John DerekFilmography

Tarzan, the Ape Man

Crew: Cinematographer, Director

Actors: Bo Derek, Richard Harris, John Phillip Law, Miles O'Keeffe, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Akushula Selayah

Synopsis: John Derek directed this 1981 vanity production of the Tarzan tale as a bon-bon for his wife Bo Derek. The Bo Derek version answers any questions viewers may have had concerning Tarzan and Jane's sex life. The film begins as Jane (Bo Derek)'s father Parker (Richard Harris) heads to the African Read More

Fantasies

Crew: Cinematographer, Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Bo Derek, Peter Hooten, Anna Alexiadis

Synopsis: This John Derek opus shows off his latest protegee/wife, Bo Derek. Set on a lush Greek island, the story concerns a sister (Bo Derek) and brother (Peter Hooten), who return home after years abroad. Falling under the island's erotic spell, the girl and boy discover that their love goes beyond Read More

A Boy ... A Girl

Crew: Cinematographer, Director, Lyricist, Screenwriter

Actors: Dean Paul Martin, Airion Fromer, Karen Steele, Kerwin Mathews

Synopsis: Two 15-year-old teenagers engage in their first love affair. Dino Martin Jr. and Airion Fromer meet and fall in love with each other. Their romance is sidetracked when the girl has an affair with Mr. Christian (Kerwin Mathews), a man easily twice her age. After she has experienced the pleasures of Read More

The Children

Crew: Cinematographer, Director

Synopsis: This amusingly weird, painfully threadbare production pits a town of lethargic ex-hippie parents against their own offspring, who have been transformed into pasty-faced zombies (with cute little black fingernails) after their school bus passes through a cloud of radioactive fallout from a nearby Read More

Confessions of Tom Harris

Crew: Cinematographer, Director

Actors: Don Murray, Linda Evans, David Brian, Angelique Pettyjohn, Don Joslyn

Synopsis: Actor Don Murray wrote, produced, and starred in this drama about an alcoholic former serviceman who falls in with gangsters until he has a spiritual awakening and decides to devote his life to helping others. The supporting cast includes Linda Evans, Logan Ramsey, and Angelique Pettyjohn. Also Read More

Once Before I Die

Crew: Director, Producer

Actors: John Derek, Ursula Andress, Richard Jaeckel

Synopsis: Long before Bo Derek, actor/director John Derek was playing Svengali with another movie-star wife, Ursula Andress. In Once Before I Die, Derek casts himself as a cavalry major and Andress as his mistress. Both captain and girl are marooned with a group of American marines in the Philippines. When Read More

Pirate of the Half Moon

Synopsis: In this costume drama, an Italian aristocrat becomes a footloose minstrel and wins the love of a king's niece. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Nightmare in the Sun

Crew: Producer

Actors: John Derek, Aldo Ray, Arthur O'Connell, Ursula Andress, Sammy Davis, Jr.

Synopsis: In this crime drama, a bored, but seductive wife of a wealthy old ranch goes cruising for trouble and finds it when she picks up a hapless hitchhiker who soon falls under her sexy spell. Like a fly to a spider's web, he is drawn to her bedroom. Unfortunately, the old rancher sees him leaving and Read More

Exodus

Actors: Paul Newman, Eva Marie Saint, Ralph Richardson, Peter Lawford, Lee J. Cobb

Synopsis: Produced and directed by Otto Preminger, Exodus is a 212-minute screen adaptation of the best-selling novel by Leon Uris. The film is concerned with the emergence of Israel as an independent nation in 1947. Its first half focuses on the efforts of 611 holocaust survivors to defy the blockade of Read More

I Battellieri del Volga

Actors: John Derek, Elsa Martinelli, Dawn Addams, Charles Vanel

Synopsis: The best thing going for this period piece set during the time of the last Russian Czar is its visual atmosphere, defined by gorgeous sets, costumes, and scenery. Alexey (John Derek) is a soldier in the Czar's army whose fiancée is raped by a general. In retaliation, Alexey attacks the general and Read More

High Hell

Actors: John Derek, Elaine Stewart, Rodney Burke, Patrick Allen, Jerold Wells

Synopsis: Craig Rhodes (John Derek) is the partner of gold miner Frank Davidson (Al Mulock). Frank's wife Lenore (Elaine Stewart) develops a yen for Rhodes, while he insists upon remaining honorable.The situation becomes prickly when a heavy snowfall forces Frank, Lenore and Craig to share close quarters Read More

Omar Khayyam

Actors: Cornel Wilde, Michael Rennie, Debra Paget, Raymond Massey, John Derek

Synopsis: Frank Freeman Jr., son of the longtime head of Paramount Pictures, made his debut as producer with the opulent but empty Omar Khayyam. Cornel Wilde stars as the legendary Persian poet, here depicted as not only a philosopher but a scientist, politician and great lover. As the Persians gear up for Read More

Fury at Showdown

Actors: John Derek, John Smith, Carolyn Craig, Nick Adams, Gage Clarke

Synopsis: Fury at Showdown stars John Derek as a gunfighter who hopes to hang up his guns and live the peaceful life of a cattle ranch. Settling down on his new spread with his brother Nick Adams, Derek finds that he can't live down his reputation. When his brother is murdered on the orders of land-grabbing Read More

The Flesh Is Weak

Actors: John Derek, Milly Vitale, William Franklyn, Martin Benson, Freda Jackson

Synopsis: This once-notorious British expose film now seems as innocent as a community choir rehearsal. Based on the real-life activities of London's Messina gang, The Flesh is Weak tells the story of a decent girl named Marissa Cooper (Milly Vitale) who is inveigled by a family of pimps into a life of Read More

La Belle Et Le Corsaire

Actors: John Derek, Gianna Maria Canale, Inge Schoener, Alberto Farnese

The Leather Saint

Actors: Paul Douglas, John Derek, Jody Lawrance, Cesar Romero, Richard Shannon

Synopsis: The Leather Saint is an uneasy blend of religious drama and prizefight picture. John Derek stars as Father Gil Allen, an Episcopalian minister who relaxes on weekends by indulging in a few rounds of boxing. Allen hopes to use the prize money to finance a medical center for young polio victims, but Read More

Massacre at Sand Creek

Synopsis: Troops are led into a battle with an innocent and defenseless Cheyenne tribe by their Indian-hating colonel. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

The Ten Commandments

Actors: James Coburn, Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter, Edward G. Robinson, Yvonne De Carlo

Synopsis: Based on the Holy Scriptures, with additional dialogue by several other hands, The Ten Commandments was the last film directed by Cecil B. DeMille. The story relates the life of Moses, from the time he was discovered in the bullrushes as an infant by the pharoah's daughter, to his long, hard Read More

Prince of Players

Actors: Richard Burton, Maggie McNamara, John Derek, Raymond Massey, Charles Bickford

Synopsis: Screenwriter Philip Dunne doubled as director on the elaborate filmed biography Prince of Players. Richard Burton stars as the eminent American tragedian Edwin Booth, whose life and career is thrown into turmoil after his younger brother John Wilkes Booth (John Derek) assassinates Abraham Lincoln. Read More

Run for Cover

Actors: James Cagney, John Derek, Viveca Lindfors, Jean Hersholt, Ernest Borgnine, Grant Withers

Synopsis: In his first western since 1939's The Oklahoma Kid, James Cagney is a pillar of integrity in the Pine-Thomas production Run for Cover. Cagney plays Matt Dow, who at the beginning of the film has been released from prison after serving six years for a crime he didn't commit. Heading westward, Matt Read More

An Annapolis Story

Actors: John Derek, Diana Lynn, Kevin McCarthy, Alvy Moore, Patrick Conway

Synopsis: The faces are new and the settings up-to-date, but otherwise An Annapolis Story is the tried-and-true "two guys and one girl" formula. Filmed on location at the titular Maryland naval academy, the story centers upon two sibling cadets, Tony (John Derek) and Jim (Kevin McCarthy). The boys battle Read More

The Adventures of Hajji Baba

Actors: John Derek, Elaine Stewart, Rosemarie Bowe, Thomas Gomez, Paul Picerni

Synopsis: In the 1950s, historical spectaculars set in the Far or Middle East became the repository for exploitive tales of eroticism, pure lust, and concupiscent freedom. The "decadence" of previous times gave American filmmakers an excuse to satisfy viewers' libidinal and voyeuristic desires. All this Read More

The Outcast

Actors: John Derek, Joan Evans, Jim Davis, Catherine McLeod, Ben Cooper

Synopsis: Jet Cosgrave (John Derek) is The Outcast in this big-budget Republic western. Thanks to the chicanery of his crooked uncle Major Cosgrave (Jim Davis), Jet has been cheated out of his father's property and branded a pariah. He spends the rest of the film trying to regain his birthright and clear Read More

Prince of Pirates

Actors: John Derek, Barbara Rush, Carla Balenda, Whitfield Connor, Edgar Barrier

Synopsis: Prince of Pirates is fairly elaborate for a Sam Katzman production, though its low budget does betray itself in the closing scenes. Utilizing plenty of stock footage from Joan of Arc (as he'd previously done in Thief of Damascus), producer Katzman offers the viewer a 16th-century swashbuckler Read More

Mission over Korea

Synopsis: In this Korean War drama, a strong-willed, stubborn greenhorn pilot becomes obsessed with avenging the death of his brother who died during an aerial skirmish with the deadly Chinese "volunteer" pilots. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Sea of Lost Ships

Actors: John Derek, Wanda Hendrix, Walter Brennan, Richard Jaeckel, Tom Tully

Synopsis: Sea of Lost Ships is partly a tribute to the U.S. Coast Guard, but mostly a typical Republic Pictures melange of action, romance and suspense. John Derek plays Grad Matthews, descended from a long line of Coast Guard officers. Through a misunderstanding, Grad is booted out of the Coast Guard Read More

The Last Posse

Actors: Broderick Crawford, John Derek, Charles Bickford, Wanda Hendrix, Warner Anderson

Synopsis: After his Oscar win for All the King's Men, Broderick Crawford found himself working out his Columbia contract in a string of rapidly deteriorating films. The Last Posse was a middling western, the sort that the studio sent out as bottom-of-bill attractions for their prestige pictures. The posse Read More

Ambush at Tomahawk Gap

Actors: John Hodiak, John Derek, David Brian, Maria Elena Marques, Ray Teal

Synopsis: Ambush at Tomahawk Gap is a characteristically brutal program western from Columbia's Wallace MacDonald unit. John Hodiak, John Derek, David Brian and Ray Teal play ex-convicts who ride into a Godforsaken western town. They're on the lookout for the loot that they buried from their last big "job." Read More

Scandal Sheet

Actors: Donna Reed, Broderick Crawford, Rosemary de Camp, Henry O'Neill

Synopsis: The distinctive stamp of action-film director Phil Karlson is very much in evidence in Scandal Sheet. Broderick Crawford plays tabloid editor Mark Chapman, whose burgeoning success is threatened by the arrival of his wife Charlotte (Rosemary DeCamp), whom he deserted 20 years earlier. Hoping to Read More

Thunderbirds

Actors: John Derek, John Drew Barrymore, Mona Freeman, Gene Evans, Eileen Christy

Synopsis: Not to be confused with a 1942 20th Century-Fox aviation actioner with the same title, Thunderbirds is a Republic Pictures war flick. John Derek and John Barrymore Jr. play two handsome flyboys with the Oklahoma National Guard who are pressed into service at the outbreak of World War II. They Read More

Saturday's Hero

Actors: John Derek, Donna Reed, Sidney Blackmer, Alexander Knox, Elliott Lewis

Synopsis: John Derek plays a Polish-American immigrant who excels in high school sports. Though no great shakes academically, Derek wins a scholarship at an exclusive Southern university. Sidney Blackmer is a wealthy alumnus who sees to it that Derek is allowed to coast in his classes so that he can play Read More

Mask of the Avenger

Actors: John Derek, Anthony Quinn, Jody Lawrance, Arnold Moss, Eugene Iglesias

Synopsis: Auteur theorists may have trouble discerning the "signature" of director Phil Karlson in the Columbia costume adventure Mask of the Avenger. John Derek stars as Capt. Renatu Dimorna, the son of an Italian aristocrat, who vows revenge after his father is murdered during the European political Read More

The Family Secret

Actors: John Derek, Lee J. Cobb, Jody Lawrance, Erin O'Brien-Moore

Synopsis: A lawyer must make the most difficult decision of his life in this crime drama that begins when the attorney's son inadvertently kills his best friend. No one was around to see what happened and only his family is the wiser. But the death creates a rift in the family. His father wants him to Read More

Rogues of Sherwood Forest

Actors: Alan Hale, John Derek, Diana Lynn, George Macready, Paul Cavanagh

Synopsis: Decked out with leftover sets and stock footage from 1946's Bandit of Sherwood Forest, Columbia's Rogues of Sherwood Forest stars John Derek as the son of legendary do-gooder Robin Hood. When King John (George Macready) revives his old cycle of taxation and repression, Robin Jr. summons forth his Read More

All the King's Men

Actors: Broderick Crawford, John Derek, Joanne Dru, John Ireland, Mercedes McCambridge

Synopsis: Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Robert Penn Warren, All the King's Men is a roman à clef inspired by the career of Louisiana governor Huey Long. Broderick Crawford won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Willie Stark, a backwoods Southern lawyer who wins the hearts of his Read More

Knock on Any Door

Actors: Humphrey Bogart, John Derek, George Macready, Allene Roberts, Susan Perry

Synopsis: Though Humphrey Bogart is the official star of Knock on Any Door, the film is essentially a showcase for Columbia's newest young male discovery John Derek. The first production of Bogart's Santana company, the film casts Bogart as attorney Andrew Morton. A product of the slums, Morton is persuaded Read More

A Double Life

Actors: Whit Bissell, Ronald Colman, Signe Hasso, Betsy Blair, David Bond, Edmond O'Brien, Shelley Winters, Harlan Briggs, Georgia Caine, Ray Collins

Synopsis: Ronald Colman won an Academy Award for his portrayal of an off-the-beam actor in A Double Life. A beloved stage star, Anthony John (Colman), has problems with his private life due to his unpredictable outbursts of temper. This trait has already cost him his wife, Brita (Signe Hasso), and threatens Read More

I'll Be Seeing You

Actors: Ginger Rogers, Joseph Cotten, Shirley Temple, Spring Byington, Tom Tully

Synopsis: Ginger Rogers gives a dramatic performance in this moving romantic drama in which a woman named Mary Marshall, who was convicted of manslaughter (she defended herself when her lecherous boss attempted to rape her and she accidentally killed him), is granted a ten-day furlough for Christmas to Read More

Since You Went Away

Actors: Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Shirley Temple, Monty Woolley, Agnes Moorehead

Synopsis: David O. Selznick's first production since 1940's Rebecca, Since You Went Away, based on Margaret Buell Wilder's bestselling novel, is a long but rewarding paean to the World War 2 "home front". Claudette Colbert plays the wife of a businessman who, though well past draft age, volunteered to serve Read More

The Nest

Actors: Bob Jones, Jonathan Whittaker, John Derek

Synopsis: In this short film, a brother (Bob Jones) and sister (Jo Whittaker) seem to share a common bond beyond what would be considered "normal," not only to each other, but to themselves. Much of the film was shot in mirrors, concentrating on dressing and making up in an obsessive, ritualistic way. The Read More

Scandal Sheet