erstwhile beau Ned Nickerson (George O'Hanlon Jr.) and her tomboyish gal pal George Fayne (played first by Jean Rasey, then by Susan Buckner).

Debuting January 30, 1977, The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries was during its first season a "rotating" series, with a Hardy Boys episode one week, followed by a Nancy Drew installment the next. Beginning with season two, the Hardys and Nancy would occasionally appear in the same episode; in February of 1978, the two shows became one (albeit under the same "blanket" title), with Joe, Frank, and Nancy appearing together in every episode. At that time, Pamela Sue Martin left the series, balking at the notion of her "separate" vehicle being eliminated. Janet Louise Johnson then stepped into the role of Nancy Drew, remaining with the property until it was decided to drop Nancy altogether. Thus, though The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries officially ended in the fall of 1978, the series hung on as simply The Hardy Boys until August 26, 1979. ~ All Movie Guide

With this episode, Richard Hatch "officially" becomes a series regular in the role of Dan Robbins, the brash new partner of veteran SFPD homicide detective Mike Stone (Karl Malden). The case at hand involves Larry Dobbs (Howard Duff), the wealthy father of a girl who has been raped and murdered. Placing no faith in the authorities, Dobbs posts a million-dollar reward for the capture of suspected rapist Don Wilton (Maxwell Gail), dead or alive. This action transforms virtually the entire Bay Area population into a mob of greedy vigilantes--and it is up to Stone and Keller to stop the resulting wave of violence, which gets even worse when the desperate Wilton begins striking back at his pursuers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Walton's Mountain turns into a battleground over the teaching of Evolution. Lutie Bascomb (Richard Bradford), a hard-luck farmer whose violent temper has gotten worse since the breakup of his marriage, storms into the classroom of Miss Hunter (Mariclare Costello) and accuses her of "blasphemy" for explaining Darwin's theory to Lutie's daughter Lois Mae (Laurie Prange). The war of words reaches an ominous climax when Lutie threatens to kill Miss Hunter--and not long afterward, the schoolhouse is engulfed in flames! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Loosely based on the life and work of cartoonist and essayist James Thurber, The War Between Men and Women stars Jack Lemmon as cartoonist Peter Wilson, who, while visiting an eye doctor for his failing vision, quite literally stumbles upon Terry Kozlenko (Barbara Harris), an attractive but somewhat volatile divorcee with three children. Peter has a well-documented antipathy for women, children, and dogs, so everyone he knows is rather surprised when he finds himself falling in love with Terry -- and she falls in love with him. Peter and Terry get married, but her affection for him is not shared by her kids, who still idolize their father Stephen (Jason Robards, a successful photojournalist; Terry's dog doesn't care for Peter, either. When Peter's eye condition worsens, leaving him nearly blind, he suggests to Terry that she should go back to Stephen for the sake of her children, only to learn that Stephen has been killed while on assignment. Peter is now the only father the children have, and he's forced to find a way to reach out to them. The War Between Men and Women's interpolation of Thurber's life and work, using both live-action and animation, was inspired by a respected but short-lived television series, My World and Welcome to It, in which William Windom starred as Thurber. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide