Arthur Hill Movies

This video is made up of four mini-thrillers from a popular television anthology series. The first is "People Don't Do Such Things," about a soured marriage; "Youth from Vienna," centering on a fountain of youth that gives unexpected results; "Skeleton in the Cupboard," about a man with a terrible secret; and "Bird of Prey," the mystery of a dead parrot's giant egg. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This 2-hour TV movie was originally presented as an installment of The ABC Saturday Mystery Movie in February of 1990. Patrick McGoohan (who also directed) plays a vice presidential candidate whose best friend murders a blackmailing racketeer. With "damage control" foremost in his mind, McGoohan arrange to make the murder look like a suicide. At this point, Lt. Columbo (Peter Falk) enters, and it's "cat and mouse" for the remaining 90 minutes. The 1990 Columbo episodes alternated on the Saturday Mystery Movie with three other series: Cristine Cromwell, B.L. Stryker and Kojak. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Blake Edwards comes a cropper in this lunk-headed slapstick homage to Laurel and Hardy, Mack Sennett, and Jerry Lewis. Ted Danson and Howie Mandell play Spence Holden and Dennis Powell, a couple of idiots who find themselves involved with a pack of gangsters. Spence is a two-bit actor who is at a racetrack location with his pal Dennis, when he overhears two small-time thugs, Wayne "Turnip" Parragella (Richard Mulligan) and Maurice "Binky" Drundza (Stuart Margolin), talk about doping a horse set to run a race. It turns out that Turnip and Binky are under orders to carry out the dastardly scheme by their underworld boss Tony Pazzo (Paul Sorvino). When Spence and Dennis are found out, they find themselves pursued all over the Los Angeles area by an angry Tony Pazzo mob in an ever-escalating series of races and chases, crashes and smashes, and shouting and screaming. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

A crew of international astronauts find that a murderer is in their ranks. They must solve the crime before reaching earth, and fortunately receive help from the base commander (Wilford Brimley). The film was originally made for television. ~ John Bush, Rovi

This made-for-Disney drama is the fact-based account of Morris Frank (Timothy Bottoms), who, during the 1930s, trained America's first seeing-eye dog. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi

The two-hour debut episode of Murder, She Wrote finds former substitute teacher Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) reluctantly thrust into the limelight when her first mystery novel, "The Corpse Danced at Midnight," becomes a best-seller. Invited to a costume ball held by her publisher, Jessica comes face to face with a genuine murder when guest Dexter Baxendale (Dennis Patrick), wearing a Sherlock Holmes costume, turns up dead. Suspicion immediately falls upon Jessica's nephew Grady (Michael Horton), forcing our heroine to turn sleuth herself. Throughout the story, the widowed Jessica must also wrestle with her growing attraction to handsome Preston Giles (Arthur Hill). Watch for future Murder, She Wrote semi-regular Herb Edelman in a role other than Lt. Artie Gelber, and also for a young Andy Garcia in a bit part as a tough guy. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Columbo creators Richard Levinson and William Link give crime-solving a rest in their script for the made-for-TV sci-fier Prototype. Christopher Plummer plays a curmudgeonly but basically kindly Nobel Prize-winning scientist, who builds an equally kindly (but much handsomer) humanoid named Michael (David Morse). The government-subsidized Plummer has created Michael on behalf of his sponsors, but has second thoughts when he finds out that the government plans to build an army of robot warriors, using Michael as their model. Plummer sneaks into the pentagon and "kidnaps" Michael, triggering a film-length chase. Prototype had its television premiere on December 7, 1983. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Although based on Nathanael West's novel that essentially trashes the journalist's trade as cold-hearted and Machiavellian, director Michael Dinner has opted to make his journalist a pathetic figure instead. The story centers on a reporter who is trapped into writing the "Miss Lonelyhearts" column for a local newspaper and then slowly comes apart emotionally and psychologically as he gets involved with the troubles of his readers. While the plot of the film remains solid, the characterization of the journalist changes the intent -- and whether that is for better or worse will depend on the viewer. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

CIA computer technician John Savage seeks revenge for the terrorist killing of his girlfriend. Threatening to make public his insider's information, Savage forces his reluctant bosses to train him in the art of assassination. He then heads into enemy territory (at least, it was enemy territory back in 1982) on a search-and-destroy mission. There is nothing in The Amateur that we haven't seen elsewhere, but Savage and a solid cast of supporting players Christopher Plummer,Marthe Keller, Arthur Hill, Ed Lauter, Nicholas Campbell, Jan Rubes et. al.-- keep the proceedings lively. Robert Littell co-adapted the film's screenplay from his own novel. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Arthur Hiller directed this drama exploring the disintegration of an ideal marriage after the husband discovers he is gay. Kate Jackson is Claire, a successful television producer, and Michael Ontkean is her husband Zack, an equally successful doctor. They enjoy eight years of married bliss until homosexual writer Bart McGuire (Harry Hamlin) appears at Zack's office. As Zack gets to know Bart, he discovers he is attracted to him. He asks Bart out to dinner, one thing leads to another, and soon Zack announces to Claire that he wants to explore his new-found sexuality with Bart. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

This film is based on Winston Churchill's memoirs of his leadership of England from Dunkirk to D-Day. ~ John Bush, Rovi

As made obvious by its title, this TV movie was an attempt to revive the once-popular private eye series Cannon, which ran from 1971 to 1976. Emerging from self-imposed retirement, corpulent gumshoe Frank Cannon (William Conrad) investigates the death of an old friend who formely worked for the CIA. Officially, the death has been ruled a suicide, but Cannon, as usual, has his doubts. Also mixed up in the intrigue is Cannon's former sweetheart and a Hughes-like millionaire. First telecast November 1, 1980 on CBS, The Return of Frank Cannon did not result in a weekly series, but William Conrad was able to find solace in his starring role on the subsequent weekly Nero Wolfe. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The tragic story of Dr. Samuel Mudd, who in 1865 was sentenced to a lifetime of hard labor at the American penal colony of Fort Jefferson, was previously filmed as Prisoner of Shark Island (1936) and Hellgate (1957). Made for television, The Ordeal of Dr. Mudd stars Dennis Weaver as the unfortunate Mudd, a Maryland medico whose only "crime" was to set the broken leg of a mud-caked stranger--who turned out to be John Wilkes Booth. Arrested on a charge of treason and complicity in the conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln, Dr. Mudd is at first sentenced to hang, but the military court decides to be "merciful," consigning Mudd to life imprisonment on "America's Devil's Island" in the Dry Tortugas. He endures the cruelties of the sadistic commandant and the condemnation of the public at large, until his selfless courage during a hellish epidemic enables him to win the sympathy of his fellow citizens. Ultimately, Mudd is pardoned by President Andrew Johnson, though it would be many years before his name was completely exonerated in the judicial books. The film goes to great lengths to vilify Lincoln's secretary of war Edwin Stanton (Richard Dysart), whom some conspiracy theorists now believe was behind the assassination plot. This aside, and excusing a few "politically correct" alterations in the known facts, The Ordeal of Dr. Mudd is fairly accurate. The film was originally aired on March 25, 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi