Ceil Cabot Movies
- 1985
When Cabot Cove resident Beverly Garrett is electrocuted in her own bathtub in a locked bathroom, Sheriff Amos Tupper (Tom Bosley) is willing to write the tragedy off as an accident; Tupper, you see, is thinking about retirement, and has already hand-picked his successor. But Jessica (Angela Lansbury) can't shake the belief that Beverly was murdered, prompting the long-suffering Tupper to dare Jessica to prove it! Adding to the intrigue is a controversial land sale, a vicious poison-pen campaign that has spread throughout town, and Jessica's mounting frustration over playing hostess to a visiting travel writer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This routine film catalogues what happens to a teen's life when he is wrenched from an easy existence in affluent, East Coast suburbia and dropped into the lean, mean streets of a downscale L.A. suburb. James Spader is Morgan Hiller, displaced with his parents and brother when his father loses some of the wealth to which they were accustomed and the family moves to California. Morgan soon attracts Frankie (Kim Richards), the girlfriend of Nick (Paul Mones), a high school tough who does not appreciate Frankie's change of heart. The antagonism between Morgan and Frankie mounts as they both approach a high-noon showdown. Aside from some musical numbers which seem to have wandered in from another film about teen singers and dancers, the story is compelling and the film is notable for one of the early performances of Robert Downey in a subsidiary role. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Spader, Kim Richards, (more)
- 1982
In the conclusion of a two-part story, guest star Joel Grey has agreed to headline the musical play starring Alice (Linda Lavin) and bankrolled by Mel (Vic Tayback). But Grey ankles the project when Mel transforms the show from a sophisiticated Manhattan revue to a desert "folk opera", repleted with a line of cowboy-clad chorines and such deathless tunes as "Ramona from Arizona" (this is Alice's big solo, much to her dismay). As indicated by the episode's title, Joel Grey WILL save the day...but not until the very, very last minute! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In the fourth installment of the "Herbie" series of Volkswagen Bug fantasies, the magical car has lost a lot of its sheen as it is retreaded into a journey through Central America. D.J. (Charles Martin Smith) and Pete (Stephan W. Burns) want to enter their supernatural car in a special, high-stakes race in Brazil. And so they set off driving with that goal in mind. Along the way the car ends up in a bullring playing the role of matador, the best of several incongruous adventures. Most audiences will still favor The Love Bug, the 1969 hit that spawned this third sequel. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cloris Leachman, Charles Martin Smith, (more)
Maxwell Smart, the infamous Agent 86 from the '60s television sitcom Get Smart makes his feature-film debut in this goofy espionage spoof. This time, Smart and his cohorts must stop enemy spies from detonating a bomb that would destroy all the world's clothing. On television, the film was renamed The Return of Maxwell Smart. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Adams, Sylvia Kristel, (more)
One of the bigger non-cartoon moneymakers for Disney in the 1970s, The North Avenue Irregulars is predicated on the premise of the "Neighborhood Watch" system. Priest Michael Hill (Edward Herrmann), newly arrived on North Avenue, decides to buck the patriarchal notions of his superiors by delegating church responsibilities to the neighborhood women. Since the ladies include Vickie, Jane, Anne, Claire and Rose (Barbara Harris, Karen Valentine, Susan Clark, Cloris Leachman and Patsy Kelly), we're well primed for a surfeit of feistiness. Father Michael entrusts the church funds to Rose, who loses it all at the race track. In trying to retrieve the cash, he comes up against an influential bookie ring, controlled by several of the above-suspicion town officials. The wily priest responds by organizing the ladies of his congregation into the North Avenue Irregulars, a two-fisted crimefighting unit. There's slapstick aplenty within the film's 99 minutes, including the expected comic car crash. North Avenue Irregulars is based on a (drawn-from-life?) novel by the Reverend Albert Fay Hill. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward Herrmann, Barbara Harris, (more)
Prolific television director Gary Nelson made the Walt Disney live-action comedy Freaky Friday, based on the novel by Mary Rodgers. Barbara Harris stars as suburban housewife Ellen Andrews, the wife of Bill (John Astin) and the mother of Annabel (Jodie Foster) and Ben (Sparky Marcus). Ellen just can't understand what's going on with teenaged Annabel, who hangs around the house making snappy remarks, eating ice cream for breakfast, and calling her brother Apeface. They each make a separate wish to be in the other's place, and they get their wish on Friday 13th. Ellen has to go through the day as a kid, playing on the field hockey team and dealing with typing class. Annabel has to deal with grown-up problems like getting appliances fixed and preparing a banquet. The whole silly story ends with a wacky car-chase/water skiing/hang-gliding conclusion in keeping with other Disney movies of the day. Freaky Friday was remade twice with the same title, and spawned a whole subgenre of body-switching movies in the 1980s. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Harris, Jodie Foster, (more)
- 1970
Johnny Cash makes a cameo appearance in the premiere episode of The Partridge Family. Told in flashback, the episode details how an ordinary family from Ohio managed to become a popular singing group performing at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. Things begin percolating when attractive widow Shirley Partridge (Shirley Jones) discovers that her five kids--Keith (David Cassidy), Laurie (Susan Dey, Danny (Danny Bonaduce), Chris (Jeremy Gelbwaks) and Tracy (Suzanne Crough)--have organized a garage band, with neighborhood youngster Gloria Steinman (Debra Pearce) sitting in as lead vocalist and drummer. When it turns out that Gloria is unable to sing, the Partridge kids get an inspiration: "Waitaminute! Why don't we let Mom sing Gloria's part?" From here on in, all the familiar pieces fall in place, including the acquisition of a "psychedelic" school bus to transport the Partridges from one gig to another, and the entrepreneurial Danny's engagement of kid-hating Reuben Kincaid (Dave Madden) as the family band's manager. Songs in this inaugural episode include "Together", "Let the Good Times In", and the first-season theme tune "When We're Singin'" (which in time would be rewritten as the more familiar "Come On, Get Happy". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Shirley MacLaine plays Charity Hope Valentine who, despite her job at a seedy dime-a-dance joint, is an incurable optimist. Charity never stops looking for true love and never seems to look for it in the right places. We first see her in the company of Charlie (Dante DiPaolo), a slimeball who steals her purse and pushes her into the Central Park pond. Next she stumbles into a one-night stand with Vittorio Vidal (Ricardo Montalban), an egotistical movie star; this comes to nothing when Vittorio's contrite girlfriend Ursula (Barbara Bouchet) comes calling, forcing Charity to spend the night hiding in the closet. Desperate to escape the dance hall, Charity heads to an employment agency, where a bureaucratic clerk (Alan Hewitt) informs her that she has no qualifications. Unhappily, Charity heads for the elevator, where she becomes trapped with the very shy -- and very claustrophobic -- Oscar Lindquist (John McMartin). Once they've gotten out of the stalled elevator, Charity begins dating Oscar, never telling him of her checkered past or her sordid dance-hall job. Oscar eventually finds out but assures her that it doesn't matter. However, at the engagement party held at the dance hall, Oscar's puritanical streak emerges. He walks out on Charity, leaving her alone and heartbroken once more. With the help of a group of flower children (among them Bud Cort and Kristoffer Tabori), Charity is able to pick herself up and start living "Hopefully Ever After." Sweet Charity was adapted from the 1965 Broadway musical of the same name, which in turn was inspired by the 1957 Fellini flick Nights of Cabiria. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shirley MacLaine, John McMartin, (more)
- 1967
It won't be long before Opie will be attending college, and Andy wonders how he can possibly afford his son's education. To pick up some extra cash, Andy invests in a coin-operated laundromat. Before long, however, he is spending too much time running the laundry and not enough time tending to his appointed duties as Mayberry's number one lawman. Originally telecast on November 20, 1967, "Andy's Investment" was written by Michael Morris and Seaman Jacobs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Roy Fleming (Don Knotts) is signed on to the space program at NASA by his father Buck (Arthur O'Connell), a gung-ho former World War I vet who is trying to make something out of his son. Roy becomes a janitor who is afraid of heights and mistaken for an astronaut through a series of comedic mishaps. (Jesse White) plays Roy's boss Donelli, with (Leslie Nielsen) as space hero Major Gifford. Knotts uses his patented brand of nervousness to perfection in this lighthearted situation comedy. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Knotts, Leslie Nielsen, (more)
