Robert Sherman Movies
"Paradise" is actually Australia, where this made-for-TV adventure was filmed. Raquel Welch stars as a rich, spoiled socialite who is shipwrecked on a desert island. Her only companion is boozy, unkempt Aussie Jack Thompson. Before the film has a chance to turn into Lina Wertmuller's Swept Away (or even Gilligan's Island), Welch and Thompson are up to their necks in intrigue. Trouble in Paradise originally floated to shore on May 16, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1986
In Boston, Jessica agrees to serve as honorary chairperson at a charity tennis tournament where her former student Carol (Linda Hamilton) is one of the players. It so happens that Carol is the girlfriend of a much-hated tennis star, who ends up being blown to bits by a bomb planted in Carol's car. At first, it appears that Carol was the intended target of the bombing, but when a second murder occurs, she ends up accused of both crimes--and as everybody knows by now, no relative of Jessica Fletcher can ever be guilty of anything, least of all murder! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
Burt Lancaster was too young to play alcoholic, disillusioned Doc Delaney in the 1952 film version of William Inge's Come Back Little Sheba. At age 70, Laurence Olivier was too old for the part, yet Olivier's performance is far more persuasive than Lancaster's in this 1977 TV-movie remkae of Sheba. Inge's basic plot is left intact: Delany feels trapped by his marriage to the whining, slovenly Lola (Joanne Woodward, in the role created on Broadway by Shirley Booth). Doc can't appreciate the fact that, despite her inadequacies, Lola sincerely loves him; his emotional blindness stirs up a lot of trouble when a beautiful young woman (Carrie Fisher) rents a room in the Delany home. Despite American subject matter and setting, Come Back Little Sheba was produced in Britain by Granada Television. It was one of six plays coproduced for TV by Laurence Olivier as part of his "Great Plays of the 20th Century" series. Sheba was first seen by American viewers on December 31, 1977. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joanne Woodward, Laurence Olivier, (more)
- 1974
In one of his last TV roles, Sam Jaffe guest stars as Alex Zubatuk, a retired cobbler. When Zubatuk comes forth and confesses to a killing, detectives Stone (Karl Malden) and Keller (Michael Douglas) are reluctant to take the old man at face value. And for good reason: what the viewer knows (but the detectives don't) is that the meek, self-deprecating Mr. Zubatuk is taking the rap to protect the grandson of his best friend Victor Karlinsky (Victor Karlinsky). The real killer is played by prolific character actor Zooey Hall, here billed as David Z. Hall. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
Vic Morrow heads the guest cast as Vic Tolliman, leader of a gang of thieves. Hijacking a gold shipment, Tollman and his henchmen are unaware that the gold has been mixed with deadly uranium. Per the episode's title, Stone (Karl Malden) and Keller (Michael Douglas) have only twenty-four hours to track down the thieves before the entire Bay Area has been fatally contaminated. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1966
A young girl is deeply traumatized after she sees her mother burned to death in a house fire and spends the rest of her youth locked in a mental hospital. By the time she is released, her father has married a nasty woman who only wants his money. Knowing that the recently returned daughter is mentally unstable, the stepmom does all she can to drive the fragile girl over the edge. Unfortunately for the conniving bride, things don't quite turn out as planned. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Ameche, Martha Hyer, (more)
- 1958
Mac Hyman's hilarious barracks novel No Time for Sergeants was adapted for TV by Ira Levin in 1955, with newcomer Andy Griffith as bumptious Air Force draftee Will Stockdale. This TV version was soon afterward transformed into a Broadway play, and then a movie, again with Griffith in the lead. Brought to the Air Force base in handcuffs because his farmer father has been hiding his draft notices, good-natured Will becomes the target of ridicule for the other transcripts. Especially nasty is Private Irvin (Murray Hamilton), but Will is able to forgive him because he knows that Irvin is suffering from some mysterious disease called ROTC. Will's best pal is hot-headed private Ben (Nick Adams), who wants to be transferred to the Infantry and convinces Will to try for the same goal. Slowly becoming aware that the trusting, naïve Will may prove to be a troublemaker, career sergeant King (Myron McCormick), who wants nothing more out of life than a little peace and quiet, tries to keep Stockdale out of mischief by appointing him "PLO" -- Permanent Latrine Orderly, a dubious distinction in which Will takes enormous pride. Later on, King tries to pull strings to get Will transferred, succeeding only in losing his sergeant's stripes. The story goes off on a zany tangent when Will and Ben find themselves on a crippled plane in flight. They manage to escape with their lives, but all evidence suggests that they've been killed in the plane's crash. Imagine the dismay of newly reinstated Sergeant King when Will and Ben show up in his office -- just as the entire base is gathered for a memorial service for the two "fallen heroes." Featured in a minor role as a "coordination officer" is Griffth's future TV cohort Don Knotts, while Sammy Jackson, who played Stockdale in a 1964 sitcom version of No Time for Sergeants, shows up in an unbilled bit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andy Griffith, Myron McCormick, (more)
- 1957
One of the more diverting byproducts of the short-lived Calypso craze was this quickie Allied Artists musical. What plot their is concerns a lover's quarrel between TV personality Ed Kemmer and stewardess Angie Dickinson. When Dickinson runs off to South America, Kemmer follows. As they try to patch up their differences, the viewer is regaled by a vast array of topnotch musical performers. Among the special guest stars spotlighted herein are Herb Jeffries (who in the 1930s was Hollywood's only black singing cowboy), the Easy Riders, Duke of Iron, Lord Flea and his Calypsonians and the Lester Horden Dancers. Conspicuous by his absence is the real Calypso Joe, a Hawaii-based entertainer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Herb Jeffries, Angie Dickinson, (more)
Luther Davis' racy wartime comedy Kiss Them for Me was expurgated a bit for the 1957 film version. Cary Grant, Ray Walston and Larry Blyden portray three navy war heroes who've been booked on a morale-building "vacation" in San Francisco. Eluding their ulcerated public relations officer (Werner Klemperer), the trio arranges a wild party with plenty of pretty girls. Cary Grant is paired with knockout Suzy Parker, an icy socialite who eventually thaws under his charms. Also on hand is Jayne Mansfield, playing a "good time girl" whose profession was a bit more explicit in the original play; the role was originated by Judy Holliday, who brought a wistfulness to the character that Ms. Mansfield couldn't quite manage. TV sitcom fans will get a kick out of the supporting cast of Kiss Them For Me: Ray Walston, later star of My Favorite Martian plays a libertine navy officer; Werner Klemperer, shorn of the accent he'd use as Colonel Klink in Hogan's Heroes, is hilarious as the flustered p.r. man; and Richard Deacon (Leave It to Beaver, The Dick Van Dyke Show) pops up unbilled as a dour businessman who can't understand the war-hero mystique. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cary Grant, Suzy Parker, (more)
- 1956
Few actresses other than Joan Crawford could have successfully pulled off the melodramatic excesses of Autumn Leaves. Though a very attractive fortysomething, Crawford remains aloof from romance until she meets Cliff Robertson, a young man half her age. An ardent and persistent suitor, Robertson finally breaks down her resistence to marriage. After a few weeks of wedded bliss, Crawford is confronted by Vera Miles, who claims to be Robertson's first wife. Miles further insists that Robertson is mentally unbalanced...and his subsequent behavior seems to bear this out. What Crawford doesn't know-but the audience does-is that the real villains of the piece are Miles and her middle-aged lover, Robertson's own father (Lorne Greene). Autumn Leaves works far better on screen than it does in print, thanks to the virtuoso performances of practically everyone in the cast. And, as anyone who's listened to top-40 radio during the past four decades already knows, the film also yielded a hit title song, written by Joseph Kosma, Jacques Prevert, and Johnny Mercer and performed during the credits by Nat King Cole. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Crawford, Cliff Robertson, (more)
- 1955
Battle Taxi is set during the height of the Korean War. Sterling Hayden plays an officer of the Helicopter Air Rescue Service, whose job it is to save wounded or stranded soldiers from hostile territory. Arthur Franz costars as a lieutenant assigned to the copter service, who at first resents his position but eventually realizes his importance in the scheme of things. The film sticks to basics, eschewing any and all romantic subplots -- in fact, there isn't a single female character in the picture! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sterling Hayden, Arthur Franz, (more)
Robert Aldrich's screen adaptation of Clifford Odets' stage play reflects the quandary of the writer's later career; the golden boy of the Group Theater in the '30s, when his plays were the toast of Broadway, his talent seemed to wither after a number of years in the screenwriting trenches, and a revulsion for what he saw as hackwork combined with his capitulation to HUAC to blight his final decade. Jack Palance stars as Charlie Castle, a major film star who has refused to sign a long-term contract for big money with a studio run by the tyrannical Stanley Hoff (Rod Steiger). This has led to the return of his wife, Marion (Ida Lupino), who had left him due to his womanizing and a willingness to kowtow to Hoff in doing bad movies only for the money. After his agent, Nat Danziger (Everett Sloane), tries unsuccessfully to get him to reconsider, Hoff himself badgers Charlie, insisting on the absolute necessity of his signing. When the star continues to resist, Hoff threatens to blackmail him with an ugly incident from his past. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Palance, Ida Lupino, (more)
- 1953
A courageous Mountie and his trusty dog Chinook traverse the Northwest Territory, through blizzards and other travails in search of illegal trappers in this adventure. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1952
Also known as The Tall Lie, For Men Only was a hard-hitting if somewhat gratuitous expose of college fraternity "hazing." A young man is rushed by a popular and well-established frat, only to discover that part of the initiation ceremony requires him to kill a puppy. He drops out of the fraternity and tells the world its "secrets". The fraternity leader, played by Russell Johnson, organizes a campaign to drive the pledge off the campus--which results in the pledge's death. Professor Paul Henried investigates, and learns that the fraternity's ties to the business community are so strong that he can do nothing to stop the cruelty of the hazing process. Henried's only recourse is to expose arrogant frat leader Johnson as a coward with feet of clay--which he does, in a breast-beating scene that will surprise those who know Russell Johnson only as the mild-mannered "Professor" on Gilligan's Island. Made inexpensively, For Men Only is competently directed by star Paul Henried. The only question is: Why should the non-collegiates in the audience care anything about the iniquities of fraternity life? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Henreid, Robert Sherman, (more)
- 1977
- R
Soured on America by his experiences as a POW in Vietnam, General Lawrence Dell (Burt Lancaster) hopes that his government will someday tell the truth about the Southeast Asian debacle, thereby allowing his country to embark upon a healing process. Regarded as a dangerous embarrassment by the higher-ups, Dell is framed on a manslaughter charge and sent to prison. Escaping with three hardened convicts (Paul Winfield, Burt Young, and William Smith), Dell takes over an SAC base, threatening to launch nine Titan missiles if his demands that top-secret Vietnam files be made public are not met. Thus, the fate of the world rests in the hands of the mentally unbalanced Dell, his former superior General MacKenzie (Richard Widmark), and U.S. president David Stevens (Charles Durning). For this picture, Edward Huebach and Ronald M. Cohen adapted Walter Wager's novel Viper Three. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, (more)
Filmed on location in the Philippines Robert Aldrich's Too Late the Hero is set in the last months of World War II. Lackadaisical navy lieutenant Cliff Robertson, who happens to speak fluent Japanese, is ordered to go on a suicide mission to wipe out an enemy observation post. Robertson's equally unwilling partners in this venture are British captain Denholm Elliot and pugnacious cockney private Michael Caine. All three men prove to have unsuspected reserves of courage when the going gets toughest. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Caine, Cliff Robertson, (more)
