Sandy McPeak Movies

With Marilyn Monroe permanently unavailable for comment, everybody and his uncle has come out of the woodwork since 1962 claiming an intimate relationship with the legendary film star (how did she ever find the time to be a film star?) Marilyn and Me is based on the reminiscences of one Robert Slatzer, who claimed to have been secretly married to Monroe back in her Norma Jean days. Jesse Dobson manages to keep a straight face as he recites his lines as Slatzer, while Susan Griffiths is as good a Monroe impersonator as any. Better still is Joel Grey as Marilyn's first and most influential agent Johnny Hyde, whose own close relationship with La Monroe is a bit easier to believe. Actress Terry Moore, who in the early 1950s was briefly groomed as a Monroe "substitute," plays a bit as Johnny Hyde's widow. Marilyn and Me is about as convincing as the Bugs Bunny cartoon What's Opera, Doc?, and not nearly as entertaining. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

TV star John Stamos makes a game transition to the big screen in Born to Ride. Stamos plays a motorcycle whiz, who in 1939 is assigned to motorize a US cavalry troop. His irreverence and slovenliness makes Stamos a pariah to his superior officer John Stockwell -- and just to complicate matters, both men are rivals for the affections of Teri Polo. All is forgiven during a desperate (and highly unlikely) mission to Spain, wherein Stamos uses his cycle skills to rescue a defecting Nazi scientist. As history, Born to Ride is a bust; as a vehicle for John Stamos, it has its points. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

15 years ago, Jessica's cousin Anne (Shirley Jones was about to be married when her fiancé was murdered, ostensibly by Anne's mentally unbalanced brother, who was promptly locked up in an institution. Now, Jessica (Angela Lansbury) is in attendance when Anne decides to give matrimony a second chance. Unfortunately, Anne's new fiancé dies in a similar manner as her earlier beau--and by a bizarre coincidence, her brother has just been released from confinement! Look for a pre-3rd Rock from the Sun Joseph Gordon-Levitt in a bit role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In June of 1985, TWA Athens-to-Rome flight 847 was seized by two fanatical, grenade-wielding Hezbollah Moslems. The hijacking was dragged out for 17 days, during which time several of the terrified passengers were beaten and one was killed. Written by Norman Morrill, the made-for-TV The Taking of Flight 847: The Uli Derickson stars Lindsay Wagner as courageous American purser Uli Derickson, whose knowledge of German enables her to communicate with the chief hijacker, a Shiite Lebanese who calls himself Castro (Eli Danker). When the ordeal was over, Derickson was credited with saving many lives and preventing the crisis from becoming far worse than it already was. It is a tribute to Lindsay Wagner's acting talent that, although most of the film's dialogue is spoken in German, the audience never has any difficulty following the story. The Taking of Flight 847 first aired May 2, 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cornell Wilde guest stars as Duncan Barnett, the ruthless founder-CEO of Barnett Industries. Gathering his board of directors (and their wives and loved ones) to his lavish New York estage, Barnett seems poised to name his successor. Instead, he is killed in an accident--or, at least, it looks like an accident. Among the board members is a certain Maine-based mystery writer named Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury), who begins to suspect that there's dirty work afoot as she watches Barnett's employees wheel, deal, bicker and backstab incessantly throughout the balance of the episode. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Blood and Orchids was adapted from Norman Katkov from his own fact-based book. The scene is Hawaii, 1937. The wife (Madeline Stowe) of a naval officer (William Russ) is beaten nearly to death by her lover (Matt Salinger)--her husband's best friend. Four native Hawaiians find the woman and take her to the hospital, then flee out of fear of being blamed for the assault themselves. The aristocratic mother (Jane Alexander) of the beaten woman knows the truth, but, coldly insistent upon maintaining white supremacy on the islands, orders her daughter to claim that the Hawaiian boys had abused her. A trial follows, complicated by an honest police officer (Kris Kristofferson), who doesn't believe the victim's story. This two-part TV movie digresses from the source novel by hoking up a romance between the cop and the young wife (Sean Young) of the prosecuting attorney (Jose Ferrer). Blood and Orchids was originally telecast in February of 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the first episode of a two part story, Hunter (Fred Dryer) comes home to find the body of a murdered woman sprawled over a chair in his living room. Almost immediately thereafter, the corpse disappears--and with it all evidence of the killing. Though he doesn't know it at first, Hunter has unearthed a hotbed of intrigue involving a mysterious beauty, a Russian defector, and ruthless special agents from an unidentified Federal agency. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the second episode of The A-Team's three-part Season Five opener, the Team is betrayed by Vietnam vet Josh Curtis (Sandy McPeak) and forced to stand trial for their lives, accused of killing their former commanding officer Col. Morrison and robbing a Hanoi bank. Curiously, Murdock (Dwight Schultz) is not held for trial, and is thus able to secure the services of defense attorney Benny Conway (Byrne Piven). Alas, as the trial progresses, it is painfully clear that the witnesses are lying and the evidence has been manufactured--but who is behind this travesty of justice? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Blood Feud was a two-part TV drama, originally presented as an "Operation Prime Time" special. Robert Blake is disturbingly convincing as labor leader Jimmy Hoffa, engaged in a decade-long war of words with attorney (and later attorney general) Robert F. Kennedy. Cotter Smith makes his TV debut as Kennedy, a role he'd repeat on future occasions. Thoroughly compelling when sticking to the facts, the drama falls apart whenever indulging in flight of fanciful speculation (Sample: two of Hoffa's lieutenants watch the live telecast of Lee Harvey Oswald's murder, then celebrate the fact that Oswald will never be able to reveal their complicity in the JFK assassination!) Blood Feud was syndicated to local TV stations beginning April 24, 1983. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A man discovers that his best friends are actually spies -- or are they? -- in this thriller based on Robert Ludlum's best-selling novel. John Tanner (Rutger Hauer) is the host of a television news show who once a year spends a long weekend with three of his best friends from college, Bernard Osterman (Craig T. Nelson), Joseph Cardone (Chris Sarandon), and Richard Tremayne (Dennis Hopper). Tanner is approached by Lawrence Fassett (John Hurt), a CIA agent who has evidence proving that his three pals are actually agents working with the Soviet Union. With Tanner's reluctant approval, his house is wired with video surveillance equipment so that the CIA can monitor what Osterman, Cardone, and Tremayne say and do over their weekend together in hopes of putting the traitors behind bars. However, Tanner soon realizes that Fassett's agenda is not all that it appears to be. The Osterman Weekend was directed by Sam Peckinpah; it proved to be his last film, as he died a year after its release. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Another feminist western from the early 1980s, Incident at Crestridge has the novelty of a contemporary setting. Eileen Brennan plays a Wyoming woman repelled by the corruption in her city government. She decides to take a stand by running for sheriff. Practically every man in town is a slavering sexist and potential murderer, but Brennan prevails over the opposition. Pernell Roberts costars as the obligatory "big boss" mayor, whose after-hours activities include narcotics, gambling and white slavery. Incident at Crestridge is an okay resuscitation of a venerable movie formula. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide