Stanley Shpetner Movies

In this drama, a mother and daughter become rivals for a single man's affections. The mother is a widowed movie star and the daughter is recently divorced. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Former stuntman Hal Needham employed several of his old professional comrades in his made-for-TV Death Car on the Freeway. Shelley Hack plays a TV reporter investigating a series of freeway murders. Some demented van driver is swerving around and about, killing female motorists. This being Los Angeles, Shelley has at least a million suspects-daily-to choose from. This otherwise standard thriller is pepped up by the presence of several TV veterans, including George Hamilton, Frank Gorshin, Peter Graves, Dinah Shore, Harriet Nelson, BarbaraRush and Abe Vigoda. Director Needham also turns up in a cute supporting role. Death Car on the Freeway first aired September 25, 1979. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A perfectly coherent Richard Matheson script is muddied by Gordon Hessler's kaleidoscopic direction in the made-for-TV The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver. Karen Black plays the title role, a dowdy, downtrodden housewife plagued by recurring nightmares. Seeking an escape from her stifling lifestyle, Black dons a blonde wig, garish makeup, and a new identity. But it turns out that the woman Black pretends to be may actually exist--and may have more than a passing knowledge of the Occult. Karen Black's fingernails-on-the-blackboard performance is but one of many detriments to the full enjoyment of Strang Possession of Mrs. Oliver. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Although the actors and character names aren't the same, Sweet Rachel was the pilot film for the TV series Sixth Sense. Alex Dreier plays a paranormal researcher whose patient, Stefanie Powers, suffers from disturbing ESP flashes. The source of these ghoulish images is a psychic murderer, who uses mind control to kill his female victims. Sutton Roley has directed tight, fascinating TV-movie horrors in the past; this isn't one of them. When Sweet, Sweet, Rachel became Sixth Sense, Alex Dreier was replaced by the younger, handsomer Gary Collins (A TV announcer-turned-actor replaced by an actor-turned-announcer. The mind boggles). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One of director John Ford's least characteristic films, it derives from the latter part of his career, when the director's belief in the myth of the West had faded, and he was beset by failing health and personal problems. In the cynicism of its humor, the director seems be to taking a page from the work of his friend Howard Hawks. James Stewart stars as Guthrie McCabe, the marshal of a Texas town who spends most of his time in front of the local saloon, where he gets 10 percent of the action, in addition to favors from its owner, Belle Aragon Anelle Hayes. Based on his knowledge of the Commanche tribe, his friend, cavalry officer Jim Gary (Richard Widmark), asks him to help the army to recover long-missing white captives. Despite his initial reluctance, the ability of the opportunistic McCabe to neogotiate a lucrative per capita deal for his recovery of the captives, in addition to his desire to evade the marital intentions of Belle, seal the deal. Even after interviewing the captives' desperate relatives, the hardened McCabe is unmoved, although he believes their chance of ever seeing their relatives again as they once knew them is remote. However, as events unfold, the all-knowing marshal find he has a few things to learn. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide

This routine wartime drama of bravery and misunderstanding stars (Richard Bakalyan) as Charlie, a soldier who suffers the scorn of his paratroop unit because he accidentally kills one of their own men. The setting is World War II in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy. There seems to be no clear way to square himself with his own conscience, or to right the fatal mistake he made, and so Charlie has to somehow live with the retribution and the tensions his act causes among the other paratroopers. But since everyone is in the same combat situation, he might one day get a chance to redeem himself. Director William Witney made his reputation in action films like this one. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide