The Mattei Affair


            
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The Weekend Murders


            Christmas is approaching, and at the Brady house, Mike and Carol are eagerly awaiting its arrival. Carol is naturally hoping to find out what kind of gift Mike plans to give her, and Mike is naturally adept at keeping it from her.A surprise visit from former housekeeper Alice finds that Christmas is not so cheery for her: Alice's husband, Sam the butcher, has left her for another woman. She's come to Mike and Carol, who were like her family for so many years, for solace. They tell her that she can stay with them in her old room as long as she likes.Both Mike and Carol, at different times, then confide in Alice the Christmas gifts they plan to exchange: Carol is looking to surprise Mike with a cruise ship to Greece. Mike, in the meanwhile, plans to surprise Carol with a trip to Japan. Alice is in a quandary learning of Mike and Carol's plans for each other-- and so are all six of the Brady kids, each of whom receive calls from both Mom and Dad to share the news with all of them.Carol goes to the travel agency to use the vacation account to book the trip. The agent punches the info into her computer and gets very suspicious, finding the account is nearly empty of funds. Carol indignantly protests that she is not lying about her identity and thinks someone impersonating Mike stole the money. In the adjacent cubicle happens to be Mike, who'd just booked the trip to Japan. Overhearing Carol, he reveals himself to her and they both find out what they were planning to do for each other. This naturally leads to some more mushy kissing and lovey-dovey as only Mike and Carol brady can.At home, talking with Alice, Mike and Carol reminisce about past Christmases when all of the Brady family still lived in the spacious home. They realize that this was what made Christmas truly special, for all the family to be together. Ever since the kids grew up and moved out to lead their own lives, a few of them have come each year, but never have all six come. Mike and Carol decide on a new plan for their holiday: send tickets for all of the kids to come home for Christmas, bringing their own spouses and kids to add to the fun.Springing the news to all of the kids, we then find that each of them is wrestling with their own personal holiday gremlins. Greg's wife, Nora, wants to visit her own family since she and Greg and their son Kevin have spent Christmas with Carol and Mike for the past several years. Nora offers a compromise: for Greg and Kevin to go to the Brady home while Nora goes to visit her family. Greg is touched at the selfless offer although he knows he'll miss her being there. Marcia is struggling to comfort her husband Wally, who has been downsized out of his longtime job at a toy manufacturing company. Wally doesn't want to share this for fear it will ruin the holiday spirit for everyone. Peter, on informing his supervisor at work, Valerie, about the invitation, tells her that Mike and Carol want him to bring her with him... Valerie is also his steady girlfriend, but Peter is frustrated that he is also her subordinate (even though she playfully reminds him that it's "only from 9 to 5"). Jan is in the middle of separating from her husband Philip-- and Mike and Carol don't know there is any tension between them at all. Desperate to hide this from her parents, Jan has to beg Philip to come with her and help put on a charade of them still being a happy couple.Meanwhile, Bobby has dropped out of graduate school to pursue a personal hobby he enjoys: race-car driving. The catch is, of course, that his parents don't know this. Cindy, a college senior, was planning to accompany several classmates on a ski trip when she gets the invitation-- but as she is the youngest of the kids, Mike and Carol forget she is still a grown-up now, and instead of asking, they tell her to come. Cindy bristles at this even though she does very much want to see her family again, especially since all of them will be together.Topping it all off is Ted Roberts, who is looking to build a new office building. Mike is in charge of designing the building's layout, and is at odds with Ted wanting to cut building costs by neglecting a number of structural reinforcements, despite Mike's warnings that this will make the building unsafe. Roberts pressures Carol into persuading Mike to change his mind. Ultimately she can't go through with a prepared pitch. Mike comforts her and assures her he'll deal with Roberts, though Roberts is stubborn and suggests he can replace Mike with a different architect. Mike says Roberts is welcome to do this if he so chooses.December 24th arrives. Alice picks up all the kids at the airport and one by one, they arrive at the Brady home. Everyone does catching up and spending time being a big family again, while Valerie is excited at meeting all of Peter's siblings. Several of the Brady men bring in a Christmas tree, and the songs "Deck the Halls" and "Jingle Bells" are sung.In the evening as everyone is preparing for bed, the kids begin to share their personal gremlins with each other. Peter and Bobby, in the living room, discuss Bobby's racing cars and Peter's distraction with his girlfriend being his boss. In the den, Cindy and Valerie talk about themselves. When Valerie says that she's a bit frustrated that Peter wants to marry her but can't bring himself to pop the question, Cindy suggests that Valerie do it herself. Inspired, Valerie tells Cindy that people really should listen to her. Marcia tries again to console Wally, though with only minimal success. Jan covers Philip with a blanket when he falls asleep on a chair (she stopped him from sharing the bed with her) and he thanks her for it. There is some brief conversation over the deed that reveals their lingering feelings for each other, but also highlights at the origins of their estrangement.In the master bedroom, Mike finds Carol awake and deeply worried. She senses something's not quite right with all of the kids, though she can't put a finger on any of it. Mike consoles her and assures her that all will be well in the Brady household and that this will be a Christmas to remember. Comforted, Carol snuggles with Mike and prepares to sleep... but in the kitchen, we see that her instincts were dead-on: all of the six Brady kids, along with Wally, Philip and Valerie, are sitting around the table, eating the pies Alice had prepared for dessert after Christmas dinner. All of them sit in silence, their faces etched with all of the gremlins they are wrestling with.On Christmas morning, Mike and Wally go for a jog along with Wally's son Mickey. Mike jogs past a friend, Mr. Prescott, president of a toy company. Mike mentions that Wally is a valued employee of another toy company that Prescott knows about. Intrigued, Prescott wonders about the possibility of recruiting Wally for his own firm. Wally chomps at the big and begins to talk with Prescott while Mike and Mickey begin to head back to the house... and we see that Mickey had accidentally let slip to Mike that Wally had lost his job, and Mike arranged the jog to introduce Wally to Prescott.Carol goes to wake Jan and Philip for breakfast. Philip accidentally falls backward from the chair into an open dresser drawer. Jan desperately tries to help extricate him from this awkward position before Carol enters the room and sees they hadn't been sleeping in the same bed. No such luck, and Carol peers curiously at Philip and simply says, "Time to get up, Philip." Feeling very awkward, Jan and Philip finally confess to Carol that they had been in the process of separating. Now of course, they both feel they need to explain it to her-- and in so doing, finally touch to the root of what started it all... their respective careers (Philip as a college professor and researcher, Jan as an architect) began to inexorably keep them apart from each other during each of several of their proudest personal accomplishments. The spark is quickly re-lit between Jan and Philip, and Carol tells them they can skip breakfast if they wish, to talk things over with each other and reconcile.Everyone gathers in the dining room for Christmas dinner. Mike begins to make a speech about family values. When he hits on how family members are honest with each other, a nerve is touched and one by one, all of the kids share their gremlins with everyone. Wally apologizes for hiding his layoff, which almost prevented him from landing a new and better job with Prescott. Cindy shares her feelings about needing to be recognized as a grown-up, and asked to do something instead of told; Carol and Mike are touched and agree to her wishes. Bobby shares his new pastime, which concerns both Carol and Mike deeply, but they are more understanding than Bobby feared, and although worried at what car racing might bring in his future, honor his desire to race. Valerie says she's received some inspiration from Cindy, and Peter begins to suspect what she means and tries to talk over her. Mike and Carol suggest that they both say what's on their mind at a count of three, but eager to beat each other out, Peter and Valerie both blurt out respective marriage proposals on the count of two. Everyone applauds as they kiss. The doorbell rings at this point, and Alice answers to find Nora there. She'd gone to visit her family, seen them and caught up with them, and then decided she needed to be with her husband and her son. The Brady family is all happy and joyous and filled with the holiday spirit once more, as only "The Brady Bunch" can.A call from Ted Roberts throws one final monkey wrench into the Brady Christmas. Roberts' attempts at cost-reducing shortcuts has produced a disaster. Part of the building under construction has collapsed and several construction workers are trapped. Out of concern for the other workers, Mike agrees to go and help, while the rest of the family fusses and frets, worried about how it will all turn out.Mike arrives at the construction site and receives a run-down of what caused the collapse. He tells Roberts what he needs him to do help relieve pressure on over-stressed support beams, while Mike goes into the ruined area to try and rescue the trapped workers. But no sooner does Mike enter, when there is another collapse behind him, and Roberts realizes to his horror that Mike is now trapped with the other workers.The whole Brady family is at the head of a large crowd that has gathered behind a police barricade. Roberts has carried out his end of Mike's rescue plan, and the building has been stabilized-- for now. Suddenly there is a big stir and buzz as the trapped construction workers emerge from the rubble, shaken and a bit bruised but otherwise okay. But joy is short-lived as it is found that Mike has not followed them out. He'd managed to rescue them, but is still himself trapped. The camera view briefly switches to Mike, pinned under a piece of support beam.The evening wears on and the Brady family can only wait. Cindy goes to Carol and begins to reminisce about asking Santa Claus to cure Carol's laryngitis in time for her to sing at Christmas services in Church (several clips from the TV series episode devoted to this, are used as flashbacks). Now grown-up, Cindy wishes she could still ask Santa for another favor. Carol tells her daughter that one it's never too late to believe, and she begins to sing "O Come, all Ye Faithful," the same song she sang at the Church service. One by one, the rest of the family begins to join in, and then the entire crowd. The Christmas song is sang at a steadily rising volume, and the camera view switches briefly to show Mike hearing the song. Carol stops short as Mike emerges from the rubble. The whole family rushes to hug him as the rest of the crowd applauds. A TV reporter on the scene, summing up a special news update for her station, looks up at the cross-street signs on the corner where the building was being built... one of the cross-streets was 34th street, and the reporter simply says, "This has been another Miracle on 34th Street (1947) ."The Brady family has returned home and finished Christmas dinner, and the kids have to 'fess up to eating Alice's dessert pies. At this point, the final Brady Christmas gremlin is put to rest as a man in a Santa suit shows up... it's Sam the butcher, cursing himself as a fool for having run off on Alice, and wanting to reconcile. Naturally, Alice agrees, and the movie closes with the whole Brady family joyously singing "We Wish you a Merry Christmas."
    

Peter Baldwin

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