Peter Forster Movies

After witnessing a murder committed by notorious mob hitman Del Kane (Madison Arnold), Angel (Stuart Margolin) is placed in protective custody by the authorities. Much to the dismay and disgust of Jim Rockford (James Garner), Angel is set up in a luxurious hotel with unlimited room service. And much to the dismay and disgust of the cops, Angel's testimony is discredited and Kane goes free! Now it's up to Jim to save Angel from being bumped off himself. . .and he ever gets out of this mess alive, Angel hopes to write a book about his near-death experience. Future Simon & Simon star Gerald McRaney appears as a harried DA in this episode, which represents perhaps the only instance in TV history wherein a character is tied to a freeway trestle. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The first independent production of former studio mogul Jack Warner, 1776 was adapted from the hit 1969 Broadway musical by Peter Stone and Sherman Edwards. William Daniels, Ken Howard, and Howard Da Silva are among the many actors who recreate their Broadway roles. The story is set during the first Continental Congress, when the Declaration of Independence was drafted by such founding fathers as John Adams (Daniels) and Benjamin Franklin (Da Silva). The script attempts to "humanize" these remote historical figures by contemporizing them -- particularly the character of Ben Franklin. Blythe Danner's character of Martha Jefferson is expanded for the film version to allow for an elaborate outdoor production number. After 1776, Warner made only one more film, the 1972 "grunge Western" Dirty Little Billy. On an added note: the picture was originally rated G with its theatrical running time of 141 minutes. It was later expanded to 166 minutes; the added scenes caused the MPAA to re-rate it PG (for language) in 1992. Both versions are available on video. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Deliberately casting his established screen image to the four winds, Cary Grant plays Walter Eckland, an unkempt, uncouth and unshaven beach bum in Father Goose. During World War II, Walter keeps busy relaying radio reports of Japanese air activity. But he's no hero, and in fact volunteered for this mission only because he's been promised a shipment of liquor by Australian naval officer Frank Houghton (Trevor Howard). Making matters worse for the misanthropic Eckland is the arrival of French schoolmistress Catherine Freneau (Leslie Caron) and her seven little-girl charges, whose plane has crashed nearby. The animosity between Walter and Catherine erupts into a slapping contest, with Walter dishing it out as well as taking it. Only when Catherine is bitten by a deadly snake does Walter express his affections for her. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In 1963, this colossal and opulent $60 million spectacular was epic in every sense of the word -- an epic investment, an epic in the annals of Hollywood gossip, and, ultimately, an epic flop that nearly dragged 20th Century Fox down the Nile along with Cleopatra's barge. Handsomely mounted by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who replaced Rouben Mamoulian as director after six days of shooting), the drama follows the eighteen tumultuous years that led to the founding of the Roman Empire. Cleopatra (Elizabeth Taylor) meets up with Julius Caesar (Rex Harrison) and plans to lure Caesar to her boudoir in order to forge an alliance with Rome so that she may hold on to her Egyptian empire. When Caesar is stabbed to death in the Roman Senate, Cleopatra is left without an ally, and Egypt is up for grabs. When Roman general Mark Antony (Richard Burton) comes along, she seduces him in order to make him over into her new protector. But, under the charms of Cleopatra, Mark Antony is reduced from a an awesome and dominating general to a sniveling, drunken wimp. At the Battle of Actium, Mark Antony is defeated and Cleopatra withdraws her troops, dooming Mark Antony and his army. With Egypt in peril, Antony and Cleopatra, the doomed lovers, meet each other for the last time, as the enemy forces close in. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

This routine crime drama about a mysterious, abandoned yacht is directed by Robert Gottschalk who also wrote the original story. The action begins when three impoverished fishermen working along the California coast come across a yacht with no crew. The only thing they do find on the boat is a corpse, someone who had died of the mumps. The fishermen contact the right authorities and actually end up using the yacht themselves as a charter vessel. The American Coast Guard figures that if they let the men put the yacht to their own use, the real owners will show up sooner or later. They were right. The owners turn out to be some shady characters who carry guns, deal in drugs, and make the fishermen an offer they had better not refuse. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi