Don Gordon
Philandering husband Courtney Masterson (Joseph Cotten) and his paramour, Peg Valence (Julie Adams), are attacked by a robber named Rudy (Don Gordon). Fortunately, Courtney and Peg manage to overpower their assailant and lock the man in the trunk of Masterson's car. At this point, Courtney should have gone to the police -- except that he doesn't, knowing full well that he'll have to explain to the authorities why he's in the company of Peg and not his wife. So should the couple allow Rudy to go free? Well...he could turn out to be a blackmailer...couldn't he? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Asylum for a Spy stars Robert Stack as a CIA agent who becomes an alcoholic, believing himself responsible for the death of two close friends. The Russians believe that Stack would be useful in fingering potential soviet defectors. The Americans plans to use Stack's inebriated state to get him into a mental hospital, and there locate an enemy spy. Stack's girl friend (Felicia Farr) merely wants to get him to pull himself together. Asylum for a Spy was originally telecast on April 2 and April 9, 1965, as Memorandum for a Spy, a two-part drama on NBC's Bob Hope Chrysler Theatre anthology. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this episode,Banacek must investigate the disappearance of an innovative rocket after it is stolen from an exposition center. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
This time it's Bruce Le, not Bruce Lee, who possesses the fists of vengeance. Entrusted with the martial arts secrets of the late Mr. Lee, the very-much-alive Mr. Le and his cohort Jack Lee are challenged by an evil kung-fu expert. We know that Bruce and Jack won't betray their trust, but it's a toss-up as to whether or not they'll still be standing at film's end. The film's "token American" is Don Gordon, a familiar face on the 1960s B-flick scene. Bruce's Fists of Vengeance will be best appreciated by its target audience. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Le
In this limp western melodrama, when Mexican bandit Hector Cordoba (Raf Vallone) attacks a U.S. Army fort a few miles from the Mexican border, General John Pershing (John Russell) orders Captain Rod Douglas (George Peppard) to organize a group of soldiers to cross the border into Mexico to capture Cordoba and to bring him back to the U.S. for trial. When Douglas's band cross into Mexico, Douglas meets Leonora (Giovanna Ralli), a beautiful Mexican woman raped by Cordoba, who agrees to lead the Americans to Cordoba's stronghold. But Leonora is not entirely trustworthy, and when the Americans reach the fort, Cordoba takes them prisoners. Now, the Americans must escape from Cordoba's clutches and make it back to the other side of the border. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Peppard, Giovanna Ralli, (more)
This debut episode of Charlie's Angels takes place at a racetrack catering to female speed demons, where driver Suzy Lennon has died in a crash. Suspected of negligence, Suzy's mechanic Jerry (John Dennis Johnston) turns to the Angels -- Jill (Farrah Fawcett-Majors), Sabrina (Kate Jackson) and Kelly (Jaclyn Smith) -- to prove his innocence and finger a murderer. Although Sabrina goes undercover as a racer, it is Jill who ends up being taken for a ride when her cover is blown. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Farrah Fawcett-Majors, Kate Jackson, (more)
A former CIA agent (Robert Ginty) is released from prison to track down his terrorist rival (James Ryan), who has kidnapped the family of a Middle Eastern monarch. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Ginty, Shannon Tweed, (more)
Saunders (Vic Morrow) levels some serious charges against Pvt. Stevens (Don Gordon), a soldier whom he first met on D-Day. Never mind that Stevens has been twice-decorated with the Silver Star and the Distinguished Service Cross: Saunders has accused the private of causing the deaths of two other soldiers by his refusal to follow orders. A series of stark flashbacks reveals the whole story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Robert Conrad plays a long-married husband suffering from perceived boredom. In traditional male-menopause fashion, Conrad walks out on his family in search of greener pastures. Before waking up and smelling the coffee, he has a brief affair with the much-younger Ann Dusenberry. Respectively cast as Conrad's wife and daughter, Jennifer Warren and Mary Crosby are a lot more understanding than our "hero" deserves. Produced by General Hospital mentor Gloria Monty, the made-for-TV Confessions of a Married Man premiered on January 31, 1983. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This was the first film directed by Paul Stanley, and its theme of second-generation Puerto Ricans living in New York's Spanish Harlem would be picked up again in 1961's smash success, West Side Story. Miguel Estrada (John Saxon) was a member of a local gang before he went to prison for a year, and now that he is out he wants to walk the straight-and-narrow. His attempts at getting away from the life that binds him to the gangs are not anything his father can understand, and the gangs are not going to let him just walk away. At one point, he is forced into a knife fight with a gang member. A counterpoint to Miguel's dilemma is found in Sarita (Linda Cristal), a local "hostess" who prefers single bliss to marriage and its problems. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Saxon, Linda Cristal, (more)
Cannon Productions' first foray into the martial arts milieu, Enter the Ninja stars Franco Nero. While visiting old pal Frank Landers (Alex Courtney) in the Philippines, master ninja Cole (Nero) is approached by villain Charles Venarius (Christopher George). Coveting Lander's plantation, Venarius tries to strong-arm Cole into turning against his friend. Our Hero refuses, whereupon Venarius brings in his own ninja Hasegawa (Sho Kosugi), the first step towards the battle-royal climax. The stunt choreography by Mike Stone is enough to make one completely forget the film's lapses in taste and logic. Enter the Ninja was followed in short order by Revenge of the Ninja. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Franco Nero, Susan George, (more)
Following a nuclear holocaust, Alaska is turned into a desert ruled by a cruel tyrant. This sci-fi actioner chronicles the attempts of rebels to usurp him and free up water and other resources for others. Essentially, this is another knock-off of the "Mad Max" films. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Norton, Corinne Wahl, (more)
Revenge and violence are the key motifs in this action film by Philippine director Cirio Santiago). Vince (Richard Young) is a Vietnam vet who has been a shade too brutal in his handling of some petty thieves. His actions rankle the murderous minds of the thieves, and they exact revenge by blowing up Vince's pleasure boat with his wife and child on board. Now fueled with hatred, Vince not only goes after the killers, but with the help of a military friend, he determines who it was that supplied the technical, explosive know-how to the punks who blew up the boat. It seems Vince had an enemy during the Vietnam war who is in league with the murderous thieves. Once the two sides have been defined, a kind of mini-war results. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Young, John Ericson, (more)
A Girl for Joe was the reissue title for the 1951 WWII romantic drama Force of Arms. William Holden and Nancy Olson, previously teamed in Sunset Boulevard and Union Station, co-star once more as, respectively, an Army sergeant and a WAC officer. While on leave, Holden and Olson fall in love, but before long Holden is sent back to the front. Surviving the battle of San Pietro, Holden is tortured by the fact that he may have "choked" under fire, indirectly causing the deaths of his CO Frank Lovejoy and several of his comrades. Even after his happy marriage to Olson, Holden cannot purge himself of his guilt feelings. Despite his wife's protestations, Holden re-ups to atone for past mistakes. Told that Holden is missing in action, Nancy refuses to give her husband up for dead and heads for the front herself. Officially based on a short story by Richard Tregaskis, this drama is actually a semi-remake of Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, previously filmed in 1932 (this may partially explain why Warner Bros., producers of Force of Arms, purchased the rights to the 1932 film). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Holden, Nancy Olson, (more)
Fuzz treads the line between raucous comedy and gut-churning melodrama. Based on an "87th Precinct" novel by Ed McBain (aka Evan Hunter), the film stars Burt Reynolds and Jack Weston as, respectively, detectives Steve Carella and Meyer Meyer. Their current assignment is to bring in Deaf Man (Yul Brynner), a mad bomber who has been targeting politicians. A subplot concerning a couple of punks who get their kicks by setting fire to sleeping winos is dramatically justified by the main storyline, but it was this element that caused a lot of trouble for the producers of Fuzz when a pair of real-life teenagers decided to imitate the film. On a lighter note, Raquel Welch co-stars as Detective Eileen McHenry, who is obliged to go undercover -- and under covers -- with fellow officer Bert Kling (Tom Skerritt). And as a bonus, viewers are treated to Burt Reynolds' first "drag" scene. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Reynolds, Jack Weston, (more)
Juvenile delinquency is the subject of the misleadingly titled Universal-International potboiler Girls in the Night. Patricia Hardy plays Hannah Haynes, the sister of good-boy-gone-bad Chuck Haynes (Harvey Lembeck). When Chuck ends up facing a murder charge, Hannah takes decisive action. She goes after crime boss Irv Kelleher (Don Gordon), risking life and limb in the process. Top-billed Joyce Holden plays Hannah's best friend, who helps cook up a scheme to entrap Kelleher. Glenda Farrell delivers the film's best performance as Chuck and Hannah's careworn mother. Ironically, Girls in the Night co-star Harvey Lembeck would go on to play one of the most lovable "j.d."s in screen history: Eric Von Zipper in the "Beach Party" series of the 1960s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joyce Holden, Glenda Farrell, (more)
Impressed by the success of Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Paramount Pictures ordered the studio's resident animation producer Max Fleischer to come up with a feature-length cartoon of his own. Utilizing an expanded staff and new production facilities in Miami, Florida, Fleischer and his brother Dave Fleischer spent six months mulling over story properties before deciding upon Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels; 20 months later, the film was completed and ready for release. Only the first part of Swift's novel, taking place in the miniature lands of Lilliput and Blefuscu, was used in the film, while the original plot, a satire of warfare stemming from an argument over which end of an egg to crack, was jettisoned entirely in favor of a sappy love story with slapstick overtones. Shipwrecked by a storm at sea, normal-sized Lemuel Gulliver washes up on the shore of Lilliput, where the citizens are no larger than Gulliver's thumb. Discovered by excitable town crier Gabby, Gulliver is roped to the ground by the Lilliputians, only to escape with ease upon waking up. While longing to head homeward to England, Gulliver becomes involved in a feud between Lilliput's King Little and Blefuscu's King Bombo. On the eve of the wedding between Little's son Prince David and Bombo's daughter Princess Glory, the two monarchs have a falling out over which national anthem will be played at the ceremony. After a seemingly endless series of misunderstandings and intrigues-many of them perpetrated by Bombo's comic-opera spies Sneak, Snoop and Snitch-Gulliver solves everyone's problems by suggesting that both anthems be played together, resulting in what was supposed to have been the film's hit song "Faithful Forever". Lacking the emotional "pull" of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs--not to mention the excellence of Disney's animation--Gulliver's Travels must rely upon the slapstick antics of Gabby, the three spies, and carrier pigeon Twinkletoes to keep the audience awake (all of these characters would be spun off into cartoon series of their own). The songs, like the film itself, are nothing special, though Paramount managed to get a lot of mileage out of "All's Well" and "It's a Hap-Hap-Happy Day". Singers Sam Parker, Lanny Ross and Jessica Dragonette are heard as Gulliver, David and Glory, while such Fleischer "regulars" as Jack Mercer and Pinto Colvig play the comic roles. Its many flaws aside, Gulliver's Travels was reasonably successful at the box office, though one wonders if it wouldn't have been an even bigger hit had the Fleischers followed through with their original plan to cast Popeye the Sailor in the role of Gulliver. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Comprised of eight unrelated episodes of inconsistent quality, this anthology piece of American propaganda features some of MGM Studios' best directors, screenwriters and actors; it is narrated by Louis Calhern. Stories are framed by the lecture of a university professor. In one tale a Boston resident becomes angry when the census forgets to record her presence. Another sketch chronicles the achievements of African Americans while still another pays tongue-in-cheek tribute to Texas. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ethel Barrymore, Gary Cooper, (more)
Through an incredible series of circumstances, the Bowery Boys sign up for a hitch in the Navy. While clumsily going about the shipboard duties, Slip (Leo Gorcey), Sach (Huntz Hall) and the rest of the gang search high and low for a couple of crooks disguised in sailor suits who've stolen a large sum of money intended for charity. They don't find the bad guys right away, but dimwitted Sach manages to replace the money through a lucky gambling streak. Finally collaring the villains, the Bowery Boys head to Navy headquarters for a reward--only to end up accidentally signing for another hitch at sea. Silly though it sounds, Let's Go Navy is one of the most believable Bowery Boys comedies, as well as one of the funniest. Contributing to the general hilarity is prune-faced Allen Jenkins as the Boys' chief petty officer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, (more)
Two years after the release of Gulliver's Travels, the Fleischer brothers produced Hoppity Goes to Town, their second feature-length cartoon. The film is based in Bugtown, an insect community, and the insects that populate the picture are a sort of melting pot of the bug world. There is Hoppity the grasshopper, who is the dreamer of the bunch; Mr. Bumble the bee, who operates the honey shop, and his daughter Honey Bee, who loves Hoppity; C. Bagley Beetle, the ruthless businessman who plots against his own community for his personal greed; Smack the mosquito and Swat the fly, Mr. Beetle's comic-relief henchmen; and little Buzz, a young bee and a member of the Bee Scouts. The insects live in their isolated world, forever in dread of the increasing encroachment of the humans, but their world is shattered when their protective fence is knocked down and the humans begin making more and more excursions into their area and destroying their homes. Mr. Beetle sees this as his opportunity. He lives in what he believes to be a safe zone and wants Honey for his wife, so he continually pressures Mr. Bumble to let him marry Honey in exchange for moving Bumble into the safer area. But Hoppity has his own plans. Convinced that there are greener pastures elsewhere, he embarks on a journey with Bumble to the big house on the hill, the home of a struggling young songwriter named Dick Dickens and his wife, Mary. Hoppity and Bumble decide that the Dickens' garden is an insect utopia, and try to convince their community to abandon their homes and start fresh. Ultimately, Hoppity and Mr. Beetle must battle not only for control of Bugtown, but also for Honey's heart, and there are some songs by Hoagy Carmichael and Frank Loesser along the way. Hoppity Goes to Town was originally released under the title Mr. Bug Goes to Town. ~ Bob Mastrangelo, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gwen Williams, Jack Mercer, (more)
In a story of one woman's revenge against a gang of brutal rapists, Carla Harris (Deborah Tranelli) makes Rambo look like the Easter Bunny. After her husband is killed when he comes to the aid of a woman under assault, Carla leaves New York City and goes to stay with her parents in California. A group of local men badger her for dates; when she puts them off with increasingly sharp comments, they plot an attack against her. Waiting until she is alone at home one night, the men subject her to gang rape and kill both her parents (and a repairman) when they return home unexpectedly. Carla then begins a series of bloody, revenge-motivated killings that eventually take her back to New York City for the final round of bullets. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Deborah Tranelli, Kaz Garas, (more)
After the film-noir melodramatics of Lady in the Lake and Ride the Pink Horse, actor/director Robert Montgomery turned to comedy in Once More, My Darling. Montgomery plays a former movie idol hired by the government to woo a young heiress (Ann Blyth). Someone had previously given the girl some jewelry stolen by the Nazis during the war, and the government wants to find out who that someone was. In the grand tradition, Montgomery pursues Blyth until she finally catches him. Produced by longtime Alfred Hitchcock associate Joan Harrison, Once More, My Darling is more conservatively directed than Montgomery's earlier works, though the director earns at least one laugh by playing a clever editing joke. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Montgomery, Ann Blyth, (more)
Out of the Blue captures the turbulence of youth culture of the early '80s by presenting a three-person nuclear family that is about to implode. In a prologue, Don Barnes (Dennis Hopper), a school bus driver, is drunkenly distracted one day behind the wheel, resulting in a horrible accident. He comes home from a stint in prison to find his wife, Kathy (Sharon Farrell), hooked on drugs and his now-teenaged daughter, Cindy (Linda Manz), sullen and remote. Don's old buddies are a fun-loving bunch who work only to afford to get high and party, and he seems to be falling back into his old ways instead of getting straight and pulling his family out of their funk. The story focuses on Cindy's alienation from both her parents and most of her classmates. She's influenced by the energy and anger of punk music and considers her parents pathetic relics of the '60s counterculture. Hopper reportedly took over direction of the film after co-producer/co-writer Leonard Yakir departed the production. It was Hopper's first job behind the camera since The Last Movie, his legendary flop follow-up to Easy Rider. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Linda Manz, Sharon Farrell, (more)
Revolt at Fort Laramie offers the old one about sworn enemies uniting to defeat an even more awesome foe. In this instance. The time is the Civil War: the place is a western cavalry outpost, where Union and Confederate sympathizers are forced to share close quarters. Not surprisingly, tensions erupt in a hurry, despite the honorable intentions of commander (and stalwart Southerner) John Dehner. But when indian chief Eddie Little lays siege upon Fort Laramie, Yanks and Rebels fight side by side. Harry Dean Stanton, then billed simply as Dean Stanton, makes his screen debut as "Rusty". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Dehner, Gregg Palmer, (more)
The saga of the Hatfield-and-McCoy feud is romanticized in Samuel Goldwyn's Roseanna McCoy. Newcomer Joan Evans stars as the title character, whose elopement with Johnse Hatfield (Farley Granger) serves to further fuel the flames of the deadly mountain feud. The opposing patriarches, Devil Anse Hatfield and Old Randall McCoy, are vividly realized by Charles Bickford and Raymond Massey. In West Virginia and Kentucky, the debate still rages over what started the hostilities, but there's no question that the end result was tragedy for all concerned. In Goldwyn's version, the feud comes to a halt because Roseanna and Johnse demand it; would that real life were this simple and clear-cut. Based on a novel by Alberta Hannum, Roseanna McCoy was released through the distribution channels of RKO Radio. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Farley Granger, Joan Evans, (more)


















