TV questions: Was war movie Newhart’s first duty on film?

You have questions. I have some answers.

I remember years ago seeing an old black-and-white war movie with a young Bob Newhart doing his telephone routine. Was this his first acting role? I don’t remember the name of it. I think Steve McQueen was also in it.

The movie you remember is 1962’s “Hell Is for Heroes,” with Steve McQueen, Bobby Darin, Fess Parker and Newhart (1929-2024) in his first movie performance. In his 2006 memoir “I Shouldn’t Even Be Doing This!” Newhart says making the movie was not a happy experience. Changes were made from the concept first told to him, conditions were bad, McQueen and Darin were at odds over who was the star in the movie — Newhart had his eye on other gigs. With his comedy album “The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart” and its successor selling well, Newhart’s pay for stand-up gigs had quadrupled, and “I wanted to accept some of the offers that were coming my way.” Wanting out of the movie, Newhart kept suggesting to director Don Siegel ways to kill off his character, only to be told “you’re in the movie until the end.” Newhart did go on to other movies; still, TV proved a happier home.

I wonder if you have heard if “Hudson & Rex” and “Wild Cards” have been renewed and will be returning this year. These are two of my favorite shows and I will be disappointed if they do not return.

These Canadian-made series are both continuing, with new episodes expected in 2025. “Wild Cards” — a comedy-drama about an unlikely pair of crime solvers — recently received an order for a second season through a partnership between the CBC and the CW. “Hudson & Rex” — where a cop gets help from his dog — has been picked up for a seventh season on Canada’s CityTV network; in the U.S., UP Faith & Family, currently carrying five seasons of the show, has the rights to future ones as well.

Is there any info you can provide about a ’60s movie with Ronald Reagan and, I believe, Clu Gulager called “The Killers”?

The movie you recall is from 1964 and fully titled “Ernest Hemingway’s The Killers.” It’s very loosely based on a Hemingway story which had previously inspired the film noir classic “The Killers” in 1946. Gulager and Lee Marvin play the titular killers in the 1964 film (William Conrad and Charles McGraw are the hit men in the earlier movie). Ronald Reagan is the villain, and in his last movie. The cast also includes Angie Dickinson and John Cassavetes.

Siegel — who directed the previously mentioned “Hell Is for Heroes” as well as several Clint Eastwood movies — was the director on this film as well. Originally made for TV, it was deemed too violent for the small screen and released to theaters instead. One way to see it today is via a fine Criterion DVD which contains both the 1946 and 1964 films, as well as extras such as essays about both movies.