Tracy Reed Movies
Leading lady Tracy Reed received her first major professional break when she was hired as one of the ensemble players for the 1969 TV anthology Love, American Style. This led to Reed's being cast as Corey Bratter in the all-black, weekly-series version of Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park (1970). Two decades later, she co-starred as Charlotte Anderson in Knot's Landing (1990-91). In between her series assignments, Tracy Reed appeared in several theatrical and made-for-TV movies; she owns the dubious distinction of having played opposite both Bill Cosby (in 1978's Top Secret) and O.J. Simpson (in 1983's Cocaine and Blue Eyes). Tracy Reed should not be confused with the British actress of the same name. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Low-brow British humor abounds in this farcical account of Edwin Anthony, the first man to receive a successful penis transplant. Anthony becomes quite attached to his new appendage and even gives it the title name. The alleged humor comes in when Anthony and Percy set out to investigate the life of the latter's former owner. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1971
An excellent musical score by the Bee Gees adds appeal to this curious little movie about two ten-year olds, Daniel and Melody (Mark Lester and Tracy Hyde) who are completely taken with each other and announce to their parents, in all seriousness, that they plan to get married. This marriage is not planned for the distant future, but as soon as possible. The uproar that is caused when their seriousness becomes clear is not too surprising. Their best friend Ornshaw (Jack Wild) is not too thrilled with their plan either. What makes the film work is that the entire story is told from the children's point of view in which the grownups' objections, since they have no relation to the truth of what the children are feeling, come across as silly or inconsequential. This film is a reunion of sorts for Oscar-winning Oliver! co-stars Mark Lester and Jack Wild ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Wild, Mark Lester, (more)
- 1970
Also known as Return of the Boomerang, Adam's Woman is set in the rough-and-tumble Australia of the 1840s. Beau Bridges plays Adam, convicted of a crime he didn't commit and shipped off to the penal colony "Down Under". Enduring brutal treatment, he escapes, only to be captured again. Thanks to the intervention of a reform-minded warden John Mills, Adam is offered a fresh start in life. An unexpectedly vicious climax finds Adam and his new wife (Jane Merrow) fending off a group of scurrilous ex-prisoners headed by Adam's onetime cellmate (James Booth). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Beau Bridges, Jane Merrow, (more)
- 1969
Steed is the latest in a long line of aristocrats who have been accused of crimes thanks to carefully planted evidence. He also finds himself victimized by a blackmailer, who uses his ill-gotten gains to purchase works of art. Making matters worse, Steed cannot entirely rely on Tara for assistance, inasmuch as she has been immobilized by a broken ankle. Written by Philip Levene, "Curious Case of the Countless Clues" first aired in England on February 5, 1969, some ten months after its American debut on April 3, 1968. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1968
This uneven spy saga finds secret agent Charles Hood (Vince Edwards) on the trail of the criminal master spy Hammerhead (Peter Vaughan). He tries to discover some NATO secrets in between his hobby of collecting antique erotica from around the world. Hood must stop the evil Hammerhead before he uses the secret information to spark an incident of international terrorism. In order to stop Hammerhead's sordid plan, he poses as a courier delivering erotica to the spy. Distaff interests are provided by Diana Dors and Judy Geeson in this feature that fails to take advantage of some beautiful scenes of Portugal. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vince Edwards, Judy Geeson, (more)
Retired after years of international espionage, Agent 007 is lured back into action to battle the evil spy organization SMERSH in this notoriously incoherent parody of the James Bond films. David Niven portrays the aging Bond, who atypically rejects the advances of a variety of women, and agrees to battle SMERSH's hold on the lavish Casino Royale only after organization head M is murdered. Also mixed up in the affair are several other secret agents, all named James Bond, played by everyone from Peter Sellers and Woody Allen to a chimpanzee. Despite a star-studded cast, a large production budget, and a hit score by Burt Bacharach, the film was universally panned as a muddled, overlong failure, with the occasional amusing sequence lost in the unintelligible surroundings. The participation of several screenwriters and five different directors, including John Huston, only adds to the confusion. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Ursula Andress, (more)
- 1967
It's Funny Face meets Rififi in Maroc 7, starring Cyd Charisse as Louise Henderson, an editor for a slick and chic fashion magazine who utilizes her jet-setting life style as a front for an international jewel-smuggling operation. Abetting her in the scheme is the magazine's top photographer and high-fashion cover model. But instead of "Think pink" it's "Think clink" as secret agent Simon Grant (Gene Barry) is sent in to infiltrate Louise's organization. Posing as a safecracker, Simon convinces Louise to let him in to the gang's next operation: a plan to smuggle a priceless gem out of Morocco. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Barry, Cyd Charisse, (more)
- 1966
In this drama, a former RAF pilot is hired to fly a suspicious package from France to England. Trouble ensues when the pilot decides to keep it for himself without realizing that his employer anticipated his treachery and planted a bomb on the plane. Fortunately, the boss's secretary intervenes and saves the pilot. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gregoire Aslan, Tracy Reed, (more)
- 1965
The BBC comedy series World of Wooster was based on P.G. Wodehouse's whimsical short stories about upper-class twit Bertie Wooster (Ian Carmichael) and his ever-resourceful (and infinitely more intelligent) butler Jeeves (Dennis Price). Most of the stories dealt with Bertie's desultory romances, with Jeeves forever coming to the rescue of his master when things threatened to go beyond the point of no return. Debuting May 30, 1965, the series ran for three seasons; by the time of its final telecast on November 16, 1967, the title had been changed to The World of Wodehouse so that those P.G. Wodehouse stories not featuring Jeeves and Wooster could be utilized. Alas, of the series' 20 videotaped episodes, only two are currently known to exist in the BBC vaults. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ian Carmichael, Dennis Price, (more)
- 1965
An Englishman finds himself on the holiday from hell in this horror movie. He had gone to Britanny for rest and relaxation. Instead he finds himself involved in a satanic cult run by a sophisticated vampire. Two of the man's friends are killed there because the cult requires human sacrifices. The man really gets mad when the vampire kidnaps his girlfriend. The angered Englishman soon exposes the creature's identity leaving the bereft vampire to wander through a cemetery. There, he stumbles upon a cross and dies. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1965
You Must be Joking? draws its laughs from an Army endurance test. Over a 48-hour period, five officers in the British army-including American transplant Michael Callan-must wend their way through a maze, retrieve a hood ornament from a Rolls Royce and steal a lock of hair from beauteous pop singer Gabriella Licudi. There's a big prize in store for the officer who finishes the test first, and since the other contestant include such middle-aged huffers and puffers as Lionel Jeffries and Denholm Elliot, it doesn't take a Rhodes scholar to figure out who the victor will be. Director Michael Winner was still in his "mad mod" period when he lensed the wacky goings-on of You Must Be Joking? His Death Wish pictures of the 1970s were in 1965 as remote as another galaxy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Callan, Lionel Jeffries, (more)
A murder has been committed at the palatial Parisian residence of Benjamin Ballon (George Sanders). All the evidence points to sexy, wide-eyed housemaid Maria Gambrelli (Elke Sommer). Police inspector Dreyfuss (Herbert Lom) is prepared to make an arrest -- and then the gloriously, monumentally inept Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers) arrives on the scene. Clouseau may have difficulty getting through the day without falling into ponds, knocking people cold with opened doors, and pocketing flaming cigarette lighters, but his instincts are right on target when he decides that Mme. Gambrelli is being framed by someone else in the Ballon household. Even as the murder victims pile up, Clouseau is determined to prove Mme. Gambrelli's innocence. As he cuts a bumbling, destructive swath through Paris, Clouseau drives Dreyfuss literally insane. This fact leads to the literally explosive climax, and to the ultimate vindication of Mme. Gambrelli. While we first met Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther, Shot in the Dark is the film that truly established the Clouseau mythos: the festive clumsiness, the convoluted dialogue ("You shot him in a rit of fealous jage!"), the Fractured French ("A beump on zee head!"), the twitching lunacy of poor Inspector Dreyfuss, the unexpected "judo lessons" of Clouseau's houseboy Kato (Burt Kwouk), and of course the hilariously macabre jokes involving dead or seriously injured bystanders. You'd never know it, but A Shot in the Dark was inspired by a standard three-act stage comedy by Harry Kurnitz, which in turn was adapted from the French play L'Idiote by Marcel Achard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Elke Sommer, (more)
- 1964
- NR
- Add Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb to QueueAdd Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb to top of Queue
In 1964, with the Cuban Missile Crisis fresh in viewers' minds, the Cold War at its frostiest, and the hydrogen bomb relatively new and frightening, Stanley Kubrick dared to make a film about what could happen if the wrong person pushed the wrong button -- and played the situation for laughs. Dr. Strangelove's jet-black satire (from a script by director Stanley Kubrick, Peter George, and Terry Southern) and a host of superb comic performances (including three from Peter Sellers) have kept the film fresh and entertaining, even as its issues have become (slightly) less timely. Loaded with thermonuclear weapons, a U.S. bomber piloted by Maj. T.J. "King" Kong (Slim Pickens) is on a routine flight pattern near the Soviet Union when they receive orders to commence Wing Attack Plan R, best summarized by Maj. Kong as "Nuclear combat! Toe to toe with the Russkies!" On the ground at Burpleson Air Force Base, Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake (Peter Sellers) notices nothing on the news about America being at war. Gen. Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) calmly informs him that he gave the command to attack the Soviet Union because it was high time someone did something about fluoridation, which is sapping Americans' bodily fluids (and apparently has something to do with Ripper's sexual dysfunction). Meanwhile, President Merkin Muffley (Sellers again) meets with his top Pentagon advisors, including super-hawk Gen. Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott), who sees this as an opportunity to do something about Communism in general and Russians in particular. However, the ante is upped considerably when Soviet ambassador de Sadesky (Peter Bull) informs Muffley and his staff of the latest innovation in Soviet weapons technology: a "Doomsday Machine" that will destroy the entire world if the Russians are attacked. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, (more)
