Edward Byrnes Movies

Once again, Jessica (Angela Lansbury) joins forces with Chicago P.I. Charlie Garrett (Wayne Rogers), this time at a New York cultural museum. At first, Jessica and Charlie are on opposite sides as they bid against each other during an auction for a rare manuscript allegedly written by "Sherlock Holmes" creator Arthur Conan-Doyle. Before long, however, the two sleuths are following the clues surrounding the murder of a notorious art forger suspected of copying a stolen Degas painting. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

For their 20th anniversary, Peggy (Katey Sagal) wants just one present from Al (Ed O'Neill)--and may get what she wants when the two of them are whisked off to Florida at the behest of their kids Kelly (Christina Applegate) and Bud (David Faustino). Unfortunately, the younger Bundys have an ulterior motive: having won a "My Dinner with Anthrax" award, the kids are anxious to get rid of their parents, and to do this have enmeshed Al and Peg in a shady time-share scam. Appearing as themselves, the rock band Anthrax performs "In My World" and "Bad to the Bone". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Shelly Long stars in this comedy as a spoiled Beverly Hills wife who decides--wanting to prove her husband's accusation of her selfishness wrong--to become the leader of her daughter's wilderness group. Though taking them on outings at the mall rather than in the woods, she later must prove her worth as a legitimate troop leader. After some zany incidents, all parties learn lessons of teamwork and selflessness. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

This low-budget action film from genre specialist David A. Prior stars Lynda Aldon as Rachael McKenna, the sexy blonde leader of a group of female prisoners hired by the CIA to bring down renegade agent John Mickland (William Zipp). The film presents itself as a distaff variation on The Dirty Dozen, as tough Sgt. Roberts (cult favorite Edy Williams) trains the convicts for jungle warfare in Colombia, but it cannot come close to its model in either excitement or spectacle. Peopled with a cast of former television actors including Edd Byrnes and Gail Fisher, Mankillers is the sort of film insomniacs might choose as an alternative to medication, but it offers little chance of success. Filmmaker Lizzie Borden appears as a drug smuggler. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

In an episode clearly based on a well-documented event in the life of comedian Richard Pryor, Roger Miller guest stars as JJ Chandler, a country-western entertainer whose act is rife with "humorous" drug references. But no one is laughing when, while freebasing cocaine between shows, Chandler sets himself afire and is nearly killed. In his efforts to get past the wall of silence erected around Chandler by his friends and handlers, Quincy (Jack Klugman) tackles the greater challenge of curbing wholesale drug use in the entertainment industry--and somewhere along the line, manages to find time to propose to his sweetheart Emily (Anita Gillette). Featured in the pivotal role of Ginger Reeves is a young actress named Kelly Palzis, better known in later years as Kelly Preston. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

"Grease," said the poster and the Barry Gibb song, "is the word." Transferring its setting from Chicago to sunny California, and adding a dash of disco to the ersatz '50s score, producer Allan Carr and director Randal Kleiser turned this long-running Jim Jacobs - Warren Casey Broadway smash into the biggest blockbuster of 1978. 1950s teens Danny (John Travolta) and Australian transfer Sandy (Olivia Newton-John) spend their "Summer Nights" falling in love, but once fall comes, it's back to Rydell High and its cliques. As one of the bad boy T-Birds, Danny has to act cool for best pal Kenickie (Jeff Conaway) and their leather-clad mates Sonny (Michael Tucci) and Doody (Barry Pearl, in the role Travolta played on stage). Despite befriending Frenchy (Didi Conn), one of the rebel Pink Ladies, virginal Sandy is "too pure to be Pink," as the Ladies' leader Rizzo (Stockard Channing) acidly observes. Declaring their devotion in such ballads as "Hopelessly Devoted to You" and "Sandy," Sandy and Danny split, reconcile, and split again amidst a pep rally, dances, drive-ins, and a drag race, before deciding "You're the One That I Want" at the climactic carnival. With Travolta white-hot from Saturday Night Fever (1977), Grease soundtrack singles climbed the charts and summer movie crowds poured in. With the presence of Joan Blondell, Eve Arden, Sid Caesar, Edd "Kookie" Byrnes and Frankie Avalon appealing to grown-up memories, Grease became the highest grossing film of 1978, the highest grossing movie musical ever, and the third most popular film of the new blockbuster '70s after Star Wars (1977) and Jaws (1975). Its sequel, Grease 2, did not exactly set the world on fire in 1982. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

Where the Action Is stars Edd Byrnes as a high-stakes gambler who gets wind of a big game in a faraway resort. Once he's arrived, Byrnes discovers that the stakes are the highest ever--his own life. Swedish actress Ingrid Pitt is on hand as the enigmatic leading lady. Where the Action Is was videotaped in England and Europe with a cast of TV regulars from both sides of the Channel. This 75-minute suspenser was first telecast in the US on the ABC late-night anthology Wide World Mystery. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One Life to Life regular Denise Alexander briefly left her day job to star in the late-night videotaped spine tingler A Gift of Terror. Denise plays a woman given to strange, foreboding visions of death. As her friends begin dropping like flies, the girl realizes that the gift of prophecy is no gift at all. This point is driven home (several times, in fact) when Denise begins conjuring up premonitions of her own demise. Gift of Terror was a 1973 entry in the ABC anthology Wide World Mystery. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season Five of Adam-12 gets under way with a typical Jack Webb-style scrutinization of the community-relations activities of the LA County Police Department. While going about their goodwill rounds, Officers Jim Reed (Kent McCord) and Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) encounter some bad will from a gang of purse-snatching motorcyclists. The episode concludes with a tense cycle race between Malloy and a would-be Brando named Skinner, played by former 77 Sunset Strip costar Edd Byrnes. And yes, that is ex-"Monkee" Micky Dolenz as Skinner's toadying sidekick. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gilbert Roland and Edd "Kookie" Byrnes star in this spaghetti western. Bounty hunter George Hilton is dispatched to track down a wily criminal. Hilton decides to wait until the crook leads him to a fortune in buried gold; at that point, the so-called hero intends to stake his own claim. Naturally, not everything works out as planned. Go Kill & Come Back features a Francesco De Masi musical score. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It's music, mayhem and fun in the sun as three aspiring rockers attempt to scare up enough money to get their instruments out of hock. To do this, they pose as women, enter a contest and find themselves competing against such acts as the Righteous Brothers, the Supremes and the Four Seasons. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Career criminal Paul Perry (Edd Byrnes) has earned a measure of fame for his daring escapes from various jails and prisons. But it looks like Perry's luck has run out when he sentenced to serve a 15-year sentence in a maximum-security prison farm, where head guard Captain Tollman (Stephen McNally) is determined to keep Perry behind bars for keeps. Undaunted, Perry hatches a "foolproof" escape plan with an unlikely accomplice: an old "lifer" named Doc (Robert Keith), who works in the prison infirmary...and also prepares the coffin whenever an inmate dies. This literally claustrophobic episode was written by John Resko, a former death-row inmate who managed to parlay his last-minute reprieve into a lengthy literary career upon his release from Sing Sing in 1949. "Final Escape" was remade as an episode for the 1985 revival of Alfred Hitchcock Presents -- with actress Season Hubley in the Edd Byrnes role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide