Arthur Hill Movies

For the first time in Murder She Wrote history, a murderer whom Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) had turned over to the police in a previous episode makes a comeback appearance. The man in question is Jessica's first publisher (and erstwhile sweetheart!) Preston Giles (Arthur Hill), who had been exposed as the killer in the series' very first episode. Released on parole, Preston goes back to work at a high-level corporation. Although Jessica had hoped to avoid a reunion with Giles, she is unable to do so when he is accused of murdering his company's duplicitous financial controller. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Christmas Eve was actually first telecast on December 22, 1986, but nobody cared about the "error" then, so why should we? Making her first television appearance in 23 years, Loretta Young (her ageless beauty undimmed by her silvery hair) plays a wealthy New York matriarch who learns that she is dying. This strengthens her determination to be reunited with her three grandchildren, whom she hasn't seen in 16 years thanks to a bitter argument with her avaricious son Arthur Hill. As Hill wages a court campaign to have Young declared incompetent and thus get his mitts on her millions, private eye Ron Leibman races against time to locate her lost grandkids before Christmas. Do you honestly think you'll get through Christmas Eve without a box of Kleenex handy? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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 The film was originally made for television.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, All Movie Guide

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, All Movie Guide

The Guardian is set in an upper-class New York apartment building, recently plagued by a series of break-ins and murders. The tenants eagerly enlist the services of former military officer John Mack (Louis Gossett Jr.) as the building's head of security. Slowly but surely, the tenants give up their freedom of movement to Mack, who runs the place like his own private fiefdom. Bristling over this infringement upon his rights, liberal-minded tenant Charles Hyatt (Martin Sheen) begins to suspect that the killings were orchestrated by Mack himself as a means of gaining power over his employers. Stirring up a respectable amount of suspense, the made-for-cable The Guardian debuted October 20, 1984, over the HBO service. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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, All Movie Guide

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, All Movie Guide

PCP, a deadly drug commonly known as Angel Dust, made its first destructive appearances on the street in the late 1970s. In Angel Dusted, Jean Stapleton plays a cloistered housewife/mother who knows little and cares less about drug problems. Her son is a hard-working college student who decides to experiment just once with marijuana. The boy freaks out after smoking pot laced with PCP--and it doesn't look like he'll ever totally recover. Adding texture to the film is the presence of the film's screenwriter Darlene Craviotto as the boy's psychiatrist--and the presence of Jean Stapleton's real-life son John Putch in the role of her on-screen son. Angel Dusted was based on a book by Ursula Etons. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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, All Movie Guide

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, All Movie Guide

Telecast on Sunday evening rather than the series' customary Monday-night slot, "The Little House Years" is a three-hour compilation of highlights from the series' five previous seasons. Gathered together for Thanksgiving, the Ingalls family recalls the most memorable events of their lives, with special emphasis on the growing pains endured by daughter Laura (Melissa Gilbert). Among the episodes excerpted are 1974's "The Lord is My Shepherd," featuring Ernest Borgnine as a hermit named Jonathan; the 1976 installments "Bunny" and "The Race," emphasizing the ongoing rivalry between Laura and the impossible Nellie Oleson (Alison Arngrim); and another 1976 entry, the two-part "Journey in the Spring," guest-starring Arthur Hill as Lansford Ingalls, father of Charles Ingalls (Michael Landon). For syndication purposes, "The Little House Years" has been re-edited as three separate hour-long episodes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide