Phillip Terry Movies

Shirley MacLaine plays Charity Hope Valentine who, despite her job at a seedy dime-a-dance joint, is an incurable optimist. Charity never stops looking for true love and never seems to look for it in the right places. We first see her in the company of Charlie (Dante DiPaolo), a slimeball who steals her purse and pushes her into the Central Park pond. Next she stumbles into a one-night stand with Vittorio Vidal (Ricardo Montalban), an egotistical movie star; this comes to nothing when Vittorio's contrite girlfriend Ursula (Barbara Bouchet) comes calling, forcing Charity to spend the night hiding in the closet. Desperate to escape the dance hall, Charity heads to an employment agency, where a bureaucratic clerk (Alan Hewitt) informs her that she has no qualifications. Unhappily, Charity heads for the elevator, where she becomes trapped with the very shy -- and very claustrophobic -- Oscar Lindquist (John McMartin). Once they've gotten out of the stalled elevator, Charity begins dating Oscar, never telling him of her checkered past or her sordid dance-hall job. Oscar eventually finds out but assures her that it doesn't matter. However, at the engagement party held at the dance hall, Oscar's puritanical streak emerges. He walks out on Charity, leaving her alone and heartbroken once more. With the help of a group of flower children (among them Bud Cort and Kristoffer Tabori), Charity is able to pick herself up and start living "Hopefully Ever After." Sweet Charity was adapted from the 1965 Broadway musical of the same name, which in turn was inspired by the 1957 Fellini flick Nights of Cabiria. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Samantha joins her neighbors in opposing a plan to build a new supermarket on the site of a children's playground. Alas and alack, Darrin has been hired to publicize the supermarket's owner, greedy Colonel Mossler (Arte Johnson). Sam refuses to resort to witchcraft until she realizes that Darrin is willing to lose his job rather than let down the neighborhood. Written by Rick Mittleman, "Samantha Fights City Hall" made its first network appearance on November 28, 1968. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dean Martin reprises his role as Matt Helm, famed secret agent who is part James Bond and part Rat Packer, in Murderer's Row. The film concerns the nefarious plan of arch-villain Julian Wall (Karl Malden) to take over the world by kidnapping Dr. Norman Solaris (Richard Eastham), who has invented a "helio-beam" -- a device that can harness the rays of the sun to destroy the earth. To insure his plans go smoothly, Wall has eliminated most of the ICE (Intelligence and Counter-Espionage) agents. But luckily for the world, super-agent Matt Helm, having escaped from being boiled to death in his own swimming pool, is hot on Wall's trail. Traveling to the Riviera, Helm meets Solaris's mod daughter Suzie (Ann-Margret) and they team up to rescue her father. Helm poses as a gunman on the run and Wall hires him. Wall becomes suspicious when Helm saves Suzie's life after she is threatened by one of Wall's goons, but Matt and Suzie escape from Wall and make their way to his island fortress, where they must find Solaris and disarm the "helio-beam" before Wall destroys Washington, D.C. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a outlaw leads his fugitive band into the desert after they murder a rich woman while robbing her. They are sheltered by an Indian woman who killed her husband after he made advances toward her daughter. The youngest outlaw falls for the daughter. They decide to come clean to the law. The gang leader and the Indian mother are killed by the cops. The daughter patiently awaits the release of her lover, who was sent to prison. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The 15-chapter Republic serial Dick Tracy Returns also represents the return of Ralph Byrd in the role of Chester Gould's stalwart comic-strip detective. For the purposes of the film, Tracy has joined the G-Men in pursuit of criminal mastermind Pa Stark (Charles Middleton) and his killer brood. Things get off to an rousing start when Stark and his five sons rob an armored car and murder Tracy's pal Ron Merton (David Sharpe). One by one, the Starks are killed off by Tracy and the good guys until at last only Pa and eldest son Champ (John Merton) are left. Gathering together a daunting supply of dynamite and nitroglycerin, the surviving gang members draw up plans to blow Tracy and the other G-Men to Kingdom Come, but things don't quite work out that way. Like the other three "Dick Tracy" serials, Dick Tracy Returns was also released in an abridged feature-length version. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide