Jeff Davis Movies
- 1972
Originally telecast the week following the premiere of its two-hour "TV movie" pilot, the opening episode of Emergency wastes no time getting down to business. Squad 51 of the LA County Fire Department's Paramedical Rescue Service is kept busy with a heart-attack victim (Jock Mahoney) whose friends think he's only kidding, an apparent drunkard (Jeff Davis) who has actually gone into insulin shock, and a hunter trapped high on a treacherous precipice. On a lighter note, paramedic John Gage (Randolph Mantooth) is forced to play nursemaid to Bonnie, a troublesome dog belonging to auto-accident victim Paula Slayton (Pat McAnery). Real-life fireman Dick Hamner) appears as the Squad's captain (named, coincidentally, Dick Hamner), in this and all subsequent first-season episodes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
Posing as an elderly and very grouchy English professor, Ironside (Raymond Burr) infiltrates a convalescent home where many strange deaths have occurred. To lure the killer out of hiding, Ed (Don Galloway) and Fran (Elizabeth Baur) impersonate Ironside's grown children, carefully dropping hints that they'd be better off if "dad" was no longer alive. Without giving away the ending, it can be noted that Ruth Roman delivers an outstanding performance as a grim-visaged nurse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1970
Officers Jim Reed (Kent McCord) and Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) spend most of this episode endeavoring to track down and clean up a particularly nasty stolen-car ring. Elsewhere, the two cops are summoned to a liquor store that has been robbed. And finally, there's a rescue mission in store for Jim and Pete's, as they attempt to extricate a youngster who has gotten himself trapped in a refrigerator. Featured in the supporting cast as Tex is versatile voiceover artist Walker Edmiston, best remembered by fans of Sid and Marty Krofft as the intellectual space alien Enik in Land of the Lost. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1968
Surviving an assassination attempt, Mob functionary Vincent Gray (Mark Richman) may be in the right pscyhological frame of mind to give testimony against his bosses in exchange for FBI protection. The problem facing Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) is locating Gray, who has gone deep into hiding somewhere in Milwaukee. Dorothy Provine is especially effective in the role of Gray's unwitting landlady Irene Minnick. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1965
In the conclusion of a three-part story arc, movie star Dash Riprock (Larry Pennell) tries his best to follow studio orders by dating Elly May Clampett. Unfortunately, he assumes that bank secretary Jane Hathaway is Elly. As a result, poor Elly is pointedly ignored by Dash -- while plain Jane cannot understand her sudden and inexplicable power over men! Jack Bannon, the son of former Beverly Hillbillies regular Bea Benaderet,is seen as "beefcake" star Bolt Upright. "Dash Riprock, You Cad" was first broadcast on January 27, 1965. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1965
Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton -- then Hollywood's most bankable couple -- appeared onscreen together for the third time in this romantic drama shot on beautiful locations along the Big Sur region of the California coastline. Laura Edwards (Elizabeth Taylor) is a free-thinking artist and Bohemian who is raising a her teenage son, Danny (Morgan Mason), conceived out of wedlock, on her own. Laura has issues with conventional teaching methods, and prefers to educate Danny about both intellectual and ethical matters on her own. However, Danny has become something of a problem, and child welfare authorities demand that Danny either be sent to school or become a ward of the state. Rather than send Danny to public school, Laura arranges for him to attend a private academy run by Dr. Edward Hewitt (Richard Burton), an Episcopalian minister. Edward is at first shocked by Laura's embrace of free love and rejection of conventional moral codes, but as he gets to know her better, he finds himself increasingly attracted to her, despite the fact he has a wife, Claire (Eva Marie Saint), and two children. Before long, Edward's desire overpowers his scruples and he begins an affair with Laura. Wracked with guilt over his infidelity, Edward confesses his indiscretion to Claire, which proves to have severe and unexpected consequences. While saddled with poor reviews upon its initial release, The Sandpiper did win an Academy Award for Johnny Mandel's theme song, "The Shadow of Your Smile." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, (more)
- 1963
The misson: to retrieve the pilot and the movie film from a US reconnaissance plane. The Americans assign Saunders and his squad to carry out this mission, while at the same time the Germans dispatch a patrol led by Sgt. Beckman (played by a decidedly pre-Godfather James Caan) for the same purpose. As Saunders and his enemy counterpart Beckman simultaneously converge upon the plane's wreckage, the audience is permitted to digest the story's development and outcome from two distinctly different and unique viewpoints. Originally telecast November 26, 1963, this episode has since taken on historical significance as the first "entertainment" program shown in ABC's Prime Time schedule after the network's four-day coverage of the JFK assassination. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1962
Risking his life to save Caleb Musgrove (Stanley Adams) from being poisoned, Paladin (Richard Boone) finds out that his efforts are all for naught. The "poisoning" is just the latest in a long series of practical jokes perpetrated by Caleb on friends and strangers alike. Now Paladin must end Caleb's "reign of humor" before one of his so-called jokes backfires in a fatal fashion! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1962
This episode is set in the late 1920s, explaining why Federal agent Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) appears to still be a bachelor. Bootlegger Pete "The Persuader" Kalminski has been encountering a lot of trouble getting his shipments past Ness and the Untouchables. Enter Joey December (Steven Hill), a second-generation railroad owner facing bankruptcy. For a piece of the action, Joey offers to tranport the liquor right under the Feds' noses on his railroad cars. It seems like the perfect set-up--until Joey commits the fatal error of trying to shake down Kalminski for additional money, using as leverage the written "deathbed confession" of one of Al Capone's boys. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
