Carol Veazie Movies

Preparing for a visit from Mayberry's guest minister Rev. Leighton (Ian Wolfe), Aunt Bee worries that her natural hair-do won't survive the night. Thus, she quickly dons an attractive blonde wig, which duly impresses the visiting cleric. The problem: Aunt Bee grows fond of the minister, and hasn't the nerve to tell him that she isn't a natural blonde. The most amusing aspect of this episode is the fact that supporting actor Ian Wolfe is rather obviously wearing a "rug" himself! First shown on October 10, 1966, "Aunt Bee's Crowning Glory" was written by Ronald Axe. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Adapted by Horton Foote from his own play The Travelling Lady, Baby the Rain Must Fall stars Steve McQueen as a troube-prone country singer and Lee Remick as his estranged wife. Released on parole after serving time for knifing a man, McQueen returns to Remick and their young daughter Kimberly Block. When he proves incapable of supporting his family, McQueen's violent nature erupts once more, with catastrophic results. Don Murray costars as a compassionate sheriff who tries to keep McQueen from straying off course. Though it seems to go on forever when seen today, Baby the Rain Must Fall was praised effusively by the critics in 1965 as a welcome change of pace for action star Steve McQueen; The film would make an interesting companion feature for the strikingly similar Horton Foote project Tender Mercies (1983). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Long before he was cast as Murray Slaughter in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Gavin MacLeod popped up in this Dick Van Dyke Show episode as Maxwell Cooley, the cousin of "Alan Brady Show" producer Mel Cooley (Richard Deacon). Maxwell happens to be in the jewelry business, and he manages to sell Rob (Dick Van Dyke) a replica of a necklace once given to Empress Carlotta by Emperor Maximillian. Rob thinks that this would make an ideal gift for his wife Laura (Mary Tyler Moore). But there's a hitch: Laura thinks that the necklace is hideous -- in fact, she is convinced that it was the reason that Empress Carlotta went mad! And there's another hitch: Laura hasn't the heart to tell Rob. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

David O. Selznick had intended to film an adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night as a vehicle for his wife Jennifer Jones. But financial difficulties compelled Selznick to sell the property (including Ms. Jones' services) to 20th Century-Fox. Jones stars as a wealthy but disturbed woman of the 1920s who marries her psychiatrist (Jason Robards Jr.). They live together at her Riviera estate, where the doctor's analytical skills atrophy. As Jones grows stronger, the doctor becomes totally dependent upon her emotionally and financially. The film's supporting characters are equally self-destructive, notably an alcoholic composer (Tom Ewell) and Jones' avaricious sister (Joan Fontaine). Perhaps if Selznick had produced Tender is the Night, the film wouldn't have wallowed in misery for its own sake; on the other hand, we still would have been stuck with Jennifer Jones, who is woefully miscast. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Vincente Minnelli directed this sophisticated comedy, which owes a debt to Spencer Tracy/Katherine Hepburn vehicles. Sportswriter Mike Hagen (Gregory Peck) and fashion designer Marilla (Lauren Bacall) are New Yorkers who meet while both are vacationing in California. It's love at first sight, and the two decide on the spur of the moment to get married. However, once they return to the Big Apple, it starts to occur to them just how different they are after Mike moves out of his sloppy bachelor lair in the Village and joins Marilla in her luxury flat on the Upper East Side. While they try to sort out their differences, Mike encounters his former girlfriend Lori (Dolores Gray), while Marilla runs into her onetime beau Zachary (Tom Helmore); given the haste with which they married, neither of their exes had yet heard that Mike and Marilla were hitched, and the notion that they could still be lured away hangs in the air. Meanwhile, Mike has written a series of articles exposing corruption in boxing, which earns him no friends among some ill-mannered Gotham mobsters. Bacall's sparkling comic performance was a remarkable display of personal strength; as the movie was being filmed, her husband Humphrey Bogart was suffering from the last stages of the cancer that would soon claim his life. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Bette Davis goes the "kitchen sink drama" route in The Catered Affair. As the frowsy wife of Bronx cabdriver Ernest Borgnine, Davis insists that her daughter Debbie Reynolds have a high-class wedding--caterers and all. Reynolds and future hubby Rod Taylor want a simple ceremony, but Davis' mind is made up. The wedding snowballs into an unwieldy affair as Davis and Borgnine find that they must invite everyone they know or risk incurring the wrath of their neighborhood. When the cost of the affair exceeds the family's bank account, Davis rails at Borgnine for failing to be a good provider. It takes her till the very end of the film to realize what a fool she's been. Gore Vidal, of all people, adapted The Catered Affair from a TV drama written by Paddy Chayefsky; the original telecast had starred Thelma Ritter. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are none too pleased when fellow police officer James Sorvell (Scott Douglas) is falsely accused of extortion. While Sorvell is placed on suspension, the two detectives search high and low for the crook who bears a striking resemblance to the accused officer, and who is posing as Sorvell to shake down unsuspecting citizens. The title character in this episode (which was based on the Dragnet radio broadcast of July 19, 1955) is played by voiceover artist John Stephenson, better known to fans of The Flintstones as the voice of Fred's boss Mr. Slate. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Natalie Wood plays what was touted as her first "grown up" role in the tense melodrama A Cry in the Night. Based loosely on the Caryl Chessman case, the film showcases Raymond Burr as a psycho who stalks and attacks young couples on Lover's Lane. Overpowering Wood's boyfriend, Burr kidnaps the girl and locks her up in a seedy one-room apartment. Though he barely lays a hand on her, Wood has every reason to be terrified of her captor, who has a disturbing habit of brutally killing small animals. Meanwhile, Wood's police-captain father Edmond O'Brien brusquely ignores all manner of civil liberties as he and fellow officer Brian Donlevy turn the town inside out in search of the girl and her abductor. Carol Veazie appears as Burr's blowsy, dominating mother, while Mary Lawrence offers an interesting characterization as Wood's plain-Jane sister, who is jealous of all the attention showered on her missing sibling. Cry in the Night is a surprisingly lively offering from the normally uninspired director Frank Tuttle. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi