Dennis Dugan Movies

John Walton (Ralph Waite) is accused of stealing some valuable silver goblets from wealthy neighbor Mrs. Claybourne (Diana Webster). Her evidence? Well, for starters, John is the only visitor that Mrs. Claybourne has had in weeks--and even more damning, he has suddenly and inexplicably come into a large sum of money. Too angry and proud to defend himself, John is on the verge of a lengthy jail term until the truth is revealed in a surprising fashion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Private eye Harry Moseby (Gene Hackman) is dedicated to his job, but his dedication does not make him happy or powerful in his personal life, and his wife (Susan Clark) is cheating on him. Aging actress Arlene Iverson (Janet Ward) hires Harry to find her trust-funded daughter Delly (Melanie Griffith), distracting Harry from his marital problems as he tracks the lascivious runaway teen to Florida. In the Keys, Harry has an affair of his own with Paula (Jennifer Warren), and he succeeds in locating Delly, even as he learns that finding her is only the beginning of a much larger case. As the "accidental" deaths multiply, Harry discovers that everyone has his or her own motives and that he cannot do much to stem the tide of deep-seated depravity. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

A new detective is hired to find out why an amnesia victim is being targeted by 2 gunmen. ~ All Movie Guide

Harry and Walter Go to New York was born of the theory that, the more stars and money that you throw into a film, the better the film will be. The theory has seldom been proven true, and it certainly wasn't in this case. Harry (James Caan) and Walter (Elliot Gould) are a third-rate vaudeville team, playing tank towns in turn-of-the-century USA. Thrown into the hoosegow on a petty-theft charge, our heroes make the acquaintance of big-time crook Adam Worth (Michael Caine). Once they're sprung, Harry and Walter follow Worth to New York, with the intention of pulling off a huge bank robbery. Lissa Chestnut (Diane Keaton), a bird-brained suffragette, is also mixed up in the proceedings though she never seems certain of who or what her character is from one scene to the next. The film's one tangible asset is its meticulous re-creation of 1890s New York, courtesy of art director Harry Horner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Getting a head start on the 1976-1977 TV season, the movie-based sitcom Alice made its debut with a special airing of its pilot episode on August 31, 1976. After the death of her truck driver husband, Alice Hyatt (Linda Lavin) decides to resume her career as a piano-bar singer. First, however, she needs some ready money for herself and her young son Tommy (played in the pilot by Alfred Lutter, who originated the role in the 1974 film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, and thereafter by Phillip McKeon). And that is how Alice finds herself waitressing at a Phoenix, Arizona greasy spoon called Mel & Ruby's Diner, owned by the irascible Mel Sharples (Vic Tayback) (Trivia alert: "Ruby" was the name of Mel's late wife; she would seldom be referenced in future episodes, wherein the restaurant's name is streamlined to "Mel's Diner") ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

If it hadn't been a TV movie, Last of the Good Guys might have made a good episode of Car 54 Where Are You? The main good guy is rookie cop Dennis Dugan, who is assigned to take over for an ailing veteran police officer. When the replaced officer dies, Dugan realizes that the man's widow will never receive his maximum pension. Thus, Dugan and three fellow cops contrive to convince "by the book" desk sergeant Robert Culp that the dead man is still alive. Like many films of its era, Last of the Good Guys strives for political correctness by drawing the four compassionate cops from diverse ethnic and sociological backgrounds: One black (Ji-Tu Cumbaka), one Indian (Hampton Fancher), one Asian (Richard Narita), and one ex-hippie (Dennis Dugan, of course). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the first half of a two-part story, Jim (James Garner) investigates the mysterious death of his mentor Joe Tooley (Paul Fix) on the Ventura Freeway. Assisting Jim--in a manner of speaking--is greenhorn detective Richie Brockelman (Dennis Dugan), who likewise suspects that Tooley's demise was no accident. The evidence leads to a crooked city councilman and a sinister data-storage firm called the Credit Computer Centre. This episode and its followup served to introduce the character of Richie Brockelman, soon to be spun off into his own eponymously titled TV series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Richie Brockelman, the intellectual but naive 23-year-old private eye played by Dennis Dugan, was introduced in the 1976 TV movie Richie Brockelman: The Missing 24 Hours. He was revived for a 2-hour episode of James Garner's The Rockford Files, telecast February 24, 1978. Three weeks later, Richie Brockelman: Private Eye premiered on NBC as a five-week replacement for Rockford Files. The Diary of Richie Brockelman is a 2-hour syndicated TV "movie" comprised of highlights from the series and narrated by Dennis Dugan. Richie's case load includes suspected embezzlement, a stolen classic car, industrial espionage, a gambling ring, and a missing accident victim. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the conclusion of a two-part story, Jim (James Garner) has cooked up an elaborate sting operation to save the printing plant owned by the father of fellow private eye Richie Brockelman (Dennis Dugan) from the clutches of crooked sports promoter Coombs (Robert Webber). The scam is wide-ranging indeed, involving a travelling King Tut exhibition and a popular auto-racing track. While simultaneously endeavoring to pull off the con and preventing his "pal" Angel (Stuart Margolin from gumming up the works, Jim also finds himself falling in love with enigmatic co-conspirator Odette (Trisha Noble). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This groundbreaking, darkly-comic horror film from director Joe Dante changed the look and feel of werewolf movies in ways light-years distant from Universal's horror classic The Wolf Man. The story begins with television reporter/anchor Karen White (Dee Wallace) taking part in a dangerous police operation intended to trap psychopath Eddie Quist (Robert Picardo). When confronted by Eddie face-to-face, she witnesses something horrifying enough to trigger selective amnesia. Plagued by a series of violent nightmares, Karen decides to admit herself to a posh recovery resort known only as "The Colony," run by her eccentric New Age therapist Dr. Wagner (Patrick MacNee), and brings along her husband Bill (Christopher Stone) for support. The night after they arrive, Karen and Bill are unnerved by eerie howling in the woods. Back in the city, Karen's coworkers Chris (Dennis Dugan) and Terry (Belinda Balaski) have been investigating Eddie's background after discovering that his body has disappeared from the morgue. Sifting through Eddie's possessions, they find a strange collection of artwork depicting wolf-like creatures, and decide to consult with Walter Paisley (Dick Miller, of course), the owner of an occult bookshop, on werewolf lore. Though he claims not to believe in the stuff he's selling, Paisley nevertheless convinces Chris to purchase a handful of silver bullets... just in case. Back at the colony, Dr. Wagner has organized a hunting party after hearing Karen's account of the nocturnal howling, but the men find nothing but a rabbit, which Bill is told to bring to the cabin of the sultry Marsha (Elisabeth Brooks) to prepare for dinner. After resisting Marsha's less-than-subtle sexual overtures, Bill is attacked by a wolf while returning to his cabin. The following moonlit night, the sleepless Bill wanders outside to find Marsha waiting and the two make love by the campfire, their bodies undergoing a frightening transformation. Just as Karen is beginning to suspect that her husband is hiding a secret far more threatening than marital infidelity, Chris and Terry have come to realize -- too late, in Terry's case -- that Eddie Quist is not only still alive, but not quite human... and he knows he's being followed. Chris arrives at the colony too late to save Terry, but manages to find Karen just as the colony's residents -- all of whom are werewolves, including Dr. Wagner -- are assembling to decide her fate. Dante fills his film with heartfelt homages to The Wolf Man and other classic horror movies, as well as a few clever visual puns and in-jokes from his tenure with Roger Corman, but never strays from the path to genuine horror, particularly when Rob Bottin's chilling monsters are onscreen. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Charles' (David Ogden Stiers) keeps Hawkeye (Alan Alda) and B.J. (Mike Farrell) awake all night. Alas, when they can't sleep, neither can the rest of the camp. But Colonel Potter (Harry Morgan) has a more serious matter on his hands, when he discovers that his son-in-law Bob (Dennis Dugan) has been unfaithful to Potter's beloved daughter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Meant to be a parody of the recent invasions of Grenada and the Falkland Islands, this comedy about the laid-back governor (Michael Caine) of "Cascara," a fictional British island somewhere in the Caribbean, and the international parade of characters who come through his territory is a pastiche without a clear center. Among these multinational characters are an American industrialist out to exploit the island's rich source of mineral water -- also the source of all the subsequent trouble on the island -- some inexplicable French-German visitors, a singing revolutionary with ties to Fidel Castro, and various parodies of Brit diplomats and politicians, Margaret Thatcher included. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide