Robert Simon Movies

The birth of Tabitha sparks yet another battle of one-upsmanship between Samantha's mother, Endora, and Darrin's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Stephens (Mabel Albertson, Robert F. Simon). This time, the bone of contention is a dancing teddy bear, presented to the baby as a gift by Endora. It doesn't take long for Darrin's business-minded dad to use the magical bear as a marketing tool, but it does take a bit longer for Sam to straighten out this particular domestic fracas. Written by James Henerson, "The Dancing Bear" originally aired on February 10, 1966. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though Endora has promised to behave herself when she meets Darrin's parents, both Darrin and Samantha prepare for the worst. Sure enough, trouble ensues at a dinner party arranged in honor of Darrin's folks. The reason? Dear old Mr. Stephens (Robert F. Simon) has apparently fallen head over heels in love with Endora. Written by Bernard Slade, "A Nice Little Dinner Party" originally aired on January 28, 1965. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Samantha is nervous at the prospect of meeting Darrin's parents (Mabel Albertson and Robert F. Simon) for the first time. When dotty old Aunt Clara makes a surprise visit, Sam is nearly driven over the edge. How will Sam be able to hide the fact that she's a witch with Clara inadvertently casting spells at every opportunity? Written by Bernard Slade, "Samantha Meets the Folks" was first telecast on December 17, 1964. When the episode was rerun on January 27, 1966, new footage was added to frame the action as a flashback. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gregory Peck plays a benevolent God-like figure in a white smock as Captain Josiah Newman, the head of a psych-unit at a Southwestern army base during the waning days of World War II. Newman is a patriarchal protector to his patients, preferring to keep him in his ward, rather than return them to certain death on the battlefield. The matriarchal figure of the ward is Lieutenant Grace Blodgett (Jane Withers), but Newman is more interested in his assistant Lieutenant Francie Corum (Angie Dickinson), with whom he is having an affair. Further help is provided by human nature expert, Corp. Jackson Laibowitz (Tony Curtis), the orderly. And Newman needs all the help he can get. Particularly with three patients: Colonel Bliss (Eddie Albert) is suffering from a guilt complex from all the men he has sent to death; Corporal Tompkins (Bobby Darin, in an Academy Award-nominated performance), although decorated for bravery in combat, calls himself a coward for failing to save his pal from a burning plane; and Captain Winston (Robert Duvall) is guilt-ridden and has lapsed into catatonia because he had hidden for over a year in the basement of a building in Germany. Although Newman wants to cure these men of their psychological problems, he doesn't want to see them returned to the war to be killed. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Disillusioned with the present, Paul Driscoll (Dana Andrews) builds a time machine and heads to the past, hoping to correct mankind's mistakes. Failing spectacularly in this endeavor, he elects to take up permanent residence in the small town of Homeville, Indiana, circa 1881, where he hopes to live out his life in quiet contentment. Alas, despite his herculean efforts not to alter the course of history, that is just what he ends up doing. As originally written by Rod Serling, this hour-long Twilight Zone episode opened with a lengthy philosophical discussion between Driscoll and his mentor Dr. Harvey. This was adjudged too dull for TV consumption, thus a new opening was dreamed up wherein Driscoll was shown trying to prevent the sinking of the Lusitania and the rise of Hitler's Nazi Party. Accordingly, the role of Dr. Harvey was diminished, obliging proposed costar Joseph Schildkraut to drop out of the episode. The final version of "No Time Like the Past" premiered March 7, 1963. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This film about characters who hang around a horseracing focuses on the darker side rather than the limelight of the winner's circle. Joey (Ty Hardin) is an ambitious horse trainer who is sleeping with the boss' wife Laura (Susan Pleshette). When husband Matt (Ralph Meeker) discovers the affair, Joey get fired. He goes to the boyfriend of an old flame to borrow money to buy the horse. The steed wins a race and a post position in an even bigger race. Matt tries to buy the horse from Joey, who refuses the generous offer. The horse loses the big race, leaving Joey harnessed with a balloon payment he can't possibly make. Another old flame helps Joey out by paring off the debt and sleeping with the sleazy loanshark. Exciting racing scenes and a cameo appearance of real life sportswriter Jim Murray highlight this film where hardly of the characters are likeable or endearing. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

The inhabitants of the planet Zanti establish contact with Earth, and prevail upon its inhabitants to accept custody of their criminals, whom they are incapable of executing. The Zantis demand total seclusion for the prison ship, which the humans grant out of fear that they will use their superior weaponry to destroy them. General Hart (Robert F. Simon) is put in charge of securing the Zanti ship a peaceful, unmolested landing in a desolate section of the California desert; he has also granted permission for one civilian observer, a historian (Michael Tolan), to witness this first contact with an alien race. The security of the Zanti ship is violated, however, when a wanted criminal (Bruce Dern) and his girlfriend (Olive Deering) break into the sealed area. This leads to the death of the man and an attack on the woman, and a breakout by the alien criminals. The insect-shaped occupants of the hive-like spaceship attack the military outpost monitoring their landing, leading to an all-out bloodbath between the aliens and the human defenders. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Astrologer Samuel H. Keel (Richard Boone) has predicted that someone named Seth Carter is destined to win a $500,000 lottery. In hopes of locating the elusive Carter, Keel hires Paladin (Richard Boone) to help in his search. Unfortunately, the first three people presumed to be linked to Carter are brutally murdered--and if the pattern continues, Paladin may be unable to prevent further bloodshed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Like Pontius Pilate, director John Ford asks "What is truth?" in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance--but unlike Pilate, Ford waits for an answer. The film opens in 1910, with distinguished and influential U.S. senator Ransom Stoddard (James Stewart) and his wife Hallie (Vera Miles) returning to the dusty little frontier town where they met and married twenty-five years earlier. They have come back to attend the funeral of impoverished "nobody" Tom Doniphon (John Wayne). When a reporter asks why, Stoddard relates a film-long flashback. He recalls how, as a greenhorn lawyer, he had run afoul of notorious gunman Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin), who worked for a powerful cartel which had the territory in its clutches. Time and again, "pilgrim" Stoddard had his hide saved by the much-feared but essentially decent Doniphon. It wasn't that Doniphon was particularly fond of Stoddard; it was simply that Hallie was in love with Stoddard, and Doniphon was in love with Hallie and would do anything to assure her happiness, even if it meant giving her up to a greenhorn. When Liberty Valance challenged Stoddard to a showdown, everyone in town was certain that the greenhorn didn't stand a chance. Still, when the smoke cleared, Stoddard was still standing, and Liberty Valance lay dead. On the strength of his reputation as the man who shot Valance, Stoddard was railroaded into a political career, in the hope that he'd rid the territory of corruption. Stoddard balked at the notion of winning an election simply because he killed a man-until Doniphon, in strictest confidence, told Stoddard the truth: It was Doniphon, not Stoddard, who shot down Valance. Stoddard was about to reveal this to the world, but Doniphon told him not to. It was far more important in Doniphon's eyes that a decent, honest man like Stoddard become a major political figure; Stoddard represented the "new" civilized west, while Doniphon knew that he and the West he represented were already anachronisms. Thus Stoddard went on to a spectacular political career, bringing extensive reforms to the state, while Doniphon faded into the woodwork. His story finished, the aged Stoddard asks the reporter if he plans to print the truth. The reporter responds by tearing up his notes. "This is the West, sir, " the reporter explains quietly. "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." Dismissed as just another cowboy opus at the time of its release, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance has since taken its proper place as one of the great Western classics. It questions the role of myth in forging the legends of the West, while setting this theme in the elegiac atmosphere of the West itself, set off by the aging Stewart and Wayne. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this modernized version of Grace Miller White's popular novel, the feisty Tess moves to the Pennsylvania Dutch country and finds herself unwelcome by her Mennonite neighbors until she begins fighting along with a group of farmers who sold land to a chemical company and are now unhappy because it has been polluted. During the struggle, Tess falls in love with a handsome Mennonite. Eventually their love and her hard work pays off and her neighbors finally accept her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Based on real incidents in the life and death of Lt. Joseph Petrosino (Ernest Borgnine) of the New York police force, this tale set between 1906-1909 details the history of the lieutenant's fight to prove Sicilian Mafia involvement in crimes in his city. Lt. Petrosino has a series of dangerous close calls as he distinguishes himself by saving singer Enrico Caruso from a Mafia bomb outside the Metropolitan Opera, and by also saving the father of Adelina (Zohra Lampert) the woman he loves. Several other exploits eventually lead to Petrosino's trip to Sicily to nail evidence for the Mafia's activities in New York, and for a final meeting with destiny. This represented the last screen credit of scenarist Bertram Millhauser, who died in 1958; he had received his penultimate credit nine years before that, on the 1949 Tokyo Joe. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The Cartwrights object to Todd McKaren's (Don Dubbins) plan to sell his family's land to ruthless miner Len Keith (Robert Simon), pointing out that the region's water supply will be polluted. McKaren's father Andy (Rhys Williams) likewise opposes the sale, if only to break up the romance between Todd and Keith's daughter Virginia (Merry Anders). Taking advantage of the situation, Keith tries to force the sale by stirring up bad blood between the the McKarens and the Cartwrights, beginning with planting diseased cattle among the Ponderosa livestock. First telecast April 9, 1960, "Bitter Water" was written by Harold Jack Bloom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide