X

Join or Sign In

Sign in to customize your TV listings

Continue with Facebook Continue with email

By joining TV Guide, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.

Mister 880

The Secret Service of the US Treasury Department has been able to nab a number of high-powered, and sometimes violent, counterfeiters over the years, but case number 880, which has gone unresolved for ten years, has so far confounded them. The reason this case bothers them so much is not only the duration of the investigation but, more importantly, the fact that the bills themselves and their distribution are of an amateurish nature, including the obvious typographical error "Wahsington" on them. They realize that the perpetrator, who they have dubbed Mister 880, has been able to get away with it so far because the bills are almost exclusively $1 which merchants rarely check and that the bills collected, which have been distributed solely in New York City, amount to less than $50 per month. The Secret Service decides to bring in Los Angeles based Steve Buchanan to work on the case as a pair of fresh eyes. As Steve proceeds with his investigation of merchants who have been duped over the past ten years, he's unaware that the kindly old gentleman he meets named William "Skipper" Miller is Mister 880. Aside from daily needs, Skipper uses the money primarily to buy second-hand knick-knacks that he gifts to his friends and neighbors. When asked how he supports himself, Skipper says the money is from his Cousin Henry, which is how he refers to his printing press and self-made plates. The first active distribution of bills under Steve's watch is attributed to Ann Winslow, a French/English interpreter at the UN who's a friend and neighbor of Skipper's. Steve, who doesn't believe Ann is 880 but believes she can lead him to 880, decides to infiltrate Ann's life without telling her he's a government agent. However, she eventually discovers his identity. In spite of that, the two fall for each other. The questions become whether Ann will remember the source of the counterfeit bills in her possession and whether she will tip Skipper off to Steve's identity inadvertently (or intentionally) before Steve discovers just who Mister 880 is. If Steve is able to tie 880 to Skipper, how will that affect Steve and Ann's burgeoning romance. Skipper may have some say in those answers.

Loading. Please wait...

Content not available in your region? ExpressVPN can help you stay connected wherever you are. Get 4 extra months FREE with TV Guide's exclusive offer.

Cast & Crew See All

Burt Lancaster
Steve Buchanan
Edmund Gwenn
William 'Skipper' Miller
Dorothy McGuire
Ann Winslow

Awards

  • 1951 - Oscar - Best Actor in a Supporting Role - nominated
  • 1951 - Golden Globe - Best Supporting Actor - winner
  • 1950 - Photoplay Award - Best Performances of the Month (November) - winner

You May Also Like See All

Celine and Julie Go Boating
Singin' in the Rain
Pinocchio
City Lights

Popular Movies See all movies

That Thing You Do!

1 hr 48 mins
A Pennsylvania band scores a hit in 1964 and rides the star-making machinery as long as it can, with lots of help from its manager.
71   Metascore
1996 Comedy, Drama, Music

Elemental

1 hr 41 mins
Set in Element City, where fire-, water-, land- and air-residents live together, Elemental introduces Ember, a tough, quick-witted and fiery young woman, whose friendship with a fun, sappy, go-with-the-flow guy named Wade challenges her beliefs about the world they live in.
58   Metascore
2023 Animation, Action & Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Drama

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

1 hr 44 mins
Inside a snowflake exists the magical land of Whoville, wherein live the Whos, an almost-mutated sort of Munchkin-like people who all love Christmas. Just outside of their beloved town lives the Grinch (Jim Carrey), a nasty creature that hates Christmas and plans to steal it from the Whos, which he equally abhors. Little Cindy Lou Who (Taylor Momsen) decides to befriend the Grinch.
46   Metascore
2000 Comedy, Family, Fantasy

This Christmas

1 hr 57 mins
This year Christmas with the Whitfields promises to be one they will never forget. All the siblings have come home for the first time in years and they've brought plenty of baggage with them. As the Christmas tree is trimmed and the lights are hung, secrets are revealed and family bonds are tested. As their lives converge, they join together and help each other discover the true meaning of family.
63   Metascore
2007 Comedy, Drama

Last Holiday

1 hr 52 mins
In morte veritas. Georgia Byrd clerks at a New Orleans department store. She defers pleasure: cooks gourmet meals, eats Lean Cuisine; likes a co-worker in silence; has savings, but hasn't left Louisiana. All that changes when a CT Scan discloses she has three weeks to live. She cashes her savings and heads to Grandhotel Pupp in the Czech Republic, where Chef Didier presides. She checks into the Presidential Suite, orders everything on the menu, snowboards, and comes to the attention of the chef and the hotel's powerful American guests: a Congressman, a Senator, a retail magnate, and his mistress. She has nothing to lose, so she tells them what she thinks. Will the truth set them free?
52   Metascore
2006 Comedy, Drama

Two Weeks Notice

1 hr 41 mins
Harvard educated lawyer Lucy Kelson, following in the footsteps of her lawyer parents, uses her career for social activism. She hides any sense of femininity behind her work. George Wade is the suave public face of the Manhattan-based Wade Corporation, a development firm that Lucy routinely opposes and whose true head is George's profit-oriented brother, Howard Wade. George, who has a reputation as a lady's man, has had as his legal counsel a series of beautiful female lawyers with questionable credentials, they who have more primarily acted as his casual sex partners. Needing a real lawyer, he offers Lucy the job of his legal counsel on a chance meeting. Despite warnings from her parents in working for the "enemy", Lucy, who has no intention of being the latest in his bed partners, accepts the job as she feels she can do more good from the inside, and as George, as part of the job offer, promises not to demolish a community center in a heritage building as part of a development project near her childhood Coney Island home where her parents still live. Although Lucy is able to effect the type of change she wanted from this position, she finds she cannot deal with George's expectations of her, namely being his primary confidante and advisor at all hours of the day and night, mostly about issues she considers frivolous. As such, she gives him two weeks notice, although she promises to help George find her replacement. As Lucy begins to review resumes, George himself unilaterally decides to hire June Carver, a fellow Harvardite, but who seems to have her sights set on George as both a boss and personal partner. As June begins to replace Lucy in seemingly all aspects of George's life, Lucy begins to realize that she herself has fallen for George. However, Lucy's feelings for George and her attempts to re-ingratiate herself into George's life are placed into jeopardy when she learns of a Wade Corporation decision against her basic sensibilities.
42   Metascore
2002 Comedy, Drama