Hank Jones Movies
- 1980
Louise Jefferson (Isabel Sanford) is so excited about being interviewed on TV about the Help Center's suicide helpline that she ignores one of her teenaged charges, a melancholy girl named Ruthie (Renee Brown). Feeling rejected by Louise, Ruthie OD's on sleeping pills. With Ruthie's life in the balance, Louise is tormented by both grief and profound guilt. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sherman Hemsley, Isabel Sanford, (more)
Zunar J5/90 Doric 4-7, also known as Jake, is an alien cat who crash-lands on earth. He heads off to the nearest scientist to find gold ($120,000 worth!) in order to repair his spaceship. Jake reveals that he can predict the winners in sporting events and soon the military is trying to track him down. The plot becomes more complicated when a wacky veterinarian inadvertently puts Jake into a deep sleep; now he must hide the alien cat from government authorities. The Cat from Outer Space was written by cartoonist Ted Key, who also wrote other Disney family fare, including Gus and The $1,000,000 Duck. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ken Berry, Sandy Duncan, (more)
Robert Stevenson, Walt Disney Productions' house director, cobbled together his 19th family film for the organization with this slapstick sequel to the Disney comedy The Shaggy Dog (produced 17 years after the fact). Dean Jones plays Wilby Daniels, a lawyer running against the villainous John Slade (Keenan Wynn) for district attorney. His campaign is cast into doubt when he comes upon an ancient ring that transforms him into a fat sheepdog. But the campaign progresses on a level playing field when the unscrupulous Slade finds himself also turned into a canine -- a disgruntled bulldog. Another sequel, The Return of the Shaggy Dog, followed. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dean Jones, Tim Conway, (more)
In this Disney comedy, a pair of spoiled kids, bored by their filthy rich grandfather, decide they'd rather be with their mom who is in Hong Kong. In order to get her attention, they engineer their own kidnapping. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Niven, Darren McGavin, (more)
Herbie Rides Again is the first sequel to Disney's fabulously successful The Love Bug. The emphasis here is on Mrs. Steinmetz (Helen Hayes), a feisty old San Franciscan who refuses to sell her home to conniving developer Alonzo Hawk (Keenan Wynn). Hawk's nephew, lawyer Willoughby Whitfield (Ken Berry), joins Mrs. Steinmetz's camp when he falls in love with her niece Nicole (Stefanie Powers). (This, of course, is after Nicole angrily slaps Willoughby with a boiled lobster, sending him plummeting over a balcony railing and into the drink). The day is saved by Herbie, the almost-human Volkswagen, who rallies every VW in town to thwart Hawk's machinations. Herbie Rides Again performed admirably enough to inspire still another sequel, Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Hayes, Ken Berry, (more)
- 1973
The Rampart emergency team is confounded by a pair of accident victims who refuse treatment: One of them has sustained a punctured lung in the crash of a cropduster, while the other has suffered a concussion falling off a horse. In other cases, an ear infection is caused by exposure to mothballs, and a girl o.d.'s on lethal daffodil bulbs. And in a less serious but no less grueling situation, John (Randolph Mantooth) must wriggle out of a marriage proposal which he insists he never made. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
Outtakes and stock footage from the 1970 Oscar-winner Patton were utilized to flesh out the made-for-TV Fireball Forward, which was the brainchild of Patton producer Frank McCarthy. Ben Gazzara plays a fictional American general obviously patterned on "Old Blood And Guts". Gazzara suspects that there's a Nazi sympathizer in his ranks, and dedicates himself to ferreting out the traitor. One thing Fireball Forward has that Patton didn't is a romantic interest; Anne Francis plays the girl Worth Fighting For. Scripted by Edmund H. North (another Patton) alumnus, Fireball Forward, which first aired March 5, 1972, was the 2-hour pilot for an unsold television series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Gazzara, Ricardo Montalban, (more)
In $1,000,000 Duck, the titular duck is exposed to radiation and begins laying golden eggs, which brings it under the scrutiny of the treasury department, the FBI, and a gang of comic-opera crooks. The cast includes Disney perennials Dean Jones and Joe Flynn, with Sandy Duncan taking over the part usually assumed by someone like Michele Lee or Stefanie Powers. $1,000,000 Duck was directed by Vince McEveety. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sandy Duncan, Dean Jones, (more)
- 1968
Impressionable Cissy (Kathy Garver) is smitten by Karl Krug (Mark DeVries), a young bon vivant who happens to be the scion of an old and very wealthy Viennese family. When Karl proposes, Cissy accepts--but Bill refuses to give his consent. Will Cissy defy her Uncle and elope, or will she figure out (as the audience already has!) that there is a big, big difference between real love and youthful infatuation? Annette Cabot,the daughter of series regular Sebastian Cabot, appears in a small role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Blackbeard's Ghost was one of the first Disney productions released after Walt's death. Peter Ustinov stars as the eponymous wraith, who returns to Earth to come to aid of his descendant, elderly Elsa Lanchester. The villains want to kick Lanchester and her friends out of their group home so that they can build a crooked casino. Good guy Dean Jones evokes the spirit of Blackbeard to thwart the bad guys. The supporting cast ranges from Richard Deacon to Gil Lamb, while Peter Ellenshaw performs the visual effects with mattes, miniatures, and process screens. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Ustinov, Dean Jones, (more)
- 1967
In this WW II drama a naive group of men join the military to fight for their country, never anticipating the horrifying realities of war. One of them is mortified at first, but then turns into a heartless killer. His sergeant reprimands him for shooting a surrendering German. Later he proves himself worthy by risking his neck to save the sergeant. Afterwards the two become life-long friends. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Drury, Steve Carlson, (more)
Based on the same H.G. Wells story as his later Food of the Gods, this silly but good-looking fantasy from Bert I. Gordon is among his more entertaining films. The young Ron Howard plays Genius, who develops a substance which causes animals to grow to monstrous size. After eight kids (led by Beau Bridges and Tisha Sterling) crash their car in the mud, they dance and get drunk, then steal some food containing the growth-gunk, causing them to attain huge physical size as well. It's up to the good teens of the town (including Tommy Kirk, Johnny Crawford from The Rifleman, and "Mickey" crooner Toni Basil) to set things right. That involves a gas-like antidote and a lot of subpar musical numbers from the likes of Freddy Cannon and the Beau Brummels. Joseph Turkel and Rance Howard are also in the cast, and a jokey ending features a number of midgets including Felix Silla, best known as Cousin Itt on TV's The Addams Family. The first in a projected 13-picture production deal with Joseph E. Levine, Gordon followed this with the William Castle-inspired Picture Mommy Dead. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tommy Kirk, Johnny Crawford, (more)
- 1965
The Bradley girls are having problems casting their upcoming community play. The solution: Forget about human actors, and stage the production with an all-canine cast. But complications ensue when the girls' own dog (played by Higgins of "Benjy" fame) suddenly falls heir to $200--making him not only too expensive for the show, but also too "important" to be bothered. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
