Ralph Smiley Movies
- 1976
In the third of the feature-length Quincy, M.E. episodes produced for the NBC Sunday Mystery Movie package, the LA County Coroner's Officer swings into action when movie star Roberta Rhodes dies under mysterious circumstances (note the repetitious initials, and then guess who "Roberta Rhodes" is really supposed to be). Though the police are convinced that Rhodes committed suicide, Quincy (Jack Klugman) thinks otherwise, and through the auspices of scandal-sheet publisher Reardon (William Daniels) Quincy discovers that the dead woman's secret lover, Congressman Charles Sinclair (Robert Foxworth), was with her at the time of her death--and may have been her murderer. Unable to accept the notion that his good friend Sinclair is a killer, Quincy goes off on his own investigation, quickly discovering that the gossip-mongering publisher may have a sinister hidden agenda. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) encounters little difficulty catching up with Ed Benson (Ron Randell) the "inside man" for a $260,000 robbery at the Bayshore Park racetrack. Unfortunately, the Inspector's work is far from over: Benson reveals that he agreed to play along with the robbers only because they are holding his wife Ada (Antoinette Bower) hostage. Thus it is that Erskine once more goes undercover to catch a thief--and his disguise is a beauty! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
This episode marks the first series appearance of Elizabeth Baur as rookie policewoman Fran Belding. Anxious to prove that her murdered police-captain father is innocent of corruption charges, Fran tags along with Ironside and his team as they conduct their investigation of the killing. Though the overeager rookie proves to be more hindrance than help, Ironside is impressed by her diligence and dedication. Meanwhile, two-bit gambler Charlie (played by singer Bobby Darin in one of his last TV appearances) weaves in and out of the plotline, "helpfully" providing information that might clear Fran's dad--all the while pursuing a sinister hidden agenda. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
It's a seemingly peaceful spring morning in New York City -- graduation day at the Police Academy -- and Police Commissioner Anthony X. Russell (Henry Fonda) is looking forward to giving a speech to the new officers. But all isn't well: Russell's been given apparently incontrovertible evidence that his oldest friend, Chief Inspector Charles Kane (James Whitmore), is shaking down a bar owner, and a black minister (Raymond St. Jacques) is claiming that his son was brutalized when he was picked up for questioning in a rape/assault case. Then Russell gets a call informing him that two first-grade detectives, Daniel Madigan (Richard Widmark) and Rocco Bonaro (Harry Guardino), allowed small-time hood Barney Benesch (Steve Ihnat) to get the drop on them, steal their guns, and escape while they were trying to pick him up for questioning at the request of Brooklyn detectives -- and Benesch is now a suspect in that earlier murder in Brooklyn. Madigan has other problems, including the fact that the commissioner -- his ex-captain -- doesn't trust him, always believing him to be a loose cannon who has taken advantage of the badge in accepting favors and cutting corners where peoples' rights were concerned. Madigan also has a beautiful, upwardly mobile wife (Inger Stevens) who loves him but can't abide all the time his job takes him away from her or crimps her socializing; and he has never fully gotten over Jonesy (Sheree North), a saloon singer he knew before he was married. Madigan and Bonaro are given 72 hours to bring in Benesch and begin beating the bushes for leads. They get help from "Midget" Castiglione (Michael Dunn), a bookmaker and an old enemy of Benesch's, and a nervous, long-haired punk named Hughie (Don Stroud). While the clock ticks away on Madigan's and Bonaro's careers, the commissioner must decide how to deal with Kane, whose father -- also a police officer -- was like his own, and he must also fathom how a four-star chief could be involved with anything as tawdry as pressuring a tavern owner. Russell genuinely believes that there must be "one standard, one rule" for any member of the department, but in the course of this one weekend, he finds this notion shattered by what he discovers about Madigan, King, and himself. Meanwhile, Benesch is still on the loose, acting like a complete psycho and a threat to anyone who crosses his path. Russell's and Madigan's paths finally cross personally, as the detective proves -- and the commissioner discovers -- just how good a cop he is. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda, (more)
- 1968
Ironside (Raymond Burr) heads to San Francisco's Skid Row to solve the murder of a street person. In the course of events, the Chief tries to rehabilitate Rafe (Ralph Meeker), a fiercely proud ex-cop who has become a shabby derelict. Meanwhile, another down-and-outer named Jack (Clu Gulager) confounds the authorities with a trail of forged checks. It soom becomes clear to Ironside that either Rafe or Jack is the murderer...and is more than willing to murder again. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Elvis Presley plays Guy Lambert, a musician (so far, so good) who is touring Great Britain (something Elvis never managed in real life). Jill Conway (Annette Day), a wealthy heiress, is a big fan of Guy's who has developed a very serious crush on him; her family wants to keep her away from the romantically-inclined singer, so they send her to Belgium, not realizing that Guy has a string of gigs set up there. En route to Brussels, a pair of hapless jewel thieves (Norman Rossington and Chips Rafferty) hide their loot in Guy's luggage, which makes the singer the unwitting target of three equally inept detectives (Harry, Herbert, and Sylvester Wiere). While wooing Jill and avoiding her treacherous uncle Gerald (John Williams), Guy also finds himself pursued by the worldly Claire Dunham (Yvonne Romain). Elvis sings nine songs along the way, including "Long Legged Girls with Short Dresses On" and "Baby, if You Give Me All Your Love." 18 months after Double Trouble was released, Presley's career was revitalized by his 1968 comeback special, though he would also release four more films before it aired. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elvis Presley, Annette Day, (more)
- 1965
Martin's metabolism is adversely affected by a splinter in his finger: now everything he touches disappears. Even worse, Martin (Ray Walston) has lost his identity disk, which contains all of his personal information. As her furniture vanishes item by item, Mrs. Brown (Pamela Britton) is convinced that she is being systematically robbed, and summons Detective Brennan (Alan Hewitt)--who stumbles upon the precious ID disk! An amusing "turnaround" caps this hectic episode. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1965
Having taken one of Grandpa's 24-hour sleeping pills, Herman (Fred Gwynne) falls asleep at the county museum while waiting to pick up his niece Marilyn (Pat Priest). The next morning, the museum curators find Herman comfortably ensconsed in an Egyptian sarcophagus--and immediately jump to the conclusion that the moribund Munster is actually the mummy of King Amenhotep IV! Future One Day at a Time costar Pat Harrington Jr. appears as Mr. Thatcher. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1962
Alfred Hitchcock's long-running TV suspense anthology moved from NBC to CBS for its eighth season on the air, and in the process expanded from 30 to 60 minutes, necessitating a change in title from Alfred Hitchcock Presents to The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. Gig Young guest stars in the first of these "hours" as Duke Marsden, businessman by day, high-rolling gambler by night. Although his wife, Alice (Martha Hyer), has threatened to leave him if he doesn't give up poker, Duke enters into a high-stakes game in order to save his younger brother, Chuck (Robert Redford), from catching the gambling bug himself. Unfortunately, Duke's main opponent in the big game is a former gangster who is a notoriously sore loser. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1960
After a fight with his wife (Gena Rowlands) in which he tells her that he wishes he was single again, Ralph Jones (Dick York) is miraculously transported back to his bachelorhood, two years earlier. At least, that's the story Ralph tells his psychiatrist (John Zaremba), who has trouble believing such a far-fetched tale. The truth of Ralph's claim may well be confirmed by something as simple as a waterlogged baseball card! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
This time Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are on the hunt for an outlaw known as the "gourmet bandit." The thief is so named because he specializes in burglarizing fancy restaurants after partaking of lavish, expensive meals. Prominent in the supporting cast is Jack Webb's favorite all-purpose "foreigner" Roger Til, who not only worked extensively in the black-and-white Dragnets but was also on hand for the series' full-color revival in 1967. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
Vicki Gaye (Cyd Charisse) is a dancer at a night club in early 1930's Chicago. A healthy cynic who still possesses some ideals, she entertains no illusions about the "invitation" (or the $100 that goes with it) that she gets to a party hosted by mob kingpin Rico Angelo (Lee J. Cobb) -- but she still won't let Angelo's head torpedo Louis Canetto (John Ireland) get near her. Angelo's attorney Thomas Farrell (Robert Taylor) is another story -- he's a more complicated than the men he defends, and still enough of an idealist so that when he and Vicki cross swords about who is the worse hypocrite, it actually affects him. Farrell, whose right leg has been crippled from birth and getting worse, took the easy way to success by pursuing a criminal practice, including getting Canetto off a murder rap -- but after meeting Vicki he starts to see another path to take, and also embarks on a year of surgical procedures to cure the worst of the pain in his leg. And he comes out a new man, with a new plan in life, including starting over in a practice that doesn't involve criminal law. But Angelo plans on having Farrell fight an old friend, prosecutor Jeffrey Stewart (Kent Smith), who is trying to indict Angelo's associate Cooky La Motte (Corey Allen). Farrell resists, until Angelo threatens to harm Vicki -- and when the case and the trail blow up in both sides' faces, he finds himself caught between the mob and the law, with Vicki urging him to do the right thing. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Taylor, Cyd Charisse, (more)
- 1956
Tony Dumont (Rory Calhoun) is none too trustworthy at the beginning of Flight to Hong Kong. A dealer in contraband goods, Dumont is the bane of his girlfriend Jean Blake's (Dolores Donlon) existence. She wants him to go straight, but the other woman in his life, novelist Pamela Vincent (Barbara Rush), wants him to remain a crook--the better to provide material for a book she's writing. Dumont has a belated change of heart when he steps on the toes of the Mob once too often. Flight to Hong Kong also includes brief stopovers in San Francisco, Honolulu, Tangiers and Macao. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rory Calhoun, Barbara Rush, (more)
- 1956
In their search for a diamond thief, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) visit a bar frequented by the suspect. Their search is temporarily sidelined when bar employee Alice Kolbar is beaten to death by her jealous husband. It turns out that Alice may have been romantically involved with the alleged jewel thief...but the only real evidence the detectives have to go on is a custom-made hat with the initials "T.R." This episode is based on the Dragnet radio broadcast of February 15, 1955. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A communist spy plots the abduction of an important American atomic scientist in this espionage drama. To do his evil deed, he coerces a notorious gangster to do the kidnapping. Meanwhile a G-man is hot on the spy's trail and is determined to protect the endangered scientist. Unfortunately, the spy is on to the detective and plans to bump him off first. The spy does not count on the fact that he has chosen a patriotic gangster to do his deeds and when the crook learns the spy's true alignment he takes action. Between him and the G-man, the world ends up safe for democracy once again. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward G. Robinson, George Raft, (more)
Laid up with a broken leg, photojournalist L.B. Jeffries (James Stewart) is confined to his tiny, sweltering courtyard apartment. To pass the time between visits from his nurse (Thelma Ritter) and his fashion model girlfriend Lisa (Grace Kelly), the binocular-wielding Jeffries stares through the rear window of his apartment at the goings-on in the other apartments around his courtyard. As he watches his neighbors, he assigns them such roles and character names as "Miss Torso" (Georgine Darcy), a professional dancer with a healthy social life or "Miss Lonelyhearts" (Judith Evelyn), a middle-aged woman who entertains nonexistent gentlemen callers. Of particular interest is seemingly mild-mannered travelling salesman Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr), who is saddled with a nagging, invalid wife. One afternoon, Thorwald pulls down his window shade, and his wife's incessant bray comes to a sudden halt. Out of boredom, Jeffries casually concocts a scenario in which Thorwald has murdered his wife and disposed of the body in gruesome fashion. Trouble is, Jeffries' musings just might happen to be the truth. One of Alfred Hitchcock's very best efforts, Rear Window is a crackling suspense film that also ranks with Michael Powell's Peeping Tom (1960) as one of the movies' most trenchant dissections of voyeurism. As in most Hitchcock films, the protagonist is a seemingly ordinary man who gets himself in trouble for his secret desires. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Stewart, Grace Kelly, (more)
- 1952
The "regeneration" of blacklisted director Edward Dmytryk was expedited when he was hired by producer Stanley Kramer to helm the location-filmed melodrama The Sniper. In the interests of political expediency, Dmytrk was required to direct Adolphe Menjou, one of the most virulent Red-baiters of the HUAC hearings. Shorn of his trademarked mustache, and with his famous expensive wardrobe replaced by a humdrum business suit, Menjou turns in one of his best performances as a world-weary San Francisco detective assigned to track down a mad sniper. From the beginning, the audience knows that the criminal is psycho Eddie Miller (Arthur Franz), who is possessed of the notion that he must kill every beautiful brunette woman who crosses his path. Some audience sympathy is elicited by Miller's pathetic attempts to rid himself of his obsession, but this never gets in the way of the film's suspense. The excellent supporting cast includes Richard Kiley as a police psychiatrist, Marie Windsor as Miller's first victim, and Mabel Paige as the sniper's snoopy landlady. An unbilled Wally Cox shows up briefly. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adolphe Menjou, Arthur Franz, (more)
- 1951
Bob Hope is up to his famous nose in danger in this espionage comedy. Second-rate burlesque comic Peanuts White (Hope) is approached by federal agents who think that he's international spy Eric Augustine, to whom Peanuts bears a striking resemblance. When they realize that Peanuts and Eric are two different people, the FBI persuades him to travel to Africa posing as Eric and fetch a batch of microfilm that could prove vital to national security. With reluctance, Peanuts flies to Tangiers and arranges a rendezvous with Lily Dalbray (Hedy Lamarr), Eric's beautiful girlfriend and an agent of shifting alliances herself. However, Lily's superior Karl Brubaker (Francis L. Sullivan) wants the microfilm, and he will stop at nothing to get it. As Peanuts tries to rescue the microfilm, make time with Lily, and avoid Karl, things become even more confused when Eric escapes from hiding and re-enters the picture. Both Bob Hope and Hedy Lamarr contribute songs to the soundtrack, though unlike Bob, Hedy's vocals were dubbed in by a studio vocalist. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Hope, Hedy Lamarr, (more)
