Paul Willson Movies

Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) and Lilith (Bebe Neuwirth) are convinced that they aren't providing their infant son Frederick with proper care. After all, how could it be otherwise, since the boy has been diagnosed with only average intelligence? Meanwhile, Carla (Rhea Perlman) tries to arrange a clandestine conjugal visit between Rebecca (Kirstie Alley) and her imprisoned boyfriend Robin Colcord (Roger Rees). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Woody (Woody Harrelson) eagerly looks forward to the return from Europe of his sweetheart Kelly (Jackie Swanson). That eagerness evaporates when Kelly introduces Woody to her new friend, an amorous French photographer named Henri (Anthony Cistaro). Meanwhile, Cliff (John Ratzenberger) draws up plans to have his head cryogenically frozen after his demise. This episode won an Emmy award for director James Burrows. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cliff (John Ratzenberger) is none too thrilled when his mother (Frances Sternhagen) pays an extended visit. Making matters worse, Mom takes a shine to Woody (Woody Harrelson), virtually adopting the affable bartender as "the son I never had." Back at Cheers, the gang tangles with some construction workers, and Norm (George Wendt) gets stuck in a barred window. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A transit engineer and his family must face the gargantuan task of moving from New Jersey to Boise, Idaho in this lively comedy starring Richard Pryor. It all begins after he gets a really great job out West. Unfortunately, his family is less than thrilled with the prospect. The furniture movers, who prove to be crooks, and their crazy neighbors conspire to make matters all the worse. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Annie Tortelli (Mandy Ingber) fills in at the bar for her mother-in-law Carla (Rhea Perlman), who is busy giving birth to twins. Complications ensue when the married Annie falls hard for Sam (Ted Danson). Meanwhile, Rebecca (Kirstie Alley), certain that new Cheers waitress Laurie (Bobbie Eakes) is the mistress of her boss Evan Drake (Tom Skerritt), explodes in a fit of jealous rage -- requiring a cover up of gargantuan proportions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Inspired by the success of previous TV sitcom "reunion" films, Return to Mayberry debuted on April 13, 1986. Eleven of the original cast members of the classic Andy Griffith Show were reunited in this marvelous blast from the past. The plot finds former sheriff Andy Taylor (Griffith, of course), returning to Mayberry, North Carolina to visit his grown son Opie (Ron Howard, taking a break from his busy directorial career), who is now an expectant father. Andy's onetime deputy Barney Fife (Don Knotts) is running for the sheriff's post, so Andy decides to stick around to help out. Barney thinks he's found an excellent publicity ploy when he discovers what seems to be a bigfoot-style monster roaming around the Carolina hills. Actually, he's the victim of a cruel hoax, compelling Andy once more to come to Barn's rescue. Also in the cast is George Lindsay as Goober, Jim Nabors as Gomer, Aneta Corsaut as Helen, Betty Lynn as Thelma Lou, and Howard Morris as Ernest T. Bass. Conspicuous by her absence was Frances "Aunt Bee" Bavier, who was too ill to make a comeback. The highest-rated TV movie of 1986, Return to Mayberry might have resulted in a series, but Andy Griffith decided to switch professional gears and star as an attorney in Matlock. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A woman wearing a heavy veil shows up at the offices of the Blue Moon Detective Agency and hires David (Bruce Willis) and Maddie (Cybill Shepherd) to locate a recently paroled convict named Frank Harbert (Joel Polis). It seems that, years ago, Frank had horribly disfigured the veiled woman's face, and now she wants to find him--and marry him! Inevitably, Frank turns up dead, prompting the detectives to launch a second search for the killer. The episode climaxes with a profusion of people wearing black veils, in a chaotic mistaken-identity sequence reminiscent of The Pink Panther--or at the very least, the Marx Brothers' Duck Soup. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Police Commissioner Larry Crenshaw (William Windom) is the primary suspect when his wife Connie (Rosemary Thomas) is murdered. This places Hunter (Fred Dryer) and McCall (Stepfanie Kramer) in a ticklish situation: they are ordered to investigate the one man who most desires to see them thrown off the force--and they must save his hide if he turns out to be innocent. Before the inevitable slam-bang finale, the viewer is treated to an abundance of unexpected plot twists, most of them involving a disreputable private eye (Ray Girardin) and a deceptively charming tennis player (Sam Jones). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Although penned by the same screenwriter, David S. Ward, this sequel to The Sting (1973) is tarnished by comparisons to its predecessor. Jackie Gleason fills the shoes of Paul Newman as Harry Gondorff and Mac Davis slips into the Robert Redford role of Johnny Hooker, two con men pals whose latest "sting" involves Hooker pretending to be a down on his luck boxer. Their goal is the fixing of a prizefight, which will rook a tacky nightclub owner (Karl Malden) out of a fortune while simultaneously getting revenge on their old nemesis, Doyle Lonnegan (Oliver Reed). On their side is Veronica (Teri Garr), a seasoned scam artist, but what Gondorff and Hooker don't know is that Lonnegan is manipulating events behind the scenes. Director Jeremy Paul Kagan followed up this terribly unfunny and inferior sequel with the much better received The Journey of Natty Gann (1985), while Ward became a director of such comedies as Major League (1989) and King Ralph (1991). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Glynis Johns guest stars as Helen Chambers, the mother of Diane (Shelley Long). Sweeping majestically into Cheers, Helen dolefully announces that Diane must marry within 24 hours or lose her share (and her mother's) of her late father's estate. Helpful Sam (Ted Danson) agrees to a quickie wedding ceremony, secure in the belief that he can just as quickly revert to bachelorhood -- or can he? Future semi-regular Paul Willson appears as Gregg (rather than his familiar role as the habitually "left out" Paul). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In a dual role, David L. Lander appears in his customary guise as Squiggy, and as Squiggy's exact lookalike, a famous Russian ballet dancer named Boris. When Boris attempts to defect to the West, a pair of KGB agents nab Squiggy by mistake. This episode is capped by a screaming funny "Swan Lake" pas-de-deux performed by David L. Lander and Michael McKean (Lenny). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jill Clayburgh plays, as one character calls her, "a pill-popping dingbat" in this film adaptation of television producer Barbara Gordon's autobiographical account of her addiction to prescription drugs. Clayburgh plays Gordon in the film as a successful television documentary filmmaker whose mounting pressures force her to pop a Valium or two for nerves. She then ingests a few more pills after an argument with boyfriend Derek Bauer (Nicol Williamson). And thus begins her slow and steady compulsion to keep taking more and more Valium. Finally realizing her addiction, Gordon makes a disastrous attempt to go cold turkey but fails miserably, finally having to undergo a painful rehabilitation in an institution. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide