Theodore J. Flicker Movies
Director Theodore J. Flicker is best known for his sophomore feature The President's Analyst (1967), a razor-sharp political satire. He made his directorial debut in 1964 with Troublemaker, an independently-produced, largely improvisational comedy based on the humor of the Greenwich Village-based improv troupe, "The Premise." In between the two, he penned the screenplay for the Elvis Presley vehicle Spinout (1966). In 1970, Flicker won considerable critical acclaim for another satire, Three in the Cellar. He has since gone on to make television movies and the occasional feature. He appeared as an actor in his directorial debut and in the ill-starred Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981) in which he played Buffalo Bill Cody. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Set during Prohibition in a tiny Southern town filled with colorful characters, this all-star comedy follows the exploits of a hard-working sheriff who tries his darnedest to keep things peaceful and above board. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
An orphan grows up to become an Old West legend as the story of the Lone Ranger comes to the big screen in this western saga featuring Christopher Lloyd and Jason Robards. Orphaned as a young boy, John Reid struck up a lifelong friendship with a loyal Indian boy named Tonto. Years later, Reid has become a lawyer and returned to the west in order to ensure that vicious murderers such as the Cavendish gang are brought to justice. Having previously murdered Reid's parents, the Cavendish gang proves that they still rule this lawless land when they launch an ambush that leaves the lawyer serious wounded and his Texas Ranger brother dead. Nursed back to health by his old friend Tonto, Reid dons a mask and sets out to pursue justice anonymously atop his faithful horse Silver. His timing couldn't be better, either, because the Cavendish gang is about to carry out their most ambitious misdeed to date by kidnapping President Ulysses S. Grant (Robards). Upon learning that the president has been abducted by the most violent gang in the Wild West, the Lone Ranger sets out to settle an old score while rescuing the man who will steer the fate of a nation. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Klinton Spilsbury, Michael Horse, (more)
- 1980
Where the Ladies Go is a TV movie set in a white-bread Oklahoma town, where most of the housewives suffer from terminal boredom. Good ol' boy Earl Holliman comes to the rescue by establishing the El Fidel, a bar which is open from 9 AM to 3 PM, or "ladies' hours." Karen Black, Candy Clark and Lisa Hartman are among the ladies who frequent the El Fidel, which, considering what goes on during business hours, could well have been renamed the "El Infidel." While the Southern accents come and go depending upon the skills of the individual actresses, the film maintains a fairly even entertainment keel. Where the Ladies Go was written by Carol Sobieski, who scripted many a "female bonding" TV flick of the 1980s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
Adapted from a children's story by Mordecai Richler, Theodore J. Flicker's comic fantasy stars Stephen Rosenberg as Jacob Two-Two, so nicknamed because he must repeat everything he says in order to get adults to hear him. Escaping into a fantasy world, he dreams that he is the captive of the child-hating Hooded Fang (Alex Karras). ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stephen Rosenberg, Alex Karras, (more)
- 1978
If it hadn't been a TV movie, Last of the Good Guys might have made a good episode of Car 54 Where Are You? The main good guy is rookie cop Dennis Dugan, who is assigned to take over for an ailing veteran police officer. When the replaced officer dies, Dugan realizes that the man's widow will never receive his maximum pension. Thus, Dugan and three fellow cops contrive to convince "by the book" desk sergeant Robert Culp that the dead man is still alive. Like many films of its era, Last of the Good Guys strives for political correctness by drawing the four compassionate cops from diverse ethnic and sociological backgrounds: One black (Ji-Tu Cumbaka), one Indian (Hampton Fancher), one Asian (Richard Narita), and one ex-hippie (Dennis Dugan, of course). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Culp, Dennis Dugan, (more)
- 1977
Actor James Stacy, who in real life lost and arm and a leg in a motorcycle accident, won an Emmy award for his performance as double-amputee Kenny Briggs in this made-for-TV movie. Disabled in Vietnam, Kenny is not only embittered by his plight, but also holds his best friend and fellow soldier Frank Logan (Lee Majors) responsible for the tragedy. In concert with Kenny's girlfriend, Nikki (Barbara Hershey), Logan tries to snap Kenny out of his self-pitying doldrums -- while Kenny himself struggles with physical rehabilitation, in hopes of returning to his favorite sport of skiing. Written and directed by Theodore J. Flicker (The President's Analyst), Just a Little Inconvenience debuted October 2, 1977, on NBC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
There's little chance that the made-for-TV Guess Who's Sleeping in My Bed? will ever be confused with either Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? (67) or Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (63). The plot: Dean Jones divorces Barbara Eden, but finds that he can't live in the style to which he's accustomed without his ex-wife's income. Circumventing Eden, Jones ingratiates himself with his children and convinces them to allow him to move back in. Eden, meanwhile, has a new "significant other" in the form of Kenneth Mars, but since Mars has never gotten the girl in any previous film, it's no trick to guess the outcome of this story. Guess Who's Sleeping in My Bed? is elevated by the direction of the always inventive Theodore J. Flicker, who once upon a time gave us that imperishable movie satire The President's Analyst (68). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
Alan Alda is divorced from Barbara Feldon. Doug McClure is divorced from Connie Stevens. While spending the weekend with their respective children, Alda and McClure meet and become fast friends. Then, surreptitiously, Alda begins squiring Stevens while McClure does the same with Feldon. More believable and three-dimensional than most quickie TV-movies of its ilk, Playmates benefits from the enthusiastic performances of its stars and the perceptive script by Richard Baer. The film originally aired October 3, 1972. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
The Fergusons are a family of nomadic con artists, led by the father-son team of Angus (George Voskovec) and Albert (Michael Ansara), who have managed to bilk an entire San Francisco neighborhood in their latest scam. The newest addition to the clan is greedy son-in-law Josh Evans (Christopher Jones), who adds murder to their litany of crimes. With Stone (Karl Malden) and Keller (Michael Douglas) breathing down their necks, the Fergusons' family solidarity is rapidly disintegrating--and in the process, the lives of several innocent bystanders are placed in jeopardy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
- PG
In this comedy a golden-boy tennis player in search of Life's meaning is corrupted by Hollywood, too much praise, and the temptation to sell out. His life therefore, becomes a metaphor for the morals of Hollywood society. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1970
A light, almost beach-party atmosphere pervades this comedy, based on The Late Boy Wonder, a novel by Angus Hall. Larry Hagman plays a college president with political aspirations who flunks out a college student (Wes Stern) and then has the temerity to save the boy from committing suicide. In revenge, the boy decides to bed the three women most important to the nefarious college head, including his wife (Joan Collins). Though he is a real bumbler, somehow he succeeds in wooing the man's wife, daughter, and secretary. This is one place where two of the more successful stars of America's night-time soap operas from the 1980s (Dallas and Dynasty) can be seen working together. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Collins, Larry Hagman, (more)
The President's Analyst is James Coburn, whose position makes him privy to any number of delicate government secrets. Thus Coburn becomes a most desirable prize for several secret-agent organizations, including the CEA and the FBR (we know who these folks are really supposed to be, even though the phony names were crudely dubbed onto the soundtrack after the film was completed). When Coburn becomes expendable, he finds a pair of strong allies in the form of likeable political assassin Godfrey Cambridge and gay Soviet spy Severn Darden. The main plot involves an insidious, unnamed concern that wishes to harness Coburn's talents in order to brainwash the president -- and everyone else in America -- into submission. The President's Analyst is a terrific, on-target satire of virtually every sacred cow of the late 1960s; the satire was so potent, in fact, that when the NBC network broadcast the film in the early 1970s, it was compelled to remove the picture's punchline. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Coburn, Godfrey Cambridge, (more)
Elvis Presley plays rock singer and racecar driver Mike McCoy in the typical musical romp Spinout, directed by Norman Taurog. His band includes Curly Jack Mullaney, Larry Jimmy Hawkins and the female tomboy drummer Les Deborah Walley. Mike is coveted by a bevy of beauties that include the intellectual journalist Diana St. Clair Diane McBain, Susan Dodie Marshall and the spoiled rich girl Cynthia Foxhugh Shelley Fabares. Cynthia's millionaire father Howard Carl Betz wants Mike to race his newly built auto. All the girls want Mike, but he manages to marry them off to different paramours and in the end falls for his replacement drummer Susan. The 12-song album of the same title contained a musical curiosity, Bob Dylan's Tomorrow Is A Long Time. It was the only Dylan song ever recorded by Presley -- and the longest, at over five minutes in length. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elvis Presley, Shelley Fabares, (more)
- 1965
Daphne and Skippy (Jean Carson and Joyce Jameson), those two "fun girls" from Mount Pilot, are back for more mischief in Mayberry. The girls deliberately get arrested for speeding so that they can spend all their time with those handsome hunks Andy and Barney. Though the boys manfully resist the girls' advances, their own sweethearts Helen and Thelma Lou choose to believe the evidence of their own eyes. First telecast on April 5, 1965, "The Arrest of the Fun Girls" was written by Richard M. Powell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1965
Comedian Ken Murray plays it straight as THRUSH agent Anton Korbel, who stashes the evil organization's $60 million treasury in the vault of his own casino. To break into the vault and destroy the THRUSH millions, UNCLE agents Solo and Illya enlist the aide of duplicitous burglar-alarm expert Marcel Rudolph (Dan O'Herlihy) and cliché-spouting Minneapolis girl Susan Callaway (Marlyn Mason). First telecast on January 18, 1965, "The Fiddlesticks Affair" was scripted by Peter A. Fields, from a story by Aben Kandel. The background music was by Lalo Schifrin, who later devoted his talents to another classic espionage series, Mission: Impossible. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1965
Hoping to coerce Tony (Larry Hagman) into marrying her, Jeannie pretends to accept Roger's marriage proposal. This makes it imperative for Jeannie to hide her true identity from Roger(Bill Daily). For this purpose, she "creates" a set of wealthy parents, who live in the house across the street from Tony--which she also conjures up out of thin air, leading to no end of complications for her long-suffering Master. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1965
Sensing that Andy and Helen feel guilty about leaving her home alone at night, Aunt Bee pretends to have a new boy friend. When pressed for details, Bee intimates that her sweetie is local butter-and-egg man Orville Hendricks (Woodrow Chambliss). This little deception results in big trouble when Barney discovers that Orville is already married-or, as Barney so delicately puts it, he's a "chicken-coop Casanova!" Written by Ben Joelson and Art Baer, "Aunt Bee's Invisible Beau" originally aired on March 29, 1965. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1965
While working on a costume for Ritchie's school play, Laura (Mary Tyler Moore) sticks her hands in a pot of permanent black dye. It gets worse: Rob (Dick Van Dyke) calls to tell Laura that they are expected to appear at a banquet to accept an award for Alan Brady. But wait, it gets even worse than that: Rob also sticks his hands into the dye, and he is just as unsuccessful in cleaning it off as Laura. Without tipping off the punch line for this episode, suffice to say that the banquet hosts an interracial audience. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Deacon, Joel Fluellen, (more)
- 1965
During a magazine interview, Rob (Dick Van Dyke) recalls his first job interview with Alan Brady (Carl Reiner) -- which, quite frankly, he can barely remember at all. It seems that, just before the all-important interview, Rob, then a radio DJ, had participated in a stunt wherein he was obliged to broadcast nonstop for 100 hours. Naturally, this required him to go without sleep -- and by the time he presented himself to Alan Brady, Rob was, to put it mildly, a gibbering shell of his former self! This episode was originally slated to air on April 7, 1965. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carl Reiner, Fred Clark, (more)
- 1965
Laughing at Barney's trepidations, Andy throws away a chain letter, which offers the usual dire predictions to anyone who ignores its message. Before long, all sorts of mishaps befall Barney, leading him to conclude that he is too "jinxed" to pass the upcoming police officer's pistol qualification. Andy enlists the (unwitting) aid of Goober to put the superstitious Barney at ease. First shown on January 25, 1965, "The Lucky Letter" was written by Richard M. Powell and directed by future cult-film auteur Theodore J. Flicker. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1964
A midwestern hayseed takes on the Big Apple in this comedy. He goes because he is tired of running a chicken farm and thinks it might be more fun to own a coffee house. But before he can, he must deal with a myriad of crooked city bureaucrats who won't issue the necessary license until he pays them off. The comedy and trouble begin because, he refuses to do it. Still, thanks to his more worldly friend, an attorney who secretly pays the crooks, the hayseed gets his coffeehouse. He is so vocal about his moral outrage, that the officials involved decide they must abduct him and hide him away in a looney bin to keep him quiet. Unfortunately for them, it takes more than an asylum to stop the stubborn young man from destroying their careers. The humor in the film is largely improvisational and this is no surprise as it is based on the comedy of "The Premise" a Greenwich Village-based comedy troupe. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Aldredge, Joan Darling, (more)
