John Llewellyn Moxey Movies
Billed simply as John Moxey when he broke into TV directing at the BBC in the 1950s, Moxey gravitated to horror films and mysteries in his theatrical-film work, including several installments in the Merton Park/Edgar Wallace series. Working primarily in America since the early 1970s, where he assumed the triple-barreled cognomen of John Llewellyn Moxey, the director has kept busy with above-average TV movies, including the pilots for such series as Charlie's Angels (1976) and Blacke's Magic (1986). The most famous of all John Llewellyn Moxey projects was the ratings-busting 1971 horror classic The Night Stalker. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1991
This is one of several seventh-season Murder She Wrote episodes introduced by Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) but starring Dennis Stanton (Keith Michell), a jewel thief turned insurance investigator. On this occasion, Stanton is probing into the curious case of a neurotic ventriloquist named Woody Perkins (Grant Shaud) and Woody's prize dummy Billy Boy. Not longer after Woody reports that Billy Boy has been "kidnapped", the dummy turns up in a locked room--along with the corpse of Katie Kelly (Georgia Brown), a nasty comedy-club owner with whom Woody had previously had a violent argument. Stanton tries to unravel the attendant mystery with the help and hindrance of Rhoda Markowitz (Hallie Todd) and Lt. Perry Catalano (Ken Swofford). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1990
Jessica (Angela Lansbury) heads to California, there to link up with her niece Victoria (Genie Francis), now employed as a real estate broker. Showing up at a dilapidated mansion to close a deal with the house's owner, Victoria finds that the owner is in no mood to bargain--mainly because he's dead. Inevitably, Victoria is held on suspicion, obliging Jessica to get her niece off the hook once again. Dean Butler (Little House on the Prairie) takes over from Jeff Conaway in the role of Victoria's husband Howard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1990
Diana Canova guests as Maggie McCauley, former student of Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) and now the producer of a TV police show. Shortly after a heated argument between Maggie and the network programmer who is planning to cancel the series, the programmer turns up murdered. With herself under suspicion, Maggie draws upon the deductive skills gleaned from her mentor Jessica to find the real killer. Actor-turned-network executive Dwayne Hickman is quite cleverly cast in this episode!. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1989
Up for re-election as mayor of Cabot Cove, Sam Booth (Richard Paul) figures that his staunch anti-development platform will enable him to easily defeat his pro-development opponent. Unfortunately, Sam's campaign is seriously compromised when a strange woman shows up in town and accuses the confirmed-bachelor mayor of being the father of her five children! While Sam tangles with this embarrassing turn of events, Jessica (Angela Lansbury) temporarily takes his place as the mayoral candidate--just in time to solve yet another murder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1989
In an episode clearly inspired by Peyton Place, a former student of Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) scandalizes the town of Cabot Cove when she publishes a thinly-disguised "roman a clef" titled "The Sins of Castle Cove." The locals aren't too happy that their personalities and peccadilloes have been woven into the plotline of the book--and at least one person is willing to commit murder to suppress the novel's publication. Can it be that Jessica will find a clue to the killer within the pages of the book in question? Julie Adams, Gloria DeHaven, Kathryn Grayson and Ruth Roman return as Cabot Cove's four most garrulous gossips. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1989
Jessica's nephew Grady Fletcher (Michael Horton) and his fiancée Donna Mayberry (Debbie Zipp) have decided to get married in the home of Donna's parents (Eugene Roche, Gale Storm). With Jessica (Angela Lansbury) on the guest list, can murder be far behind? Not likely: This time the victim is Mr. and Mrs. Mayberry's fanatically fastidious housekeeper, who is "done in" with her own meat thermometer! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1988
Cabot Cove's sheriff Amos Tupper (Tom Bosley) certainly has his hands full when his sister Winnie (Anne Meara) shows up on his doorstep, announcing that she has walked out on her husband. Before long, Amos is besieged by Winnie's ill-tempered Kentucky in-laws, who don't cotton to such matters as divorce. Things get worse when a bowl of home-made chowder intended for Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) is laced with poison--and Winnie's former husband dies as a result! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1988
Soap opera queen Susan Lucci stars as an orphan adopted by a mobster family who grows up to be a star attorney, but still dreams of getting revenge on the killers who murdered her parents. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1988
Outback Bound is a made-for-TV film tailored to the talents of Donna Mills. She plays a pampered Beverly Hills resident whose cash flow bottoms out. Learning that her late father owned an opal mine in Australia, Mills packs what's left of her things and heads for the Outback. The mine is virtually tapped out, but that won't stop our dauntless Mills. Filmed on location in late 1987, Outback Bound made the syndication and cable rounds in the US in 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
Matt Salinger suffers a double blow when his wife is murdered and his baby disappears. All evidence points to the grim possibility that the child has also met with foul play. With the help of reporter Lisa Eilbacher, Salinger unearths a horrible family secret that may hold the key to the mystery-and learns the truth about his baby. Cunningly written with a surfeit of nightmarish setpieces by Gordon Cotler, the made-for-TV Deadly Deception costars Bonnie Bartlett and Mildred Natwick as two human cogs in a wheel of lies. The film was first telecast March 8, 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
When people begin to be murdered around them, two disparate voyeurs in apartment high-rises begin to suspect they are the objects of interest for yet another peeping tom. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- 1987
A terminally ill nun apparently commits suicide--which of course is a mortal sin in the eyes of the Catholic church. In order to prove that the nun did not die by her own hand, the dead woman's Mother Superior (Jane Powell) prevails upon her old friend Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) to follow the trail of clues--one of which reveals some disturbingly sordid details. This episode is distinguished a particularly stellar cast of veteran actors, including Audrey Totter in her last role before retirement. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
Sadie (Debbie Reynolds) is a salty, streetwise New York cop, forced into early retirement. Her son (Brian McNamara) is a rookie police officer. Carl Kleinschmidt's script contrives to have Sadie and Son become partners: she performs a heroic deed while in "civvies," and is restored to the force. The rest of the film concerns itself with the younger cop's paranoia over living up to his mom's reputation, with time left over for a couple of romantic subplots. Filmed in Toronto and first telecast October 21, 1987, Sadie and Son represented Debbie Reynolds' first foray into the TV-movie field. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
No sooner has Jessica (Angela Lansbury) shipped her latest book to the publisher than someone plagiarizes its plotline for an episode of a TV crime series. Arriving in Hollywood to track down the culprit, Jessica crosses the path of an unscrupulous producer who specializes in stealing other people's ideas. Naturally, such a fellow would have accumulated an inordinately large list of enemies--one of whom manages to kill the producer with a live bomb during a staged special-effects sequence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1986
Somewhere in the Deep South, young singer Matt Burns (Brian L. Green) has been arrested for the murder of local bully Ed Bonner (Jeffrey Osterhage), son of the town's most influential citizen (Stuart Whitman). Innocent bystanders to this developing drama are Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) and her friend and fellow writer Ames Caulfield (Craig Stevens), one of whose former students happened to be Matt's mother. At the request of Matt's girl friend (and the dead man's sister) Linda (Cindy Fisher), Jessica does her best to prove Matt's innocence--while an angry lynch mob begins to swarm around the town jail. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1986
Magnum is hired by one Dan Wolf (Morgan Stevens) to locate Dan's missing father, a disreputable character named Theo Wolf (Clu Gulager). Only when it is too late does Magnum discover that "Dan" is actually a professional hit man, hired to murder Wolf before he can testifying in a mob trial. Before the episode runs its course, Magnum is himself shot and seriously wounded--and while hovering between life and death, the detective experiences some truly weird visions, notably his friend Rick (Larry Manetti) in Humphrey Bogart guise! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1986
Mildred Natwick plays wealthy widow Carrie McKittrick, who happens to have been the former English teacher of Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury). Much to the dismay of her family, Carrie has decided to bequeath her fortune to flamboyant evangelist Reverend Willie-John Fargo (Steve Forrest). Not long afterward, Carrie dies of cyanide poisoning, in a hospital owned by Reverend Fargo. It looks like murder, and it looks like Fargo is the guilty party--to everyone but Jessica, that is. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1986
Jessica's niece Victoria (Genie Francis) and the girl's husband Howard (Jeff Conaway), previously introduced in the first-season episode "Birds of a Feather", make return appearances here--and, as before, the couple promptly embroils Jessica (Angela Lansbury) in a murder case. This time, the victim was Victoria's advertising-executive boss, a notorious womanizer. Victoria falls under suspicion when it turns out that her late boss had intended to "lend" her to his newest client, the hedonistic owner of a questionable fast-food chain. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1986
John Hillerman once again essays a dual role, appearing in his usual guise as Jonathan Higgins, and as Jonathan's half-brother Don Luis Mongueo. Heir to the throne of Costa De Rosa, Don Luis may very well be in on a plot to assassinate the country's president Manuel Ibanez (Cesare Danova), who happens to be paying a visit to Robin's Nest just as Higgins is stage-managing an important chess tournament. Magnum (Tom Selleck) races against time to find out if Don Luis is truly the villain of the piece, or if some unknown party is the real culprit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1986
The TV detective series Blacke's Magic starred Hal Linden as dapper professional magician Alexander Blacke, and Harry Morgan as Alexander's con-man father Leonard. Together, Blacke and Blacke solved mysteries with the help of Alexander's prestidigatory skills and Leonard's flim-flammery. In the series' two hour pilot, the Blackes attend a magician's convention, where an old friend of Alexander's is murdered. All the magic tricks performed on the episode were real, requiring Hal Linden to acquire a few conjuring skills post-haste. The Blacke's Magic pilot aired on Sunday, January 5, 1986; the series itself premiered the following Wednesday. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
Angela Lansbury plays a dual role in this episode, as Maine-based mystery writer Jessica Fletcher and as Jessica's flamboyant cousin, British music-hall headliner Emma MacGill. Arriving in London to attend Emma's funeral, Jessica is surprised to learn that her cousin is still alive. Having survived one murder attempt, Emma has decided to "play dead" until she can find out why someone wants to kill her--allowing Jessica to join in on the sleuthing, of course. The highlight of this episode is Emma's performance of the sentimental ditty "Goodbye, Little Yellow Bird"--which Angela Lansbury had previously sung to great acclaim in the 1945 theatrical feature The Picture of Dorian Gray. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
Magnum (Tom Selleck) is contacted by legendary French detective Jean Claude Fornier (Paul Verdier), whose exploits have served as inspiration for several of Robin Masters' novels. M. Fornier needs Magnum's help to locate a missing heir, or so he claims. The two detectives' investigation ultimately leads to a drug-trafficking ring--and, possibly, to an early grave for Assistant DA Carol Baldwin (Kathleen Lloyd), who idolizes Fornier. The episode's high point is Tom Selleck's ear-shattering rendition of "Misty" in a karaoke bar! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
The scene is the West Barrington Institute for Women, where warden Elizabeth Gates (Vera Miles) invites Jessica (Angela Lansbury) to lecture on creative writing. Of course, wherever Jessica goes, murder follows, and this time the victim is the prison's doctor Irene Matthews (Janet McLachlan). Believing that an innocent woman has been accused of the crime, the inmates stage a riot, taking several hostages--including Jessica--in the process. In order to save Warden Gates from being killed in the mistaken belief that she is the "real" culprit, Jessica races against time to solve the murder herself. This is the only Murder She Wrote episode to boast an all-female cast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
Mrs. Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) goes to Washington, where she has been tapped to serve out the term of a recently deceased Congressman. Before long, however, Jessica is up to her eyebrows in political intrigue, one-upsmanship, backstabbing and blackmail. Inevitably, a murder occurs--the victim is a Congressional secretary who "knows too much"--and Jessica, caught in the middle as usual, helpfully offers her services to truculent D.C. police detective Mendelsohn (Herschel Bernardi). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
In this taut drama, a young woman has a series of terrifying nightmares about being stalked by a mysterious killer. Unfortunately, her worst nightmare becomes reality. Fortunately, the rest of her dream, where she is rescued by a stranger, also comes true. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
