THE SEX SYMBOL

Connie Stevens phones her shrink

THE SEX SYMBOL (1974 telefilm). ABC Movie of the Week. Director: David Lowell Rich. NOTE: This is the expanded European version with nudity. 

Movie star Kelly Williams (Connie Stevens) has just been let go from her latest picture -- gossip maven Agatha Murphy (Shelley Winters) cackles on TV that she is through in Hollywood -- and reviews her life, marriages, and love affairs with an unseen psychiatrist. Kelly has a dalliance with Senator O'Neal (Don Murray), and marries former football star Butch Wischnewski (William Smith) and artist Calvin Bernard (James Olson). Will her pills and alcohol lifestyle eventually be Williams' undoing?

Stevens

Connie Stevens, best-known as the petulant, cloying "Cricket Blake" in Hawaiian Eye, was clearly trying to change her squeaky-clean image with this TV movie, and even bares her breasts in a couple of scenes that were added to the theatrical European version. (It's a bet ABC didn't show these!) The Sex Symbol is obviously based on the life of Marilyn Monroe -- the men in Williams' life are stand-ins for JFK, Joe DiMaggio and Arthur Miller -- but Stevens' has none of that special quality that so distinguished "the adorable one." One can't imagine "Kelley Williams" ever having the kind of career or impact that Monroe had. In fact there are times that Stevens comes off as if Philip, the social director at the Hawaiian Village Hotel on Hawaiian Eye, decided to put on the Marilyn Monroe Story for the hotel's theater and put Cricket in the part! 

James Olson

Stevens gives it the ol' college try and is not terrible, just not that impressive. Shelley Winters seems to be having fun as the gossip maven but does little to make the woman more than a complete caricature. James Olson comes off the best and gives a more than solid performance, and the scenes between him and "Kelly" are psychologically astute. Smith and Murray are fine, but it's weird to see Murray, as he co-starred with the real Monroe in one of her best films, Bus Stop. A notable performance is given by, of all people, director-producer William Castle, who proves quite adept as an actor, playing a sleazy producer. Nehemiah Persoff is another sleazy character, and Milton Selzer and Jack Carter are Kelly's agents. Madlyn Rhue plays Kelly's friend and companion.  

Stevens with William Castle

The Sex Symbol has its entertaining moments, but the scenes of Kelly's long, boozy meltdowns eventually become boring. Although Marilyn Monroe's life story played out in the fifties and sixties, The Sex Symbol seems strictly of the seventies when it was made. Stevens followed this up with a raunchy film called Scorchy, then did numerous TV guest-spots and more made-for-TV movies. Although the real Monroe only joked about putting her breasts in the cement at Grauman's Chinese Theater, Kelly Williams actually does it.

Verdict: Stick with the real thing. **1/4.

THE MONEY JUNGLE

John Ericson and Leslie Parrish

THE MONEY JUNGLE (1967). Director: Francis D. Lyon.

Four geologists are killed in suspicious "accidents" and it all seems tied in to whether or not a certain field contains oil. The board of directors of the Jumbo Oil Co. hire private investigator Blake Heller (John Ericson) to look into the murders and other matters. As he proceeds with his investigation the murders continue, until an unexpected assailant is revealed. The Money Jungle pulls you along without ever developing into a good movie. On the production level it resembles a failed TV pilot, but apparently that is not the case, and there's not a trace of style or panache to be found. Luke Heller is not your typical private eye with a seedy office, many bills, and hordes of panting women (although there are a couple). Heller lives in a large, expensive house, obviously makes big bucks dealing with corporate espionage and the like, and generally kisses women on the cheek or forehead. Frankly, this might have actually made a good series, it it had been well-handled. Ericson [Honey West] is okay as Heller, and the interesting cast includes Nehemiah Persoff [The Wild Party], Don Rickles, Lola Albright [Peter Gunn] and Leslie Parrish. Persoff and Rickles are fine, while Parrish offers an oddly subdued and relatively ineffective performance. Lola Albright is a lousy singer, but she's quite vivid in her turn as one of Heller's acquaintances. Charles Drake, Kent Smith and Michael Forest have smaller roles and are all good.

Verdict: Done with a bit of flair this might have amounted to something. **.

STREET OF SINNERS

STREET OF SINNERS (1957). Director: William Berke.

"Oh, Johnny, I don't want to die. I want to be loved."

John Dean (George Montgomery) is a rookie cop who has just been assigned patrol duty in one of the worst neighborhoods in town. Tavern owner Leon (Nehemiah Persoff), who seems to be a benign, helpful presence in the area, is actually the man who turns the wheels and owns everybody he knows. John encounters a tough little bitch named Nancy (Marilee Earle), as well as budding hood Rickey (Stephen Joyce). A sad figure on the street is Terry (Geraldine Brooks), who is fond of undressing in public and is as lonely as Hell. An alcoholic, Terry has John for dinner and serves him a charcoal pork chop. When a tragedy occurs, John is temporarily suspended, but he continues to investigate the disappearance of a young lady who had the goods on Leon. It all builds up to an exciting climax and the final confrontation between John and Leon. Street of Sinners is a snappy little number that is distinguished by some fine work by Persoff, and especially Brooks [Cry Wolf], who is touching and absolutely superb. Montgomery [The Cowboy and the Blonde] is competent but nothing more. The jazzy musical score doesn't really work with the movie, however, and some of the character reversals are a little too abrupt. William Berke also directed The Lost Missile and many Jungle Jim movies.

Verdict: Taut, brisk, and altogether admirable "B" picture. ***.

THE WRONG MAN

The lives of this family are about to be shattered

THE WRONG MAN (1956). Director: Alfred Hitchcock.

Manny Balestrero (Henry Fonda) is an unassuming family man who plays bass fiddle in a band at New York's tony Stork Club. When he goes to an insurance company to find out how much he can borrow on his wife's policy -- they need several hundred dollars to fix her painful dental problems -- the clerks there react with fear and disbelief. Apparently Manny looks just like the man who has robbed the office on two occasions, as well as other places. Manny is arrested, identified by other people as the robber, and hires a lawyer (Anthony Quayle) he can't afford. Meanwhile his wife, Rose (Vera Miles) is so beset with fear and tension that she has to be institutionalized, leaving Manny to face this ordeal alone except for his devoted mother (Esther Minciotti). Based on a true story, The Wrong Man is a Hitchcock film in a low-key mode in all departments and this approach is very effective. Fonda, playing 38 at 51, is quite good, and although Miles is a little off in some scenes, she also gives a very nice performance. Doreen Lang, who later was the hysterical woman in the restaurant in The Birds, is excellent as one of the women in the insurance office; all of the witnesses are very well cast and quite good. William Hudson, Nehemiah Persoff, and Bonnie Franklin all have small roles. The film is expertly photographed by Robert Burks, and has a snappy if sinister theme by Bernard Herrmann. Beautifully done, The Wrong Man is, in its own way, quite disturbing and chilling, and builds up to a very moving finale. It's sad to realize that in real life there was no happy ending.

Verdict: A certified Hitchcock classic. ***1/2.

THE WILD, WILD WEST Season 3

Ross Martin and Robert Conrad

THE WILD, WILD WEST Season 3.1967.

Secret Service agents James West (Robert Conrad) and Artemis Gordon (Ross Martin) are back for a third season in this still viable action-adventure-spy series. One change in the series is that, in general, the stories seem a little more "reasonable" than they often were in the past -- in other words, West never gets shrunk to doll-size [as he did in the second season] nor anything along those lines. Among the more memorable episodes are: "Bubbling Death," which involves the stolen Constitution and an acid bath; "The Hangman," in which the boys race to prove the innocence of a man about to be hanged; "Montezuma's Hordes,"  regarding a dangerous treasure hunt in Mexico; "The Cut-Throats," in which a bitter man wants to simply erase an entire town, with some good twists and fine performances from Bradford Dillman and Beverly Garland; "The Legion of Death," featuring an outstanding performance by Anthony Zerbe as the boys take on a territorial governor (Kent Smith); "Iron Fist," in  which Jim tries to bring in a Russian with an iron hand for extradition; "Vipers," in which a hooded gang raids towns and robs banks; and "Underground Terror," about a group of tortured men who seek vengeance against their tormentor, with Nehemiah Persoff. Arguably the two best episodes are: "Death Masks," in which an old foe toys with Jim in a deserted town and Patty McCormack plays the villain's daughter, sort of The Bad Seed grown up; and the suspenseful "Running Death" [with Jason Evers and an excellent T. C. Jones] in which the fellows trail a notorious assassin via wagon train. Some viewers may be amused/turned on by the leather britches Conrad wears over his pants and which cover everything but his waist, crotch and backside.

Verdict: Basically maintains the quality of the first two seasons. ***.

VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED

VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED (1976). Director: Stuart Rosenberg.

In 1939 Nazi Germany allowed about one thousand Jews to depart the country on a ship bound for Cuba, the SS St. Louis. This alleged "humanitarian" gesture was strictly a propaganda act, a smokescreen, as one character puts it, as it was never intended for the passengers to disembark in Cuba or anywhere else. Turned away by several nations, including, shamefully, the U.S., some of the passengers wold prefer death or mutiny to returning to Hamburg and certain execution in concentration camps. You would imagine that a movie on this subject would be very powerful -- and you can't help but be moved by the passengers' plight and the horrendous persecution and emotional devastation they were undergoing -- but Voyage of the Damned, unfortunately, plays like a lesser Movie of the Week with an almost-all-star, international, Movie of the Week-type cast [with some exceptions], "acting" up a storm at times but nonetheless seeming once-removed throughout it all -- in other words, the acting and direction are fairly perfunctory. Sequences that should have had great impact are pretty much frittered away by Rosenberg, and the movie is about 45 minutes too long, slack and lacking in needed tension. I mean, when you consider the situation these people were in! Some of the lesser known actors, such as Victor Spinetti as Dr. Strauss, who works in Cuba and desperately wants to get his small children off the ship, are more effective than the bigger names, although James Mason and Nehemiah Persoff are solid as usual. Sadly, Voyage of the Damned is blah when it should have been a masterpiece.The very large cast includes everyone from Lee Grant, Faye Dunaway and Ben Gazzara to Max von Sydow [as the captain], Wendy Hiller, Malcolm McDowell and even Orson Welles. Although they all have their moments, these could not be considered one of the better performances of any of them.

Verdict: Watch Judgment at Nuremberg instead. **1/2.

GREEN MANSIONS

GREEN MANSIONS (1959). Director: Mel Ferrer.

Abel (Anthony Perkins) comes to South American looking for treasure, and learns that a certain forbidden area in the jungle is home to a mysterious bird-girl, Rima (Audrey Hepburn), whom the natives see as a kind of witch and wish to destroy. Abel finds the real woman behind the legend and the two fall in love to face danger and tragedy together. This adaptation of the novel by William Henry Hudson has always had the reputation of being a stinker [by people who have never seen it] primarily due to the miscasting of the leads. Sensitive Tony Perkins as a fortune-hunting adventurer? Sophisticated Audrey Hepburn as a South American native girl? The casting is slightly ridiculous, but both actors manage to rise above it and give not only decent but effective performances, as do Lee J. Cobb (the old man who raised Rima), Nehemiah Persoff, Sessue Hayakawa (king of the natives), and especially Henry Silva, in perhaps his most memorable role, as the rather malevolent Kua-Ko. Joseph Ruttenberg's cinematography is stunning, as is the art direction by E. Preston Ames and William Horning. [Although the credits boast that this was filmed in South America, most of the sequences were shot on colorfully dressed sound stages.] Bronislau Kaper did the score, with some additional music from Heitor Villa-Lobos. Perkins sings "Green Grow the Mansions" not too badly. One particularly memorable scene details the natives' trial-by-insect! Director Mel Ferrer, better known as an actor, was married to Hepburn at the time of filming, and crafted a creditable showcase for his lovely wife.

Verdict: Incurable romantics will probably love the movie; others approach with caution. ***1/2.

FATE IS THE HUNTER

FATE IS THE HUNTER (1964). Director: Ralph Nelson.

When a plane crashes killing all aboard except a stewardess (Suzanne Pleshette), an investigator for the airline, Sam McBane (Glenn Ford), tries to determine what went wrong. You'd think this would make for a compelling film, but most of the running time has McBane delving into the character of the pilot [and old friend] Jack Savage (Rod Taylor), whose irresponsibility is being blamed for the tragedy, with lots of flashbacks. McBane discovers that there was much more to Savage than met the eye. Nancy Kwan and Dorothy Malone are two of the many ladies in Savage's life, and Wally Cox and Mark Stevens [in a fine turn] are pals of his whom he's helped over the years. Mary Wickes has an interesting cameo as a landlady. Constance Towers is McBane's secretary, Nehemiah Persoff is his rival, and Jane Russell appears as herself in a flashback scene entertaining the troops. This culminates in a fairly ridiculous courtroom sequence, and then in a climax in which McBane and others try to recreate the circumstances of the crash up in the air. The picture is contrived and illogical, has little tension or suspense, and is more talky and dull than anything else. Ernest K. Gann, who wrote the novel upon which the film is based, reportedly disavowed the whole production. Ford gives a fine performance but is saddled with the screwiness of his character; the rest of the cast is very good, and Pleshette is excellent although she has only a few lines.

Verdict: This kind of movie should not be a snooze-fest. **.