Val Bisoglio Movies

No one in the police department seems to care too much when call girl Wanda Bolen (Tisha Sterling) turns up murdered. All this changes when Chief Ironside meets and befriends the girl's elderly, grief-stricken father (Titos Vandis). Making it his personal crusade to bring Wanda's killer to justice, the Chief must forge a temporary truce with the pimps and hookers who may be able to provide him with the necessary leads. This episode features an orginal song by Marty and David Paich, "Money Girl", sung by Carol Carmichael). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

New York detective Moe Brummell (George Segal) is assigned to track down a serial killer who has been preying on lonely middle-aged ladies. Each of the bodies is discovered with a lipstick kiss drawn on the forehead. We know (but Brummell doesn't) that the murderer is Christopher Gill (Rod Steiger), a round-the-bend actor whose hatred for his mother has driven him to his killing spree. Gill is fond of adopting a different personality and costume with each killing (a priest, a homosexual, a plumber etc.), making him doubly difficult to trace. When Brummell comments to the media that he's up against a criminal genius, he finds himself the reluctant recipient of Gill's anonymous phone calls, wherein the killer plants cryptic clues leading to his next crime. It may not be readily apparent from the previous sentence, but No Way to Treat a Lady is a comedy-albeit a jet-black one. Moe Brummell is hampered with an archetypal Jewish mamma (Eileen Heckart), who in her own way is as deadly as the elusive Christopher Gill. Lee Remick plays Brummell's girl friend, who, as the only person who might be able to identify Gill, is placed in harm's way at the film's climax. A curious by-product of No Way to Treat a Lady is the fact that Rod Steiger was cast in the lead in the 1976 biopic W.C. Fields and Me on the basis of the third-rate Fields imitation he offers to George Segal during one of his taunting phone calls. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When Sheriff Walker (Stuart Randall) of Muddy Creek is murdered, Ben and Joe Cartwright volunteer to guard prisoner Luke Harper (Joe Don Baker). Fearful of retaliation from Harper's gang, the townspeople refuse to assist Ben and Joe, going so far as to desert the town. The only remaining citizens are Walker's widow (Ann Doran), an old man (Jon Lormer) and his grandson Tommy (played by future Bonanza regular Mitch Vogel, and town trollop Casey Collins (Jean Hale). Written by Alf Harris (and, possibly, inspired by such theatrical westerns as Stagecoachand Rio Bravo), "The Real People of Muddy Creek" first aired on October 6, 1968. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

No relation to the later Ralph Bakshi semi-animated feature of the same name, Cool World is set in the meanest sections of Harlem. Hampton Clayton plays Duke, a powerful street gang member who claims that he is motivated by the Black Muslim movement. His subsequent criminal activities are thus not merely for gain, but as a means to declare black supremacy over the white establishment. One of director Shirley Clarke's few mainstream projects, Cool World was the first commercial film venture to be shot on location in Harlem. The largely unknown cast features future luminaries (and husband and wife) Clarence Williams III and Gloria Foster. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide