Art La Fleur Movies

Eleven years after the network cancellation of Gilligan's Island, the crew and passengers of the ill-fated S. S. Minnow returned to the small screen in Rescue from Gilligan's Island. The cast remains the same, with one significant change. Bob Denver plays inveterate bumbler Gilligan, Alan Hale is the long-suffering Skipper, Jim Backus and Natalie Schafer are the fabulously wealthy Mr. and Mrs. Thurston Howell III, Russell Johnson is the resourceful Professor, and Dawn Wells, as perky as ever, is Mary Ann. Tina Louise wanted no part of any Gilligan's Island reunion, so her role-perennial starlet Ginger Grant-is filled by Judith Baldwyn. The premise: a huge tidal wave transports the seven castaways back to civilization. While they're thrilled to be back in the real world, none of the seven are able to adjust to life outside the island....least of all Gilligan, who on top of all his other problems must contend with a pair of enemy agents (Vincent Schiavelli and Art LeFleur). Conceived as a two-hour pilot film for a weekly revival that never materialized, Rescue from Gilligan's Island was originally telecast in two ratings-grabbing 60 minute installments, shown on October 14 and 21, 1978. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Fran Drescher, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Tony Danza are the most notable aspects of this forgettable teen drama that features a gang of youths in a car club who decide to battle it out with the establishment in Beverly Hills. It seems their favorite haunt, the last drive-in restaurant in the neighborhood, has been forced to close. Their rebellion is marked by tactics that might be embarrassing to any serious rebels: they turn a high school banner into an X-rated statement, sabotage a police car, ruin a manicured garden, and urinate in a punch bowl. These shenanigans take place on Halloween in 1965, a time when practical jokes are usually in the hands of elementary school kids -- and that level of maturity is maintained here. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Hardly a person is now alive who does not remember the 1978 ecological disaster at the chemical-waste deposits in Love Canal, New York. This made-for-TV film stars Marsha Mason as housewife Lois Gibbs, who suspects that her children have fallen ill due to leakage of toxic waste at the nearby deposits. The New York State Department of Health closes down the elementary school, but for Lois and nearly 700 of her neighbors, this just isn't enough. Lois begins a loud and aggressive movement to force the United States Government to relocate the residents of Love Canal, and to reimburse them for the loss of their property. Robert Gunton co-stars as Lois' husband, who faces unemployment as the result of his wife's refusal to sit down and be quiet. Written for television by Michael Zagor, Lois Gibbs & the Love Canal had its broadcast premiere on February 17, 1982. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Robert Louis Stevenson's novel is satirized in this comedy about a scientist (Mark Blankfield) who is hopelessly addicted to his latest invention, a strange white powder. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Though Two of a Kind was hardly George Burns' television debut, it was his first dramatic TV appearance. Burns is cast as Ross "Boppy" Minor, who is shunted away to a nursing home by his unfeeling son-in-law Cliff Robertson. Robby Benson co-stars as Nolie Minor, Boppy's mentally retarded grandson. Both outcasts from "normal" society, Nolie and Boppy form a strong bond in this touching domestic drama. An Emmy Award went to songwriters James Di Pasquale and Dory Previn for their theme song "We'll Win the World." Two of a Kind first aired October 9, 1982. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ann-Margret is beyond praise in her TV movie debut as the real-life Lucile Frey. A poor, minimally educated rural Iowa mother, Lucile learns on the occasion of the birth of her tenth child in 1952 that she is dying of cancer. Reasoning that her husband (Frederic Forest) is not responsible enough to take care of her children on his own, Lucile takes upon herself the task of finding suitable foster parents for her soon-to-be motherless brood. Not as depressing as it might have been, Who Will Love My Children? closes with the implication that Lucile's children were able to retain their family ties even after being separated for 29 years. The real-life Frey children were showcased the same evening that Who Will Love My Children premiered (February 15, 1983) on an installment of the ABC TV series That's Incredible. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this sci-fi film, a journalist uses her new powers to find the guilty parties behind a million-dollar art theft. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This standard, tongue-in-cheek, gangsters and good guys saga is carried on the star power and screen presence of Clint Eastwood as Lt. Speer, a taciturn, tough, play-it-by-the-book cop, and on Burt Reynolds as Mike Murphy, Speer's old friend in the force, now turned private eye but still a captivating rogue at heart. With a sub-text of playing their well-known screen personas off each other, Eastwood and Reynolds provide more than a surface interpretation of the characters that made them famous. After Murphy's partner is murdered, he focuses on pitting one mob boss against another in an attempt to have both mobsters kill each other. In the meantime, Lt. Speer -- who has never approved of Murphy's private detective business -- does not really know if Murphy is for or against the two top gangsters. Set in the era of speakeasies and Prohibition, an added layer of "film noir" can be discerned under the complex plot, verbal repartée, and episodes of toned-down violence (a kind of parody in themselves). Although this may not be the best film either star has made, it is still interesting to see them together on screen. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a police officer finds himself in trouble after he is promoted to lieutenant and assigned to investigate the deaths of several ex-prostitutes and finds himself falling in love with a former madam. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this rather routine adaptation of the French hit, The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe, Richard (Tom Hanks) is a bicycling violinist who is innocently drawn into a nasty struggle for control of the CIA. Cooper (Dabney Coleman) is the unscrupulous current head honcho of the notorious U.S. agency, Ross (Charles Durning) is his nemesis, and Maddy (Lori Singer) works for Cooper. After Richard the violinist is forced into the picture, Maddy fights off an attraction to the rather dull man, and complications introduce enough gadgetry to fill a James Bond movie, almost. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This off-beat story combines elements of a science fiction adventure and World War II drama. A platoon of U.S. soldiers are surrounded by the enemy in Italy and are forced to fight their way back behind the lines to their troops. The platoon is populated by the usual characters: "Sarge" (Tim Thomerson) is not afraid of anything, Joey (Timothy Van Patten) has not totally left childhood behind him, and Dolan (Biff Manard) is an aggravating reporter out for a headline. When the soldiers encounter a spaceship on their way back to safety, the plot takes a 180 degree turn. Zone Troopers' novel premise is matched by the cast, who deliver good work throughout. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Filmed in Malta, this three-hour TV movie nailbiter was based on the novel The Gold Crew by Thomas M. Scortia and Frank M. Robinson. David Soul plays the commander of a Trident submarine, engaged in an test designed to measure the crew's psychological reaction to an actual nuclear missile launch. Only Soul and two other officers (Robert Conrad and Sam Waterston) know that the war alert is false; the crew is led to believe that the crisis is genuine. Unfortunately, toxic fumes from the newly painted mess hall trigger a psychotic reaction from most of the crew--and commander Soul. Now convinced that he's on the brink of war, the near-lunatic commander orders the firing of ship's live warhead, instead of the four dummy weapons designed for the test. Officers Conrad and Waterston race against time to avert World War III. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Originally telecast as a two-hour episode of ABC's Wonderful World of Disney anthology, Little Spies gets under way when a bunch of kids lose their adopted dog to the mean owner of a puppy kennel. Enter Jimmy the Hermit (Mickey Rooney), a reclusive WW2 hero who takes a shine to the youngsters. Harking back to his wartime experiences, Jimmy organizes the neighborhood kids into a "commando raid" of the kennel to rescue the pooch. The main characters are direct from the standard Disney stereotype manual, right down to the nerdish kid with glasses and the funny fat one. Little Spies first aired on October 5, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide