Dawn Wells Movies

Clean carpets and dirty minds find a common ground in this comedy written, directed, produced, and distributed by leading man Jeff Daniels. Fred Barlow (Daniels) is a hapless door-to-door salesman who scrapes together a living selling and distributing the Super Sucker Home Cleaning System, a deluxe vacuum cleaning unit, in the small Michigan community of Johnson City. While Barlow and his dedicated but inept staff believe in their product, they don't have much luck in actually moving the merchandise, and hotshot fellow distributor Winslow Schnaebelt (Harve Presnell) is eager to take over Barlow's territory. Super Sucker prexy Cy Suckerton II (John Lepard), tired of the squabbling between Barlow and Schnaebelt, decides to settle the matter once and for all with a contest -- whoever sells the most vacuums in 30 days will have all of Johnson City to themselves. Barlow and his right-hand-man Howard Butterworth (Matt Letscher) try to gear up their staff to make an all-out sales assault on Johnson City, but it turns out that the deciding factor may well be the "Housewife's Little Helper," a little-used vacuum attachment for "cleaning those hard-to-reach places" which Barlow discovers has a surprising use that has nothing to do with sweeping the rug. Super Sucker also features a guest appearance by Dawn Wells (Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island) as the official Super Sucker spokesperson; longtime Bob Seger sideman Alto Reed contributed to the film's soundtrack. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Sensing that she's been neglecting Ben (Jeremy Miller) of late, Maggie (Joanna Kerns) makes a stand in favor of togetherness by helping to organize a carnival at Ben's school. Unfortunately, she becomes so preoccupied by her new responsibilities that poor Ben is left out in the cold again! Former Gilligan's Island costar Dawn Wells) has an amusing cameo during the auction scene. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this followup to the previous episode "A Star is Born", Mike (Kirk Cameron) and his classmate Monica (Christa Denton) have scored a major success as stars of their high school's production of "Our Town." Figuring that they're ready for the Big Time, the couple heads to Broadway to try out for a professional staging of the same show. But during their long and agonizing wait for their names to be called at the open audition, Mike and Monica begin to wonder if they've got the "right stuff" for stardom. Former Gilligan's Island ingenue Dawn Wells appears as the casting receptionist--and look fast for an unbilled cameo by Kirk Cameron's real-life mother Barbara Cameron. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The seven stranded castaways find comical chaos when an insane scientist, his trusty sidekick and the title basketball tricksters, playing robots visit their tropic island nest in this third in a series of made-for-television films based on the enduring early '60s sitcom. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Eleven years after the network cancellation of Gilligan's Island, the crew and passengers of the ill-fated S. S. Minnow returned to the small screen in Rescue from Gilligan's Island. The cast remains the same, with one significant change. Bob Denver plays inveterate bumbler Gilligan, Alan Hale is the long-suffering Skipper, Jim Backus and Natalie Schafer are the fabulously wealthy Mr. and Mrs. Thurston Howell III, Russell Johnson is the resourceful Professor, and Dawn Wells, as perky as ever, is Mary Ann. Tina Louise wanted no part of any Gilligan's Island reunion, so her role-perennial starlet Ginger Grant-is filled by Judith Baldwyn. The premise: a huge tidal wave transports the seven castaways back to civilization. While they're thrilled to be back in the real world, none of the seven are able to adjust to life outside the island....least of all Gilligan, who on top of all his other problems must contend with a pair of enemy agents (Vincent Schiavelli and Art LeFleur). Conceived as a two-hour pilot film for a weekly revival that never materialized, Rescue from Gilligan's Island was originally telecast in two ratings-grabbing 60 minute installments, shown on October 14 and 21, 1978. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This thriller -- based on actual events -- tells in a pseudo-documentary-style of the murders of five people by a man in post-WWII Arkansas. This mystery was still considered unsolved at the time of its release. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi

In a situation drenched with irony, Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) must prevent the murder of attorney Richard Bender, who at present is defending Arnold Toby (Linden Chiles), a mob boss whom the FBI has been trying to nail for five years. Bender's would-be assassin is Dennis Holland, who has a personal vendetta against the lawyer. Caught in the middle is Holland's employee Peter Zacharias (played by future Mary Tyler Moore Show costar Ed Asner), who has been set up as a fall guy for Bender's killing--and who is also the father of Arnold Toby's current girlfriend Carol (played by former Gilligan's Island regular Dawn Wells)! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Season three of Gilligan's Island finds those seven stranded castaways still marooned on a tropical island, still making the best of things (it's an uphill climb!), and still seeking out any and all methods of escape. The only change during the third season is a cosmetic one; now, most of the 30 episodes open with a pre-credits "teaser," setting up the episode's premise -- and of course, re-introducing Gilligan (Bob Denver), the Skipper (Alan Hale Jr.), Mr. and Mrs. Howell (Jim Backus, Natalie Schafer), Ginger (Tina Louise), Mary Ann (Dawn Wells), and the Professor (Russell Johnson). Fans of the series consider this season the best ever, with some truly unforgettable episodes. Among these are "All About Eva," featuring Tina Louise in a dual role as Ginger and her drab lookalike Eva Grubb, and "The Second Ginger Grant," in which a bump on the head causes Mary Ann to take on the voice and personality of Ginger (a true tour de force for the talented Dawn Wells). Perhaps the best episode of the lot is "The Producer," guest-starring Phil Silvers as Hollywood mogul Harold Hecuba, who takes over production of the castaway's own musical version of Hamlet -- and plays all the parts in the process! Other noteworthy guest performers this season include John McGiver as eccentric butterfly collector Lord Waterford, Rory Calhoun as crazed big-game hunter Jonathan Kincaid, Strother Martin as befuddled "take-a-dare" game contestant George Barkley, Don Rickles as inept kidnapper Norbert Wiley, and Vito Scotti in a return engagement as mad scientist Dr. Boris Balinkoff. ~ Rovi

The longest "three-hour tour" in history gets under way in the first season of Gilligan's Island. In the course of the season's 36 episodes, originally filmed in black and white, the viewer becomes intimately familiar with the famous seven stranded castaways: Skipper Jonas Grumby (Alan Hale Jr.) and first mate Gilligan (Bob Denver) of the S.S. Minnow, run aground on an unchartered desert isle after a ferocious storm; millionaire Thurston Howell III (Jim Backus) and his wife, Lovey (Natalie Schafer), who have apparently brought along their entire expensive wardrobe; movie star Ginger Grant (Tina Louise), who always manages to find cosmetics despite being marooned thousands of miles from civilization; secretary Mary Ann Summers (Dawn Wells), she of the cute halter tops and short-shorts; and Professor Roy Hinckley (Russell Johnson), an expert on everything except a means of getting off the island (or even repairing the Minnow). Episodes during the first season focus on the castaways' various escape attempts, their efforts at acclimating themselves to their new environment, and the petty squabbles and power plays that threaten to break the group up into Survivor-like warring tribes. Although the regulars are unable to leave the island, quite a few guest stars manage to make their way to the isle's shores, among them Hans Conried as bungling pilot Wrong-Way Feldman, Vito Scotti as a misplaced WWII-era Japanese soldier, Larry Storch as mobster Jackson Farrell, Kurt Russell as a junior-league Tarzan, and Denny Miller as handsome surfer Duke Williams. Of course, the scriptwriters always manage to find some way of getting these visitors back to civilization -- without ever revealing the existence or location of the castaways! ~ Rovi

No one liked Gilligan's Island but the public. Roundly condemned by critics as the worst sitcom in TV history when it first signed on the CBS schedule in the fall of 1964, the weekly half-hour series nonetheless struck a responsive chord with the viewing public, who were thoroughly amused and delighted by the premise of seven diverse personalities shipwrecked on an uncharted tropical island, managing to make the best of things while never giving up hope of being rescued. The series' premise was laid out each and every week by the theme song "The Ballad of Gilligan's Island," co-written by producer Sherwood Schwartz and performed by the singing group the Wellingtons. Caught in a sudden storm at sea, the S.S. Minnow, a tiny charter boat manned by "Skipper" Jonas Grumby (Alan Hale Jr.) and his daffy first mate, Gilligan (Bob Denver), was washed up on the shore of a flyspeck island somewhere in the South Pacific. Marooned along with Gilligan and the Skipper were five tourist passengers: voluptuous movie star Ginger Grant (Tina Louise); multimillionaire Thurston Howell III (Jim Backus) and his wife, Lovey (Natalie Schafer); high-school teacher Roy Hinkley (Russell Johnson), better known as "The Professor"; and wholesomely sexy secretary Mary Ann Summers (Dawn Wells). With the Minnow damaged beyond repair, the seven castaways resourcefully transformed their island into a home away from home, replete with solid shelters, handmade eating and kitchen utensils, jerry-built furniture, and even a farming and irrigation system. Even so, our heroes and heroines yearned to go back to civilization, but they never quite managed to make it, usually thanks to the ineptitude of the feckless Gilligan.

Although the seven principals were more or less trapped in their environment, quite a few guest stars managed to find their way on -- and off -- the island, including Hans Conried as klutzy pilot Wrong-Way Feldman, Vito Scotti as mad scientist Boris Balinkoff, and Phil Silvers (who owned a piece of Gilligan's Island in real life) as Hollywood mogul Harold Hecuba. The fact that, for all his brilliance, "The Professor" was never able to figure out how to build a new boat or notify the authorities of the castaways' whereabouts was only a part of the farcical fun; Gilligan's Island was, to overstate the obvious, not exactly like real life. A prime example of good, clean, harmless slapstick, Gilligan's Island confounded its many detractors by remaining on CBS for three seasons, then enjoying a spectacularly successful afterlife in rerun form -- not to mention its many feature-length TV "sequels" (such as The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island), two separate TV-cartoon spin-offs, and a multitude of latter-day video retrospectives. It's difficult to argue with that kind of success. ~ Rovi

Jack Kelly plays a dual role in this episode, as frontier gambler Bart Maverick and his exact lookalike, vicious outlaw Red Claxton. Mistaken for Claxton, who has been systematically stealing army payrolls, Bart is arrested and thrown in the stockade. Sentenced to hang, our hero must somehow break out of jail to prove his innocence. Appearing as ingenue Caprice Rambeau is a young Dawn Wells, three years before her starmaking turn as Mary Ann on Gilligan's Island. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi