Quincy Jones Movies

Ohio businessman Jack Lemmon is offered a golden job opportunity; all he has to do is relocate himself and wife Sandy Dennis to New York City. What follows has led some critics to complain that playwright Neil Simon has written a "hate letter" to Manhattan. Within a 36 hour period, the couple (a) loses their airplane luggage; (b) are forced to travel from Boston to New York in a greasy old train; ( c ) can't get any sort of service because virtually everyone in Fun City is on strike; (d) are mugged twice, once while they're asleep; (e) are reduced to sleeping on Central Park benches in their day clothes.....and so it goes, until the shabby, disheveled Lemmon tells his prospective bosses off, and he and his wife head back to Ohio---- almost. Punctuated by Sandy Dennis' plaintive "Oh, my Gawwwwd", The Out of Towners tightens the screws and ups the ante on the classic "comedy of errors" formula. Filmed on location, the picture features a who's who of character actors (Milt Kamen, Anne Meara, Phil Bruns, Dolph Sweet, Richard Libertini, Paul Dooley, Robert Walden, Ron Carey etc. etc. etc.) When first shown on network television, the film was shorn of its closing punchline because of an eccentric censorship rule. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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