Ken Sansom Movies

A.A. Milne's famous stuffed bear and his pals learn something about acceptance and understanding when a new animal comes to the Hundred Acre Woods in this animated comedy. When Winnie the Pooh (voice of Jim Cummings) hears a strange noise in the woods, he and his friends are convinced that the dreaded Heffalump -- a critter not unlike an elephant -- has come to the woods to do them harm. Pooh, Piglet (voice of John Fiedler), and Tigger (also voiced by Cummings) set out to capture the fearsome beast, but Roo (voice of Jimmy Bennett), who is told he's too small to join the search party, meets Lumpy the Heffalump face to face and discovers he's not the bad guy he's been made out to be. Pooh's Heffalump Movie features four new songs from singer and songwriter Carly Simon. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

One of the smaller residents of the 100 Acre Woods finally gets his moment in the spotlight in this animated feature, based on the characters created by A.A. Milne. As Winnie the Pooh (voice of Jim Cummins) and his pals Tigger (also voiced by Cummins), Rabbit (voice of Ken Sansom), and Eeyore (voice of Peter Cullen) set out to harvest honey from the hives in the forest, Piglet (voice of John Fiedler) is told he's too small to come along. Feeling like he often gets the short end of the stick, Piglet decides to strike out on his own, and when the honey hunters return, they can't find their friend -- only his scrapbooks of their adventures of the past. As they look through the books, Winnie and his pals realize just how much their friend means to them, and how much they've taken him for granted. They set out to find Piglet and ask him to come home, and along the way the little pig makes a big difference when his pals need him. Piglet's Big Movie includes several new songs from singer and songwriter Carly Simon. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Part of The Book of Pooh series, which offers preschool kids simple life lessons and scholastic pointers, The Book of Pooh: Fun With Words makes a game of learning words and language. Winnie the Pooh and his dear friends from the Hundred Acre Wood use music, song, dance, and play to help little ones develop mnemonic devices for remembering word usage and sentence construction. This episode originally aired on Playhouse Disney. ~ Betsy Boyd, All Movie Guide

In this animated story for the whole family, Disney brings A.A. Milne's classic characters from the Winnie the Pooh stories back to the big screen. Tigger is having a hard time finding anyone to play with him, so he decides to track down his family tree and find other Tiggers. Concerned that their friend feels sad, Winnie and his friends dress up like Tiggers so he won't feel so alone. But once Tigger finds out who they really are, it makes him even more determined to find his real family. As Tigger heads out in search of others like himself, he accidentally makes his way into a snowstorm, and Winnie and friends must find him before he gets lost in the cold. The Tigger Movie was originally produced for home video and then upgraded to a theatrical release. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In the second half of Murder She Wrote's two-part Season Three opener, Jessica's long-missing brother in law Neil Fletcher (Jackie Cooper), who has been working under an alias with the Carmody Circus, has confessed to the murder of circus manager Hank Sutter. Jessica (Angela Lansbury) is convinced that Neil is innocent, and that he is covering up for somebody else--and this proves to be a reasonable conclusion when a second murder occurs, in which the victim is rival circus owner Harry Kingman (Joe Dorsey). Seriously hampering Jessica's investigation is the stone wall of resistance built up by the highly clannish circus folk--and by the curiously hostile local authorities. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Finding it increasingly difficult to offer consolation to the relatives of accident and murder victims, Quincy (Jack Klugman) solicits the advice of Dr. Pendleton (Michael Constantine), a psychiatrist who works with terminally ill patients. Circumstances dictate that Quincy must act as substitute for Pendleton while the doctor is called away on business. In this capacity, Quincy finds himself becoming emotionally involved in the plight of Kay Silver (Tyne Daly), a young woman dying of cancer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Set to Tchaikovsky's score, this Japanese animated effort chronicles the adventures of a young girl dreaming of a magical land of anthropomorphic mice that are under the spell of a wicked two-headed mouse. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Jeff Griffin (Peter Falk) is dying of cancer. Sarah Phoenix (Jill Clayburgh) is suffering from terminal leukemia. Ignored or reviled by their respective families, Griffin and Phoenix turn to each other for emotional support. Deciding to live their last months to the fullest, they indulge in outrageous, childish public behavior and vent their anger at their conditions full-force, knowing full well that they won't have to answer for their silliness or rage. They also fall in love with each other. The only proviso to their relationship is that Griffin must promise not to visit Phoenix in her final days, and vice versa. Written by John Hill, Griffin and Phoenix: A Love Story was first telecast on February 27, 1976. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This 72-minute pilot film of the Charlie's Angels series stars the three original "Angels": Sabrina (Kate Jackson), Jill (Farrah Fawcett-Majors), and Kelly (Jaclyn Smith). Police rookies stuck in go-nowhere jobs, Sabrina, Jill, and Kelly are hired by the never-seen Charlie (voiced by John Forsythe), who engages their services as private detectives. Their first assignment: finagle the owner of a vineyard (David Ogden Stiers) into confessing to the murder of his partner. David Doyle co-stars as Bosley, the affable liaison between Charlie and his Angels. A ratings powerhouse when it premiered on March 21, 1976, Charlie's Angels resulted in the long-running (and frequently recast) weekly series, which aired from September 22, 1976, through August 19, 1981. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Four years after setting box offices ablaze in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and director George Roy Hill re-teamed with similar success for The Sting. Redford plays Depression-era confidence trickster Johnny Hooker, whose friend and mentor Luther Coleman (Robert Earl Jones) is murdered by racketeer/gambler Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw). Hoping to avenge Luther's death, Johnny begins planning a "sting" -- an elaborate scam -- to destroy Lonnegan. He enlists the aid of "the greatest con artist of them all," Henry Gondorff (Paul Newman), who pulls himself out of a drunken stupor and rises to the occasion. Hooker and Gondorff gather together an impressive array of con men, all of whom despise Lonnegan and wish to settle accounts on behalf of Luther. The twists and surprises that follow are too complex to relate in detail -- suffice to say that you can't cheat an honest man, and that you shouldn't accept everything at face value. The Sting became one of the biggest hits of the early '70s; grossing 68.5 million dollars during its first run, the film also picked up seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Adapted Score for Marvin Hamlisch's unforgettable setting of Scott Joplin's ragtime music. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a Broadway musical by Mel Brooks and Joe Darion, the animated feature Shinbone Alley is an adaptation of the Don Marquis stories. The film is about a love-struck cockroach named Archy (voiced by Eddie Bracken) and the object of his affections, a carefree cat named Mehitabel (Carol Channing). The movie is arranged as a series of episodic adventures and though it never quite gels into something cohesive, it has a number of fine moments, particularly when it sticks to the music. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide