Lionel Stander Movies

In this made-for-TV movie inspired by the popular series Hart to Hart, jet-setting Jennifer and Jonathan Hart (Stephanie Powers and Robert Wagner) are attending a party for a successful publisher on his private island resort. Jennifer happens to overhear two men discussing a murder they plan to commit -- and their intended victim appears to be Jonathan. Suddenly the Harts have to find out why Jonathan has become a marked man while staying out of harm's way as they track the killers. Hart to Hart: Old Friends Never Die also stars Mike Farrell and Paul Williams. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Stefanie Powers and Robert Wagner return as the Harts, married private eyes who in this made-for-TV movie interrupt their carefree lives to investigate a group of corrupt government contractors. Lionel Stander also returns as their sidekick Max, with Mike Connors and Ken Howard as guest stars. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

There must be an inviolate law on the TV statute books demanding that every series turn out at least one takeoff of the 1946 film classic It's a Wonderful Life. Moonlighting's contribution to this ongong Yuletide tradtion finds a disgruntled Maddie (Cybill Shepherd) wondering what her life would have been like had she sold the Blue Moon Detective Agency as she originally planned. The "Clarence" character this time out is a most unangelic angel named Albert, played by Richard Libertini. Guest appearances include model Cheryl Tiegs as herself, and Lionel Stander in his "Max" character from the earlier TV detective series Hart to Hart (which had previously occupied Moonlighting's Tuesday-night network timeslot!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The fifth and final season of Hart to Hart is something of a retrospective: "Two Harts are Better Than One finds millionaire industrialist Jonathan Hart (Robert Wagner) and his journalist wife Jennifer (Stefanie Powers) recalling the day they first met--and also recall how they were nearly killed on the occasion! As the season rolls on, the Harts encounter danger at a polo game and a fox hunt; Jonathan unwittingly boards a fighter jet triggered to explode in midair, and later has a slightly less lethal game of doubles with tennis legend Martina Navratilova (in another episode, Tai Babilonia skates in for a cameo role); a Grecian vacation is "highlighted" by a deadly cross-country car race; a stopover in Rhodes involves the Harts with homicidal smugglers; and Ray Milland returns as Jennifer's father Stephen Edwards, this time the target of extermination by a nutcase claiming to be his long-lost illegitimate daughter. The series' 100th episode finds Jennifer hiding in a convent to avoid being offed by gangsters; the following week she barely has time to catch her breath when she is stalked by a demented stage manager during a charity stage show. The Harts' loyal chauffeur-protecter Max (Lionel Stander) is spotlighted in an episode in which he falls for a victimized pensioner, played by Dorothy Lamour. And still another movie great, June Allyson, plays a penpal of Max who is deluded into thinking the old reprobate is a millionaire. A decade after its cancellation in 1984, Hart to Hart would return in the form of eighth feature-length TV specials. The last of the original series' hour-long episodes, "Meanwhile Back at the Ranch", guest stars Patrick MacNee in the story of a 20 million dollar jewel theft--and guess which couple finds themselves smack in the middle of the situation? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season Three of Hart to Hart begins with the emphasis on Max (Lionel Stander), the ratchet-voiced chauffeur and general factotum of millionaire industrialist Jonathan Hart (Robert Wagner) and his globetrotting journalist wife Jennifer Hart (Stefanie Powers). An amateur horticulturalist, Max creates a rose which he names after Jennifer--but, as usual, the situation becomes "guns and roses" thanks to a homicidal flower expert. Later in the season, the Harts go on one of those vacations which they always hope will take them far, far away from murder and mayhem; alas, after their car breaks down in Acapulco, the couple is swiftly embroiled in a plot to assassinate a political leader. Still later the couple finds themselves in a variation on Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, which not only boasts a nifty whodunit plotline, but also accommodates guest appearances by Carol Lynley, Bernie Kopell (The Love Boat), Ron Glass (Barney Miller), David Doyle (Charlie's Angels and even Florence Henderson! And speak of guest stars: Magician Harry Blackstone does a villainous turn in an episode aptly titled "Murder Up Their Sleeve"; a pre-"Freddie Krueger" Robert Englund shows up in a story involving a glamous singer and a costume made of stolen jewels; future movie headliner Ed Harris is a key figure in an episode in which Jonathan is blinded by a psycho specializing in using poisonous chemicals to kill his victims; and Ray Milland makes his first appearance as Jennifer's father in an adventure wherein "daddy" turns out to have quite a checkered past. Later episodes involve a defecting Russian ballerina, a demented Souther Belle, dirty work in the vineyards of Jonathan's winery, a misdelivered suit leading to the proverbial body in the hotel room, a packet of valuable baseball cards which almost spells three outs for Jonathan and Jennifer. And in Hart to Hart's third-season finale, Jonathan and Jennifer are sucked up in an elaborate insurance fraud in which phony car accidents result in very real deaths. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It's December of 1941, and the people of California are in varying states of unease, ranging from a sincere desire to defend the country to virtual blind panic in the wake of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Thus begin several story threads that comprise the "plot" of this strange period comedy, a sort of satirical disaster movie, from Steven Spielberg. The stories and story threads involve lusty young men, officers (Tim Matheson) and civilians (Bobby Di Cicco) alike, eager to bed the young ladies of their dreams; Wild Bill Kelso, a nutty fighter pilot (John Belushi) following what he thinks is a squadron of Japanese fighters along the California coast; a well-meaning but clumsy tank crew (including John Candy) led by straight-arrow, by-the-book Sgt. Tree (Dan Aykroyd), who doesn't recognize the thug (Treat Williams) in his command; and homeowner Ward Douglas (Ned Beatty), who is eager to do his part for the nation's defense and, despite the misgivings of his wife (Lorraine Gary), doesn't mind his front yard overlooking the ocean being chosen to house a 40 mm anti-aircraft gun. There is also a pair of grotesquely inept airplane spotters (Murray Hamilton, Eddie Deezen) who are doing their job from atop a ferris wheel at a beachfront amusement park; a paranoid army colonel (Warren Oates) positive that the Japanese are infiltrating from the hills; a big dance being held on behalf of servicemen, being attended by a lusty young woman of size (Wendie Jo Sperber) eager to land a man in uniform; and General Joseph "Vinegar Joe" Stillwell (Robert Stack), in charge of the defense of the West Coast, who can't seem to get anyone to listen to him when he says to keep calm. And, oh yes, there's also a real Japanese submarine that has gotten all the way to the California coast under the command of its captain (Toshiro Mifune) and a German officer observer (Christopher Lee), only to find itself without a working compass or usable maps. Its captain won't leave until the sub has attacked a militarily significant, honorable target, and the only one that anyone aboard ship knows of in California is Hollywood. By New Year's Eve, all of these characters are going to cross paths, directly or once-removed, in a comedy of errors and destruction strongly reminiscent of the finale to National Lampoon's Animal House (as well as several disaster movies from the same studio), but on a much larger and more impressive scale. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

No sooner have millionaire industrialist Jonathan Hart (Robert Wagner) and his journalist wife Jennifer (Stefanie Powers) have been introduced in the feature-length pilot episode of Hart to Hart than the couple is indulging in their favorite hobby, amateur sleuthing; it's all for a good cause of course, inasmuch as the Harts are hoping to solve the murder of an old friend at a so-called health spa. One week after the pilot aired on ABC, the Hart to Hart series proper got under way with its first 22 episodes. Frequently in harm's way during this inaugural season is the glamorous Jennifer Hart, who in the official season opener is targeted for death by a person claiming to be her cousin; a few weeks later, a looney lady (Kathleen Lloyd) who has long fantasized about being Jennifer decides to eliminate the "original"; and further down the line, Jennifer unwittingly signs her own death warrant when she commissions a portrait of herself. Both Jennifer and Jonathan are neck-deep in peril on several occasions, usually when they try to get away for a bit of rest and relaxation: for example, a vacation in Mexico goes sour when the Harts find themselves fugitives from both the local constabulary and a gang of drug dealers; a skiing weekend in Vail goes downhill when Jonathan and Jennifer are marked for death by electrocution; and a luxury cruise culminates with the Harts stuck in the middle of a blood feud between two rival teams of jewel thieves! And on separate occasions, an antique auto and a Buddha statue plunge the protagonists into the world of international espionage. In other adventures, the Harts adopt clever disguises to hunt down a killer of prostitutes; Madelyn Rhue guest stars as the latest girlfriend of the Harts' crusty chauffeur Max (Lionel Stander), and like most of Max's amours she turns out to be a crook; Jonathan is forced into a "duel a mort" with a sadistic fencing champ; the couple's pet dog Freeway dashes off to parts unknown with vital murder evidence clamped between his teeth; and a psychic employee of Hart industries bids fair to send Jonathan and Jennifer to the next world a bit ahead of schedule. Somehow or other, Jonathan and Jennifer survive to appear in the season finale, which concerns a scheming playboy who literally "plays" people like chess pieces. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The European crime melodrama Black Hand is set in America in the early 1900s. A newly arrived Italian immigrant is victimized by an Irish street gang. He goes to La Cosa Nostra for help...the first fatal step towards his own life of crime. The film begins well, showing how the Irish gangs gradually lost ground to the Italians and Sicilians, then adheres strictly to formula. Veteran gangster-flick actor Lionel Stander is top-billed over ostensible star Mike Placido. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Black Bird is a satirical sequel to The Maltese Falcon. George Segal plays Sam Spade Jr., who has inherited his dad's detective agency in a seedy section of San Francisco. The ubiquitous, priceless Maltese Falcon, which eluded Bogart and company in the 1941 film, surfaces once again. This time, Spade's friends and foes include femme fatales Anna and "Decoy Girl" (Stéphane Audran and Connie Kreski), sixtysomething historian Dr. Crippen (Signe Hasso, who looks terrific), and midget villain Litvak (Felix Silla, who played Cousin Itt on the TV series The Addams Family). Gags abound, including a climactic steal from Jaws. Two of the surviving stars of The Maltese Falcon, Lee Patrick and Elisha Cook Jr., recreate their roles in The Black Bird . ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jack Palance and Lionel Stander, two familiar Hollywood faces in foreign films of the 1960s and 1970s, star in Con Men. Palance and Stander play a pair of frontier sharpsters who sell shares in a worthless gold mine. You guessed it: the mine begins to yield a fortune. Now our two anti-heroes must move Heaven and Earth to get their shares in the mine back. The original European title of this Italian/Spanish opus was Te Deum. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, a naive priest tries to cure a politician of his womanizing ways by sending him on retreat to a convent. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Any 1972 film starring Richard Conte was like as not produced in Italy. Despite its title, 1931: Once Upon a Time in New York is no exception to this rule. Conte and Adolfo Celi play rival Chicago gangsters, fighting tooth and tommy-gun over territorial rights. Featured in the cast are gravel-voiced Lionel Stander and easily excitable Irene Papas. All the actors involved have been better served elsewhere. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide