Paul Picerni Movies

Officers Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) and Jim Reed (Kent McCord) break up a racket conducted by an elderly astrologer who moonlights (no pun intended) as a criminal. In other cases, the two cops provide words of comfort to a woman agonizing over her son's drug problems; and a zoning issue turns neighbor against neighbor. Finally, a hostile liquor store owner complicates Pete and Jim's investigation of a robbery by providing them with false information. ~ 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

Petty thief Steve Morgan (Rip Torn) uses a toy gun to hold up a candy store. Later on, the cops make the necessary connections and Steve is arrested. At first, he is thrilled and delighted that so many people are making so much of a fuss over so minor a crime. But Steve is in for quite a shock when he learns exactly why the police, and the public, are so interested in his criminal career. "Number Twenty-Two" is based on a story by Evan Hunter, who later worked on the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Paul Picerni guest stars as Vinny Randazzo, a lifelong friend of widowed waitress Alice Hyatt (Linda Lavin). When Vinny shows up to propose marriage to Alice, the prospect seems mighty tempting, especially since Vinny will be able to provide a financially secure future for her son Tommy (Philip McKeon). There's only one minor drawback: Alice doesn't love Vinny...and never has. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Shelley Winters is appropriately cast as Big Rose, a rough 'n' tough private detective. Nobody messes with Big Rose, least of all her new young partner (Barry Primus), who likes to joke his way through dangerous situations. The two detectives are hired to thwart a gang of confidence tricksters who specialize in blackmail. Though she makes an conspicuous target, Big Rose heads directly into the line of fire, with her younger assistant barely keeping pace. The pilot film for an unsold TV series, Big Rose is currently advailable under its alternate title, Double Trouble. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Patricia Medina guest-stars as Rosita Morales, a former cabaret dancer. A pair of con artists, Luga (Sebastian Cabot) and Sanchez (Paul Picerni), hire Rosita to pose as Spanish noblewoman Isabella Marie Inez de la Cuesta. It is the first step in a scheme to claim the valuable De La Cuesta Land Grant -- which includes a generous portion of the Ponderosa. Written by David Dortort and Leonard Heideman, "The Spanish Grant" was originally telecast on February 6, 1960. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Astronauts Charles Brubaker, John Walker, and Peter Willis (James Brolin, O.J. Simpson, and Sam Waterston, respectively) are hailed as heroes when they become the first men to be rocketed to Mars. Actually the space travelers are as phony as their mission controller, Dr. James Kelloway (Hal Holbrook); to avert a failure that might cost the space program its funding, the Mars-bound vessel has been sent up without a crew, while the helmeted astronauts sit on a movie soundstage, pretending to be in outer space for the benefit of the TV cameras. Unfortunately the Mars ship crashes on arrival, making the astronaut trio thoroughly expendable. Investigative reporter Robert Caulfield (Elliott Gould), who's smelled a rat all along, races against time to prevent NASA from "terminating" the hapless astronauts in order to cover up the conspiracy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this badly misconceived pseudo-biography of the legendary Cuban revolutionary -- played, incredibly, by Omar Sharif -- Che Guevara takes up the cause as a rebel fighter under the direction of Fidel Castro, played -- also incredibly -- by Jack Palance. Guevara, a young Argentine doctor, proves his worth under the heat of guerilla warfare and, gaining the respect of his men, becomes the leader of a patrol. Castro is impressed by Guevara's tactics and strict discipline and makes him his chief advisor. When Castro defeats the Cuban dictator Batista after two years of fighting, Guevara, under Castro's nod, directs a series of massive reprisals -- but Guevara dreams of fermenting a worldwide revolution. After Castro backs down during the Cuban Missile Crisis, Guevara accuses Castro of being a Soviet dupe and leaves Cuba. Under disguise, Guevara lands in Bolivia, where he attempts to begin his dream of a worldwide peasant revolution, but the Bolivian poor will not follow his lead, and his band find themselves starving in the Bolivian jungle and pursued by the Bolivian army. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

In this thriller, a mentally unstable ex-GI escapes from the mental ward and goes searching for his ex-wife who only recently divorced him. The man is not dangerous; he just wants to talk to her. Meanwhile the woman is murdered by her lover, a married man, because she is pregnant with his child. The fugitive soldier is framed for the murder. He escapes, finds the real killer and gets his revenge. Fortunately, a clever police lieutenant also figures out the murderer's identity and gets there in time to save the soldier from killing him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

There's no obvious motive when a police officer is killed in a drive-by shooting on the steps of his own house. But after Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) trace the "murder car" to a man named Hymie Flores (Paul Picerni), it becomes obvious that the killer was ex-con Jake Carver (Tony Barrett), who had a personal vendetta against the victm. Ultimately, Carver is arrested for another killing and sentenced to life imprisonment. Still hoping to gather enough evidence to send Carver to the gas chamber, Friday goes undercover as a fellow prisoner. This episode is based on the Dragnet radio broadcast of March 2, 1950. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Rampart emergency staff can't understand why Federal agents are so closely hovering over one of their patients (Hedley Mattingly), an apparent schizophrenic. Other problems vexing the staffers this week include an urgent summons to a fireboat, which yields surprising results; a possible suicide; and a brand-new life that may be over before it begins. And in a lighter vein, paramedic John (Randolph Mantooth) is confused when his rather less charismatic partner Roy (Kevin Tighe) suddenly attracts a bevy of admirers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Deadbeat dads be damned. Patrick Swayze plays a con man who tries to live up to the ideals of "family values" by kidnapping his son and daughter from the evil clutches of a corrupt orphanage and taking them on a cross-country trip in his vintage convertible. To complicate matters, his daughter has been sexually molested by the head of the orphanage, who fears that she may prosecute if given the opportunity. This family drama is also a zany road movie as the re-united father and children flee the police on a quest to restore their family. ~ Laura Abraham, All Movie Guide

A Girl for Joe was the reissue title for the 1951 WWII romantic drama Force of Arms. William Holden and Nancy Olson, previously teamed in Sunset Boulevard and Union Station, co-star once more as, respectively, an Army sergeant and a WAC officer. While on leave, Holden and Olson fall in love, but before long Holden is sent back to the front. Surviving the battle of San Pietro, Holden is tortured by the fact that he may have "choked" under fire, indirectly causing the deaths of his CO Frank Lovejoy and several of his comrades. Even after his happy marriage to Olson, Holden cannot purge himself of his guilt feelings. Despite his wife's protestations, Holden re-ups to atone for past mistakes. Told that Holden is missing in action, Nancy refuses to give her husband up for dead and heads for the front herself. Officially based on a short story by Richard Tregaskis, this drama is actually a semi-remake of Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, previously filmed in 1932 (this may partially explain why Warner Bros., producers of Force of Arms, purchased the rights to the 1932 film). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide