Amzie Strickland Movies

Working out the Forgery Division, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate reports that a con artist, posing as a former member of the French underground, has been worming his way into the homes of wealthy families as a tutor. He then forges the names of the employees to purchase cars and other items. While staking out a nightclub frequented by the suspect, the two detectives take in the foor show, in which singer Betty Martin (played by Peggy King, then the featured vocalist on The George Gobel Show performs "Any Questions", an original song by Arthur Hamilton--who later penned several tunes for Jack Webb's ex-wife Julie London. This episode was adapted from the Dragnet radio broadcast of December 28, 1954. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Man with the Gun in this well-paced western is played by Robert Mitchum. A notorious gunslinger, Mitchum has been hired by a group of concerned citizens to restore law and order to the wide-open town of Sheridan City. Before long, however, Mitchum holds the community in a grip of terror, behaving like a Law Unto Himself. So: Is the star of the film actually the villain of the piece? A last-reel plot twist effectively answers that question. Though Robert Mitchum dominates the proceedings, Man With the Gun also includes some good supporting work by Jan Sterling as Mitchum's saloon-gal wife, Henry Hull as an ageing marshal, John Lupton as an honest young farmer, and Emile Meyer as the town's leading citizen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Little Timmy Wyatt (Peter Votrian) is known for stretching the truth, so no one believes him when he weaves an outrageous story of witnessing a series of weird robberies, beatings and murders, occuring at a blockhouse in the dead of night. The boy's most incredible claim is that the killer literally dropped from the sky. Though as skeptical as the rest of Dodge City, Matt Dillon (James Arness) nonetheless investigates Timmy's story--with jaw-dropping results. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though Slaughter on Tenth Avenue's background music relies heavily on the Richard Rodgers composition of the same name, the film itself bears no relation to the ten-minute ballet for which Rodgers wrote the piece. Instead, this Albert Zugsmith-produced crime meller attempts to expose waterfront union racketeering. In trying to solves a murder on the docks, deputy DA Richard Egan runs up against the stevedores' code of silence. It also dawns on Egan that his own boss (Sam Levene) shows little interest in pursuing justice in this instance. The DA is finally able to mount a case, but at the crucial courtroom moment he may have to pull out due to lack of evidence--a lack engineered by crooked boss Walter Matthau, who has several local politicians in his pocket. A last-minute dockside battle enables Egan to bring the racketeers to justice. Slaughter on Tenth Avenue was based on New York district attorney William J. Keating's memoirs The Man Who Rocked the Boat. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are on the lookout for a hit-and-run driver. Their detective work includes a thorough inspection of the fenders of the suspects' cars. In the end, however, the case is solved with a small print--not a fingerprint, but a lip print! Like most Dragnet episodes of this era, "The Big Lip" proves to be a good workout for several members of the Jack Webb Stock Company, including Vic Perrin and Olan Soule. Also on hand is former "Dead End Kid"Bobby Jordan, here billed more formally as "Robert." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A neighborhood full of friendly people degenerates into a mob when Maple Street is suddenly plagued by strange and seemingly pre-planned power outages. Steve Brand (Claude Akins) tries to act as the voice of reason, but he is shouted down by his hotheaded neighbor Charlie (Jack Weston). Meanwhile, suspicion is cast upon young Tommy (Jan Handzlik), a science-fiction fanatic who apparently knows more than he should about the recurring power failures. Even after the passage of four decades, this Rod Serling-scripted Twilight Zone episode has lost none of its impact, and it is justifiably one of the series' best-remembered installments. Keep an eye out for future M*A*S*H producer-director Burt Metcalfe in a featured role. "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" originally aired March 4, 1960. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Taking a few small steps into her rented country house, Ruth Graham (June Vincent) prompty vanishes, never to be seen again. When Ruth's husband Fred (Edward Binns) reports her disappearance to the authorities, police lieutenant Barnes (Fredd Wayne) accuses him of murder. There is a trial and an acquittal, but neither Fred nor Barnes will be satisfied until the truth is revealed--which it is, sort of, once the history of the country house is fully researched. Series host John Newland takes an active part in the episode's finale. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Now working as a health club instructor, former college athletic star Ward Nichols (Ed Nelson) hopes to marry Casey Daniels (Maggie Pierce), the niece of his boss Bernard Daniels (Les Tremayne). Unfortunately, Nichols' estranged wife Veronica (Leslie Parrish) refuses to let him go, and claims to be pregnant so she can shake him down for "hush money." Making matters worse, Mr. Daniels accuses Nichols of forging his name on the checks sent to Veronica. When Daniels is crushed to death by a barbell, the police think they've got Nichols dead to rights--but they haven't reckoned with the poor fellow's attorney Perry Mason (Raymond Burr). ~ 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

Having previously costarred in the third-season episode "The Contract", John Larkin, former star of the daytime drama The Edge of Night, and Frank Sutton, future "Sgt. Carter" on Gomer Pyle USMC, are reunited in this Season Four entry. Larkin is cast as "Lieutenant" Phillip Hedden, a former WW1 hero now running a protection racket preying on neighborhood butchers. Sutton plays Hedden's former sergeant and current partner-in-crime, Davey McCain. Though convinced of McCain's loyalty, Hedden doesn't realize that the battle-scarred Davey despises him. Ultimately, this unholy alliance is destroyed not so much by Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) as by Davey's grim determination to "win" both a pretty girl (Francine York) and a long-denied War decoration. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Attending an art auction, Rob (Dick Van Dyke) amuses Laura (Mary Tyler Moore), Buddy (Morey Amsterdam), and Sally (Rose Marie) by giving a demonstration of how some people make silent bids. It isn't so amusing, however, when the auctioneer accepts Rob's phony bids, sticking our hero with an expensive painting, signed by an unknown artist named Artanis. Hoping to recoup his losses, Rob tries to find out if the Artanis is covering up a more valuable painting. Rubbing away the first layer of paint on the canvas, Rob uncovers a replica of Grant Wood's American Gothic -- only the farmer and his wife are smiling! Howard Morris guest-stars as the zany art critic who solves the mystery and reveals the truth worth of Rob's accidental acquisition. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Rob (Dick Van Dyke) thinks he's been ripped off when Laura (Mary Tyler Moore) purchases four costly "eider down" pillows from a guy named Lawrence Wiley (Alvy Moore). Our hero's suspicions are confirmed when he concludes that the pillows are actually stuffed with cheap chicken feathers. When Wiley refuses to refund his money, Rob takes the matter to court, acting as his own lawyer and generally proving the old "fool for a client" adage in front of surly Judge Taylor (guest star Ed Begley Sr.). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As "Ed Curtis", Richard Kimble befriends Josephus Adams (Arthur O'Connell), an old-fashioned rural doctor who believes in using "folk remedies" to cure all ills. After a woman in Adams' care dies of an untreated bronchial infection, Kimble insists upon intervening in the doctor's future cases. Meanwhile, Adams' faithless young wife Marianne (Sheree North) threatens to reveal Kimble's true identity if he resists her romantic advances. Things come to a head when Adams' beloved niece Sharon (Kim Darby) lapses into a coma after being stung by a bee. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide