Harry Morgan Movies

The Century Turns is the syndication title of the 2-hour pilot for the Hec Ramsey television series. Richard Boone stars as Ramsey, an old-fashioned western lawman coming to grips with the "modern technology" of the 20th century. Ramsey teams up with college-educated criminologist Oliver Stamp (Rick Lenz) to solve a tricky mystery. Before the film's 97 minutes are up, both veteran and newcomer learn a lot from each other-though it's Ramsey who has the least to learn. Produced by Jack Webb, The Century Turns was originally telecast October 8, 1972; the Hec Ramsey series was shown in rotation with Columbo, McCloud and McMillan and Wife until August 25, 1974. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this light-weight Disney family fare, Dean Jones plays Johnny Baxter, who -- along with his wife Sue (Nancy Olsen) and his two kids, Chris (Kathleen Cody) and Richard (Johnny Whitaker) -- decides to leave the New York City rat-race for the clean air and easy living of the Colorado ski country. Baxter has inherited a decaying Gothic mansion and, with the love of his family and a little bit of money, he converts the old house into a popular ski lodge. While preparing his lodge for the tourists and ski bums, Baxter has to deal with a few plumbing problems, a scheming banker (Keenan Wynn), and a grizzled old miner (Harry Morgan). In typical Disney fashion, the plot culminates in a wild, slapstick snowmobile race. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

A college-educated sheriff takes on an older crimefighter as his deputy in this western. (AKA Century Turns) ~ All Movie Guide

The first of two efforts by Universal to launch an Ellery Queen TV series in the 1970s, Don't Look Behind You stars Peter Lawford as intellectual private eye Ellery Queen. Based on the novel Cat of Many Tales, the film finds Queen investigating a series of murders. The male victims were strangled with blue cords, the females with pink ones. In addition, the killer is working his (or her) way down the age scale, knocking off older people first. E.G. Marshall and Stefanie Powers are among the special guest suspects, while Harry Morgan is on hand as Ellery's police-inspector father. The best scene, involving a flooded apartment house, has very little to do with the mystery at hand. Originally telecast November 11, 1971 (after several months on the shelf), Ellery Queen: Don't Look Behind You failed to yield a weekly series; a 1975 "Ellery Queen" pilot film starring Jim Hutton was, however, more successful. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This Western action/comedy is told in the same tongue-in-cheek manner as its predecessor, Support Your Local Sheriff. Goldie (Marie Windsor), a madam, is a formidable woman, and Latigo Smith (James Garner) knows perfectly well that his disreputable ways will be trimmed considerably should she succeed in marrying him. Instead, he escapes from her and winds up in the town of Purgatory. The town's inhabitants have been expecting the arrival of Swifty Morgan (Chuck Connors), the famous gunfighter. All things being equal, Latigo is happy to be mistaken for Morgan's sidekick, while Jug May (Jack Elam) impersonates Morgan himself. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The Old West is just not the same, what with so few cattle being run, and law-abiding folk running around like they own everything. In this family comedy drama, it's too much for John McCanless (Brian Keith). He is a cranky old rancher and former gunslinger who has no intention of selling his beloved acres to some fool who wants to build a dam and flood them all. Going "gently into that good night" is not in the cards at all, and this latter-day Quixote prepares to wage a lonely battle against the namby-pamby modern world. His ranch hand, Paco (Alfonso Arau), an illegal immigrant, and his bemused daughter, Amanda (Michele Carey) do what they can to help. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In 1943 North Africa, George Patton (George C. Scott) assumes command of (and instills some much-needed discipline in) the American forces. Engaged in battle against Germany's Field Marshal Rommel (Karl Michael Vogler), Patton drives back "The Desert Fox" by using the German's own tactics. Promoted to Lieutenant General, Patton is sent to Sicily, where he engages in a personal war of egos with British Field Marshal Montgomery (Michael Bates). Performing brilliantly in Italy, Patton seriously jeopardizes his future with a single slap. While touring an Army hospital, the General comes across a GI (Tim Considine) suffering from nervous fatigue. Incensed by what he considers a slacker, Patton smacks the poor soldier and orders him to get well in a hurry. This incident results in his losing his command-and, by extension, missing out on D-Day. In his final campaign, Patton leads the US 3rd Army through Europe. Unabashedly flamboyant, Patton remains a valuable resource, but ultimately proves too much of a "loose cannon" in comparison to the more level-headed tactics of his old friend Omar Bradley (Karl Malden). Patton won 7 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Scott, an award that he refused. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This comedy was banned in Mexico and plagued by vandalism and threats of violence during film production in San Antonio, Texas. General De Santos (Peter Ustinov) organizes a ragtag group of Mexican nationals for the purpose of retaking the Alamo. Using the Washington's Birthday Parade in Laredo as a guise to enter the United States, the group continues towards San Antonio ignored and unchallenged. With the help of Sergeant Valdez (John Astin), the unlikely invaders manage to raise the Mexican flag over the old mission for 24 hours. General Billy Joe Hallson (Jonathan Winters) is a colorful redneck called on to lead the National Guard to the site of the occupied landmark. Keenan Wynn, Alice Ghostley, Pamela Tiffin and Harry Morgan also star in this film farce. During filming, one irate Texan was arrested after waving a rifle in protest over the raising of the Mexican flag over the Alamo, long a symbol of Texas' pride and history. Electric cables were cut during the filming of this production, as some Texans could not even tolerate the fictional premise of the plot. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Though the final season of the new Dragnet (aka Dragnet: 1970) represented the revived series' fourth year on NBC, in actuality it was the property's 12th season, if one counts the previous, classic Dragnet of the 1950s. The stories you are about to hear are true, the city is Los Angeles, CA, and the protagonists are LAPD sergeants Joe Friday (played of course by the series' producer/director Jack Webb) and Bill Gannon (Harry Morgan). Rather surprisingly, the final season yields only three blatantly anti-drug episodes: "Narco -- Pill Maker," in which Joe and Frank bust an amphetamine lab catering to gullible youngsters; "Juvenile -- The Little Pusher," the tale of an innocent child who inadvertently overdoses on Seconal; Narco -- Missing Hype," wherein frequent Dragnet guest star Vic Perrin, usually cast as a slimy criminal, portrays a foolishly idealistic college professor. Other noteworthy season-four episodes include the opener, "Personnel -- The Shooting," featuring another Dragnet stalwart, Virginia Gregg, as the even-tempered wife of a wounded officer; "D.H.Q. -- Missing Person," the tale of 16-year-old girl who isn't quite what she seems; "D.H.Q. -- Night School," which finds Joe getting into hot water with a group of younger students while attending postgrad college classes; and "Burglary -- Mister," wherein Joe and Frank are confronted by the heel to end all heels, the redoubtable "Mr. Daniel Lumis" (John Hudson). Although Dragnet had earned a 32 ratings share, and had been announced by the trades as being a shoo-in for a fifth season on NBC, Jack Webb had already decided that 12 years of Joe Friday was enough, and voluntarily pulled the plug on the venerable property. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

James Garner is a nothing short of a delight in this western spoof that stands western clichés on their ears. The film takes place in the small western town of Calender, a town that experiences a gold rush when gold is discovered in an open grave by Prudy Perkins (Joan Hackett). As gold prospectors flood in and out of town, the Danby clan, anxious to take advantage of the situation (since their ranch blocks the main road out of town) levies a 20% tribute on every gold shipment that passes through. Three sheriffs have been dispatched by the Danbys, and they control the town. Into this situation, on his way to Australia, rides Jason McCullough (Garner). McCullough is an easy-going sort who just happens to be a crack shot. The town rapidly makes him sheriff. His first line of business is to break up a fight and to arrest Joe Danby (Bruce Dern) for murder. As McCullouch settles down in the Perkins boarding house, Pa Danby (Walter Brennan) plots to spring his son from jail. But when all his mechanizations fail to gain Joe's release, Pa Danby gathers together all the Danbys in the surrounding countryside to head into Calender to get rid of McCullough. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Proving remarkably durable despite its venerable reputation and occasional lapses into silent majority hysteria (especially in the episodes involving drug abuse), the new Dragnet launched its third season on NBC in the fall of 1968, under the forward-looking title Dragnet: 1969. The setting is still "The City: Los Angeles, California," and the leading characters are still two of the LAPD's finest, Sgt. Joe Friday (Jack Webb, who, of course, also produced and directed the series), and Sgt. Bill Gannon (Harry Morgan). The season opener, "Public Affairs - DR-07," finds Joe Friday on the hot seat when he guests on a liberal TV debate show to defend the police force; among his detractors is a hippie played by "Don Sturdy" -- actually future WKRP in Cincinnati regular Howard Hesseman. "Management Services" dramatizes the actual events surrounding the aftermath of Dr. Martin Luther King's murder, with Joe and Bill trying to keep the public calm despite impending street violence and unchecked false rumors. "Homicide - DR-06" is, despite its title, essentially a comic episode, as Joe tries to enjoy a dinner at the home of Bill and Eileen Gannon despite a steady stream of annoying interruptions. Likewise light in tone despite its grim trappings is "Homicide - DR-22," in which the detectives solve a grisly murder with the help of an extremely alert and perceptive 91-year-old apartment manager (played by the ever-delightful Burt Mustin). Of course, the season yields quite a few anti-drug episodes, notably "Narcotics - DR-16," in which a group of distressingly clean-cut high schoolers set up the Smart Teen Club with the motto "S.O.S." (Stamp Out Stupidity); and "Narcotics - DR-21, wherein a pair of funky potheads are caught with the goods by a marijuana-sniffing police dog. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In 1966, producer/director/actor Jack Webb filmed a new, TV-movie version of his classic 1950s series Dragnet for Universal Pictures and the NBC network. Both studio and network were so impressed by the results that they invited Webb to revive Dragnet on a weekly, half-hour basis -- which is just what happened on January 12, 1957, when Dragnet: 1967 took over the Thursday-night slot recently vacated by the failed NBC sitcom The Hero. At base, it was the same old Dragnet, with the same old, "the story you are about to see is true" opening, the same "Dum-de-DUM-dum" theme music, the same monotonic narration and incessant, acronymic police jargon, and the same Sgt. Joe Friday (played, of course, by Jack Webb), whose promotion to lieutenant in the final season of the original Dragnet in 1958 was never mentioned. Also, several of Webb's radio colleagues -- Virginia Gregg, Vic Perrin, Harry Bartell, Peggy Webber -- showed up over and over again in supporting roles, just like in the good old days.

The changes to the venerable property included Joe Friday's new partner, Sgt. Bill Gannon, played by the ever-reliable Harry Morgan. Also, the new series was lensed exclusively in color, eschewing the black-and-white photography that predominated in the 1950s version. In addition, Friday and Gannon tackled cases with a decidedly contemporary slant (contemporary to the late '60s, that is). Case in point is the new series' now-legendary debut episode, "The LSD Story," in which Joe and Frank come face to face with a wild-eyed druggie (played by Michael Burns) who calls himself Blue Boy. ("I see a train! I see a train!") In subsequent first-season episodes, the detectives foil a neo-Nazi's plans to blow up a school that is poised to allow black students to attend; they pursue a pair of motorcycle bums who have bludgeoned a 62-year-old man to death; they go after a con artist who uses an authentic Congressional Medal of Honor as part of a magazine subscription scam; and they bust a gang of kids calling themselves "the Mod Squad," who use petty theft as a rite of initiation. Nevertheless, for all of its up-to-date trappings, Dragnet was at its best in the season's final episode, "The Bullet" -- a remake of the classic 1954 Dragnet episode "The Big Bible." Though some observers found Dragnet: 1967 to be corny and archaic in comparison to "hipper" cop shows, the revived series scored a big hit with Middle America, and the series was renewed by NBC with the greatest of ease. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this service comedy set during World War II, Capt. Cash (Dick Shawn) and Lt. Christian (James Coburn) are given orders to invade a small but strategically important village in Sicily. To their surprise, none of the natives offer the slightest resistance to the Americans taking over their town, who present only one stipulation -- the main event on the town's annual social calendar, a football match followed by a wine festival, is scheduled to happen in a few days. If the Americans would be kind enough to let them have their party, they'll hand over the town without a fight. Cash and Christian think that this plan sounds reasonable enough, and a few days later they and their men are drunkenly whooping it up with the townspeople when both German and U.S. surveillance planes spot the festivities. Thinking the wild party looks more like some sort of battle, both the Germans and Americans make plans to send in troops. Screenwriter William Peter Blatty would enjoy greater success a few years down the line with The Exorcist, a novel about a different sort of conflict. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide