Robert Rockwell Movies

Having never warmed up to his mom Irma's second husband Wally (Robert Rockwell), Jason (Alan Thicke) has trouble concealing his glee when Irma (Jane Powell) announces that her marriage has broken up. Eventually, however, Jason is obliged to use his prowess as a psychiatrist to bring the warring couple back together. Featured in the cast is Irma's show-biz idol Jerry Vale, playing (who else?) himself. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Jason's mom Irma (Jane Powell) and her new hubby Wally (Robert Rockwell) hope to play matchmaker for their granddaughter Carol (Tracey Gold) and their gormless investment counselor Ken Singleton (Darren Powell). To foil this scheme, Carol decides to show up at Irma's party with a phony boyfriend. The man selected for this dubious "honor" is none other than Carol's coworker Big Al (Beans Morocco). (Note: The first telecast of this episode was not listed in TV Guide, due to the possibility of an extra World Series game). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In the conclusion of a two-part story, the Seavers are still on board a luxury cruise ship, where Jason (Alan Thicke) has managed to sabotage the planned wedding of his widowed mom Irma (Jane Powell) and her current boyfriend Wally (Robert Rockwell). But after realizing how much he has hurt his mother, Jason desperately tries to reunite the couple. Meanwhile, the off-and-on relationship between Mike (Kirk Cameron) and Julie (Julie McCullough) crystallizes in spectacular fashion. This is the final episode of Growing Pains' fourth season. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Jane Powell makes her first series appearance as Jason's lively widowed mom Irma. Returning from a vacation cruise, Irma surprises one and all by bringing along her new boyfriend Wally (Robert Rockwell), whom she plans to marry. Despite Irma's assurances that this situation is no different than the one encountered by "Ethel Merman and Gene Rayburn" on The Love Boat, Jason (Alan Thicke) is outraged that his mom would even think of remarrying only a year after his father's death. Meanwhile, Mike (Kirk Cameron) has a fascinating experience as a first-time tutor. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Waltons comes to the end of its 221-episode run with this episode, in which John-Boy heads to New York to learn the fate of his third novel. Upon discovering that the book has been rejected, John-Boy is too proud to return home in defeat, even though he is flat broke. And back on Waltons' Mountain, the redoubtable Baldwin sisters decide to hold a "life celebration" ball, inviting all of their old finishing school classmates--very few of whom are still above ground. Not surprisingly, the final words in this final episode are eloquently spoken by series creator Earl Hamner Jr.. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Miracle is a 90-minute TV movie comprised of several episodes of the old Lassie series, originally telecast between 1969 and 1970. The noble female collie befriends a young mute boy (Michael-James Wixted), who runs away with Lassie. As a result of the warm boy-and-dog relationship, the lad breaks his silence (Dr. Lassie, speech therapist: The mind boggles...) In the course of the story, Lassie also has a litter of pups--a neat trick, considering that "she" was portrayed by a male dog. Prepared for local-market syndication The Miracle was presumably also available for bookings at birthday parties and church-basement fund raisers. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The "Candy Queen" is Claire Armstrong (Nancy Gates), who has become quite wealthy after inheriting the famous candy-manufacturing formula that has been in her family for generations. But it is not so sweet when Claire's secretary is poisoned by a box of her boss' candy. And things really go sour after Claire's brother Mark (John Napier) steals the formula to pay off his gambling deaths--not to mention when the "Candy Queen" is framed for the murder of blackmailer Harry Arnold (John Archer). Perry Mason probably has a feeling of deja-vu when he agrees to handle this case: "The Case of the Candy Queen" is a remake of the earlier Perry Mason episode "The Case of the Silent Partner" (both episodes are based on the same 1940 novel by series creator Erle Stanley Gardner). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Prior to carrying out the orders of her boss Morley Thielman (George Neise) by placing a briefcase containing $100,000 in a train station locker, Janice Wainwright (Elaine Devry) stops at the office of Perry Mason (Raymond Burr), informing the lawyer that she thinks Thielman is being blackmailed. Janice's last stop is in Las Vega to meet Thielman's ex-wife--but instead, she is arrested and charged with her boss' murder. In his efforts to defend Janice, Perry must discredit the testimony of witness Fred Carlyle (James Callahan), who insists that he saw Janice's distinctively shapely silhouette through the shades of Thielman's window just before the murder. This episode is based on a 1960 novel by Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Owing his life to Sheriff Coleman (Walter Sande), Bart (Jack Kelly) repays the debt by agreeing to help prevent a murder. It seems that saloon owner Tom Blauvelt (Robert Rockwell) has sworn to kill the man who has fallen in love with Blauvelt's wife Greta (Coleen Gray). Taking a job as the saloon's blackjack dealer, Bart is determined to keep Blauvelt from making good his threat--little realizing that, in this case, it is the female who is the deadlier of the species. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Determined to win Claire Allison (Mala Powers) for himself, no-good Martin Selkirk (Dennis Patrick) has Claire's boyfriend Dirk Benedict (Robert Rockwell) beaten up, and also besieges Claire with threatening news clippings. Thus, when Selkirk is murdered (and if anyone "needed killing", it was him), Claire is charged with the crime. While putting together Claire's defense, Perry is surprised to learn that even Selkirk's five-year-old son (David Brady) might have had "motive and opportunity"--not to mention a toy gun that is anything but a toy! This episode is based on a 1959 novel by Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner, though the ending has been considerably altered. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

H.G. Wells's War of the Worlds had been on the Paramount Pictures docket since the silent era, when it was optioned as a potential Cecil B. DeMille production. When Paramount finally got around to a filming the Wells novel, the property was firmly in the hands of special-effects maestro George Pal. Like Orson Welles's infamous 1938 radio adaptation, the film eschews Wells's original Victorian England setting for a contemporary American locale, in this case Southern California. A meteorlike object crash-lands near the small town of Linda Rosa. Among the crowd of curious onlookers is Pacific Tech scientist Gene Barry, who strikes up a friendship with Ann Robinson, the niece of local minister Lewis Martin. Because the meteor is too hot to approach at present, Barry decides to wait a few days to investigate, leaving three townsmen to guard the strange, glowing object. Left alone, the three men decide to approach the meterorite, and are evaporated for their trouble. It turns out that this is no meteorite, but an invading spaceship from the planet Mars. The hideous-looking Martians utilize huge, mushroomlike flying ships, equipped with heat rays, to pursue the helpless earthlings. When the military is called in, the Martians demonstrate their ruthlessness by "zapping" Ann's minister uncle, who'd hoped to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the standoff. As Barry and Ann seek shelter, the Martians go on a destructive rampage. Nothing-not even an atom-bomb blast-can halt the Martian death machines. The film's climax occurs in a besieged Los Angeles, where Barry fights through a crowd of refugees and looters so that he may be reunited with Ann in Earth's last moments of existence. In the end, the Martians are defeated not by science or the military, but by bacteria germs-or, to quote H.G. Wells, "the humblest things that God in his wisdom has put upon the earth." Forty years' worth of progressively improving special effects have not dimmed the brilliance of George Pal's War of the Worlds. Even on television, Pal's Oscar-winning camera trickery is awesome to behold. So indelible an impression has this film made on modern-day sci-fi mavens that, when a 1988 TV version of War of the Worlds was put together, it was conceived as a direct sequel to the 1953 film, rather than a derivation of the Wells novel or the Welles radio production. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi