James Olson Movies
A graduate of Northwestern University, actor James Olson did stage work in and around Chicago before his 1956 film bow in The Sharkfighters. Angular and sandy-haired, Olson was well suited to classical stage roles. In films and on television, it was his lot to portray a long line of understanding husbands, doubting doctors, mystery killers and corporate bigwigs. James Olson garnered some of his best reviews for his performance as Joanne Woodward's autumn romance in Rachel, Rachel (1967), under the direction of Paul Newman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
An overweight, childish pizza delivery boy (Vic Dunlop, who wrote the movie) desperately wants to become a stand-up comic. One day he swallows a tiny alien who had become stuck in his cereal, and he becomes a popular Sam Kinison/Don Rickles-type insult comic. He also becomes a coke-snorting alcoholic and eventually turns into a slimy, murderous monster. Believe it or not, this is a comedy! ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vic Dunlop, John Hazelwood, (more)
- 1990
The ladies of Cabot Cove are enchanted by a newcomer to the community, handsome gym instructor Wayne Bennett (Jason Beghe). Especially fascinated by Bennett is Eve Simpson (Julie Adams), who naturally is an old friend of Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury). When Bennett's onetime partner, con artist Fred Kepper (Hugh O'Brien), turns up dead in Eve's bedroom, Jessica can't bring herself to believe that her friend had anything to do with this awkward turn of events--and as always, Jessica knows best. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
- PG13
Rachel River is a small town in Minnesota. When local "looney tune" Aileen Cole dies, the town comes to the slow realization that the reclusive Cole has in fact touched the lives of virtually every citizen--and nearly always in a positive manner. That realization is so slow because, immediately after Cole's demise, everyone is more concerned with scrambling to recover a buried treasure rumored to be on the old woman's property. The very thin plotline is fleshed out by individual episodes involving some of the town's more visible denizens: Cole's slobbish nephew Craig T. Nelson, Nelson's viper-tongued sister Jo Henderson, elderly Viveca Lindfors, local radio personality Pamela Reed, covetous undertaker James Olson, and "village idiot" Zeljko Ivanek, whose top billing in the opening credits is justified as the story develops. Rachel River premiered in June of 1989 as a PBS American Playhouse telecast, then enjoyed a brief theatrical distribution. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Zeljko Ivanek, Pamela Reed, (more)
- 1986
Robert Conrad stars in One Police Plaza as a New York homicide detective. A case on which he's working, involving the murder of a beautiful woman, is ordered closed by Conrad's superiors. Refusing to give up, the detective probes deeper, and unearths a hotbed of crooked cops, dirty "brass" and illegal weapons. Made for television, One Police Plaza was initially telecast on November 29, 1986, easily outrating a Jack Paar "comeback" special. The film was based on the bestselling novel by William J. Caunitz. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
In this socially conscious drama, an ex-con meets constant opposition from avaricious land owners who want the land on which he has set up a ranch-style juvenile correctional facility. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Shortly after The Terminator wrote his name in bold neon lights across box-office grosses, this action thriller took advantage of the hitherto (almost) unexploited comic side of star Arnold Schwarzenegger and paired him with Rae Dawn Chong. Colonel Matrix (Schwarzenegger) is retired and living peaceably with his 10-year-old daughter when she is kidnapped by the henchmen of an exiled Latin American dictator. The dictator's plan is to reinstate himself in power by eliminating the president of his country, using Matrix to kill him (or he will kill the kidnapped daughter). Matrix escapes from the plane that is supposed to be carrying him to his mission and then proceeds to go from one violent confrontation to the next as he hunts down the dictator and moves to rescue his daughter. Helping him is Cindy (Chong), who has her own reasons for wanting the dictator dead. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rae Dawn Chong, (more)
