Richard Carlyle Movies

This documentary presents biblical and non-biblical information about the birth of Christianity, and the mystery behind Jesus Christ. The four different versions of the gospels are recreated in dramatizations of Jesus' birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension. The video also investigates the shroud of Turin, which is said to be the burial cloth of Jesus, found after His resurrection. ~ Cecilia Cygnar, All Movie Guide

In her first TV-series appearance, stage and screen star Ruth Gordon is cast as spiritualist Eudora Temple, who has had visions of women being strangled. Sure enough, a killing spree follows Eudora's grim prognostications, whereupon Lt. Kojak (Telly Savalas) contacts the woman to ask what else she's seen. But is Eudora truly a fortune-teller, or does she have "inside information" about the murders? Series star Telly Savalas directed this final episode of Kojak's second season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Screenwriter William Goldman has claimed that Paul Newman agreed to do Harper, the film that established the grateful writer's career, only because he was working unhappily on Lady L. (1965) in Europe, and was looking for something as unlike that film as possible. He stars as Lew Harper, a hip L.A. private dick whose business has gotten so bad that he's re-using his coffee grounds. At the suggestion of his friend, attorney Albert Graves (Arthur Hill), the detective takes on the investigation of the disappearance of the wealthy husband of waspish cripple Elaine Sampson (Lauren Bacall). After finding a photograph of former actress Fay Estabrook (Shelley Winters), Harper locates the alcoholic actress in a bar, plies her with booze, and takes her home to search her apartment while she's unconscious. There he takes a call which leads him to another bar to meet Betty Fraley (Julie Harris), a singer with a heroin problem. To curtail his inquisitive behavior, some large and unpleasant gentleman beat him up outside the saloon. Hoping for sympathy from his soon to be ex-wife (Janet Leigh), who has just filed divorce papers, the weary detective is much more successful than he has any right to expect. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide

Retired professional assassin Frank Burns (Richard Conte) has told his new wife, Loretta (Sara Shane), that he used to be an engineer. Unfortunately, a man named Cullen (Stacy Harris) knows the truth about Burns, and he threatens to tell all unless he is paid off. Not one to be threatened, Frank briefly comes out of retirement to deal with Cullen -- which proves to be, shall we say, a fatal error. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the first episode of a two-part story, Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) is convinced that Al Capone (Neville Brand) is receiving prefential treatment while serving a sentence for tax evasion at the Federal prison in Atlanta. Pulling a few strings, Ness arranges for Big Al to be transferred to a newer, tougher penal institution called Alcatraz. While several of Capone's flunkeys take financial advantage of his absence, there are others who find it advantageous to cook up a scheme to spring "Scarface" from the prison train that is transporting him to "The Rock." The opening scenes in which Capone is seen being pampered by corrupt penitentiary officials resulted in a protest from the Bureau of Prisons, who demanded that the episode be preceded with a disclaimer insisting that it was complete work of fiction. Parts One and Two of "The Big Train" were lated combined into a feature film and released theatrically as Alcatraz Express. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Clu Gulager delivers a deliciously over-the-top performance as demented gangster Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll, who spends most of the episode settling scores with mob boss Dutch Schultz (Lawrence Dobkin), in his first series appearance. Kidnapping Schultz' lieutenant Lefty Gallagher (Richard Carlyle), Coll demands a huge ransom, whereupon Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) is alerted to the dropoff point. Unfortunately, everyone loses in this little drama: Lefty is killed in cold blood, Schultz double-crosses Coll, and Ness inadvertently allows "Mad Dog" to slip through his fingers. More determined than ever to get even with Schultz, Coll ends up kidnapping a race horse upon which "The Dutchman" has wagered heavily in the upcoming Kentucky Derby (Incidentally, the "Southern Mansion" seen in the climactic sequence is actually the façade of Gone With the Wind's Tara, which was still standing intact on Desilu's Culver City backlot). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the psychological WW2 drama Torpedo Run, Glenn Ford plays submarine commander Barney Doyle, who is obsessed with sinking a particular Japanese aircraft carrier. Several months earlier, the carrier had escaped destruction by shielding itself with a POW transport ship, which was sunk by Doyle's torpedoes. The sunken transport had been carrying Doyle's wife and daughter, captured in the Philippines. This tragically unavoidable incident has transformed Doyle into a modern Ahab, mercilessly driving the men under him towards the single goal of blowing the hated enemy aircraft carrier out of the seas. Finally, Doyle achieves his goal, and all is forgiven between himself and his crew, especially his second-in-command Archer Sloan ($Ernest Borgnine). Unfortunately, Doyle's sub was irreparably damaged in the attack, making it necessary for him to attempt an escape. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Set during WW II, Target Unknown follows the exploits of a group of American flyers who crash behind enemy lines. Captured by the Germans, the flyers are interrogated separately. The Nazi higher-ups are eventually convinced that they've gleaned enough information to know where and when the next Allied bombing will occur, but the Americans prove to be a step ahead of them. Mark Stevens stars as Air Force captain Jerome Stevens, while Robert Douglas is Col. Von Brock, Steven's German opposite number. The feminine angle is handled by Suzanne Dalbert and Malu Gatica, cast respectively as a loyal Frenchwoman and Nazi sympathizer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide