Phil KarlsonFilmography

Walking Tall

Crew: Director

Actors: Joe Don Baker, Elizabeth Hartman

Synopsis: A runaway box-office hit to the tune of 17 million dollars, Walking Tall is the unabashedly manipulative story of real-life Tennessee sheriff Buford Pusser. As played by Joe Don Baker, Pusser can either be regarded as a tireless champion of justice or a baseball-bat-wielding hooligan. But with Read More

Ben

Crew: Director

Actors: Lee Montgomery, Joseph Campanella, Arthur O'Connell, Rosemary Murphy

Synopsis: This sequel to the rampaging-rodent chiller Willard stars Lee H. Montgomery as young Danny Garrison, a neglected kid who finds a new little friend in Ben -- an intelligent rat whose furry minions managed to slaughter most of the cast of the previous film. Proving that one can't teach an old rat Read More

Hornet's Nest

Crew: Director

Actors: Rock Hudson, Sylva Koscina, Sergio Fantoni, Jacques Sernas, Mark Colleano

Synopsis: Captain Turner (Rock Hudson) is the American paratrooper who employs Italian children to blow up a strategic dam controlled by the Nazis. He is the only survivor of his unit gunned down during the jump. Rescued by the moppets, he slaps and rapes German medico Bianca (Sylva Koscina), which Read More

The Wrecking Crew

Crew: Director

Actors: Dean Martin, Elke Sommer, Sharon Tate, Nancy Kwan, Nigel Green

Synopsis: Cahiers du Cinema favorite Phil Karlson may have directed the "Matt Helm" extravaganza The Wrecking Crew, but the only "auteur" around these parts is star Dean Martin, coasting through yet another sexy spy romp. This time, secret agent Helm must prevent a billion-dollar gold hijacking Read More

A Time for Killing

Crew: Director

Actors: Glenn Ford, George C. Scott, Michael Parks, Inger Stevens, George Hamilton, Freddie Johnson, Paul Petersen, Max Baer, Jr.

Synopsis: The Long Ride Home is the British title for the Columbia Civil War western A Time for Killing. The stars are Glenn Ford, a regular of sagebrushers, and Inger Stevens, a relative newcomer to the genre who between 1967-1970 made up for lost time with such films as Hang 'Em High and Firecreek. Ford Read More

The Silencers

Crew: Director

Actors: Dean Martin, Stella Stevens, Daliah Lavi, Victor Buono, Arthur O'Connell, Cyd Charisse

Synopsis: Columbia Pictures tried to create a tongue-in-cheek American James Bond with this, the first of five motion pictures based on the character of Matt Helm, a spy created in a series of novels by Donald Hamilton. Dean Martin stars as Helm, a boozing, womanizing cad of a spy coaxed out of retirement Read More

Alexander the Great

Crew: Director

Synopsis: One of the most famous of unsold TV pilots, Alexander the Great stars William Shatner in the title role. Nine months in the making, this lavish 60-minute drama recreates the battle between the Greeks and Persians at Issus (filmed near St. George, Utah). Hoping to attract as wide an audience as Read More

Rampage

Crew: Director

Actors: Robert Mitchum, Elsa Martinelli, Jack Hawkins, Sabu, Cely Carrillo

Synopsis: In this South Seas adventure, an internationally renowned big-game hunter is engaged by a German zoo to find and capture a rare Malaysian cat that is half-tiger and half-leopard. He is accompanied by another hunter and his young mistress. The other hunter is much older and subject to bouts of Read More

Kid Galahad

Crew: Director

Actors: Elvis Presley, Gig Young, Lola Albright, Joan Blackman, Charles Bronson

Synopsis: This musical boxing drama finds Walter (Elvis Presley) as a recently discharged soldier looking forwork in New York's Catskill Mountains. He happens across Grogan's Gym, a boxing emporium that helps perfect the "gentle art." Proprioter Willie Grogan (Gig Young) and trainer Lew (Charles Bronson) Read More

The Secret Ways

Crew: Director

Actors: Richard Widmark, Sonja Ziemann, Charles Regnier, Walter Rilia, Howard Vernon

Synopsis: Shortly after Soviet tanks crush the 1956 Hungarian uprising, adventurer for hire Mike Reynolds (Richard Widmark) goes to communist Budapest to rescue one of the revolt's leaders, Professor Jansci. There's just one big problem; the professor doesn't want to go. While the plot is minimal, this Read More

The Young Doctors

Crew: Director

Actors: Fredric March, Ben Gazzara, Dick Clark, Ina Balin, Eddie Albert

Synopsis: This slick hospital soap opera features Ben Gazzara as Dr. David Coleman, a young physician hired into the pathology department at a big hospital. The aging head of the department, Dr. Joseph Pearson (Fredric March), is insulted and treats the new hire as a rival. They battle over many medical Read More

Key Witness

Crew: Director

Actors: Jeffrey Hunter, Dennis Hopper, Joby Baker, Susan Harrison, Johnny Nash

Synopsis: This is a well-wrought action-thriller with enough menacing violence to keep a shock value high, but not enough to overcome the characters or the script. Fred Morrow (Jeffrey Hunter), a real-estate agent who stops by a bar to make a phone call, is a chance witness to a knifing by an L.A. street Read More

The Untouchables: The Scarface Mob

Crew: Director

Actors: Robert Stack, Neville Brand, Bruce Gordon, Walter Winchell, Keenan Wynn, Pat Crowley, Abel Fernandez, John Beradino, Barbara Nichols, Paul Picerni

Synopsis: The 1962 theatrical release of The Scarface Mob was created from the first two episodes of the famously popular 1959 TV series, The Untouchables. It stars Robert Stack as the courageous agent whose job is to corral the powerful mobster Al Capone. Nevill Brand plays Capone and Walter Winchell adds Read More

Hell to Eternity

Crew: Director

Actors: Jeffrey Hunter, David Janssen, Vic Damone, Patricia Owens, Richard Eyer, Sessue Hayakawa

Synopsis: This standard wartime drama is divided into three chronological segments and is based on the experiences of the real Guy Gabaldon (played as an adult by Jeffrey Hunter, and as a boy by Richard Eyer). In the first segment, Guy is a homeless waif without many prospects when he is adopted by a Read More

Gunman's Walk

Crew: Director

Actors: Van Heflin, Tab Hunter, Kathryn Grant, James Darren, Mickey Shaughnessy

Synopsis: The highly variable Tab Hunter delivers his best film performance in the grim western Gunman's Walk. Hunter plays Ed Hackett, the son of gunslinger-turned-land baron Lee Hackett (Van Heflin). Out of respect (and fear) of his father, the hotheaded Ed is given a wide berth by the resentful Read More

The Brothers Rico

Crew: Director

Actors: Richard Conte, Dianne Foster, Kathryn Grant, Larry Gates, James Darren

Synopsis: The Rico brothers are mobsters in the employ of syndicate head Sid Kubick. Richard Conte plays the one Rico brother who has forsaken crime. But the other Ricos (James Darren and Paul Picerni) haven't yet seen the light, causing a deep rift in the brothers' family bonds. Conte gets word that his Read More

Five Against the House

Crew: Director

Actors: Guy Madison, Kim Novak, Brian Keith, Alvy Moore, William Conrad

Synopsis: In this film noir, five college students laughingly devise a perfect plan for robbing a casino in Reno. At first they do it just to pass the time, but one of them is deeply in debt and becoming increasingly distraught about it. He successfully cajoles his peers into carrying through with their Read More

The Phenix City Story

Crew: Director

Actors: John McIntire, Richard Kiley, Kathryn Grant, Edward Andrews, Lenka Peterson

Synopsis: Based on actual events, The Phenix City Story tells the tale of a wide-open "Sin City" in Alabama (across a bridge from Columbus, GA, and just a stone's throw from the Ft. Benning Army base) where gambling, prostitution, and any number of other vices were tolerated openly by the law, most of it Read More

Hell's Island

Crew: Director

Actors: John Payne, Mary Murphy, Francis L. Sullivan, Eduardo Noriega, Arnold Moss

Synopsis: Phil Karlson, well-regarded by film buffs for his tough, no-nonsense crime dramas, directed this adventure story shot partially on location in the Caribbean. Mike Cormack (John Payne) was once a District Attorney, until his fiancée, Janet Martin (Mary Murphy), left him to marry another man. Read More

Tight Spot

Crew: Director

Actors: Ginger Rogers, Edward G. Robinson, Brian Keith, Lucy Marlow, Lorne Greene, Katherine Anderson

Synopsis: Tight Spot is based on Leonard Kantor's novel Dead Pigeon, which in turn was obviously inspired by Virginia Hill's appearance before the Kefauver Committee. Ginger Rogers plays hard-boiled model Sherry Conley, who is serving a prison term for a crime she didn't commit. Sherry is offered her Read More

They Rode West

Crew: Director

Actors: Robert Francis, Donna Reed, May Wynn, Philip Carey, Onslow Stevens

Synopsis: After Robert Francis became an "instant star" in Columbia's The Caine Mutiny (54), the studio rushed Francis into as many vehicles as possible. In They Rode West, Francis plays a young Army doctor, stationed at a remote cavalry post. The post's commander (Philip Carey) immediately clashes with Read More

99 River Street

Crew: Director

Actors: John Payne, Evelyn Keyes, Brad Dexter, Frank Faylen, Peggie Castle

Synopsis: Ernie Driscoll (John Payne) is an ex-fighter who came within seconds of winning the world championship. He's now forced to eke out a living driving a cab. A basically decent guy, he has lots of people who care about him, including Linda James (Evelyn Keyes), a slightly ditsy actress friend -- but Read More

Assignment - Paris

Crew: Director

Actors: Dana Andrews, Märta Torén, George Sanders, Audrey Totter, Sandro Giglio

Synopsis: Assignment - Paris is based on a serialized Saturday Evening Post yarn by Paul and Pauline Gallico. The film stars Dana Andrews as reporter Jimmy Race, assigned to the Paris bureau of the New York Herald Tribune. Race makes the acquaintance of French journalist Jeanne Moray (Marta Toren), who is Read More

Scandal Sheet

Crew: Director

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

The Brigand

Crew: Director

Actors: Anthony Dexter, Gale Robbins, Anthony Quinn, Carl Benton Reid

Synopsis: After Columbia's 1951 biopic Valentino laid an egg, leading man Anthony Dexter was persona non grata at the studio. Still, Columbia couldn't very well pay Dexter his weekly salary for doing nothing, and that's why The Brigand was born. Dexter does his best in the dual role of King Lorenzo, monarch Read More

Kansas City Confidential

Crew: Director

Actors: John Payne, Coleen Gray, Preston S. Foster, Lee Van Cleef, Neville Brand

Synopsis: Kansas City Confidential, Phil Karlson's low (low) budget, B-grade film noir, opens on a Kansas City armored-car robbery perpetrated by cynical, corrupt ex-policeman Timothy Foster (Preston S. Foster). Foster devises an outrageous scheme: he will recruit three of the most vicious and Read More

Lorna Doone

Crew: Director

Actors: Barbara Hale, Richard Greene, Carl Benton Reid, William Bishop, Ron Randell

Synopsis: Lorna Doone is based on the oft-filmed novel by Richard D. Blackmore. Set in 17th century Scotland during the reign of Britain's Charles II, the story concerns young Lorna (Barbara Hale), a member of a much-hated landowning family. Lorna falls in love with a humble villager (Richard Greene), who Read More

The Texas Rangers

Crew: Director

Actors: George Montgomery, Gale Storm, Jerome Courtland, Noah Beery, Jr., William Bishop

Synopsis: Not a remake of the 1936 film of the same name, The Texas Rangers is an enjoyable second-echelon western from the Columbia Pictures mill. George Montgomery stars as Johnny Carver, a former outlaw serving a life sentence in prison. Carver is given a second chance by the Texas government. Here's the Read More

Mask of the Avenger

Crew: Director

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 Iroquois Trail

Crew: Director

Actors: George Montgomery, Brenda Marshall, Glenn Langan, Reginald Denny, Monte Blue

Synopsis: Iroquois Trail (British title: The Tomahawk Trail) could be classified as a western, but for the fact that the story is set in 1775. Based on James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales, the film stars George Montgomery as Cooper's stalwart Indian scout Hawkeye. Hoping to avenge his brother's Read More

The Big Cat

Crew: Director

Actors: Lon McCallister, Peggy Ann Garner, Preston S. Foster, Forrest Tucker

Synopsis: A frequent cable-TV attraction since lapsing into public domain in 1976, The Big Cat is an excellent outdoor drama, beautifully lensed in Technicolor (though most current prints are printed in a washed-out 2-color process). Set in Utah in the darkest days of the Depression, the film stars Lon McCallister Read More

Down Memory Lane

Crew: Director

Actors: Steve Allen, Bing Crosby, W.C. Fields, Donald Novis, Gloria Swanson, Mabel Normand

Synopsis: Down Memory Lane is a pastiche film comprised of old comedy footage from the Mack Sennett studios. The vintage clips are tied together by a thin continuity wherein TV host Steve Allen hopes to boost his ratings by screening excerpts from Sennett's silent and talkie two-reel comedies. Among the Read More

Ladies of the Chorus

Crew: Director

Synopsis: In her second film appearance, Marilyn Monroe stars as Peggy Martin, a second-generation showgirl who begins a romance with a rich young man (Randy Brooks), an action that strains her relationship with her mother (Adele Jurgens). ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide Read More

Rocky

Crew: Director

Synopsis: In this children's move, a teenager and his loyal dog wander the wild West. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Thunderhoof

Crew: Director

Actors: Preston S. Foster, Mary Stuart, William Bishop

Synopsis: In this off-beat western, a middle-aged rancher endeavors to realize his dreams of starting up a horse ranch in Texas. His much younger wife, is opposed to the idea and begins questioning her love for her husband. The would-be rancher's adopted son doesn't help matters by trying to seduce his Read More

Adventures in Silverado

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Stagecoach driver Bishop needs to capture the infamous bandit known as "The Monk" for his hooded attire. If Bishop can't bring the outlaw to justice, a crime will rest on his name. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Kilroy Was Here

Crew: Director

Actors: Jackie Cooper, Wanda McKay, Frank Jenks, Rand Brooks

Synopsis: The popular wartime catchphrase "Kilroy Was Here" was affixed to this minor campus comedy. Jackie Cooper plays peripatetic ex-sailor John J. Kilroy, who is assumed to be the Kilroy. Once John finds himself in college on the GI bill, he finds that his fame is also a curse: none of the "right" Read More

Louisiana

Crew: Director

Actors: Dottye Brown, Tristram Coffin, Joseph Crehan, Jimmie Davis

Synopsis: A sharecropper's son grows up to be the governor of Louisiana in this rags-to-riches bio-pic that tells the story of Jimmie Davis who was determined to get a good education and make something of himself. Not only did he become known as the singing governor, Davis was also a professor in a women's Read More

Black Gold

Crew: Director

Actors: Anthony Quinn, Katherine de Mille, Elyse Knox, Kane Richmond

Synopsis: A kind-hearted Native American adopts a homeless, orphaned Chinese boy who has only a horse to his name. This touching melodrama chronicles the years they spend together. The boy's new parents mate his horse with their mare and the resulting filly proves to be fast. They nearly lose the filly, but Read More

Wife Wanted

Crew: Director

Synopsis: In this crime drama, a fading movie star plays a similar character in her farewell film, a B crime-drama about a lonely-hearts club that masks a racketeering operation. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Swing Parade

Crew: Director

Synopsis: In this musical, a struggling young singer falls in love with a nightclub owner whose father mistakes her for someone else and tries to convince her to serve a summons at the club. Fortunately, the love between the youngsters prevails. Music and happiness ensues. Songs include: Stormy Weather" Read More

Bowery Bombshell

Crew: Director

Actors: Vince Barnett, Billy Benedict, James Burke, Wee Willie Davis, Lester Dorr

Synopsis: Although Bowery Bombshell was the third entry in Monogram's "Bowery Boys" series, it was released second in several regions. The trouble begins when Sach (Huntz Hall) is photographed leaving a bank at the same time as a group of bank robbers. The police think that Sach was involved with the Read More

Live Wires

Crew: Director

Actors: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan, Billy Benedict, William Frambes

Synopsis: This initial entry in Monogram's Bowery Boys series is also the second remake of the 1933 film He Couldn't Take It (the original script was by no less than Dore Schary, billed for reasons best known to himself as Jeb Schary). Leo Gorcey stars as Slip Mahoney, a pugnacious type whose volatile Read More

Behind the Mask

Crew: Director

Actors: Kane Richmond, George Chandler, Pierre Watkin, Dorothea Kent

Synopsis: Crooked newspaper columnist Jeff Mann (James Cardwell), who apparently was blackmailing half the criminal gangs in the city, is murdered in his own office, and a police officer is killed the same night in the alley outside the newspaper's building -- and the prime suspect is the Shadow, the Read More

Dark Alibi

Crew: Director

Synopsis: In this episode of the popular detective series, Chan learns that fake fingerprints have caused innocent people to go to prison. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

The Missing Lady

Crew: Director

Synopsis: The Shadow (Richmond) investigates the murder of an art dealer with his only clue being a stolen jade statuette. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

There Goes Kelly

Crew: Director

Actors: Jackie Moran, Wanda McKay, Sidney Miller, Ralph Sanford, Dewey Robinson

Synopsis: There Goes Kelly is a followup of sorts to Monogram's 1943 comedy Here Comes Kelly, with Jackie Moran taking over for Eddie Quillan as the title character. In this one, the pugnacious Jimmy Kelly (Moran) is a page boy at a big-time radio station. When the station's star vocalist is murdered Read More

G.I. Honeymoon

Crew: Director

Actors: Gale Storm, Peter Cookson, Arline Judge, Frank Jenks, Jerome Cowan

Synopsis: In this romantic comedy, set during WW II, an newlywed army couple are unable to consummate their marriage, as on their wedding night the husband is called away to sentry duty. Later they try again, but as he has just completed a 37-mile hike, he finds himself too tired to work up any enthusiasm Read More

The Shanghai Cobra

Crew: Director

Actors: Sidney Toler, Addison Richards, Mantan Moreland, Walter Fenner, James Flavin, Benson Fong, Joan Barclay, James B. Cardwell, George Chandler, Joe Devlin, Roy Gordon, Arthur Loft, Paul Newlan, Gene Roth, Janet Warren

Synopsis: Just as Edgar C. Ulmer would at PRC around the same time, young Phil Karlson turned Monogram's almost nonexistent production values to his advantage in two Charlie Chan whodunits: The Shanghai Cobra (1945) and Dark Alibi (1946). Karlson added touches of film noir to the usual hoary Chan Read More

A Wave, a Wac and a Marine

Crew: Director

Actors: Elyse Knox, Ramsay Ames, Ann Gillis, Alan Dinehart

Synopsis: Released by Monogram, A WAVE, a WAC and a Marine was packaged by Biltmore Productions, a partnership consisting of Abbott and Costello's agent Eddie Sherman and Lou Costello's father Sebastian Cristillo. Though Elyse Knox, Sally Eilers and Ann Gillis head the cast, the film is a showcase for Read More

Scandal Sheet

Crew: Director