Elliott Reid Movies

Now that little Joey Stivic has been born, things return to normal on All in the Family; that is, the various family members start arguing and bickering again. This time around, the problems arise from Mike's habit of making decisions without consulting Gloria. Things reach the crisis stage when Mike allows a couple to stage their New Year's nuptials in the Stivic living room. A pre-stardom Billy Crystal appears as bridegroom Al, while Elaine Princi is cast as Trudy, the bride. Written by Lou Derman, Bill Davenport, Milt Josefsberg, and Ben Starr, "New Year's Wedding" originally aired on January 5, 1976. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Blackbeard's Ghost was one of the first Disney productions released after Walt's death. Peter Ustinov stars as the eponymous wraith, who returns to Earth to come to aid of his descendant, elderly Elsa Lanchester. The villains want to kick Lanchester and her friends out of their group home so that they can build a crooked casino. Good guy Dean Jones evokes the spirit of Blackbeard to thwart the bad guys. The supporting cast ranges from Richard Deacon to Gil Lamb, while Peter Ellenshaw performs the visual effects with mattes, miniatures, and process screens. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

After receiving a sizeable tax refund, Lucy (Lucille Ball) uses the cash to become a stockholder in the Danfield bank. It is her hope that, with her new-found clout, she can "help" Mr. Mooney (Gale Gordon) run the bank more efficiently--oh, sure, it will! One suspects that Lucille Ballconcocted this episode as a form of sweet revenge against a certain vocal and vociferous gentlemen who showed up without fail at the Desilu studio's annual stockholders' meetings. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This comical farce is a lighthearted lampoon of Wall Street and the vibrant trading and selling on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Henry Tyroon (James Garner) is the chameleonic broker who changes his colors and ethical standards to fit every deal. Molly (Lee Remick) is the novice trader competing in a largely male profession who catches Henry's eye. Her boss is Bullard Bear (Jim Backus), the slick financial veteran Henry runs up against. Chill Wills, Phil Harris, and Charles Watts are the Texas triumvirate who play their parts of super rich good old boys to the pinnacle of stereotypical eccentricity. John Astin is the vigilant government agent just dying to uncover some dirt and blow the whistle at the slightest hint of impropriety. Louis Nye plays an abstract artist who wishes to expand his stock portfolio. Plenty of jabs are taken at Wall Street, Madison Avenue and idle rich blue bloods at the mercy of unscrupulous opportunists. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

This romantic adult comedy finds psychiatrist Jason Steel (Dean Martin) the leader of a women's group therapy session. Jill St. John, Elizabeth Frazier, Macha Meril, Yoko Tani and Diane Foster all seek the advice of the handsome doctor, while husbands Louis Nye, Jack Soo, Richard Conte, and Martin Balsam ignore them in their usual poker game every Wednesday night. Jason plays doctor with pretty fiance Melissa (Elizabeth Montgomery) and Carol Burnette is his scatter brained secretary who does a hilarious striptease when she and Melissa can't pay for their dinner at a local nightclub after being stuck with the bill. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

This amusing romantic comedy concerns Dr. Gerald Boyer (James Garner), a successful gynecologist with a wife and two children. Wife Beverly (Doris Day) focuses on maintaining the household and watching the kids. One of Gerald's patients, Mrs. Fraleigh (Arlene Francis), overhears Beverly talking up a new product she's discovered called 'Happy Soap' - whose manufacturer just happens to be Mrs. Fraleigh's father-in-law, Old Tom Fraleigh (Reginald Owen). She introduces Beverly to him; hugely impressed, the old man offers her $80,000 a year to pitch a new product called "Happy Soap." Beverly's career takes her away from her family responsibilities and causes a series of comedic commotions for Gerald and the kids. He comes home from work one morning and accidentally drives his convertible into a freshly dug swimming pool ordered by Beverly without his knowledge. The furious physician throws a bevy of boxes of Happy Soap into the pool, causing the house to be engulfed in suds by morning (which the kids mistake for snow). The family maid Olivia (Zasu Pitts) is nearly driven crazy with the events and has many harried scenes of comedic frustration. Directed by Norman Jewison, this thouroughly engaging comedy was written by Larry Gelbart and Carl Reiner. Reiner provides the screenplay for the feature which turned out to be the last film appearance of Zasu Pitts. With her passing marked the end of a long and successful career as a comedic and well respected actress that began in 1917. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Den mothers Lucy (Lucille Ball) and Viv (Vivian Vance) are slated to escort their Cub Scout pack on a trip to Washington. Inspired by the kids' sugar-cube replica of the White House, the girls get the bright idea to present this bit of patriotic kitsch to the President Himself. Alas, the replica is destroyed en route to the White House, forcing Lucy and Viv to do some quick improvising at a roadside diner. Elliott Reid, who appears on-screen as Ross Dowd, also supplies a certain very familiar Boston-baked voice in the final scene. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Evolution vs. Creationism argument is at the center of the Jerome Lawrence-Robert E. Lee Broadway play Inherit the Wind. Lawrence and Lee's inspiration was the 1925 "Monkey Trial," in which Tennessee schoolteacher John Scopes was arrested for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution in violation of state law. Scopes deliberately courted arrest to challenge what he and his supporters saw as an unjust law, and the trial became a national cause when The Baltimore Sun, represented by the famed (and atheistic) journalist H. L. Mencken, hired attorney Clarence Darrow to defend Scopes. The prosecuting attorney was crusading politician William Jennings Bryan, once a serious contender for the Presidency, now a relic of a past era. While Bryan won the case as expected, he and his fundamentalist backers were held up to public ridicule by the cagey Darrow. In both the play and film versions of Inherit the Wind, the names and places are changed, but the basic chronology was retained, along with most of the original court transcripts. John Scopes becomes Bertram Cates (Dick York); Clarence Darrow is Henry Drummond (Spencer Tracy); William Jennings Bryan is Matthew Harrison Brady (Fredric March); and H. L. Mencken is E. K. Hornbeck (Gene Kelly). Dayton, Tennessee is transformed into Hillsboro -- or, as the relentlessly cynical Hornbeck characterizes it, "Heavenly Hillsboro." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Charlie Brailing (Norman Lloyd) dreams of leaving his wife, Lydia (Marian Seldes), and flying off to Rio. Of course, if he were to do this, it would cause nothing but shame and humiliation for all concerned. Thus, Charlie concocts a "foolproof" scheme to make his getaway without detection: he builds a robot lookalike, intending to leave his mechanical double with his wife while he skips town. Trouble is, the robot has a few plans of its own. One of the few "supernatural" Hitchcock episodes, "Design for Loving" was written by no less than Ray Bradbury. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Ricardos are asked to appear on "Face-to-Face," a Person to Person-type TV interview show which will be broadcast live from their home. In order to make the best possible impression, Ricky's agent (John Gallaudet) plans to move the Ricardos out of their small New York apartment and in to a swanky, spacious Park Avenue suite. Naturally, Lucy (Lucille Ball) and Ricky (Desi Arnaz) do not want to move away from their best friends, Fred (William Frawley) and Ethel (Vivian Vance) -- or at least, they didn't want to move before Fred and Ethel underwent a bizarre character transformation and turned into a pair of unhospitable monstrosities. ~ Rovi

Although a few character names and minor details are different, Vicki is a fairly faithful remake of the 1941 murder melodrama I Wake Up Screaming. The title character, Vicki Lynn, played by Jean Peters, is a waitress who is transformed into a top fashion model by press agent Steve Christopher (Elliot Reid). When Vicki is murdered, psychotic detective Ed Cornell (Richard Boone) tries to pin the blame on Christopher. In fact, Cornell knows who the real killer is, but he was so desperately (and hopelessly) in love with the dead girl that he intends to railroad Christopher into the electric chair. With the help of Vicki's sister (Jeanne Crain), Christopher tracks down the genuine culprit and exposes Cornell for the nutcase that he is. Featured in the cast is future TV producer Aaron Spelling. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this anti-Communist film, a journalist goes on vacation to a small town and is surprised by the coldness of the residents. This makes him curious. His resulting investigation reveals the commies are planning to use the town as the launch pad for a biological warfare campaign. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi