William Sylvester Movies

During a smog alert, an old man and a child, both residents of a sanitarium, die of respiratory ailments. Medical examiner Quincy (Jack Klugman) is convinced that the deaths were linked to a nearby oil refinery, which is polluting the air with sulfur emissions. His task now is to prove that the refinery executives have deliberately ignored official warnings to cut back on production during smog emergencies--and as usual, bringing the villains to justice is a lot easier said than done. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Previously seen in timeslots ranging from 90 minutes to two hours, Quincy M.E. settles into its standard one-hour format with this episode. While vacationing in the resort town of Paradise, Quincy (Jack Klugman) is approached by young Jessica Casey (Hilary Thompson), whose alcoholic father John is serving jail time for his ex-wife's murder. Jessica is convinced that Quincy has come to town to reopen the manslaughter case in which her dad was involved--and once he begins to figure out that John Casey is the victim of a conspiracy, Quincy decides to play along with the anxious girl. Unfortunately, he meets resistance from the local sheriff (Pernell Roberts), who seems to have reasons of his own for keeping the case closed. Jamie Lee Curtis appears in a bit role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ranking with Dan Curtis' Trilogy of Terror as one of the spookiest made-for-TV horror films of the 1970's, this atmospheric monster chiller stars Kim Darby and Jim Hutton as a comfortable, reasonably happy young couple who inherit the archetypal "Old Dark House" from the wife Sally's deceased aunt. While renovating the creepy mansion, they enter a previously-sealed room, which features a securely bricked-up fireplace. Despite the insistence of a local contractor (My Three Sons' William Demarest) that they leave the room undisturbed, Sally's husband manages to open the flue, releasing a horde of shriveled mini-monsters imprisoned there for decades. The little demons immediately fixate their malevolent attention on Sally in an effort to claim her soul, a mission which can only be averted by the love of her husband -- which, in light of his self-centered careerism, means poor Sally's pretty much on her own. Director John Newland manages to pull off this one-note premise with some effective, frightening scenes -- especially when he chooses to show as little of the goofy-looking monsters as possible -- but it's hard to sustain this level of suspense for a full 90 minutes. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Jamie's new bird dog April, an Irish setter, is denigrated as a "bucket dog" by Tim Riley (Don Knight), an employee of the man responsible for bringing this particular breed of dogs to the United States. As such, April may well be destroyed if unable to prove its mettle. To save the dog's life, Jamie agrees to allow April to participate in a grueling three-hour field trial-an ordeal which the setter may not survive. William Sylvester of 2001: A Space Odyssey fame is seen as imperious dog breeder Horace Kingston. Originally telecast on December 19, 1972, "The Bucket Dog" was written by John Hawkins. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

For their "fifth honeymoon," Oliver and Lisa take a trip to Hawaii. They arrive at their hotel secure in the knowledge that they have reserved the Honeymoon suite. What they don't know is that the daughter (Pamela Franklin) of the hotel's owner (Don Porter) has secretly arranged for her newlywed friend to take over the suite -- and as result, both couples unwittingly end up sharing the same quarters! This (Green Acres) episode was intended as the pilot for a spinoff series starring Don Porter and Pamela Franklin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Eddie Albert plays a dual role in this episode, as gentleman farmer Oliver Douglas, and Oliver's exact double, a bank robber named Charlie. When Charlie checks into a local hotel with his sexy gun moll Blanche (Chanin Hale), the neighbors are convinced that Oliver is cheating on his wife Lisa (Eva Gabor). One misunderstanding leads to another, and by episode's end both Oliver and Charlie are locked in the same jail cell -- and it is up to a very confused Lisa (Eva Gabor) to figure out who's who! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A mind-bending sci-fi symphony, Stanley Kubrick's landmark 1968 epic pushed the limits of narrative and special effects toward a meditation on technology and humanity. Based on Arthur C. Clarke's story The Sentinel, Kubrick and Clarke's screenplay is structured in four movements. At the "Dawn of Man," a group of hominids encounters a mysterious black monolith alien to their surroundings. To the strains of Strauss's 1896 Also sprach Zarathustra, a hominid invents the first weapon, using a bone to kill prey. As the hominid tosses the bone in the air, Kubrick cuts to a 21st century spacecraft hovering over the Earth, skipping ahead millions of years in technological development. U.S. scientist Dr. Heywood Floyd (William Sylvester) travels to the moon to check out the discovery of a strange object on the moon's surface: a black monolith. As the sun's rays strike the stone, however, it emits a piercing, deafening sound that fills the investigators' headphones and stops them in their path.

Cutting ahead 18 months, impassive astronauts David Bowman (Keir Dullea) and Frank Poole (Gary Lockwood) head toward Jupiter on the spaceship Discovery, their only company three hibernating astronauts and the vocal, man-made HAL 9000 computer running the entire ship. When the all-too-human HAL malfunctions, however, he tries to murder the astronauts to cover his error, forcing Bowman to defend himself the only way he can. Free of HAL, and finally informed of the voyage's purpose by a recording from Floyd, Bowman journeys to "Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite," through the psychedelic slit-scan star-gate to an 18th century room, and the completion of the monolith's evolutionary mission.

With assistance from special-effects expert Douglas Trumbull, Kubrick spent over two years meticulously creating the most "realistic" depictions of outer space ever seen, greatly advancing cinematic technology for a story expressing grave doubts about technology itself. Despite some initial critical reservations that it was too long and too dull, 2001 became one of the most popular films of 1968, underlining the generation gap between young moviegoers who wanted to see something new and challenging and oldsters who "didn't get it." Provocatively billed as "the ultimate trip," 2001 quickly caught on with a counterculture youth audience open to a contemplative (i.e. chemically enhanced) viewing experience of a film suggesting that the way to enlightenment was to free one's mind of the U.S. military-industrial-technological complex. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

William Sylvester, the "Token Yank" in several low-budget British horror films of the 1960's (before his rise to fame as Dr. Heywood Floyd in 2001: A Space Odyssey), stars as a grieving widower (both his wife and child were killed in a car accident) who takes an unusual and hazardous job accompanying an archaeologist (Edward Underdown) and his daughter (Diane Clare) on a North African tomb-hunting expedition. After their arrival in Morocco, they learn of legends involving a Moorish vampire who haunts the tomb. Before long, the lonely Sylvester has succumbed to the seductive wiles of a mysterious woman (Alizia Gur), who begins to bend him to her will. It is left to Clare to come to his rescue, but her attempts place her in even greater jeopardy; ultimately it is Sylvester who must break free of Gur's evil clutches and destroy her himself. This passable vampire yarn makes good use of the exotic location but suffers from lethargic performances and a slack pace. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Hugo is mad as heck, and he's not going to take it any more! Hugo is the dummy used by the Great Vorelli, a ventriloquist and hypnotist who wows London with his amazing act. Hugo can walk as well as talk, and he does other interesting things. Neglecting his statuesque mistress Magda, Vorelli pursues a pretty volunteer from the audience named Marianne; he know she is a wealthy heiress, and is after her money as well as her charms. Following a charity concert at Marianne's country estate, he mesmerizes the girl, who then falls into a baffling coma. When (in one of the movie's best sequences) a jealous Magda challenges the hypnotist over his attentions to the younger woman, Vorelli lulls her into submission, then gets rid of her, using Hugo to ensure his own alibi. Marianne's journalist boyfriend Mark investigates the mysterious murder and discovers another killing in Vorelli's past with interesting connections to the present. This underrated British horror story could be the best filmed variation on the "dummy with a soul" theme inaugurated by a brief sequence in Alberto Cavalcanti's classic 1945 anthology Dead of Night and continuing more recently with Magic (1978.) Fine photography by Gerald Gibbs, convincing performances by Bryant Halliday, Sandra Dorne and Yvonne Romain and flawless animation and editing of Hugo's scenes provide a galvanizing elaboration of the original, somewhat skeletal, concept. A rental video is hard to find, but available. ~ Michael P. Rogers, All Movie Guide

In this medical drama, a doctor loses his medical license after his addiction to drugs is discovered. Trouble ensues when he sees an ex-Nazi who is secretly leading the local drug ring. The police get wind of the operation and destroy it. The Nazi is killed too. Meanwhile the doctor overcomes his addiction and regains his license. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this mystery, a Scotland Yard agent must break up a ring of jewel thieves. He goes undercover and successfully infiltrates the gang, but trouble begins when he finds himself falling for one of the late gang members' widows, and she learns his real identity. She threatens to expose him until he decides to quit the Yard and become a real criminal. Fortunately, Fate intervenes, and he accidentally leads the gang to the waiting police. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide