A & E

Question: I watched a movie about 15 to 20 years ago and can't remember the name. It was about this group or gang of kids that were tired of subway bullies. They started to ride the subways and at every stop they would step out of the car and see if everybody else was OK.

If one of their members didn't stand outside of the car, they would all rush to that car and help out with any disturbance that was going on. Do you know this movie and, if so, is it available on DVD?

Answer: That's the 1981 TV movie "We're Fighting Back," based on an organization similar to the real-life Guardian Angels. In the movie, they're called the Guardians (clever!), and the cast includes Stephen Lang and Ellen Barkin. It's not on DVD.

Q: There's a song in the commercials for Liberty Mutual insurance that includes the lyrics "there are better days to lead us where we stand." Can you tell me the song and the performers?

A: The song is "Better Days," and it's performed by Hem.

Q: I remember a "teen" soap opera from the 1960s. It had a theme song that went something like this: "We're young but never too young to set this whole world spinnin', and we are never too young, for us, love's just beginnin'" Do you have information on this?

A.: I'm thinking it's "Never Too Young," a daytime soap that ran on ABC in 1965-66.

The cast included such former TV child actors as Tony Dow from "Leave It to Beaver" and Tommy Rettig from "Lassie." Dow played a footloose mechanic who had to have his freedom, baby. Robin Grace played his girlfriend, upon whom he was cheatin.' Rettig played good boy Jo-Jo and Michael Blodgett was Ted, the high school football star who suffered a career-threatening injury.

As a way of incorporating pop music into the show, there was a hangout where the cast members would go to hear the likes of Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and Johnny Rivers.

Q: I'm looking for a film that I think is from the World War II era about a little girl who finds a dog that is actually in the Army. Is it available on video or DVD?

A: That's "My Pal Wolf," a 1944 film with Sharyn Moffett, Jill Esmond and George Cleveland.

It's not on video or DVD.

Q: I've got a heavy $50 bet going with my brother. I know that Old Blue Eyes wrote at least one song during his long career. My brother says no. I say yes. But I don't know the name of the song. Can you help? I would sure like to take his $50.

A: Take, already. Frank Sinatra contributed lyrics to several songs, the best-known being "I'm a Fool to Want You" and "This Love of Mine."

Q: I remember a sci-fi movie about a planet that was just like Earth but on the other side of the sun. Two astronauts landed on it and found everything just like earth, only backward. Can you tell me the title and if it's on DVD?

A: Sounds like the 1969 film "Doppelganger," also known as "Journey to the Far Side of the Sun." It was produced by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, who gave us "Thunderbirds," "Fireball XL-5" and "UFO." The cast included Roy Thinnes and Patrick Wymark, and it's on DVD.

Q: I saw a movie in the 1950s about a man working underground in New York City when a nuclear explosion destroyed everything above him. After searching the rubble, he came upon a woman survivor and then another man. I remember a lot of interplay between the three. What was the name of the movie? Is it on DVD?

A.: Sounds like "The World, the Flesh and the Devil," a 1959 film with Harry Belafonte, Inger Stevens, Mel Ferrer and nobody else. It's not on DVD.

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