Jack Smight Movies
The director who struck gold with such 1970s box-office hits as Airport 1975 (1974) and Midway, Jack Smight's story is an example of a man utilizing his true-life experiences to craft a successful film career, with his wartime experiences offering more than adequate creative fuel for an enduring career in film. The son of Irish immigrants, Smight was born in Minneapolis and joined the Army Air Corps as soon as he came of age. His training as a navigator ultimately preparing him for the missions in the Pacific that he would fly during World War II, Smight's prowess in the sky provided him with numerous experiences that would later be echoed in his enduring cinematic career. Meeting up with former high school chum and bandmate Pete Arness (later Peter Graves) upon enrolling as a drama major in the University of Minnesota after the war, the duo frequently appeared on-stage together and, with the blessings of their significant others, set out for Hollywood in early 1949. Greeted at the train depot by Peter's older brother James (of Gunsmoke fame), the older Arness offered the useful advice to either start cooking or get out of the kitchen -- and the kitchen was soon filling with the smell of a gourmet meal.Though Smight would initially gain attention for his acting skills, a desire to work behind the scenes found him landing a job at NBC in hopes of educating himself about film and video. Soon promoted and working on both coasts following successful training on The Colgate Comedy Hour, Smight earned his first Emmy as a result of his directorial debut. Moving on to television work which included impressive credits for Naked City, The Twilight Zone, and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Smight's feature debut came with the 1964 feature I'd Rather be Rich, a remake of the 1941 comedy It Started With Eve. Numerous features followed throughout the 1960s and '70s, with a confident Smight frequently moving between television and film. Sitting comfortably in the captain's chair for the 1974 sequel Airport 1975, Smight's wartime experiences proved elemental to the film's success. Two years later those wartime experiences would once again come in handy for Midway, a feature that wove the intriguing tale of a pivotal battle in the Pacific during World War II. In the following years, Smight would take the helm for such features as Damnation Alley (1977) and Number One With a Bullet (1987); his prolific work in the 1970s would ultimately prove his career high point. His last film was the 1989 adventure The Favorite. On September 1, 2003, Jack Smight died of cancer in his Valencia, CA, home. He was 78. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Based on a true story, this drama stars Amber O'Shea as Aimee Dubuca De Rivery, a French girl sold into slavery, where she is purchased by the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1987
- R
Detective Berzak (Robert Carradine) and his suave partner Hazeltine (Billy Dee Williams) combine forces to track down a notorious drug lord in this routine action feature. Captain Ferris (Peter Graves) monitors the progress of the decidedly different detectives. The trail leads to Dacosta (Barry Sattels) a respected member of the social elite and the community. Valerie Bertanelli plays Berzak's daughter Teresa, who is pumped for information by her father about his ex-wife (Doris Roberts). ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Carradine, Billy Dee Williams, (more)
- 1983
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In this made-for-television drama, a widower travels to Israel for the 1981 World Gathering of Holocaust Survivors in order to search for the woman he once loved when they were interred in a Nazi concentration camp. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1980
- PG
Susan Sarandon gives a sprightly performance in this sex farce involving couples swapping mates. Shirley MacLaine is Evelyn, a doctor, who is spending some quality time horseback riding when she is spotted by Greg (Stephen Collins), who is driving his sports car. Greg looks at her a bit too long and crashes the car, and since Evelyn is a doctor, she feels free to ride up to the prone Greg and rip off his pants. Soon the two are having an affair behind the backs of Greg's TV weather-girl lover Stephanie (Susan Sarandon) and Evelyn's workaholic husband, Walter (James Coburn). When Walter finds out about the affair from Stephanie, the two decide to reciprocate and engage in an affair of their own. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shirley MacLaine, James Coburn, (more)
- 1979
- PG
Hot on the heels of his Welcome Back Kotter success, Gabe Kaplan starred in this hastily assembled theatrical feature. Kaplan plays David Greene, the coach of a Nevada collegiate basketball team. Inasmuch as the local talent is pretty pathetic, Greene convinces a group of jive-talking New York street kids into playing for the college. Culture-clash jokes abound, with the black cast members usually coming out on top. In keeping with sports-comedy tradition, one of Greene's team members is a girl, and a very attractive one. Though it hasn't an original bone in its body, Fast Break is breezy entertainment, with a particularly thrilling climax. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gabe Kaplan, Harold Sylvester, (more)
- 1978
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry was a TV pilot film in the form of a three-part miniseries. Set in 1933 Mississippi, the story focuses on the Logans, a closely knit, fiercely independent African-American family. In Part One, the Logans spearhead a boycott against a bigoted merchant who clandestinely heads a Klanlike organization. In part two, Mary Logan is fired from her teaching job for detailing the history of slavery to her students. The concluding chapter finds the Logans faced with foreclosure, while their oldest son's friend is framed on a robbery-murder rap. The impressive cast list includes Janet MacLachlan, Robert Christian, Claudia McNeil, Morgan Freeman and Rockne Tarkington. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry was first telecast (with surprisingly little advertising fanfare) on June 2, 3 and 4, 1978. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
- PG
A small but hardy band of survivors traverses a post-apocalypse American landscape in this sci-fi thriller. A horrific nuclear assault leaves only three survivors at an underground military facility, so Tanner (Jan-Michael Vincent), Denton (George Peppard), and Keegan (Paul Winfield) commandeer a special all-terrain land cruiser and head for Albany, NY, the only American city to be spared in the attack. As they travel through the desolate post-nuke wastelands, the soldiers pick up a beautiful woman (Dominique Sanda) and an incorrigible teenager (Jackie Earle Haley), as they battle huge mutant insects, packs of survivors turned violent and feral, and brutal electrical storms that savage the already barren plains. Damnation Alley was based on a novel by award-winning speculative fiction author Roger Zelazny. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jan-Michael Vincent, George Peppard, (more)
An expensive war epic, Midway emulates The Longest Day and Tora! Tora! Tora! in attempting to re-create a famous World War II battle from both the American and Japanese viewpoints. The 1942 battle of Midway was the turning point of the War in the Pacific; the Japanese invasion fleet was destroyed, and America's string of humiliating defeats was finally broken. Though the battle itself was sufficiently dramatic to fill two films, Midway also has plotline involving the mixed-race relationship between Ensign Garth (Edward Albert), son of Navy Captain Matt Garth (Charlton Heston), and Haruko Sakura (Christina Kokubo), a Hawaiian girl of Japanese descent. The real-life personages depicted herein include American Admirals Nimitz (Henry Fonda), Halsey (Robert Mitchum) and Spruance (Glenn Ford), and Japanese Admiral Yamamoto (Toshiro Mifune, his voice once again dubbed by Paul Frees, whom Mifune personally selected for the job). For its original road show release, Midway was offered in the "Sensurround" process, which electronically shook and vibrated the audience's chairs during the battle sequences. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda, (more)
In the wake of the 45-million-dollar gross of the original Airport (1970), Universal was all but required by an act of Congress to produce Airport '75. Charlton Heston heads the all-star cast as Alan Murdock, the former test pilot who must keep a disabled 747 from crashing in flames. The crisis begins when a businessman (Dana Andrews), flying his small private plane, suffers a fatal heart attack and the plane smashes into the cockpit of the 747. Following Murdock's radioed instructions, stewardess Nancy Pryor (Karen Black) takes over the controls. The special-guest passenger lineup includes Helen Reddy as a singing nun (a character wickedly satirized in the 1980 parody Airplane!), Myrna Loy as an alcoholic, and Sid Caesar as a garrulous passenger. While Airport '75 yielded only 25 million dollars at the box office, the franchise continued, spawning Airport '77 a few years later and Airport '79 two years after that. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlton Heston, Karen Black, (more)
Per its title, Jack Smight's Frankenstein: The True Story, strives for greater faithfulness to Mary Shelley's novel than prior versions. Thus, as in the book, Dr. Frankenstein's (Leonard Whiting) creation is no monster, but a handsome young man of high intelligence (Michael Sarrazin). In fact, the doctor and his creature are the best of friends until the latter's body begins to deteriorate. This sends the creature over the bend into insanity, prompting Frankenstein -- with the help of his evil mentor, Dr. Polidori (James Mason), a character not in the Shelley novel -- to try, try again to create a viable synthetic human. The film ends more or less as the novel does, with the outcast Frankenstein and his creature expiring in the frozen wastes of Antarctica. Adapted for television by Christopher Isherwood, Frankenstein: The True Story was originally telecast in two parts on November 30 and December 1, 1973. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
Partners in Crime was the second attempt by Richard Levinson and William Link to create a TV series featuring a female ex-judge and male ex-con: the first was 1971's The Judge and Jake Wyler. This time, Lee Grant is the former jurist turned sleuth, while Lou Antonio is the onetime prisoner turned legman. In this 90-minute pilot film, Judge Grant searches for a stolen $750,000. Partners in Crime was telecast on March 24, 1973, back-to-back with the pilot for the Jack Webb TV series Chase. Chase flew, while Partners never got off the ground. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
Bound to the ABC Saturday Suspense Movie 72-minute limitation, Linda could have benefitted from ten or twenty extra minutes' running time. The film, based on a novel by John D. McDonald, stars Stella Stevens as the woman scorned whom Hell hath no fury like. Stevens murders the wife (Mary Robin-Redd) of her lover (John Saxon), then plugs the lover. Stevens' husband Ed Nelson suspects that his wife is responsible for the killings. Stevens responds by framing hubby for the woman's death. John McIntyre plays the aptly named Marshall Journeyman, who methodically ferrets out the facts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
It goes without saying that the 1973 TV-movie version of Double Indemnity doesn't come within shouting distance of the classic 1944 theatrical-movie version. Still, the basic story is a solid one, and the actors are eager to please. Richard Crenna plays the old Fred MacMurray role of Walter Neff, the slightly larcenous insurance salesman inveigled into an elaborate murder/fraud scheme by sexy Phyllis Dietrichson (Samantha Eggar, replacing the 1944 version's Barbara Stanwyck). The scheme almost goes off without a hitch, but Walter's boss Barton Keyes (Lee J. Cobb; originally Edward G. Robinson) has this "stinking" hunch-and besides, you can't trust Phyllis as far as you can throw her. Originally telecast October 13, 1973, Double Indemnity is based on the Raymond Chandler-Billy Wilder script for the 1944 film, which in turn was adapted from James M. Cain's Three of a Kind. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
Banacek was the two-hour pilot film for the 1972-74 detective series starring George Peppard. The cigar-smoking, aphorism-spouting Peppard plays T. Banacek, Polish/American investigator for a major Boston insurance company. Independently wealthy, Banacek will only accept cases that have been deemed "unsolvable" by all previous investigators. In this pilot episode, Banacek tackles the case of a Brink's-truck hijacking in the middle of a Texas roadway. The truck and its costly cargo has seemingly vanished into thin air, and the cops are stymied. But with Banacek on the case, we learn that the whole affair was an elaborately orchestrated inside job. The subsequent Banacek series was a component of The NBC Wednesday Movie. The pilot film has been reissued to TV as Detour to Nowhere. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Peppard, Christine Belford, (more)
- 1972
The Longest Night is a harrowing made-for-TV movie based on a real-life kidnapping. Sallie Shockley is abducted from the home of her parents and held for ransom. Her captors entomb her in a box buried several feet underground, with an air hose as her only conduit to the outside world. As the police close in on the kidnappers and search for the girl, she desperately tries to stave off hysteria and to prevent the cutting off of her air supply. She is rescued comparatively early in the storyline, which then switches to the trackdown of the culprits. The Longest Night effectively conveys the claustrophobic atmosphere of the story, even though it runs out of gas before the end. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
Olivia De Havilland plays a middle-aged woman who has recently been released from a mental institution after suffering a breakdown. She insists one evening that she can hear the muffled scream of a woman emanating from beneath the ground. Since no one else can hear these screams, De Havilland is dismissed as a crank. But Ms. De Havilland is steadfast in her conviction that the screams are real, and to that end investigates on her own. She discovers--at the peril of her own life--that the screams are those of a woman buried alive at a construction site by her recluse husband. Losing credibility long before the denouement, The Screaming Woman is based on a vastly superior short story by Ray Bradbury, in which the protagonist is not an adult ex-mental patient but a precocious little girl with a reputation for lying. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1970
- R
In this unusual black comedy, Stacy Keach plays Jonas Candide, a former carnival showman who roams the southern U.S. in 1918 with a portable electric chair. He offers his services as a freelance executioner for $100 a pop. He takes a job in a prison in Alabama, where he is supposed to execute a young woman named Gundred Herzallerliebst (Marianna Hill) and her brother. He electrocutes the brother first. On the night before she is scheduled to die, Gundred seduces Jonas and he falls for her. Jonas tries to get Doc Prittle (Graham Jarvis) to help him fake her execution, but the doctor demands a high price. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stacy Keach, Marianna Hill, (more)
- 1970
- R
A young married couple struggle with their personal problems and their union and the forthcoming birth oftheir unwanted child in this grim domestic drama. Much of the story centers on the husband, a former high school basketball star who is unable to leave the glory days behind and fashion a future for himself and his wife. Though pregnant, the wife is constantly drunk and the two constantly bicker. One night, they have row and the husband takes off to stay with his now-impoverished former coach thereby setting the stage for further turmoil and tragedy. The plot for Rabbit, Run is based on a John Updike novel. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Caan, Anjanette Comer, (more)
This science fiction fantasy is taken from the stories of Ray Bradbury. Carl (Rod Steiger) has a tattooed torso of bizarre illustrations done by his wife Felicia (Claire Bloom). Each one tells a story about the future, and when Will (Robert Drivas) meets The Illustrated Man in a hobo jungle en route to California, Carl warns him not to look too closely at the pictures on his person. One story has Carl, Felicia, Will and another man stranded on a planet plagued by perpetual rainstorms. Another has Will as a marriage counselor who watches in horror while Carl and Felicia's children plan their deaths. The third futuristic saga has Will observing Carl and Felicia on the top of a mountain as they plan to kill their children. After the three stories, Will is plagued by futuristic nightmares of Carl coming to kill him in this depressing and pessimistic film. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rod Steiger, Claire Bloom, (more)
- 1969
Strategy of Terror began life as "In Darkness Waiting," a two-part 1964 installment of TV's Kraft Suspense Theatre. Newswoman Barbara Rush discovers that a right-wing extremist plans to kill four UN employees. No one believes her at first, but when she herself is attacked, a police officer Hugh O'Brian comes to the rescue. Of interest in this ersatz feature film are two members of the supporting cast. Frederick O'Neal, a leading light of African American theatre, is superb as a loquacious African UN delegate. And Neil Hamilton, onetime silent screen star and future Commissioner Gordon on TV's Batman, is surprisingly sinister as a pompous right-wing fanatic. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hugh O'Brian, Barbara Rush, (more)
New York detective Moe Brummell (George Segal) is assigned to track down a serial killer who has been preying on lonely middle-aged ladies. Each of the bodies is discovered with a lipstick kiss drawn on the forehead. We know (but Brummell doesn't) that the murderer is Christopher Gill (Rod Steiger), a round-the-bend actor whose hatred for his mother has driven him to his killing spree. Gill is fond of adopting a different personality and costume with each killing (a priest, a homosexual, a plumber etc.), making him doubly difficult to trace. When Brummell comments to the media that he's up against a criminal genius, he finds himself the reluctant recipient of Gill's anonymous phone calls, wherein the killer plants cryptic clues leading to his next crime. It may not be readily apparent from the previous sentence, but No Way to Treat a Lady is a comedy-albeit a jet-black one. Moe Brummell is hampered with an archetypal Jewish mamma (Eileen Heckart), who in her own way is as deadly as the elusive Christopher Gill. Lee Remick plays Brummell's girl friend, who, as the only person who might be able to identify Gill, is placed in harm's way at the film's climax. A curious by-product of No Way to Treat a Lady is the fact that Rod Steiger was cast in the lead in the 1976 biopic W.C. Fields and Me on the basis of the third-rate Fields imitation he offers to George Segal during one of his taunting phone calls. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rod Steiger, Lee Remick, (more)
- 1968
This World War II comedy finds Harry Frigg (Paul Newman) as the unwilling volunteer slated to rescue five generals from the clutches of the Germans and Italians. Frigg would rather spend his time goofing off than fighting the war, but his superiors make him a fake general and pack him off to retrieve the top brass. He has a romantic interest in the Countess (Sylva Koscina), an Italian beauty who helps Harry locate the missing officers. Tom Bosley, Andrew Duggan, Charles D. Gray, Jacques Roux and John Williams are the five generals who carry most of the comedy. Normal Fell and Buck Henry excel in small roles as well. General Prentiss (James Gregory) is the brains behind the plan that finds the frustrated Frigg rise to the occasion when he reluctantly accepts his assignment. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Newman, Sylva Koscina, (more)
- 1966
A cardsharp comes up with the ultimate system for beating the casinos at their own game in this high-style caper comedy. Barney Lincoln (Warren Beatty) is a footloose playboy with a taste for gambling and an ingenious scheme for winning at the leading casinos in Europe. Barney discovers that nearly all of the major gambling houses use playing cards manufactured by the same company; by breaking into their plant and subtly altering the printing plates, he's able to mark the cards with a code only he can read, and he is soon pulling in record winnings across the continent. However, Barney's secret is discovered by his girlfriend Angel McGinnis (Suzannah York), a successful fashion designer, which might not be a problem if her father, "Manny" McGinnis (Clive Revill) weren't a top inspector at Scotland Yard. Manny approaches Barney and makes him a deal -- he won't reveal his secret about the cards if Barney will help him catch Harry Dominion (Eric Porter), a high-level international drug trafficker. Unfortunately, Barney's sleuthing goes awry after a certain amount of initial success, and when Harry gets wind of what he's been doing, he retaliates by kidnapping Angel and demanding repayment of his loss of sales. Jane Birkin makes her screen debut in this film, appropriately enough as a character named "Exquisite Thing." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warren Beatty, Susannah York, (more)
Screenwriter William Goldman has claimed that Paul Newman agreed to do Harper, the film that established the grateful writer's career, only because he was working unhappily on Lady L. (1965) in Europe, and was looking for something as unlike that film as possible. He stars as Lew Harper, a hip L.A. private dick whose business has gotten so bad that he's re-using his coffee grounds. At the suggestion of his friend, attorney Albert Graves (Arthur Hill), the detective takes on the investigation of the disappearance of the wealthy husband of waspish cripple Elaine Sampson (Lauren Bacall). After finding a photograph of former actress Fay Estabrook (Shelley Winters), Harper locates the alcoholic actress in a bar, plies her with booze, and takes her home to search her apartment while she's unconscious. There he takes a call which leads him to another bar to meet Betty Fraley (Julie Harris), a singer with a heroin problem. To curtail his inquisitive behavior, some large and unpleasant gentleman beat him up outside the saloon. Hoping for sympathy from his soon to be ex-wife (Janet Leigh), who has just filed divorce papers, the weary detective is much more successful than he has any right to expect. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Newman, Lauren Bacall, (more)
