African Story

After completing 13 Television Spectaculars, Rex Maynard, a Sinatra like singer, goes on vacation. He also decides to elope with his producer's daughter to Africa! Stephen Boyd, the producer, stages a fake kidnapping to scare Rex off from his daughter and make publicity for his television spectaculars. All is under control until Rex Maynard, who was also a former stuntman, escapes, using his Stuntman Skills. But the coast of South Africa isn't clear yet! REAL kidnappers decide to grab Rex and it gets out of control! Then we find out who Rex can trust and can't trust. Even his wife is involved some how. But can the Manipulator manipulate the situation to save the day? Who doesn't want to be Rex Maynard? Michael Kirner gives a very realistic performance as a man who's been kidnapped many times in one day. Stephen Boyd is great as The Manipulator. I'm only sorry to see this series did not take off. It would be great to see him put his Stuntman/singer through more adventure. There are lots of side stories going on to keep the characters fresh and add depth to the story.

Beautiful locations in South Africa. Great music with, "Man, You Need A Hand" and other songs. The soundtrack would be a great addition to any collection. Very rarely does a movie have an impact on my life, but this one did.

This is a very hard film to find and I'm lucky a friend taped in by accident. This was made back to back with 'The Big Game', but they are not related, just the same film crew. If you get a chance, check this film out! The real title of this film is 'The Manipulator'. The Mickey Rooney film came out at the same time and they were forced to change the title.