A small Kansas town's preparations for its annual Fourth of July parade provide the backdrop of this drama that centers around the sudden turmoil experienced by three generations of women in a family when one of their husbands is released from a seven year sentence in prison and comes home looking for revenge. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Delving into the horrific history of the infamous Long Island haunted house, this prequel to 1979's popular chiller The Amityville Horror is loosely based on the DeFeo murders but is at heart a straightforward horror-exploitation film with an Exorcist twist. When the violently dysfunctional Montelli family moves into the rustic abode (claimed to have been built on an Indian burial ground), the standard haunted-house clichés (bleeding walls, swarms of flies, bubbling black goop) give way to a more direct demonic attack on the eldest son -- who develops an unhealthy interest in his nubile younger sister, followed by a much more lethal attraction to dad's shotgun. In a desperate attempt to purge the evil, the local priest tries to perform an exorcism...with unexpected results. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Young, Rutanya Alda, (more)
E. L. Doctorow's novel Ragtime was a sprawling fictional account of American manners and mores in the years between 1900 and 1913. Among the mosaic of colorful factual and fictional characters in the novel were escape artist Harry Houdini and radical Emma Goldman. Both characters are all but eliminated in the film version, which only concentrates on three of Doctorow's many plot threads: The story of an immigrant artist (Mandy Patinkin) who becomes a movie director; the saga of "Gibson Girl" Evelyn Nesbit Shaw (Elizabeth McGovern), for whose sake playboy Harry K. Thaw (Robert Joy); kills architect Stanford White (Norman Mailer) and a lone black man's (Howard Rollins Jr.) quest for justice when his car is destroyed by a racist fire chief (Kenneth McMillan). This last subplot consumes most of the film's running time, to the overall detriment of the pacing. There are also several scenes involving an unnamed upper-middle-class family (headed by James Olson and Mary Steenburgen) who are evidently meant to be the audience's eyes and ears, but are frankly not terribly interesting. Back in 1981, Ragtime was given plenty of press coverage as the "comeback" picture for James Cagney, after twenty years in retirement. The problem is that Cagney's character (a police commissioner) isn't in the book, and his inclusion not only throws the story off balance, but necessitates the removal of several potentially interesting characters and events. Another detriment is the gratuitous (and illogical) nudity in the Evelyn Nesbit scenes, which earned the film its "R" rating. An ornate misfire, Ragtime is of interest today only for its remarkable cast of veterans and stars-to-be, including Pat O'Brien and Eloise O'Brien, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Allen, Moses Gunn, Jeff Daniels and Fran Drescher. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Cagney, Brad Dourif, (more)
- 1979
You'd think that Irwin Allen had exhausted the "disaster" genre by 1979. Think again: 1979 was the year that Allen put together the made-for-TV movie Cave-In. Once again, a diverse group is trapped in a perilous situation; this time they're caught in an underground cave-in in an anonymous national park. The dramatis personae includes park ranger Dennis Cole, Cole's ex-lover (and state senator) Susan Sullivan, and fugitive convict James Olson. Also ensconsed in the subterranean tomb are Leslie Nielsen, Julie Sommars and Ray Milland. Cave-In was shelved for nearly four years after its completion: it was finally given a network showing on June 19, 1983. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
James Olson guest stars as "Reverend" Edward Danforth, a bombastic faith healer who descends upon Walnut Grove. So persuasive is Danforth's rhetoric and his laying-on-of-hands technique that soon both Rev. Alden (Dabbs Greer) and Doc Baker (Kevin Hagen) are shunned by the community as being hopelessly old-fashioned. But Danforth is exposed as a fraud when tragedy strikes in the home of a boy suffering from a ruptured appendix. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Landon, Karen Grassle, (more)
- 1978
In the first episode of a two-part story, the Galactica is again attacked by a fleet of Cylon fighters. The crew's only hope of escape is through a space corridor past the ice planet Arcta--which is guarded by a Cylon pulsar cannon. Commander Adama (Lorne Greene) is ultimately forced to place the future of his space vessel in the hards of an army of criminals, led by Adama's son Apollo (Richard Hatch) and Apollo's best friend Starbuck (Richard Hatch). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict, (more)
- 1978
In the conclusion of a two-part story, the fate of the Galactica rests in the hands of an army of criminals and misfits, under the command of Apollo (Richard Hatch) and Starbuck (Dirk Benedict). This ragtag band must destroy the Cylon pulsar cannon mounted on the ice planet Arcta. Can they depend upon the help of a race of clone miners, who have as much reason to hate the Cylons as anyone in the universe -- but who may not be willing or able to fight? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict, (more)
- 1978
A schizophrenic runaway provides the focus of this drama, set in San Francisco. She is followed by a caring psychologist who discovers that her illness has led her to believe that she is a hooker. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
In this combination of domestic melodrama and offbeat suspense flick, an astronomer must shoulder the burden of caring for and sleeping with her mentally ill sister after their anthropologist father dies in Africa. Ellen (Lee Grant) and Cissy (Carol Kane) share a possibly incestuous relationship, but that doesn't stop Ellen from longing for a more conventional romance with nice-guy co-worker David (James Olson). And who could blame her for wanting to get away, considering that Cissy's favorite activity is drawing pictures of, then killing, the series of primates she keeps locked in a cage in the sisters' baroquely tribal abode? After sleeping with David and accidentally letting her resentment against Cissy show through, Ellen heads out on a business trip, convinced her sister won't come too unhinged as long as old family friend Zom (Will Geer) looks in on her every day. Unfortunately, David comes knocking, delighted to finally get some insight into Ellen's home life, and soon Cissy has trouble differentiating one kind of primate from another. Based on a French play, The Mafu Cage marked the second effort behind the camera for former actress Karen Arthur, who would go on to become an in-demand TV-movie director. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lee Grant, Carol Kane, (more)
- 1976
Former policewoman Dorothy Uhnak wrote the book upon which this 150-minute TV movie was based. The central characters of Law and Order are the male members of an Irish-American family--three generations of police officers. The bulk of the drama concerns the conflicts between Deputy Chief of Public Affairs Brian O'Malley (Darren McGavin) and his Vietnam-vet son (Art Hindle), who has become a beat cop. In addition to his problems at home, Chief O'Malley must contend with rumors of departmental corruption. Law and Order was designed as the pilot film for a Police Story-style series with a family slant. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
Former Brady Bunch costar Maureen McCormick appears in the radically different guise in this episode as 16-year-old call girl Cindy Lawson. Stone (Karl Malden) and Robbins (Richard Hatch) are called in when several of Cindy's "johns" are methodically murdered. Only the audience knows that the murderer is Cindy's pathetically deranged father Vic Lawson (James Olson). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
Originally made to be a television pilot, this sci-fi thriller is set in the future and chronicles the exploits of a trio of space travellers who thaw out after having spent nearly two centuries in suspended animation, return to earth and find it inhabited by clones. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1975
Man on the Outside was the pilot film for the weekly ABC TV series Griff. Lorne Greene stars as retired police captain Wade "Griff" Griffin, who is galvanized back into active duty when his police-officer son is murdered before his eyes, and his grandson is kidnapped by a mob functionary. None of the supporting cast of the subsequent series (Ben Murphy, Patricia Stich, Vic Tayback, et al.) was seen in this pilot episode; instead, future Jaws costar Lorraine Gary, cast as Griff's daughter-in-law, acted as his assistant. Curiously, Man on the Outside did not air until June 29, 1975, a full year and a half after the cancellation of Griff. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
Cloris Leachman plays a pregnant woman whose husband contracts a venereal disease from a teen he has been having an affair with. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- 1975
Based on a true story, The Family Nobody Wanted was one of the better ABC Movie of the Week entries of the 1970s. James Olson plays a minister whose main concern is society's outcasts, particularly the youngsters. With the loving help and support of his wife (Shirley Jones), the reverend takes in 12 unwanted children of various colors and creeds. Though it's very hard to find suitable lodging for all these kids, the couple provides a loving environment for their ersatz family. Adapted by Suzanne Clauser from a book by Helen Doss (who is portrayed in the film by Shirley Jones), The Family Nobody Wanted was first telecast February 19, 1975. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
A mental hospital is the scene of several strange and unexplained deaths. Hoping to determine the reason for the carnage--and to flush out a possible murderer--Steve Keller (Mike Douglas) goes undercover as a mental patient, after police doctor Murchison (Fred Sadoff) administers a drug that will temporarily transform Keller into a raving lunatic! Once he's inside the asylum, the detective finds that it is next to impossible to get out...alive. Among the supporting players are two former TV-series regulars: December Bride's Frances Rafferty and Ben Casey's Bettye Ackerman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
