Jim Boles Movies

In the second of the feature-length Quincy, M.E. episodes produced for the NBC Sunday Mystery Movie anthology, medical examiner Quincy (Jack Klugman) performs an autopsy on Margo Bentley (Joanna Barnes), a novice writer who at the time of her death was working on a scandalous "roman a clef" about the Hollywood elite. Since the woman was suffering from cirrhosis, the police are quick to conclude that she died of alcoholism. But Quincy has a different diagnosis, one involving murder. While pursuing his own personal investigation, the feisty Quincy crosses the path of a fraudulent coroner--and ascertains a link between Margo's death and the murder of a New York literary agent. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In the first episode of a two-part story, Arthur Hill guest stars as Lansford Ingalls, the father of farmer Charles Ingalls (Michael Landon). Sensing that his dad has lost the will to live since the death of his wife, Charles invites Lansford to move in with his family at Walnut Grove. At first, Charles' kids welcome Grandpa Lansford with open arms, but things turn unexpectedly sour. Matthew Laborteaux, who later joined the series' cast as the Ingalls' adopted son, Albert, is here seen as the younger Charles Ingalls in a flashback sequence. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This TV movie delves into the unhappy later years of novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald (here played by Jason Miller). Broke and virtually written-out by the late 1930s, Fitzgerald is compelled to accept screenwriting work in Tinseltown where he is frustrated that his work is extensively rewritten and revised -- if not rejected altogether. On a personal level, Fitzgerald must deal with his wife Zelda (Tuesday Weld), now sequestered in a North Carolina mental institution. Seeking some reason for living, Fitzgerald inaugurates an affair with Hollywood columnist Sheila Graham (Julia Foster). Not all that incisive, and saddled with an unsympathetic drunkard as a central character, F. Scott Fitzgerald is still superior to Hollywood's previous version of the Fitzgerald/Graham romance, Beloved Infidel. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this high-suds potboiler based on the best-selling novel by Jacqueline Susann, Mike Wayne (Kirk Douglas) is a past-his-prime movie producer who lives to make his college-age daughter January (Deborah Raffin) happy. January is also very fond of her father, perhaps more so than would seem healthy to the casual observer. Desperate to keep financing the good life for his daughter, Mike weds Deidre Granger (Alexis Smith), a wealthy bisexual who isn't about to give up her long-term relationship with Karla (Melina Mercouri). January finds herself pursued by suave playboy David Milford (George Hamilton), but she's more strongly attracted to Tom Colt (David Janssen), a middle-aged alcoholic novelist who reminds January of her father. Brenda Vaccaro won a Golden Globe award (and received an Oscar nomination) for her supporting performance as the man-crazy editor of a fashion magazine. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

When Cliff Robertson was toasted by Ralph Edwards on the TV series This is Your Life in 1972, Robertson was standing on the set of Ace Eli and Roger of the Skies. This production was announced as an "upcoming release"-though as it turned out, the film lay on the shef for several years thereafter. Robertson plays a barnstorming stunt flyer of the Roaring Twenties. Accompanying him from job to job is his 11-year-old son, Eric Shea. Despite having a child in tow, Robertson has no trouble scoring with the local lovelies wherever they go. 20th Century-Fox had so little faith in Ace Eli and Roger of the Skies that the company changed many of the names in the production credits: producer "Boris Wilson" was really Robert Fryer, director "Bill Sampson" was actually John Erdman and screenwriter "Chips Rosen" was known to friends and family as Claudia Salte. Only poor Cliff Robertson was denied the opportunity to cloak himself in an alias. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Originally released as Nightmare Honeymoon, this lurid thriller stars Dack Rambo and Rebecca Diana Smith. Rambo plays a Vietnam vet (he's certainly got the right name for it), while Rebecca is cast as his new bride, an heiress. While on their honeymoon, the newlyweds witness a murder and Rebecca is raped. Rambo's killer instinct quickly rises to the surface. Based on a novel by Lawrence Block, Deadly Honeymoon was to have been directed by Nicolas Roeg, but he ankled the project after less than a week and was replaced by Elliot Silverstein. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Skin Game was historically significant as the 2000th film produced by Warner Bros. studios. The film is a comedy western starring James Garner and Louis Gossett Jr. as a pair of clever Antebellum con men. Garner regularly "sells" the black Gossett into slavery for an exalted price, then "liberates" Gossett so that they can move on to the next sucker. Unfortunately, they outsmart themselves, and before long Gossett seems doomed to a lifetime of forced servitude. They are rescued by pretty pickpocket Susan Clark, who has a few surprises in store for them. Skin Game was supposed to be spun off into a TV series, but the project never got any farther than the 1974 pilot film Sidekicks. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Paul Newman served as co-producer of this allegorical drama and stars as Rheinhardt, a opportunistic drifter who ends up in New Orleans and hits up his old friend Farley (Laurence Harvey), a con man-turned-phony preacher, for a job. Farley is able to get Rheinhardt hired on as an announcer at a local radio station, WUSA, but the station is a right-wing propaganda mill that devotes its air time to venomous tirades against political and social progress. Rheinhardt is happy to be making decent money, and he makes the friendly acquaintance of a local working girl, Geraldine (Joanne Woodward), so he refuses to look his gift horse in the mouth. However, when he finds out that WUSA is actually involved in shadowy political actions, he is at a loss for what to do, especially after a naïve and troubled social worker (Anthony Perkins) is tricked into starting a race riot. Robert Stone wrote the screenplay, adapted from his novel A Hall of Mirrors. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Minister Sam (Andy Griffith) and his wife Mary Elizabeth (Lee Meriweather) move to a Kansas town divided by political concerns that stall the town's progress. Will Sinclair (Henry Jones) and Alex Gresham (Edgar Buchanan) have allowed a long-standing family argument to impede the progress of the small rural community. Sam must contend with his mother-in-law (Kay Medford) and his wild brother-in-law Bubba (Jerry Van Dyke) when Bubba sets up a moonshine still in the church basement with the help of his friend Calvin (Parker Fennelly). Art Shields (Gary Collins) is the ambitious young country lawyer who runs for mayor in hopes of bringing peace to the families, and he works for the best interests of the divided community. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

"A rootin', tootin', but sincere picture" was the advertising tag for the comedy western Waterhole No. 3. James Coburn plays the likeably amoral hero, who'll go to any lengths to get his mitts on a treasure map. Like his principal rival, renegade confederate cavalryman Claude Akins, Coburn knows that a fortune in gold bullion is hidden near a desert waterhole; the trick is finding the damned thing. Along the way, Coburn humiliates redneck sheriff Carroll O'Connor and "has his way" with O'Connor's far from unwilling daughter Maggie Blye. When Blye, cast aside by Coburn in favor of his treasure quest, screams rape, Coburn replies that his only crime is "assault with a friendly weapon." Just try to get that bit past an audience in 1996. Supervised by Blake Edwards, Waterhole No. 3 is agreeably irreverent, though a little editing here and there wouldn't have hurt. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Albert Salmi returns in the role of rascally space pirate Alonzo P. Tucker (you remember: the guy with the robot parrot on his shoulder). This time, Tucker and his crew are on an intergalactic search for the treasure of Billy Bones. Dr. Smith (Jonathan Harris) gets mixed up in the swashbuckling when is mistaken as the "master" of Billy Bones--who exists in the form of a hideous mechanical head. Arrr, mateys! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Trouble With Angels opens on the first day of school for a new batch of students at St. Francis Academy, run by a very strong-willed Mother Superior (Rosalind Russell). She is used to having things her way, but she may have met her match in the headstrong and independent Mary Clancy (Hayley Mills) and her newfound friend, Rachel Devery (June Harding). Mary, easily bored and ready to rebel at the drop of a hat, comes up with an endless series of "scathingly brilliant" schemes designed either to amuse her and Rachel, torture insufferable schoolmate Marvel-Ann, or in some way help them get ahead. Rachel, who would never come up with such ideas on her own, is delighted to go along with them. The duo starts right away by convincing several of the girls to join them in giving fake names to the sisters that register them. Future escapades include guided tours of the nuns' living quarters, illicit cigarette smoking that brings about the fire brigade, replacing sugar with soap bubbles, and many others. Several times the Mother Superior is on the brink of expelling the girls, but she relents, knowing something of their home lives and that they will benefit from the more nurturing environment of the school. By the end of the film, the girls have indeed grown, and Mary, in particular, has developed a special love for the Academy. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi

Lonely spinster Martha (June Lockhart) and taciturn coffin maker Luke (John Anderson) meet each other via a mail-order lonely hearts club. Agreeing to wed Luke sight unseen, Martha subsequently discovers that she is her new husband's second wife; it seems that wife number one died under very mysterious circumstances. Thus, when Luke begins spending an inordinate amount of time puttering in his cellar, Martha's suspicions are aroused -- and before long suspicion gives way to terror...and desperation. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi