Larry Markes Movies
- 1974
It's Christmas season, and the Evans family has opened its doors for a Yuletide visitor, teenaged cousin Naomi (Bonnie Banfield). It doesn't take long for Thelma (BernNadette Stanis) to realize that there's something very, very wrong with Naomi. Sure enough, the girl reveals herself to be a problem drinker -- and unlike many another sitcom, Good Times refuses to compromise the seriousness of the situation with a neat-and-tidy happy ending. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1970
Perhaps the silliest Bonanza episode ever filmed, "Caution, Easter Bunny Crossing" was written by Larry Markes. This is the one in which Hoss Cartwright dresses up in a huge rabbit costume to entertain a group of orphans at an Easter party. En route to the festivities, Hoss runs afoul of four dimwits from Brooklyn who hope to become wild-west outlaws. The incredible climax finds Hoss foiling the villains not with his six-guns but with an arsenal of pungent easter eggs. Marc Lawrence, Len Lesser, Vic Tayback and Art Metrano play the erstwhile outlaws, while other roles are filled by Allyn Ann McLerie and Sandy Kenyon. The familiar-sounding background music was earlier used as the theme for the classic TV puppet series Kukla, Fran and Ollie. "Caution, Easter Bunny Crossing" originally aired on March 29, 1970. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, (more)
- 1969
The mellifluous Richard Haydn is cast as Malcolm the Magificent, a seedy travelling magician. To fool the yokels, Malcolm uses his twin daughters in his act: Jan (Alyce Andrece) is sweet and demure, while Janice (Rhae Andrece) is a pool-playing hellion. A comedy of errors ensues when Joe and Hoss Cartwright fall in love with the twins, but are convinced that they're rivals for the same girl. Originally aired on February 23, 1969, "The Lady and the Mountain Lion" was written by Larry Markes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, (more)
- 1969
Tony (Larry Hagman) gives Jeannie (Barbara Eden) a working toy model of a top-secret nuclear earth station. Unaware of its importance, Jeannie subsequently gives the toy to a child, who then shows it to his father, an ambitious toy manufacturer. As a result, the "secret" is exposed via mass production and exploitation, and Tony is facing a court-martial! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1965
Actress Patrice Wymore, best known for her brief but tempestuous marriage to film star Errol Flynn, makes a rare TV appearance in this episode as legendary stage star Laura Lee. The men of F Troop are agog over O'Rourke's (Forrest Tucker) announcement that Laura Lee is going to make an appearance at Fort Courage. Only one problem: It isn't Laura who's on her way, but instead the mother (Nydia Westman) of the troop's bugler Hannibal Dobbs (James Hampton). This is one of the few episodes in which the Hekawi Indians do not appear. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1964
In this comedy, a Yankee musician is working in Paris when he encounters a movie star chasing after her naughty French poodle Monsieur Cognac. The name is most apropos for the little doggy is quite the lush when it comes to booze. This suits the hard-drinking musician just fine and the two go out on a bender. Later the star and her father find the toasted twosome. The star begins falling in love with the musician. Despite her father's objections, the two get married. Unfortunately, Mr. Cognac accompanies them on the honeymoon. He becomes quite jealous of the woman's new husband and ruins their wedding night. Because she refuses to relinquish the dog, their new marriage is nearly destroyed. They separate until the husband manages to bring home Pink Poupee, a charming female poodle. Suddenly Mr. C forgets all about his jealousy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Curtis, Christine Kaufmann, (more)
- 1963
In this romantic comedy, Deke Gentry (Kirk Douglas) is a lawyer who gets an unusual assignment from Chloe Brasher (Thelma Ritter), a wealthy widow, owner of a successful hotel chain, and one of his most prominent clients. Chloe has three daughters, sensible Kate (Mitzi Gaynor), bohemian Jan (Leslie Parrish), and heath food fanatic Bonnie (Julie Newmar), and she wants Deke to find them husbands. Though Deke protests that matchmaking is outside his traditional area of expertise, Chloe is insistent, and he ends up taking the job. To be sure that he's going through with it, Chloe assigns her security chief Joe (William Bendix) to keep his eye on Deke. Eventually, Deke fixes up Bonnie with Harvey Wofford (Richard Sargent), a meek IRS agent, and pairs Jan with artist Sam Travis (William Windom), but Kate turns out to be the hardest Brasher sister to marry off, until he throws his own hat into the ring. Richard Sargent would later shorten his first name to Dick and find success on the popular television comedy Bewitched. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kirk Douglas, Mitzi Gaynor, (more)
- 1962
Fred and Barney fall for a scam set up by con artist J. Montague Gypsum, who pretends to commit suicide so that the boys can rescue him in the nick of time. Unforutnately, once Gypsum has been "saved", he insists that Fred is obligated to care take of him indefinitely. Unable to persuade Gypsum to leave the Flintstone house--and having rejected the option of murdering the guy--Fred decides to fight fire with fire by arranging for the Gypsum to save HIS life, thus cancelling the obligation. Although he sounds a lot like Hans Conried,the voice of Gypsum is actually provided by the versatile Walter Edmiston (Land of the Lost, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters etc.) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1962
Fred umpires a PeeWee League baseball game between the Bedrock Giants and the Grittsburg Pyrites. During the game he is spotted by a big-league scout who sense professional potential in our hero. But Fred's new career may be nipped in the bud when the parents of the ballplayers (including his boss Mr. Slate) pressure him to make favorable calls whether they're deserved or not. The climactic scene includes play-by-play coverage from sportscaster Bill Stone, a spoof of legendary radio personality Bill Stern. This is the final episode of The Flintstones' second season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1962
Barney wins a houseboat on the TV game show "The Price is Priced" (a brilliant takeoff of The Price is Right, right down to the oohing-and-aahing studio audience). Because Fred bankrolled Barney's TV appearance, he figures that the houseboat is partly his. The boys are able to compromise on the boat's name ("Nautical" and "Seaworthy" are rather clumsily combined into "Nau-Sea"), but when time comes to decide whether Fred or Barney will be the captain--well, that's another story! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
Fred hopes to improve his employment opportunities by enrolling in Prinstone University. Though he must suffer the hazing process at the hands of snotty upper classmen who are decades younger than he is, Fred ultimately emerges as Big Man on Campus when he is drafted for the Varsity Football team just before the big game against Shale U. Note in this episode how Fred's boss "Mr. Slate" looks nothing like the Mr. Slate who appears in later episodes (a common Hanna-Barbera quirk, as witness the many shapes and forms of Yogi Bear's Ranger Smith!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
A pay cut at the rock quarry prompts Fred to seek out new employment. He and Barney end up as school bus drivers, hired to shepherd "fifty future presidents" from Bedrock to Redrock and back again. After a traumatic first day on the job, our heroes make several mistakes on Day Two, not least of which is delivering several kids to the wrong houses! Trivia note: most of the children are named for the kids of the Flintstones production crew. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
In this droll dual takeoff of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and the Hitchcock feature film Rear Window, Fred is unnerved by his new neighbor Alvin Brickrock, a short, squat Britisher who can be heard arguing with his harridan of a wife. Then, one night, the arguing stops suddenly--and not long afterward, Mrs. Brickrock disappears. These and several other ominous incidents lead Fred and Barney to conclude that Alvin Brickrock is actually the notorious wife slayer Albert Bonehart. The satire is played to the hilt, concluding with Mr. Brickrock bidding the audience a fond "Good ev-e-ning." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A tuneful Roy Rogers Western, Along the Navajo Trail finds Dale Evans' Lazy A Ranch under siege from nasty J. Richard Bentley (Douglas Fowley), who is in cahoots with a greedy oil company aiming to erect a pipeline through the property come what may. Drifter Rogers, who is really a U.S. Marshal in disguise, eventually gets the goods on the villains with the assistance of Nestor Paiva's band of Mexican gypsies, comedy sidekick George "Gabby" Hayes, and vivacious Estelita Rodriguez. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roy Rogers, George "Gabby" Hayes, (more)
