Aaron Rosenberg Movies

Reflections of Murder is an admitted remake of the 1955 French spinetingler Diabolique (we say "admitted" because most Diabolique rip-offs fail to credit the source). Joan Hackett is unhappily married to Sam Waterston. Tuesday Weld is Waterston's equally disenchanted mistress. Hackett and Weld conspire to murder the hateful Waterston, but he proves hard to kill. Even after he's breathed his last, Waterston steadfastly refuses to stay dead-and thus the stage is set for the twist- countertwist climax. Filmed at Puget Sound, Reflections of Murder was one of the last made-for-TV projects of director John Badham; it was first aired November 24, 1974. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ricardo Montalban is well cast as legendary Mexican bandit Joaquin Murietta in Desperate Mission. As in most previous filmed adaptations of the life of this controversial character, Murietta is depicted as a South of the Border Robin Hood, more sinned against than sinning. The storyline is open-ended enough to suggest that this made-for-TV movie was intended as the pilot for a weekly series. If this was indeed the case, the producers needn't have bothered. Lensed in 1969, Desperate Mission didn't get a TV playdate until December 3, 1971 (though it was released theatrically outside the US in 1970). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Frank Sinatra gives a gritty performance in the crime thriller The Detective. When Teddy Leikman, the homosexual son of a politically connected department-store magnate, is murdered, detective Joe Leland (Frank Sinatra) is sent in to investigate. Leland drags in Teddy's psychotic former roommate Felix Tesla (Tony Musante) and forces a confession out of him; for his work on the case Leland gets a promotion, which troubles him. Afterwards, Norma MacIver (Jacqueline Bisset), the widow of a well-heeled accountant, comes to see Leland. Her husband was killed after falling off the grandstand at a racetrack -- but Norma thinks he was pushed. She asks Leland to investigate her husband's death. Reopening the case, Leland discovers that the police are opposed to him scratching around any further, and after an attempt on his life, he uncovers some startling evidence that may connect the two deaths. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Doris Day plays a swinging, mod-attired agent of espionage (yes, that Doris Day) in this caper comedy directed by Frank Tashlin. Patricia Fowler (Day) is an industrial spy who is hired to work undercover at a cosmetics company. While posing as a low-level employee, she is to get the goods on a new formula they intend to market. However, it turns out that makeup isn't all this firm has to sell; they're also involved in an international drug-smuggling ring, and she finds herself doing battle with other agents willing to kill to ensure that the flow of narcotics is unabated. Her adventures cause her to cross paths with Christopher White (Richard Harris), a fellow agent with whom Patricia is soon romantically involved, and together the couple locate the secret lab of cosmetics tycoon and evil genius Stuart Clancy (Ray Walston). While this was a game attempt to update Day's squeaky-clean image, it was not terribly well received; one year and three films later, Day retired from movies to devote herself to television work, and quit showbiz altogether in 1973 (with the exception of a short-lived talk show that aired in 1984). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Bernhard Wicki directed this hard-hitting World War II espionage drama. Marlon Brando plays Robert Crain, a German deserter who is coerced by British Intelligence officer Colonel Statter (Trevor Howard) to impersonate a Gestapo officer in order to get aboard a German blockade runner that is conveying a valuable rubber cargo from the Orient. Crain's assignment is to save the rubber by finding a way to deactivate the explosives that the ship's captain would use to destroy the ship if captured by the enemy. Crain finds his way aboard the ship, but the ship's commander Captain Mueller (Yul Brynner), skeptical of the Nazis, refuses to let Crain out of his sight. When survivors of a sunken vessel board the ship, and Crain realizes that his identity may be exposed by two rescued German submarine officers, he incites Mueller's officers and the new arrivals to mutiny before his true identity is revealed. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Director Serge Bourguignon coadapted the screenplay for The Reward from a novel by Michael Barrett. Efrem Zimbalist Jr., usually cast on the right side of the law, is here a fugitive from American justice hiding from a murder rap in Mexico. Zimbalist and his girlfriend Yvette Mimieux try to avoid those who'd like to collect the $50,000 dead-or-alive price on his head. Police chief Gilbert Roland captures Zimbalist alive, promising to divvy up the reward with his men. But the police officers greedily turn on each other, leaving the audience to sort out for themselves just who's the real "bad guy" hereabouts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this offbeat melodrama, a crazed gardener is relegated to a mental hospital after he goes berserk and beheads his wealthy boss. The scuttlebutt in the courtroom is that the killer has stolen over a million dollars from his former employer and has hidden it on the estate. A professional actor is hired to feign insanity to get into the home, befriend the maniac, and find out where he hid the cash. Once he is admitted, the hapless actor encounters bedlam as he meets the patients, undergoes electroshock therapy, and suffers through several injections. Eventually he finds himself falling for a manic-depressive woman. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This colorful remake of the 1935 version again concerns the crew and treatment of the HMS Bounty by a cold hearted sadistic captain. Captain Bligh (Trevor Howard) boards the ship in Portsmouth, England, to embark on a mission to bring tropical breadfruit trees to Jamaica. Fletcher Christian (Marlon Brando) is the aristocratic second mate who welcomes the new captain aboard. Christian's view of the captain sours with the cruel treatment of the crew and the dangerous decision to round Cape Horn. The Bounty sails into the teeth of a ferocious winter storm which is another in a long line of indignities suffered on the journey. John Mills (Richard Harris) is punished for stealing cheese. A sailor is ordered to stay aloft in the crow's nest, nearly resulting in death. The crew finds temporary paradise in Tahiti before Bligh's behavior becomes intolerable for the once faithful Christian. The crew revolts and sends the captain on his way in a small rowboat. Settling on Pitcairn Island, the crew soon realizes they may never see England again. Mills burns the ship to insure the trip is never made. Christian attempts to save the only means of transportation of their new island home. Lewis Milestone directed the film which was plagued by constant cost overruns to the tune of 18 million dollars. Brando's legendary ego clashed with results as turbulent as the fictitious trip around stormy Cape Horn. The movie retained slightly over half the cost of the production price tag in its initial release. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Only one of three films directed by screenwriter Charles Lederer, known for movies as disparate as The Thing (1951) and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), this crime comedy-drama-musical obviously defies categorization. Mixing James Cagney as a gangster out to control a big union, with musical numbers and cute songs is about like mixing onions and vanilla pudding. Jake MacIllaney (Cagney) wants to be elected president of Longshoreman's union 26 and, being a top mob boss, is used to getting his way. He is not past almost any stunt or method of coercion to get votes. Dan Cabot (Roger Smith) is Jake's lawyer, and after Jake meets Cabot's wife Linda (Shirley Jones), he sets his sights on conquering her affections. Disregard the husband, he can be taken care of. Setting this to music introduces some entertaining songs (I'm Sorry -- I Want a Ferrari) but the seriousness of the mobster's immorality and power is hard to reconcile with a perky tune about not stealing the small stuff. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Peter Van Hook (Alan Ladd), alias The Dutchman, is nearing the end of a stretch in Yuma Territorial Prison for a gold robbery that he didn't commit. Released early with the unwitting -- and unwilling -- help of fellow inmate John McBain (Ernest Borgnine), he sets about getting even with the men and the mining company whose original owner got him into trouble, in a plan of double- and triple-crosses for which he needs the reluctant help of McBain. The latter wants nothing more than to go back to the life of a rancher -- and then he discovers something equally important in life, when he steps in to help a victimized Mexican woman (Katy Jurado). Suddenly, McBain is very interested in the Dutchman's scheme, and with the help of explosives expert Vincente (Nehemiah Persoff), they pull off what looks like an absolutely perfect robbery of a gold mine -- even the evidence that a crime was committed ends up being covered up. But Cyirl Lounsberry (Kent Smith), the financier who's supposed to fence the gold, has other ideas, and a crooked lawman (Adam Williams) to back him up. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Based on a play by Evan Wylie and Jack Ruge, Joe Butterfly also bears the influence of Teahouse of the August Moon. The title character, played by Burgess Meredith, is a wily Japanese wheeler-dealer who offers his services as interpreter to the American GIs occupying postwar Tokyo (where the film was lensed). But Joe's "services" go above and beyond the call of duty, not to mention military protocol. To make certain that the local Army newspaper will continue to meet its deadlines as more and more soldiers march into Japan, Joe sets up the paper's staff in a luxurious private home. Top-billed Audie Murphy plays an army photographer who can't seem to adjust himself to military life, while Kieko Shima portrays Murphy's Japanese sweetheart. While Joe Butterfly is well cast and smartly directed, star Burgess Meredith always felt that the film could have been better had the Universal-International production staff had more faith in the project. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by television producer Al Morgan, The Great Man is a Citizen Kane-style look at the private life of a public figure. The Great Man is a beloved radio and television personality who dies suddenly. Jose Ferrer (who also directed) plays a writer/commentator who has a chance to break into the Big Time by preparing a eulogistic broadcast concerning the deceased celebrity. As he interviews the various people who knew the Great Man on the way up (including Julie London and Ed and Keenan Wynn) he learns that the "idol of millions" was actually a conniving, duplicitous scoundrel who stepped on everyone in his path and who took credit for the hard work of others. Warned by his boss (Dean Jagger) that his career will be ruined if he tells the truth, Ferrer nonetheless takes to the airwaves with a "warts and all" biography--and the results are surprising only to those with no cynicism in their souls. The Great Man stirred up a sensation in 1956 because it was perceived to be an a clef study of the enormously popular (and ruthlessly powerful) media star Arthur Godfrey. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide