Jo Pagano Movies

Ross (David Schwimmer) chooses to be the only one who doesn't know the gender of his unborn baby. After Paolo (Cosimo Fusco) gets fresh with Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow), Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) dumps him -- and Monica (Courteney Cox) gives him a sort of present. As for Chandler (Matthew Perry) and Joey (Matt LeBlanc), weren't they supposed to buy a kitchen table instead of what they ended up bringing home? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Ponderosa is thrown into a tizzy when Kentucky woman Annie Slocum (Majel Barrett) shows up, claiming that Hoss Cartwright asked her to be his bride. In short order, two other women named Yvette (Danielle Aubry and Libby (Mitzi Hoag) also arrive, making the same claim! It is all the handiwork of a crafty widower named Jester (Stu Erwin), who hopes to secure a bride for himself and a stepmom for his daughter Jenny (Sharyl Locke) by signing Hoss' name to innumerable mail-order applications. This comic episode was written by Jo Pagano. "Three Brides for Hoss" was originally seen on February 20, 1966. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A group of flamboyant Italian acrobats pay a visit to the Ponderosa. Despite his long friendship with Guido Borelli (Cesar Romero), leader of the acrobats, Ben Cartwright is disturbed over Borelli's exhibitions of jealousy whenever his sweetheart Pitina (Ilze Taurins) shows interest in another man-such as Ben's son Joe. When Borelli's younger rival Carlo (Fabrizio Mioni) is stabbed, Guido tries to frame Joe for the act. Lily Valenty rounds out the guest cast as Donna Luisa. Written by Jo Pagano, "The Deadliest Game" was originally shown on February 21, 1965. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

"The Wild One" is ornery Lafe Jessup (Aldo Ray), a pugnacious horse wrangler who'd sooner pick a fight than eat or sleep. While trying to pummel Hoss Cartwright, Lafe is interrupted by Prudence (Kathryn Hays), the Quaker wife whom he'd deserted a few months back. Prudence announces that Lafe is about to become a father-but in his typical bullheaded fashion, he wants nothing to do with either his wife or his unborn child. First telecast October 4, 1964, "The Wild One" was written by Jo Pagano. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The fifteenth of Columbia's "Jungle Jim" series, Jungle Moon Men stars Johnny Weissmuller, here playing "himself" rather than Jungle Jim. Jean Byron, who'd previously appeared opposite Weissmuller in Voodoo Tiger, is here cast as Egyptologist Ellen Mackey. Johnny escorts Ellen on an expedition deep into pygmy country, where both are captured by "moon men" that is, pygmies who worship the moon. The ruler of the region is blonde priestess Oma (Helen Sutton), a minor league She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed who has discovered the secret of eternal life. It is inevitable, then, that Oma will shrivel up and turn to dust as Johnny and Ellen make their equally inevitable escape. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Craig Stevens offers a seminal version of his "Peter Gunn" TV characterization in Allied Artists' Murder Without Tears. Stevens plays homicide detective Steve O'Malley, who doesn't buy Warren Richards' (Eddie Norris) alibi that he killed Mrs. Norris while suffering an alcoholic blackout. If Richards is able to persuade the jury that he wasn't responsible for his actions, he'll get off, and under the "double jeopardy" law will not be forced to stand trial again. O'Malley intends to see that Richards is duly punished -- even if he has to take matters in his own hands. Joyce Holden co-stars as the woman torn between her love for O'Malley and her obligation to Richards. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Future "Superman" George Reeves and former "Dick Tracy" Ralph Byrd co-star in Thunder in the Pines. The stars play a pair of eternally bickering loggers in Tall Timber country. Both vie for the attentions of Gallic charmer Yvette (Denise Darcel), who promises to wed the logger who cuts down the most trees (this is not a pro-eco piece!) All sorts of adventures ensue before the two loggers swear off "dames" forever -- or at least for the next few minutes. Filmed in "Glowing Sepiatone," Thunder in the Pines benefits from the well-focused location photography by Carl Berger. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Stagecoach driver Bishop needs to capture the infamous bandit known as "The Monk" for his hooded attire. If Bishop can't bring the outlaw to justice, a crime will rest on his name. ~ All Movie Guide

Vicki Baum, the author of the novel Grand Hotel, also wrote this similarly structured tale about a group of disparate characters brought together in a towering hotel in Germany as the nation teeters on the verge of collapse near the end of World War II. Martin Richter (Helmut Dantine), a member of Germany's anti-Nazi underground, has escaped from a prison camp and is now on the run from the Gestapo; he's hiding out at the Hotel Berlin, once a palace of luxury but now a shadow of it's former glory. Martin used to work with Johannes Koenig (Peter Lorre), once a renowned scientist before he was forced to use his gifts for his Nazi captors; he now lives under an assumed name and scrapes by as a waiter rather than support the Axis war machine. Arnim Von Dahnwitz (Raymond Massey) is a disgraced Nazi general on the outs with Gestapo leader Joachim Helm (George Coulouris), who has a lot on his mind -- he's looking for Martin, he's riding herd over Arnim, and he has designs on Arnim's mistress, Lisa Dorn (Andrea King). Lisa, a stage actress of some success, is one of the few at the hotel who is able to live in some semblance of the glamour of Berlin's glory days; her wardrobe makes her the envy of Tillie Weiller (Faye Emerson), the hotel's concierge who pretends to be everyone's friend but is actually keeping tabs on the anti-Nazi activities of her tenants and is preparing to turn them in to the Gestapo. Hotel Berlin was completed in great haste, since midway through production it became obvious that Berlin would soon fall and the war in Europe would be over. Warner Bros. was so eager to get the film into theaters -- before the war's end would make the film seem dated -- that Hotel Berlin went through the studio's editing department in less than a week. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A superior Hopalong Cassidy Western, The Leather Burners benefits from a good script by Joe Pagano. In trouble with a gang of cattle rustlers who have murdered his neighbor, former Bar 20 ranch hand Johnny Travers (Jay Kirby) sends for old friends Hopalong Cassidy (William Boyd) and California Carlson (Andy Clyde). Hopalong Cassidy immediately suspects mine company president Dan Slack (Victor Jory) to be behind the rustlings and decides to go undercover. As it turns out, the Slack mine is not what it appears to be and there is a traitor among the ranchers. But who? With the assistance of Sharon Longstreet (Shelley Spencer) and her young brother Bobby (Bobby Larson), who have discovered Hopalong Cassidy's real mission, the secret of the mine is revealed and peace is restored to the area. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Filmed on a budget of $77,000, Rookie Cop was another attempt by RKO Radio to transform canine star Ace the Wonder Dog into the new Rin-Tin-Tin. The title character is young Clem (Tim Holt), who tries to convince his superiors to utilize police dogs as a crime-solving device. Thrown off the force because of dereliction of duty (he had a good reason, of course) Clem redeems himself by rounding up a gang of hijackers-with the help of wonder dog Ace, of course. In the microscopic role of the police chief's daughter, Janet Shaw has practically nothing to do but get kidnapped in the last reel-in fact, she has less screen time than juvenile actress Virginia Weidler, who steals the film as Clem's precocious kid sister. In one of the film's more amusing moments, a fistfight takes place outside a movie theater decorated with a poster for Pacific Liner (1938)-likewise an RKO film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This RKO Radio "expose" film is loosely based on the career of evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, who'd previously gotten the a clef treatment in Capra's The Miracle Woman (1931). Sally Eilers stars as ex-nightclub singer Connie Vinson, an enthusiastic but hypocritical Bible-thumper who turns her ministry into a profit-making business enterprise. Unlike McPherson, who ran her operation with a reasonable degree of honesty, Connie stages a series of phony miracles to separate her wealthier followers from their family jewels. The fact that she has retained a few gangster pals from the old days places Connie under the scrutiny of bunco-squad detective Cramer (Jonathan Hale). Our heroine ultimately mends her ways when she actually heals a crippled client, whereupon she works hand in glove with the cops to get the goods on her crooked cronies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide