Robert B. Williams Filmography

In Your Face

Synopsis: Known in some circles as Abar, The First Black Superman, this Blaxploitation film turns the tables on "The Man" when an oppressed African-American scientist living in an all-White neighborhood hires Abar, a fierce bodyguard and former biker-gang leader. The scientist injects his protector with a Read More

The Rockford Files

Actors: Robert Donley, James Garner

Synopsis: James Garner first assumed the bethumped mantle of Private Investigator Jim Rockford on March 27, 1974. The original Rockford Files TV movie, like the long running series that followed, starred Garner as an ex-con who only takes cases that the people have been unable to solve. Future Bionic Woman Lindsay Wagner Read More

The Streets of San Francisco: The Victims

Synopsis: Stone (Karl Malden) and Keller (Michael Douglas) cover the length and breadth of the Bay Area to track down three escaped convicts. The escapees have embarked on a murder spree, wiping out anyone who gets in their way at the behest of the sadistic outlaw leader who kills for the thrill of it. The Read More

The Partridge Family: Whatever Happened to Keith Partridge?

Synopsis: Chosen for a screen test at World Film Studios, Keith (David Partridge) is consumed with fear and trepidation. Once he lands a role in a major Hollywood film, Keith is once again consumed--this time by an outsized ego. Of course, our hero is once again riding for a fall--but after this experience Read More

Evel Knievel

Actors: Ben Bentley, Roger Edington, Ten Henningsen, George Hamilton

Synopsis: George Hamilton produced and stars in this appealing bio-pic about real-life stunt daredevil Evel Knievel. Knievel's famous motorcycle stunts and early life are remembered in flashback by the performer in the moments before a big jump. The cast includes familiar drive-in movie faces like Vic Tayback Read More

The Partridge Family: Days of Acne and Roses

Synopsis: Described in the original TV Guide listings as "one of the series' gentle-message shows" (was there ever any other kind on The Partridge Family?), this episode features Jay Ripley as Wendell, a 16-year-old nerd who has fallen for Laurie (Susan Dey). Danny (Danny Bonaduce) decides to play 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

Warning Shot

Actors: David Janssen, Ed Begley, Sr., Keenan Wynn, Sam Wanamaker, Lillian Gish

Synopsis: LAPD detective Sgt. Tom Valens (David Janssen) is a ten-year veteran of the force who has had more than his share of hard luck lately -- his marriage is a wreck, and he hasn't fully recovered from a serious wound suffered in the line of duty a year ago. He and his partner, Sgt. Ed Musso (Keenan Wynn Read More

Mission: Impossible: The Confession

Actors: Steven Hill, Barbara Bain, Martin Landau, Greg Morris, Peter Lupus

Synopsis: US Senator William Townsend (Kent Smith), the head of a right-wing extremist group, has been assassinated. Confessing to the crime is Andreas Solowiechek (David Sheiner), a member of a Communist Trade delegation, who insists that he was acting on orders from his own government. In truth, however Read More

Bonanza: A Bride for Buford

Actors: Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, Lola Albright, Jack Elam

Synopsis: The rest of the Ponderosa men are astonished when Hoss Cartwright shows up reeking of cologne and dressed to the nines. It is all part of Hoss' scheme to prove that mercenary saloon gal Dolly Bantree (Lola Albright) only loves grungy miner Buford Buckelew (Jack Elam) for his money. Paul Brineger Read More

Bonanza: The Wormwood Cup

Actors: Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, Judi Meredith, Frank Overton

Synopsis: Both Linda Roberts (Judi Meredith) and Amos Crenshaw (Frank Overton) have sworn vengeance against Joe Cartwright. Linda thinks that Joe killed her brother, while Amos' son was shot by Joe in self-defense. The tension reaches the boiling point when Linda hires a man to assassinate Joe, then changes Read More

The Andy Griffith Show: Howard and Millie

Actors: Jack Dodson, Arlene Golonka

Synopsis: Howard and Millie have decided to get married, and accordingly ask Andy and Helen to stand up at the wedding. All four Mayberryites purchase train tickets and head to Millie's home town of Wheeling, West Virginia. En route, however, the soon-to-be-bride and groom begin having second thoughts. Read More

Bonanza: Shining in Spain

Actors: Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, Judie Rolin, Gene Lyons

Synopsis: Joe Cartwright is in love with Wendy Dant (Judi Rolin), but she has no room in her heart for anyone but her "wealthy and influential" father Taylor Dant (Gene Lyons), whom she idolizes. Wendy's bubble bursts when, after a lengthy absence, Taylor returns to her life, revealing himself to be Read More

Follow Me, Boys!

Actors: Fred MacMurray, Vera Miles, Lillian Gish, Charlie Ruggles, Elliott Reid, Kurt Russell

Synopsis: Follow Me, Boys!, Disney's paean to the Boys Scouts of America, leaves no cliché unturned: we're even offered the old reliable "kid hanging over cliff by rope" bit. Corny, sentimental and obvious though it may be, the film is a delight to watch, especially whenever Fred MacMurray dominates the Read More

Bonanza: Ballad of the Ponderosa

Actors: Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, Randy Boone, Ann Doran

Synopsis: Fifteen years after Ben Cartwright's testimony sent a man named Preston to the gallows, Preston's son Colter arrives in Virginia City. A self-styled troubador, Colter sings a bitter ballad denouncing Ben and proclaiming his own father's innocence, forcing the authorities to re-open the case. Read More

The Andy Griffith Show: The Church Organ

Actors: Howard McNear, Jack Burns

Synopsis: Clara coerces Andy into taking up a collection to buy a new church organ. But when time comes for the donors to ante up the money that they promised, everyone begs off. Taking matters in her own hands, Clara tries to charm the owner of the organ-a taciturn bachelor named Harlan Robinson (Woodrow Read More

Viva Las Vegas

Actors: Elvis Presley, Ann-Margret, Cesare Danova, William Demarest, Nicky Blair

Synopsis: Viva Las Vegas, one of Elvis Presley's most popular vehicles, adheres as rigidly to formula as a Kabuki dance. Elvis plays a race-car driver competing in the Las Vegas Grand Prix opposite his principal rival, Cesare Danova. To finance his entry, Elvis takes a job as a casino waiter. Naturally, he Read More

It Happened at the World's Fair

Actors: Elvis Presley, Joan O'Brien, Gary Lockwood, Vicky Tiu, H.M. Wynant, Edith Atwater

Synopsis: This Elvis Presley vehicle is close to a lemon, even for his die-hard fans. Elvis is Mike Edwards, a pilot of a small plane who has a faithful sidekick, Danny (Gary Lockewood), and a penchant for singing. The story, such as it is, takes place in-between a total of ten different songs, the most Read More

Billy Rose's Jumbo

Actors: Doris Day, Stephen Boyd, Jimmy Durante, Martha Raye, Dean Jagger

Synopsis: Inasmuch as the spectacular Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart Broadway musical Jumbo was written in 1935, this 1962 film version can't help but seem a little quaint. Still, the film features the original production's star Jimmy Durante, energetically recreating his stage role as circus owner Pop Read More

Saintly Sinners

Actors: Paul Bryar, Stanley Clements, Ellen Corby, Ron Hagerthy

Synopsis: In this comedy, two small-time con men steal an honest ex-convict's car and use it to rob a bank. They then hide the loot in the car's spare tire. Unfortunately for the ex-con, his car ends up repossessed and eventually sold to a parish priest who immediately drives off for a much-needed fishing Read More

Everything's Ducky

Actors: Mickey Rooney, Buddy Hackett, Jackie Cooper, Joanie Sommers, Roland Winters

Synopsis: This fantasy-comedy is directed by Don Taylor whose specialty is horror and action flics, and clearly not talking ducks and children's tales. Beetle McKay (Mickey Rooney) and Admiral John Paul Jones (Buddy Hackett) are two wacky sailors who make friends with a talking duck, a verbose avian that Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Singing Skirt

Synopsis: Gambling-casino owner George Anclitis (Henry Lascoe) has two big problems on his hands: His second-in-command Slim Marcus (H.M. Wynant) has been caught cheating in a high-stakes card game, and Slim's girlfriend Vivian (Jeanne Moody) has been murdered. Hoping to kill several birds with a single Read More

Pepe

Actors: Cantinflas, Dan Dailey, Shirley Jones, Carlos Montalban, Vicki Trickett, Bing Crosby

Synopsis: Popular Mexican comedian Cantinflas (Mario Moreno) plays the title character in this star-studded, amusing comedy drama by George Sidney. Pepe is the same sort of impoverished stereotype Cantinflas made famous in several of his comedies; in this case he is a hired hand on a ranch who chases down a Read More

A Hole in the Head

Actors: Frank Sinatra, Edward G. Robinson, Eleanor Parker, Carolyn Jones, Thelma Ritter

Synopsis: Although the main character, Tony Manetta (Frank Sinatra), in this light comedy tends to tip the scales towards being unbelievably unrealistic, the story is pulled off because everyone else is convincing. Tony is a widower in need of a financial bailout for himself and his son, so he asks for help Read More

Pork Chop Hill

Actors: Gregory Peck, Harry Guardino, Rip Torn, George Peppard, George Shibata, James Edwards

Synopsis: Pork Chop Hill was based on the eyewitness essays of ex-soldier S. L. A. Marshall. The film is set during the Korean "police action." While diplomats argue pointlessly over the shape of the negotiation tables at Panmunjon, United Nations troops bleed and die. Lieutenant Gregory Peck leads a Read More

The Bat

Actors: Vincent Price, Agnes Moorehead, Gavin Gordon, John Sutton, Lenita Lane

Synopsis: This fourth film version of the Mary Roberts Rinehart-Avery Hopwood stage chestnut The Bat is so old-fashioned in its execution that one might suspect it was intended as "camp" (though that phrase wasn't in common usage in 1959). Agnes Moorehead plays mystery novelist Cornelia Van Gorder, whose Read More

One Step Beyond: Forked Lightning

Synopsis: This episode bears a marked resemblance to the first-season One Step Beyond entry "Twelve Hours to Live". Once again, two complete strangers experience the same premonition, one that will thrust them headlong toward a mutual date with destiny. This time around, the wife of a prominent banker Read More

Pillow Talk

Actors: Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Tony Randall, Thelma Ritter, Nick Adams

Synopsis: The fabulously successful Pillow Talk was essentially Shop Around the Corner for the 1950s. Playboy composer Rock Hudson and interior-decorator Doris Day are obliged to share a telephone party line. Naturally, their calls overlap at the least opportune times, and just as naturally, this leads to Read More

North by Northwest

Actors: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Jesse Royce Landis, Leo G. Carroll

Synopsis: While having lunch at the Plaza Hotel in New York, advertising executive Roger O. Thornhill (Cary Grant) has the bad luck to call for a messenger just as a page goes out for a "George Kaplan." From that moment, Thornhill finds that he has stepped into a nightmare -- he is quietly abducted by a Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Desperate Daughter

Synopsis: Claiming to be suffering from amnesia, an 18-year-old girl (Gigi Perreau) asks Perry (Raymond Burr) to find out who she is and help restore her memory. As it turns out, the girl has plenty to forget: Her name is Doris Bannister, and she is the daughter of Lisa Bannister (Osa Massen)--who herself Read More

The Tunnel of Love

Actors: Doris Day, Richard Widmark, Gig Young, Gia Scala, Elisabeth Fraser

Synopsis: Though very tame by contemporary standards, Tunnel of Love was considered the last word in racy comedy back in 1958. Adapted from the Broadway hit by Peter DeVries and Joseph Fields, the film stars Doris Day and Richard Widmark as suburbanites Isolde and Augie Poole. Isolde and Augie desperately Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Lonely Heiress

Synopsis: Paul Drake (William Hopper) is hired to keep an eye on a lonely-hearts classified ad placed by heiress Marilyn Cartwright (Kathleen Crowley). No, Marilyn isn't looking for love: she's looking for con artist "Country Boy" Barnaby (L.Q. Jones), the man who drove her sister to suicide. All Marilyn Read More

Party Girl

Actors: Robert Taylor, Cyd Charisse, Lee J. Cobb, John Ireland, Kent Smith

Synopsis: Robert Taylor stars in director Nicholas Ray's Party Girl as the traditional Ray anti-hero: a criminal lawyer who's a little bit of both. Fronting for Chicago gang boss Lee J. Cobb during the late 1920s, Taylor manages to get Cobb-underling John Ireland off on a murder rap. Cobb throws a party to Read More

Hell Squad

Actors: Wally Campo, Brandon Carroll, Greg Stuart

Synopsis: This war drama, set in Tunisia during WW II, chronicles the exploits of five American soldiers lost in the desert and unable to radio for help because all broadcasts are being monitored by the Nazis. As they attempt to travel through the dust and heat, the men engage in skirmishes with the enemy. Read More

The Hard Man

Actors: Guy Madison, Valerie French, Lorne Greene, Barry Atwater, Robert Burton

Synopsis: In this western, a Texas Ranger quits his job after he is chastised for bringing back so many dead outlaws. When he gets a deputy sheriff's job, he soon finds himself mixed up in a range war against an avaricious rancher determined to have the whole range for himself. The deputy simultaneously Read More

Death in Small Doses

Actors: Peter Graves, Mala Powers, Chuck Connors, Merry Anders, Roy Engel

Synopsis: Pill poppin' truckers provide the focus of this anti-drug drama. Much of the story centers upon an investigator for the US Food and Drug Department who has been assigned to stop all truckers from taking amphetamines while they drive. The drivers take the pills to help them stay awake on Read More

The Spirit of St. Louis

Actors: James Stewart, Murray Hamilton, Patricia Smith, Bartlett Robinson, Marc Connelly

Synopsis: A misfire for all concerned, The Spirit of St. Louis can be chalked up as a courageous failure. At age 48, James Stewart was far too old to be convincing as 27-year-old "Lone Eagle" Charles Lindbergh. Director Billy Wilder, a past master of cynical pessimism, was clearly the wrong choice to helm Read More

Over-Exposed

Actors: Cleo Moore, Richard Crenna, Isobel Elsom, Raymond Greenleaf, Shirley Thomas

Synopsis: This forgettable piece of 1950s sleaze stars Cleo Moore as a voluptuous blonde who becomes a successful commercial photographer. Richard Crenna, making a major break from his TV image as Our Miss Brooks' Walter Denton, plays a reporter who takes a special interest in Moore's career. The beauteous Read More

The Killing

Actors: Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, Marie Windsor, Elisha Cook, Jr., Vince Edwards, Jay C. Flippen

Synopsis: The Killing was director Stanley Kubrick's first major film effort -- though, like Kubrick's earlier films, it was economically produced with an inexpensive cast. In a variation of his Asphalt Jungle role, Sterling Hayden plays veteran criminal Johnny Clay, planning one last big heist before Read More

The Unguarded Moment

Actors: Esther Williams, George Nader, Les Tremayne, John Saxon, Edward Andrews

Synopsis: Esther Williams essays her first dramatic, nonswimming role in The Unguarded Moment. Written by actress Rosalind Russell, the film is a remarkably prescient tale of sexual harassment at the workplace. Williams plays high-school music-teacher Lois Conway, who inadvertently arouses the libido of Read More

Rebel Without a Cause

Actors: James Dean, Natalie Wood, Corey Allen, Sal Mineo, Dennis Hopper

Synopsis: This landmark juvenile-delinquent drama scrupulously follows the classic theatrical disciplines, telling all within a 24-hour period. Teenager Jimmy Stark (James Dean) can't help but get into trouble, a problem that has forced his appearance-conscious parents (Jim Backus and Ann Doran) to move Read More

I'll Cry Tomorrow

Actors: Susan Hayward, Richard Conte, Eddie Albert, Jo Van Fleet, Don Taylor

Synopsis: Susan Hayward pulls out all the stops, and then some, in this cinemadaptation of singer Lillian Roth's autobiography I'll Cry Tomorrow. In as harshly realistic a manner as possible in the still censor-dominated Hollywood of 1955, the film recounts Roth's rise to fame, her precipitous fall and her Read More

Revenge of the Creature

Actors: Robert Hoy, John Agar, Lori Nelson, John Bromfield, Robert B. Williams, Nestor Paiva

Synopsis: Revenge of the Creature is, of course, the sequel to Universal's fabulously successful The Creature from the Black Lagoon--and like its predecessor, the film was lensed in 3-D (though released "flat" in most theatres). Though the audience had seen the Gill-Man shot full of holes in the first Read More

The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell

Actors: Gary Cooper, Charles Bickford, Ralph Bellamy, Rod Steiger, Elizabeth Montgomery

Synopsis: In this 1955 Otto Preminger film, Gary Cooper stars as World War I hero Brigadier General Billy Mitchell. The film recounts Mitchell's efforts to prove the viability of a strong air force. The hidebound military higher-ups refuse to finance aviation any further, figuring that the strength of the Read More

This Island Earth

Actors: Jeff Morrow, Faith Domergue, Rex Reason, Lance Fuller, Russell Johnson

Synopsis: For reasons that defy logic, the excellent This Island Earth was held up for ridicule as an allegedly bad movie in the film version of TV's Mystery Science Theater. If not the best science-fiction film of the 1950s, Earth is certainly one of the most intelligent and elaborate. The story begins Read More

Lucy Gallant

Actors: Edith Head, Jane Wyman, Charlton Heston, Claire Trevor, Thelma Ritter, William Demarest

Synopsis: An unusually matronly Jane Wyman plays the title character in Lucy Gallant. Adapted from a novel by Margaret Cousins, the story concerns the efforts by Lucy Gallant to make the wide-open spaces of Texas a mecca for High Fashion. Jilted at the altar, Lucy retreats to a booming oil town, where she Read More

Magnificent Obsession

Actors: Jane Wyman, Rock Hudson, Barbara Rush, Agnes Moorehead, Otto Kruger

Synopsis: This second film version of Lloyd C. Douglas' spiritual novel Magnificent Obsession is in its own way as successful as the first (filmed in 1935) in glossing over the plot holes and logic gaps in the original novel. Rock Hudson plays Bob Merrick, a reckless playboy who is indirectly responsible Read More

Hell and High Water

Actors: Richard Widmark, Bella Darvi, Victor Francen, Cameron Mitchell, Gene Evans

Synopsis: Hell and High Water brings an intriguing Cold War slant to a standard submarine melodrama. Richard Widmark plays a soldier-of-fortune sub commander who agrees to sell his services to noted atomic scientist Victor Francen and his assistant (and daughter) Bella Darvi. Francen intends to prove that Read More

The Stars are Singing

Actors: Rosemary Clooney, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Lauritz Melchior, Tom Morton

Synopsis: Not only are stars Anna Maria Alberghetti and Rosemary Clooney singing, but also a medium-sized roster of "special guest stars." Alberghetti plays an illegal Polish alien, while Clooney is a dewey-eyed showbiz aspirant who protects the refugee girl. The two ladies pin their hopes on a TV talent Read More

Mr. Scoutmaster

Actors: Clifton Webb, Edmund Gwenn, George Winslow, Frances Dee, Veda Ann Borg

Synopsis: Robert Jordan is a television star. Robert Jordan likes things orderly, on time and properly executed. In his world children are to be seen, not heard. So why would Mr. Jordan want to become the master of a rambunctious band of Boy Scouts? Ratings. His staff figures that if learns how to interact Read More

The President's Lady

Actors: Susan Hayward, Charlton Heston, John McIntire, Fay Bainter, Ralph Dumke

Synopsis: The President's Lady is an historical drama starring Charlton Heston as Andrew Jackson and Susan Hayward as his wife Rachel, Jackson marries Rachel after she divorces her unfaithful first husband (Whitfield Connor), with scandal resulting when the ex-husband refuses to finalize the divorce. Read More

The White Goddess

Synopsis: In this African adventure, a fearless physician goes into the jungle to search for rare medicinal herbs. While there, he runs into a tribe ruled by white women claiming to be goddesses. Some viewers may find the racial stereotypes presented in this story offensive. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Read More

I Love Lucy: The Courtroom

Actors: Moroni Olsen, Harry Bartell, Robert B. Williams

Synopsis: When Ricky (Desi Arnaz) inadvertently wrecks the new television set that he and Lucy (Lucille Ball) have given the Mertzes as an anniversary present, Fred (William Frawley) retaliates by breaking the Ricardos' TV. The upshot of all this is a courtroom date, with the Ricardos suing the Mertzes and Read More

Dreamboat

Actors: Clifton Webb, Ginger Rogers, Anne Francis, Jeffrey Hunter, Elsa Lanchester

Synopsis: Dreamboat stars Clifton Webb as Thornton Sayre, the perfectionist professor of literature at a sedate Midwestern university. Widowed and with a pretty daughter (Anne Francis), Sayre has given no clue to his previous life before becoming a teacher. But thanks to television, everyone discovers that Read More

Loan Shark

Actors: George Raft, Dorothy Hart, Paul Stewart, Helen Westcott, John Hoyt

Synopsis: Loan Shark was one of several independently-produced films made by George Raft in the early 1950s. Raft plays Joe Gargan, a good guy who pretends to turn bad to trap a gang of usurious loan sharks. In order to convince the crooks that he's on their side, Gargan is forced to call it quits with his Read More

The Lady Says No

Actors: Joan Caulfield, David Niven, Lenore Lonergan, Frances Bavier

Synopsis: The lady of the title is author Dorinda Hatch (Joan Caulfield), who writes a scathing best-seller in which she trashes all men. Photographer Bill Shelby (David Niven) vows to make Dorinda eat her words, thereby proving the superiority of the male of the species. Suffice to say that he doesn't Read More

The Sellout

Actors: Walter Pidgeon, Paula Raymond, John Hodiak, Audrey Totter, Thomas Gomez

Synopsis: Gerald Mayer proved once more that he had talent above and beyond being the nephew of MGM-head Louis B. Mayer with his direction of The Sellout. The story begins with a bang, as big-city newspaper editor Haven Allridge (Walter Pidgeon) falls victim to the small-town tyranny of corrupt sheriff Read More

Father's Little Dividend

Actors: Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, Elizabeth Taylor, Don Taylor, Billie Burke

Synopsis: This sequel to the 1950 comedy hit Father of the Bride finds Spencer Tracy and Joan Bennett returning as Stanley and Ellie Banks, the parents of newlywed Kay Dunstan (Elizabeth Taylor). In the first film, Stanley Banks was forced to endure the chaotic events leading up to the wedding. This time Read More