Jamie Farr Movies

Crabby Clarence normally is not a generous person, but the apple lady and the ghost of George Washington convince him otherwise in this episode of Reading Rainbow: The Sign Painter's Dream. His story was written by Roger Roth and is read by Jamie Farr. LeVar Burton visits a sign company to investigate sign making from conception to installation, and also takes a look at the way advertisements are produced. In another segment, viewers will see a comparison of television commercials past and present. Books reviewed by the youngsters include I Read Signs, The Letter Jesters, and Sign Maker's Assistant. ~ Alice Day, All Movie Guide

In this detective drama, a private gumshoe takes so many little cases that he can barely afford to support his wife and kids. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This in-name-only sequel to the mediocre H.P. Lovecraft adaptation The Curse is a slight improvement on its predecessor, eschewing any trace of Lovecraft in favor of a standard nuclear-mutant-beast plot but imbuing this theme with a menagerie of brain-damaged setpieces. When the protagonist and his girlfriend stumble across an abandoned atomic test site, he's bitten on the arm by an irradiated snake-monster; in a creative but excessively grotesque twist, only the venom-infected arm begins to undergo the inevitable transformation into a fanged beast (sort of a reptilian variant on Bruce Campbell's rebellious demonic hand in Evil Dead 2), which leads to some unpleasant quirks in the young couple's relationship. Before long, the poor guy becomes a veritable snake-factory, churning out baby serpents at an incredible clip. The performances are quite good and the makeup effects (by Screaming Mad George) deserve credit for their disgusting audacity. Very weird but more fun than its predecessor, this is probably the film that Sssss! wished it could have been. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

In this youthful film, to juvenile delinquents must spend a year in a military academy. They immediately begin driving their superior officers crazy. The film is also titled Combat Academy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Margaret (Loretta Swit) has a new phonograph but no records. Charles (David Ogden Stiers) has a huge record collection, but a lousy phonograph. Obviously, one of these people is going to try to curry favor with the other--and B.J., caught in the middle of the intrigue, tries to play both ends down the middle. Meanwhile, Col. Potter (Harry Morgan) must confront the possibility that his old WW1 buddy, Col. Woody Cooke (John McLiam), is a dangerously incompetent military leader. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Mary Beth Allen (Barbara Eden), the widow of a member of the long-defunct Eagle Rock Rebels motorcycle gang, supports herself by running a small campground. Unfortunately, the future of this enterprise is endangered by the arrival of several young punks who have been scaring off the customers and leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. Riding to the rescue are Mary Beth's old pals, the ex-members of the Rebels, who have gathered at the camp for their 25-year reunion. Along the way, Mary Beth falls in love with the Rebels' now middle-aged leader, Sonny (Don Murray). The fun to be had in this made-for-TV movie is seeing such sitcom stalwarts as M*A*S*H's Jamie Farr and Soap's Robert Mandan in black leather jackets astride their souped-up Harleys. Return of the Rebels made its CBS network bow on October 17, 1981. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After a late start thanks to a Hollywood writer's strike, M*A*S*H launched its ninth season on November 17, 1980. With the past defections of Wayne Rogers, Maclean Stevenson, Larry Linville and Gary Burghoff, Alan Alda (as Hawkeye), Loretta Swit (as Margaret Houlihan), Jamie Farr (as Klinger) and William Christopher (as Father Mulcahy) were the sole survivors from the series' first season cast lineup--and of those four, only two (Alda and Swit) had been "regulars" from the beginning. The series' occasional digressions from its established format was represented by one memorable "gimmick" episodes during season nine. In " War for All Seasons," the men and women of the 4077th celebrated the New Year by looking back on the events of 1951. Going a step farther than the familiar "letter home" episodes of previous seasons, in which the events of a single week were highlight in flashback fashion, "A War for All Seasons" boldly telescoped an entire year into a mere 22 minutes' screen time--and succeeded brilliantly. Still dominating the ratings on CBS' Monday-evening lineup, M*A*S*H sustained its ranking from the previous season as America's fourth most-watched network program. And though no additional Emmy awards came the its way during season nine, the series garnered eight Emmy nominations. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Producer Aaron Spelling's made-for-TV Murder Can Hurt You is an unsubtle take-off of Neil Simon's theatrical feature Murder By Death. A crime is committed by the unknown, all-seeing Master Criminal. To solve the case, several top detectives are summoned, each one a takeoff of a popular TV gumshoe. Victor Buono plays Ironbottom, Jamie Farr and John Byner are Studsky and Hatch, Tony Danza is Pony Lambretta, Gavin McLeod impersonates Nojak, Connie Stevens goes by the name of Salty Sanderson, Burt Young portrays Palumbo....you get the idea. Just so we don't miss the joke, each character is introduced with the theme song of his or her "real" TV counterpart. The sporadically chucklesome Murder Can Hurt You was first telecast May 21, 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season eight of M*A*S*H was marked by the last of the series' major regular-cast defections. As the quietly resourceful and eerily clairvoyant company clerk, Cpl. Walter "Radar" O'Reilly, Gary Burghoff had been the only actor from the 1970 movie version of M*A*S*H* to carry over his role into the TV-series version in 1972. Now a full-fledged star with an Emmy award under his belt, Burghoff felt the time had come to move on. Radar O'Reilly made a ceremonious and emotionally charged exit from the series in the two-part episode "Good-Bye Radar." Breaking from the tradition established by such previous series defectees as Wayne Rogers, Maclean Stevenson and Larry Linville, Radar said his goodbyes only four weeks into the 1978-79 season, rather than waiting until the final episode of season eight. It was decided not to bring in a new actor to replace Radar. Instead, Cpl. Max Klinger (Jamie Farr), who previously spent the bulk of his time dressed in women's clothing in hopes of getting out of the Army on a Section 8, was promoted to company clerk. After a nervous "shakedown" period, Klinger adapted quite well to his new responsibilities, so much so that he cut back on his efforts to escape military service--and, simultaneously, was seen more often in the "proper" male garb. Having previously digressed from its established format, M*A*S*H expanded its efforts at experimentation during season eight with a brace of "gimmick" episodes. In "Life Time," the surgeons raced against the clock to save the life of a seriously wounded GI--and, to heighten the tension, that selfsame clock was seen ticking away throughout the episode, superimposed at the lower corner of the TV screen. And in "Dreams," the men and women of the 4077th were plagued by bizarre, surrealist nightmares reminiscent of the cinematic delusions of Ingmar Bergman and Luis Bunuel. The series' previous season move from a Tuesday-night timeslot to a Monday-evening berth had had a most salutary effect on M*A*S*H's ratings. Ranked as the seventh most popular series during its seventh season, the program climbed to fourth place for season eight. Additionally, M*A*S*H earned its eighth and ninth Emmy awards during this season, with the gold statuettes going to series regulars Harry Morgan and Loretta Swit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season six of M*A*S*H was noteworthy for yet another defection from its regular-cast ranks. Long dissatisfied with the artistic limitations of the role of obnoxious Major Frank Burns, actor Larry Linville followed the lead of his former M*A*S*H colleagues Wayne Rogers and Maclean Stevenson by leaving the series to pursue new projects. It was explained in the sixth season opener that Frank Burns had gone AWOL in reaction to marriage of his longtime paramour Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan (Loretta Swit) to the dashing (but seldom-seen) Lt. Col. Donald Penobscott, and had been transferred to a stateside hospital. The series' producers were anxious to replace Frank Burns with a character who would remain an antagonist to the nominal "heroes," irreverent Army surgeons Hawkeye (Alan Alda) and B.J. (Mike Farrell). At the same time, it was acknowledged that the series' writers had painted themselves into a creative corner by depicting Burns as stupid and incompetent. His replacement would have to be an eminently qualified and undeniably brilliant surgeon, while at the same time boasting a prickly personality that would drive Hawk and BJ up a wall--and vice versa. Thus was born the character of Major Charles Emerson Winchester II (played by David Ogden Stiers), an aristocratic Boston Brahmin of vast knowledge and expertise, whose surgical skill approached genius, and whose arrogance and disdain for his colleagues would provide an amusing contrast to the casual, carefree slovenliness of the 4077th. Also avoiding the series' previous scripting boondoggle of making Frank Burns thoroughly unlovable, it was established early on that Charles Winchester had his compassionate, humane and even warm moments, despite his haughty, overbearing demeanor. Still in its winning Tuesday-night timeslot, M*A*S*H continued to rank highly in the ratings, though it would slip from fourth to eighth place during its sixth season. Also, this would be the first year since 1973 that M*A*S*H would not win at least one Emmy award, though it was honored with eight nominations. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Everybody knew that Maclean Stevenson would not return to M*A*S*H when the series inaugurated its fourth season in the fall of 1975; after all, Stevenson's character, Col. Henry Blake, had been abruptly killed off at the end of season three, so any sort of return was out of the question. It did, however, come as something of a surprise to the series' loyal viewers that another of the leading characters, irreverent surgeon Trapper John, was also missing from the fourth season roster. The reason? Actor Wayne Rogers, who'd played Trapper since the series' debut in 1972, had ankled the project in the middle of a contract dispute; he was tired of playing second fiddle to costar Alan Alda (aka Hawkeye Pierce), and wanted to spread his wings with a series of his own. Thus, season four opened with the first of M*A*S*H's one-hour "special" episodes, the better to establish the character of Trapper John's assistant, Capt. B.J. Hunnicut (Mike Farrell. More clean-cut and level-headed that the Rabelaisian Trapper, B.J. nonetheless proved to be every bit as capricious and irreverent as his predecessor, especially when cooking up schemes to embarrass the gimlet-eyed, humorless Frank Burns (Larry Linville and the chronically thin-skinned Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan (Loretta Swit) As for Col. Blake's replacement, the series' producers decided not to emulate the youngish, laid-back Maclean Stevenson, and instead went with an older, more "Regular Army" character. Harry Morgan, who'd appeared as a guest star during M*A*S*H's third season, was added to the cast as crusty but lovable Colonel Henry Potter, an old Cavalry man who managed to maintain the dignity of the Service and the decorum of the O.R. without ever sacrificing his humanity or sense of humor. Potter also proved to be a "good fit" insofar as company clerk Radar O'Reilly was concerned. Without ever consciously or blatantly doing so, Potter and Radar fell into a warm father-son relationship, which would make Radar's inevitable exit from the series five seasons later all the more poignant. Another development within the M*A*S*H family was the ascention of actor Jamie Farr to full "series regular" status. Introduced as an intended one-shot during season one, Farr's character, cross-dressing Corporal Max Klinger (who of course donned women's clothing in hopes of being discharged from the Army on a Section 8) proved popular enough to warrant additional "guest" appearances, and by the time the 1974-75 season had rolled around, Farr was being billed at the beginning of each episode, rather than merely among the "featured" cast in the closing credits. The "look" of M*A*S*H continued to deepen and mellow during season four, with the "zany" and "serious" aspects achieving a more even balance, thereby lessening the need for that intrusive recorded laughtrack that CBS insisted upon (though the track would not disappear altogether for several seasons to come). This was also the year that the series briefly digressed from its standard format to offer a half-hour "documentary" episode, in which the staff of the 4077th were interviewed by a TV war correspondent (Clete Roberts). Shot in black-and-white, this episode closed out the series' fourth season in the spring of 1976. By that time, M*A*S*H had won the fifth of its Emmy awards, the prize going to Stanford Tischler and Fred W. Berger, who had written the 60-minute opener "Welcome to Korea". Unfortunately, though the series was still popular, it has slipped from fifth to 14th place in the overall ratings, thanks to CBS' misguided decision to move the series from Tuesday to Friday evenings opposite the NBC ratings-grabber Chico and the Man. At least CBS acknowledged its error early on; in December of 1975, M*A*S*H was shifted back to Tuesdays, where it would remain a fixture for the next two years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Arnold of Arnold, like the Harry of The Trouble With Harry, is stone cold dead from the outset of this film. That doesn't stop Arnold's mistress Stella Stevens from marrying the corpse so as to come into his millions. The trick is to hide the fact that Arnold is indeed stiff as a mackerel. To accomplish this, a series of murders is a necessity. Special guest victims include Stevens' wastrel brother Roddy McDowall, her dotty sister Elsa Lanchester, handyman Jamie Farr, as well as lawyers Farley Granger and Patric Knowles. Also on hand are such dependables as Victor Buono, Shani Wallis, John McGiver and Bernard Fox. The script is by TV-sitcom stalwarts Jameson Brewer and John Fenton Murray. As one-joke films go, Arnold is as good as any. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide