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Elizabeth Montgomery's TV movies

posted 13 years ago by TVmovieViewer
9 replies | jump to latest

Another thread to discus the TV movies of an actress known for her TV movie career. here are the ones I've seen:

1. The Victim (1972) Elizabeth's very first TV movie. Elizabeth stars as a concerned woman who drives to her sister's remote country house in the middle of a heavy rainstorm. When she gets there, her sister is missing, and soon the electricity goes out. I enjoyed this creepy horror story, although I could see how some viewers could grow impatient with the slow-building suspense. I recommend this movie, which was released on vhs as "Out of Contention".

2. A Case of Rape (1974) Excellent TV movie. Elizabeth stars as a housewife who enrolls in night school. One night, a young man offers to drive her home. She accepts, and he brutally rapes her. She decides not to report the crime, and a few days later, in a quiet parking garage, he jumps out and rapes her again. This time she goes to the police, but will they believe her? This is one of Elizabeth's best.

3. The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975) Another excellent one! Elizabeth portrays the infamous Lizzie Borden, who stands trial for the axe murders of her father and stepmother in the 1890's. Katherine Helmond costars in this classic MUST-SEE!

4. Dark Victory (1976) Elizabeth stars as a TV News producer, who learns that she has brain cancer. She falls in love with her doctor (Anthony Hopkins) who tells her that she'll be fine, even though he has confided to her friend (Michele Lee) that Elizabeth really has only one year left to live. The movie starts off great, but then it goes on for too long. However I still enjoyed it, and I still recommend it.

5. Act of Violence (1979) Parts of this movie are great, and some parts are dull. I'd still recommend it, though. Elizabeth stars as a TV news reporter, who is known for her non-racist views. One night she is brutally attacked by a street gang. She becomes consumed by fear, and becomes a racist. Released on vhs as "Deadline Assault".

6. Jennifer: A Woman's Story (1979) Elizabeth stars as a wealthy housewife who is considering divorcing her scumbag husband, who owns a large business. One night, her husband has a heart attack while doing drugs with his mistress in bed. After a few weeks in the hospital, he finally dies. Elizabeth decides that she wants to run his business herself, but all the men who worked for her husband oppose her. I enjoyed the first half of this movie, but I found the second half rather boring.

7. Belle Starr (1980) Elizabeth stars in this western. I don't like most westerns, and I really didn't care for this movie at all.

8. When the Circus Came to Town (1981) This is Elizabeth's most happy, pleasant TV movie. Elizabeth stars as a spinster who, after the death of her father, decides to join the circus. She works various circus jobs, including as a clown and an acrobat. Eileen Brennan costars. The only thing that wasn't believable was that a woman Elizabeth's age could learn such dangerous acrobatic stunts in only one weekend. If you can overlook that, I highly recommend this enjoyable, feel-good movie!

9. Missing Pieces (1983) Elizabeth stars as a widowed LA private detective who is hired by a woman who wants to know if her husband is cheating. After a few days of following the man, Elizabeth witnesses his murder. Now she has an even bigger case to solve. I enjoyed this movie. It's good, but not great.

10. Second Sight: A Love Story (1984) Elizabeth stars as a cold, independent blind woman who works at a museum information desk. One night she comes home and an intruder is in her apartment. She fights the man off, but then decides that she needs a guide dog. She then finds romance, and considers having a surgery that could regain her sight. A touching, feel-good movie. Highly recommended!

11. Between the Darkness and the Dawn (1985) Elizabeth stars as a woman who awakens from a coma after 20 years. She must accept that she has lost her boyfriend and her youth, and must adjust to the new world of the 1980's. This is an excellent TV movie that is available on dvd.

12. Amos (1985) Elizabeth plays a very manipulative nurse in a nursing home. Kirk Douglas plays the title character, a rebellious patient in the nursing home. Kirk begins to realize that aside from being just evil, Elizabeth is quite possibly capable of murder. This one is very good!

13. Face to Face (1990) Elizabeth stars as a paleontologist who is digging for human remains in Africa. This is my LEAST favorite of all her TV movies, and I found it so uninteresting that it's hard to sit though.

14. Sins of the Mother (1991) Despite the fact that she gets top billing, Elizabeth only has a small, supporting role in this movie with a very misleading title. The movie is really about her adult son, who is an all-around terrible person. He lies, shoplifts, lives off of his mother and, ****SPOILER***** he's a serial rapist. Elizabeth lies on the stand to try to help him get away with it. After he's convicted, in the final 4 minutes of the movie, she tries to hire a hit man to kill the judge and the prosecutor. I still enjoyed this movie, even though Elizabeth has only about 20 minutes of screen time. Available on dvd.

15. With Murder in Mind (1992) Elizabeth plays a real estate agent who, along the the homeowners, is shot by a perspective buyer. It turns out the homeowners were drug dealers, and it wasn't just a random crime. Elizabeth was just unlucky, getting involved with these low-lifes. The movie is watchable, but not great.

16. Black Widow Murders: The Blanche Taylor Moore Story (1993) Elizabeth plays a cashier who lives in a trailer. She's having affairs with multiple men, and she slowly kills one, by poisoning him. This movie is not nearly as good as the Judith Light TV movie "Wife, Mother, Murderer" (which is about a different woman who poisoned her family). It's still pretty good, but it's not terrific. Available on dvd.

......Those are all the Elizabeth Montgomery TV movies I'v seen so far.

[–] duked 13 years ago

See The Awakening Land. It is actually a mini series. Elizabeth was excellent, as usual. She was Emmy nominated. I wish she would have won the Emmy, at least once! She was nominated several times for Bewitched and also for A Case Of Rape and Legend of Lizzie Bordan. I love her!!!

[–] jgiles20 13 years ago

I've only seen Sins of the Mother out of all the movies mentioned. It was good and I love Talia Balsam and Dale Midkiff, but Liz did not have a big part at all.

[–] TVmovieViewer 12 years ago

jgiles- I agree that "Sins of the Mother" is still a good TV movie despite the fact that Liz has such a small part.

duked- I never realized that Elizabeth never won a single Emmy. What a travesty. It also surprises me that she was never nominated again after 1978's "Awakening Land". You'd think that at the very least they'd give her an honorary Emmy after she passed away. ...Also, I know I need to watch "Awakening Land" and I'll watch it eventually. Thanks for the recommendation.

[–] SimplemindedSociety 12 years ago

'I never realized that Elizabeth never won a single Emmy. What a travesty'.
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That's a travesty?
I think getting as many great offers a as did made her very fortunate, more than most actresses. I found her overated as a dramatic actress,and her competition for Bewitched was too stiff. Maybe the overlooked Suzanne Pleshette never winning an Emmy is a travesty,but not Liz.

[–] ellery-6 12 years ago

I think they were both talented actresses who had the potential to do greater things but never really got the chance. I wouldn't say that one never winning an Emmy was any more of a "travesty" than the other, although Liz did have more chances at the gold (and I don't see how her 60s competition was"stiff"), so in that respect, she was snubbed more times.

When life gives you lemons, make Limoncello.

[–] SimplemindedSociety 12 years ago

actually, Suzanne started off strong on Broadway(replacing Anne Bancroft,twice)and feature films. You can be sure that casting Bancroft's replacement to sell tickets on Broadway would involve a powerful actress. Suzanne's lack of quality TV-films is a mystery,but I think politics(as usual)was a factor. Pleshette wasn't married to William Asher,also.

Liz's competition included Lucille Ball, Marlo Thomas,Hope Lange,Mary Tyler Moore.

[–] ellery-6 12 years ago

I didn't know about Broadway, but I knew she had strong supporting roles in movies like The Birds, but then by the end of the decade she was doing movies like If it's Tuesday it Must Be Belgium. And then the series came. And then Oh God, Book II.

I don't know - my guess about features is that she wasn't quite the "type" that studios wanted for lead roles at the time, and as far as TV movies go they really didn't become all that common as "star vehicles" until the 80s...Montgomery and Patty Duke were really the first to make that career choice in the early 70s. She did have that one Leona Helmsley role, though.

Now that you have listed her Emmy competition I have to say I'm not particularly impressed, although obviously you think differently...Ball was for Here's Lucy, Thomas in That Girl I don't consider Emmy level anything, don't know what Hope Lange was up for at the time, and MTM was terrific on DvD but much better IMO on her own show. If you put Montgomery up for Emmys in a comedy for certain years in the 70s and 80s I would totally agree with you, but I can't here....the 60s really weren't a strong decade for sitcom actresses, so yeah, I think she deserved one or two of those.

When life gives you lemons, make Limoncello.

[–] SimplemindedSociety 12 years ago

'was doing movies like If it's Tuesday it Must Be Belgium'
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actually, this is a 3*** rated film by critics; the title may be misleading. You're right in that casting probably didn't know how to use Pleshette.

'Montgomery and Patty Duke were really the first to make that career choice in the early 70s.'
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Duke had no other choice, her feature-film career ended in 1972 for the most part.

'Now that you have listed her Emmy competition I have to say I'm not particularly impressed, although obviously you think differently...Ball was for Here's Lucy, Thomas in That Girl I don't consider Emmy level anything, don't know what Hope Lange was up for at the time, and MTM was terrific on DvD ..'
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Ball was nominated for The Lucy Show during this time period also,and deservedly won in 67',68'-- and not for just doing the usual Lucy-thing, but for outstanding work.
The other thing going against Liz is that live audiences usually enchances and gives a comedic performance extra spark,and Bewitched was not as reality based which Emmy seems to prefer.
Shirley Booth won during this this also, 2 Emmys I think.