[profh0011]

I've been trying to write reviews for EVERY one of the NBC Mystery Movies as I watch them.  No easy task!  Well, at the IMDB, this was the 1st time that I wrote the FIRST review of a film and/or episode.  I'm guess, probably because... NOBODY's seen this things since it was on NBC back in 1972.

I don't know... did they ever re-run them that season?  I ask because, that year, "SEARCH" was on afterwards, and, like the Wednesday Mystery Movies, they had 3 different heroes:  Hugh O'Brien, Doug McClure, and Tony Franciosa.  And it seemed to me, whenever they ran COOL MILLION, it always seemed to coincide with a Hugh O'Brien episode, because I never saw any of EITHER!

I always took Hugh O'Brien to be the "professional" agent.  Doug McClure was the likeable screw-up, whose boss yelled at him for making mistakes, but it just made us like him more when he pulled it together and came through at the end.  Tony Franciosa also got yelled at by his boss (Burgess Meredith, who was in all the episodes), but Franciosa was the COOL guy, radiating sheer ARROGANCE, because he KNEW how damned good he was, and his boss couldn't stand that.  I've long felt Franciosa could have made a great "Simon Templar"... if only he had an English accent.

When I compiled a complete schedule of the Mystery Movie episodes, I was baffled by this Wednesday schedule.  Because one thing I quickly realized... there were NOT running the 3 shows in any kind of regular rotation!  SEARCH may have run their 3 agents in rotation, every 3 weeks, but not BANACEK, MADIGAN and Jefferson Keyes.

It's also puzzling how, while there HAD to be a long gap between pilot and 2nd episode (there always is, isn't there?), WHY did they wait to run the COOL MILLION pilot until about 1 week before the first "regular" episode?  The pilot was 2 hours, so it was run on a Monday.  All the others were meant for a 90-minute slot, so they were run on Wednesdays.  But the 2nd episode was run only 9 days after the 1st.  And, after they had already run 3 BANACEKs (and 2 MADIGANs) in quick succession.  GO FIGURE.

It just occurs to me.  George Eckstein was in charge of the pilot.  He left before the 2nd episode, and the show changed drastically and quickly went to hell.  This would seem to CONFIRM that George Peppard was worried the SAME thing would happen to BANACEK when George Eckstein left that show!  It's no wonder, when Eckstein left... Peppard decided, "Okay, I'm outta here, too!"

[profh0011]

COOL MILLION:  Hunt For A Lonely Girl
The Really Long Shot   (7 of 10)

An architect with a violent temper is accused of murdering a rival of his, though he insists he was 60 miles away at Niagara Falls when it happened. The problem is, he has not a single witness who can verify this. On visiting the Falls, Keyes suddenly gets an inspiration. Checking the records of a tour bus that was there at the time of the murder, he discovers there were 18 people who may have taken photos with his potential client somewhere in the background.

Ray Milland (THE PREMATURE BURIAL) is "Neil Fitzsimmons", the man accused of murder. When his lawyer, to whom Keyes owes a favor, appears to be the only person who knew of Keyes' plans and whereabouts, when someone was deliberately trying to throw Keyes off the trail, even he begins to suspect the man may be in on it. That is, until they find evidence that someone wire-tapped his phone.

Kim Darby (STAR TREK: "Miri") is "Annette Borne", a struggling artist who Keyes discovers was paid to impersonate the very last person on his list. Once he convinces her the men who paid her to do this are not really working for the government, but are instead professional killers, and they're now after HER, not him, she reluctantly agrees to help find the actual photographer who was seen carrying 3 cameras around with her at once. I've seen Darby in a number of things (including TRUE GRIT, BETTER OFF DEAD and a MAN FROM UNCLE), and while she always strikes me as a bit odd, she's also quite adorable, but truthfully, this story had to be the most "romantic" I've ever seen her get in any of the characters she's played.

With both creator Larry Cohen & producer George Ecsktein gone after the pilot, the show came under the power of producers Roy Huggins (THE FUGITIVE), Jo Swerling Jr., Gene Levitt and Herbert Wright. (Does any show REALLY need that many producers at once? Then again, during its revival, COLUMBO often had as many as 9!) It seems the main changes were showing that Keyes was spending an awful lot of money in between his ridiculously-hefty paychecks, including leasing a private plane, paying a pilot, having his personal car shipped to whatever location he was currently working in (instead of using a rental), and possibly more. We also learn in this episode that he once worked for some secret government agency who "trained" him in certain things, but from which he resigned after a large number of innocent people got killed during one of their operations. Perhaps the unspoken motive for his high fees is trying to see to it that those with too much money wind up paying some of it back, especially as we already know he tends to give a large percentage of what he makes to charity. (Shades of Jules Verne's "Captain Nemo".)

So far, I'd say this was a decent, if very unusual show, and it probably deserved better tratement than it got from NBC. James Farentino continues to be more charismatic and interesting than 90% of the actors I've seen on TV in the last 20 years.

The copy I have of this, from "Loving The Classics", via station WFMY-TV2 (Greensboro Highpoint Winston Salem) was MUCH higher-quality than the pilot, though the picture & sound was inconsistent, as if someone kept splicing together bits of 2 different recordings. If the IMDB listing is correct, it also seems to be missing 11 MINUTES. (I don't think it was running fast.)  Again, somebody needs to put out an official set of this show.

[profh0011]

MADIGAN:  The London Beat
Scotland Yard doesn't do things that way...   (8 of 10)

Dan Madigan is invited to London to help track down an old stoolie of his, because he's working with a criminal gang involved in couterfeiting that Scotland Yard is trying to take down. But when the man turns up DEAD... they're in a hurry to ship Dan back home, since counterfeiting is a "Federal" matter, and out of his range. BOY, did they under-estimate him!!! Soon he's wandering around asking questions, shaking up the entire gang HE helped chase out of Manhattan, and slowly getting a local Bobbie (who's already not in high regard with his bosses) deeper into trouble.

I don't know how... but somehow, back in November 1972, I happened across this episode, my first exposure to this offbeat series, got HOOKED immediately, and found myself a new favorite actor in the form of Richard Widmark. To my surprise (and a bit of my disappointment), "The London Beat" turned out to be the most light-hearted of the 6 episodes in the short-run series, with all the others being far more "dark" and "intense"-- far more than one might expect from any other NBC Mystery Movie series! How well I remember Widmark's TV GUIDE interview when he was asked what he thought the show's chances were, and he replied, "All I know is, any time I like a show, it gets cancelled after one season". Perhaps, if MADIGAN had been more like THIS episode in general, it might have made it to a 2nd season.

What a great cast! Among them, George Cole (TOO MANY CROOKS), most known for comedy, is "Constable Lumpton", who's already in trouble before he finds himself bending and breaking rules in order to help his fellow officer from across the ocean. Fiona Lewis (LISZTOMANIA) is "Cathy", a nightclub photographer who inadvertently finds herself at the center of an investigation, because the murdered man gave her a counterfeit twenty that the crime boss must have back, or an entire big deal will fall apart. Bernard Archer (DOCTOR WHO: "Pyramids Of Mars") is "Graves", the Chief of Detectives who wants Dan out of the way, lest he interfere with an investigation C I D has been working on for months. Michael Sheard (DOCTOR WHO, same story!) is the Coroner; David Bauer (DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER) is "Ralph Borden", head of the criminal gang; Al Mancini (KELLY'S HEROES) and John Junkin (A HARD DAY'S NIGHT) are two of the gang.

Watching Dan Madigan in this story, perhaps more than any of the others, is a real joy, as the way his mind works, and the way he navigates through situations and people really showcases an eccentric mind that, while different, is every bit as brilliant as Lt. Columbo, Police Commissioner Stewart McMillan, or Deputy Marshal Sam McCloud. It's no wonder I took a liking to his character as fast as I did.

I always remember this as being the only MADIGAN that was played for laughs. That's not exactly true. But it is closer in tone to the average NBC Mystery Movie series than any of the other episodes.

I also ALWAYS remember thinking that my favorite John Wayne movie, BRANNIGAN (1976), felt like it ripped off this episode. Imagine my shock when, looking up the writer, I found that William P. McGivern actually WROTE BOTH STORIES! How did I not find that out in all these years? (He also wrote THE WRECKING CREW, my favorite of the 4 Dean Martin MATT HELM films.)

When The CBS Late Movie re-ran MADIGAN in the early 80s, I stayed up insanely-late to record it and edit out all the commercials, just as I did with McCLOUD and several other series. But not only did CBS not run the pilot, they also skipped THIS episode! As a result, I hadn't seen this in 51 YEARS. And I only saw it tonight because it's part of the OnesMediaFilms box set. The episodes in this admitedly-bootleg box are too dark & grainy in spots, but they're a HELL of a lot better than the bootlegs I got of HEC RAMSEY and COOL MILLION recently from another outfit. I think it's long past time someone did official releases of ALL these short-lived NBC series. They deseve it.

[profh0011]

THE MAN FROM UNCLE:  The Yellow Scarf Affair
The Indian Death-Cult Affair   (8 of 10)

A miniature lie-detector that fits into a typewriter case, stolen by Thrush, is stolen back by UNCLE, but en route from India, the plane crashes, and Solo is sent to investigate, posing as an insurance agent. A very-friendly representative of a rival insurance company is also on the case, but it's obvious he's really a Thrush agent, albeit a more charming one than usual. But a THIRD group are against both of them, the ones who actually murdered the UNCLE agent, murdered and robbed everyone on the plane, before sending it crashing, and it's something the local police refuse to believe (at first)... a revived Thugee murder cult, who worship the goddess Kali!

Shades of the movie "HELP!" (heh)

Linden Chiles (BANACEK) is "Tom Simpson", a guy so charming and unassuming, he feels like the kind of character you'd expect to turn up on a sitcom, not UNCLE (and ironically, most "KAOS" agents on GET SMART were more serious and intimidating that he is). Solo knows from the first that he's on the other side, and so repeatedly turns down his offers to "work together"... although, at the climax, he genuinely saves Solo's life-- though probably, not intentionally.

Kamala Devi (born in Bombay) is "Dierdre Purbhani", a flight attendant who was called off the doomed plane at the last minute, feels guilty about it, and winds up being great help to Solo. I'd describe her as a very beautiful and charming lady who had too short of a career in Hollywood.

Murray Matheson (BANACEK) is "The Maharajah", Dierdre's uncle, whose fortune was wiped out when the country became a Democracy, yet who seems to be living far above his means. I often think Matheson is the go-to actor to hire when Rex Harrison is out of your price range.

David Sheiner (BLUE THUNDER and countless other roles) is "The Inspector", who suspects Solo of murdering a woman who actually was on the crashed plane yet somehow escaped, when she turns up strangled, shortly after Solo interrogated her in her hotel room. He eventually comes in handy after learning the truth about what's been going on.

Vito Scotti (THE FLYING NUN) is "Charles Chikhli", an airline official who (for a price) finds vital info for Solo... then ignores his instructions about how long to wait before sending in the cops. (Good thing, too!) Scotti is an actor who seems to be charming and entertaining in every role he ever played.

Madge Blake (BATMAN) is-- surprise!-- an UNCLE agent who passes the "typewriter case" on to a fellow agent at the story's beginning, warning him it's rigged to self-destruct if not opened just right. Blake makes an unlikely yet delightful spy, while essentially acting in the same personality she used for "Aunt Harriet".

I'm guessing David McCallum had the week off when they did this! His character is not even mentioned for once.

Although much of this episode seems just average, by the final act, it really kicked into high gear, and by the epilogue, I found it one of the most entertaining UNCLE episodes I could remember watching. It was SO GOOD, in fact, I found myself lamenting, and wondering, HOW could the people running this show have ever allowed it to drop in quality as much as it did in seasons 2 and 3?

[profh0011]

COOL MILLION:  Assault On Gavaloni
The Moral Robbery   (7 of 10)

An old friend contacts Jefferson with an usual problem (what else?). It seems when he underwent a nasty divorce, there was a painting in his posession he did not want his wife to get... so he sold it to a friend with the idea that, when things blew over, he'd buy it back. Except, his now EX-friend refused, and denied there ever was an agreement! So... he wants Jefferson to STEAL it back... after which, he'll pay his now EX-friend what it's worth.

Michael Lanyard (The Lone Wolf) never had these kind of problems.

Jefferson approaches an old lady friend of his to set up a base of operations, but doesn't want to tell her what he's up to, until she practically blackmails him into it. He then meets up with another old lady friend, who is now married to the man he's planning to rob... and finds her daughter is all grown up. After the daughter gets him to teach her how to sky-dive, she invites him aboard her step-father's yacht... which is what he was really hoping for. Things go smoothly... until he realizes he's falling in love with the girl, and now, he doesn't want to do the job, fearing she'll get hurt in the process. But at this point, I had a feeling where the rest of the plot was going... and I was right!

Wilfred Hyde-White (MY FAIR LADY) is "Brian Howard", who insists that Jefferson's insanely-high fee is not a problem, as the painting he wants stolen has increased just that much in value in the years his former friend has had it.

Ilka Chase (OCEAN'S ELEVEN) is "Victoria Chambers", who tells Jefferson that "conspiracies" always get her excited, and at one point, cons the local police that the man they're looking for is really her houseguest (which is the truth, after all).

Mills Watson (THE MISADVENTURES OF SHERIFF LOBO) is "Diego", an out-of work artist who Jefferson pays to create a forgery of the painting he intends to steal, insisting that what he's doing is not really illegal. (Yeah, right.)

Nehemiah Persoff (THE UNTOUCHABLES) is "George Karinakis", an arrogant millionaire who never plays by anyone's rules but his own. Jefferson doesn't mind ripping HIM off, under the circumstances.

Joanna Barnes (21 BEACON STREET) is "Elizabeth Karinakis", Jefferson's old friend who married the man he's planning to rob.

Pamela Franklin (THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE) is "Holly Hamilton", who feels trapped in her parents' "world", and who Jefferson begins to fall in love with. When he tells her the truth, and that he's decided not to do the job, she convinces him to do it anyway-- and, she'll HELP him! Somehow I saw that coming. I've seen her in several movies, but somehow never realized she'd left acting and gotten married as early as she did. She's a real sweetie in this.

John Abbott (STAR TREK: Errand Of Mercy) is "Sir Godwin Phipps-Cheston", an art expert friend of Brian's, who gives George bad news that George refuses to believe is true!

It's in this episode (apparently) that Jefferson reveals how he was recruited by a secret military outfit and given training he claims would cost TEN million to get, but that after certain action in "the near east", he resigned while deciding to put all that training to good use helping people who could actually afford it. He also tells Holly that he can't quit his "job"... but also tells her to stay in touch when she tells him she's planning to go "back home" to America and leave her step-father's world behind her.

I don't know the exact circumstances, but from what I've read, the network cut the budget for this series right after this, somehow sensing it wasn't long for this world, and apparently rushed its episodes into the running order to get them out of the way as quickly as possible. While the NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie that year (which also contained BANACEK and MADIGAN) by rights should have gone in a simple 3-week rotation, that's not how things went at all. I somehow never saw this series until I got my hands on TERRIBLE copies recorded off The CBS Late Movie (which not only had AWFUL picture quality, but were also cut by more than 10 minutes per story), but now that I'm finally seeing it, I wish it had lasted longer, and, I wish somebody would put out an "official" box set of it. James Farentino is a lot of fun to watch.

[profh0011]

THE GREENE MURDER CASE   (1929)   
Psychology and the Serial Killer     (5 of 10)

Stylistically, this reminds me quite a lot of the 1931 "FRANKENSTEIN", only with a murder mystery plot instead of a science-fiction horror story. I love both, and have great tolerance for old (and REALLY old) films, so this was right up my alley.

The 2 most outstanding characters in here, of course, are the urbane Vance (William Powell) and the gruff, too-confident police sergeant (Eugene Pallette). It's nice to see so much mutual respect between them, refreshing after seeing far too many stories with the cop constantly berating the "wild theories" of the talented amateur or private eye.

Two things caught me by surprise. The first was when, halfway thru the film, I SUDDENLY had a strong suspicion as to who the killer might be, based on an incident and how I related it to an earlier murder.

The second was, when Vance spelled everything out, ONE of the shootings used the IDENTICAL method seen in the CAMPION story "Police At The Funeral" (which was published in 1931!). Like this one, that story involved an old house populated by eccentrics waiting for the elderly mother to die so they could inherit, and some of them being bumped off ONE-BY-ONE. Of course, there was enough differences to avoid any thought of plagiarism.

That particular murder method had been used much earlier-- in the SHERLOCK HOLMES story "The Problem At Thor Bridge". And, amazingly, it was re-used in a 1950s CHARLIE CHAN tv episode. Rather than spell it out, I urge mystery fans to seek out those stories and have fun comparing!
   (12-18-2019)

ADDENDUM / 9-4-2024:

I continue to find it interesting how so many "classic" authors paid tribute to earlier authors in their own stories. This includes Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Willard Huntington Wright ("S. S. Van Dyne") & Margery Allingham.

Kino Lorber's "William Powell Philo Vance Collection" Blu-Ray (released on 5-21-2024) contains all 3 of Paramount's Vance films with Powell, all 3 of which have, until now, only been available as poor, really poor, and outright terrible prints. Now, the first 2 have been restored via 4K scans from the best-available prints, and look STUNNING! (Unfortunately, the 3rd film, which my previous copy was in the worst shape, they couldn't find a great print, and only did a 2K scan of it. The result being, at last, the print of "BENSON" actually now looks GREAT, but the sound became horribly garbled trying to clean up all the hiss.  In my own experience, sometimes it's better to leave the hiss IN.  Oh well, 2 out of 3!)

[profh0011]

COOL MILLION:  The Abduction Of Bayard Barnes
The Reluctant Rescuee   (6 of 10)

A germ-o-phobic millionaire is kidnapped by a South American politician hoping to use the ten million dollar ransom to finance his own army and overthrow his government. But problems arise because the kidnap victim has given VERY specific instructions that should he ever be kidnapped, no ransom must ever be paid. And, his right-hand man has, instead, hired Jefferson Keyes to rescue the man, WITHOUT paying the ransom. It gets interesting when Keye locates where the kidnappee is being held, barges in, and insists that he needs to see the man in order to convince him to change his orders, OR, the kidnapper will NEVER see any money! But Keyes failed to tell the kidnapper that he'd hired his own small army to assault the house at a specific time... just to cause a diversion.

Legend has it that NBC, aware of a lot of behind-the-scenes chaos going on with this series, saw the handwriting on the wall, and CUT the budget drastically with this episode, to get it out of the way as cheaply as possible. That may be... but I enjoyed this episode anyway. One thing I've liked about this series is that, unlike, say, COLUMBO or BANACEK, every story has been as different as possible from every other episode.

Kent Smith (THE OUTER LIMITS: It Crawled Out Of The Woodwork) is "Miles Eubanks", who hires Keyes while explaining just how unshakable his boss's instructions about kidnapping are.

Danielle De Metz (5 different episodes of UNCLE) is "Michelle DuBois", an out-of-work aspiring actress who's hired by the kidnapper to deliver a message, but before long, is suspected by Keyes of really being in with the baddies. However, when she's accused to leading Keyes to the house the millionaire is being held prisoner at, she has a hard time then convincing Keyes all she really wants is to get out of there alive!

Sharon Gless (CAGNEY AND LACEY) is "Sandy Sherwood", a reporter who goes way out of her way to help Keyes in return for an exclusive story. She's only in this briefly, and I kept staring at her, but somehow, I completely failed to recognize her until I saw her name in the end credits, and then went back and watched her scenes again.

Barry Sullivan (PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES) is "Bayard Barnes", the kidnappee of the story's title, who makes things so difficult for Keyes once he arrives, that Keyes very nearly leaves him behind when it's time to escape. Call me crazy, but I always thought Sullivan was a dead ringer for "Commissioner Gordon" in the comic-books... and without any make-up!

At least the last third of the story is one long, slow chase scene as Keyes, Barnes & DuBois make their way across half the island, while avoiding being recaptured, in order to rendezvous with Keyes' pilot. It could have been boring, but I just found it suspenseful. A really funny moment was when Keyes grabs the baddies' helicopter, then realizes that with all his secret government training, he doesn't know how to fly it! (Is that even possible?)

The bootleg copy I have of this (recorded off KCBS-TV 2 in Los Angeles) is missing 13 minutes. It's amazing it's still coherent. Once again, I'd like this see COOL MILLION (and every other NBC Mystery Movie series) get an official release... preferably on Blu-Ray, as I've found a growing number of instances where EVEN American companies putting out "Region 1" DVDs can't always be trusted to have NTSC copies that run at the right speed in this country. (VEI screwed up their 2021 McCLOUD DVD box set, and I'm gonna keep harping on them until they FIX it.)

[profh0011]

I was into the NBC Mystery Movies from the start. Once I figured out what they were doing, I liked how they did fewer episodes per year (to help weed out lesser scripts) and were longer (more time for character & humor).

My favorite was McCLOUD, which started a year earlier. It's just tragic that that 1st season of 6 one-hour episodes was mutilated and then LOST for decades (someone online mentioned a "fire", but I wonder).

McMILLAN & WIFE has been on DVD since 2005.
BANACEK has been on DVD since 2006.
THE SNOOP SISTERS has been on DVD since 2011. I got the 2nd edition with an earlier, unrelated film that also had Helen Hayes & Mildred Natwick in it.

I'm not sure when the first COLUMBO DVD set came out. There had been 2 separate ones, but I managed to get the one with both runs, a total of 69 movies. They just reissued it on Blu-Ray... RIGHT after I bought the complete DVD set!! But I didn't want to wait.

McCLOUD had a box some years ago, but it only had the first 2 seasons, and season 1 was ONLY the 3 butchered re-edited movies.

I'm REALLY pissed off at VEI. It's one thing to confuse buyers by referring to the 6 "Four-In-One" episodes (season 1) as a "bonus", when it should really be the 3 butchered movies as the "bonus". (My guess is, they FOUND those 6 episodes very late in the game, and they were added to the box at the very last minute before it was issued.)

But when they get to season 3 and (SO FAR) they're freaking RUNNING AT THE WRONG SPEED... there's NO F***ING EXCUSE for that.

I notice a lot of the reviews at Amazon are from England. THOSE buyers probably think seasons 1-2 are playing TOO SLOW.

There was a stretch where Amazon changed their review policy, so you had to actually buy from their site to post a review. But now, they're back to anyone being able to post reviews at their site. I'm so glad I posted my comments there, because I can't think of any site online that MORE customers visit WORLDWIDE. And so far, I'm the ONLY customer complaining about that box. I consider myself McCLOUD's #1 FAN! If anyone should have given them 5 stars, it's me... The only other people who gave that box low ratings were those who got defective discs that wouldn't play.

It's is MIND-boggling that most people remain COMPLETELY UNAWARE of the ancient PAL-NTSC problem which has existed since before I was born, and has reared its head again in the modern DVD market. The focus tends to be on "Region-Coding", but this is a MUCH-bigger problem.

And, it's one that can "easily" be overcome with BLU-RAYS.

If you go to the Wikipedia page on "Blu-Rays", it goes on and on and ON... but, I swear, NEVER ONCE mentions the PAL-NTSC thing, or that Blu-Rays are "encoded" via a 3rd system that allows them to play AT THE CORRECT SPEED in every country.

One of my fave bootleg companies, "OnesMediaFilms" has a MADIGAN box set with all 7 films, and while I am absolutely thrilled to be able to see "The London Beat" for the first time in 50 years (The CBS Late Movie FAILED to run that one-- figures, my favorite episode), the quality of the prints is dodgy, and, well, it's almost hilarious how the guy screwed up with the 1968 feature film. (He promised to replace my disc as soon as he got a better print of it, but, in that case, I'll probably just buy the existing Blu-Ray of that movie.)

HEC RAMSEY is available from several different bootleg outfits. So far, the quality of the prints of the set I got are ABYSMAL. I'm certain my CBS Late Movie videotapes are better, and I'm considering mailing my irreplacable tapes to the guy I know who told me he can copy them to DVD.)

COOL MILLION appears to only be available from 2 bootleg outfits, but one of them, only has episodes 4-5. WHAT? I have the set from the same outfit I got HEC RAMSEY from, and the best I can say is, these copies are way better.

At the moment, the only other NBC Mystery Movie series I know that's available is QUINCY ME, but, truthfully, that show ran 7 seasons, 6-1/2 of them as a weekly one-hour show, and the format and writing changed SO DRASTICALLY when it switched from 90 to 60 minutes, and a show I loved when it started BORED THE LIVING HELL out of me when it became just another "doctor" show. I'd hate to buy a complete series box just to get THE FIRST 6 EPISODES... which were all BUTCHERED when I taped them off the CBS Late Movie.

[profh0011]

THE SNOOP SISTERS   (pilot)
The Scandalous Biography Caper  (7 of 10)

An aging actress has collaborated on an autobiography which contains so many scandals, it could hurt a lot of people. But just before her publisher gets their hands on it, she's murdered. The investigating police detective on the case, is driven to distraction when his 2 elderly aunts-- a vivacious widow and her spinster sister, who happens to be a famous and successful author of murder mysteries-- decide to investigate on their own. It's like 2 "Miss Marples" (or 2 "Jessica Fletchers") for the price of 1. Hilarity ensues!

In the wake of DO NOT FOLD, SPINDLE OR MUTILATE (1971, on ABC), NBC did this pilot reuniting half of that film's cast which a year later became part of the NBC Tuesday Mystery Movie (along with BANACEK, TENAFLY and FARRADAY & COMPANY). Typically of too many series back then, where a pilot was aired long before a series was given the go-ahead, I never saw this one until about 50 years after it was made! And I loved THE SNOOP SISTERS, and felt it deserved more than just 4 episodes (or 5, if you include the pilot).

Helen Hayes (AIRPORT) is "Ernesta Snoop", brilliant author & bane of her detective-nephew's professional career. She's the kind of sweet little old lady I would have loved to have had as an aunt or a grandmother. She's also a terror if she gets behind the wheel of her antique automobile.

Mildred Natwick (who later turned up as Rock Hudson's mother on McMILLAN & WIFE) is "Gwendolyn Snoop Nicholson", who types as her sister dictates, and shares her love for solving crimes. It's amazing and uncanny how they think so much alike they often finish each other's sentences, sometimes without even doing it outloud.

Laurence Pressman (SHAFT, NINE TO FIVE) is "Lieutenant Ostrowski", who's always concerned about his aunts, but annoyed whenever they turn up on a case he's working on. Though I've seen Pressman in numerous things over the years, in this film, he makes almost no dent, and I have to say it was a good thing when the part was RECAST for the series a year later.

Art Carney (THE HONEYMOONERS, HOUSE CALLS) is "Barney", a retired cop hired by Ostrowski to watch over his aunts, and keep them out of trouble, both of which often becomes impossible when he's dealing with two ladies who always insist on doing whatever they want at any given time. I tend to like Carney in almost anything he's ever done-- EXCEPT this film, where I just found him intensely annoying, especially when he kept saying the word "WRONG!" every time something rubbed him the wrong way. His role was ALSO recast for the series, and, again, it was a huge improvement!

Paulette Goddard (THE GHOST BREAKERS) is "Norma Treat", a retired actress less known for her film career than for her scandalous life. Crazy enough, near the climax of the story, a major clue is contained in a film she allegedly had a minor role in, but the film used in this episode is actually THE GHOST BREAKERS, where she starred opposite Bob Hope! (Funny enough, that and this are the only 2 films of Goddard's I currently have in my entire collection.)

Also in the cast are Charlie Callas, Jill Clayburgh, Bill Dana, Ed Flanders, Kurt Kasznar, Ed Platt (one of his last roles), Kent Smith, Craig Stevens, Fritz Weaver and Bart Burns (though I confess, I missed the latter-- I swear, outside of his playing "Pat Chambers" on MIKE HAMMER, most other things I've seen him in, he's practically invisible onscreen).

This film is more "character study" than "murder mystery", as I found it almost impossible to follow, plot-wise. But, kinda like a Raymond Chandler mystery, it's the characters and the mood that's at the forefront, for good or bad. The short-lived series was a definite improvement over the pilot, and has been issued on DVD twice-- the 2nd time, with the earlier, unrelated film that also featured Myrna Loy & Sylvia Sidney. I'm hoping somebody decides to put out ALL the remaining NBC Mystery Movies on disc-- preferably Blu-Ray, to avoid the severe problem that VEI's current McCLOUD box set has.

Incidentally, "The Female Instinct" was only the title when it went into syndication. When it was first-run, it was simply... "The Snoop Sisters". (NBC did this with a lot of their stand-alone pilots.)

[profh0011]

COOL MILLION:  The Million Dollar Misunderstanding
Always Makes Sure The Check Clears   (7 of 10)

Jefferson Keyes finds and returns the missing daughter of the new ruler of a tiny middle-eastern country. But on returning home, he finds... the check bounced. On returning to demand his payment, he's accused of lying about the President, threatened about what such behavior could result in, and talks with a fellow American who sold the President a VERY expensive private jet plane... but never got more than the down-payment on it. Jefferson decides to steal ("borrow") a diamond worth 2 million dollars, and then agree to return it once he gets paid for his earlier job. The "Mission: Impossible" style jewel heist is the easy part. It's when his pilot, who he passed the jewel to, gets arrested (by happening to be in the middle of a dissidant demonstration at the wrong time) that makes things difficult.

COOL MILLION tended to me less "mystery" and more "adventure" series. And this was 2 episodes in a row where the last third of the plot involved one long, long "escape", which brings to mind story writer Roy Huggins' earlier long-running series, THE FUGITIVE. I guess he had a thing about heroes being on the run from police... or something.

Joseph Ruskin (STAR TREK: The Gamesters of Triskellion and countless other bad-guy roles) is "President Chaambes", who's been stealing from his own country since he took over, just as Hitler and multiple Bolshevik leaders had, and he's the kind of guy who hires people and then refuses to pay their bills (like a certain NYC real estate scumbag who got into politics). He also keeps his people so repressed that just the story of Keyes accusing him of such theft turns Keyes into a folk hero overnight. Keyes delights in the thought of "giving it back" to him.

Ina Balin (THE COMMANCHEROS) is "Nagway", a close friend of the President's daughter who eagerly helps Keyes get into the palace to perform an "impossible" jewel theft.

John S. Ragin (QUINCY, M. E.) is "Fred Harrison", a CIA agent who fears his job, pension and cover as a US embassy official could be endangered when Keyes calls to ask for a favor.

Felton Perry (MAGNUM FORCE) is "Tony Baylor", Keyes' pilot, who winds up in prison and tortured for his part in the scheme, and is delighted beyond words when Keyes turns up to rescue him flying a helicopter made up to look like the President's private copter.

Cliff Emmich is Paul Davison, who was ripped off by The President when he sold him a very expensive private plane. Imagine his delight when Keyes winds up escaping from the county by STEALING that very plane from The President to return it to its rightful owner.

Now that I've had a chance to watch this entire series for the first time, albeit in rather poor-quality condition and having been butchered by The CBS Late Movie in the 1980s, I feel it deserved a longer run than it got, and it most definitely deserves an official release on BLU-RAY. (See, on Blu-Ray, films play at the CORRECT speed in every country... unlike what VEI did with their 2021 McCLOUD box set, where seasons 3-7 were made from PAL copies that run too fast in the US. That's right... I'm NOT gonna let this go.)

[profh0011]

MADIGAN:  The Lisbon Beat
The Too-Arrogant Criminal Entrepreneur   (7 of 10)

Dan is extraditing a criminal from Madrid back to The States, but during a stop-over in Lisbon, he's approached by a woman who says she needs help. Next thing you know, he's hit on the head, his prisoner is spirited away, and the guy steals his gun while he's at it. (Shades of COOGAN'S BLUFF, with less stupidity involved.) While the local police chief welcomes Dan as a guest and invites him to help finding his escaped prisoner, said fugitive is introduced to the man responsible for his being free-- who has made a habit of surrounding himself with gangs whose members owe their loyalty to him, and who says he has plans for him-- provided he stays out of prison. As Dan gets to know the son of the police chief (who married into a rich family), he also manages to track down his quarry (by following a hired hooker) and begins to tie together the man who freed him with a series of truck hijackings.

Once MADIGAN began doing episodes filmed entirely on location in Europe, it became a real travelogue experience.

David de Keyser is "Ribiero", the friendly, helpful local police chief who eagerly joins forces with Dan Madigan. With all the stories I've seen of local cops being offended by visiting detectives, this is actually a wonderful throwback to the CHARLIE CHAN films of the 30s & 40s. I know de Keyser mainly for his voice work (ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE), so I didn't even recognize who he was while watching him onscreen until I looked him up!

Damien Thomas (TWINS OF EVIL) is "Eduardo", the chief's son, whose father defends by saying he did NOT get married for money, but wishes his son would put more effort into actually being a cop.

Zienia Merton (SPACE: 1999) is "Natalia", Eduardo's rich wife, whose mother goes out of her way to make sure NONE of her money actually winds up in the hands of her son-in-law.

Tom Adams (THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD) is "Detective Jaqueta", who helps Dan out, and really deserved more screen-time in this.

Bruce Boa (THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK) is "Vern", one of the gang members who steals trucks, but all from a the same trucking firm. Dan wonders why, and eventually figures it out.

Peter Vaughan (TIME BANDITS) is "Lyman Bleak", a smiling gangster who goes from one country to another, building loyal groups of criminals around him, pulling various rackets, always staying one step ahead of the police, smugly, arrogantly pushing his way around police AND his own people. But he may have gone just too far by the time this story is over.

Depending on who says what, MADIGAN ended after only one short season of TV-movies, because A) Richard Widmark got bored; B) the cost of all the location filming made it too expensive; C) it had low ratings. Maybe NBC just never promoted it enough. But I remember what Richard Widmark said in an interview. "All I know is, every time I like a show, it ends after only one season."