James Hong Movies

As is customary, Sally Struthers cries buckets in My Husband is Missing (one gets the feeling that she cries buckets at card tricks). Struthers plays the wife of an MIA who is permitted to visit North Vietnam in search of her husband. She meets Canadian journalist Tony Musante, who's anxious to get her story. Struthers and Musante team up to thrash through the jungle wilds of California--er, Southeast Asia--eventually falling in love. Purportedly a "relevant" TV movie, My Husband is Missing shamelessly exploits Vietnam as a mere melodramatic backdrop. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this made-for-television drama, a doctor feverishly works to save a city from a potentially devastating epidemic. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

After writing, directing, and starring in The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother, Gene Wilder added the producer's hat to his three-headed beast in The World's Greatest Lover. Wilder plays Rudy Valentine, a Milwaukee baker who enters a talent search in the Hollywood of the 1920s, initiated by movie studio mogul Zitz (Dom DeLuise), to find a new Rudolph Valentino. He travels to Hollywood with his wife Annie (Carol Kane) in hopes of taking a screen test, but Annie falls in love with the real Valentino. Jealous of the Latin Lover, Rudy disguises himself as a sheik in an attempt to look like Valentino. Rudy then invites Annie to a rendezvous at the studio, where he tries to seduce his own wife. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

The two-part opener of Streets of San Francisco's fifth and final season marks a major transition, as SFPD homicide detective Mike Stone (Karl Malden) loses his longtime partner Steve Keller (Michael Douglas) and gains a new one, athletic young inspector Dan Robbins (Richard Hatch). But before Keller can leave the force to launch a teaching career, he and Stone are faced with the daunting task of rescuing a busload of jurors who have been kidnapped by a "family" of dangerously misguided revolutionaries, who demand the release of their imprisoned cohorts. This two-parter is clearly inspired by the Patty Hearst kidnapping, with former Partridge Family regular Susan Dey delivering a shockingly powerful performance. As a publicity ploy, the season opener features fourteen guest stars, including Marion Ross (then appearing regularly on Happy Days, Barry Sullivan, Dick Van Patten, Norman Fell and Doris Roberts--not to mention such stars-to-be as Anthony Geary and Ron Glass. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Edith is happy with her volunteer job at the Sunshine Nursing Home -- too happy, as far as Archie is concerned. Feeling neglected, Archie pulls out the old "woman's place is in the home" routine and demands that Edith give up her job. This time, however, Edith refuses to say "How high?" when Archie tells her to jump. James Hong appears as the waiter. Written by Lou Derman and Bill Davenport, "Edith Breaks Out" originally aired on November 3, 1975. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

"You may think you know what you're dealing with, but believe me, you don't," warns water baron Noah Cross (John Huston), when smooth cop-turned-private eye J.J. "Jake" Gittes (Jack Nicholson) starts nosing around Cross's water diversion scheme. That proves to be the ominous lesson of Chinatown, Roman Polanski's critically lauded 1974 revision of 1940s film noir detective movies. In 1930s Los Angeles, "matrimonial work" specialist Gittes is hired by Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway) to tail her husband, Water Department engineer Hollis Mulwray (Darrell Zwerling). Gittes photographs him in the company of a young blonde and figures the case is closed, only to discover that the real Mrs. Mulwray had nothing to do with hiring Gittes in the first place. When Hollis turns up dead, Gittes decides to investigate further, encountering a shady old-age home, corrupt bureaucrats, angry orange farmers, and a nostril-slicing thug (Polanski) along the way. By the time he confronts Cross, Evelyn's father and Mulwray's former business partner, Jake thinks he knows everything, but an even more sordid truth awaits him. When circumstances force Jake to return to his old beat in Chinatown, he realizes just how impotent he is against the wealthy, depraved Cross. "Forget it, Jake," his old partner tells him. "It's Chinatown." Reworking the somber underpinnings of detective noir along more pessimistic lines, Polanski and screenwriter Robert Towne convey a '70s-inflected critique of capitalist and bureaucratic malevolence in a carefully detailed period piece harkening back to the genre's roots in the 1930s and '40s. Gittes always has a smart comeback like Humphrey Bogart's Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe, but the corruption Gittes finds is too deep for one man to stop. Other noir revisions, such as Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye (1973) and Arthur Penn's Night Moves (1975), also centered on the detective's inefficacy in an uncertain '70s world, but Chinatown's period sheen renders this dilemma at once contemporary and timeless, pointing to larger implications about the effects of corporate rapaciousness on individuals. Polanski and Towne clashed over Chinatown's ending; Polanski won the fight, but Towne won the Oscar for Best Screenplay. Chinatown was nominated for ten other Oscars, including Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Cinematography, Art Direction, Costumes, and Score. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis is the subject of this made-for-TV effort. Starring William Devane as President John Kennedy, the movie explores the events of the 13-day period when the world stood on the brink of nuclear war. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi

All the experts have declared that it is impossible to rob a safety-deposit vault surrounded by a sophisticated, high-tech alarm system--but that's just what happens. Clearly the heist was the work of a well-trained team, and the cops are able to arrest one of the suspects almost immediately. Chief Ironside (Raymond Burr), however, is certain that the man in custody is innocent...and meanwhile, the actual master thief is working on a plan to seal Ironside's doom! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Under the influence of sodium pentathol (the result of a visit to the dentist), Howard exhibits are heretofore unsuspected poetic side to his personality. Captivated by the "new" Howard, Carol instantly falls in love with him. Though Bob is convinced that this romance is a mistake, Emily tries to smooth Carol and Howard's path to true happiness, but as it turns out, Bob was right all along. Pat Morita appears as a bartender in a Chinese restaurant. Written by Charlotte Brown, "Bob and Emily and Howard and Carol and Jerry" originally aired on December 9, 1972. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Blake Edwards directed this murder mystery set against the backdrop of a busy metropolitan hospital. Dr. Peter Carey (James Coburn) is a pathologist who has signed on to work with Dr. J.D. Randall (Dan O'Herlihy) at a prominent hospital in Boston. When Randall's daughter Karen (Melissa Torme-March) dies after a botched abortion, another member of the hospital staff, David Tao (James Hong), is charged with her murder. Carey is convinced that Tao is innocent and sets out to prove his point. He also finds time for romance with beautiful Bostonian Georgia Hightower (Jennifer O'Neill). The Carey Treatment features Pat Hingle as police detective Peterson; Michael Crichton contributed to the screenplay. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A Tattered Web starts out at a high level of tension which seldom flags during its lean 74 minutes. Lloyd Bridges stars as a police detective who finds out that his son-in-law Frank Converse is cheating on his daughter Sallie Shockley. Catching up with the "other woman," Bridges accidentally kills her. After his initial panic has subsided, the detective rearranges the evidence, pinning the murder on a harmless drunk. Avoiding two-dimensionality, A Tattered Web is told largely from the murderer's point of view; we don't like the man, but we can understand him. Made for television, the film first aired September 24, 1971. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Written by Harold Livingston, "The Merchant" guest-stars George Sanders in one of his final acting roles, as illegal arms dealer Armand Andressarian. To prevent Andressarian from completing an arrangement to sale guns to unfriendly guerilla groups in Africa and the middle East, the IMF swings into action. The success of the mission hinges largely on a fixed poker game, a past speciality of IMF agent Barney Collier. Leonard Nimoy and Lesley Ann Warren make their final series appearances. "The Merchant" originally aired on March 13, 1971, as the last episode of Mission:Impossible's fifth season. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi