Frances Reid Movies

Cameron Mitchell guest stars as police officer Bo Pritchard, a Vietnam War buddy of SWAT team leader Hondo Harrison (Steve Forrest). When team member Deacon Kay is sidelined by an injury, Bo begs Hondo to let him join the unit. Hondo agrees, even though he hasn't forgotten that Bo was a reckless hotshot back in Nam, whose insistence upon being a lone warrior frequently imperiled the lives of his fellow soldiers. What Hondo doesn't know, until it is almost too late, is that the troubled Bo is an emotional ticking bomb. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) gets to show off his tennis prowess when he goes undercover to end the criminal activities of suave racketeer John Harris (Joseph Campanella). The elusive Harris has ordered the killing of a Federal agent, and Erskine hopes to trap the man into incriminating himself. Meanwhile, Harris' paid assassin prepares to eliminate the only witness to the killing, a lonely teenage girl named Barbara (Brooke Bundy). Featured in a villainous role is future Hill Street Blues star Daniel J. Travanti, here billed as "Dan Travanty." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Arthur Hamilton (John Randolph) is a listless Manhattan businessman who lives with his wife in the New York suburbs. One day, he runs into an old friend (Murray Hamilton) whom he thought had died. The friend leads him to The Company, a secretive operation run by The Old Man (Will Geer). The Company is a high-tech service which, for a price, provides older men with plastic surgery, a beefed-up body, and a fresh start in life. To cover the "disappearance," a middle-aged male cadaver is "killed" in a hotel fire. Hamilton submits to the operation that will turn him into a "Second," and when the bandages are removed, he's shed twenty years, renamed Tony Wilson and is portrayed by Rock Hudson. The Company creates a new identity for Hamilton, relocating him in a hedonistic California beach community with an identity as a painter. Celebrating during a local wine festival, Hamilton has his revelry cut short when he learns that all his new young friends are Seconds like himself and suddenly feels trapped in these surroundings. Unfortunately, finding a way out isn't nearly as easy as it was to find a way in. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This is the first of four consecutive episodes in which Perry Mason appears only briefly, while a "guest" lawyer handles the case at hand (Raymond Burr was at the time recovering from minor surgery). No less than Bette Davis is cast as female attorney Constant Doyle, the widow of famed defense attorney Joe Doyle. Taking her late husband's place, Constant agrees to defend young Cal Leonard, who is accused of burglarizing the offices of Otis Industries and beating up a night watchman. Actually, Constant doesn't like Cal very much and was thinking of dropping the case until her curiosity was aroused by the fact that Lawrence Otis was all too willing to drop the charges against the boy. As it turns out, Cal is lucky to have Constant on his side when he charged with the murder of his cousin Steven (Jerry Oddo). Removed from the original Perry Mason syndicated rerun package in 1966, this episode remained unseen until it was telecast on cable TV in the mid-1990s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Director Alfred Hitchcock lets us know from the outset that The Wrong Man is a painfully true story and not one of his customary fabricated suspense yarns, through the simple expedient of walking before the camera and telling us as much (this introductory appearance replaced his planned cameo role as a nightclub patron). The real-life protagonist, musican Christopher Emmanuel Balestrero, is played by Henry Fonda. Happily married and gainfully employed at the Stork Club, Balestrero's life takes a disastrous turn when he goes to an insurance office, hoping to borrow on his wife's (Vera Miles) life insurance policy in order to pay her dental bills. One of the girls in the office spots Balestrero, identifying him as the man who robbed the office a day or so earlier. This, and a few scattered bits of circumstantial evidence, lead to Balestrero's arrest. Though he's absolutely innocent, he can offer no proof of his whereabouts the day of the crime. Lawyer Frank O'Connor (Anthony Quayle) does his best to help his client, but he's up against an indifferent judicial system that isn't set up to benefit the "little man". Meanwhile, Balestrero's wife becomes emotionally unhinged, leading to a complete nervous breakdown. As Balestrero prays in his cell, his image is juxtaposed onto the face of the actual criminal-who looks nothing like the accused man! Utilizing one of his favorite themes-the helplessness of the innocent individual when confronted by the faceless bureaucracy of the Law-Hitchcock weaves a nightmarish tale, all the more frightening because it really happened (the film's best moment: Fonda looking around the nearly empty courtroom during his arraignment, realizing that the rest of the world cares precisely nothing about his inner torment). Hitch enhances the film's versimilitude by shooting in the actual locations where the real story occured. His only concession to Hollywood formula was the half-hearted coda, assuring us that Mrs. Balestrero eventually recovered from her mental collapse (she sure doesn't look any too healthy the last time we see her!) Watch for uncredited appearances by Harry Dean Stanton, Bonnie Franklin, Tuesday Weld and Charles Aidman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based upon the book The Four Marys, by Fanny Heaslip Lea, Man-Proof involves members of the smart and sophisticated set of Manhattan, circa 1938. Mimi Swift (Myrna Loy), the daughter of a successful romance novelist, is having no luck in getting the man she loves. Although she has made her interest very clear to Alan Wythe (Walter Pidgeon), he is more concerned with marrying someone who can support him. Still, Mimi is unprepared for the shock of discovering that Alan is engaged to her wealthy friend Elizabeth Kent (Rosalind Russell) -- and even more unprepared when they want her to suffer through the ceremony firsthand, as a bridesmaid. Ever the lady, Mimi forces herself to attend the wedding and attempts to put up a good front; unfortunately, she takes a little too much advantage of the free flowing champagne, with the result that she lets Alan know that she hasn't given up on him. While Alan and Elizabeth are on their honeymoon, Mimi becomes involved with Jimmy Kilmartin (Franchot Tone), an illustrator at the New York Chronicle. After the honeymooners return, Mimi tries to accept the fact that lan is Elizabeth's, but she just can't and lets Elizabeth know that things will never be the same. For his part, Alan seems to want to have his cake and eat it, too, and indicates to Mimi that perhaps something can be worked out. As they are talking, Elizabeth enters, puts two-and-two together and tells Alan she knows he only married her for her money and suggests they get a divorce. Eventually, Elizabeth takes Alan back and Mimi suddenly realizes that there is more to Jimmy than she had previously observed -- and more than enough to make her happily forget about Alan. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide