Henry Slate Movies

Newly divorced Emma Moriarty (Sally Field) moves herself and her young son to a small Arizona town, hoping to establish a horse farm. Town pharmacist Murphy Jones (James Garner), the town's most eligible bachelor, develops a platonic friendship with Emma, but he decides to keep his distance when her ex-husband Bobby Jack (Brian Kerwin), who claims he's changed his irresponsible ways, moves back in with her. At a party at Emma's ranch, Murphy and Bobby Jack get into a verbal row, but nothing is settled until Wanda (Anna Levine) shows up with two babies in tow, claiming that Bobby Jack is the father. Once rid of her ex, Emma commisserates with her friend Murphy at his drug store--and is quite surprised to discover that she's fallen in love with the older man, and he with her. Murphy's Romance is a very gentle romantic comedy; even Murphy's cast-away lady friend (Georgann Johnson) behaves like a civilized human being instead of a woman scorned. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

For his follow-up to 1979's Academy Award-winning Norma Rae, director Martin Ritt re-teams with that film's star, Sally Field, for this gritty romantic road comedy. Reportedly Ritt's homage to Frank Capra's films of the 1930s, Back Roads stars Field as Amy Post, a no-nonsense prostitute in the deep South struggling with the fact that she gave up her only child for adoption. When Amy first encounters the recently unemployed Elmore Pratt (Tommy Lee Jones), she is anything but fond of the drifter. But after taking to the road together with dreams of California, the two societal misfits find themselves falling for each other. Ritt and Field would team together once again four years later in another romantic comedy set in the South, Murphy's Romance. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

Quincy (Jack Klugman) performs an autopsy on a truck driver who turns out to have died of hydrogen choloride poisoning. Enlisting the aid of the trucker's widow (Salome Jens), Quincy investigates the likelihood that the victim was involved in the illegal dumping of toxic waste. But he'd better hurry: Unless he finds the source of the poison, an upcoming heavy rain will create a huge toxic cloud which will contaminate thousands upon thousands of helpless citizens. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Screenwriter Walter Bernstein made his directorial debut with Little Miss Marker, a re-make of the Damon Runyon story that has been filmed many times before (most notably as Little Miss Marker with Shirley Temple, Sorrowful Jones starring Bob Hope, and the Tony Curtis vehicle 40 Pounds of Trouble). Here the cute little moppet is played by Sara Stimson, with Walter Matthau as the kid's nemesis Sorrowful Jones. The story concerns the relationship between the two when Little Miss Marker is left with Sorrowful as a down payment for one of her father's bets. Jones is involved with Blackie (Tony Curtis), who's trying to open an undercover casino in a mansion owned by Amanda (Julie Andrews). Jones and the kid find themselves in a number of dangerous scrapes as they try to keep one step ahead of the law -- and of Blackie. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Quincy (Jack Klugman) and Sam (Robert Ito) are abducted by the minions of mob boss Vince DiNardi (John Vernon), who makes an offer that our hero can't refuse. DiNaldi has been poisoned, and the doctors have given him only 24 hours to live. With Sam's life being used as a bargaining chip, Quincy is ordered to find out who has administered the fatal dose to DiNaldi, so that the doomed Mafioso can exact a final vengeance. This is the last episode of Quincy, M.E.'s third season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Zunar J5/90 Doric 4-7, also known as Jake, is an alien cat who crash-lands on earth. He heads off to the nearest scientist to find gold ($120,000 worth!) in order to repair his spaceship. Jake reveals that he can predict the winners in sporting events and soon the military is trying to track him down. The plot becomes more complicated when a wacky veterinarian inadvertently puts Jake into a deep sleep; now he must hide the alien cat from government authorities. The Cat from Outer Space was written by cartoonist Ted Key, who also wrote other Disney family fare, including Gus and The $1,000,000 Duck. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Based on a story by Hollywood old-timers Seton I. Miller and S. S. Field, Pete's Dragon divides its time between its flesh-and-blood characters and an animated blue dragon. Pete (Sean Marshall), a lonely orphan boy in turn-of-the-century Maine, runs away from his abusive foster family. He stumbles upon a lovable dragon named Elliot, and the two become inseparable companions. Elliot is visible only to Pete, leading the townsfolk to assume that the boy is a trifle tetched. Pete finally finds happiness with his "new" family, lighthouse-keeper Lampie (Mickey Rooney) and his daughter Nora (Helen Reddy, who sings and sings). British comic actor Jim Dale co-stars as the wacky dentist Dr. Terminus. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this Disney comedy, a pair of spoiled kids, bored by their filthy rich grandfather, decide they'd rather be with their mom who is in Hong Kong. In order to get her attention, they engineer their own kidnapping. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The friends and family of young Aura Lee Benton (Melissa Greene) are shocked when the girl dies from a heroin overdose--especially since they know full well that Aura Lee never did drugs. Jim (James Garner) is hired by the dead girl's coworker Sara Butler (a pre-Bionic Woman Lindsay Wagner) to uncover the truth behind the tragedy. The detective methodically follows the trail of clues to a powerful senator (Robert Webber)--who promptly commits suicide, sending Jim right back to Square One! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Toward the end of Jerry Lewis's Paramount studio period, Lewis slapped together this bitter comedy about Hollywood phoniness and fame that has to be the most rancid portrait of the Hollywood star system in the Rat Pack era this side of Clifford Odets. When a famous entertainer suddenly is killed in an airplane crash, his team of flunkies -- producer Caryl Fergusson (Everett Sloane), writer Chic Wymore (Phil Harris), press agent Harry Silver (Keenan Wynn), director Morgan Heywood (Peter Lorre in his final film role), valet Bruce Alden (John Carradine), and secretary Ellen Betz (Ina Balin) -- decide to continue their life style by finding a complete unknown and manufacturing him into a Hollywood star. That unknown turns out to be the nervous and inept bellboy Stanley Belt (Jerry Lewis). They train Stanley to become an over-night singing sensation, and despite a disastrous recording session and a failed nightclub performance, the public relations blitz makes Stanley's recording of "I Lost My Heart in a Drive-In Movie" a smash single. So much so that Stanley is given a shot at appearing on "The Ed Sullivan Show." Expecting the worst, Stanley's management team abandons him right before his performance. But Stanley musters up enough confidence to go on the live program alone and manages to surprise his pessimistic ex-staff. A collection of Hollywood celebrities circa 1964 --George Raft, Ed Wynn, Ed Sullivan, Mel Torme, Rhonda Fleming and Hedda Hopper -- make cameo appearances. High spots include an apocalyptic music lesson with voice teacher Dr. Mule-rrr (Hans Conried), Ed Sullivan performing a bizarre impersonation of himself, and an ending that would make even Jean-Luc Godard blush. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

James Best makes the first of two Andy Griffith Show appearances as itinerant guitarist Jim Lindsey. Tossed in the Mayberry jail, Jim is afforded an opportunity to crack the Big Time when Sheriff Andy Taylor "coincidentally" places the members of the Bobby Fleet Band-including Bobby (Henry Slate) himself-in an adjoining cell on a parking violation. Like many another first-season episode, this one was written by Jack Elinson and Charles Stewart. "The Guitar Player" originally aired on October 17, 1960. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The little-known British melodrama Wink of an Eye was given a brief American distribution by United Artists. Jonathan Kidd plays Atterbury, the apparently mild-mannered owner of a small perfume laboratory. No one suspects that Atterbury plans to murder his harridan of a wife (Jaclynne Greene) and run off to South America with his lovely lab assistant Myrna Duchane (Doris Dowling). Though the audience sees nothing, it is implied that Mrs. Atterbury has been chopped up in little peaces and stored in her husband's freezer. After leading us up the garden path for seven reels, Wink of an Eye offers an amusing twist just before the end. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Two musicians whose dance band is going nowhere happen across a roadhouse in the sticks, where a pack of fun-loving youngsters are dancing to a new and different beat -- the kids call it rock 'n' roll! The band, Bill Haley and his Comets, leaves the two musicians mighty impressed, and they agree to manage Haley and his crew. They soon meet disc jockey Alan Freed, who immediately secures Haley and the boys a nightclub stand in the Big Apple, where the Comets become the hottest ticket in town. As stories go, Rock Around the Clock was not stunningly original, but at least director Fred F. Sears and producer Sam Katzman had the good sense to stay out of the way and let Bill Haley and his Comets do what they do best -- mix cowboy swing with rhythm and blues, make with the boogie, and have a fine old time doing it. Haley and Co. perform most of their best-known tunes here, including "See You Later, Alligator", "Razzle Dazzle", "Rudy's Rock" and (of course) the title tune, and if they look and sound a bit staid compared to what Elvis Presley, Little Richard and Gene Vincent would be serving only a few years later, their music is good, clean fun and swings a lot harder than most folks give it credit for. Rock Around the Clock also features performances from The Platters ("The Great Pretender" and "Only You") and Freddy Bell and His Bellboys. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide