Late Night Retro Television Reviews: Highway to Heaven 3.20 “The Hero”

Posted on April 24, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Thursdays, I will be reviewing Highway to Heaven, which aired on NBC from 1984 to 1989. The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi and several other services!

This week, Jonathan meets a man who is desperate for money.

Episode 3.20 “The Hero”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on February 18th, 1987)

In desperate need of dental work that the VA refuses to pay for, disabled Vietnam veteran Joe Mason (James Stacy) considers stealing money from work and spends his time getting drunk and getting into fights in parking lots. Luckily, Jonathan is his new coworker and is able to show Joe that he truly deserve to be called a hero.

This was a standard Highway to Heaven episode but some people will find it interesting just because it features James Stacy. Stacy was the former star of the western series Lancer, the one that played a central role in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. (In that film, Stacy is played by Timothy Olyphant.) In real life, Stacy lost both his left arm and his left leg when he was hit by a drunk driver while he was riding his motorcycle. (Stacy’s girlfriend at the time was killed.) Stacy continued to act, appearing in roles, like this one, that were specifically written to include his disability. Stacy was nominated for a few Emmy Awards after his accident and he gives a good performance in this episode.

Unfortunately, James Stacy’s career did not have a happy ending, as he struggled with alcoholism after the accident. He retired from acting in 1991 and four years later, he pled “no contest” to inappropriately touching an 11 year-old girl. (I’ve come across a lot of different version of what happened, with some saying it was a misunderstanding and others saying that it definitely wasn’t. What everyone does seem to agree on is that Stacy was drunk at the time.) Due in court in California, Stacy instead fled to Hawaii where he attempted to commit suicide by jumping off a cliff, just for the wind to slam him into a ledge below. Stacy, who had been looking at probation, was instead sent to prison for six years. After his release, Stacy lives in seclusion until his 2016 death.

Stacy’s appearance on this episode is another example of Highway to Heaven giving work to veteran actors who were not necessarily working on a regular basis. In many ways, this show was like The Love Boat or Fantasy Island, in that its guest cast leaned heavy on nostalgia. Landon was a Hollywood veteran himself and one gets the feeling that one of his main motivations for doing this show was to help out his friends and acquaintances, the ones who weren’t necessarily at the top of Hollywood’s casting list anymore. The use of so many veteran actors, even someone who eventually became rather problematic like James Stacy, just adds to the earnestness that was this show’s defining characteristic.

Horror Film Review: The Bride and the Beast (dir by Adrian Weiss)

Posted on October 7, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The 1958 film, The Bride and the Beast, tells the story of newlyweds Dan (Lance Fuller) and Laura Fuller (Charlotte Austin). Dan is an overly macho and chauvinistic big game hunter who is so into hunting and capturing animals that he even keeps a gorilla named Sparky in the basement of his home. I’m not really sure that’s legal and, even if it is, the logistics of keeping a gorilla in your home seem like they would be beyond the capabilities of moron like Dan. Then again, when Sparky gets loose and tries to attack Laura, Dan is forced to shoot him. So, I guess the movie was kind enough to prove my point.

Laura, though grateful to be alive, cannot stop thinking about Sparky and soon, she’s having dreams about her past life as a gorilla. Because Dan doesn’t believe that his wife was once a gorilla, he takes her to the jungles of Africa for their honeymoon. While Dan proves himself to be not quite the ideal romantic husband by keeping himself busy by hunting a killer tiger, Laura finds herself being drawn back to her former existence as the Queen of the Gorillas. Dan may be able to save his camp from the tiger but will he be able to save his wife from the primates that want her for their bride? And will Laura maybe be smart enough to realize that a normal husband would not react to his new bride hatred of hunting for forcing her to go on a safari for her honeymoon? I mean, really, everything that happens in this film is pretty much Dan’s fault. Here’s hoping that Laura divorced him and married a smarter 50s hero. Like maybe Jeff the pilot from Plan 9 From Outer Space. Now that was a man!

This very low-budget film, which is full of stock footage and sets that wobble whenever any of the actors bump into them, has gained some attention in recent years because the script was written by Edward D. Wood, Jr. As such, there’s a scene in which Laura undergoes hypnosis and delivers a monologue about how much she loves her angora sweater. (“It felt like the fur of a small kitten.”) The nonsensical plot and dialogue could only have come from Ed Wood. Unfortunately, Wood himself didn’t direct the film. That job falls to Adrian Weiss and, as a result, the film’s direction doesn’t feature any of the quirky weirdness that one typically associates with a Wood production. The film gets off to a good start, with Dan revealing that he keeps a gorilla in his basement and coming across like some sort of mad scientist but, once the action moves to the jungle, things start to drag as Weiss takes a bland and workmanlike approach to a story that demanded a more imaginative approach.

The film does conclude on an enjoyably odd note, one in which overly macho Dan discovers that it takes more than a rifle and a hunting hat to be king of the jungle. In the end, though, this film is mostly just for Ed Wood completists.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Highway to Heaven 2.10 “The Monster: Part One”

Posted on May 16, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Scottie returns! Unfortunately, he’s a drunk now.

Episode 2.10 “The Monster: Part One”

(Dir by Victor French, originally aired on December 4th, 1985)

It’s another week and another visit to a small town for Jonathan and Mark.

This time, Mark thinks that they are only in town to visit his cousin, Diane (Margie Impert), and her husband, Scottie (James Troesch), the quadriplegic attorney who appeared in a few episodes during the first season. Mark tells Jonathan that, when he last spoke to Diane, she said that she had something important to talk to him about. Mark assumes that Diane is pregnant but actually, it turns out that Diane and Scottie’s marriage is in trouble. Scottie may be an attorney but he has no clients and Diane has gone back to work to help pay the bills. Feeling like a failure, Scottie has taken to drinking.

While Mark deals with Diane and Scottie, Jonathan has an assignment. He working as a handyman for Ella McCullough (Barbara Townsend) and her blind daughter, Rachel (Annabella Price). At first, Rachel is bitter and stand-offish but Jonathan wins her over by encouraging her to leave her little cottage and explore the world. While relaxing at a nearby creek, Rachel meets a man (Jeff Kober) who is out for a walk. Rachel tells the man that he startled her and then mentions that the neighborhood kids talk about a monster named Julian. Julian lives in the woods and drags off bad kids.

“My name’s Clark,” the man lies.

Actually, the man’s name is Julian but you can understand why he might not want to admit that after listening to Rachel describe him as being a monster. Julian is not a monster, of course. He’s a sensitive sculptor who just happens to have a very large birthmark covering half of his face and neck. Having been ridiculed all of his life, Julian lives with his mom (Ann Doran) and rarely talks to anyone. Still, Julian falls in love with Rachel and Rachel falls in love with …. Clark.

Julian finally finds the strength to visit Rachel at her cottage. However, when she tells him that she will be having an operation to resort her sight, Clark yells that he’s Julian and then he runs back into the woods. Rachel chases after him. When she trips and hits her head on a rock, Julian runs over to her and tries to help. Unfortunately, that’s when the police arrives and promptly arrest Julian for assault.

Julian’s going to court! Hey, does anyone know an attorney who needs a shot of confidence and who has a unique understanding of what it’s like to be an outsider? We’ll find out next week because this is a two-part episode!

Reviewing a two-parter is always difficult. Tonight’s episode ends with the story nowhere close to being finished. I can’t judge the overall story but I can say that Jeff Kober gave a touching performance as Julian and he was the best thing about the first part of The Monster. As for Scottie, he needs to stop blaming everyone else for his own lack of confidence. Hopefully, that’s a lesson he’ll learn during the second part of this episode.

We’ll find out next week!

Horror on TV: The Veil 1.2 “Girl on the Road” (dir by George Waggner)

Posted on October 7, 2019 by Lisa Marie Bowman

From 1958, it’s The Veil!

The Veil was a horror anthology series that, because of financial difficulties at Hal Roach Studios, were never actually aired on television. 10 episodes were filmed before production was abruptly canceled. Each episode was hosted by (and often starred) Boris Karloff. Karloff later stated that he was never actually paid for his work on the show but his work as the host did eventually lead to him being hired to host Thriller, a horror anthology series that eventually did air.

As for The Veil, the ten episodes that were produced were never actually sold to a network but, in the 60s, several episodes were edited together to create films that aired on late night television. It wasn’t until the 90s that the episodes were actually released on video. For that, we largely have Something Weird Video to thank.

Each episode of The Veil opened with Karloff promising the lift the veil on a strange, perhaps supernatural, event. (Most of the stories were supposedly based on true stories.) Karloff would also play a role in each episode. For instance, in tonight’s episode, he plays Morgan Debs.

Tonight’s episode is called Girl on the Road. It’s a nicely atmospheric tale about a man (Tod Andrews) who picks up a mysterious woman (Eve Brent) who is stranded on the side of the road. What is the woman’s secret and why is she terrified of Morgan Debs? Why does everyone in the town refuse to talk about her? Watch to find out!

This episode was directed by George Waggner, who is perhaps best known for directing the original Wolf Man.

Enjoy!