Lillian Adams Movies
- 1961
This standard love story adapted by Leonard Spigelgass from his stage play was acclaimed when it was released for probing into the nature of prejudice. Rosalind Russell plays Mrs. Jacoby, a Jewish widow living in Brooklyn whose daughter Alice (Madlyn Rhue) is married to Jerome (Ray Danton), a U.S. diplomat newly assigned to Japan. Because of Jerome's new post, Mrs. Jacoby decides to visit the land of the rising sun, and once there, she meets Koichi Asano (Alec Guinness). Asano is a suave, sophisticated, and wealthy man with an aesthetically impressive Tokyo home. After the two meet, love starts to blossom. This was one of the rare '60s films geared to the older set but it is significant that even during this period Hollywood still chose to cast a white actor (albeit Alec Guinness!) in the role of Asano. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rosalind Russell, Alec Guinness, (more)
- 1971
Moving to a new Wednesday-night slot for its fourth season, Adam-12 wastes no time getting down to business. This time, Officers Jim Reed (Kent McCord) and Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) are working the waterfront beat, where a nasty gang of extortionists specializes in targeting elderly Jewish businessmen. George O'Hanlon, better known to baby boomers as the voice of cartoon character George Jetson, appears as a vengeful drunk who makes some very bizarre threats against the two cops. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1978
Steve McQueen served as both star and executive producer for this film version of the drama by Henrik Ibsen, which was adapted by Arthur Miller. When Dr. Thomas Stockmann (McQueen) discovers that a tannery has dangerously polluted a hot spring in his community, he feels that it is his duty to share this information with the people. However, a number of prominent citizens (including Stockmann) intended to use the hot springs as the centerpiece of a health spa, and Tom's brother Peter (Charles Durning), the town's mayor, contends that a clean-up of the spring would be impractical, expensive, and would scare off potential customers. Stockmann is still eager to share his story with the community, but the town council is determined to silence him, and in time they turn public opinion against him. The outcry against Stockmann's activism eventually ruins his medical practice and drives a wedge between Stockmann and his wife Catherine (Bibi Andersson). While An Enemy of the People became a pet project for McQueen, it received indifferent reviews and poor distribution, opening in only a few scattered American cities several years after it was completed. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve McQueen, Charles Durning, (more)
- 1979
Robin Strand stars as a female narcotics cop transferred to an all-male police squad assigned to patrol the California beaches. Strand's assignment ends almost before it begins when she is targeted for assassination by the Mob. First telecast April 30, 1979, Beach Patrol was supposed to have been the first episode of a weekly series. It wasn't. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robin Strand, Jonathan Frakes, (more)
- 1999
Cory (Ben Savage) and Shawn (Rider Strong) revert to their old "bad boy" mode to help Mr. Feeny (William Daniels) woo and win Dean Bolander (Bonnie Bartlett) before she is reclaimed by her ex-husband Curtis (Francis X. McCarthy), an entymologist. As a result, Curtis' lab is trashed and a rare killer bee is released into the world--a potential tragedy that takes an entirely different turn when the insect makes a beeline (ouch!) for Ms. Bolander! Elsewhere, Rachel decides that it is high time she and Jack go on a real date, something Jack has been avoiding for a very surprising reason. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
After a bad day at work, a man suddenly gets a new job -- as the world's new Heavenly Father -- in this comedy. Bruce Nolan (Jim Carrey) is a television reporter working in Buffalo, NY, who has been growing increasingly dissatisfied with his existence, and after an especially bad day, he flies into a rage and curses God for making his life miserable. To Bruce's great surprise, the Supreme Being Himself (Morgan Freeman) appears, and tries to convince Bruce of the enormity of his task. Bruce, however, isn't buying it, so God gives him a chance to find out what he's up against; God bestows all of his powers on Bruce for a week, to see how he'd handle things. At first, Bruce has a great time bending the world around him to his will, much to the puzzlement of his girlfriend, Grace (Jennifer Aniston), but after six days God stops by to remind Bruce he hasn't done much to make the Earth a better place. Disappointed, God presents Bruce with an ultimatum -- he has one day to improve the world in a concrete way, or God will toss the planet back into the void. Bruce Almighty was directed by Tom Shadyac, who previously teamed with Jim Carrey for Liar, Liar and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jim Carrey, Jennifer Aniston, (more)
- 1993
Tim Matheson stars in this made-for-TV movie based on a true story. Roger Paulson (Matheson) is a divorcee who wants to start dating again. Roger thinks he's found the perfect woman, but he learns she's been keeping a few secrets from him -- some of which have deadly consequences. Dying to Love You also stars Tracy Pollan and Christine Ebersole.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1967
Carl Reiner's semi-autobiographical novel Enter Laughing makes a largely successful transition to the screen. Reni Santoni plays the Reiner character, here named David Kolowitz. A machinist's apprentice in Depression-era New York, David dreams of becoming the new Ronald Colman. Defying the wishes of his parents (Shelley Winters, David Opatoshu), David lands a nonpaying job in a seedy theatrical production directed by broken-down ham Marlowe (Jose Ferrer). That the young aspiring actor knows nothing about his "craft" is evident the moment he speaks his first stage direction--"Enter Laughing"--as if it were a line of dialogue. Helped along by Marlowe's sex-starved daughter Angela (Elaine May), David manages to survive the rehearsal period, but his first public performance threatens to become a disaster when he can't find the entrance to the set. Still and all, David makes it through the play, cheered along by his now-supportive parents. Blessed with a marvelous supporting cast--including Jack Gilford, Don Rickles, Janet Margolin and veteran black comedian Mantan Moreland--Enter Laughing is a riot, especially for those viewers who have ever participated in amateur theatricals themselves. Only Reni Santoni fails to ring true as David Kolowitz (a role played on stage by Alan Arkin), though he has a few choice scenes, especially his impromptu performance on a subway. Watch for Rob Reiner in his film debut as a clumsy, self-conscious actor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- José Ferrer, Reni Santoni, (more)
- 1966
For a school assignment, Cissy (Kathy Garver) decides to write a paper about Mr. French (Sebastian Cabot). Dogging the man's trail one Thursday afternoon, Cissy discovers a shocking secret about Mr. French: each week at the same time, he has a mysterious rendezvous with an English matron named Mrs. Allenby (Kathryn Givney). Upon learning the wistfully poignant reasons for French's covert behavior, Cissy lets slip that she knows all about his Thursday meetings--with near-disastrous results. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2003
TV talker "Dr. Phil" McGraw makes his acting debut in this episode. Though mad at Dr. Phil because of an outstanding poker debt, Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) agrees to take Roz (Peri Gilpin) to the good doctor's lecture. Upon arrival, Frasier is shocked to discover that Dr. Phil's agent is the redoubtable Bebe Glazer (Harriet Sansom Harris). Frasier is also peeved that Bebe had never been able to make him a huge star in all the time she was representing him. So imagine his surprise when Bebe offers to do for Frasier what she's done for Dr. Phil -- in exchange for certain, er, favors. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Phil McGraw, Harriet Sansom Harris, (more)
- 1965
Future Hill Street Blues star Daniel J. Travanti was still billing himself as "Dan Travanty" when he appeared in this Gidget episode as UCLA photography major Tom Brighton. When Tom approaches Gidget (Sally Field) and compliments her on her "photogenic" face, she immediately falls in love with him--and assumes that he reciprocates. What Gidget doesn't know is that Tom is already engaged to one Penelope Peterson (Sabrina Scharf). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1960
Wealthy Mrs. Tamsen Sommers (Geraldine Brooks) puts an advertisement in the papers, claiming to be a widow in search of another husband. This proves to be a puzzlement for one man in particular: Mrs. Sommers' husband Haskel (Lawrence Dobkin), still very much alive. Mr. Sommers hires Paladin (Richard Boone) to help figure out his wife's behavior--and to protect him from Mrs. Sommers' homicidal would-be suitors. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Heavy Traffic represents a follow-up to animator Ralph Bakshi's first feature film, Fritz the Cat (1972). The central character is Michael, the ingenuous son of an Italian father and Jewish mother. An aspiring cartoonist, Michael leaves home in a huff and outrages his family by conducting an affair with an African-American woman. Heavy Traffic was originally intended to be a cartoon adaptation of Hubert Selby's notorious novel Last Exit to Brooklyn, but negotiations fell through, and Bakshi was obliged to cook up a similar but not identical "mean streets" plotline. (Last Exit to Brooklyn was made as a live-action film in 1989.) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1982
- R
Director/animator Ralph Bakshi turns his attention to 1950s Brooklyn in Hey Good Lookin', which looks at greasers hanging out (and making out) on street corners, hot girls, and gang rumbles, all set in a decaying urban landscape. The main action concerns Vinnie (voice of Richard Romanus), the leader of an Italian gang called The Stompers, who values, in equal measure, the perfection of his hairstyle and scoring with girls. His bosom buddy, Crazy (David Proval), more than lives up to his moniker, and his impulsiveness leads to many conflicts, including fights with other gangs -- a real problem because Vinnie is nowhere near as tough as he pretends to be. Things become even more complicated when he finds himself falling hard for Rozzie (Tina Bowman), whose father keeps her on a pretty short leash. Things come to a head in a deadly shoot-out, which may have serious consequences for the three main characters. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Romanus, David Proval, (more)
- 1987
In the conclusion of a two-part story, McCall (Stepfanie Kramer) faces the possibility of permanent paralysis as she undergoes surgery to remove a bullet from her spine. Meanwhile, Hunter (Fred Dryer) heads to Mexico, there to settle accounts with notorious pimp Big Jack Hemmings (Robert Ridgely), whom he holds responsible for McCall's plight. When Big Jack turns up murdered, Hunter is arrested--and as the story winds down, the detective must place his life in the hands of his old enemy, gonzo defense attorney Mike Snow (Martin E. Brooks). This final episode of Hunter's third season was directed by series costar Stepfanie Kramer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1969
The body of a young woman is found in a San Francisco park, and the evidence points to a notorious but unidentified criminal abortionist (this episode was of course filmed long before Roe-v-Wade). In order to flush out the criminal, Eve (Barbara Anderson) dons an elaborate disguise--including a brunette wig--and poses as an unwed pregnant girl. Will Ironside (Raymond Burr) and his team be able to trap the villain before Eve becomes the next victim? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1969
On behalf of an old rabbi friend, Ironside (Raymond Burr) investigates the theft of a priceless Torah from a San Francisco synagogue. Truth to tell, the ancient scroll is "priceless" only to the congregation, but the thieves--who've managed to cover their tracks and make the break-in look like an act of anti-Semitic vandalism--obviously didn't know that. Racing against time, Ironside must recover the Torah before the disgruntled criminals destroy the artifact. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
- R
Tony Curtis stars as the feared leader of "Murder Incorporated" in this underworld drama based on the life of Louis "Lepke" Buchalter. Lepke began his criminal career as a petty thief in his teens; a stretch in prison taught him the finer points of life on the wrong side of the law. After getting out of jail, Lepke and his pal Gurrah Shapiro (Warren Berlinger) join a gang who hire themselves out as strikebreakers, and the vicious but clever Lepke soon rises through the ranks. Lepke makes powerful friends with mob kingpins "Lucky" Luciano (Vic Tayback) and Albert Anastasia (Gianni Russo), and when high-ranking but deranged gangster "Dutch" Schultz (John Durren) announces he's going to kill District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey (Richard C. Adams), Lepke is chosen to rub "Dutch" out. Lepke handles the assignment well, and he's able to strike up a deal with the various Mafia families -- he'll form a separate organization to handle executions and assassinations, and he'll hire out his services to any mobsters who need it, provided the mob bosses approve the killings. Between "Murder Incorporated" and a drug ring operated with Luciano, Lepke has become a wealthy and important man in the underworld, but ironically he finds soon himself himself investigated by the man whose life he unwittingly saved -- Dewey. Lepke also features comedian and impressionist Vaughn Meader as the voice of Walter Winchell. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Curtis, Anjanette Comer, (more)
- 1981
By the admission of its own producers, the made-for-TV Marian Rose White was "extremely loosely based" on a true story. The real Marian Rose White was a 1930s teenager who suffered from a congenital visual defect. This led to her being misdiagnosed as "feebleminded," and locked away in a Sonoma, California institution. Despite the entreaties of sympathetic staffers, Marian was forced to undergo a legally mandated sterilization--which her widowed, impoverished mother readily agreed to. Thirty years passed before this terrible wrong was addressed and Marian was allowed to re-enter society. For the purposes of this film, those three decades were telescoped into four years. The result is a sincere (if somewhat rushed) "injustice of the week" TV effort. Katherine Ross is top-billed as a compassionate nurse, while Valerie Perrine is cast as Marian's unfeeling mother. Marian Rose White is brilliantly essayed by Nancy Cartwright, who is best known today as the voice of cartoon character Bart Simpson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1992
Nobody takes Bud (David Faustino) seriously when he insists that his middle-aged teacher Miss McGowen (Linda Gibboney) has the hots for him, but no one is laughing when both Miss McGowen and a rapacious student named Darlene (Charlotte Ross) make their moves on the Bundy boy. Elsewhere, Al (Ed O'Neill) goes around crashing kiddie parties to get free pizza, Peggy (Katey Sagal) suffers from a bad cold, and both of them squabble over the respective merits of their favorite TV series "Psycho Dad" and "Psycho Mom." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1992
This episode was originally telecast one day before the election of President Bill Clinton--and, accordingly, focuses on the Election Day coverage by the "FYI" staff. As the ballots are tallied and the predictions noted, each staff member recalls the first time that he or she ever cast a vote. Not surprisingly, Murphy (Candice Bergen) serves up the most fascinating flashback, reaching way back to the turbulent seventies. Patrick Warburton of Seinfeld fame appears as Bo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1994
Lt. Fancy (James McDaniel) discreetly advises the divorce-bound Medavoy (Gordon Clapp) to keep his romantic involvement with Donna (Gail O'Grady) under wraps -- at least in public. An abused woman whom Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) tried to help ends up dead. Kelly (David Caruso) and an Asian-American detective (Tzi Ma) investigate the murder of an off-duty cop in Chinatown. And Detective Adrianne Lesniak (Justine Miceli, in her first series appearance), on the rebound from a sour relationship with another cop, is transferred to the 15th. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Devastated when her brand-new husband Albert Brooks) drops dead on their wedding night, Jewish American princess Judy Benjamin (Goldie Hawn) is receptive to the pitch delivered by a duplicitous recruiter for the Women's Army Corps. Quickly adivsed by topkick Captain Lewis (Eileen Brennan) that she should not look forward to the private room, fancy clothes and sauna bath that she'd been promised, Judy is forced to go through basic training like any other "grunt". This turns out to be a real growth experience for the pampered Private Benjamin, who for the first time in her life has to work for her privileges. A brief misadventure with a lascivious paratroop officer (Robert Webber) nearly sours Judy on army life, but she turns out to be a darned good soldier-and a woman with a highly developed sense of self-esteem, which enables her to weather a further disappointing romantic fling with French phsycian Henri Tremont (Armand Assante). Private Benjamin turned out to be one of Goldie Hawn's most profitable vehicles. The 1981-82 TV sitcom spinoff starred Lorna Patterson in Goldie's role, with Eileen Brennan repeating her film characterization of the long-suffering Captain Lewis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Goldie Hawn, Eileen Brennan, (more)
- 1974
Pint-sized sixth-grader Mouse Fawley (Christian Juttner) is tired of being picked on by school bully Marv Hammerman (Jim Sage). Out of frustration, Mouse labels Hammerman as a "Neanderthal" -- and alas, word of this insult quickly reaches our hero's tormentor. Advised that Hammerman is coming after him, Mouse spends the bulk of this ABC Afterschool Special trying to run away from a dire fate -- until he finally realizes that he can't run away from himself. Ultimately, Mouse learns a valuable (if somewhat painful) lesson in self-respect. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christian Juttner, Jim Sage, (more)
On the eve of his Hawaiian vacation, irresponsible high school teacher Mark Harmon is forced into teaching a summer school class. His students are all malcontents and layabouts with the standard repertoire of teenaged hangups and hostilities (two of the kids, who can't see enough slasher movies to suit them, are hilarious precursors to Beavis and Butt-Head). Harmon would rather spend his time with history teacher Kirstie Alley, but she doesn't think much of his laziness and lack of dedication. Harmon finally begins to take his job seriously when he realizes his students' problems are not all of their own making. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mark Harmon, Kirstie Alley, (more)
