Jack Guss Movies
- 1978
This television miniseries is based on Thomas Tryon's complex and suspenseful occult thriller Harvest Home, delving into the forbidden rituals of the small New England township Cornwall Combe, whose residents offer annual human sacrifices to pagan gods in return for a bountiful corn harvest. The production is notable mainly for the participation of Bette Davis, who plays the powerful Widow Fortune, the town's leading practitioner of the black arts. A very young Rosanna Arquette co-stars as one of the new kids in town. Beware the severely cut home video version, which omits almost 200 minutes of footage and thus loses a great deal of clarity. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- 1977
The formal title for this TV mini-series was Harold Robbins' 79 Park Avenue, just in case you might mistake it for William Makepeace Thackeray's 79 Park Avenue. Originally presented in three parts, this adaptation of the Robbins best-seller stars Lesley Ann Warren as Marja Fludjicki, a Depression-era tenement girl who is accused of murdering her drunken stepfather. Part One details how Marja's "crime" was justifiable; she'd been raped by the bounder. Parts Two and Three would trace Marja's progress from teenaged prostitute to elegant, high-priced Park Avenue Madam--and mob mistress. Forced by circumstance into a life of prostitution, Marja marries Las Vegas high-roller Ross Savitch (Marc Singer). Ross is bumped off by the Syndicate, leaving Marja in the lurch. Marja rebounds from tragedy to become a federal witness against the Mob. 79 Park Avenue was first telecast on October 16, 17, and 18, 1977. Though all the names are changed, it isn't hard to discern the Bugsy Siegel story in this video equivalent to eating a whole box of chocolates in one sitting. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
Stone (Karl Malden) and Keller (Michael Douglas) investigate when a successful and universally admired politician dies in what appears to be an accident. As usual, Stone suspects foul play, and isn't afraid of ruffling a few feathers among the political elite to prove his point. The key to the solution of this case involves a complicated relationship among several prominent people with more than a few skeletons in their closets. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
Ricardo Montalban is well cast as legendary Mexican bandit Joaquin Murietta in Desperate Mission. As in most previous filmed adaptations of the life of this controversial character, Murietta is depicted as a South of the Border Robin Hood, more sinned against than sinning. The storyline is open-ended enough to suggest that this made-for-TV movie was intended as the pilot for a weekly series. If this was indeed the case, the producers needn't have bothered. Lensed in 1969, Desperate Mission didn't get a TV playdate until December 3, 1971 (though it was released theatrically outside the US in 1970). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1963
Rob (Dick Van Dyke) feels like a fish out of water when he and Laura (Mary Tyler Moore) are invited to a literary party honoring poet Henry Walden (Everett Sloane). For one thing, he's the only comedy writer in a room full of poets and novelists. For another, it appears that he has been invited by mistake, especially since the hostess (played by Doris Packer) constantly refers to him as "Mr. Petroff." This doesn't stop Rob from getting inveigled into making a huge contribution to a literary scholarship fund in Walden's name. As Rob broods over how he can possibly afford such a donation, Henry Walden himself shows up at the offices of "The Alan Brady Show," wryly explaining that it was he who invited Rob to the party -- and further explaining his rather surprising ulterior motive! Dick Van Dyke Show creator Carl Reiner makes a cameo appearance as bearded avant-garde poet Yale Sampson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Everett Sloane, Doris Packer, (more)
