Quincy Jones Movies
Born in Chicago, African-American composer/musician Quincy Jones grew up in Seattle. An alumnus of both the Berklee School and Boston's Schillinger school of music, the 17-year-old Jones became a trumpeter/arranger for Dizzy Gillespie, then toured with Lionel Hampton before organizing his own band. From the late '50s through 1968, Jones held down executive posts at Barclay Records of Paris and Mercury Records of Hollywood. The first of Jones' jazz-dominated movie scores was for 1965's The Pawnbroker; subsequent film assignments included In Cold Blood (1967), In the Heat of the Night (1967), The Wiz (1978) and The Color Purple (1984), which he co-produced. Equally active on the small screen, Jones composed theme and incidental music for the TV series I Spy and Ironside, and in 1978 won an Emmy for his work on the monumental miniseries Roots. A pioneer in the realm of music video, Jones produced and arranged the blockbuster Michael Jackson video Thriller, which earned him one of his two dozen-plus Grammies. Jones also organized and produced the all-star benefit video We Are the World, assembling a fantastic aggregation of top recording talent with the admonition "Check your vanity at the door." In 1990, Jones was the subject of the documentary film Listen Up. Quincy Jones was honored with the Jean Hersholt humanitarian award at the 1995 Academy Awards celebration. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Critically acclaimed Rod Steiger plays Sol Nazerman, a Jewish pawnbroker who survived imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp, even though his wife and family did not. The devastating experience and unrelenting memories inhibit Sol from emotional involvement with life. He has no faith in religion and less in mankind. Though he carries on an affair with a woman who was also a victim of the Nazi camps, it is without emotion and Sol grows increasingly bitter and callous, withdrawing still further from the world around him. As his small shop in Harlem is run with little care or attention, it becomes a convenient cover for a local racketeer. Finally, a caring social worker tries to appeal to his humanity, but Sol's emotional wounds may prove to be too great to overcome. Based on a book by Edward Lewis Wallant, The Pawnbroker features the skilled camera work of Boris Kaufman, who had previously worked with director Sidney Lumet on films such as 12 Angry Men (1957) and Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962). The score is composed by Quincy Jones, who would contribute to Lumet's 1978 musical, The Wiz. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rod Steiger, Geraldine Fitzgerald, (more)
- 1965
Sidney Pollack marked his feature film directing debut with this taut suspense drama, based upon an actual incident reported in Time Magazine. Sidney Poitier stars as Alan Nuell, a student volunteer at a medical clinic in Seattle who answers the phone to find Inge Dyson (Anne Bancroft) on the other end. Inge, depressed about her life, has just taken an overdose of sleeping pills. With Inge slowly dying, Alan tries to keep her talking on the phone while the police try to trace the call and save her life. Inge tells Alan that she has decided to end it all because her husband has discovered that he is not the father of her son. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney Poitier, Anne Bancroft, (more)
- 1965
After this show originally aired in 1965 on a closed-circuit TV transmission under the title The Frank Sinatra Spectacular, an edited version was screened during 1997 in the NYC/L.A. theaters of the Museum of Television & Radio as The Rat Pack Captured: The Only Television Performance. The 90-minute version telecast on Nick at Nite's TV Land in 1998 was part of The Museum of Television & Radio Showcase series. The show is the only known concert recording of the Rat Pack, capturing the on-stage antics and raucous camaraderie that Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Dean Martin made famous at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas during the five years following their appearance together in the Vegas casino caper comedy Ocean's 11 (1960). On June 20, 1965, Frank Sinatra organized a "summit meeting" of the Rat Pack in St. Louis as a benefit for Dismas House of St. Louis, the first halfway house for ex-convicts. Staged at St. Louis' Kiel Opera House, the evening was televised via closed-circuit to select locations, where ticket buyers watched the live performance on screen. Martin, Davis, and Sinatra each take turns in the spotlight for a selection of songs. After Davis goes galvanic with his drums and vocal on "I've Got You Under My Skin," he ring-a-dings comedic chimes with ten impressions during "One for My Baby." With Quincy Jones leading the Count Basie Orchestra, the Sinatra standards include "Luck Be a Lady," "You Make Me Feel So Young," and "Get Me to the Church on Time." Sinatra is hip, compelling, and very relaxed -- despite heckling from the wings by Davis and Martin during one Sinatra number. For the finale, the trio was joined by a somewhat stiff and uncomfortable looking Johnny Carson (substituting for the Rat Pack's Joey Bishop, ailing with a bad back). At that time, Carson had been the Tonight Show host for less than three years. Sharing the stage for 15 minutes, the four unleashed gags, comedy antics, and impressions -- closing with "Birth of the Blues." This program was discovered by producer Paul Brownstein who saw a St. Louis clip of Sinatra and Davis (donated from Sinatra family archives) while watching the CBS Sinatra birthday special (Sinatra at 50). Brownstein saw two TV cameras at the edge of the stage, which led him to believe the entire performance had been televised and recorded. After extensive research, he eventually located a copy of the show sitting in a closet of a secretary's office at Dismas House, where it had been since 1965. The Rat Pack Captured was presented as part of the MT&R and Nick at Nite's ongoing "Lost" program campaign, a collaborative effort to locate programs for which no tapes are known to exist. In the spring of 1996, the two organizations launched a campaign to heighten awareness of the need to preserve television programming. In 1997, the MT&R's president Robert M. Batscha commented, "The Rat Pack helped define the swinging Sixties, and the Museum is thrilled that this singular television performance of this talented trio will now, through the generosity of Dismas House of St. Louis, become part of our permanent collection." The permanent collection of the Museum of Television & Radio now includes over 75,000 radio/TV shows and commercials. The original uncut 1965 show, available for viewing by the public on MT&R consoles in LA and NYC, also includes performances by Count Basie, the Step Brothers, Kaye Stevens, and Trini Lopez, and the MT&R collection has both versions. The broadcast TV debut on TV Land (Monday, April 20, 1998) indicated yet another title in ads (Frank Dean & Sammy in Concert!). With no set schedule, The Museum of Television & Radio Showcase TV series has also included Peter Falk's Emmy-winning performance in The Price of Tomatoes (1962), previously lost works of James Dean, and the award-winning documentary Primary (1960). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, (more)
- 1966
A dazed man, David Stillwell (Gregory Peck), wanders down the stairs of a New York skyscraper during a power blackout, only vaguely aware of who he is, where he's been, and why he has this nagging feeling that danger lurks all about him. Stillwell does know that many of the people in the building are acquainted with him -- and that he is somehow linked with the death of wealthy philanthropist Charles Calvin (Walter Abel), who has fallen 27 floors to his death (a special effect that was remarkable for its time). From this point onward, everyone Stillwell meets is connected with Calvin's death, or is in some way threatening Stillwell's well-being. When he seeks the help of Dr. Pepper-imbibing private eye Ted Caselle (Walter Matthau), he is told that "you don't want to remember" -- shortly before Caselle is murdered by persons unknown. Only the enigmatic Sheila (Diane Baker) evinces any real sympathy, and she too is part of the conspiracy aimed at silencing and/or neutralizing the dumbfounded Stillwell. Mirage has far too many twists of plot to go into here, but if you stay with it, everything is satisfactorily explained. Less than three years after its initial release, the black-and-white Mirage was remade in color as Jigsaw. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gregory Peck, Diane Baker, (more)
Cary Grant made his last film appearance before retiring from the screen in this agreeable piece of fluff based on the 1943 comedy The More the Merrier, which dealt with the romantic complications inherent in the housing shortage in Washington D.C. during World War II. In Walk, Don't Run, the story is updated to a housing shortage in Tokyo during the Olympic Games of 1964. British industrialist Sir William Rutland (Cary Grant) arrives in Tokyo two days before the start of the games and cannot find any suitable accommodations. As a result, he answers an ad for an "apartment to share" and convinces the occupant, Christine Easton (Samantha Eggar), to rent a room to him. The next day he meets the handsome Steve Davis (Jim Hutton), a member of the United States Olympic walking team. Steve also needs a room and convinces Christine to take him on as a second tenant. After meeting Christine's pompous fiancé, Julius D. Haversack (John Standing), Rutland begins to ply his matchmaking skills in an effort to get Christine and Steve to fall in love with each other. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cary Grant, Samantha Eggar, (more)
- 1967
