Howard Culver Movies

Officers Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) and Jim Reed (Kent McCord) break up a racket conducted by an elderly astrologer who moonlights (no pun intended) as a criminal. In other cases, the two cops provide words of comfort to a woman agonizing over her son's drug problems; and a zoning issue turns neighbor against neighbor. Finally, a hostile liquor store owner complicates Pete and Jim's investigation of a robbery by providing them with false information. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A brave cowboy/ex-con hits the dusty trail as the leader of a major cattle drive in this western. He is offered the job by the very townspeople his gang terrorized a few years before. They are also the same people who put him in the slammer, and even though he accepts the task, he secretly plots his revenge. He gets it by proving himself courageous and honest. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Several large markets have been robbed by a bandit who hides his features with something resembling a black mask. After several frustrating weeks of false leads, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) think they have their man in the form of lifelong scofflaw Leonard Clark (Herbert Vigran), but he turns out to be merely a "copycat" who has imitated the actual robber's MO. Nearly a year goes by before the detectives are able to catch up with the genuine "Black Mask Bandit"--who by this time has added kidnapping to his list of crimes. This episode is a one-part adaptation of a two-part Dragnet radio drama, originally broadcast December 28, 1952 and January 4, 1953. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The departmental rotation wheel spins once more, and Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are assigned to the LAPD Business Office on a typically frantic Saturday morning. Throughout their shift, the two dectetives dispense advice on police procedure, issue weapons and other materiel, and handle such "citizen traffic" as an eccentric lady carrying a box of gift-wrapped uranium, a "trapped skunk" report, an old man who can't remember who or where he is, and, on a more serious note, a homicide stemming from a drunken domestic squabble. This episode was adapted from the Dragnet radio broadcast of August 31, 1954. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) really have their work cut out for them when bartender George Cabot (Nesdon Booth) reports that his wife Ethel was assaulted by an unknown perpetrator, who then threw hot tar on the unfortunate woman. It soon becomes obvious that Cabot himself injured his wife--but she refuses to file charges. The part of Mrs. Cabot is played by Georgia Ellis, better known as "Miss Kitty" on the radio version of Gunsmoke. This episode is based on the Dragnet radio broadcast of October 12, 1954. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Emmy-winning TV movie Friendly Fire was adapted by Fay Kanin from the fact-based book by C.D.B. Bryan. Carol Burnett and Ned Beatty play Peg and Gene Mullen, the parents of a young soldier who is killed in Vietnam. Dissatisfied with the "official" version of their son's death, Peg and Gene conduct a soul-wrenching investigation of their own. Only after months of military stonewalling does the truth come out: their son was accidentally killed by "friendly fire" from American artillery. This revelation leads to Peg Mullen's full-scale embracing of the anti-war movement. Even allowing for the grimness of the story, Carol Burnett's taciturn performance wears on the viewer after a while (one wonders if Peg Mullen ever smiled before her son died). Far better within the framework of the film is the superbly detailed performance of Ned Beatty as Gene. Friendly Fire was originally offered on April 22, 1979, as an ABC Theatre presentation. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Matt Dillon's former girlfriend Cara (Jorja Curtwright) arrives in Dodge City, apparently hoping to renew their romance. But Matt (James Arness) finds that the intervening years have made Cara too cynical and jaded for his tastes. Then word arrives that notorious bank robber Tolliver (Douglas Odney) is in the vicinity--and with startling suddenness, Matt learns the real reason that Cara has come back into his life. This episode is adapted from the Gunsmoke radio broadcast of November 7, 1952. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The original radio version of Gunsmoke was in its third year on the air when the TV version made its CBS network bow on September 10, 1955. Replacing radio's William Conrad as Matt Dillon was tall-in-the-saddle James Arness, whose chief claim to fame at that time was his portrayal of the title role in the 1951 sci-fi thriller The Thing. Arness was a protégé of film superstar John Wayne, who in a good-luck gesture appeared on camera at the beginning of the opening episode, "Matt Gets It"--which like virtually all of the episodes seen during Season One was adapted from one of the original radio scripts. No sooner had this first episode gotten under way that Gunsmoke staked out its claim as TV's first "adult" western with a startling sequence in which hero Matt Dillon was shot down and nearly killed by the heavy of the piece! During its earliest episodes, the series boasts a different opening sequence than the familiar one in which Matt Dillon and an unknown assailant square off for a showdown in Dodge City's deserted Main Street. These initial episodes find Matt philosophically wandering around the town's cemetery "Boot Hill", as he introduces the story at hand via offscreen narration. Also, Milburn Stone's Doc Adams is younger and less cantankerous than he'd been in later years, while Amanda Blake's Miss Kitty is flashier and more flirtatious with Matt Dillon (Their relationship would always remain ambiguous, though it was clear from the "body language" of the two characters in the first season that they might have had something going on in the off-hours). Only deputy Chester, played by Dennis Weaver, is fully formed from the outset, though Chester's famous limp is a bit inconsistent--and, in at least one episode, he doesn't limp at all! Evidently in hopes of luring viewers away from NBC's high-rated The George Gobel Show, the producers of Gunsmoke stuffed the series' first season with no fewer than 39 first-run episodes,which were spread out over a nine-month period with but a handful of reruns. Appearing in several of these episodes are a number of actors who'd worked on the radio Gunsmoke, including John Dehner, Harry Bartell, Vic Perrin, Jeanne Bates and Lawrence Dobkin; and in the episode "The Pest Hole", Howard McNear, "Doc Adams" in the radio version, is seen as hotel keeper Mr. Bradley. Also seen on Gunsmoke's maiden season are such stars in the making as Charles Bronson, Claude Akins, William Hopper, Sebastian Cabot and DeForest Kelley. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Travelling photographer Professor Jacoby (Sebastian Cabot) is treated like a celebrity during his visit to Dodge City, with the locals showing up in droves to have their pictures taken. What Marshal Matt Dillon (James Arness) doesn't realize (at least not at first) is that Jacoby is a ruthless self-promoter, determined to make himself nationally famous with his "wild west" pictures--even if it means provoking a gunfight in which an innocent man is killed. But the Professor gets his just desserts at the hands of some Indians who take violent offense at his photographic intrusions. This episode is based on the Gunsmoke radio broadcast of May 6, 1956. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

While John Carpenter's 1978 horror classic Halloween irrevocably changed the style of horror cinema with its simple but relentlessly tense story, it triggered more than a decade's worth of uninspired, exploitative knock-offs, and one could easily list Halloween II among these failures. As with its predecessor, this film was written and produced by Carpenter and Debra Hill, but the terse style and unbearable suspense of the first film are missing, replaced by a more simplistic stalk-and-slash scenario. Directorial duties were handed over to Rick Rosenthal, whose lack of expertise is quite evident (though he managed to hit his stride two years later with the prison actioner Bad Boys). The plot picks up exactly where the original left off: Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), shaken and injured from her battle with unkillable psycho Michael Myers, is taken to the Haddonfield Hospital for observation, while Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence) continues his desperate search for his monstrous patient. An interesting plot twist has Loomis' investigations revealing Michael's true identity (some of these sequences incorporate footage of young Michael originally shot for the television version of Halloween, which contained scenes hinting at the link between Michael and Laurie).

After slashing his way through the town, Myers manages to track Laurie to the hospital, where the remainder of the action takes place. Numerous night-shift employees are slaughtered in a variety of gruesome ways before Loomis catches up with his quarry, leading to an explosive -- and seemingly conclusive -- confrontation. Pleasence is compelling as usual, but Curtis, who made an auspicious debut in the original, is sadly wasted here, her character reduced to shuffling half-drugged through darkened hospital corridors and screaming helplessly. Carpenter's active involvement in the Halloween franchise continued to dwindle steadily from one sequel to the next, getting scarcely a mention by the time producers Hill, Moustapha Akkad and Irwin Yablans revived the series in 1988 for three more sequels. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

In this violent drama, a young juvenile delinquent gets into more trouble when he gets involved with a gang that steals auto parts and resells them on the black market to pay for their beer parties. It looks as if he might actually turn his life around after he meets a good-hearted woman, when he decides to run a final game of chicken against a juvenile delinquent girl who gets killed in the ensuing crash. The terrified boy then takes his girlfriend and splits. He is later shot-down by the police. Later the authorities learn that the boy was set upon his crooked path by policemen who beat him when he was younger. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In $1,000,000 Duck, the titular duck is exposed to radiation and begins laying golden eggs, which brings it under the scrutiny of the treasury department, the FBI, and a gang of comic-opera crooks. The cast includes Disney perennials Dean Jones and Joe Flynn, with Sandy Duncan taking over the part usually assumed by someone like Michele Lee or Stefanie Powers. $1,000,000 Duck was directed by Vince McEveety. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi