Barry Nelson Movies

Jessica (Angela Lansbury) heads Southward to visit an old friend, celebrated playwright Eugene McLendon (Barry Nelson). Inevitably, a murder occurs: the victim this time is Eugene's crooked business manager Jonathan Keeler (Elliott Reid). Deciding to stay on and help out when Eugene is suspected of the murder, Jessica is startled when the ailing playwright suddenly proposes marriage! Among the special guest suspects in this episode is Lois Nettleton, doing a hilarious turn as a Southern stage star. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Comedian Andy Kaufman, who made a career of assuming "alternate personalities" that he claimed to be unable to control, delivers an acting tour-de-force in this episode. Ever since he adopted the obnoxious alter ego of swingin' bachelor Vic Ferrari in the previous season's "Latka the Playboy," mild-mannered mechanic Latka Gravas (Andy Kaufman) can never tell when he himself will "disappear" and Vic will emerge. Making matters worse, Latka has adopted several other personalities -- his latest being a carbon copy of fellow cabbie Alex (Judd Hirsch)! Clearly, a visit to the shrink is long overdue...and that is where special guest star Barry Nelson comes in. ~ All Movie Guide

A virtual remake of Roger Corman's drive-in classic Attack of the Crab Monsters, this Florida-lensed cheapie is more than just a throwback to low-budget monster movies of the 1950s -- it's a throwback in every sense of the word. The claw-wielding killer crustaceans here are the product of a nuclear plant accident off the Florida coast, which causes crabs used in a nearby growth-research experiment to bulk up to the size of sport-utility vehicles. Strangely, there's only one mega-crab on display, and even that one's not visible until the film's climax. In the meantime, we're treated to dull scenes of the clawed critters scampering around in search of human meals. Star Robert Lansing had already garnered a bit of experience battling giant mutated animals in similarly ridiculous movies such as Empire of the Ants. Also released as Night of the Claw. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

In an outer-space replay of a familiar western plotline, the Gallactica must gather enough seed to replant its devastated agroships, lest the crew and passengers starve. In order to gain the necessary seed from a group of alien farmers, Adama (Lorne Greene) is obliged to romance a former girlfriend who wields great power over the populace. Meanwhile, Starbuck (Dirk Benedict) loses a rigged card game and is pressed into service as the local sheriff, whereupon he must rally an army of warriors against the planet's principal persecutors, the piglike Borays. "The Magnificent Warriors" was later combined with the Battlestar Galactica episode "Fire in Space" and reissued as the two-hour "TV movie" Curse of the Cylons. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this low-budget offering with several familiar "B"-movie players (Chuck Connors, Peter Graves), truck drivers become addicted to amphetamines courtesy of a drugs racket within the trucking company itself, so an undercover agent is sent in to gather evidence. ~ Mark Hockley, All Movie Guide

The made-for-TV Climb an Angry Mountain revives the reliable "country cop vs city cop" concept, with Fess Parker and Barry Nelson on either side of the argument. New York City officer Nelson wants to use state-of-art methods to track down a fugitive Indian criminal (played by former football star Joe Kapp) who is hiding out on California's Mount Shasta. Local rancher/sheriff Parker wants to handle the case on his own, since his son (Clay O'Brien) is the fugitive's hostage. The rival authority figures eventually come to the "united we stand" understanding in trailing their quarry. Climb an Angry Mountain benefits mightily from extensive location shooting. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Airport had enough plot and enough star power in its cast for three feature films, and it only encompassed about half of the complexity or characters found in Arthur Hailey's best-selling potboiler. Essentially built around 12 harrowing hours at a major Midwestern airport, the film had everything an audience of the period could have wanted -- suspense, romance, drama, and comedy -- all spread across a vast canvas. Mel Bakersfeld (Burt Lancaster) is the manager of Lincoln Airport, facing a night beset by the worst blizzard in a decade, a wife (Dana Wynter) who announces she wants a divorce, a primary runway blocked by an airliner stuck in a snowdrift, and a governing board ready to fire him. Bakersfeld's cynical, smooth-talking brother-in-law, Vernon Demerest (Dean Martin), won't let up on his criticism of the management at Lincoln, but he has his own problems as well, mostly in the form of a young stewardess, Gwen Meighen (Jacqueline Bisset), who is pregnant by him and whom he finds he genuinely loves. Add to that the presence of an old lady stowaway (Helen Hayes) and a mentally disturbed passenger (Van Heflin) carrying a bomb, and there's more than enough plot to keep viewers engrossed for two hours plus. Airport became one of the top-grossing movies of its era, racking up seven-digit box-office numbers and spawning an entire film genre -- the disaster movie. With Jean Seberg, George Kennedy, Lloyd Nolan, Barry Nelson, and Maureen Stapleton filling out the rest of the leading roles, there was something for almost everyone in this film. The movie still has a lot to offer if only as a prime example of Hollywood at its most successfully glitzy, but, if possible, viewers should try and see the letterboxed version of Airport on DVD (released May 2001). ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Breakout to a Fast Buck is an episode of the 90-minute TV series Name of the Game. Dan Farrell (Robert Stack), senior editor of Crime magazine, is called in to investigate a prison break. One of the escapees is an elderly former building contractor (Arthur O'Connell), who didn't want to join his fellow cons in their breakout. Farrell suspects that the contract is being sprung in order to help break into one of the buildings that he designed. This Name of the Game installment originally aired on March 14, 1969. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Borgia Stick opens with a funeral: the "guests of honor" are also the film's stars, Don Murray and Inger Stevens. In flashback, we learn that Murray and Stevens were for all intents and purposes a happily married suburban couple. Before long, we discover that the couple wasn't married at all, nor were they particularly happy. In fact, Murray and Stevens were employees of an all-powerful crime syndicate, plunked down in suburbia to lay the groundwork for a mob takeover. When the couple decides to go straight, they sign their own death warrant....maybe. A tremendous improvement over the handful of made-for-television films that preceded it, The Borgia Stick was the first TV movie to enjoy favorable notices from the critics. Its first telecast on February 25, 1967, was one of the highest-rated events of the 1966-67 season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Awakening from a mutual hangover, Bob and Millie Frazier (Barry Nelson and Nancy Malone) find themselves in the middle of a typical American small town -- which seems to be entirely deserted. Exploring the town, Bob and Millie discover that most of the buildings are constucted of papier-mâché, and that the train that pulls up at the station travels only in a circle. Even worse, the Fraziers are plagued by the echoing laughter of a small child. Written by Earl Hamner, Jr., this late Twilight Zone entry was economically filmed on the familiar MGM backlot #2 (look closely, and you'll recognize Andy Hardy's house). "Stopover in a Quiet Town" was first telecast April 24, 1964. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This film version of the Broadway play of the same name was produced and directed by Mervyn LeRoy. Bob (Barry Nelson) is a divorced book publisher with a pile tax receipts and facing an audit from the IRS. At the insistence of his accountant, he must get together with his ex-wife Mary (Debbie Reynolds) to find out just what the pieces of paper mean. Bob is engaged to marry Tiffany (Diane McBain), the daughter of a wealthy New England family. When a snowstorm traps Bob and Mary in his apartment, their all night discussions lead to an eventual reconciliation in this amusing comedy. Tifanny graciously bows out of the picture when she realizes the two are still in love. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Ginger Rogers ended her 23-year association with RKO Radio with the indifferent musical comedy western The First Travelling Saleslady. Ginger and Broadway favorite Carol Channing (whose only starring film this was) play a pair of corset salespersons who head westward in 1897 to hawk their wares. Finding a limited market for corsets, the ladies switch to selling barbed wire, which rests not at all well with cattle baron James Arness. Rescuing Ginger and Carol from Arness' hired guns are horseless-carriage inventor Barry Nelson and callow young cowpoke Clint Eastwood. Whenever asked about First Travelling Saleslady in later years, Carol Channing would blithely refer to it as "the picture that killed RKO"; she wasn't too far wrong in this assessment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Adapted by Samuel W. Taylor from his own novel, The Man with My Face is an acting tour de force for Barry Nelson. The star is cast as an accountant who returns home late one evening, only to discover that a look-alike has taken his place. So persuasive is the phony man that the real one is regarded as an impostor. Even his wife (Lynn Ailey) and business partner (John Harvey) seem to have fallen for the look-alike's subterfuge. Accused of bank robbery, the poor man must rely on his ex-sweetheart Mary (Carole Mathews) and her brother Walt (Jack Warden in his film debut) to help him clear himself and expose his "evil twin." The climax borrows a gimmick from an earlier "doppelganger" melodrama, The Black Room (1935). Man with My Face was filmed on location in Puerto Rico. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide