Mary Murphy Movies
Actress Mary Murphy's film career always seemed to be starting but never really progressing. In Hollywood from 1949, Murphy first gained critical attention for her performance opposite Marlon Brando in The Wild One (1954), but before the year was out she was going through the motions of a traditional ingénue in the Vincent Price shocker The Mad Magician (1954). The following year she was again showered with praise for her portrayal of Fredric March's daughter in The Desperate Hours (1955); once more, however, this personal triumph was followed by forgettable roles in the likes of The Maverick Queen (1956) and Live Fast Die Young (1958). At one point, she absented herself from the screen for seven years, returning only when a good part finally surfaced in Junior Bonner (1972). In 1961, Mary Murphy was a regular on the brief TV series The Investigators. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1974
In this 1974 TV movie, Meredith Baxter and Beau Bridges portray adult adoptees, desirous of meeting their natural parents. Through the auspices of a tracing agency, Baxter, Bridges and several others (including future TV luminary Patrick Duffy) locate their actual mothers and fathers, with results ranging from hosannas to heartache. The centerpiece of the film is a brief dialogue between Baxter and her real-life mother, Whitney Blake. While the film has as much to do with Bridges as with Baxter, the print ads emphasized her participation in the film over everyone else's. The Stranger Who Looks Like Me was directed by Larry Peerce, touted by those aforementioned ads for his direction of Goodbye Columbus (69). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
This episode is truly episodic, offering poignant and sometimes tragic vignettes occuring during a single San Francisco weekend. The catalyst for the the story is a .25 caliber pistol, hunting by both the police and the underworld alike. In the course of events, the pistol claims two victims: a syndicate thug and an innocent little boy. It is up to Stone (Karl Malden) and Keller (Michael Douglas) to prevent further bloodshed--hardly an easy task, considered that the pistol has already passed through too many hands. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
Born Innocent, originally telecast September 9, 1974, concerns the plight of a teenaged reform-school inmate, played by Linda Blair in her first important post-Exorcist role. Committed for being a habitual runaway, Blair is, for all her surface toughness, unworldly and naïve. All this changes in the reformatory, with Blair rapidly becoming as hard, callous, and irredeemable as her fellow detentionees. Even upon her probationary release, she shows no sign of being "cured" by her incarceration. The film's most notorious scene -- Blair's rape by broom-handle -- was all the more horrifying because there was no pre-show warning issued by the network. So disturbing was the sequence that it was removed from all subsequent network telecasts of Born Innocent. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
Sgt. Ed Brown (Don Galloway) is dismayed to learn that his priest friend Steve Timmins (Christopher Connelly)has been targeted for murder. Even more dismaying is the fact that Father Steve knows the identity of the would-be killer, but is bound by the rules of the Confessional to remain silent. As Ed and Chief Ironside (Raymond Burr) endeavor to save Steve in spite of himself, they come across three seemingly random murders--and in each case,the victim is a drug dealer working in Steve's parish. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
Hope Lange plays Karen Chandler, a 36-year-old wife and mother. After living in quiet desperation for several years, she suddenly decides to leave her family to seek a new life in the cutthroat world of big business. Part of Karen's "liberation" involves (surprise!) a new romance. Earl Holliman plays Lange's husband, while Michael Murphy is her new heartthrob. One of the kindlier efforts in the "finding oneself" genre, the made-for-TV I Love You... Goodbye originally aired February 12, 1974. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hope Lange, Earl Holliman, (more)
- 1973
While on a fishing trip, Ironside (Raymond Burr) and Ed (Don Galloway) make a quick stopover at a roadside inn. It soon becomes obvious that the establish is the front for an illegal gambling house, run by a sinister professional speculator named Lou Hogan (Robert Webber), who may also have the local sheriff in his pocket. When a fatal shooting occurs, Ironside simultaneouly tries to solve the murder and save the lives of an innocent young couple (Suzanne Charney, Don Kanmer) by sitting down to a VERY high-stakes poker game with the gimlet-eyed Hogan. Featured in the cast is a pre-Charlie's Angels Cheryl Ladd, billed under her maiden name Cheryl Stopplemoor. This is the final episode of Ironside's sixth season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Sam Peckinpah eschews his slow-motion bullet ballets for this quiet character study of ex-rodeo cowboy turned drifter Junior Bonner (Steve McQueen), who returns home to Arizona to reconcile with the family he hasn't seen in years. Bonner is shocked to see that the solid family he was hoping to come back to is breaking apart. His parents, Ace (Robert Preston) and Elvira (Ida Lupino), have separated, and his brother Curley (Joe Don Baker) has turned into a heartless real estate tycoon, parceling off sections of his parent's land for quick money. With nowhere to turn and nowhere to run, Bonner has to face himself and try to find a way to regain his self-respect. He is given that opportunity at the town's Fourth of July Rodeo, where he is determined to mount and ride and unrideable bull. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve McQueen, Robert Preston, (more)
- 1966
At the suggestion of Bill's current lady friend Ellen Latimer (Mary Murphy), who works for a major ad agency, Mr. French (Sebastian Cabot) is chosen as commercial spokesman for a new breakfast treat, Dunholt Marmalade. The usually unflappable Mr. French basks in the fame and adulation, and eagerly looks forward to embarking on a national promotion tour--until he finally tastes the marmalade! Richard Peel makes his first series appearance as French's friend and fellow butler Withers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1965
In Volume 48 of a collection culled from the 1963-1965 science fiction anthology television series, the lives of a pilot and his wife are saved thanks to a fluctuation of time. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1965
Of the two competing Jean Harlow biopics released in 1965, producer Joseph E. Levine's Harlow is the more slickly professional, though neither film is exactly a cinematic landmark. Carroll Baker plays 1930s "platinum blonde" Jean Harlow, who, in keeping with the portrait painted by biographer Irving Schulman and Arthur Landau (upon whose book this film is based) was a forlorn waif tossed around like a football by the predatory males of wicked old Hollywood. Prodded by a hellish stage mother (Angela Lansbury) and an implicitly incestuous stepfather (Raf Vallone), Harlow rises to the pinnacle of movie stardom but never finds true happiness. The wedding-night revelation that her new husband, producer Paul Bern (Peter Lawford), is impotent is just another devastating blow for the poor girl. After all she goes through in the film, Harlow's premature death at age 26 is almost a relief. The only person who truly, deeply, sincerely cares about her is her lovable agent Arthur Landau (played by lovable Red Buttons) who, it will be remembered, co-authored the original Harlow book. Movie buffs will derive some perverse pleasure by the script's many distortions of the facts. Whatever its shortcomings, Harlow posted a huge profit for Joe Levine and Paramount Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carroll Baker, Martin Balsam, (more)
- 1964
Travelling under the name of "Richard Clark", Kimble (David Janssen) is arrested for hitchhiking by Marshall Joe Bob Simms (Pat Hingle). Though he enjoys a reputation as a prince of a fellow, Simms is actually a scheming sadist who uses prisoners like Kimble as slave labor, forcing them to work on a town park that the Marshal hopes will advance his political career. Though he manages to leave town after serving his time, Kimble returns to make Simms pay the penalty for the death of another prisoner (Tom Skerritt)--thereby placing his own life in jeopardy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1963
Damon Runyon's story "Little Miss Marker" gets a mid-'60s update in this comedy. Steve McCluskey (Tony Curtis) is the manager of a nightspot in Lake Tahoe owned by Bernie Friedman (Phil Silvers). Steve is the kind of guy who has heard every sob story in the book and is not easily impressed, but his hard heart begins to soften a bit when he meets Penny Piper (Claire Wilcox), a young orphan girl with no one to turn to and nowhere to go. Steve grudgingly takes her in and soon grows fond of the tyke. Penny thinks that Steve needs to get married and settle down, so she starts playing Cupid, trying to set him up with pretty Chris Lockwood (Suzanne Pleshette). However, Steve is still reeling from his failed first marriage and isn't so sure that another trip to the altar would be good for him. The film's finale sends Steve on a wild chase through Disneyland. Forty Pounds of Trouble marked the feature directorial debut of Norman Jewison, who would go on to make In the Heat of the Night, Fiddler on the Roof, and Jesus Christ Superstar. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Curtis, Phil Silvers, (more)
- 1962
Playboy Douglas Hepner has been murdered, and the principal suspect is Eleanor Corbin (Mary Murphy), who claims to be suffering from amnesia. As she tries to put the pieces of her memory back together, Eleanor arrives at the conclusion that Hepner was her fiance, and that they were working together on behalf of the US Treasury Department to break up a smuggling ring. This of course does not prevent Eleanor from being charged with murder, and it is up to Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) to determine if any portion of her incredible story can be believed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
James Howgill (Ronald Howard) hopes to divorce his wife, Margery (Patricia Donahue), whom he dismisses as drab and dull. On the advice of his attorney, James hires a private eye to dig up evidence of adultery that he can use against Margery. What the detective finds proves to be quite an eye-opener -- not only for Howgill, but also for the viewers at home. Watch for future Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In regular Arte Johnson in a key supporting role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
Handsome, twenty-year-old George Hamilton had his first starring role in this so-so drama by Denis Sanders inspired by Feodor Dostoyevsky's novel Crime and Punishment. Robert Cole (Hamilton) is a law student whose certainty that he is a cut above anyone else leads him to murder a pawnbroker with the belief he is too good to get caught. But Inspector Porter (Frank Silvera) begins to suspect that Cole has blood on his hands, even before there is any real proof that he is guilty. As the two play the same cat-and-mouse game that drove Dostoyevsky's hero over the edge, the modern Roskolnikov finds himself in a steadily deteriorating situation. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Hamilton, Mary Murphy, (more)
- 1958
In this low-budget crime drama a runaway girl joins a gang of jewel thieves and finds herself leading an exciting luxurious life until her older sister shows up during a caper and gets her and the rest of the gang in trouble. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Murphy, Norma Eberhardt, (more)
- 1958
When a movie star dies mysteriously, insurance investigator Jeff Keenan (Rod Cameron) is put on the case. It seems that the dead man was attending a private psychiatric clinic on the Riviera. Keenan learns that one of the staff doctors has been tinkering with an experimental "dream machine," designed to soothe his more disturbed patients. But Paul Zakon (Peter Illing), the ex-Nazi owner of the clinic, has been using the machine for brainwashing purposes. There's really no "monster" to speak of, but there's plenty of Frankenstein-style electric bolts and sparks in the climactic melee. Charles Eric Mayne adapted the gimmicky screenplay from his own novel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rod Cameron, Mary Murphy, (more)
- 1956
A noted expatriate filmmaker's hard work to reestablish himself in Britain is nearly undone when a woman who claims to be his one-time mistress begins writing him threatening letters. This sudden revelation threatens not only his marriage but also his career. It doesn't help that the director doesn't know the blackmailer's identity. He finds out that her letters are coming from Newcastle, and so he and his wife head off to learn the truth. They meet her and his wife is so convinced that she leaves. Unfortunately, the director still doesn't recognize this woman who seems to have such intimate knowledge of him, and he begins to question his own sanity. The rest of the mystery centers on his attempts to learn the truth about the woman and her true motives. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Basehart, Mary Murphy, (more)
Based on the novel and play by Joseph Hayes, which in turn was inspired by an actual event, The Desperate Hours is the prototypical "family-trapped-by-criminals" drama. Escaped convicts Humphrey Bogart, Robert Middleton and Dewey Martin, seeking an appropriate hideout until they can make contact with their money supply, deliberately choose the suburban home of Fredric March and his family. The cold-blooded Bogart wants no trouble with the police, and he knows he can cower a family with children into cooperating with him. The convict orders March, his wife Martha Scott, and their children Richard Eyer and Mary Murphy, to go about their normal activities so as not to arouse suspicion. Young Eyer, upset that March won't lift a hand against Bogart, assumes that his father is a coward. The authorities are alerted when March, at Bogart's behest, draws money for the convict's getaway from the bank. Pushed to the breaking point, March begins subtly turning the tables on the convicts. Bogart's character in Desperate Hours was originally written for a much younger man, which explains why Paul Newman was able to play the part in the original Broadway production. The film was slated to co-star Bogart with his old pal Spencer Tracy, but this plan fell through when the two actors couldn't agree on who would get top billing. Desperate Hours was remade in 1991 with Mickey Rourke in the Bogart role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Humphrey Bogart, Fredric March, (more)
- 1955
Ray Milland made his directorial debut with the Republic western A Man Alone. Milland also starred in the film, playing fugitive gunslinger Wes Steele. While escaping a lynch mob, Steele stumbles onto an Arizona ranch that has been quarantined due to Yellow Fever. During his enforced stay, he falls in love with sheriff's daughter Nadine Corrigan (Mary Murphy), who is as much a "lost soul" as Steele. The only hope the lovers have for a happy future is Steele's exoneration, but this won't happen so long as crooked town banker Stanley (Raymond Burr) holds all the cards. A Man Alone did well enough to encourage future directorial efforts by Ray Milland, which included the well-paced espionager Lisbon and the above average sci-fi exercise Panic in the Year Zero! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ray Milland, Mary Murphy, (more)
- 1955
Phil Karlson, well-regarded by film buffs for his tough, no-nonsense crime dramas, directed this adventure story shot partially on location in the Caribbean. Mike Cormack (John Payne) was once a District Attorney, until his fiancée, Janet Martin (Mary Murphy), left him to marry another man. Depressed, Mike began drinking heavily, and eventually his alcoholism cost him his job. Trying to pull himself back up after hitting bottom, Mike gets a job as a bouncer at a casino in Las Vegas. Barzland (Francis L. Sullivan), a handicapped criminal, approaches Mike with an unusual offer. Barzland will pay Mike $5,000 if he can locate a ruby that went missing following the disappearance of a plane in the West Indies. Mike discovers that the reason he was picked for this job is that the pilot of the plane, Eduardo (Paul Picerni), is the man Janet chose to marry, and Barzland and his men believe that she might have clues as to the ruby's whereabouts that Mike could uncover. However, when Mike arrives to meet with Janet, he discovers that Eduardo is now in jail, and Janet begins to snare Mike in a web of lies and deceit. Hell's Island was rereleased in 1962 under the title South Sea Fury. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Payne, Mary Murphy, (more)
- 1955
Based on a Zane Grey novel published over a decade after the author's death, The Maverick Queen stars Barbara Stanwyck in the title role. As head of the outlaw gang called The Wild Bunch, Kit Banion (Stanwyck) wreaks havoc on the banks and railroads of the West. Pinkerton detective Jeff (Barry Sullivan) infiltrates the gang, falling in love with Kit along the way. Inevitably, one of the main characters expires in the other's arms, bringing this thrilling western to a poignant conclusion. Of interest to western buffs are the decidedly unsympathetic portrayals of gang members Butch Cassidy (Howard Petrie) and the Sundance Kid (Scott Brady). In the manner of High Noon, the film's continuity is tied together with a western ballad, written by Ned Washington and Victor Young and sung by Joni James. The Maverick Queen was Republic's first widescreen effort, lensed in a now-forgotten process called Naturama. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan, (more)
- 1954
A gangster is sentenced to prison for killing his wife, but the woman isn't really dead: she's alive and well, raising her daughter in New Mexico. After 18 years, though, the husband comes back looking for revenge. Dorothy McGuire and Stephen McNally star in the 1954 film. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothy McGuire, Stephen McNally, (more)
