Alan Hewitt Movies

When faced with graduation, four seniors plot to prolong their college experience for fear of steady employment, but they're also loathe to leave behind their accommodating housemate Sylvia (played with mute, topless allure by a pre-Three's Company Priscilla Barnes), who functions as a live-in maid and concubine ("Where else are we going to find a nympho who loves to cook and clean house?"). In between sumptuous meals and bouts in the sack, the boys pester their parents to pay for post-graduate studies, without success. Luckily, a Poindexter science major named Arnold is desperate to lose his virginity to Sylvia, so the guys trade her sexual favors for his complicity in an elaborate scam. He's the only trusted assistant of reclusive genius Professor Heigner (Alan Reed, the voice of Fred Flintstone), a three-time Nobel Prize winner studying the mating habits of mosquitoes. Foundations are eager to fund the professor's work with generous grants, and since Heigner signs anything Arnold hands him without question, the seniors draft their own letter of request for cash and claim to be studying the sexual habits of college-age girls. It works, and with a 50,000-dollar-grant they offer coeds a 20-dollar honorarium to participate in the study by engaging in any kind of sex they like with our four heroes as the only male volunteers. Eventually, exhaustion and avarice lead them to expand the study and allow local businessmen to take part for a 50-dollar fee, which leads to huge profits. Only the intervention of "the establishment" will show the seniors the folly of their ways, when they enter into partnership with a feminine hygiene corporation and find themselves targeted for murder. The female head of the foundation that funds the seniors' project mistakenly believes that Professor Heigner is some sort of sexual dynamo and pursues him endlessly, leading the misanthropic scientist to chase her away by firing a rifle at her, spraying her with sticky white fire extinguisher foam, and setting a blaze beneath her while she frantically climbs up a chimney. Endless lines of co-eds wait breathlessly for the chance to copulate with strangers for a double sawbuck (it's all in the name of science, after all, and why not earn money for something they'd be "giving away" otherwise?). ~ Fred Beldin, Rovi

Pueblo is a 2-hour videotaped special, originally telecast March 29, 1973 on ABC Theatre. Hal Holbrook stars as commander Lloyd M. Bucher, who in January of 1968 was forced to surrender the USS Pueblo to North Korea. The drama is staged in an impressionistic manner, with dramatized transcripts from Bucher's subsequent Naval Review Board testimony flashing back to isolated moments of terror and torment during the Pueblo crew's 11-month sojourn in a North Korean prison camp. Despite network restrictions of the era, Pueblo is refreshingly frank, right down to the first-ever TV display of a familiar obscene gesture (which the American prisoners explain away to their captors as a "salute"!) Written by Stanley R. Greenberg, Pueblo was later adapted to a stage play, starring Shepperd Strudwick as Bucher. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Feeling the need for a bit of peace and quiet to clear his mind, Bob checks into a hotel room alone. Not unexpectedly, Howard jumps to the conclusion that Bob and Emily have called it quits. Featured in the cast are such seasoned farceurs as Alan Hewitt (Mr. Warner) and Bernie Kopell (Dr. Arnold), this is also the final appearance of Patrica Smith as neighbor Margaret Hoover. Listed in most syndicated program logs as the 24th episode of The Bob Newhart Show, "I Want to Be Alone" was aired as the series' 11th offering, on December 2, 1972. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Teenager Pablo Esteban (David Barton) is "adopted" by a group of businessmen who claim that the boy has the power to heal with the touch of his hands. Assigned to investigate this phenomenon, Ironside (Raymond Burr) forms a strong bond with the likable Pablo. The Chief also quickly figures out that the boy is being exploited by his patrons, who have cooked up an elaborate swindle involving thousands of potential suckers. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Shirley MacLaine plays Charity Hope Valentine who, despite her job at a seedy dime-a-dance joint, is an incurable optimist. Charity never stops looking for true love and never seems to look for it in the right places. We first see her in the company of Charlie (Dante DiPaolo), a slimeball who steals her purse and pushes her into the Central Park pond. Next she stumbles into a one-night stand with Vittorio Vidal (Ricardo Montalban), an egotistical movie star; this comes to nothing when Vittorio's contrite girlfriend Ursula (Barbara Bouchet) comes calling, forcing Charity to spend the night hiding in the closet. Desperate to escape the dance hall, Charity heads to an employment agency, where a bureaucratic clerk (Alan Hewitt) informs her that she has no qualifications. Unhappily, Charity heads for the elevator, where she becomes trapped with the very shy -- and very claustrophobic -- Oscar Lindquist (John McMartin). Once they've gotten out of the stalled elevator, Charity begins dating Oscar, never telling him of her checkered past or her sordid dance-hall job. Oscar eventually finds out but assures her that it doesn't matter. However, at the engagement party held at the dance hall, Oscar's puritanical streak emerges. He walks out on Charity, leaving her alone and heartbroken once more. With the help of a group of flower children (among them Bud Cort and Kristoffer Tabori), Charity is able to pick herself up and start living "Hopefully Ever After." Sweet Charity was adapted from the 1965 Broadway musical of the same name, which in turn was inspired by the 1957 Fellini flick Nights of Cabiria. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In Martin Ritt's The Brotherhood, Kirk Douglas plays Frank Ginetta, an old-line Mafioso who resents the newer policies encouraged by his younger brother Vince (Alex Cord). Frank resists all attempts at modernizing his operation, whereupon Vince cajoles his father-in-law Dominick Bertolo (Luther Adler) to spearhead an inter-mob rebellion. Summing up Bertolo as a rat and a liar, Frank has the man murdered in a graphically brutal fashion. It is up to Vince to exact retribution by killing his own brother. Lewis John Carlino's screenplay includes many of the elements that would gain legendary status upon the release of The Godfather, including the dreaded "kiss of death." Star Kirk Douglas also served as producer. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Stopped by a policeman while driving down a one-way street ("I am only going one way!"), Jeannie (Barbara Eden) is cited for not having a driver's license--and Tony's car is impounded. In order to get his vehicle back, Tony (Larry Hagman) tells the cops that the back seat is full of secret government documents. Hasn't Tony learned by now that a little white lie snowballs into disaster whenever Jeannie is involved? ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

When Detective Brennan (Alan Hewitt) falsely accuses a gypsy named Raymond (John Considine) of stealing Mrs. Brown's purse, Raymond places a curse on the poor woman's head. Before long, Mrs. Brown (Pamela Britton) is dropping--and breaking--everything she picks up. Though Martin (Ray Walston) is convinced that Mrs. B's problem is purely psychological, he is unable to prove it thanks to his malfunctioning antennae...and to make matters worse, Brennan is going around arresting every gypsy in the vicinity in retaliation for the so-called curse! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

While shopping at a department store, Martin (Ray Walston) takes a whiff of the new cologne "Home Fatale"--and promptly freezes in a mannequin-like posture. Unless Tim (Bill Bixby) can take him home to reverse the process, Martin will remain a permanent clothes dummy. Unfortunately, the store manager refuses to sell the mannequin Martin at any price--and just when things couldn't possibly get worse, Mrs. Brown (Pamela Britton) is likewise "frozen", moments before the untimely arrival of Detective Brennan (Alan Hewitt)! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

While on a dusting binge, Mrs. Brown (Pamela Britton) activates Martin's Personality Alternator--and is instantly transformed into a thief. Before the process can be reversed, Mrs. Brown hatches a scheme to steal the fabled Slotkin Diamond. As it turns out, someone has beaten her to it, but Mrs. Brown may be held responsible unless Martin (Ray Walston) does some quick thinking! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Contacting the dreaded Martian "Virus M", Tim (Bill Bixby) develops red stripes on his face. Will Detective Brennan (Alan Hewitt) tumble to the fact that Martin (Ray Walston) is the source of this affliction? Nope: Brennan assumes that the red stripes are the result of a virus that Tim brought back from an assignment in Mexico, so he rushes both Tim and Martin to the hospital isolation ward. The trick now is to escape the ward before the staff finds out that Martin is "not of this world". ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Tim's new assistant is photographer Jimmy McClain (Claude Johnson), a lifelong foul-up. Fortunately for Jimmy, he snaps a picture of an escaped convict being subdued by an invisible Martin (Ray Walston). Unfortunately for Jimmy, Martin destroys the picture on the off-chance that he will show up on the photo and thus be exposed as a Martian. As a result, Jimmy is fired in disgrace, obliging Martin to utilize his "futuroid" camera to save the poor boy's job and restore his self-confidence. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

When Mrs. Brown (Pamela Britton) is made an honorary police officer, Martin (Ray Walston) offers her a pill intended to straighten out her scatterbrained behavior. As a result, Mrs. Brown becomes a super crimefighter, ticketing one and all for the slightest of infractions--and ultimately attempting to capture escaped criminal Mugs Carson (Victor French) single-handedly. Naturally, she makes a mess of things, and pretty soon practically everybody in the cast has been taken hostage, obliging Martin to come to the rescue. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi