Patch MacKenzie Movies

Better known as It's Alive III, Island of the Alive details the further exploits of the murderous mutant infants introduced in director Larry Cohen's It's Alive! (1974). Said infants are shipped off to a desert island, where they are completely cut off from civilization. The government intends to eliminate the penned-up infants, but Michael Moriarty, the father of one of the babies, organizes a protest against this wholesale slaughter. It is clear to anyone who can read that director Cohen is drawing parallels between the quarantined children and society's treatment of AIDS victims. The strength of Cohen's direction and storytelling prowess is slightly weakened by some inadequate special effects in the closing scenes, wherein the babies reproduce and wreak havoc on the Mainland. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this romantic drama, a lonely teacher rents seaside Grecian villa and finds herself falling in love with her handsome, widowed landlord. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

While ghostwriting the autobiography of eccentric, reclusive millionaire Harold W. Farber, Virginia Fowler (Patch Mackenzie) finds that all her research notes have been stolen. Magnum is hired to find out why Virginia has been thus victimized--and along the way, he discovers that a seemingly unrelated delivery job accepted by T.C. (Roger Mosley Jr.) may provide the solution to several mysteries. Veteran movie bad guyElisha Cook Jr., who later joined the Magnum, P.I. cast in the recurring role of shady businessman "Ice Pick", is here seen as Harold W. Farber...or is he? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

There are no cliff-hanging moments in Serial, but there's plenty of laughs in this trenchant comedy comment on 1970s lifestyles. Martin Mull plays the father of a Marin County family that succumbs to every silly fad coming down the pike. Mull tries to distance himself from his family's idiocies, but it's always the man who pays the piper. The film, based on a collection of newspaper essays by Cyra McFadden, is neatly tied up with a Capraesque ending allowing Mull to finally prevail. Some of the best moments involves Mull's tiltings with his trend-happy neighbor Bill Macy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Recently widowed Dr. Nichols (Walter Matthau) finds himself ill at ease in re-entering the singles scene. Then he meets Ann Atkinson (Glenda Jackson), a patient recuperating from a jaw operation. Freshly divorced from a philandering spouse, Jackson is as reluctant to inaugurate a lasting commitment as Walter--but inaugurate they do, in a hilarious scene wherein Jackson and Walter try to emulate those romantic couples in 1930s movies who were forced by the censors to keep one foot on the floor while lying in bed. It is Jackson who encourages Matthau to stand up for his ideals during a lawsuit involving senile head physician Dr. Willoughby (Art Carney, who is unbearably funny at times). Richard Benjamin rounds off the cast of polished farceurs who add so much sparkle to House Calls. The film was later adapted into a TV sitcom starring Wayne Rogers in the Matthau role, Lynn Redgrave (and later Sharon Gless) in the Jackson counterpart, and David Wayne as a less aphasiatic version of the Carney character. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Goodbye Norma Jean purports to be a biography of the early years of Norma Jean Baker (Misty Rowe), who would later attain fame in Hollywood as the blonde sex goddess Marilyn Monroe. The film begins in 1941 as Norma Jean is brutally raped by a highway patrolman who stopped her for speeding. After winning a local beauty pageant, Norma Jean continues to experience a succession of low-life sexual encounters that pave the way to Hollywood stardom. The ironic take of the film is that Norma Jean's series of degrading sexual experiences caused her to dislike sex throughout her life while, ironically, attesting to her sensual allure in Hollywood films. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

The station house is plagued by a series of false alarms which seriously compromise the team's ability to handle genuine emergencies. Among the culprits is an old coot who pretends to be suffering from back pains so he can get a free ambulance ride. In other developments, an angry viewer suffers the consequences when he kicks his TV screen; a young person OD's on drugs; and a heart attack victim may never make it to the hospital thanks to a traffic accident. Among the guest stars in this episode are Hollywood veteran Keenan Wynn and future Hill Street Blues costar Michael Conrad. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide