Ray Young Movies

Hunter's Blood is a bloody action thriller reminiscent of Deliverance or The Hills Have Eyes in which an innocent, peaceful group of people is pitted against a clan of bloodthirsty savages. Five men set out to do some deer hunting in a remote area of Arkansas. David (Sam Bottoms) and his father, Mason (Clu Gulager), experienced hunters, lead a group of city-bred amateur hunters into an area where there have been a series of mysterious disappearances. Soon, they find themselves in danger as they are themselves stalked. While Hunter's Blood is not of the quality of the films that inspired it, the acting is uniformly excellent and the direction by Robert Hughes is fact-paced and exciting. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

Joanna Piper (Suzanne Pleshette) and Mike Coyne (Gil Gerard) are far more concerned with money than with love. To that end, they sign up as contestants for a TV giveaway show. The catch: in order to claim the grand prize of one million dollars, Joanna and Mike must pretend to be hopelessly, passionately in love with one another. The viewer can see the ending coming a mile away, but getting there is half the fun. Made for television, For Love or Money premiered November 20, 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ten years after the cancellation of the cornpone comedy series The Beverly Hillbillies, the property was revived -- mercifully briefly -- in the form of a two-hour movie. Originally titled Solving the Energy Crisis, The Return of the Beverly Hillbillies found Buddy Ebsen, Donna Douglas and Nancy Kulp recreating their sitcom roles as millionaire hillbilly Jed Clampett (who'd moved back to the hills after dividing up his fortune amongst his loved ones), his daughter Elly May (now the owner of a small petting zoo), and bank secretary-turned-government functionary Jane Hathaway. Max Baer Jr. took a pass on the project, thus the role of Jed's nephew Jethro Bodine-now a "sophisticated Hollywood producer"-was played by Ray Young. And with Irene Ryan (Granny) and Raymond Bailey (Milburn Drysdale) having passed on, their replacements were Imogene Coca, and former Hogan's Heroes regular Werner Klemperer as government bureaucrat C. D. Medford, Jane Hathaway's new boss. Also on hand was bluegrass musician Earl Scruggs, who with his late partner Lester Flatt has composed and performed the original Beverly Hillbillies theme song "The Ballad of Jed Clampett"; Shug Fisher and Shad Heller, who'd appeared in several 1969 episodes of the original series; and two veterans from The Beverly Hillbillies' sister series Petticoat Junction, Linda Kaye Henning and Charles Lane. The plot, if anyone cares, finds the Clampetts joining forces with Miss Jane to solve the energy shortage, using Granny's "white lightning" as a fuel substitute. As the film draws to a close, it looks as if Miss Jane and her boss Mr. Medford are about to be hitched in a good ol' Ozark wedding. Originally telecast on October 6, 1981, Return of the Beverly Hillbillies was intended as the pilot for a full-scale revival of the earlier series, but this was not to be. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Old-time Hollywood director Vincent Sherman brings a glossy studio-bound look to The Dream Merchants, a two-part, four-hour adaptation of Harold Robbins' novel. The story follows the career of a pioneer filmmaker (Mark Harmon), who comes to Hollywood in the early 20th century with a pocketful of dreams and helps build the sleepy California orange-grove community into the world's entertainment capital. Typical of the Harold Robbins ouevre, most of the characters are based on real-life movie personalities: Robert Goulet's vainglorious matinee idol is a combination of John Barrymore and Douglas Fairbanks, while Vincent Gardenia's vitriolic mogul can be taken as a low-budget Louis B. Mayer. The film is rife with historical inaccuracies (Goulet is informed that the closeup has "just been invented by D. W. Griffith" as a means to convince him to sign a long-term contract assuring him plenty of closeups!), while the haircuts and speech patterns are firmly locked into the 1980s. All the same, The Dream Merchants was a profitable entry in the syndicated "Operation Prime Time" series of TV specials. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

On three occasions between 1973 and 1975, Star Trek producer Gene Roddenberry attempted to launch a new science-fiction series. All three pilot films were predicated on the premise of a modern-day scientist awakening after nearly two centuries in suspended animation. The first of these feature-length pilots was Genesis 2, which debuted March 23, 1973. Alex Cord stars as Dylan Hunt, who opens his eyes to discover that he now resides in a post-apocalyptic world. He is reluctantly recruited into a resistance movement, aimed at toppling the present despotic regime. The film's "money scene" involved leading lady Lyra-a (Mariette Hartley), who at a crucial plot juncture lifts her blouse to reveal that she has two navels. When Genesis 2 failed to click as a series, Roddenberry and company tried again with Planet Earth (1974); when that didn't sell, the property was reworked as Strange New World (1975). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dracula carries on his blood-drinking tradition in modern-day California, joined by his bride in a castle into which an unsuspecting couple have just moved. (Talk about incompatible roomies!) The Count and Countess (Alex D'Arcy & Paula Raymond) abduct a smorgasbord of cuties in miniskirts and go-go boots and chain them up in the castle dungeon for later consumption. John Carradine loiters about this Al Adamson non-masterpiece on his way to an easy paycheck, though he does not actually assay the role of Dracula, playing instead a small part as the Count's butler. Unbelievably, the cinematography on this ultra-cheapie is credited to acclaimed DP Laszlo Kovacs. Well-photographed by Laszlo Kovacs, the film is still notoriously dreadful and includes far too much stock footage of Sea World along with the usual deadly Adamson pacing. Some versions feature additional violent footage involving a rampaging werewolf. Trivia buffs will note that Paula Raymond's role as the Countess was originally intended for Jayne Mansfield. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide