Herb Ellis Movies

It's "A Christmas Carol," Sanford and Son-style, as the friends and family of stingy Fred Sanford (Redd Foxx) try to imbue our curmudgeonly hero with the Christmas spirit. Naturally, Fred is resistant to these efforts until he has a dream, replete with the ghosts of Christmases Past, Present, and Future (who look awfully familiar to Fred -- and to us). Former child actor Marc Copage (of Julia fame) appears as the younger "Fredsie." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Frequent Bewitched supporting actor Steve Franken shows up on this occasion in the role of Samantha's prankish cousin Henry. Accompanying Sam and Tabitha on a shopping trip, Henry causes trouble not only for his loved ones but also an overenthusiastic salesman named Joey Hinkley Jr. (Jonathan Daly), who ends up transformed into a mannequin. Future Partridge Family regular Dave Madden is cast as Fred, while LA Rams player Jack Snow appears as himself, uniform and all. First telecast on April 17, 1969, "Samantha's Shopping Spree" was written by Richard Baer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Peter Sellers plays a bumbling foreigner once again (but this time he's not from France) in this cult-favorite comedy. Hrundi V. Bakshi (Peter Sellers) is an accident-prone actor from India who has come to California, hoping to make a name for himself in Hollywood movies. However, Bakshi quickly makes the wrong impression on producer C.S. Divot (Gavin MacLeod) and studio chief Fred Clutterbuck (J. Edward McKinley) when he accidentally blows up the set for his first film. Clutterbuck jots down Bakshi's name to remind himself to have the actor blacklisted, but he doesn't realize that he's put the name on the guest list for an upcoming party at his home. Bakshi sees the social event as an opportunity to get back in Clutterbuck's good graces, but from the moment he arrives, one thing after another goes wrong, with increasing effect; it doesn't help that he finds himself infatuated with Michele Monet (Claudine Longet), Divot's latest starlet discovery. Director Blake Edwards shot The Party with a minimal script to allow Peter Sellers and the other comic actors greater room for slapstick improvisation, which helps explain why many of the film's most memorable scenes feature little or no dialogue. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Ex-lawman turned rancher Jed Cooper (Clint Eastwood) is moving a small herd of cattle when a group of nine men on horseback, led by Captain Wilson (Ed Begley Sr.), ride up and accuse him of having stolen the cattle and killed their owner. Refusing to believe his account, they string him up by the neck and leave him for dead, but they don't do the job right. Cooper is dangling there, barely alive, a few minutes later when Deputy U.S. Marshal Bliss (Ben Johnson) spots him and cuts him down. He survives the next few days in Bliss' tumbleweed wagon with the other prisoners, and is later cleared of any wrongdoing and released by Judge Fenton (Pat Hingle), just in time to witness the hanging of the man who really murdered the owner of the cattle and took Cooper's money. Cooper still wants revenge on the nine men who tried to hang him, but Fenton insists that he leave the bringing of them to justice to his deputy marshals. As it happens, Fenton is in desperate need of deputy marshals for the territory that he oversees, and he also knows that Cooper was a good lawman. Cooper, in turn, is now broke and in need of a job, and does want to see justice done. They strike an uneasy bargain, Cooper agreeing to wear a badge and bring in the men he's looking for -- alive -- for trial. The latter proves easier said than done, however, when the first of them that he spots tries to draw on him when he makes the arrest. One of the hanging party, Jenkins (Bob Steele), soon turns himself in and provides the names of the others. Cooper takes Stone (Alan Hale Jr.) alive, but the hapless blacksmith is later shot by the local sheriff (Charles McGraw) while trying to escape. The other men, led by Wilson, have no intention of dying, or even being brought to trial, without a fight. Two of them go on the run out of the territory, while Wilson and two of the others decide to take the law into their own hands once again. Meanwhile, Cooper becomes a hero when he single-handedly brings back a trio of rustlers who are also guilty of murder. This leads to Cooper's first confrontation with Judge Fenton, who, in a gripping scene, explains why it is essential that he be as seemingly quick to hang a man as he is. Unless the people are convinced that the law will do its job -- including hanging men who deserve it -- they will keep taking the law into their own hands and there will be more lynch mobs like the one that tried to kill Cooper. In the course of his quest for justice, Cooper also makes the acquaintance of Rachel (Inger Stevens), a young woman with her own search for justice, haunted by her own ghosts, and the two of them are drawn together, no more so than when Wilson and two of the others try to gun Cooper down in cold blood. The final confrontation between Cooper and Wilson escalates in violence to its savage, irony-laced conclusion. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

On September 7, 1967, Bewitched launched its fourth season with the episode titled "Long Live the Queen." Ruth McDevitt guest stars as Ticheba, Queen of Witches, who, upon abdicating her throne, demands that Samantha take her place. Reluctantly, Darrin agrees to allow Sam to embark upon the traditional year-long reign, only to have the Stephens household besieged by the "transformed" recipients of Ticheba's previous spells. "Long Live the Queen" was written by Ed Jurist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The British title of Billy Wilder's classic comedy was Meet Whiplash Willie -- for, despite Jack Lemmon's star billing, the movie's driving force is Oscar-winning Walter Matthau as gloriously underhanded lawyer "Whiplash" Willie Gingrich. CBS cameraman Harry Hinkle (Lemmon) is injured when he is accidentally bulldozed by football player Luther "Boom Boom" Jackson (Ron Rich) during a Cleveland Browns game. Willie, Harry's brother-in-law, foresees an insurance-settlement bonanza, and he convinces Harry to pretend to be incapacitated by the accident. To insure his client's cooperation, Willie arranges for Harry's covetous ex-wife Sandy (Judi West) to feign a rekindling of their romance. Harry's conscience is plagued by the solicitous behavior of Boom Boom, who is so devastated at causing Harry's injury that he insists on waiting on the "cripple" hand and foot. Meanwhile, dishevelled private eye Purkey (Cliff Osmond) keeps Harry under constant surveillance, hoping to catch him moving around so the insurance company can avoid shelling out a fortune. Wilder and usual co-writer I.A.L. Diamond were at their most jaundiced and cynical here, even if, after a sardonic semiclimax, the last ten minutes succumb to the sentimentality that often marred Wilder's later movies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this service comedy set during World War II, Capt. Cash (Dick Shawn) and Lt. Christian (James Coburn) are given orders to invade a small but strategically important village in Sicily. To their surprise, none of the natives offer the slightest resistance to the Americans taking over their town, who present only one stipulation -- the main event on the town's annual social calendar, a football match followed by a wine festival, is scheduled to happen in a few days. If the Americans would be kind enough to let them have their party, they'll hand over the town without a fight. Cash and Christian think that this plan sounds reasonable enough, and a few days later they and their men are drunkenly whooping it up with the townspeople when both German and U.S. surveillance planes spot the festivities. Thinking the wild party looks more like some sort of battle, both the Germans and Americans make plans to send in troops. Screenwriter William Peter Blatty would enjoy greater success a few years down the line with The Exorcist, a novel about a different sort of conflict. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

No sooner has Martin's spaceship been prepared for a return trip to Mars than the vessel is swiped by six-year-old runaway Peter Pendleton (Todd Baron) for a joyride. Peter returns home to tell of his adventures, taking along Martin's precious gravity converter. It now falls on Martin (Ray Walston) to retrieve both converter and ship without arousing the suspicions of newspaper reporter Grinnell (Herb Ellis), who has been covering Peter's story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Taking charge of Mammoth Pictures in Hollywood, the Clampetts embark upon a tour of the studio lot (actually the backlot of General Services Studios, home base for The Beverly Hillbillies). Aware that banker Drysdale plans to convert the studio into real estate, the hillbillies naturally assume that the ersatz exterior sets are genuine homes and business offices. Thus, the family pitches camp in Mammoth's "rustic village" set, and even set up a general store on the property. Part two of a four-episode story arc, "Clampett City" first aired on September 30, 1964. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Arrested for embezzling 20,000 dollars, mild-mannered Milton Potter (Paul Hartman) immediately surrenders to the police, explaining that he is "not the running type." Sentenced to 12 years in jail, Milton is given several opportunities to shorten his sentence by revealing the whereabouts of the stolen money, but he refuses each time. And then, upon his release, Milton promptly returns every penny of the 20 grand. So what was in it for him? You'd be surprised. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A man claiming to be Australian Bishop Arthur Mallory (Vaughn Taylor) arranges a reunion between orphanage alumnus Carol Delaney (Rebecca Welles) and her millionaire grandfather Charles Burroughs (Carl Benton Reid. Shortly thereafter, Burroughs is murdered and Carol is arrested for the crime. While preparing Carol's defense, Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) unearths some disturbing information about the so-called Bishop. This episode is based on a 1936 novel by Earl Stanley Gardner, which was previously adapted (and considerably rewritten!) as a 1937 theatrical feature with Donald Woods as Mason. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Too Much, Too Soon was adapted from the warts-and-all autobiography of actress Diana Barrymore, the troubled daughter of "great profile" John Barrymore. As played by Dorothy Malone, Diana is a basically decent young lady who suffers mightily from lack of parental love. Her famous father, played with boozy bravado by Errol Flynn, is the soul of graciousness and affection when sober, but a human monster when drunk -- which is often. Her poetess mother, Michael Strange (Neva Patterson), is too preoccupied by her bitterness against Barrymore to pay much attention to Diana. Striking out on her own as an actress, Diana vainly seeks personal happiness with several husbands: actor Vincent Bryant (actually Bramwell Fletcher), played by Efrem Zimbalist Jr.; jealous, possessive tennis player John Howard (Ray Danton); and another actor, alcoholic Robert Wilcox (Ed Kemmer). Unable to find satisfaction in her work or her private life, Diana follows family "tradition" by turning to liquor; this leads to extended sanitarium stays and innumerable suicide attempts. It is suggested at the end of the film that she is on the road to recovery, thanks in part to her biographer Gerold Frank (Robert Ellenstein); the sad truth is that two years after the release of Too Much, Too Soon, Diana Barrymore killed herself at the age of 39. This filmed version of Diana's tragic life seldom rises above soap-opera level, save for Errol Flynn's knowing performance of his old friend and drinking companion John Barrymore. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A teenage girl named Edna (played by a young Carolyn Jones) tells Sgt. Friday (Jack Webb) that her best friend Kathryn (Allene Roberts) is hooked on heroin. Kathryn's father (Malcolm Atterbury) is outraged by this accusation, insisting that the hypodermic marks on the girl's arms were administed by the family doctor to cure her allergies. Inevitably, however, the painful truth is revealed. Featured as one of Kathryn's "suppliers" is a pre-Adam 12 Martin Milner. This episode is based on the Dragnet radio broadcast of April 13, 1954. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide