Vince Edwards Movies

A young policeman takes on the duty of undercover narcotics officer to join a high-school drug ring. ~ All Movie Guide

A piece of made-for-television hack work that suddenly became sort of topical 23 years later, with the attacks on the New York World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, Evening in Byzantium was a two-part made-for-TV feature based very loosely on Irwin Shaw's best-seller. The book involved intrigue and romance at the Cannes Film Festival, but the television producers evidently thought that this did not justify a two-night prime time movie event, so they added a story about Middle Eastern terrorists using the Cannes Film Festival as part of a larger plot to attack the West. Glenn Ford plays Jesse Craig, a down-on-his-luck producer with a film project in mind involving terrorists, who goes to Cannes to raise money and finds himself dealing with his ex-wife (Shirley Jones) and romancing Erin Gray. But before too long, he uncovers a plot by real terrorists to replace commercial airliners in flight (blowing them out of the sky and taking over their authorized flight paths) with specially converted airliners and bomb targets in the United States. Also on hand is Vince Edwards, playing an actor with a radical political agenda, who is alarmed that Ford's proposed film parallels his own terrorist plans; Michael Cole as Ford's associate; Eddie Albert and Gloria De Haven as a couple with ties to the movie business; Harry Guardino as a skeptical American security officer; and Marcel Hillaire as the French police inspector trying to unravel the terrorists plans. It's all very silly, though played very sincerely by most of the cast, and none of the plot described is less plausible than the notion that Glenn Ford and Erin Gray could ignore the 36-year difference in their ages. Evening in Byzantium was originally shown in August of 1978 as part of the syndicated Operation Prime Time programming series, intended to compete with the three networks. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

One of four miniseries comprising NBC's Best Sellers anthology, The Rhinemann Exchange was adapted from the Robert Ludlum novel of the same name. Stephen Collins stars as American intelligence officer David Spaulding, who under cover of his musician father's concert tours embarks upon a number of fact-finding missions in Europe just before WW2. Once hostilities break out, Spaulding relocates to Aergentina, there to exchange industrial diamonds for a secret gyroscope needed for the American war effort. Naturally, the Nazis are equally interested in those diamonds, putting Spaulding in any number of perilous predicaments. Lauren Hutton costars as Leslie Hawkewood, one of those ravishing "mystery women" so common to espionage fiction. Originally running 5 hours and telecast in three segments on March 10, 17, and 24, 1977, The Rhinemann Exchange was later rebroadcast as a four-hour, two-part "TV movie." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this made-for-TV thriller, a vacation for two men turns deadly when their wives are kidnapped by several escaped convicts. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

An African American youth must deal with both many physical tests and the racism of his peers as he works to become a full-fledged fire fighter in this drama that was originally made as a television pilot. As he is the only black man in an all white unit, things are difficult, especially after he learns that the man he replaced was killed in a fire set by a black arsonist. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Helen Hayes, Mildred Natwick, Myrna Loy and Sylvia Sidney star as four elderly pranksters devoted to practical jokes. When one of the ladies gets hold of a computer-dating questionnaire, the others invent a mythical girl and feed the falsified information into the computer. Alas, the description matches a very real young lady, who becomes the target of a murderous rapist (Vince Edwards). Attacked at the time of its release for making light of a potentially deadly situation, Do Not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate led to the casting of Helen Hayes and Mildred Natwick in the weekly detective series The Snoop Sisters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this 60-minute episode of the 1970-71 TV series Matt Lincoln, Vincent Edwards stars as Lincoln, a psychiatrist working for a big-city suicide prevention clinic. In this particular episode, Dean Jagger guest stars as Lincoln's father, a small-town general practitioner. Father and son work side by side to save a pregnant, diabetic woman who also suffers from amnesia. The drama is stretched to feature-film length with scenes from other Matt Lincoln episodes which also feature Jagger. Remember was put into syndication as a "made for TV movie" after Matt Lincoln ran its course in January of 1971. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This violent western finds a son leaving his father and family behind in the wake of the elder's violent guerilla warfare against society at large. David Galt (Vince Edwards) leaves his Confederate war-veteran father Josiah (Jack Palance) behind and settles in Texas. The son changes his name, living in relative solitude until his father's gang invades Texas six years later. Father and son battle it out in the inevitable showdown in this family feud. Neville Brand plays the Federal marshall. George Maharis and Christian Roberts play the sons of Parson Josiah Galt, the man driven insane by the death of his wife during the Civil War. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

During the early days of World War II, while the United States was massing its forces for the war, England hastily plans commando raids against the German forces to keep them at bay until America's troops enter the war. As a part of this plan, the Allies create the 1st Special Service Force to plan and carry out an attack on Norway in order to tie up the German forces. This commando force of Canadian soldiers and American GIs is headed by Lt. Col. Robert T. Frederick (William Holden), a paper-pusher given his first field command. Antagonism immediately erupts between Canadian Maj. Alan Crown (Cliff Robertson) and American Maj. Cliff Bricker (Vince Edwards). But Frederick utilizes their mutual dislike as a basis for a rivalry that turns this rag-tag group of misfits into a disciplined fighting force. But now that Frederick's men are ready to fight, Frederick receives word that the Norway mission has been canceled. After appealing to Washington for another assignment for the commandos, the brigade is sent on a patrol near the German lines in southern Italy. The brigade captures an enemy-held village and is then given the seemingly impossible task of taking Mt. La Difensa. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Once again, Lucy (Lucille Ball) has a hankering to see some movie stars close-up. Her first step in this direction is to take over the "maps to the movie stars' homes" kiosk owned by her recently departed neighbor (Reta Shaw). One thing leads to another, and by episode's end Lucy has become an usher (in an ill-fitting boy's uniform!) at a theater where a gala Hollywood premiere is about to be staged. The episode's inevitable special guest stars include Kirk Douglas, Edward G. Robinson, Jimmy Durante, Ben Casey star Vince Edwards, and Hollywood columnist Johnny Grant. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An epic and unusual anti-war drama about WWII, writer-director Carl Foreman's heavily ironic saga is loosely based on the novel The Human Kind by Alexander Baron. It follows the adventures of an American infantry platoon based in Sicily that participates in the invasion of France, marches into Germany, and remains there for the Allied post-war occupation. Interspersed during the nearly three-hour film are vignettes of silly newsreel scenes from the home front. These are contrasted with disturbing incidents from the war. George Peppard plays Corporal Chase, who has an affair with a woman who wants him to desert to help her run a black market business. He visits the wounded Sergeant Craig (Eli Wallach) in the hospital and finds that most of his face has been blown away. Sgt. Trower (George Hamilton) takes up with a woman who turns out to be a prostitute The plot is highly episodic, with characters coming and going. Originally released at 175 minutes, the picture was withdrawn from distribution and edited down to 156 minutes to place greater emphasis on onscreen action. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide