S. John Launer Movies

Billionaire Boys Club is the two-part TV adaptation of a book by Sue Horton (unpublished at the time of the film's first telecast). In flashback form, the story recounts the murder of Beverly Hills con artist Ron Levin (Ron Silver). The culprit is yuppie Joe Hunt (Judd Nelson), a sharp young commodities trader who has organized an investment firm with several of his prep school buddies, known as the Billionaire Boys Club. Part one, originally telecast November 8, 1987, traces Hunt's meteoric rise to wealth and power, and the means by which Levin worms his way into Hunt's confidence. In part two, shown the next evening, Hunt has already murdered Levin and carefully disposed of the body. The next step of the scheme is take over where Levin left off by conning an Iranian millionaire out of a huge sum of money. Meanwhile, other members of the Club begin to have qualms over Hunt's finagling. Their whistle-blowing leads to Hunt's arrest and convinction for murder. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

First telecast by CBS on October 12, 1977, the made-for-TV A Girl Called Hatter Fox was adapted from a novel by Marilyn Harris. Joanelle Nadine Romero plays the title character, a sullen 17-year-old Navajo orphan girl who has been sent to a New Mexico reformatory. Endeavoring to save Hatter from a bleak future, dedicated doctor Teague Summer (Ronny Cox) butts up against the intractability of ancient Indian superstitions and sorcery, not to mention the girl's own "born loser" mindset. A Girl Called Hatter Fox has been syndicated under the title Lost Legacy. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The inspiration for the made-for-TV movie was an actual event which occurred in June of 1973. A crew of four sinks in a minisub off the Florida coast. As half the nation (apprised of the disaster by TV and radio) holds its breath, a daring rescue mission is organized. Lee J. Cobb and Martin Balsam are among the rescuers. Paul Michael Glaser, Joshua Bryant, Cliff Potts and Roger Kern are the helpless rescuees. Trapped Beneath the Sea was telecast fifteen months after the real-life crisis was resolved. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Police Captain Matthews (George Peppard) believes he has successfully pinned a murder and rape conviction on Paul Sanderson (Robert F. Lyons) only to have the sentence overturned by the United States Supreme Court. When his wife Adele (Jean Seberg) is found murdered, Matthews finds himself on the other side of the law. The disillusioned suspect finds that his police cronies and friends have turned their backs on him, particularly when Senator Cole (Paul McGrath) goes on a much-publicized tirade against crime. Woodrow Wilson King (Richard Kiley) is the civil libertarian who has doubts about Sanderson's insanity defense and uncovers information about his sadistic alcoholic mother who lead him to become a murderous misogynist. Matthews feels something is not quite right when his police colleagues are all too eager to pin the crime on him in this engaging murder mystery. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Acting on a tip from an ex-convict (who is promptly shot down!), the FBI heads to a motel in order to capture Scott Martin, a dangerous criminal known as "The Iceman." Unfortunately, Martin is currently stage-managing a major bank heist, and to make certain that he is left alone he has taken a 10-year-old boy (Peter Robbins) hostage. This places the FBI in a standoff situation with Martin, who has used this hostage-taking technique before--and has never left anyone alive. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

So far as the authorities are concerned, Dr. Stacey Fielding (George Wallace) died in a plane crash while flying to Salt Lake City--and the cause of death was not the crash but a heavy dose of poison. As the last person to see Dr. Fielding alive, his wife Miriam (Jeanne Cooper) is the most likely murder suspect, but she is cleared thanks to attorney Perry Mason (Raymond Burr). End of story? No way! After Miriam's day in court, Perry finds out that the man who died in Dr. Fielding's plane was actually mechanic Al Dolby (John Goddard)--and that Fielding may have faked his death in order to run off with his sexy nurse! This episode is based on Erle Stanley Gardner's "Perry Mason" novel The Case of the Fugitive Nurse, which was previously filmed under that title in 1958. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Aspiring folksinger Amy Jo Jennings (Bonnie Jones) is not only incredibly naïve, but also incredibly rich, thanks to the profits of her family's "home remedy" firm. Shifty promoter Harry Bronson (Robert H. Harris) hopes to capitalize on both Amy Jo's naivete and wealth by offering her a starring role in a touring musical production--provided she invests $50,000 in the show. When she finally realizes she's being duped, Amy Jo heads to a wild party to confront Bronson, only to find that he's been murdered and she's the principal suspect. Among those "grilled" by Amy Jo's attorney Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) is a weird character named Jazzbo, played by the estimable Gary Crosby. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Accused by Vera Wynne (Jeanne Bal) of embezzling $200,000 from the So-Cal Investment Company, executive Clyde Darrell (Linden Chiles) hires Paul Drake (William Hopper) to expose the real crook, who is also suspected of leaking secret trading informaton to the firm's rival. Paul is able to identify the "leaker" but not the embezzler--and it begins to look REALLY bad for Darrell when Vera is murdered. Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) agrees to handle the man's defense, even though Darrell is convinced that he really is the murderer! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Despite the efforts of detective Paul Drake (William Hopper) to protect a secret desalinization process developed by Tryon Labs, the formula is pirated by a rival company. Working undercover for Tryon's head man Dr. Malcolm Scranton (Gilbert Green), Horace Lehigh (Bryan O'Byrne) is on the verge of revealing the identity of the person responsible for the security leak when he is drowned in a chemical vat. Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) ends up defending Dr. Todd Meade (Grant Williams), who apparently had both motive and opportunity to murder Lehigh. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Condemned as being a "disappointing" and "unworthy" Alfred Hitchcock effort at the time of its release, Marnie has since grown in stature; it is still considered a lesser Hitchcock, but a fascinating one. Tippi Hedren plays Marnie, a compulsive thief who cannot stand to be touched by any man. She also goes bonkers over the sight of the color red. Her new boss, Mark Rutland (Sean Connery) is intrigued by Marnie -- to such an extent that he blackmails her into marriage when he stumbles onto her breaking into his safe. Rutland is in his own way as "sick" as his wife because of his fetishist desire to cohabit with a thief. After innumerable plot twists and turns, Marnie is "cured" by a facile but mesmerizing flashback sequence involving her ex-hooker mother (Louise Latham). Among the critical carps aimed at Marnie was the complaint that the studio-bound sets -- particularly the waterfront locale where the film ends -- were tacky and artificial; curiously, this seeming "carelessness" adds to the queasy, off-setting mood that Hitchcock endeavored to sustain. Even when the direction seems to falter, the film is buoyed by the driving musical score of Bernard Herrmann (his last for Hitchcock). Among the supporting actors in Marnie are Mariette Hartley as a secretary and Bruce Dern as a sailor; twelve years later, Dern would star in Hitchcock's final film, Family Plot. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Austin Lloyd (Gerald Mohr) is convinced that his business partner Dwight Garrett (Douglas Henderson) is stealing money from their firm--and worse, that Garrett is fooling around with Lloyd's wife Bonnie (Gloria Talbott). To get even, Lloyd first tries to frame Garrett for embezzlement, then fakes an attempt on his life so that both Garrett and Bonnie will be charged with attempted murder. That charge is immediately bumped up to murder in the first degree when Lloyd is killed for real--and Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) has two clients on his hands. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

After a brief flirtation with the 60-minute form, Twilight Zone wisely returned to its original half-hour format with the first episode of the series' fifth season, "In Praise of Pip." Upon learning that his beloved son Pip is dying in a field hospital in South Vietnam, two-bit bookie Max Philips (Jack Klugman) suddenly experiences an epiphany -- which earns him a bullet in the gut from a disgruntled gangster. The wounded Max stumbles into a deserted amusement park, where he is met by the younger version of his boy Pip. Expressing his undying love for his son, Max begs the Powers Above to spare the grown-up Pip's life, as the younger version begins fading into the void. Billy Mumy and Bobby Diamond share the role of the eponymous Pip. Written by Rod Serling, "In Praise of Pip" originally aired September 27, 1963. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Celebrated actor Miles Crawford (Richard Basehart) has retired from show business to become a lawyer. As luck would have it, his first case is to defend his own son Tod (Teno Pollick), who has been accused of murder. Arranging for another lawyer to prepare the case, Crawford stages the performance of a lifetime in court, convinced that his emotional histrionics will completely sway the jury -- and he might have done just that...if his final summation had not had a curiously familiar ring to it. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi