Howie Horwitz Movies
- 1975
Baretta may have started life as a hastily-assembled, second-echelon rehash of the failed 1973 cop series Toma, but by the time the program entered its second season in the fall of 1975, it had scored a solid hit--and, in the bargain, earned an Emmy award for its star, Robert Blake. Feeling his oats, the maverick Blake began exercising more control over such matters as story selection and casting choices, and also had the last word concerning directorial decisions. In a sense, the series became an extension of the established Blake persona, and the character of Baretta morphed into the star's alter ego. The viewer learned that undercover cop Tony Baretta had grown up in a poor, dysfunctional Italian-American family, and that he had been a street punk who miraculously turned his life around and joined the forces of law and order; similarly, in real life Blake had become a child actor to support his impoverished and fractious family, and upon growing up had endured several years of personal torment thanks to bad business decisions, his volatile temper and an on- and off-drug habit before "reinventing" himself as an actor of stature and respectability. And, like Baretta, Blake angrily bristled when told to merely follow the orders of his superiors, preferring to march to the beat of his own drummer in pursuit of professional excellence. Though the production staff underwent numerous changes of personnel, Baretta's supporting cast remained substatianally the same as in Season One, with Michael D. Roberts, as flamboyant street snitch Rooster, graduating from recurring character to series regular. The one major on-screen change was the replacement of Dana Elcar as Baretta's superior officer Insp. Schiller with Edward Grover as Lt. Hal Brubaker. Comfortably settled in a Wednesday-night timeslot just before the popular ABC crime drama Starsky and Hutch, Baretta finished off the 1975-76 season with a respectable 21.3 rating, ranking 23 out of the top 25 network shows. During its second season, the series also copped another Emmy (rather belatedly) for Harry L. Wolf's cinematography in the first-season episode "Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
A Cry for Help (working title: End of the Line) stars Robert Culp as an acerbic, Don Imus-like radio talk show host. When one of his callers, an anxious young woman, threatens to kill herself, Culp laughs it off. Later, however, he realizes that the girl wasn't kidding, and mounts a frantic effort-with the help of his loyal audience-to locate the would-be suicide. Richard Levinson and William Link's script stretches the tension level to the snapping point, and you'll love every minute of it. Made for television, A Cry for Help originally aired February 12, 1975. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Martin Sheen is at his most "James Dean-ish" and Vic Morrow at his most sadistic in the made-for-TV The California Kid. Sheen plays a hot rodder whose brother dies at the hands of sheriff Morrow. It is Morrow's habit to punish speeders by deliberately running them off precipitous mountain curves. Sheen goads Morrow into a no-survivors chase up a steep mountain road--where more than a few surprises await the homicidal lawkeeper. Martin Sheen's souped-up, garishly decorated jalopy gives the best and most consistent "performance" in The California Kid. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martin Sheen, Nick Nolte, (more)
- 1973
This sci-fi film chronicles the exploits of an incredibly strong android that is totally devoid of emotion. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Overlooked when it first aired February 18, 1972, the made-for-TV Evil Roy Slade has gained a loyal and protective cult following in the past 20 years. The film was the second pilot for a never-sold TV western spoof created by Garry Marshall and Jerry Belson, Sheriff Who?. Actually, it was the second and third pilot, since Evil Roy Slade has been cobbled together from two hour-long films. John Astin is terrific in the title role, playing an outlaw so repulsive that, when he was orphaned and left stranded in the desert as a baby, even the wolves didn't want him! As an adult, Evil Roy Slade can't resist "going the extra mile" in his nastiness: while robbing a bank, he stops to pilfer a fountain pen chained to one of the desks, and the next shot shows Slade riding off into the sunset, dragging the desk behind him. Attempting to reform for the sake of pretty schoolmarm Betsy Potter (Pamela Austin), Slade simply cannot curb his crooked tendencies, so it's up to Dick Shawn as singing Sheriff Bing Bell ("Will somebody please answer that door?") to bring the criminal to justice. Shawn previously appeared in the original 1967 Sheriff Who? pilot as the "fastest interior decorator in the West"; in both films, he's almost unbearably funny. The Marshall/Belson script is full of hilarious running gags and throwaway jokes. Our favorite bit concerns railroad magnate Mickey Rooney's legendary stubby index finger: "They still sing about it around campfires at night," claims Rooney--and indeed, they do. The supporting cast includes such never-fail laughgetters as Milton Berle, Henry Gibson, Dom DeLuise and Edie Adams; also, keep a lookout for John Ritter and Penny Marshall in unbilled bits. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
Although the departure of James Garner seemed to spell the doom of the long-running satirical western series Maverick at the end of its fourth season, ABC renewed the property for a fifth and final season in the fall of 1961, albeit shunted away to a less-than-desirable late Sunday afternoon timeslot. Jack Kelly soldiered on alone as frontier gambler Bart Maverick, who though he lacked Garner's deft comic touch could still be counted on to deliver the goods in the fast-action department. Only thirteen new episodes were filmed for the series' climactic season, beginning with "Dade City Dodge" and ending with "One of Our Trains is Missing"; the remainder of the season was filled out with reruns from the James Garner era. Although for the most part the final thirteen were but pale shadows of what Maverick had been in its glory days, the series managed to yield one last classic: "Three Queens Full", a riotous spoof of rival western Bonanza, with Jim Backus as millionaire rancher Jim Wheelwright, presiding not only over his vast "Subrosa" spread but also over his three rambunctious sons Henry, Moose and Small Paul! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Kelly
- 1960
The popular tongue-in-cheek western series Maverick entered its fourth season one "Maverick" shy. James Garner, who'd risen to stardom in the role of self-protective frontier gambler Bret Maverick, had long been complaining about the relative pittance he was being paid for his efforts by home studio Warner Bros.. The proverbial back-breaking straw came in early 1960,when the studio suspended Garner without pay, claiming that a Hollywood writers' strike had prevented Warners from turning out any new Maverick scripts--though curiously, Garner's costar Jack Kelly remained on the payroll. Bound by his contract to remain on the series despite this cavalier treatment, Garner sued Warners for breach of contract, finally winning his case when it was proven that the studio had actually built up a healthy reserve of scripts during the strike (some of which were retreads of earlier scripts, pseudonymously created to one "W. Hermanos"!) The upshot of all this backstage intrigue was that Maverick began its fourth season with Jack Kelly as the sole star, playing his familiar role of Bart Maverick. During Garner's absence, the studio attempted to create a new star in the person of future "James Bond" Roger Moore, who is introduced in the season opener "A Bundle from Britain". Moore plays Bret and Bart's English cousin Beau Maverick, who is the "White Sheep" of the family because he was actually decorated for heroics in the Civil War! While Moore played his part admirably, he was no James Garner, and was quietly written out of the show in mid-season. And when it was clear that Garner was never coming back, Warners' brought in a hitherto unknown third Maverick brother, Brent Maverick, played by Robert Colbert. Introduced in the episode "The Forbidden City", Brent survived only three more episodes before he, too, was axed. All of this cast-shuffling had a deleterious effect on the series' ratings, which for the first time in two years dropped completely out of the Top Thirty. Even so, Maverick's fourth season still yielded quite a few golden moments, notably the episode "Hadley's Hunters", which contrives to include cameo appearances by virtually the entire Warners TV-western lineup: Clint Walker (Cheyenne), Will Hutchins (Sugarfoot), Ty Hardin (Bronco), and John Russell and Peter Brown (Lawman)--not to mention Edd Byrnes, then playing the comb-wielding "Kookie" on the studio's non-western series 77 Sunset Strip. Also making guest appearances this season are a pre-Beverly Hillbillies Max Baer Jr. in the aforementioned "A Bundle of Britain"; another Beverly Hillbillies stalwart, Buddy Ebsen, atypically cast as a cold-blooded murderer in "Last Stop: Oblivion"; future Addams Family patriarch John Astin in "The Town That Wasn't There"' and Alan Hale Jr., aka "The Skipper" of Gilligan's Island fame, in "Arizona Black Maria". Season Four of Maverick concludes with the series' only two-part episode, "The Devil's Necklace." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Kelly, Roger Moore, (more)
- 1959
One of the most delightful running gags on the tongue-in-cheek western series Maverick was the tendency of frontier gambler Bret Maverick (James Garner) to constantly quote the pearls of wisdom passed down by his dear old Pappy. Generally, these "Pappyisms" came to surface whenever Bret wanted to convince his more adventuresome brother Bart (Jack Kelly) that discretion was the better part of valor--meaning, "Let's hightail it out of town before somebody fills us full of holes!" Inevitably, the elder Maverick would have to make an appearance on his sons' TV series. Thus, the third season of Maverick opens with the appropriately yclept episode "Pappy", with a heavily made up James Garner playing the title role. Evidently to keep peace in the family, costar Jack Kelly was likewise allowed to appear in old-man makeup at the end of this series--one of several vain efforts by the producers to give equal time to both Garner and Kelly, even though Garner was clearly the more popular of the two actors. As in past seasons, Maverick underlined its satirical approach to the western genre by serving up the occasional parody. "Maverick and Juliet", for example, is nothing more nor less than Shakespeare in the Sagebrush, relating the saga of the feud between the Montgomerys and the Cartarets. Even better is the episode "A Cure for Johnny Rain", a dead-on spoof of Dragnet, replete with deadpan offscreen narration ("This is the West. I work here. My name's Maverick.") Also as before, the third season of Maverick is studded with famous or soon-to-be famous names in the supporting casts. Both Troy Donahue and Adam West show up in the aforementioned "Pappy"; Buddy Ebsen of Beverly Hillibillies fame can be seen in "The Cats of Paradise"; a very young Joel Grey is cast as, of all things, Billy the Kid in "Full House"; and yes, that's Robert Redford as a bashful cowpoke in "Devil's Rain." Inasmuch as Maverick ended its third season as the 19th highest-rated show in America, there was no reason that the show shouldn't run forever. Well, actually, there was a reason--and without going into any further detail at this point, it can be noted that the season's final episode, "Greenbacks, Unlimited", also marked the last series appearance by James Garner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Garner, Jack Kelly, (more)
- 1958
George Nader plays a reporter whose career is ruined by liquor. A comeback opportunity presents itself when Nader is a bystander at the arrest of a well-known criminal. The reporter knows that the crook, who has been accused of an ambush murder, is innocent, and he sets about to collar the real killer. Nader goes "cold turkey" on the booze despite tempations at every turn, and gets his man. Appointment with a Shadow is one of a handful of films directed by onetime I Led 3 Lives star Richard Carlson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Nader, Joanna Moore, (more)
- 1958
In this curious blend of Western and detective melodrama, Jock Mahoney plays a frontier gumshoe named Hogan. When an old prospector is murdered, Hogan takes on the assignment of finding the four heirs to the prospector's fortune. Briefly sidetracked by a romance with Mary Kingman (played by Kim Hunter in a rare Western appearance), Hogan not only finds the heirs but also the killers -- and in at least one case, heir and killer are one and the same. Money, Women and Guns was produced by Howie Horwitz, who, like screenwriter Montgomery Pittman, would go on to even bigger things in the TV industry. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jock Mahoney, Kim Hunter, (more)
- 1958
Season Two of the tongue-in-cheek western Maverick marks the introduction of the series' jaunty theme song ("Who is the tall dark stranger there?/Maverick is his name. . .") written by David Buttolph. It is also the season in which all pretentions of presenting a "straight" western were dropped, and the emphasize was on comedy and satire, thanks largely to the input of series stars James Garner as frontier gambler Bart Maverick. Though the writers made a brave effort to afford equal time to Garner's costar Jack Kelly as Bret's brother Bart Maverick, it was clear who the viewers had picked as their favorite (no slight to the talented Kelly, who held his own admirably in the handful of "serious" stories offered this season). That Maverick was essentially a spoof of the whole TV western genre is never more clear than in its first "parody" episode, Season Three's Gunshy, a hilarious takeoff of Gunsmoke featuring Ben Gage as the usurious Marshal Mort Dooley (the "Kitty" counterpart in this episode does nothing but stand by bravely and warn "Be careful, Mort!") Later this season, Richard Brinsley Sheridan's 18th century drawing room comedy The Rivals is reconfigured as a western tale, with Roger Moore in the renamed "Anthony Absolute" role; two years later, Moore would join the regular Maverick cast as Bret and Bart's English cousin Beau Maverick. Among the other notables making guest appearances during Season Three are Richard Long, introducing the recurring character of genteel con artist Gentleman Jack Darby in "Alias Bret Maverick"; future Oscar winners Martin Landau in "High Card Hangs" and Louise Fletcher in "Two Tickets to Ten Strike" (which also features early appearances by Connie Stevens and Adam West; Dan Blocker of Bonanza fame in "The Jail at Junction Flats"; The Wild Wild West's Robert Conrad in "Yellow River"; and, best of all, Clint Eastwood as a thickheaded gunslinger in "Duel at Sundown". Despite the stiff competion of CBS's The Ed Sullivan Show and NBC's The Steve Allen Show, Maverick managed to close out its second season as America's sixth highest-rated program--and also garnered (no pun intended) an Emmy nomination for star James Garner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Garner, Jack Kelly, (more)
- 1957
The first six episodes seen during the inaugural season of Maverick features James Garner alone as travelling frontier gambler Bret Maverick, who hasn't quite developed into the delightfully duplicitious and self-protective character he was to become. In Episode Seven, Jack Kelly joins the cast as Bret's brother Bart Maverick, also a gambler. At this point, the contrast between the flippant Bret and the sobersided Bart was played for all it was worth, with Bret handling the more lighthearted episodes and Bart headlining those episodes in which action and adventure carried the day. By mid-season, the series' writers are capitalizing on Garner's deft comic touch, including such stage directions in their scripts as "Bret narrows his beady little eyes" and emphasizing the more "cowardly" aspects of his character, such as trying to make a quick exit from town whenever challenged to a gunfight--or even closing his eyes in agony while branding a calf! Many observers trace the series tongue-in-cheek ambience to its third episode, "According to Hoyle", which introduces Diane Brewster in the recurring role of glamorous con artist Samantha Crawford--a marked contrast to the simpering ingenues who usually showed up in TV westerns, and a worthy adversary (and sometimes lover) for the cagey Bret Maverick. Also introduced during Season One is another of the Maverick brothers' recurring nemeses, the larcenous Dandy Jim Buckley, played con brio by a pre-77 Sunset Strip Efrem Zimbalist Jr.; Dandy Jim makes his inaugural appearance in the episode "Stampede". Other noteworthy first-season Maverick guest stars include future Mannix leading man Mike Connors in "Point Blank" and "The Naked Gallows"; Werner Klemperer, aka Hogan's Heroes' Colonel Klink, in "Comstock Conspiracy", Edd Byrnes, not yet 77 Sunset Strip's inimitable "Kookie", in "Ghost Rider" and "Stage West"; and the versatile Hans Conried, rather surprisingly playing it straight (that is, avoiding his usual Shakespearean flamboyance) in "Black Fire". Although Maverick did not crack the "top thirty" television shows during its first season, its loyal fan base was rapidly accumulating thanks to word of mouth. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Garner, Jack Kelly, (more)
- 1957
This parody of Hollywood westerns centers on a boorish hellion of a cowboy star who makes life for the studio people around him a waking nightmare. His press agent is particularly beleaguered as she has been assigned to try to keep the errant star in line. She really has her work cut out for her when a little boy wins a national contest and gets to spend a month in the cowboy's home. Now the agent must conceal her difficult charge's true nature from the innocent boy. Fortunately, the lad has a good effect on the star and helps him settle down and become a decent fellow. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jock Mahoney, Julie Adams, (more)
