Herb Ellis Movies

Robert Horton took time off from his Wagon Train schedule to appear in this episode. Horton is cast as Brad Taylor, a man torn between two women. Brad would like to marry wealthy Janice Wright (Joyce Meadows), but his other girlfriend, Leslie Lenox (Fay Spain), refuses to break off their relationship. In desperation, Brad kills Leslie -- then is astonished by how quickly the police show up at his apartment to charge him with murder, especially since they couldn't possibly have found Leslie's body in so short a time. ~ Hal Erickson, 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

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

Filmed in 1966 (when screenwriter Richard Breen was still around), this made-for-TV feature marked the return of Jack Webb's classic 1950s cop series Dragnet after a seven-year absence. Ordered to cut his vacation short, Sgt. Joe Friday (played by Jack Webb) is assigned to investigate the mysterious disappeances of two beautiful models and a pretty young war widow. In concert with partner Bill Gannon (Harry Morgan), Friday does his best to follow the trail of evidence, only to be continually stymied by contradictory or reluctant eyewitnesses. Before arriving at the disturbing conclusion that the missing girls have been the victims of a voyeuristic serial killer, Joe and Bill manage to solve another, unrelated murder involving a visiting Frenchman. Several members of Jack Webb's radio and TV Dragnet stock company are cast in colorful supporting roles, including Virginia Gregg, Victor Perrin, and Herb Ellis, while L.A. Dodgers catcher John Roseboro is seen as a fellow cop. A powerful opening sequence and an thrilling action climax more than compensate for the unevenness of the script (the last such by veteran Webb collaborator Richard Breen) and the occasional pokiness of the direction. Although this 97-minute Dragnet was good enough to convince NBC to revive the vintage Jack Webb series on a weekly, half-hour basis (it ran successfully for three seasons), the film itself was shelved for several years, not making its network TV debut until January 27, 1969. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the most controversial Dragnet episode to date, Sgt. Friday (Jack Webb) must put off his Christmas vacation to investigate the disappearance of a boy named Stevie Martin. The missing youngster's best friend Stanley Johnstone (Sammy Ogg) tearfully comes forward, confessing that he has killed his playmate. Tragically, it turns out that Stanley is telling the truth--and the cause of it all is a .22. rifle which Stanley's father had bought him for a Christmas present. It is impossible not to be moved by the final scene in which Stevie's dad (Bill Johnstone) comes to grips with his son's death. Although the original radio version of ".22. Rifle for Christmas" (first heard on December 22, 1949) incurred the wrath of the National Rifle Association, Jack Webb received so much positive response for the episode that he insisted upon filming a TV adaptation for telecast just before Christmas Week of 1952--whereupon he was again subject to criticism, this time for depicting a dead child on screen! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Friday (Joe Friday) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate when the body of 21-year-old Helen Corday, who has been bludgeoned to death with a tire iron, is found in a vacant lot. Unfortunately, the only clue is the footprint of a very popular brand of tennis shoe. After several dead-end interrogations and dozens of false leads, the detectives arrest Frank Larson (Stacy Harris), who has been caught in the act of attack a young babysitter. Even so, there isn't quite enough proof to put the noose around Larson's neck---obliging Joe and Frank to indulge in a neat bit of psychological warfare. This episode is based on one of the earliest Dragnet radio broadcasts, originally heard on July 7, 1949. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An enterprising gang of crooks has been systematically syphoning oil from storage tankers. These thefts are tied in with an elaborate swindle, preying upon trucking companies. In order to track down and capture the outlaws, police detectives Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) go undercover as a pair of unemployed truck drivers. ~ 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

This episode is based on the Dragnet radio broadcast of December 27, 1951, which was originally written to acknowledge the death of Jack Webb's costar Barton Yarborough. The TV version opens as Joe Friday (Webb) mourns the loss of his longtime partner Ben Romero (the role played by Yarbrough), who has succumbed to a sudden heart attack. But Friday recovers sufficiently to team with a new partner, Frank Smith, and search for a pair of holdup men who have escaped to a desolate patch of farmland on the L.A. County border. The role of Frank Smith is played in this and several other episodes by Herb Ellis; the "real" Smith, Ben Alexander, would not join the series for several weeks to come. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It's a tough shift for Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Herb Ellis) as they work the Accident Detail on the eve of the July 4th weekend. Out of dozens of traffic accidents, the two detectives focus on three "standouts". The first involves a bunch of teenagers (ages 12 through 16), all of whom are seriously injured or worse after plowing into a car driven by an elderly couple--no thanks to the irresponsible father of the boy who'd been driving. The second case concerns an elderly drunk (played by Cliff Arquette of "Charley Weaver" fame) who has a habit of faking injuries so he can hitch an ambulance ride. Finally, motorcycle officer Mike O'Brien is stuck and killed while chasing a drunk driver--and it falls to Mike's old friend Friday to break the news to the dead officer's fiancee (Virginia Gregg). This episode is based on the Dragnet radio broadcast of July 3, 1952. ~ Hal Erickson, 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

While researching a book, Tim (Bill Bixby) uses Martin's CCTBS time machine to return to the "New Netherlands" of 1626. Unfortunately for posterity, Tim manages to talk the Indians out of selling Manhattan Island to Peter Minuit (Leon Askin). In his efforts to set things right and restore the balance of history, Martin finds his mission complicated by amorous Indian princess Little Feather (played by future Will & Grace regular Shelley Morrison. This was originally telecast as the final episode of My Favorite Martian. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide