Ben JohnsonFilmography

Major Dundee

Actors: Charlton Heston, Richard Harris, Jim Hutton, James Coburn, Michael Anderson, Jr.

Synopsis: Sam Peckinpah's 1965 feature Major Dundee was recut and rescored for re-release theatrically in 2005, 40 years after its original release. The "Extended Version," as it is known officially, tells essentially the same story as the original but with clearer motivations for the characters (which Read More

Sugar Creek Gang: Secret Hideout

Actors: Levi Bonilla, Kody Brown, Luke Garmon, Josh Garmon, Samuel Hodge

Synopsis: A handful of kids planning a spooky night of camping out get some real scares in this comedy-drama for the whole family. The kids from the Sugar Creek Gang are making their way through the swamp one day when they stumble upon a mystery that leaves a few people in town wondering if anyone is safe. Read More

The Darklings

Synopsis: The fact that Tippi Hedren is cast as the grandmother of the protagonist is hardly the only Hitchcock reference in the made-for-cable thriller The Darklings. While bedridden with a case of mono, teenager C.J. (Ryan DeBoer) glances out his window, and sees--or thinks he sees--next-door neighbor Read More

Ben Johnson: Third Cowboy on the Right

Synopsis: Oscar-winning character actor Ben Johnson was never as well known as other stars, and yet for many industry insiders, he was the epitome of cowboy actors. Of Cherokee and Irish heritage, Johnson was born in Oklahoma and became a cowboy at age eleven. He grew up to become the only movie cowboy to Read More

The Evening Star

Actors: Shirley MacLaine, Bill Paxton, Juliette Lewis, Miranda Richardson, Ben Johnson

Synopsis: Shirley MacLaine reprises her award-winning performance as Aurora Greenway in this sequel to Terms of Endearment. Fifteen years after the death of her daughter Emma, Aurora is still keeping an eye on her three grandchildren and not having very good luck with it. Tommy (George Newbern) is currently Read More

Ruby Jean and Joe

Actors: Tom Selleck, Rebekah Johnson, JoBeth Williams, Ben Johnson, Eileen Seeley

Synopsis: Sensing that his rodeo career is waning, rangy Joe Wade increasingly seeks solace with booze. His life is rapidly going down the chutes until the day he picks up teenage hitcher Ruby Jean. During the brief time they are together, the two form a lasting friendship and discover the possibilities of Read More

Bonanza: Under Attack

Actors: Ben Johnson, Michael Landon, Jr., Brian Leckner, Leonard Nimoy, Dennis Farina

Synopsis: The television movie Bonanza: Under Attack involves characters made popular in the long-running television western Bonanza. The story involves the dastardly Frank James hiding on the Cartwright family's Ponderosa in order to escape bloodthirsty rogue Pinkerton detectives who want to do more than Read More

Angels in the Outfield

Actors: Danny Glover, Tony Danza, Brenda Fricker, Christopher Lloyd, Ben Johnson

Synopsis: Updated from the 1951 film of the same name, Angels In The Outfield takes liberties with the original to bring sentimental values to a modern setting. Roger (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a foster child whose irresponsible father promises to get his act together when Roger's favorite baseball team, the Read More

Outlaws: The Legend Of O.B. Taggart

Bonanza: The Return

Actors: Ben Johnson, Michael Landon, Jr., Emily Warfield

Synopsis: None of the original cast members of the long-running (1959-73) TV western series Bonanza are on hand for the 1993 TV movie Bonanza: The Return. However, Michael Landon Jr., son of the series' "Little Joe," shows up as Joe's son Benj Cartwright; and Dirk Blocker, son of Dan "Hoss" Blocker, has a Read More

Radio Flyer

Actors: Elijah Wood, Joseph Mazzello, Lorraine Bracco, John Heard, Adam Baldwin, Ben Johnson

Synopsis: Two brothers are the victims of their widowed mother's violent drunkard husband who spares no rod with the youngest brother. Reverting to a world of make-believe, they imagine that their Radio Flyer wagon can fly and that in it they can escape their tormenting stepfather. This film deals in an Read More

Warren Oates: Across the Border

Actors: Peter Fonda, Stacy Keach, Harry Dean Stanton, Ben Johnson

Synopsis: Warren Oates was a well-respected American supporting actor who achieved his greatest success during the 1960s and 70s. He chiefly played villains and losers for such innovative directors as Sam Peckinpah. This documentary, narrated by his friend Ned Beatty gives a good picture of the actor as a Read More

My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys

Actors: Scott Glenn, Kate Capshaw, Ben Johnson, Balthazar Getty, Tess Harper

Synopsis: Scott Glenn is H.D., a champion rodeo rider whose career is ruined after being gored by a bull. He returns home to discover things have drastically changed -- the family farm has been abandoned, his old girlfriend Julie (Kate Capshaw) is a now a widowed mother, and his sister Cheryl (Tess Harper) Read More

The Chase

Synopsis: This exciting chase-film originally aired on television and tells the true tale of the high-speed pursuit of a fleeing bank robber by a determined Denver policeman, and of the courageous local television news crew who captured it all on film and managed to play a big part in bringing the crook to Read More

Back to Back

Actors: Luke Askew, Todd Field, Ben Johnson, Bill Paxton

Synopsis: High in the Superstition Mountains of Arizona, a cache of stolen bank money was hidden back in the 1960s. LA based lawyer Bill Paxton, whose security-guard father (David Michael-Standing) has long been held responsible for the heist-he was the only survivor when his armored car was Read More

Dark Before Dawn

Actors: Sonny Gibson, Doug McClure, Reparata Mazzola, Ben Johnson, Billy Drago

Synopsis: The good people of Milo, Kansas (pop. 1,972) combine forces to battle against the evil agribusiness Farmco that conspires to drive up the price of bread to six dollars a loaf. Farmer Jeff Parker (Sonny Gibson) and the crusading journalist Charlie Stevens (Buck Henry) recruit former Farmco Read More

Cherry 2000

Actors: Melanie Griffith, David Andrews, Ben Johnson, Tim Thomerson, Brion James, Harry Carey, Jr.

Synopsis: In this arch sci-fi sex comedy-cum-action extravaganza, a hard-nosed female mercenary helps a hapless yuppie find a new body for his robot girlfriend in the post-industrial wasteland of the American Southwest. In the year 2017, what little remains of civilization feeds off the scrap heap of 20th Read More

Stranger on My Land

Synopsis: In this drama, a Vietnam vet takes a stand when government agents attempt to take his ranch so they can build a missile base there. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Trespasses

Actors: Robert Kuhn, Van Brooks, Mary Pillot, Adam Roarke, Lou Diamond Phillips

Synopsis: Sharon Rae (Mary Pillot) is a Texas rancher who seeks vengeance against the two drifting rapists (Adam Roarke and Lou Diamond Phillips) who attacked her while her spineless husband Richard (Van Brooks) watched. Her neighbor Franklin (Robert Kuhn) loses his son Johnny (Thom Meyer) when he is Read More

Let's Get Harry

Actors: Michael Schoeffling, Thomas F. Wilson, Glenn Frey, Gary Busey, Robert Duvall

Synopsis: Stuart Rosenberg, under the guise of Alan Smithee, directed this action film concerning a soldier of fortune sent into a South American country to rescue a kidnapped American during a revolutionary upheaval. Harry Burk Jr. (Mark Harmon) and United States Ambassador Douglas (Bruce Gray) are held Read More

Dream West

Synopsis: A sprawling adaptation of the same-named novel by David Nevin, the three-part CBS miniseries Dream West starred Richard Chamberlain as colorful, controversial American explorer John Charles Fremont (1813-1890). The story detailed the visionary (and occasionally mercenary) Fremont's lifelong war Read More

Ballet Black

Actors: Ben Johnson

Synopsis: This interesting documentary charts the history of Europe's first all-black ballet corps, the Ballets Negres, comprised of dancers primarily from the Caribbean. Formed in 1946 by Berto Pasuka, the company was highly successful and influenced the course of ballet by its different dance style, its Read More

Wild Horses

Actors: Kenny Rogers, Pam Dawber, Ben Johnson, David Andrews, Richard Masur

Synopsis: A former rodeo champion gets an insatiable hunkering to get back in the saddle and ride out on a wild horse round up in this made-for-TV western adventure. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Red Dawn

Actors: Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Ron O'Neal, William Smith, Powers Boothe

Synopsis: Set at an indeterminate point in the future, this drama with an overt anti-communist message begins as an ostensible war movie: Russian and Cuban forces have invaded the U.S. and are viciously eliminating the inhabitants of a small town, when a group of teens escapes and plans a counterattack. Jed Read More

Champions

Actors: John Hurt, Edward Woodward, Jan Francis, Peter Barkworth

Synopsis: John Hurt plays the British jockey Bob Champion in this true story of how Champion overcame cancer and the rigors of chemotherapy for an impressive personal and professional comeback. Just as Champion is in the middle of a vacation in Kentucky, he finds out he has cancer, and, like others before Read More

Soggy Bottom USA

Synopsis: Set during Prohibition in a tiny Southern town filled with colorful characters, this all-star comedy follows the exploits of a hard-working sheriff who tries his darnedest to keep things peaceful and above board. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Tex

Actors: Matt Dillon, Jim Metzler, Meg Tilly, Bill McKinney, Frances Lee McCain

Synopsis: Tex represented the first film adaption of a novel by "teen angst" specialist S. E. Hinton. Matt Dillon stars as Tex McCormick, an Oklahoma farm boy who drifts into bad company and a dangerous lifestyle after his mother dies and his father deserts him. His older brother Mason (Jim Metzler) Read More

The Shadow Riders

Actors: Tom Selleck, Sam Elliott, Katharine Ross, Ben Johnson, Geoffrey Lewis

Synopsis: In this made-for-TV movie, two brothers who battled on opposing sides of the Civil War return home at the end of the war to discover that their family has been kidnapped by Confederate forces. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide Read More

Ruckus

Synopsis: A shell-shocked Vietnam vet escapes from an Alabama mental ward and tries to hole up in a little county town. He uses his jungle fighting tactics to defend himself from the Southern thugs who hassle him and the local yokels set up a manhunt to capture him. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Terror Train

Actors: Ben Johnson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Hart Bochner, David Copperfield

Synopsis: Riding the coattails of the resurgent boom in horror films after the success of Halloween, Terror Train features teeth-chattering direction by Roger Spottiswoode and pristine cinematography from John Alcott. The story is the basic slasher film premise, remounted on a moving train. A college Read More

The Hunter

Actors: Steve McQueen, Eli Wallach, Kathryn Harrold, LeVar Burton, Ben Johnson

Synopsis: Steve McQueen's last film concerns a modern day bounty hunter who searches for bail jumpers. Based on real life bounty hunter Ralph "Papa" Thorson, the film details his exciting life, traveling from one city to another, trying to track down fugitives and continually risking his life in the Read More

The Sacketts

Synopsis: The made-for-television western The Sacketts combines the plotlines from two seperate Louis L'Amour novels, The Daybreakers and The Sacketts. In this film, the three Tennessee-raised Sackett brothers migrate to the West following the conclusion of the Civil War. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Read More

Wild Times

Synopsis: In this made-for-TV western, sudden pulp-novel fame drives gunslinger High Cardiff (Sam Elliott) to make good use of his new-found notoriety ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide Read More

The Swarm

Actors: Michael Caine, Katharine Ross, Richard Widmark, Richard Chamberlain, Olivia de Havilland

Synopsis: Killer bees migrate to the United States from Africa via South America in this disaster film produced and directed by the genre's chief architect, Irwin Allen, and written by Stirling Silliphant, scribe of The Poseidon Adventure. Haughty entomologist Brad Crane (Michael Caine) shows up at a secret Read More

The Greatest

Actors: Muhammad Ali, Ernest Borgnine, John Marley, Lloyd Haynes, Robert Duvall, James Earl Jones

Synopsis: With Muhammad Ali cast as himself, The Greatest covers Ali's life from his "Cassius Clay" days to the celebrated Ali/George Foreman bout. Along the way, the film focuses on Ali's conversion to Islam and his potentially career-breaking decision not to serve in the Army. Ernest Borgnine palys Ali's Read More

Grayeagle

Actors: Ben Johnson, Iron Eyes Cody, Lana Wood, Jack Elam, Paul Fix

Synopsis: Grayeagle is a barely disguised reworking of John Ford's The Searchers, with Ford stock company alumnus Ben Johnson essaying the John Wayne role, and Lana Wood playing a character not unlike the one portrayed by her sister Natalie in the earlier film. The major difference is that Grayeagle is told Read More

The Town That Dreaded Sundown

Actors: Ben Johnson, Andrew Prine, Dawn Wells, Jimmy Clem, Charles B. Pierce

Synopsis: This thriller -- based on actual events -- tells in a pseudo-documentary-style of the murders of five people by a man in post-WWII Arkansas. This mystery was still considered unsolved at the time of its release. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide Read More

American Documents, Vol. 8: The Legendary West

Synopsis: The saddle tramp cowboy was made into a hero in large part by the movies. As early as 1903, Edwin S. Porter's The Great Train Robbery was helping to create a mystique about men who rode horses and wore that special type of hat. Although Westerns usually had little to do with historical reality Read More

Breakheart Pass

Actors: Charles Bronson, Ben Johnson, Jill Ireland, Richard Crenna, Charles Durning

Synopsis: Posing as a fugitive from justice, frontier undercover agent John Deakin (Charles Bronson) boards a train to go after a ruthless gang of outlaws. Ingredients essential to the action include an anti-military conspiracy involving gunrunners and Indians, a phony epidemic, and a down-and-dirty Read More

The Savage Bees

Actors: Ben Johnson

Synopsis: Having already overrun most of South America, a swarm of vicious African killer bees prepares to descend upon the United States. Almost as if rehearsed, the tiny menaces converge on New Orleans during Mardi Gras. With revellers dropping left and right, thanks to the fatal stings of the bees, it is Read More

Hustle

Actors: Burt Reynolds, Catherine Deneuve, Ben Johnson, Paul Winfield, Eileen Brennan

Synopsis: Director Robert Aldrich (The Longest Yard) re-unites with Burt Reynolds for this hard-edged neo-noir. Lieutenant Phil Gaines (Reynolds) is a cynical Los Angeles police detective amorously involved with an icewater-veined Parisian call girl, Nicole Britton (Catherine Deneuve). On the job, he begins Read More

Bite the Bullet

Actors: Sally Kirkland, Gene Hackman, Candice Bergen, James Coburn, Ben Johnson, Ian Bannen, Jan-Michael Vincent, Dabney Coleman

Synopsis: An excellent cast, featuring Gene Hackman, Ben Johnson, and James Coburn, highlights this entertaining Western that came and went at the box office, barely noticed by audiences. That doesn't stop the exciting story from capturing the viewer's attention as a disparate group of riders assembles to Read More

Locusts

Actors: Ron Howard

Synopsis: This TV-movie spin on "Lenningen vs. the Ants" not only features predatory locusts, but grasshoppers as well. The insect invasion threatens the harvest of a small rural community. Ben Johnson plays the father of one of the imperiled farm families. Ron Howard plays Johnson's son, who is considered Read More

The Sugarland Express

Actors: Goldie Hawn, Ben Johnson, Michael Sacks, William Atherton, Gregory Walcott

Synopsis: Based on an actual incident, Steven Spielberg's first theatrical feature follows the adventures of a Texas outlaw couple striving to keep their family together by any means necessary. Determined not to lose her child to the authorities, Lou Jean Poplin (Goldie Hawn) gets her obedient convict Read More

The Red Pony

Actors: Henry Fonda, Clint Howard, Maureen O'Hara

Synopsis: The Red Pony is a 1973 TV-movie adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel, previously filmed for theatrical release in 1949. Henry Fonda and Maureen O'Hara star as a turn-of-century farming couple. Clint Howard plays their 10-year-old son, a rebellious lad constantly at odds with his taciturn father. Read More

The Train Robbers

Actors: John Wayne, Ann-Margret, Rod Taylor, Ben Johnson, Christopher George

Synopsis: The action never stops in this western, which has a surprise ending. Ann-Margret stars as Mrs. Lowe, a widow who wishes to recover some gold stolen by her husband and hidden away. She says she wants to return it to the bank it was stolen from and clear her family name. In order to do this, she Read More

Bloodsport

Actors: Ben Johnson, Gary Busey, Larry Hagman, Bill [William] Lucking, David F. Doyle

Synopsis: Bloodsport began life under the less alluring title Poetry in Motion. Gary Busey and Ben Johnson star as, respectively, a high-school football quarterback and his "winning is the only thing" father. The more his dad pushes him, the less Busey truly wants to be an athlete. The inter-family Read More

Kid Blue

Synopsis: In this western set at the turn-of-the-century, an outlaw finds himself at one of life's crossroads as he must decide whether to go straight or continue a life of crime. After bungling a train robbery he decides he should go straight and settle down. He chooses the town of Dime Box, Texas. There Read More

Dillinger

Actors: Warren Oates, Ben Johnson, Michelle Phillips, Cloris Leachman, Harry Dean Stanton

Synopsis: John Milius's first directorial effort in its own small way set the stage in the 1970s for a subgenre of action films that depict a nostalgia for historical figures tinged with a hard-edged skepticism. Warren Oates stars as John Dillinger, whose short-lived career as Public Enemy No.1 was, at Read More

Runaway!

Actors: Martin Milner, Ray Danton

Synopsis: Several familiar faces dot the cast of the made-for-TV Runaway! The scene is a treacherous mountainside, where several skiers have come to...well, ski. The mountain can only be reached by train-and that train is the "runaway" of the title. Just so no one would miss the point, the film was retitled Read More

Corky

Synopsis: A grease monkey becomes so obsessed with stock-car racing that the rest of his life begins to fall apart in this character-driven drama. The one who suffers most from his fixation is his devoted wife whom he totally ignores until she gets a job and her husband begins thinking she is fooling around Read More

The Getaway

Actors: Steve McQueen, Ali MacGraw, Ben Johnson, Sally Struthers, Al Lettieri

Synopsis: In Sam Peckinpah's version of Walter Hill's script, from Jim Thompson's novel, an ex-con and his wife go on the lam after a Texas bank heist. Denied parole after four well-behaved years, Doc McCoy (Steve McQueen) sends his wife Carol (Ali MacGraw) to dirty politician Jack Benyon (Ben Johnson) to Read More

Junior Bonner

Actors: Steve McQueen, Robert Preston, Ida Lupino, Ben Johnson, Joe Don Baker

Synopsis: Sam Peckinpah eschews his slow-motion bullet ballets for this quiet character study of ex-rodeo cowboy turned drifter Junior Bonner (Steve McQueen), who returns home to Arizona to reconcile with the family he hasn't seen in years. Bonner is shocked to see that the solid family he was hoping to Read More

Corky Looking Good

The Last Picture Show

Actors: John Hillerman, Randy Quaid, Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd, Ben Johnson, Cloris Leachman, Ellen Burstyn

Synopsis: Produced by Hollywood iconoclast BBS Productions, film critic-turned-director Peter Bogdanovich's 1971 film pays homage to Hollywood's classical age as it chronicles generational rites of passage in Anarene, a fictional one-horse Texas town. In 1951, high school seniors Sonny (Timothy Bottoms) and Read More

Bonanza: Top Hand

Actors: Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, Ben Johnson, Roger Davis

Synopsis: Joining his fellow ranchers in a big cattle drive, Ben Cartwright chooses veteran cowboy Kelly James (Ben Johnson) as trail boss. This decision is staunchly opposed by rancher Weatherby (Walter Barnes), who once fired James for drunkenness. Meanwhile, Weatherby's cocksure young foreman Bert Yates Read More

Something Big

Synopsis: In this western, an outlaw anxiously awaits the arrival of his betrothed, who is under the false impression that her fiancé is worth a fortune. Unfortunately, the fellow has earned nothing during his stint in the West. Desperate to keep her, he begins plotting the theft of a Mexican bandit's loot. Read More

Chisum

Actors: John Wayne, Forrest Tucker, Christopher George, Ben Johnson, Glenn Corbett

Synopsis: John Wayne toplines this biography of the cattle owner John Simpson Chisum, a controversial figure who was the most powerful man in New Mexico during the Wild West era. A founder and prominent citizen in the town of Lincoln, Chisum is slow to act when ruthless land baron Lawrence Murphy (Forrest Tucker Read More

Ride a Northbound Horse

Synopsis: Carroll O'Connor was two years away from Archie Bunker when he signed for the minor Disney effort Ride a Northbound Horse. O'Connor plays second fiddle to teenaged John Shea, an orphan who journeys to Texas in hopes of growing up to be a cattle rancher. En route, Shea meets a glib con man (you Read More

The Wild Bunch

Actors: William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O'Brien, Warren Oates

Synopsis: "If they move, kill 'em!" Beginning and ending with two of the bloodiest battles in screen history, Sam Peckinpah's classic revisionist Western ruthlessly takes apart the myths of the West. Released in the late '60s discord over Vietnam, in the wake of the controversial Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and Read More

The Undefeated

Actors: John Wayne, Rock Hudson, Antonio Aguilar, Roman Gabriel, Marian McCargo

Synopsis: This routine western finds Union Colonel John Henry Thomas (John Wayne) and company attacking Confederate soldiers lead by Colonel James Langdon (Rock Hudson). After a crushing defeat, Langdon torches his plantation rather than have it fall into enemy hands. A group of Southerners accept the Read More

Bonanza: The Deserter

Actors: Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, David Canary, Ben Johnson

Synopsis: Ben Johnson guest-stars as Sgt. Samuel Bellis, accused of desertion, murder, and selling guns to the Indians. Bellis insists that he's innocent, and Candy believes him-but before he can clear Bellis' name, he must elude the Army patrol that is hot on the fugitive sergeant's heels. In a further Read More

Einstine, Symphony of the Planets, & Tomorrow...

Synopsis: Video art by Eric Siegfal--three, short abstract works. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Hang 'Em High

Actors: Clint Eastwood, Inger Stevens, Ed Begley, Sr., Pat Hingle, Arlene Golonka

Synopsis: Ex-lawman turned rancher Jed Cooper (Clint Eastwood) is moving a small herd of cattle when a group of nine men on horseback, led by Captain Wilson (Ed Begley Sr.), ride up and accuse him of having stolen the cattle and killed their owner. Refusing to believe his account, they string him up by the Read More

Will Penny

Actors: Charlton Heston, Joan Hackett, Donald Pleasence, Lee Majors, Bruce Dern

Synopsis: Rambling along at its own measured pace, Will Penny is a vivid western character study, completely dominated by the rapport between stars (Charlton Heston) and (Joan Hackett). Heston plays Will Penny, an aging and impoverished cowboy. With his cohorts Blue (Lee Majors) and Dutchy (Anthony Zerbe) Read More

Branded: McCord's Way

Synopsis: Despite his dishonorable discharge from the Army, Jason (Chuck Connors) is asked to be sheriff in the small town where he has recently killed a gunslinger. It soon develops that Jason doesn't have much in the way of job security. In the past year alone, the town has had three other sheriffs--all Read More

The Rare Breed

Actors: James Stewart, Maureen O'Hara, Brian Keith, Juliet Mills, Jack Elam, Don Galloway

Synopsis: Andrew V. McLaglen directs the Western drama The Rare Breed, based on the real-life introduction of English Hereford cattle to the American West in the 1880s. Maureen O'Hara plays Martha Price, an widowed Englishwoman who convinces rancher Alexander Bowen (Brian Keith) to use her new cattle breed. Read More

Cheyenne Autumn

Actors: Richard Widmark, Carroll Baker, James Stewart, Edward G. Robinson, Karl Malden

Synopsis: John Ford's last western film, Cheyenne Autumn was allegedly produced to compensate for the hundreds of Native Americans who had bitten the dust in Ford's earlier films (that was the director's story, anyway). Set in 1887, the film recounts the defiant migration of 300 Cheyennes from their Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Reckless Rockhound

Synopsis: Reba Burgess (Audrey Totter) has managed to keep her late husband's mining company alive by securing big bank loans, using a shoebox full of uncut diamonds as collateral. All this may come to an end when Carl Bascom (Jeff Corey) appears out of nowhere, claiming to have a written agreement that Read More

Have Gun, Will Travel: The Fifth Bullet

Synopsis: Eight years ago, Paladin (Richard Boone) was unable to keep his promise to assure a fair trial for John Bartlett (Ben Johnson). Now that Bartlett has been released from jail, Paladin tries to make up for his past transgressions by provided the man a safe passage to visit his family--but there are Read More

The Bull of the West

Actors: Charles Bronson, Lee J. Cobb, James Drury, Brian Keith, Geraldine Brooks

Synopsis: Advertised on the sleeve of its home-video release as a "Charles Bronson western", Bull of the West is actually comprised of two episodes from the American TV western series The Virginian, edited together for theatrical release overseas. The segment in which Bronson appears was originally telecast Read More

Bonanza: The Gamble

Actors: Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, Charles McGraw

Synopsis: While on a cattle drive, the Cartwright men make a stopover in the town of Alkali. The next morning, the Cartwrights are tossed into the local jail, accused of robbing the town's bank and killing several innocent bystanders. Escaping from his cell, Joe Cartwright tries to summon help before his Read More

One-Eyed Jacks

Actors: Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Pina Pellicer, Katy Jurado, Ben Johnson

Synopsis: Western bandit Kid Rio (Marlon Brando) is betrayed by his partner, Dad Longworth (Karl Malden). Escaping from prison, Rio learns that Longworth has become a wealthy and influential lawman. Rio thirsts for revenge, but bides his time, waiting for the right moment to strike. In the meantime, Rio Read More

Have Gun, Will Travel: The Race

Synopsis: Paladin (Richard Boone) is hired by rancher Sam Crabbe (played by future Oscar winner Ben Johnson) to ride in a winner-take-all horserace against an Indian tribe. Since Crabbe has bet his ranch against the entire Indian reservation, he is not above resorting to dirty tricks to emerge victorious. Read More

Disneyland: Rapids Ahead and Bear Country

Actors: Brian Keith, John Beal, James Drury, R.G. Armstrong, Ben Johnson

Synopsis: The first half of this Walt Disney Presents episode, "Rapids Ahead," is ostensibly a salute to John Wesley Powell, the first man to explore the Colorado River. The presence of such actors as Brian Keith and John Beal tips us off that this segment is actually a promo for the upcoming Disney Read More

Have Gun, Will Travel: A Head of Hair

Synopsis: A young white woman has been abducted by the Sioux, and her father has come to Paladin to help effect her rescue. In this pursuit, Paladin is teamed with Lt. Bryson (George Kennedy), a taciturn Army scout who once lived among the Sioux--and has a lot of trouble shaking less-than-fond memories of Read More

Ten Who Dared

Actors: Brian Keith, John Beal, James Drury, Ben Johnson, R.G. Armstrong

Synopsis: Critics consistently consider this historical drama one of the worst films Disney ever made. It is the true-tale of ten heroes from the Civil War who ride down the raging Colorado in hopes of mapping it. The mission is led by the Major John Wesley Powell who lost an arm during the war. Their Read More

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: And the Desert Shall Blossom

Synopsis: Tom (William Demarest) and Ben (Roscoe Ates) are a pair of old coots living in the Nevada desert. The local sheriff (Ben Johnson) shows up at their place with an eviction notice, but he agrees to let them stay on their property if they can get a dead rosebush to bloom within the next 30 days. Not Read More

Tomboy and the Champ

Synopsis: This heartwarming tale chronicles the friendship between a young Texas girl and her pet calf, which she won at the county fair. When the girl is stricken with polio it is caring for the animal that keeps her strong. Later she enters her beloved pet in the Chicago International Exposition. The Read More

Fort Bowie

Actors: Ben Johnson, Jan Harrison, Kent Taylor, Larry Chance

Synopsis: There's a measure of sympathy for the Apaches at the beginning of Fort Bowie. Under the tyrannical rule of ambitious Major Wharton (P. Ian Douglas), a cavalry detachment slaughters a band of Apache who've arrived with the intention of surrendering. A counterattack is inevitable, but before this Read More

War Drums

Actors: Lex Barker, Joan Taylor, Ben Johnson, Larry Chance, Richard H. Cutting

Synopsis: War Drums manages to be pro-Indian, pro-Mexican, pro-tolerance and pro-feminist without ever resorting to speechmaking or sacrificing its entertainment value. Former Tarzan Lex Barker stars as an Apache chief who is almost ostracized by his tribe when he marries Mexican girl Joan Taylor. Read More

Slim Carter

Actors: Jock Mahoney, Julie Adams, Tim Hovey, William Hopper, Ben Johnson

Synopsis: This parody of Hollywood westerns centers on a boorish hellion of a cowboy star who makes life for the studio people around him a waking nightmare. His press agent is particularly beleaguered as she has been assigned to try to keep the errant star in line. She really has her work cut out for her Read More

Rebel in Town

Actors: John Payne, Ruth Roman, J. Carrol Naish, Ben Cooper, John Smith

Synopsis: Rebel in Town was the third issue from Bel-Air Productions, a firm co-founded by film execs Howard W. Koch and Aubrey Schenck. While the title character is played by John Smith, top billing goes to John Payne as ex-Union officer John Willoughby. When Willoughby's young son (Bobby Clark) snaps his Read More

Simba

Actors: Dirk Bogarde, Virginia McKenna, Basil Sydney, Marie Ney, Joseph Tomelty

Synopsis: The recent Mau Mau uprising in Kenya served as story material for the 1955 British film Simba. White farmer Dirk Bogarde and his neighbors are targeted for extermination by the zealously nationalistic Mau Maus. Native doctor Joseph Tomelty, whose brother had earlier been killed under questionable Read More

Oklahoma!

Actors: Gordon MacRae, Shirley Jones, Gene Nelson, Charlotte Greenwood, Gloria Grahame, Rod Steiger

Synopsis: Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1943 Broadway musical was considered revolutionary for a multitude of reasons, not least of which were the play's intricate integration of song and storyline, and the simplicity and austerity of its production design. The 1955 film version of Oklahoma! retains the songs Read More

Shane

Actors: Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin, Brandon de Wilde, Jack Palance

Synopsis: The simple story of a Wyoming range war is elevated to near-mythical status in producer/director George Stevens' Western classic Shane. Alan Ladd plays the title character, a mysterious drifter who rides into a tiny homesteading community and accepts the hospitality of a farming family. Patriarch Read More

Wild Stallion

Actors: Ben Johnson, Edgar Buchanan, Martha Hyer, Hayden Rorke, Hugh Beaumont

Synopsis: Though Ben Johnson would have to wait until the 1970s before full stardom was bestowed upon him, 1952's Wild Stallion proved that, even at this early stage, Johnson had what it took to carry a picture. Harking back to his pre-movie rodeo days, Johnson plays inveterate horse-lover Dan Light, who Read More

Fort Defiance

Actors: Dane Clark, Ben Johnson, Peter Graves, George Cleveland

Synopsis: Fort Defiance stars Dane Clark as Civil War deserter Johnny Tallon. Despite his checkered past, Johnny is idolized by his blind brother Ned (Peter Graves). All this changes when Ben Shelby (Ben Johnson), whose brother's death was caused by Johnny, comes to town in seeking revenge. Though it hardly Read More

Wagon Master

Actors: Ben Johnson, Harry Carey, Jr., Ward Bond, Joanne Dru, Charles Kemper, Alan Mowbray

Synopsis: Wagon Master, splendidly directed by John Ford, is a superlative western. The film is the outwardly simple tale of a Mormon wagon train headed for Utah. Along the way, the group, led by Elder Wiggs (Ward Bond) hook up with two horse traders Travis Blue (Ben Johnson) and Sandy Owens (Harry Carey Read More

Rio Grande

Actors: John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Ben Johnson, Claude Jarman, Jr., Harry Carey, Jr.

Synopsis: John Wayne stars as Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke, whose devotion to duty has cost him his marriage to his beloved Kathleen (Maureen O'Hara). Yorke gets word that his son, Jeff (Claude Jarman Jr.) -- whom he hasn't seen in 15 years -- has been dropped as a cadet from West Point, and that he lied about his Read More

Mighty Joe Young

Actors: Terry Moore, Ben Johnson, Robert Armstrong, Frank McHugh, Mr. Joseph Young, Douglas Fowley

Synopsis: Hoping to make the magic of King Kong happen again, the production team of Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack came up with the 1949 special-effects smorgasbord Mighty Joe Young. Robert Armstrong reprises his Kong portrayal of Carl Denham as hot-shot showbiz entrepreneur Max O'Hara. While in Read More

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

Actors: John Wayne, Joanne Dru, John Agar, Ben Johnson, Victor McLaglen

Synopsis: The second of John Ford's "Cavalry Trilogy", She Wore a Yellow Ribbon is the only one of the three to be lensed in Technicolor. In an Oscar-calibre performance, 42-year old John Wayne plays sixtyish Cavalry Captain Nathan Brittles. In his last days before his compulsory retirement, Brittles must Read More

Fort Apache

Actors: John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Ward Bond, Shirley Temple, John Agar, Pedro Armendáriz, Dick Foran

Synopsis: The first of John Ford's "Cavalry Trilogy", Fort Apache stars John Wayne as captain Kirby York and Henry Fonda as Custer clone Lt. Col. Owen Thursday. Resentful of his loss in rank and transfer to the West after serving gallantly in the Civil War, the vainglorious Thursday insists upon imposing Read More

The Three Godfathers

Actors: John Wayne, Harry Carey, Jr., Ward Bond, Mae Marsh

Synopsis: John Ford had already directed one of the three previous film versions of Peter Kyne's novel under the title Marked Men (1919) with his mentor Harry Carey, a great cowboy star of the silent era who had recently died. It's not difficult to see how the story's sentimentality and Christian symbolism Read More

The Naughty Nineties

Actors: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Alan Curtis, Rita Johnson, Henry Travers

Synopsis: Abbott and Costello's The Naughty Nineties offers a million laughs and a nickel's worth of plot. Most of the film takes place aboard a 19th century showboat, owned by kindly Captain Sam (Henry Travers). Bud Abbott plays the showboat's leading man Dexter Broadhurst, while Lou Costello is handyman Read More

The Outlaw

Actors: Jack Buetel, Jane Russell, Thomas Mitchell, Walter Huston, Mimi Aguglia

Synopsis: Perhaps Hollywood's greatest success du scandal of the 1940s, this odd psychological Western became a box office hit largely thanks to the costuming of leading lady Jane Russell (or, more accurately, its relative absence). Billy the Kid (Jack Buetel) and Doc Holliday (Walter Huston) are Read More