Bruce Geller Movies

William Devane stars as John Henry Faulk, a popular radio and TV entertainer of the 1950s. In 1956, Faulk is blacklisted on the basis of an attack from the self-appointed anticommunist group AWARE. Fired by CBS, Faulk decides to sue AWARE for libel. His attorney Louis Nizer (George C. Scott) warns him that such a case will take several years to get to court, thus Faulk reluctantly takes a series of low-paying jobs to sustain himself during his "down period". In 1962, the case is finally brought before a judge, with several witnesses pointing out the idiotic iniquities of the Blacklist mentality (one child actor was prohibited from working because he had a name that sounded like that of an adult blacklistee). Appearing as themselves during the courtroom scenes are actress Kim Hunter, herself a blacklist victim, and producers David Susskind and Mark Goodson. Faulk wins his case, though his original award of $3.5 million in damages is later reduced to $550,000, and he is never able to completely return to his pre-blacklist prominence. Like several other filmic recreations of the "witch-hunt" era, Fear on Trial was first presented in the mid-1970s (October 2, 1975, to be exact), long after the most zealous of the 1950s anti-Red groups had fallen by the wayside. The film earned an Emmy award for screenwriter David Rintels. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this engaging crime drama with an undercurrent of subtle humor, James Coburn stars as Harry, a "cannon" (a top-flight pickpocket), who works in association with Casey (Walter Pidgeon), an older career criminal with a fondness for cocaine. Ray (Michael Sarrazin) and Sandy (Trish Van Devere) are two aspiring thieves who meet when he tries to steal her watch; eventually, they both come under Harry's tutelage, as he teaches them both the finer points of lifting people's wallets. Harry in Your Pocket was the sole theatrical film for television director and producer Bruce Geller, who died in a plane crash five years after this film was released. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Halfway through its seventh and final season on CBS, Mission: Impossible moved from its 10:00 p.m. Saturday-night slot to an earlier berth on Friday evening. Nor was this the only change implemented during the series' terminal year on the air. Having sent the Impossible Missions Force all over the world to thwart a variety of evil dictators, international drug lords, and other such exotic vermin, the series' producers spent most of season seven in the United States, where the IMF team focused on the minions of organized crime -- a reflection, perhaps, of the popularity of the theatrical feature The Godfather. Also, the series' familiar, ritualistic opening sequence, in which IMF leader Jim Phelps (Peter Graves) would receive his instructions via a self-destructing tape recorder, then methodically thumb through a stack of photos to pick the team members best suited for the job at hand, was by now a relic of the past. Most of the seventh-season episodes begin with a "teaser," usually violent in nature, which sets up the premise before the IMF team has even entered the scene. Of the cast members, only Greg Morris as electronics whiz Barney Collier and Peter Lupus as all-purpose muscleman Willie Armitage have been with the series from its very first season in 1966. Peter Graves is now in his sixth season as Jim Phelps, while Lynda Day George is only two years into her portrayal of the IMF's female member, Lisa Casey. As it turned out, George would be unavailable for a number of episodes this seasons, obliging the producers to bring in Barbara Anderson, late of Ironside, as Lisa's off-and-on replacement Mimi Davis. Although the series' final episodes are not quite of the same caliber as its earlier installments, a handful of seventh-season episodes are still well worth having. Highlights include "Break!," in which Phelps relies upon Barney's electronic knowhow to pose as a pool hustler and infiltrate a vicious gambling ring headed by guest star Robert Conrad; "Leona," with singer Robert Goulet cast against type as a cuckolded mob boss; "Encore," offering the equally unorthodox casting of William Shatner as a cocaine dealer; and the series finale, "Imitation," with Barbara McNair as a sleek jewel thief who falls in love with Barney. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season five of Mission: Impossible finds only two of the series' original regulars still in the cast: Greg Morris as the IMF team's electronics genius Barney Collier and Peter Lupus as muscle man Willie Armitage. Peter Graves, cast as IMF leader Jim Phelps, had been with the series since season two, when he'd been brought in as a replacement for Steven Hill; and Leonard Nimoy was entering his second -- and as it turned out, his last -- season in the role of magician and master of disguise Paris, a character created to fill the gap left by the defection of former regular Martin Landau. Although the producers had not found a suitable replacement for another ex-regular, Barbara Bain, during season four, they obviously felt they'd solved this problem in the fifth season with the hiring of Lesley Ann Warren as new IMFer Dana Lambert. Like Bain's character Cinnamon Carter, Dana was a bit of a femme fatale, albeit more on the vulnerable side; and also like Cinnamon, Dana could impersonate a wide variety of familiar female "types," from wide-eyed ingenue to worldly courtesan. Alas, despite her talent, beauty and versatility, Warren was unable to supplant Barbara Bain in the hearts and minds of the series' fans, and by the end of season five she too had left the show. Another addition to the cast this season is Sam Elliott as Dr. Doug Lane, who is from time to time brought into the IMF's various counterespionage and infiltration schemes because of his medical knowhow and his understanding of the criminal psyche. Although Dr. Doug Lane was also dropped from the show at season's end, he would make an unexpected return appearance in the sixth-season episode "Encore." Suffering from progressively diminishing ratings since the departure of Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, Mission: Impossible continued to be plagued by viewer drop-off during season six, even though it had moved to a "safe" Saturday evening slot opposite such soft competition as The Andy Williams Show, Let's Make a Deal, and The Newlywed Game. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After two years of playing to respectable but not spectacular ratings, Mission: Impossible finally attained the gold ring in season three, when it was ranked as America's 11th most popular series by the A.C. Nielsen Company. At this point in time, the series' formula had been committed to memory by its faithful fans. In virtually every episode, Jim Phelps (Peter Graves), head of the Impossible Missions Force, would be assigned by an anonymous governmental higher-up to undertake a covert mission in the interests of world peace, international security, the thwarting of big-time crime, or a combination thereof. After the self-destruction of the tape recorder from which these instructions emanated, Phelps would choose the IMF operatives best suited to the task at hand. Almost invariably throughout season three, these worthies would include sexy "mystery woman" Cinnamon Carter (Barbara Bain), master dialectician and makeup artist Rollin Hand (Martin Landau), electronics wizard Barney Collier (Greg Morris), and general-purpose muscleman Willie Armitage (Peter Lupus). Journeying to an exotic locale (usually in a fictional country run by despots or controlled by crooks), the IMFers utilized an astonishing array of disguises, props, and meticulously preplanned schemes (but seldom weaponry) to foil the villain of the week -- generally through the simple process of getting the villain to trip himself up with his own ego or greed.

Among the season's most memorable episodes are the two-part "The Contenders," in which Barney poses as a boxer making a comeback to destroy a bout-fixing syndicate (also seen in this episode is real life boxing champ Sugar Ray Robinson); another two-parter, "The Bunker," wherein the IMF must rescue the wife of a scientist who is being blackmailed into conspiring with the enemy; "The Elixir," featuring Ruth Roman as an Evita-style Latin American dictator who is duped into turning her country over to a democratic government; "The Freeze," in which the team convinces a mobster that he has been cryogenically frozen for 14 years to trick him into revealing the whereabouts of some stolen loot; "The Mind of Stefan Miklos," guest-starring Ed Asner as an enemy agent who is hoodwinked into trusting his worst enemy; "The Exchange," a tour de force for series regular Barbara Bain, in which Cinnamon is kidnapped and subjected to her worst fear -- being confined in a tiny place -- as a means to get her to betray the IMF; "Illusion," another showcase for Bain as she impersonates a dead nightclub singer; "The Execution," with Vincent Gardenia as a paid assassin who rats on his boss after the IMF stages a realistic gas-chamber execution before his very eyes; and "Live Bait," featuring a young, bespectacled Martin Sheen as a cloddish enemy operative who is literally seduced into helping the IMFers rescue a double agent from a diabolical torture device. Although the series' lofty ratings, coupled with a third Emmy award win for regular Barbara Bain, should have been occasion for celebration, all was not champagne and roses backstage at Mission: Impossible. Both Bain and her husband, Martin Landau, were publicly clashing with series producer Bruce Geller over their working conditions and the quality of the scripts, and by the end of season three, the series' two most popular actors had ankled the project, never to return. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Returning from a much-needed vacation, Briggs is asked to take his Impossible Missions Force to the South American dictatorship of Santa Costa. General Rio Dominguez has gotten hold of two nuclear warheads and locked them in the impenetrable vault of the Hotel Nacionale. Briggs' mission--should he decided to accept it--is to remove the warheads, and, hopefully, discredit Dominguez. Fortunately, IMF agent Rollin Hand bears a striking resemblance to Dominguez; equally fortunate is the fact that Briggs has enlisted the aid of master safecracker Terry Targo (Wally Cox). First telecast September 17 1966, the inaugural episode of Mission: Impossible was written by series producer Bruce Geller, who won an Emmy Award for his efforts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Woodrow Parfrey guest stars as Bob Wire, a likeable eccentric who decides to capitalize on his given name by becoming a barbed-wire salesman. Unfortunately, there is an abundance of open-range advocates who don't want the territory to be fenced in, and they intend to kill anybody who even mentions the words "barbed wire." Inevitably, Paladin (Richard Boone) is called in to protect Mr. Wire during his brave but foolhardy efforts to ply his trade. Featured in the cast is the statuesque Irish McCalla, best known to baby boomers as the star of the TV series Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Paladin (Richard Boone) attempts to protect a demented old prospector (Eduardo Ciannelli) from claim jumpers who want to plunder the old man's abandoned mine, called Lucifer's Pit. But the prospector wants nothing to do with Paladin: he is convinced that the gunslinger is actually Lucifer himself, and will claim his soul in exchange for protection! Originally scheduled to air on November 29, 1958, this is the final episode of Have Gun, Will Travel's second season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A troubled young man named Robert Ceilbleu (Mario Alcaide) hires Paladin (Richard Boone) to protect his father, ill-mannered Indian scout William Ceilbleu (Lon Chaney Jr.) from a deranged Comanche warrior named Hotanian. Before long, Paladin finds that his mission isn't as cut-and-dried as it seems: Robert Ceilbleu and Hotanian turn out to be one and the same! Curiously, this episode makes reference to three other Have Gun--Will Travel installments, including "Gold and Brimstone"--which hadn't even aired when "The Scorched Feather" was first telecast in February of 1959. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though his usual fee is a flat thousand dollars, Paladin willingly accepts the $82.17 offered him by timid young barber Ernie Teller (Dean Harens). It seems that Ernie is in love with a proud and haughty beauty named Belle Hooper (Bonnie Bolding), but two tough gunslingers are already vying for her affections. Ernie simply wants his rivals to avoid killing each other, but Paladin changes the scenario when he discovers that Belle has deliberately set the gunslingers at each other's throats merely to make Ernie jealous! This episode was written by future Mission: Impossible producer Bruce Geller. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide