Arthur Franz Movies

Adapted from Jason Miller's play which won the Pulitzer Prize, That Championship Season is about a group of men who, after 25 years, get together again for a high-school basketball team reunion. After drinking and chumming, the circle of friends soon find long-hidden anger and resentment resurfacing which become muddled with their current mid-life problems. Soon their long-time friendships are collapsing before them. Performers in this drama include Martin Sheen, Paul Sorvino, Robert Mitchum, Bruce Dern and Stacy Keach. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

Apparently weary of playing victim-of-the-week, Elizabeth Montgomery goes the Joan Crawford route playing a fabulously wealthy and stupendously bored matron who is about to be divorced by her wealthy husband. Hubby conveniently expires while dallying with his mistress. The upshot is that Ms. Montgomery is made executive vice president of the boat-building business that she'd helped her husband establish. Moral: Marry well, ladies, and you too can become a CEO. Basically a very slight TV movie, Jennifer: A Woman's Story is bloated way beyond its worth into a Ross Hunter-type sudser; the British TV series upon which it was based, The Foundation, was more austere, and frankly more enjoyable. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Checking out a seaside house that the Baldwin sisters have donated to the War effort, the Waltons find a strange young English girl named Lisa (Vickery Turner) living inside the deserted building. It soon becomes obvious that Lisa is hiding a terrible secret that she refuses to share with anyone--not even Jason (Jon Walmsley), with whom she has bonded after learning that they have a mutual love of music. Meanwhile, in his family's absence, Ben (Eric Scott) hopes to spend some "quality time" with his current girlfriend Darlene (Melody Thomas). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This TV movie delves into the unhappy later years of novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald (here played by Jason Miller). Broke and virtually written-out by the late 1930s, Fitzgerald is compelled to accept screenwriting work in Tinseltown where he is frustrated that his work is extensively rewritten and revised -- if not rejected altogether. On a personal level, Fitzgerald must deal with his wife Zelda (Tuesday Weld), now sequestered in a North Carolina mental institution. Seeking some reason for living, Fitzgerald inaugurates an affair with Hollywood columnist Sheila Graham (Julia Foster). Not all that incisive, and saddled with an unsympathetic drunkard as a central character, F. Scott Fitzgerald is still superior to Hollywood's previous version of the Fitzgerald/Graham romance, Beloved Infidel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A disturbed woman slips over the edge into violent madness in this low-budget horror story. Grace (Brooke Mills) was abandoned by her parents as an infant, and grew up in an orphanage. As an adult, Grace is engaged to Patrick (Paul Prokop), a medical student, and she performs as a high-dive artist in a bizarre Christian revival show staged by Patrick's brother Jesse (Michael Pataki); Grace shares enough of Jesse's religious convictions to insist on abstaining from sex before marriage, though she struggles with her physical desires. The scars from Grace's unpleasant childhood cause her to drift in and out of a world of her own, and she wants to find closure by locating her long-lost father. While looking for her dad, Grace finds her way to a cheap hotel, where a pimp (Marc Lawrence) informs her that he knew her father, and that he died the night before. When Grace sees the dead body of her father (Edmond O'Brien) in the morgue, she snaps and imagines that the corpse has come to life. As Grace drifts deeper into her fantasy world, she goes on a spree of violence and lust fueled by the demons in her mind and the actions of her re-animated dad. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

With Mission:Impossible regular Lynda Day George still on maternity leave, Marlyn Mason makes a guest appearance as IMF agent Sandy in "Crack-Up." For her first assignment with the team, Sandy plays a major role in a scheme to determine the identity of the Syndicate higher-up who hired professional hit man Peter Cordel (Alex Cord). Vital ingredients for the success of this mission include a rigged chess game and a special "black-out" drug. "Crack-Up" was scripted by Arthur Weiss from a story by Weiss, Robert Weiss and Phyllis White. The episode originally aired December 9, 1972, as the last Saturday-night Mission:Impossible offering before the series' move to CBS' Friday-evening lineup. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In a replay of the "Rasputin" story, phony mystic Emile Vautrain holds the Grandduchess Theresa of Trent (Nan Martin) in his power. To prevent Vautrain from taking full control of the tiny duchy, the IMF stages a real-life Grand Guignol presentation, complete with a fully functioning electric chair. Conveniently for the purposes of the plot, Vautrain bears an amazing resemblance to IMF agent Paris--as well he should, since both roles are played by Leonard Nimoy (a fact that was withheld from the original TV Guide listings for this episode). First telecast on March 22, 1970, "The Choice" was scripted by Ken Pettus, from a story by Henry Sharp. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Harley Garnett (Michael Burns), a wealthy but seriously disturbed young man, murders socialite Karen Blakely (Brooke Mills) when she spurns his advances. Garnett commits his crime on government land, bringing the FBI into the investigation. Noticing that the murder follows the same M.O. as one committed several years earler, Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) begins to wonder if Everett Giles, currently serving a life sentence for the previous crime, is guilty after all. Cast as the sullen, embittered Giles is a young Harrison Ford. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

On California's Malibu Beach in the late 1960s, young people are enjoying a life with few responsibilities and plenty of romantic opportunities. Denny McGuire (Michael Sarrazin) is a beach bum without ambition. His roommate Collie Ransom (Tony Franciosa) is a professional tennis player who soaks up the admiration of other beach dwellers. Denny is attracted to Vickie Cartwright (Jacqueline Bisset), a mostly-out-of-work actress, and would like to settle down with her, but she is more enamored with a series of meaningless sexual encounters with men she meets on the beach or during acting jobs. The film turns more serious with the brutal beating death of Vickie. Denny pulls himself together and decides to become a more responsible adult by taking a job at a hardware store. Also working there is Choo-Choo Burns (Bob Denver), an off-the-wall jazz pianist. Choo-Choo joins Denny and Collie as another roommate. Pop music is provided by the San Francisco psychedelic band Moby Grape and the British balladeer Dusty Springfield. The script by Tom Mankiewicz was based on a novel by William Murray. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

A seaport murder alerts Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) to the presence of Communist spies in the area. Sure enough, enemy agent Conrad Letterman (Michael Rennie) is laying the groundwork for a plan to blow up a military supply ship bound for the Orient. In order for the mission to succeed, Letterman must put pressure on a pair of "sleeper" agents, John and Viv Caldwell (Arthur Franz, Phyllis Thaxter), who are no longer devoted to the Communist cause. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the first episode of a two-part story, Lt. Gerard (Barry Morse) briefly suspends his search for fugitive Richard Kimble (David Janssen) to take a long-overdue vacation with his wife Marie (Barbara Rush). But when Girard abandons her to follow up a new lead on Kimble, the frustrated Marie goes off on her own. Boarding a bus, Marie is unaware that among her travelling companions is Kimble himself, posing as "Steve Carver." Things take a potentially deadly turn when the bus crashes, rendering Marie temporarily blind--and there's a flood approaching. (Trivia note: the last time we saw Mrs. Gerard in the episode "Never Wave Goodbye", she was played by Rachel Ames...and her name was Ann). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Edward Dmytryk brings Harold Robbins' trashy, dirt-dishing Hollywood best-seller to the screen with George Peppard starring as Jonas Cord, a rancidly-sketched portrait of Howard Hughes. In 1925, when his father dies of a stroke, Jonas inherits the Cord Chemical factory, a manufacturer of dynamite and other explosives. Jonas proceeds with several cut-throat transactions, making a settlement with his sexy stepmother Rina (Carroll Baker) and liquidating the stock owned by cowhand Nevada Smith (Alan Ladd, in his final American film role). With the help of Mac McAllister (Lew Ayres), his father's attorney, Jonas builds his father's company into a multi-million dollar business, expanding into plastics and aeronautics. Meanwhile, Rina has become a top fashion model and movie star and Nevada Smith has parlayed his laconic demeanor into a career as a popular silent film cowboy idol. Jonas then marries, then ignores, the well-meaning Monica Winthrop (Elizabeth Ashley), and ruins her father's company in the process. Then, with the advent of sound films, Jonas helps Nevada Smith through the sound film crisis by offering financial backing for a film to star both Nevada and his ex-mother-in-law Rina. Jonas decides to direct the film himself, hoping to seduce Rina. But Jonas's insensitive and egomaniacal behavior causes Monica to leave him. Jonas invests all his time in film production but the alcoholic Rina dies in a car accident. The owners of the film studio -- Bernard B. Norman (Martin Balsam) and Dan Pierce (Robert Cummings) -- want to sell the studio to Jonas but hide the fact that Rina, the studio's biggest star, has died. Jonas buys the studio and when he finds his biggest asset is gone, he goes on a drunken binge. But Jonas quickly meets call girl Jennie Denton (Martha Hyer), who he decides to turn into a superstar modeled upon Rina. Despite having made her a star, Jonas's vile treatment of Jennie repulses both her and his old friend Nevada Smith, and Smith decides it's time to beat some sense into Jonas's head. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

While sharing lunch with Adam and Joe Cartwright, Sheriff Coffee notices a holdup gang in the Virginia City express office. Attempting to capture the outlaws, Coffee is trampled by a horse stampede instigated by the crooks. As Coffee recovers from his injuries, Asa Moran (Arthur Franz is named acting sheriff. Proving to be the living embodiment of the motto "Absolute power corrupts absolutely", the dictatorial Moran is also secretly in league with the outlaws-and when Adam Cartwright is on the verge of exposing Moran, he finds himself next in line on Moran's hit list. Radio veteran Les Tremayne is seen as Judge Jackson, while the role of Lou Palmer is filled by Robert Mitchum's brother John Mitchum. Coscripted by John A. Johns and Dick Nelson, "The Lawmaker" was first broadcast on March 11, 1962. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide