Cec Linder Movies
Cec Linder was born in Poland, began his acting career in his adopted country of Canada, then established himself by playing American characters in British films. The actor's most famous movie role was James Bond's CIA counterpart Felix Leiter in 1965's Goldfinger. From 1960 through 1964, Linder portrayed Peter Ames on the CBS TV soap opera The Secret Storm, and later replaced William Prince in the role of Ben Travis on The Edge of Night. Shortly before his death at the age of 61, Cec Linder essaying the recurring part of a district attorney in several of the American made-for-TV Perry Mason feature films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Producer/director Melvin Frank struck box-office gold when he teamed George Segal with Glenda Jackson in A Touch of Class. Segal plays married insurance executive Steve Blackburn, who can't seem to avoid bumping into divorced fashion designer Vicki Allessio (Glenda Jackson) wherever he goes. Finally bowing to the inevitable, Steve and Vicki fall in love. He suggests a romantic rendezvous in Spain...but nothing, absolutely nothing, goes as planned. A comedy of errors ending on an unexpected note of pathos, A Touch of Class was nominated for four Academy Awards, and earned Glenda Jackson a Best Actress Oscar. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Segal, Glenda Jackson, (more)
- 1977
Veterans and war-sympathizers get angry when a Canadian professor begins speaking out with his pacifist ideals shortly after World War II. The tension rises as threats and violence soon erupt. ~ All Movie Guide
Made up to look like a septuagenarian, Henry Winkler plays Benedict Slade, a Scrooge-like miser living in a tiny New England town during the Depression. Slade goes Scrooge one further by repossessing items from a poor farm couple and an orphanage on Christmas eve. While reading a copy of Dickens' The Christmas Carol in his home, Slade is visited by his own set of Spirits Past, Present and Future, including his Hell-dwelling late business partner (Kenneth Pogue). Lensed in Canada, this made-for-TV film premiered the week before Christmas of 1979. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Burt Lancaster stars as Lou, an aging mob flunkey, barely making a living in Atlantic City. Susan Sarandon plays Sally, a casino croupier whose husband Dave (Robert Joy) steals a large supply of drugs from the mob. When he is killed, the narcotics pass to the unwilling Sally. Lou, in the midst of longtime affair with middle-aged gangster's widow Grace (Kate Reid), falls for the much younger Sally, becoming her savior by killing the mob thugs sent to shut her up. The killings serve a therapeutic value for Lou, proving that he hasn't lost his old panache. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Lancaster, Susan Sarandon, (more)
- 1988
This Canadian made-for-TV movie was originally telecast under the title Skate. Should give you a clue as to its content, yes? no? Under any name, the film is a prosaic biopic of Olympic skating-star Lori Larouche. Lynn Nightingale plays the leading role, while the real Lori is seen in longshot. Blades of Courage premiered in the US on cable television. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Jorgens, Jorgito Vargas Jr., (more)
- 1989
This made-for-TV film represented the first speaking role for hearing-impaired actress Marlee Matlin. A happy wife and mother, Matlin is grief-stricken when her husband is killed in a car accident. Still not fully recovered after several weeks, Matlin must rely on her mother Lee Remick to care for her young daughter. Matlin puts her life back together by joining a theatre troupe comprised of deaf actors, one of whose members is played by Phyllis Frelich, who originated the role in the Broadway version of Children of a Lesser God that Marlee Matlin played in the film version (and won an Academy Award in the process). The film's climax is dictated by Lee Remick's efforts to gain full legal custody of Matlin's daughter. Bridge to Silence was first telecast April 9, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1986
Christmas Eve was actually first telecast on December 22, 1986, but nobody cared about the "error" then, so why should we? Making her first television appearance in 23 years, Loretta Young (her ageless beauty undimmed by her silvery hair) plays a wealthy New York matriarch who learns that she is dying. This strengthens her determination to be reunited with her three grandchildren, whom she hasn't seen in 16 years thanks to a bitter argument with her avaricious son Arthur Hill. As Hill wages a court campaign to have Young declared incompetent and thus get his mitts on her millions, private eye Ron Leibman races against time to locate her lost grandkids before Christmas. Do you honestly think you'll get through Christmas Eve without a box of Kleenex handy? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1978
- R
City on Fire, a disaster thriller filmed in Canada with dialogue in both French and English, tells the story of an oil-refinery explosion in a small town. Dr. Frank Whitman (Barry Newman) and his co-workers, including Nurse Harper (Shelley Winters) and Dr. Matwick (Donald Pilon), fight bravely to save the victims even when they, themselves are endangered by the fire. The film also features cameos by Ava Gardner and Henry Fonda. The film moves at a fast pace and creates a great deal of suspense as the fire closes in on the survivors. Director Alvin Rakoff uses creativity instead of a big budget and, aided by the splendid cinematography of Rene Verzier, succeeds in creating an exciting disaster film. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barry Newman, Susan Clark, (more)
In this thriller, a group of young professionals decides to play a practical joke on one of their ex-girlfriends who married a rich man who is about to close a major real estate deal. They will kidnap her and mess up the deal. Unfortunately, the joke becomes deadly serious when someone gets killed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stephen Young, Susan Keller, (more)
- 1960
Three stars appear in two separate but intertwined stories of romantic triangles gone wrong in this ambitious drama. In the first segment, Hagolin (Orson Welles) is a loutish construction worker with an unhappy wife, Eponine (Juliette Greco). The wife becomes involved with a swarthy working man, Larnier (Bradford Dillman), and their passion knows no boundaries of caution or safety. Eventually, Eponine's and Larnier's lust drives them to madness, and they murder Hagolin. The second tale concerns an up-and-coming young lawyer, Claude (Dillman), whose mentor is a highly successful veteran attorney, Lamerciere (Welles), with a beautiful young wife named Florence (Greco). Claude finds himself defending Larnier and Eponine, while Lamerciere dies of a heart attack after he discovers that Florence has been unfaithful to him with Claude. Producer Darryl F. Zanuck also wrote the screenplay, under the pen name Mark Canfield. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Orson Welles, Juliette Greco, (more)
- 1986
This TV-movie was based on a true story of criminal culpability in the ecological crisis. Alan Arkin stars as an ex-convict hired in 1972 by smooth-talking Armand Assante, who runs a successful garbage disposal business. Even when Arkin finds out that Assante is a functionary of the mob, he chooses to look the other way and count his money. But within six years, it is obvious that the toxic waste dumped by Assante's firm is destroying the atmosphere. Arkin becomes an FBI informant--only to discover how deeply ingrained and how high up the social and political scale the corruption really is. Deadly Business manages the neat trick of being politically correct and entertaining all at once. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
Canadian actress Kate Reid plays a lady p.i. in Death Among Friends. Kate is hired to solve the murder of a multimillionaire financier. As tipped off by the title, she need look no farther than the dead man's circle of friends. Refreshingly, both the heroine and her police contact, John Anderson, are well into middle age, rather than being depicted as mindless hunks of cheese- and beefcake. Intended as the pilot for a weekly series, Death Among Friends was first telecast May 20, 1975. The film was later syndicated as Mrs. R-Death Among Friends. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1969
- R
In this timely melodrama, a young man encounters psychological problems when he tries to deal with his brother's death. Alan Evans (Gordon Thomson) seeks counseling when his brother Peter (Robin Ward) is killed in Vietnam. Their pompous and patriotic father (Cec Linder) talks the boy into fulfilling his military obligations that result in his ultimate demise. The troubled Alan goes to Vancouver to escape the fate of his brother. Dr. Neal (Richard Conte) is the dedicated psychiatrist who tries to help Alan deal with his feelings of helplessness and rage. Alan meets Richie Kovacs (Don Stroud), the expatriate draft dodger who carries a grudge against society and is not afraid to reveal his open hostilities, and the two take different paths in dealing with their problems. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Stroud, Michelle Chicoine, (more)
- 1980
Jason Robards stars as the ailing, 62-year-old President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in F.D.R.: The Last Year. Though visibly frail and weary, Roosevelt runs for a precedent-setting fourth term. He also oversees plans for the D-Day Invasion and engages in tempestuous summit meetings with his wartime allies Stalin (Nehemiah Persoff) and Churchill (Wensley Pithey). Eileen Heckart co-stars as Eleanor Roosevelt, while Kim Hunter plays his "great and good friend," artist Lucy Rutherfurd, who is at his side when he suffers his fatal cerebral hemorrhage in April of 1945. The 3-hour, made-for-TV F.D.R.: The Last Year was first telecast May 15, 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
In his TV-movie debut, Jerry Lewis plays Dr. Abrams, an Ohio optometrist, whose beloved 6-year-old daughter (Jaclyn Bernstein) falls victim to a rare form of epilepsy. The traditional means to keep the girl's seizures under control fail to work, putting a strain on the Abram's (Lewis and Patty Duke Astin) marriage. The couple then learns of a little-known drug called sodium valporate, which has had salutary effects upon epileptics in Britain. Unfortunately, the drug has not been approved for use in the United States; thus, by utilizing the drug to save their child from agony, the Abrams are in effect breaking the law. The cause celebre that follows forms the nucleus of Scott Nisor and Tom Nesi's fact-based screenplay. Essaying a rare dramatic role, Jerry Lewis is excellent: in fact, he's much more credible than Barry Morse as the doctor who develops the miracle drug. Fight for Live was first telecast March 23, 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
In this western a half-Sioux cavalry officer tries to mediate between settlers and the angry Sioux. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
With Goldfinger, the James Bond series took a turn away from relatively straightforward spy thrillers and toward campy gadgetry, extravagant sets, and kitschy jokes. Bond (Sean Connery) has to prevent a notorious gold smuggler, appropriately named Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe), from robbing Fort Knox. Goldfinger is surrounded by evil henchmen such as the sexy female pilot Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman) and Oddjob (Harold Sakata), who kills with his steel-rimmed bowler hats. In order to stop Goldfinger, Bond has to survive several perilous situations, including a huge, deadly laser. Goldfinger is one of the most popular films in the James Bond series, and it set the tone not only for the rest of the series but also for most of the action/adventure films of the late '60s and early '70s. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Connery, Gert Fröbe, (more)
- 1984
Successfully sustaining its dramatic intensity for 150 minutes, Heartsounds was adapted by Fay Kanin from the autobiographical best-seller by Martha Weiman Lear. James Garner stars as Mrs. Lear's husband, Manhattan urologist Harold Lear. At 53, Lear suffers a debilitating heart attack. His recovery is hampered by a second attack, which necessitates a double-bypass operation. Though the surgery is successful, its long-ranging effects leave Lear with brain damage and a scant few months to live. With the support of his wife Martha (Mary Tyler Moore), who battles tooth and nail with hospital staffers to make certain that her husband receives the best care possible, Lear endeavors to make every moment of his last days on earth count. Originally telecast September 30, 1984, Heartsounds was produced by Norman Lear, the real-life cousin of Dr. Harold Lear. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Tyler Moore, James Garner, (more)
- 1985
- R
In this frothy drama, the "heavenly bodies" belong to Samantha (Cynthia Dale), a woman determined to open a dance instruction school, and the people who come to learn dance there. Once the deserted warehouse-cum-dance-studio is refurbished, Cynthia's first class already has as much finesse as Fred Astaire at his apogee, so when Cynthia's ideal world is threatened by the owner of a rival health club, it is fairly easy for her students to come to the rescue with their deft dance routines. Life never seems to delve much below the balletic, athletic, or aerobic surface as the adventures of Cynthia, and her students continue along a self-absorbed course. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cynthia Dale, Richard Rebiere, (more)
- 1978
- PG
Peter Fonda and Jerry Reed star as truckers pitted against a rival big-rig boss who wants them off the highway. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Fonda, Jerry Reed, (more)
- 1990
This made-for-cable speculative fantasy centers on the illegitimate daughter of Adolf Hitler, who grows up to become a candidate for the United States Presidency. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1978
In this crime drama, set in 1975 and based on a true story from Toronto, Canada, the different ways in which a prominent realtor may have had his wife brutally murdered are presented. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elke Sommer, Donald Pilon, (more)
- 1973
- PG
Innocent Bystanders stars Stanley Baker as a Bondlike British secret service agent. In collaboration with fellow spies Geraldine Chaplin and Dana Andrews, Baker is sent behind the Iron Curtain to locate a Russian scientist who has escaped from Siberia. There's a likelihood that the scientist was permitted to escape so that he can spy on the Good Guys. Baker must decide if the escapee is to be rescued or eliminated. The level of sadism and bloodshed in Innocent Bystanders is such that at times it makes the James Bond films look like models of decorum. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stanley Baker, Geraldine Chaplin, (more)
