Ralph Montgomery Movies

In this drama three contemporary couples prepare for their upcoming nuptials. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Based on the best-selling Vincent Bugliosi book of the same name, Helter Skelter is a made-for-TV account of the investigation and prosecution of Charles Manson (Steve Railsback), who was convicted of leading a group of followers (known as "The Family") to murder seven people in California, including actress Sharon Tate. The film takes a Law & Order-like approach, starting with the discovery of the murders, which leads to the police gathering snippets of evidence that they eventually connect to the bigger picture. The second half of the movie concentrates on how District Attorney Bugliosi (George DiCenzo) attains a conviction despite the enormous amount of press coverage the case received. Nancy Wolfe, Christina Hart, and Cathey Paine portray the three loyal Manson Family members who were the co-defendants at his trial. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

The eponymous best friends are Jesse (Richard Hatch) and Pat (Doug Chapin). Buxom Kathy Suzanne Benton swivels into the scene, sorely testing Jesse and Pat's friendship. The film should not be confused with the 1982 Burt Reynolds vehicle of the same title. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Hoping to solve a series of burglaries, Officers Jim Reed (Kent McCord) and Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) set their sights on Reno West (Jed Allan), an ex-convict whom they'd confronted in the previous episode "Hot Shot". Elsewhere, the cops search high and low for a nasty marauding dog. And yet another squabbling married couple causes headaches for Jim and Pete. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

African-American activist and actor Melvin Van Peebles directed this comedy-drama starring Godfrey Cambridge as Jeff Gerber, a white, middle class husband to Althea (Estelle Parson) and father of two who is also a mild bigot. One morning, Jeff wakes up to discover that he has become a black man overnight. After trying in vain to remove his new pigment, Jeff ventures out into the world, only to discover the hostility he once engendered himself. After his neighbors petition to get him out of the neighborhood, his boss (Howard Caine) tries to use his new identity to the company's advantage and his doctor suggests he seek medical care elsewhere, Jeff comes to see the many sides of racism. The only rays of hope in his situation are the friendship of several fellow black people, including a bus driver (D'Urville Martin) and a restaurant counter man (Mantan Moreland). ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

Posing as "Tony Maxwell", Richard Kimble (David Janssen) hides out in the Barrio of an unnamed city. Taking a job at the cigar-manufacturing business run by Jose Anza (Gilbert Roland), Kimble befriends Jose's grandson Jimmy (Tom Nardini), a troubled youth torn between the demands of his father and the peer pressure exerted by a local street gang. Offering to help Kimble hide from the police, Jimmy soons discovers that the real threat to the fugitive's safety is the boy's own hoodlum "friends". ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Insult comic Don Rickles guest stars as Fred, a compulsive gambler. While squiring a lovely young lady named Phyllis (Sylvia Lewis), Jed Clampett visits the race track, where he makes Fred's acquaintance. Worried that Jed might succumb to the temptation of playing the ponies, Granny tries to head Jed off at the pass -- and ends up being bitten by the gambling bug herself. Brassy Iris Adrian rounds out the supporting cast as Fred's wife. "Jed's Temptation" originally aired on February 24, 1965. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Lawyer Dean Martin's gambling habit is beginning to get on the nerves of his wife Lana Turner. To keep the money in the family, Lana talks Dino's law partner Eddie Albert into acting as Martin's bookie. Not only does this plan not work, but it also rouses the ire of Runyonesque gangster Walter Matthau. In the cutest of the film's cute twist, Lana saves herself and her husband by solving Matthau's financial and domestic problems. A minor but efficiently assembled star comedy, Who's Got the Action benefits from tasty production values and a knockout supporting cast, including Paul Ford, John McGiver, Nita Talbot, Ned Glass, and fabled pin-up girl June Wilkinson. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Perry (Raymond Burr) receives an envelope containing $500 from Marian Fargo (played by a redheaded Angie Dickinson), who wants him to exchange the money for documents pertaining to her brother, a fugitive from justice. Things get sticky when the "drop-off" point turns out to be a murder scene. Compelled to clear Marian of charges that she killed not only a blackmailer named Renault (Jan Arvan) but her own husband Arthur (Peter Adams), Perry must rely upon a witness (Dorothy Green) whose eyesight is very seriously impaired--and who may have a hidden agenda of her own. (In an unintentionally amusing scene, Perry complains that the coffee in an expensive French restaurant costs an outrageous one dollar per cup!) ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Frank Sinatra stars as legendary nightclub comic Joe E. Lewis in this dramatic screen biography. In the 1920s, Lewis was a popular singer in Chicago who could fill any nightclub he chose to play. This doesn't go unnoticed by the mobsters who control many of the city's venues; when they ask Lewis to leave his steady gig and come work for them, he politely but firmly refuses. This does not make Al Capone and his men happy, and they respond by brutally attacking Lewis, cutting his throat and damaging his vocal cords so severely that he can never sing again. Lewis sinks into a deep depression and develops a highly caustic sense of humor, but his friend Austin Mack (Eddie Albert) suggests that he could put his sharp wit to work as a comedian. With little to lose, Lewis tries his hand at comedy, and with the encouragement of famous entertainer Sophie Tucker, Lewis once again rises to stardom as his salty material makes him the talk of late-night spots and burlesque houses everywhere. Along the way, he becomes involved with chorus girl Martha Stewart (Mitzi Gaynor) and wealthy socialite Letty Page (Jeanne Crain); while he marries Martha, he's not able to get Letty out of his thoughts for long. Lewis' romantic conflicts and the pressures of success fan the flames of his already potent taste for alcohol, and soon Lewis becomes a bitter drunk whose addiction to the bottle threatens to send his career (and his life) back into the gutter. The classic Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen number "All the Way" was introduced in The Joker Is Wild, and it won a 1957 Academy Award for Best Song; the film was later re-released as All the Way. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A Hatful of Rain, based on the stage play by Michael V. Gazzo, is the story of a drug addict's debilitating effect on his family. Don Murray has managed to keep his addiction secret from his pregnant wife Eva Marie Saint and his boorish father Lloyd Nolan, but Murray's brother Anthony Franciosa knows the truth. Murray hits up Franciosa for money to support his habit, but even this is not enough as the addiction deepens and Murray finds himself beholden to a vicious pusher (Henry Silva). Murray is unable to cope with his private hell until he confesses to his wife and father that he's a junkie and needs help. Considered the last word in realism in 1957, A Hatful of Rain seems slightly antiquated in the light of the drug-abuse excesses of the 1990s. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Reporting the disappearance of young mother Harriet Shipley and her nine-month-old baby, the woman's mother-in-law Mrs. Shipley (Doris Kemper) further claims that her son, Harriet's husband, is serving overseas in the Army. In the course of their investigation, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) discover that the older Mrs. Shipley was dead set against her son's marriage--and further, that her son is actually dead. It turns out that Harriet had desperately tried to escape from her selfish, grasping mother-in-law, who was willing to go to any dishonest lengths to gain custody of Harriet's baby. Tragically, however, the child is now beyond the reach of anyone. This episode is based on the Dragnet radio broadcast of March 2, 1954. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Upon his release from prison, gangster Dan Varrel (Gene Barry) vows to kill Lois Williams (Nancy Gates), the woman responsible for his brother's death. Catching up to Lois, Dan is surprised to find a lonely, impoverished, and thoroughly depressed young woman who all but begs him to put her out of her misery. Almost instantly, Dan changes his tune and does everything he can to help Lois pull herself out of her doldrums and gain a new lease on life -- but his motives are not entirely altruistic! "Salvage" had been previously dramatized on the radio anthology Suspense, with Burt Lancaster in the leading role. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi