Larry Gelbart Movies

The documentary Bob Hope: The Road to Laughter contains numerous clips from the film and television work of the beloved entertainer. These snippets are intercut with interview footage featuring people who worked with Hope as well as film historian Leonard Maltin who provides a context for Hope's career. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

How far will a man go to win the woman he loves? That's the devilish question behind this satirical romantic comedy. Elliot Richards (Brendan Fraser), a low-level white-collar worker, has fallen in love with his co-worker Allison (Frances O'Connor), who barely knows he exists. Desperate to win her love, sad sack Elliot is approached by the Devil (Elizabeth Hurley), who offers him seven wishes in exchange for his soul. Elliot accepts, but none of his wishes works out quite the way that he had hoped; after transforming himself into a South American tycoon, a champion NBA basketball player, a famous author, the most sensitive man in the world, and even the president of the United States, Elliot discovers that the Devil has added a crucial loophole each time, and for all his troubles, Allison still isn't interested in him. Directed by Harold Ramis, Bedazzled was adapted from the 1968 cult movie of the same name written by and starring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

An affectionate look at the illustrious career of Bob Hope, this film features numerous clips from Hope's start in vaudeville through to his radio, movie, and television careers. This hour-long show includes interviews with Larry Gelbart, Hy Averback, and, of course, Hope himself. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

This attempt to remake the clever 1977 French farce Un Moment d'Egarement stars 50-film-a-year man Michael Caine as an executive named Matthew Hollis, who, together with friend Victor Lyons (Joseph Bologna), travels to Rio de Janeiro on business. Victor sets out on the town in search of a lambada partner, leaving Matthew to fend for himself against his friend's over-sexed teenage daughter (Michelle Johnson), who's come along for the ride. Soon, Matthew succumbs to her advances, despite his efforts to break off the affair, and finds himself a repeated statutory rapist, at least by American legal standards. The script plays out like an extended version of Three's Company, with lots of near-misses and dumb-dumb humor; critics aptly noticed Caine's apparent discomfort throughout the film. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide

Michael Dorsey (Dustin Hoffman), a brilliant but troublesome New York actor, has managed to alienate every producer on both coasts. Michael's agent George Fields (Sydney Pollack) can't even get his client a commercial since Michael complained that the tomato he was playing wasn't properly motivated. "You were a tomato!" screams George in desperation, adding that Michael is so obnoxious that he will probably never work again. Dorsey thinks otherwise; when he hears of an opening on a popular soap opera, he applies for the job--even though the job is for a woman. Posing as "Miss Dorothy Michaels," Michael wins the part and becomes a widely-known actress. Yet complications ensue when Michael falls for his co-star Julie (Jessica Lange, in an Oscar-winning performance) but, as Dorothy, is courted by Julie's widowed father (Charles Durning). Michael ultimately finds that his disguise as a woman has made him a better man. One of the classic comedies of the 1980s, Tootsie's gender-bending premise boasts a screenplay by Larry Gelbart and Murray Schisgal, and by a host of memorable supporting comic performances from Dabney Coleman, Teri Garr, George Gaynes, and Bill Murray. Future Oscar-winner Geena Davis makes her screen debut as a daytime drama queen, which indeed she had been before Tootsie came along. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Notorious international jewel thief Jack Rhodes (Burt Reynolds) is out to steal $30 million in uncut diamonds in this visually opulent, uneven comedy. Chief Inspector Cyril Willis (David Niven) is Rhodes' nemesis. He wants to retire from Scotland Yard but would like to capture Rhodes as a final, dramatic cap to his career. In order to achieve his ambition, he sets up lissome Gillian Bromley (Lesley-Anne Down) as Rhodes' erstwhile partner in crime. The unpredictable happens when Rhodes and Bromley fall for each other, leaving the best-laid plans open to unexpected amendments. Three different directors had a hand in this film though their imprints are remarkably homogenous up to but not including the ending. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Adapted by Larry Gelbart from the novel by Avery Corman, the film stars John Denver as Jerry Landers, the assistant manager of a grocery store who is chosen by God (George Burns) to spread the Word to the rest of the world. Not surprisingly, Jerry is soon labelled a basket case: even his loving wife Bobbie (Teri Garr) doubts her husband's sanity. But there's enough evidence on Jerry's side for a panel of prominent clerics to demand that the hapless fellow prove in court that he's the agent of God. Donald Pleasence was supposed to have an extended supporting role in the film, but the first cut ran too long, and Pleasence's dialogue was eliminated -- but not Pleasence himself, who retains his prominent billing and is seen doing precisely nothing in several scenes. Netting $30 million on its first run, Oh God was followed by two lesser sequels, both featuring Burns. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bedfellows don't come much stranger than two of the latest patients at the 4077th. Hotshot chopper pilot "Smilin' Jack" Mitchell (Robert Hogan) can't wait to get back into action, even though the doctors feel that he'd be better off grounded. Conversely, Cpl. Howard Owens (Dennis Kort), two-time winner of the Purple Heart, wants to be retired from combat, but no one will issue him a discharge. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hawkeye (Alan Alda) is unexpectedly reunited with Nurse Carlye Breslin (Blythe Danner), the only woman he ever wanted to marry. Now, however, Carlye is the wife of another man. This puts Hawkeye in an uncomfortable position, especially when Carlye's transfer to the 4077th threatens to become a permanent issue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The most fascinating extra on Three's Company's season two DVD is the series' original pilot episode, taped in late 1975 -- a full year before the series debuted on ABC. The pilot was a rewrite of the corresponding debut episode of Three's Company's British sitcom prototype Man About the House. Two girls in desperate need of a third roommate agree to let a personable young man move in with them. In order to convince their landlord that their living arrangements are strictly honorable, the girls pass off their new male roomie as a homosexual -- something he most definitely is not. Cosmetically, this "test" episode closely resembles the actual Three's Company opener "Man About the House" -- but with several major differences. For one, the action takes place not in Santa Monica, but in North Hollywood. The character played by John Ritter is not Jack Tripper, but instead "David Bell" -- and he is an aspiring filmmaker rather than an aspiring chef. Though Norman Fell and Audra Lindley are in attendance as the Ropers, who own in apartment in which the three roommates reside, the characters' first names are "George" and "Mildred" rather than Stanley and Helen. Most significantly, the two female roommates are not Janet and Chrissy, but instead "Jenny" and "Samantha" -- and they aren't played by Joyce DeWitt and Suzanne Somers, but instead by Valerie Curtin and Suzanne Zenor (similarly, the girlfriend of John Ritter's character, known as Patricia Crawford and played by Kit McDonough in the series proper, is herein called "Zoey" and portrayed by Bobbie Mitchell). One of the few elements of the pilot to be carried over into the "real" Three's Company is its theme music -- albeit minus the familiar lyrics. All in all, the original pilot episode is a tantalizing glimpse into the Three's Company that might have been. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season Four of M*A*S*H (now moved to Friday evenings) begins with the ever-irritating Maj. Frank Burns (Larry Linville) assuming command of the 4077th after the death of easygoing Col. Henry Blake. Returning from an R-and-R session, Hawkeye (Alan Alda) discovers that his old buddy Trapper John (Wayne Rogers) has been shipped out without so much as a goodbye. The sullen Hawkeye is then sent Kimpo to pick up Trapper's clean-cut replacement, B.J. Hunnicut (Mike Farrell in his first series appearance), whose spotless record leads Frank and Hot Lips (Loretta Swit) to the premature conclusion that, at long last, the joyful slovenliness of the 4077th will be replaced by traditional military spit-and-polish. The first of the series' 60-minute "special" episodes, Welcome to Korea has since been divided into two half-hour episodes for syndication. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Everybody knew that Maclean Stevenson would not return to M*A*S*H when the series inaugurated its fourth season in the fall of 1975; after all, Stevenson's character, Col. Henry Blake, had been abruptly killed off at the end of season three, so any sort of return was out of the question. It did, however, come as something of a surprise to the series' loyal viewers that another of the leading characters, irreverent surgeon Trapper John, was also missing from the fourth season roster. The reason? Actor Wayne Rogers, who'd played Trapper since the series' debut in 1972, had ankled the project in the middle of a contract dispute; he was tired of playing second fiddle to costar Alan Alda (aka Hawkeye Pierce), and wanted to spread his wings with a series of his own. Thus, season four opened with the first of M*A*S*H's one-hour "special" episodes, the better to establish the character of Trapper John's assistant, Capt. B.J. Hunnicut (Mike Farrell. More clean-cut and level-headed that the Rabelaisian Trapper, B.J. nonetheless proved to be every bit as capricious and irreverent as his predecessor, especially when cooking up schemes to embarrass the gimlet-eyed, humorless Frank Burns (Larry Linville and the chronically thin-skinned Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan (Loretta Swit) As for Col. Blake's replacement, the series' producers decided not to emulate the youngish, laid-back Maclean Stevenson, and instead went with an older, more "Regular Army" character. Harry Morgan, who'd appeared as a guest star during M*A*S*H's third season, was added to the cast as crusty but lovable Colonel Henry Potter, an old Cavalry man who managed to maintain the dignity of the Service and the decorum of the O.R. without ever sacrificing his humanity or sense of humor. Potter also proved to be a "good fit" insofar as company clerk Radar O'Reilly was concerned. Without ever consciously or blatantly doing so, Potter and Radar fell into a warm father-son relationship, which would make Radar's inevitable exit from the series five seasons later all the more poignant. Another development within the M*A*S*H family was the ascention of actor Jamie Farr to full "series regular" status. Introduced as an intended one-shot during season one, Farr's character, cross-dressing Corporal Max Klinger (who of course donned women's clothing in hopes of being discharged from the Army on a Section 8) proved popular enough to warrant additional "guest" appearances, and by the time the 1974-75 season had rolled around, Farr was being billed at the beginning of each episode, rather than merely among the "featured" cast in the closing credits. The "look" of M*A*S*H continued to deepen and mellow during season four, with the "zany" and "serious" aspects achieving a more even balance, thereby lessening the need for that intrusive recorded laughtrack that CBS insisted upon (though the track would not disappear altogether for several seasons to come). This was also the year that the series briefly digressed from its standard format to offer a half-hour "documentary" episode, in which the staff of the 4077th were interviewed by a TV war correspondent (Clete Roberts). Shot in black-and-white, this episode closed out the series' fourth season in the spring of 1976. By that time, M*A*S*H had won the fifth of its Emmy awards, the prize going to Stanford Tischler and Fred W. Berger, who had written the 60-minute opener "Welcome to Korea". Unfortunately, though the series was still popular, it has slipped from fifth to 14th place in the overall ratings, thanks to CBS' misguided decision to move the series from Tuesday to Friday evenings opposite the NBC ratings-grabber Chico and the Man. At least CBS acknowledged its error early on; in December of 1975, M*A*S*H was shifted back to Tuesdays, where it would remain a fixture for the next two years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide