Paul Marin Movies
- 1989
Jessica's nephew Grady Fletcher (Michael Horton) and his fiancée Donna Mayberry (Debbie Zipp) have decided to get married in the home of Donna's parents (Eugene Roche, Gale Storm). With Jessica (Angela Lansbury) on the guest list, can murder be far behind? Not likely: This time the victim is Mr. and Mrs. Mayberry's fanatically fastidious housekeeper, who is "done in" with her own meat thermometer! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1988
Still grieving over her miscarriage, Maddie (Cybill Shepherd) buries herself in her work, while David (Bruce Willis) ponders the option of leaving town. Among Maddie's many cases involves Joan Spring (Cristina Raines-Crowe), who is worried that she will lose her husband to his ex-wife. Once again, what starts off innocuously enough as a case of domestic discord quickly deepens into a murder investigation--two murders, in fact. This one ends with a perilous balloon chase (yes, a balloon chase!) high above the Mohave desert. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
Joan Collins and David Hasselhoff star in this made-for-TV comedy caper, in which a con artist who has just gotten out of jail. Curt Taylor (Hasselhoff) finds himself back in business when he becomes an assistant to glamorous film star Cartier Rand (Collins). Curt's primary interest in working with Cartier is the opportunity to get his hands on her world famous and highly-valuable collection of jewelry. In time, however, Curt finds himself attracted to Cartier, which will take a bit of explaining, since he informed Cartier's jealous fiancée that he was gay in order to win the job. The Cartier Affair also stars Telly Savalas, Charlies Napier, and Ed Lauter. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1981
Lindsay Wagner stars as Callie, who battles her way up the ladder from waitress to fabulously wealthy Texas socialite. The price for her success is her son Randy, played by Jameson Parker. Though wielding great power, Callie is nearly powerless in her efforts to keep Randy away from beautiful young schemer Michelle Pfeiffer. The film's many intrigues result in a sensational murder trial. Made for TV, Callie and Son was originally seen October 13, 1981. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Devastated when her brand-new husband Albert Brooks) drops dead on their wedding night, Jewish American princess Judy Benjamin (Goldie Hawn) is receptive to the pitch delivered by a duplicitous recruiter for the Women's Army Corps. Quickly adivsed by topkick Captain Lewis (Eileen Brennan) that she should not look forward to the private room, fancy clothes and sauna bath that she'd been promised, Judy is forced to go through basic training like any other "grunt". This turns out to be a real growth experience for the pampered Private Benjamin, who for the first time in her life has to work for her privileges. A brief misadventure with a lascivious paratroop officer (Robert Webber) nearly sours Judy on army life, but she turns out to be a darned good soldier-and a woman with a highly developed sense of self-esteem, which enables her to weather a further disappointing romantic fling with French phsycian Henri Tremont (Armand Assante). Private Benjamin turned out to be one of Goldie Hawn's most profitable vehicles. The 1981-82 TV sitcom spinoff starred Lorna Patterson in Goldie's role, with Eileen Brennan repeating her film characterization of the long-suffering Captain Lewis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Goldie Hawn, Eileen Brennan, (more)
- 1979
In the conclusion of a two-part story (originally telecast as a single "TV movie"), glamorous socialite Kendall Warren (Lauren Bacall) insists upon helping Jim (James Garner) track down the mysterious assailant who has been trying to kill her--and to find out why she has been thus targetted. This case hits a snag when the most likely suspect, gangster Tommy Minnette (Carmine Caridi), ends up murdered himself. And what has become of Princess Irene (Dana Wynter), the woman who hired Jim to protect Kendall in the first place? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
"Oh my God, that's my daughter." So read the advertising copy of Hardcore. George C. Scott plays Jake Van Dorn, a man of means and conservative values who discovers that his precious daughter is appearing in X-rated films. Desperately making his way through the sub-rosa world of pornography, Van Dorn talks to pimps, prostitutes, and other such sterling individuals in hopes of locating his daughter and dragging her home. At one point, he falsely advertises himself as a porn producer in hopes that his little girl will show up for an interview. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George C. Scott, Peter Boyle, (more)
Having lived his life as the gardener on a millionaire's estate, Chance (Peter Sellers) knows of the real world only what he has seen on TV. When his benefactor dies, Chance walks aimlessly into the streets of Washington D.C., where he is struck by a car owned by wealthy Eve Rand (Shirley MacLaine). Identifying himself, the confused man mutters "Chance...gardener," which Eve takes to be "Chauncey Gardiner." Eve takes him to her home to convalesce, and because Chance is so well-dressed and well-groomed, and because he speaks in such a cultured tone, everyone in her orbit assumes that "Chauncey Gardiner" must be a man of profound intelligence. No matter what he says, it is interpreted as a pearl of wisdom and insight. He rises to the top of Washington society, where his simplistic responses to the most difficult questions (responses usually related to his gardening experience) are highly prized by the town's movers and shakers. In fact, there is serious consideration given to running Chance as a presidential candidate. Both a modern fable and a political satire, Being There was based on the novel by Jerzy Kosinski and costars Melvyn Douglas, who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar as Eve's aging power-broker husband. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, (more)
- 1972
The IMF's mission: To retrieve a list of crooked public officials from fleeing vice lord Emil Gadsen (George Voskovec), and to utterly destroy both Gadsen and his boss Thor Coffin (Warren Stevens). The strategy: To convince Gadsen that he has a long-lost twin brother named Bruno. Future Hill Street Blues star Daniel J. Travanti, here billed as "Dan Travanty", plays a minor hood named Tony. Written by Sam Roeca and James L. Henderson, "Image" was first networkcast on January 15, 1972. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Graves, Greg Morris, (more)
- 1972
Several years before achieving stardom in the TV miniseries Rich Man--Poor Man, Peter Strauss is cast in this episode as temporarily paroled convict Bobby Jepson. Ordered to find a job during a 36-hour-pass or return to prison, Jepson runs headlong into a stone wall of prejudice and hostility, with only Detective Stone (Karl Malden) willing to give the man a break. But even Stone's compassion is sorely tested when Jepson is accused of murder--and the evidence seems air-tight and irrefutable. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1970
- R
Among a cliquish set of country club doctors and surgeons, it seems that sleeping around is the norm. Early in the film, however, one husband murders his promiscuous wife (Dyan Cannon) while she is in bed with a rather unlikely adulterer. The various alliances and rivalries in this close-knit community are further stressed as the murderous husband uses his knowledge of the community for a wide-ranging blackmail scheme. While the police investigate, the doctors who do open-heart surgery on their patients experience heart-rending situations themselves. The film has a large and distinguished cast of actors, including Richard Crenna, Dyan Cannon, Caroll O'Conner, Ralph Bellamy, Gene Hackman, John Colicos, Diana Sands and Janice Rule. The story is based on Doctors' Wives by Frank G. Slaughter. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dyan Cannon, Richard Crenna, (more)
- 1963
Having been repeatedly denied parole, imprisoned bootlegger Al Remp (J.D. Cannon) faces another setback when he is shunted off to Solitary. Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) figures that this is the right psychological moment to approach Remp with a deal. In exchange for a reduced sentence, Remp is to act as Ness' "undercover man" in the gang run by bootleg boss Fat Augie Strom (Peter Whitney). Remp does his job so well that before long he is Strom's right-hand man. Unfortunately, Remp has forgotten all about his arrangement with Ness...a lapse of judgment that will cost him dearly. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1963
From at least the 1930s on to the 1970s, the upbeat protestant minister, Reverend Norman Vincent Peale, ministered to the well-heeled and upwardly mobile of the United States from his pulpit at the Riverside church on Fifth Avenue in New York City. At least as positive-thinking as the similarly cheery Dale Carnegie (How To Win Friends and Influence People), his lift-yourself-by-your-bootstraps message of good cheer was perceived as unorthodox by many within the churches he grew up in. After many decades of preaching his message, summed up in his best-selling book The Power of Positive Thinking, he was enshrined as a sort of secular saint. His influence reached to Presidents and corporate heads, and his name became synonymous with a kind of extraverted wholesomeness which has long since vanished. This biopic traces his career in the most respectful possible manner. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Murray, Diana Hyland, (more)
- 1962
In his never-ending efforts to outmaneuver Elliot Ness (Robert Stack), bootlegger Joe Lassiter (J.D. Cannon) commissions architect Harry Gordon (Milton Selzer) to build a "Ness-proof" brewery. The finished product is perched atop a six-story warehouse, undetectable to anyone at street level. Though Ness finds out about the brewery, he curiously makes no move to put it out of business--and even provides supplies for the brewers. What exactly is Ness up to? And what will happen to the hapless Harry Gordon once he has outlived his usefulness? An ironic ending caps this fact-based yarn. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