An exclusive LA country club provides the setting for this sudsy melodrama that centers on a handsome assistant golf pro and the women that love him. One woman is particularly desperate to have him. It also follows the efforts of a conniving former-caddy to take the assistant's job. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Wagner, Anjanette Comer, (more)
Richard Brooks wrote and directed this stark black-and-white (with brilliantly evocative cinematography by Conrad Hall) study of two drifters who murder a family, based on Truman Capote's non-fiction novel In Cold Blood. The film takes place in Holcomb, Kansas, where four members of the Herbert Clutter family are roused from their sleep and brutally murdered. The killers, Perry Smith (Robert Blake) and Dick Hickock (Scott Wilson), are two ex-cons who plan to rob the Clutters of $10,000 kept in a safe in their home. But Dick and Perry find no safe and no $10,000 and end up leaving the murder scene with only $43. The police, led by Alvin Dewey (John Forsythe) of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, try to track down the killers. Meanwhile, Dick and Perry take off to Mexico, where Perry has fantasies of prospecting for gold. But when his dreams of prospecting come to naught, Dick insists that they return to the United States. Confident that they have left no clues, they cash bad checks, and the police track them down in Las Vegas. During questioning, their alibis are broken when they are separated and tell conflicting stories. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Blake, Scott Wilson, (more)
It was a decided advantage for Ironside that the two-hour TV movie which launched the series in March of 1967 was so popular. This enabled the series to begin its first season without resorting to long-winded explanations as to how Robert Ironside (Raymond Burr), chief of detectives for the San Francisco Police Department, had been crippled by a sniper's bullet and forced to retire as a regular member of the force. There was also no need to inform the viewers that Ironside had set up shop as combination special consultant and private eye in his combination office-apartment, assisted by police sergeant Ed Brown (Don Galloway), former delinquent (and now Ironside's bodyguard) Mark Sanger (Don Mitchell), and debutante-turned-policewoman Eve Whitfield (Barbara Anderson). Given the era in which the series debuted, it's no wonder that many of the first-season episodes deal with the hippie movement, black activism, drug addiction, the sexual revolution and the national trauma of Vietnam, along with the usual quota of master criminals and serial killers. And though there is a "good old boy" atmosphere in the proceeding, with most of the stories focusing on the male members of Ironside's team, Eve Whitfield is allowed to take center stage in a story wherein the ex-socialite is forced to kill in the line of duty for the first time. Guest stars in the series' inaugural season include a pre-Hawaii 5-0 Jack Lord in the episode "Dead Man's Tale", Quincy Jones (who of course composed the series' theme music) in "Eat Drink and Be Buried", future Brady Bunch paterfamilias Robert Reed in "End of the Journey", ubiquitous action figure David Carradine in "Due Process of Law", and a pair of promising youngsters named Harrison Ford and Susan St. James. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1967
In this 2-hour "NBC World Premiere" pilot film for the TV series Ironside, we learn how San Francisco chief-of-detectives Robert Ironside (Raymond Burr) came to be confined to a wheelchair. Felled by a sniper's bullet, Ironside is retained by the force as a special officer for the Frisco police force. With the help of Sgt. Ed Brown (Don Galloway) and officer Eve Whitfield (Barbara Anderson), the irascible Ironside is assigned to find out who his assailant was. Appearing in cameo roles are Wally Cox, Lilla Skala, and an unbilled, pre-Laugh In Tiny Tim.The Ironside pilot premiered on March 28, 1967; the series itself ran from 1967 through 1975. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1967
John LeCarre's Call for the Dead was the basis for this gloomy, complex spy story. James Mason plays a British secret agent puzzled by the sudden suicide of Foreign Office higher-up Robert Flemyng. Mason had worked on Flemyng's security clearance himself, and can't fathom what personality quirk he might have missed. The agent suspects that the dead man's wife (Simone Signoret), a concentration camp survivor, may hold the answer to Flemyng's despair, but the Foreign Office wants Mason to drop the case. Mason hires retiring Inspector Harry Andrews to do some private detective work. What Mason and Andrews find out is more insidious than they've imagined; worse, Mason is saddled with a new dilemma--his wife (Harriet Andersson) has been unfaithful with a colleague (Maximillian Schell). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Mason, Simone Signoret, (more)
- 1967
Carl Reiner's semi-autobiographical novel Enter Laughing makes a largely successful transition to the screen. Reni Santoni plays the Reiner character, here named David Kolowitz. A machinist's apprentice in Depression-era New York, David dreams of becoming the new Ronald Colman. Defying the wishes of his parents (Shelley Winters, David Opatoshu), David lands a nonpaying job in a seedy theatrical production directed by broken-down ham Marlowe (Jose Ferrer). That the young aspiring actor knows nothing about his "craft" is evident the moment he speaks his first stage direction--"Enter Laughing"--as if it were a line of dialogue. Helped along by Marlowe's sex-starved daughter Angela (Elaine May), David manages to survive the rehearsal period, but his first public performance threatens to become a disaster when he can't find the entrance to the set. Still and all, David makes it through the play, cheered along by his now-supportive parents. Blessed with a marvelous supporting cast--including Jack Gilford, Don Rickles, Janet Margolin and veteran black comedian Mantan Moreland--Enter Laughing is a riot, especially for those viewers who have ever participated in amateur theatricals themselves. Only Reni Santoni fails to ring true as David Kolowitz (a role played on stage by Alan Arkin), though he has a few choice scenes, especially his impromptu performance on a subway. Watch for Rob Reiner in his film debut as a clumsy, self-conscious actor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- José Ferrer, Reni Santoni, (more)
The winner of the 1967 Oscar for Best Picture (as well as four other Oscars), In the Heat of the Night is set in a small Mississippi town where an unusual murder has been committed. Rod Steiger plays sheriff Bill Gillespie, a good lawman despite his racial prejudices. When Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier), a well-dressed northern African-American, comes to town, Gillespie instinctively puts him under arrest as a murder suspect. Tibbs reveals himself to be a Philadelphia police detective; after he and Gillespie come to a grudging understanding of one another, Tibbs offers to help in Gillespie's investigation. As the case progresses, both Gillespie and Tibbs betray a tendency to jump to culture-dictated conclusions. Still, the case is solved thanks to the informal teamwork of the two law officers. Based on the novel by John Ball, In the Heat of the Night inspired two sequels, both starring Poiter as Virgil Tibbs. In 1987, a TV series version of In the Heat of the Night appeared, with Carroll O'Connor as Gillespie and Howard Rollins as Tibbs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, (more)
- 1967
Advice columnist Francesca Kirby (Lee Grant) is being plagued by death threats and attempts on her life, prompting Francesca's old friend Ironside (Raymond Burr) to offer his protection. It turns out that there are several people in San Francisco who'd probably prefer to see Francesca dead, among them her two-timing husband Mitch (Farley Granger) and her own sister Doris (Maria Lennard). Quincy Jones, who composed the Ironside theme music, appears in a key supporting role; also, Raymond Burr's longtime stand-in Lee Miller shows up in a speaking part. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1968
Two former World War II pilots take to running an air-freight company in South Africa after the war. They get mixed up with Lee Harris (Harry Guardino), the dangerous black-market crime boss who flaunts his beautiful mistress Elana (Claudia Cardinale). Brynie (Rod Taylor) and Mike (Peter Deuel) are the former ace flyboys who get on the wrong side of Harris and his henchmen. The action starts at Al Poland's (William Marshall), a favorite watering hole where everyone has one ear on the live music as the other listens to the next sordid smuggling plan hatched by shadowy underworld types. Harris and his gun-wielding thugs mean to bring down the high-flying operation. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rod Taylor, Claudia Cardinale, (more)
Drug pushers, thrill killers, civil-rights militants, college activists, illegal abortionists, phony psychics, and good cops gone bad--these are but a few of the story elements in the second season of Ironside. Though confined to a wheelchair, former San Francisco police chief turned private detective Robert T. Ironside (Raymond Burr) continues to fight the good fight with the help of his loyal aides Ed Brown (Don Galloway), Eve Whitfield (Barbara Anderson) and Mark Sanger (Don Mitchell). Episode highlights include the two-part "Split Second to an Epitaph", in which Ironside undergoes surgery that may restore the use of his legs--unless a murderer gets to him first; and "Why the Tuesday Afternoon Bridge Club Met on Thursday", wherein the magnificent Jessie Royce Landis appears as Ironside's iron-willed Aunt Victoria. Other guest stars this season are Troy Donahue as a priest, Milton Berle as a vitriolic talk-show host, Paul Winfield as an urban activist, and Ricardo Montalban, Anne Baxter, Burgess Meredith, Broderick Crawford and the ubiquitous Vera Miles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
When it was released in 1968, For Love of Ivy was the first mainstream Hollywood film to depict a mature romantic relationship between a black man and woman. Sidney Poitier stars as Jack Parks, a trucking executive who runs an illegal travelling casino out of one of his vehicles. Abbey Lincoln co-stars as Ivy Moore, the much-valued maid of the white Austin household. To make sure that Ivy won't quit her job, Frank Austin (Carroll O'Connor) blackmails Poitier into romancing her. He eventually falls in love with Ivy for real, but not before she's discovered that he's little more than a "hired hand" in affairs of the heart. Beau Bridges costars as amiable hippie Tim Austin, the only truly likeable member of his snooty, upper-crust clan. Robert Alan Aurthur based his screenplay on an original story by star Sidney Poiter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney Poitier, Abbey Lincoln, (more)
- 1968
In this thriller, Jonathan Fields (Bradford Dillman) awakens in a strange apartment and finds a dead woman floating in the bathtub after he suffered an LSD-flashback the night before. Finding blood upon his hand, he can only wonder how he is involved in the woman's death. He hires private detective Arthur Belding (Harry Guardino) who has him take another dose of LSD in order to see if he can remember what had happened. They learn that Fields' co-worker Lew Haley (Pat Hingle) had slipped acid into his coffee as part of a blackmail conspiracy. Haley was after his girlfriend and after his job in a government think tank. They also learn that his supervisor Dr. Arkroyd (Victor Jory) had been in a relationship with the deceased woman. She too was being blackmailed by Haley, who killed her when she threatened to call the cops. Dr. Arkroyd knew about it all and did nothing. Eventually Fields and Haley fight it out. The blackmailer ends up crashing through a high-rise window and falling to the unforgiving pavement below. Hope Lang, Susan Saint James, James Doohan and Michael J. Pollard also star in this psychedelic murder mystery. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harry Guardino, Bradford Dillman, (more)
- 1968
This action drama is adapted from a TV movie, The Faceless Man. The story centers around a secret service agent who goes undercover as hitman into a counterfeit ring. Most of the story takes place at a waterfront bar. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Lord, Shirley Knight, (more)
- 1968
Director Anthony Mann's final film (Mann died during the filming, and the production was completed by the film's star, Laurence Harvey) is a kitchen-sink espionage drama with Harvey as Eberlin, a Russian spy and double-agent, homesick and pining for the Russian steppes. It is in this risky mood that Eberlin falls in love with the emaciated Caroline (Mia Farrow). Complications arise when he is directed to kill a Russian spy -- but the Russian spy happens to be himself. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laurence Harvey, Tom Courtenay, (more)
- 1968
A pair of crooks conspire to rob the ticket booth at the Los Angeles Coliseum during a Rams game. Before they can perform the heist, the two must find precisely the right henchmen to join them. Each potential gang member must undergo a rigorous test of skill. Thanks to care and precise planning, the caper comes off smoothly and afterward the gang leader (Jim Brown) hides the money in the apartment of his ex-wife (Diahann Carroll). She only agrees to keep the money on the provision that he reform so they can get back together. Unfortunately, the wife's lust-crazed landlord (James Whitmore) busts into her house the next day and tries to rape her. During the struggle he kills her and then takes the loot. Later a crooked cop (Gene Hackman) investigates. Meanwhile, when the gang members learn that the loot is missing, they suspect a double-cross and engage in a huge battle. The cop finds the money and at first keeps it for himself. The head crook eventually figures out that the cop has it and so goes to him to make a little deal. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jim Brown, Diahann Carroll, (more)
- 1969
- R
In this depressing slice of Southern decadence, Myrtle (Lynn Redgrave) is a woman of questionable virtue who marries an ailing man on a television game show. Jeb (James Coburn) hopes to sire an heir so his greedy half-brother (Robert Hooks) won't inherit the family fortune. Myrtle jumps into the beds of both Jeb and his brother Chicken in an effort to cover all the bases and get her own hands on the money. The story is taken from the Tennessee Williams play The Seven Descents Of Myrtle. The soundtrack is provided by Quincy Jones. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Coburn, Lynn Redgrave, (more)
Goldie Hawn won an Oscar for her performance as a Greenwich Village free spirit in Cactus Flower. Middle-aged dentist Winston (Walter Matthau) is enjoying an affair with Toni (Goldie Hawn) but doesn't want to be hemmed in by marriage. He prevails upon his non-glamorous assistant Stephanie (Ingrid Bergman) to pose as his wife so as to keep from campaigning for a ring. Then, to justify his "infidelity," Winston talks his pal (Jack Weston) into pretending to be Stephanie's illicit lover. Flattered by all the attention, Stephanie begins to "doll up." Confronted by a newly gorgeous Stephanie, Winston realizes that his Dream Girl has been right there in his office all along. As for Toni, she ends up in the arms of a writer (Rick Lenz), who has loved her since Reel One. Cactus Flower was adapted by Billy Wilder's frequent collaborator I.A.L. Diamond from the play by Abe Burrows -- which in turn was adapted from a French farce. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Matthau, Ingrid Bergman, (more)
- 1969
- PG
Jason Higgs (Sidney Poitier) is an angry black man who plans to rob a factory payroll. With the help of his accomplices Dennis (Al Freeman Jr.) and his white girlfriend Cathy (Joanna Shimkus), a racially motivated demonstration diverts attention from the crooks while they rob the safe. Jason is somewhat of a modern-day Robin Hood who wishes to use the money to help the children of incarcerated soul brothers. He only places his hope in the youth who have not been sullied or scalded by the hatred of racial prejudice. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- 1969
Wheelchair-bound detective Robert T. Ironside (Raymond Burr) continues to round up miscreants and champion the underdog in season three of the TV cop series bearing his name. Likewise still in harness are the members of Ironside's support team: his loyal bodyguard-aide Mark Sanger (Don Mitchell), detective sergeant Ed Brown (Don Galloway), and socialite-turned-policewoman Eve Whitfield (Barbara Anderson), not to mention the considerable input of new recurring character Lt. Carl Reese (Johnny Seven). This year's crop of episode cover everything from computer dating to gang wars to royal visits to a stolen Torah, with colorful side trips to France and Fiji for Ironside and company. As for the guest stars, the very busy Vera Miles, a former amnesia victim with whom Ironside fell in love in the earlier episode "Barbara Who", returns in the two-part "Goodbye to Yesterday", which also features the versatile Cloris Leachman. Also, Khigh Dhiegh, the sinister Wo Fat from Hawaii 5-0, essays the comparatively sympathetic role of a cagey Red Chinese diplomat in "Love My Enemy". Recent Star Trek graduates William Shatner and DeForest Kelley are seen respectively in "Little Jerry Jessup" and "Warrior's Return". Other TV-series favorites spotlighted during Season Three include Bill Bixby, Leo G. Carroll, Tina Louise, and a pre-Partridge Family David Cassidy. Ironside ended the season as the 26th most popular TV show in America, a dip from its 16th-place ranking in the previous season but a respectable showing nonetheless. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
"Consider the possibilities," read the ads for Paul Mazursky's 1969 satirical comedy about what happens when the sexual revolution hits affluent bourgeois life. After a weekend of "beautiful" emotional honesty at an Esalen-type retreat, married wannabe hipsters Bob (Robert Culp) and Carol (Natalie Wood) return to their well-heeled Los Angeles life determined to apply the principles of free love and complete openness to their marriage. To the respective curiosity and repulsion of their married best friends, Ted (Elliott Gould) and Alice (Dyan Cannon), Bob and Carol have affairs that they happily reveal to everyone. Inspired by all that openness during the quartet's trip to Vegas, Ted admits an affair of his own, provoking the outraged Alice to demand that this new ethos be taken to its obvious conclusion: a mate-sharing foursome. Once they're bedded down and ready to go, however, they start to have second thoughts. Without sacrificing authenticity for comedy, first-time director Mazursky and co-writer/producer Larry Tucker delve into the confusion of the Eisenhower generation when faced with the temptations of the counterculture. Too old to be hippies and too young to be fogies, the would-be California swingers sincerely attempt to try on the lifestyle, but it never looks quite right. A then-controversial example of the New Permissiveness both onscreen and off, Bob & Carol debuted at the New York Film Festival to great praise, particularly for Gould and Cannon. Whether they wanted to laugh at their elders' faux looseness or see what their peers might be doing, audiences turned Bob & Carol into a substantial hit, and its observations about marriage and sex remain humorously sharp even if the encounter group jargon is past its vogue. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Natalie Wood, Robert Culp, (more)
