Michael Lerner Movies

This TV movie was the longest--and dullest--of the three filmizations of George Brewer Jr. and Bertram Block's play Dark Victory. Elizabeth Montgomery stars as a successful TV producer (an heiress in the original play) who suffers from headaches. Her doctor (Anthony Hopkins) knows that the ailment is an incurable brain tumor, but at first he keeps this information a secret from the producer. When she learns the truth, she is bitter and resentful, but before walking gently into the Hereafter she falls in love with and marries the doctor. The 1939 Bette Davis Dark Victory wrapped this up in 106 minutes; the 1963 Susan Hayward remake, Stolen Hours, lasted only 100 minutes. Elizabeth Montgomery's Dark Victory is stretched out over two and one-half hours...and when it's all over, she's just as dead as Davis and Hayward (The Montgomery version was later pared down to 90 minutes, only a minor improvement). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Producer Stephen Cannell may have had James Garner in mind for the TV movie Scott Free, but what he got was Michael Brandon. Brandon plays Tony Scott, a suave confidence artist who pulls one scam too many and nearly ends up in federal prison. The feds offer to cut a deal: They'll drop the charges if Tony will get the goods on a mafia chieftain. The ending indicates that Mr. Scott will be called upon to do a little dirty work for the government in the future. The networks and sponsors had other ideas, and refused to underwrite a Scott Free series on the basis of this pilot film; in fact, the scheduled first broadcast of Scott Free, on September 13, 1976, was bumped by NBC in favor of the 1957 Steve Reeves epic Hercules! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Based on the 1976 autobiography My Luke and I by Eleanor Gehrig and Joseph Durso, Love Affair: The Eleanor & Lou Gehrig Story provides a slightly different slant on the events previously dramatized on film as Pride of the Yankees (1942). The story is told in flashback from the point of view of the wife of baseball's "Iron Man". Sitting in a deserted Yankee stadium, Eleanor (Blythe Danner) relates her tale to her biographer Joseph Durso (Robert Burr). She recalls how she met the painfully shy ballplayer Lou Gehrig (Edward Herrmann) on a blind date in 1933. She remembers her battle of wills with Lou's domineering and possessive mother (played with a nearly impenetrable foreign accent by Patricia Neal), and her 1934 elopement with her "Luke." Other memories include the New York Yankees' goodwill trip to Japan, where relationships became strained between teammates Gehrig and Babe Ruth (Ramon Bieri). Also recalled is the fact that Lou played 2130 consecutive games (a record was only recently broken by Cal Ripken Jr.). Eleanor's story ends inevitably with Lou's slow death from amyotropic lateral sclerosis. In summing up, Eleanor insists that despite the tragic final years, she wouldn't have traded her short time as Mrs. Lou Gehrig for anything. Edward Herrmann took pride in the fact that his portrayal of Lou Gehrig won the unqualified praise of the real Eleanor (though Herrmann learned to bat southpaw for the role, he is seen actually playing baseball only once) Originally scheduled for broadcast on October 9, 1977, the made-for-TV Love Affair was bumped by a World Series playoff game; it was rescheduled for January 15, 1978--smack dab opposite the Super Bowl. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A musician discovers that there's no such thing as bad publicity when a murder charge makes him a star in this comedy-drama. Bobby Ogden (Peter Fonda) is an ex-con trying to go straight and build a career as a country and western singer. Bobby gets the opportunity to show off some of his tunes to Nashville star Garland Dupree (James Callahan), but Garland takes Bobby's best song, "Outlaw Blues," and puts his own name to it. Suddenly Bobby's tune is a hit, with the struggling writer getting no credit (and no royalties). An understandably angry Bobby confronts Garland, and when Garland is found shot dead shortly afterward, Bobby becomes the prime suspect. Bobby is innocent, but hardly anyone believes this outside of Garland's back-up singer Tina Waters (Susan St. James). Bobby and Tina hit the road together, and the wanted man becomes an underground hero as Bobby climbs both the Billboard charts and the "Most Wanted" list. Peter Fonda does his own singing in Outlaw Blues, and he croons half a dozen tunes, including three written for the film by Hoyt Axton. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Producer/director Mel Stuart, who'd previously worked with David L. Wolper on the historical-recreation series Appointment with Destiny, applies the same docudrama techniques to the feature length Ruby and Oswald. Framed in the form of a documentary, the film recounts the days just prior to the Kennedy assassination, then traces the events leading to the fatal confrontation between Jack Ruby and Lee Harvey Oswald. There is a smattering of "conspiracy" speculation, but the script generally sticks to the known facts. The dramatized recreations are interspersed with actual footage of the dark days in November, including JFK's funeral. Made for TV, Ruby and Oswald has been rereleased as Four Days in Dallas. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this film, the whereabouts of a runaway teenage girl are sought by a Las Vegas detective (Robert Urich), whose investigation uncovers more than he bargained for. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi

Comedy falls as flat as a blowout in this film by Joseph Sargent about a down-to-earth trucker (Robert Blake) and the rich and looney witch (Dyan Cannon) he is forced to take on a haul from New York to L.A. Madie (Cannon) is running away from her money-grubbing husband who is conniving to get the most inexpensive divorce he can. Charlie (Blake) the trucker is under pressure from a ruthless creditor and is in desperate need of cash. As the mismatched duo continues in a stressful journey across country, sparks fly but fail to ignite much of anything along the way. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Charles Bronson switches from his traditional role as a vigilante to playing an actual lawman in this crime drama. Jeb Maynard (Bronson) is a border patrol agent who is trying to stem the tide of illegal aliens from Mexico into the United States. Jeb is hot on the trail of Hotchkiss (Ed Harris), a "coyote" who brings illegals into the United States for a hefty price and with little concern for their safety. But while Jeb is sworn to keep illegal immigrants out of America, he finds his relationship with Elena Morales (Karmin Murcelo) becoming more than professional. Elena is an illegal alien who wants to cooperate with Jeb by leading him to Hotchkiss, who smuggled her into the United States. But businesslike Jeb soon finds that the plight of Elena and her young son, who are desperate to build a better life for themselves, has touched a soft spot inside him. While the story may sound similar to the Tony Richardson/Jack Nicholson picture The Border, Borderline actually preceded it by two years. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In this made-for-TV farce, the urban phenomenon of the traffic jam and the effect it has on the lives of the participants is examined. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi

Donald Sutherland plays a brilliant surgeon who becomes a media celebrity after performing an artificial-heart transplant. Jeff Goldblum, inventor of the ersatz heart, likewise basks in the glow of sudden fame. The only person to have reservations about the procedure is heart recipient Mare Winningham, who becomes depressed over the knowledge that she's not altogether human. Several ethical questions are raised and left unresolved; the film assumes that the audience is intelligent and perceptive enough to draw its own conclusions. Released in Canada in 1981, Threshold was not offered an American distribution until after the Barney Clark heart transplant of 1983. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A high school class reunion turns bloody when a former student seeks revenge on his classmates in this black comedy. That mayhem would strike this 20-year reunion seems preordained, given that the name of the school is Lizzie Borden High. Little did anyone expect, however, that this trouble would come from Walter Baylor (Blackie Dammett), a social outcast who was the victim of a humiliating senior year practical joke. Now, two decades later, Baylor has escaped from a mental institution to kill off his tormenters one by one. Class Reunion was the first produced screenplay by John Hughes, a National Lampoon writer who would eventually find a highly successful career as a writer, director, and producer of teen-oriented movies. His debut was exceptionally inauspicious, however, as the film's uncertain mixture of gore and low comedy was met with critical derision and audience indifference. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi

This is a made-for-TV bio about the film star Rita Hayworth. Lynda Carter stars as the legendary star. ~ Rovi