William Mims Movies
- 1986
Retired police lieutenant Barney Kale (Pat Hingle) insists upon reopening a 10-year-old murder case which he had never been able to solve. Heading to the murder scene, a lakeside mountain resort, Kale gathers together all of the likely suspects--including Dr. Seth Hazlitt (William Windom), an old friend of Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury). When a new murder occurs, it appears obvious that there is an hidden agenda related to the revived investigation--but whose agenda, and why? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1981
The Dukes find out that their personable new neighbors, Adam and Esther Venable (John Larch, Cynthia Leake) are actually in the Federal Witness Protection Program. Complicating matters are a band of vicious bounty hunters who are pursuing the Venables in hopes of tracking down $2,000,000 in stolen ransom money. Somehow or other, all this is tied in Boss Hogg's (Sorrell Booke) uranium-hunting expedition. This week's victim of Boss' "celebrity speed trap" is Hoyt Axton, who performs "Out-of-State Cars". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1980
- PG
Ever wonder what happens to your car when you give it to a parking lot attendant? Find out in this zany slapstick comedy set in an exclusive Beverly Hills Hotel. There the attendants gleefully smash and bash the expensive cars of patrons while trying to get them parked. The story really perks up when an enamored and fabulously wealthy sheik joins the attendants in hopes of attracting a certain beautiful woman. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1978
No murder is committed nor autopsy performed in this episode, in which medical examiner Quincy (Jack Klugman) delves into psychology. The catalyst for the plot is Timmy Carson (David Hollander), a hyperactive seven-year-old with a severely limited attention span. Though Timmy has escaped from an institution for mentally retarded youngsters, Quincy is persuaded that the boy is actually suffering from a treatable form of autism. The problem now is to convince the authorities that the boy is not retarded--and to persuade Timmy's parents that the money needed to treat his autism will be worth spending. Featured in the guest cast is Lloyd Nolan, in real life the father of an autistic son, and a very young Tracey Gold as Timmy's sister. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
After a four-episode tryout as a component of the NBC Sunday Mystery Movie anthology, Quincy, M.E. launched its regular weekly run with this episode, originally telecast as a two-hour special but since re-edited for syndication as two one-hour installments. In Part One, we find LA County medical examiner Quincy (Jack Klugman) attending a pathologists' convention at Lake Tahoe in the company of his girlfriend Lee (Lynette Mettey) and his pal Danny (Val Bisoglio). No sooner has Quincy arrived than a mysterious illness begins spreading through a Lake Tahoe casino, claiming several lives. Asked to investigate this apparent epidemic, Quincy runs up against resistance from the anxious casino manager (Van Johnson), who is worried that news of the medical disaster will destroy his business. (Incidentally, this episode appeared not long after a medical crisis caused panic at an American Legion convention, thereby earning the designation "Legionnaire's Disease".) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
In the conclusion of Quincy, M.E.'s two-part Season Two opener (originally telecast as a single two-hour episode), Quincy (Jack Klugman) continues to look for the source of a mysterious epidemic that has caused several deaths at a pathologist's convention in a Lake Tahoe casino. The casino's customers and employees have now been quarantined, and panic has started to spread. This places Quincy in the unenviable position of preventing a riot--to say nothing of halting the epidemic before it expands into the rest of Nevada. Also, there's a strong possibility that the rampaging illness was far from "natural", and that there's a criminal conspiracy afoot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
In this s-s-suspenseful drama, a submarine carrying a load of poisonous snakes accidentally wedges itself amidst the rocks near the bottom of the sea. Now the crew must somehow avoid the unwanted slitherers and manage to extricate themselves. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1973
In the conclusion of a two-part story, Ironside (Raymond Burr) has degenerated from a respected law enforcement officer to a seedy skid-row bum, apparently because 10-year-old murder witness Jerry Abbott (Lee H. Montgomery) was killed while in the Chief's protective custody. What even Ironside's loyal assistants are unaware of is that little Jerry is still alive, and that the Chief is only posing as a derelict to flush out the murderer. The situation reaches the crisis stage when two attempts are made on Ironside's alive--and the Chief can't summon the aid of his associates without blowing his cover. This episode features two original songs by David and Marty Paich: "Street Song", peformed by Carol Carmichael; and "Way Up Here", sung by Marty Paich. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
In the first half of a two-part story (originally telecast as a single two-hour episode), Chief Ironside is assigned to protect little Jerry Abbott, an autistic 10-year-old who has witnessed a murder. Not long afterward, the newspapers are reporting that Jerry himself has been killed--and that Ironside, tortured by guilt, has quit the force, crawled into a booze bottle, and ended up a derelict on Skid Row. But is this grim situation everything it appears to be? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
Once more, Lorne Greene essays the dual role of Ben Cartwright and Ben's lookalike, confidence trickster Bradley Meredith. This time out, Meredith takes advantage of Ben's trip to Carson City to auction off the Ponderosa, piece by piece. Kate Jackson makes an early TV appearance as Ellen, while others in the cast include Greg Mullavey as Jordan, William Mims as Williams, Jack Collins as Mayor Harlow, Bill Zuckert as Matt Fowler, and Richard X. Slattery as Henderson. Written by Stanley Roberts, "One Ace Too Many" was originally shown on April 2, 1972 as the last installment of Bonanza's thirteenth season. The episode also represented the final series appearances of Ray Teal as Sheriff Coffee, and, tragically, Dan Blocker as Hoss Cartwright. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, (more)
- 1972
- PG
In this counter-culture melodrama, a youthful hitcher teams up with an aging vagabond on a lonely Southwestern road. The two are given a lift by an unemployed rocker. Soon the three find themselves at odds with assorted "establishment" characters until the old hobo has a fatal heart attack. As he dies, he asks to be buried on his old farm. Unfortunately, the newest owner refuses, so the rocker and the hitcher have the old guy cremated. They then scatter his ashes over the farm. Songs include: "Echos of the Road" (Stu Phillips, Bob Stone), "Electric Ethel" (Murphy and Castleman), and "Flowers For My Bed" (Nino Candido). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
The author of the famous late 1930's antiwar book Johnny Got His Gun wrote and directed this film adaptation. It concerns a nameless young soldier (Timothy Bottoms) in a veteran's hospital in the World War I period. The young man has had his face blown off, he is without the use of any of his senses save touch, and also has no arms or legs. He is in a coma at the beginning of the film, and his doctors doubt that he will regain consciousness. This is also what they hope. A nurse, while changing his dressings, discovers that he is awake and responsive. The unrelieved awfulness of his situation is apparent to many. However, in order to keep the "good order" of the military, the regular Army general commanding the hospital will not allow the boy to be seen or his family notified, nor will he permit anyone to perform a mercy killing. Interspersed with this horror are flashbacks of the youth's life before the war. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1970
An old land deed reveals that feckless game warden Orrin Pike (Jonathan Daly) is legal owner of Hooterville Valley. This news comes a tad late to Uncle Joe (Edgar Buchanan),who has just banished Orrin from the Shady Rest. Now Joe must do a quick 180-degree turnaround and pull off the biggest suck-up job in history to get back into Orrin's good graces! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1970
- R
In this unusual black comedy, Stacy Keach plays Jonas Candide, a former carnival showman who roams the southern U.S. in 1918 with a portable electric chair. He offers his services as a freelance executioner for $100 a pop. He takes a job in a prison in Alabama, where he is supposed to execute a young woman named Gundred Herzallerliebst (Marianna Hill) and her brother. He electrocutes the brother first. On the night before she is scheduled to die, Gundred seduces Jonas and he falls for her. Jonas tries to get Doc Prittle (Graham Jarvis) to help him fake her execution, but the doctor demands a high price. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stacy Keach, Marianna Hill, (more)
- 1970
- PG
Flap is marginally significant as the only western ever directed by Britain's Sir Carol Reed. Anthony Quinn is top-billed as Flapping Eagle, a modern-day Native American stuck on a squalid reservation. Though liquored up most of the time, Flapping Eagle undergoes an eleventh-hour social awakening. Making certain that the media is notified, he hijacks a train and heads for Phoenix, demanding full restoration of rights for his people. Played uneasily for laughs, Flap tries to make up for its shortcomings with a 1970s-style tragic ending, but by that time most of the audience has given up. The working title for Flap was Nobody Loves Flapping Eagle, which was closer to the name of source material, Clair Huffaker's novel Nobody Loves a Drunken Indian. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Quinn, Claude Akins, (more)
After the intense bloodshed of The Wild Bunch (1969), this comic western fable took the opposite approach to director Sam Peckinpah's continuing examination of the end of the West. Left for dead by a couple of lizard-slaughtering desperados in the middle of the desert, prospector Cable Hogue (Jason Robards) is saved by his unexpected discovery of water "where there wasn't any." Hogue turns the water hole, felicitously located near a stagecoach route, into a thriving business, creating a rest stop for a never-ending series of parched travelers. On his occasional trips to the closest town, he meets chipper prostitute Hildy (Stella Stevens), who joins him in his oasis, completing Hogue's little paradise. But even though Hogue may be able to succeed and avenge himself against his original attackers, there is one thing that he cannot stop: progress. Completed before The Wild Bunch was released, and replete with comical and even musical interludes, Peckinpah's gently picaresque telling of Hogue's rise and fall stands in distinct contrast to the visual violence of its predecessor. The underlying message about the cost of modernity, however, equals The Wild Bunch in seriousness. The callous randomness of Hogue's fate is as shocking as the Bunch's final blaze of glory; as in Robert Altman's McCabe and Mrs. Miller from the same period, a tool of "civilization" provokes a most uncivilized end for an Old West dreamer. Although the film was as light-hearted in approach as the 1969 smash hit revisionist western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Warner Bros. mishandled the release and it did barely any business; Peckinpah returned to his trademark gore in his next film, the controversial Straw Dogs (1971). Still, The Ballad of Cable Hogue is less an anomaly for a master of violence than an ironically charming chapter in Peckinpah's career-long elegy to the western. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Robards, Jr., Stella Stevens, (more)
After a debut on Broadway in 1951, Paramount spent an estimated 17 to 20 million dollars in production costs for this Lerner and Loewe musical. With Loewe's permission, Lerner wrote five additional tunes for the film with Andre Previn. Ben Rumson (Lee Marvin) is the grizzled prospector trying his luck panning for gold in California. Pardner (Clint Eastwood) is his companion. When Ben buys a woman from a Mormon, Elizabeth (Jean Seberg) expects equal rights for her gender and chooses to live with both men. Ben and Pardner tunnel under the boomtown to gather the fallen gold dust that has filtered through the cracks of the saloon and other places. The musical comedy features 13 songs, the most recognizable being "They Call The Wind Maria". The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band helps out on the song "Hand Me Down That Can O' Beans". Both Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin are given a chance to show their vocal ability (or lack of it) in several songs. The initial release fell far short of regaining the millions put into the production, and most critics dipped their pens in poison to pan the picture -- though the film plays better than the critics would lead anyone to believe. Many jumped on the Paint Your Wagon smear campaign after the film proved to be not nearly as successful as other musicals. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood, (more)
- 1969
Acting on a tip, Officers Jim Reed (Kent McCord) and Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) participate in a raid on a drug ring operating from the home of a middle-aged man (William Mims). The two cops also come to the aid of a bewildered young woman (Jenny Sullivan) who is lost in the middle of L.A. without a penny to her name. Featured in the supporting cast is longtime Dragnet "stock company" regular Stacy Harris. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1969
Having read a book about yoga, Jethro decides to become a guru, declaring "that name strikes a spark in my psyche." As the Clampett mansion is turned into a yoga retreat, even Elly May is swept up in the excitement. Meanwhile a "genuine" guru (played by William Mims, who previously appeared as General Grant in the fifth-season "Civil War movie" story arc) hopes to separate the gullible Clampetts from some of their money. "The Guru" first aired on March 12, 1969. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1968
After missing several episodes due to illness, Bea Benaderet returns to her familiar Petticoat Junction role as Kate Bradley, owner of Hooterville's Shady Rest Hotel. The entire town gears up for a gala homecoming party in Kate's honor, but there are a few hitches along the way--including a fireworks display which ends up destroying the depot in nearby Pixley! Rufe Davis makes his last regular appearance as railroad engineer Floyd Smoot in this, the final episode of the series' fifth season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1968
A veteran cast gives the 1968 cheapie The Bamboo Saucer what little credibility it has. In his last role, Dan Duryea plays the head man of an expeditionary force in search of a missing UFO. Since the craft was last sighted in the mountains of Red China, the search takes on political significance. Duryea's American team is eventually forced to align itself with a similarly-purposed group of Soviet researchers (this being a 1968 film, the real bad guys are the Red Chinese). Lois Nettelton has some wonderfully campy moments as a Russian scientist. Bamboo Saucer was produced by Jerry Fairbanks, of "Speaking of Animals" and "Crusader Rabbit" fame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dan Duryea, John Ericson, (more)
- 1968
Buddy Rogers and Richard Arlen, who costarred in the very first Oscar-winning movie Wings, are reunited in this episode. The two veteran actors show up in Hooterville Valley to save the Pixley Bijou Theater from demolition, agreeing to appear at the theater's premiere screening of Wings. . .some four decades after the film was originally released. Along the way, Arlen and Rogers agree to immortalize their footprints in cement--which dries a bit too soon! Several high-quality excerpts from Wings are shown, including the brief appearance of up-and-coming Gary Cooper as a doomed pilot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1967
In the second episode of a three-part story arc, Granny is still convinced that the Civil War epic being filmed near the mansion is an actual battle between North and South. A loyal daughter of Dixie, Granny forms her own "Confederate Army" to fight the actors dressed as Union soldiers. Lyle Talbot appears as movie technical advisor Colonel Blake, while William Mims is the boozy General Grant. Trivia note: one of the characters is named Foster Phinney, which happened to be the real name of The Beverly Hillbillies' assistant director. "The South Rises Again" originally aired on November 29, 1967. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1967
In the conclusion of a three-part story arc, Granny captures General Ulysses S. Grant (William Mimms) and wins the Civil War on behalf of the Confederacy. Actually, Granny has merely captured an actor dressed as Grant, who is appearing in a war film being shot near the Clampett estate. But rather than risk losing the multimillion-dollar Clampett bank account, Mr. Drysdale persuades the movie company to allow Granny to live out her military fantasies -- even unto negotiating a "surrender." "Jethro in the Reserve" first aired on December 6, 1967. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
