Norbert Meisel Movies
- 1997
Stage director Anthony Caldarella made his film directorial debut with this drama demonstrating the horror of heroin-addiction impacting on an Italian-American family. During the early '50s, the Casale clan leaves Sicily, arriving at NYC's Lower East Side. It's a time when young Joey Casale (Freddy Capra) is impressed by the magic tricks of older brother Jack (Marco Leonardi). By 1963, however, Jack is deep into drugs, and his heroin habit causes grief for his mother Rose (Karen Colonna Kondazian) and his three straight-arrow brothers: Joey is an industrious student, Vincent (Michael Cavalieri) is a blues musician, while Sal (Peter Alla) manages a successful local trattoria. All make efforts to steer Jack in the right direction, but Jack's self-destructive downward descent seems unstoppable. Shown at the 1997 Hamptons Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marco Leonardi, Freddy Capra, (more)
- 1989
- R
In this violent L.A.-set police drama, a hard-boiled cop and a parole officer work together to bring a vicious gang leader to justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
In this action-crime drama, Jason Walk, an L.A. cab driver, suffers a luckless life. He not only has marital woes at home, he is unable to collect the money from the people he runs numbers for. One day the luck changes when the gun-toting Christine enters his hack. She is out to get revenge upon the man who murdered her husband and son, but the cab driver doesn't know this as he takes her to her fateful appointment with the killer. Soon he finds himself hopelessly entangled in the mess and is pursued by both the police and crooks. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Forster, Joe Spinell, (more)
- 1973
In this TV creation, a couple can't conceive (the husband is impotent) and they hire a stud man to solve their problem. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1967
Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) has long suspected that a Communist spy ring that had operated in Germany during WW2 is still alive and well and "living" in Washington. Now a murder has been committed, and Erskine is certain that he's on the right trail. The problem is that the ringleaders may be safely ensconced within the borders of "diplomatic immunity." The supporting cast includes actor-director Alf Kjellin (then being kept busy on such action series as I Spy) and veteran villain Martin Kosleck, who during the 1940s was Hollywood's foremost impersonator of Nazi chieftan Joseph Goebbels. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1967
Once more penetrating the Iron Curtain, the IMF agents attempt to rescue rocket scientist Helmut Cherlotov (Joseph Campanella), who has developed a high-tech antiballistic missle system. Unfortunately, Cherlotov, who was supposed to have defected to the West along with his wife Karen (Mala Powers), has had a change of heart, and doesn't want to leave. It is up to Rollin, posing as an East German official, to convince Cherlotov to join Karen in the U.S. Originally telecast January 14, 1967, "The Reluctant Dragon" was written by Chester Krumholz. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steven Hill, Barbara Bain, (more)
- 1966
Kirby (Jack Hogan) begins to question his priorities when he risks life and limb to make certain that a deadbeat soldier pays off a poker debt of several hundred dollars. The situation worsens when it becomes obvious that Kirby's debtor is willing to let his "buddies" die so that he can stay alive. Featured in the cast is future M*A*S*H star Mike Farrell, presciently cast as an Army doctor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1966
Never a good aviator in the best of times, Lt. Hanley (Rick Jason) doesn't look forward to going on an aerial reconnaissance mission. Things don't get much better for Hanley when he climbs into the rickety, jerry-built monoplane piloted by flamboyant flyboy Tim Brannigan (Keenan Wynn). Making no secret of his contempt for mere "foot soldiers", Brannigan is less than thrilled when his plane is grounded in enemy territory with no radio, forcing him to put his life in Hanley's hands--and feet. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1965
Oscar-winning Viennese actress Luise Rainer makes her first Hollywood appearance since the 1943 theatrical film Hostages in this episode, in which she is cast as French countess Loraine De Roy. Wounded in combat, Lt. Hanley (Rick Jason) is forced to take refuge in the servant's quarters of the Countess' chateau, where a reception is taking place. Hanley's presence places Loraine in a most precarious position: at the moment, she and her husband (played by silent-film favorite Ramon Novarro) are playing host to several high-ranking German officers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
