John Hillerman Movies

Season three of Magnum, P.I. finds former Navy Intelligence officer Thomas Magnum (Tom Selleck) continuing to live the good life on the Hawaiian estate of reclusive mystery writer Robin Masters, who has hired Magnum to handle security. Likewise still in attendance are Magnum's "friendly enemy," Masters' haughty manservant Higgins (John Hillerman), and Magnum's Vietnam buddies, chopper pilot T.C. (Roger E. Mosley) and country club manager Rick (Larry Manetti). Making the first of their several appearances this season are a trio of recurring characters: police lieutenant Maggie Poole (Jean Bruce Scott), Assistant DA Carol Baldwin (played here by Patricia McCormack and in later seasons by Kathleen Lloyd), and middle-aged Agatha Chumley (Gillian Dobb), who has clearly set her cap for Higgins. Alas, season two marks the exit of Magnum's lifelong friend and chief informant Mac Reynolds (Jeff MacKay), who is killed in the two-part season opener, "Did You See the Sunrise?" Another episode, "Ki'is Don't Lie," represents a rare crossover between Magnum and another private-eye series, in this case Simon & Simon. In subsequent adventures, future Deadwood star Ian McShane shows up as Higgins' former comrade-in-arms Edward Clutterbuck, who has taken it upon himself to save his old chum from renegade Mau Mau warriors; Magnum attends the reading of the will of a prankish millionaire, thereby plunging himself into a near-surrealistic spoof of every "greedy relative" melodrama ever made; Sylvia Sidney guests as Elizabeth Barrett, mentor of the elusive Robin Masters -- or maybe she isn't Elizabeth Barrett after all; and in the second of the series' "retro" black-and-white episodes, a flashback sends Magnum 45 years in the past to solve a Chandleresque murder case, while the other regulars pop up in different guises. The season ends with "Faith and Begorrah," representing another opportunity for co-star John Hillerman to cut loose in a dual role, as the snobbish Higgins and as another of Higgins' estranged half-brothers, boisterous Irishman Father Paddy McGuinness. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Mel Brooks produced, directed, wrote, and starred in this episodic comedy in the spirit of Monty Python and the 1957 studio travesty The Story of Mankind. The film is divided into five sequences that play like blue-toned Eddie Cantor vaudeville sketches -- "The Dawn of Man," "The Stone Age," The Spanish Inquisition," "The Bible," and "The Future." Also included is a Brooksian depiction of The Last Supper and a long-winded sequence about the French Revolution. The film starts with a 2001: A Space Odyssey parody, narrated by Orson Welles, in which a collection of ape-men learn to stand erect (in more ways than one). The Stone Age reveals the origins of both the first homo sapien and homosexual marriages. Brooks then appears in an Old Testament sequence as Moses, descending from Mount Sinai with three heavy stone tablets bearing the 15 Commandments; after he drops one of these tablets, the laws of God become 10 Commandments. The Roman period picks up with Brooks as Comicus, attempting to get a gig as a "stand-up philosopher" at Caesar's Palace. The Spanish Inquisition is a musical production number with monks torturing Jews to lively Broadway musical strains. The final French revolution section is a broad parody of The Man in the Iron Mask story. The film closes with coming attractions of "History of the World, Part II" that features a rousing Star Wars parody (anticipating Space Balls) called "Jews in Space" that includes a jaunty theme song. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

In the opening two-part episode of Magnum, P.I. (originally telecast as a single two-hour "TV movie"), Hawaii-based private detective and former Naval Intelligence officer Thomas Magnum (Tom Selleck) is already comfortably installed as head of security at the lavish estate of wealthy mystery writer Robin Masters, and well into his genially adversarial relationship with Jonathan Higgins (John Hillerman), the never-seen Masters' snobbish manservant. Despite his cushy surroundings, Magnum isn't averse to accepting "outside" assignments--nor is he immune to trouble being thrust upon him unexpectedly. That's what happens on this occasion, when Magnum's old Vietnam buddy Dan Cook (Allen Williams) turns up dead, with ten bags of cocaine in his stomach. Refusing to believe the offical report that Cook was involved in a drug-smuggling ring, Magnum conducts his own investigation, despite being warned off on several occasions by the authorities--and sure enough, he uncovers a frameup and a widespread conspiracy! Featured in the guest cast is ex-Playboy playmater Lillian Muller, here billed as "Yuliis Ruval." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Originally intended as the pilot for a never-sold cop series titled Battles, this made-for-TV meller stars William Conrad as William Battles, a retired Los Angeles police detective spending his golden years in Hawaii. Somewhat bored by inactivity, Battles takes a job at a local college as assistant football coach and security chief. Not unexpectedly, our corpulent hero is soon up to his neck in a murder investigation, this time with a recent homicide bearing a remarkable resemblance to a similar killing in the 1940s (as described in a mock newsreel narrated by no less than Lowell Thomas). Assisting Battles in bringing the culprit to heel are his niece Shelby (Robin Mattson), collegiate football star Deacon Joe Jackson (Lane Caudell) and his own boss, Dean Mary Phillips (Marj Dusay). The Murder That Wouldn't Die debuted March 9, 1980, on NBC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The first season of Magnum, P.I. opens with the two-hour pilot episode, as former Naval Intelligence officer-turned-private eye Thomas Magnum takes up residence in a guest house on the Oahu estate of mystery writer Robin Masters, for whom he has agreed to work security. But Magnum's first job is a personal one, as he and the sister (Pamela Susan Shoop) of his childhood buddy Dan Cook travel the length and breadth of the island to solve Dan's murder. Later episodes find Magnum continuing to take "outside" assignments, much to the disdain of the never-seen Masters' snooty manservant Higgins (John Hillerman). By episode three, the viewer has made the acquaintance of not only the protagonist but of his two Vietnam buddies and sometimes assistants, chopper pilot T.C. (Roger E. Mosley) and nightclub owner Rick (Larry Manetti), the latter having gone into business with Masters as co-manager of the exclusive King Kamehameha Club. In one episode, Magnum comes to the rescue of one of Higgins' former comrades in arms, who has been targeted for assassination by the IRA (not that this makes Higgins any friendlier, of course). And in another installment, Magnum has a nightmarish "Vietnam flashback" while seeking clues to a model's death on a secluded island. Episode nine, "Missing in Action," marks the first appearance of Magnum's pal (and key information supplier) Mac Reynolds (Jeff MacKay), whose "history" on the series developed into perhaps the most remarkable of any of the regulars, including a horrible death and a highly suspicious rebirth. And "Lest We Forget" is the earliest of Magnum's "homage" episodes, set in 1941 and appropriately filmed in a lush, black-and-white Hollywood classic style. The 18th and final first-season episode is "Beauty Knows No Pain," in which Marcia Wallace (The Bob Newhart Show) plays a client who has only enough money to hire Magnum for a single day -- and he'll need every minute of it to locate her fiancé before one of the missing man's many enemies beats him to it! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jake (Charles Grodin), an insurance investigator, is assigned to probe the killing of a wealthy businessman in Acapulco. To help him, he hires a beautiful New York model, Ellie (Farah Fawcett), to act as his wife, and they pretend to be tourists on vacation. Art Carney plays Marcus, a local detective who befriends Jake but gets him into various scrapes. Joan Collins also appears as the suspicious Nera. Sunburn was a made-for-TV movie which featured a pop-song soundtrack blaring from characters' tape recorders that included tunes by Herbie Hancock. The movie was based on the novel The Bind by Stanley Ellin. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

The second TV-movie to bear the title Betrayal stars Lesley Ann Warren and Rip Torn. Warren plays Julie Roy, a sensitive young woman seeking solace through therapy. Torn co-stars as Julie's psychiatrist Dr. Hartogs. It turns out that the far-from-ethical Hartogs has a hidden agenda: while pretending to minister to Julie's needs, he inveigles her into a sexual relationship. First telecast November 13, 1978, Betrayal was based on an actual case and adapted from a book co-written by the real-life Julie Roy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The story of "red light bandit" Caryl Chessman, previously dramatized in the 1955 film Cell 2455, Death Row (based on Chessman's own book), was adapted for television as Kill Me If You Can. In a radical departure from his usual duties as MASH's Hawkeye Pierce, Alan Alda plays Chessman, who in 1948 was found guilty of robbery, kidnapping and sexual assault. Under the laws of the era, Chessman was sentenced to die in the gas chamber. But by studying the law and publishing four books on his plight, the brilliant (albeit still repugnant) Chessman managed to forestall his execution for 12 years. Though no effort is made in the film to make the sociopathic Chessman any better than he was, John Gay's script comes out squarely in opposition of capital punishment. Kill Me If You Can first aired on September 25, 1977. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Native American actor Will Sampson is top-billed as an Arizona state trooper, known to his companions as "Relentless" because of his dogged determination in bringing in lawbreakers. Sampson is on the trail of a gang of well-armed bank bandits, who have murdered his uncle and taken a woman (Marianna Hill) hostage. Encamping in the mountains during a raging blizzard, and keeping their hostage in full view of their pursuers as a human shield, the robbers are certain that they'll be allowed to escape. But they've reckoned without Sampson, who knows the mountain country better than any man in the state. Adapted from a novel by Brian Garfield, Relentless was the pilot film for a never-sold series starring Sampson, who'd recently attained celebrity for his costarring role in the Oscar-winning One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

During the Prohibition era, Walker (Burt Reynolds) and Kibby (Gene Hackman) run a liquor smuggling operation in Mexico; they team up with Claire (Liza Minnelli), a cabaret entertainer who has an "in" with several big-time nightclub owners. Complications ensue when both men fall in love with Claire, and she can't make up her mind between them. Escaping both the law and a murderous gang of rival crooks, the threesome set sail on a small boat called the "Lucky Lady." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Day of the Locust is anything but a cheerful, light look at Hollywood in the '30s. It recreates both the town as well as the filmmaking world around which much of the town revolved with devastating accuracy. The movie tells the twin tales of talentless wannabe actress Faye Greener (Karen Black) and Homer Simpson (Donald Sutherland), a lovelorn accountant who couldn't care less about movies. Around this framework, a huge and intricate social network is tellingly revealed, until the film's gruesome and tragic ending. Not for those who prefer to hang onto their illusions about the glory days of Hollywood, The Day of the Locust, based on the novel by Nathanael West, is a must-see for serious film buffs. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

"You may think you know what you're dealing with, but believe me, you don't," warns water baron Noah Cross (John Huston), when smooth cop-turned-private eye J.J. "Jake" Gittes (Jack Nicholson) starts nosing around Cross's water diversion scheme. That proves to be the ominous lesson of Chinatown, Roman Polanski's critically lauded 1974 revision of 1940s film noir detective movies. In 1930s Los Angeles, "matrimonial work" specialist Gittes is hired by Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway) to tail her husband, Water Department engineer Hollis Mulwray (Darrell Zwerling). Gittes photographs him in the company of a young blonde and figures the case is closed, only to discover that the real Mrs. Mulwray had nothing to do with hiring Gittes in the first place. When Hollis turns up dead, Gittes decides to investigate further, encountering a shady old-age home, corrupt bureaucrats, angry orange farmers, and a nostril-slicing thug (Polanski) along the way. By the time he confronts Cross, Evelyn's father and Mulwray's former business partner, Jake thinks he knows everything, but an even more sordid truth awaits him. When circumstances force Jake to return to his old beat in Chinatown, he realizes just how impotent he is against the wealthy, depraved Cross. "Forget it, Jake," his old partner tells him. "It's Chinatown." Reworking the somber underpinnings of detective noir along more pessimistic lines, Polanski and screenwriter Robert Towne convey a '70s-inflected critique of capitalist and bureaucratic malevolence in a carefully detailed period piece harkening back to the genre's roots in the 1930s and '40s. Gittes always has a smart comeback like Humphrey Bogart's Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe, but the corruption Gittes finds is too deep for one man to stop. Other noir revisions, such as Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye (1973) and Arthur Penn's Night Moves (1975), also centered on the detective's inefficacy in an uncertain '70s world, but Chinatown's period sheen renders this dilemma at once contemporary and timeless, pointing to larger implications about the effects of corporate rapaciousness on individuals. Polanski and Towne clashed over Chinatown's ending; Polanski won the fight, but Towne won the Oscar for Best Screenplay. Chinatown was nominated for ten other Oscars, including Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Cinematography, Art Direction, Costumes, and Score. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

The events leading up to the death of a small-time Los Angeles hood provides the basis of this gripping crime drama. The doomed gangster is known as the "key man" because he manages several warehouses containing oodles of pilfered loot. They mobsters have stolen so much that they are running out of space and so desperately need more storage units. They send the fellow out to negotiate for more space, but this takes time. His boss gets nervous and believing the big-hearted "key man" to be more of a risk than an asset orders him carefully watched and ultimately destroyed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide