Robert J. Wilke Filmography

The Great Monkey Rip-Off

Days of Heaven

Actors: Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard, Linda Manz, Robert J. Wilke

Synopsis: Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven, the long-awaited follow-up to his 1973 debut Badlands, confirmed his reputation as a visual poet and narrative iconoclast with a story of love and murder told through the jaded voice of a child and expressive images of nature. In 1916, Chicago steelworker Bill (Richard Gere Read More

The Sweet Creek County War

Actors: Richard Egan, Albert Salmi, Nita Talbot, Slim Pickens, Robert J. Wilke

Synopsis: In this western, a sheriff gets tired of upholding the law and retires to a quiet ranch. Unfortunately, he ends up saving his homesteader neighbors from a corrupt Wyoming land grabber. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

The Boy Who Cried Werewolf

Synopsis: This adventurous horror movie chronicles the exploits of a boy whose father is changed into a wolfman. The trouble begins after the newly separated father and his son are attacked by a werewolf on a camping trip. Once the wife figures out what happened, she divorces him. The boy tries to explain Read More

Santee

Actors: Robert Mellard, Glenn Ford, Dana Wynter

Synopsis: A bounty hunter holds dear the memory of his son who was killed by outlaws several years before. One day he kills a crook and then takes in his son, who swears vengeance upon his adopted father. This western chronicles their adventures together. The bounty hunter is happy with his new charge and Read More

The Desperate Mission

Synopsis: Ricardo Montalban is well cast as legendary Mexican bandit Joaquin Murietta in Desperate Mission. As in most previous filmed adaptations of the life of this controversial character, Murietta is depicted as a South of the Border Robin Hood, more sinned against than sinning. The storyline is Read More

The Cheyenne Social Club

Actors: James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Shirley Jones, Sue Ane Langdon, Elaine Devry

Synopsis: James Stewart and Henry Fonda star in this light-hearted western comedy, directed by Gene Kelly. In 1870 Texas, John O' Hanlan (James Stewart), an itinerant cowboy, receives a letter notifying him that he has inherited a business establishment called the Cheyenne Social Club in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Read More

Bonanza: Old Friends

Actors: Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, David Canary, Victor Sen Yung

Synopsis: Ben Cartwright finds himself in the uncomfortable position of choosing between two old and treasured friends, both of whom abuptly re-enter his life after 27 years. Charlie Sheppard (Robert Wilke), formerly Ben's prospecting partner, is now a wanted outlaw, while Jess Waddell (Morgan Woodward) has Read More

Bonanza: Trouble Town

Actors: Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, David Canary, Robert J. Wilke

Synopsis: Candy makes good his long-standing promise to quit the Ponderosa to join his longtime sweetheart Lila Holden (Elizabeth MacRae) in the town of River Bend. His dreams of starting life anew are shattered when he is arrested on a trumped-up charge and held without bail. Hoping to help Candy out, the Read More

Tony Rome

Actors: Frank Sinatra, Jill St. John, Richard Conte, Gena Rowlands, Simon Oakland

Synopsis: Frank Sinatra brings a sneering Rat Pack ethos to his first hard-boiled detective role in Tony Rome. Tony is an ex-cop who lives on a houseboat off Miami, accepting fees for private-eye work. His former partner, Ralph Turpin (Robert J. Wilke), asks Tony for help in locating Diana Pines (Sue Lyon) Read More

The Fugitive: Wine Is a Traitor

Synopsis: While employed at the winery owned by Pete Crandall (James Gregory), Kimble (David Janssen) happens to be on hand when the leader of a grape picker's strike is murdered by Crandall's treacherous son Carl (Roy Thinnes). As the only witness to the killing, Kimble could easily clear his fellow worker Read More

Smoky

Actors: Fess Parker, Diana Hyland, Katy Jurado, Hoyt Axton, Robert J. Wilke

Synopsis: In this touching western horse story, a wandering cowboy and rodeo rider finds a beautiful wild stallion, captures him, and trains him into a fine horse. Unfortunately, the cowboy's wicked brother trades the horse so he can pay off some debts. Just as he is trying to take Smoky from his pen Read More

The Hallelujah Trail

Actors: Burt Lancaster, Lee Remick, Jim Hutton, Pamela Tiffin, Donald Pleasence

Synopsis: In The Hallelujah Trail, Lee Remick plays temperance leader Cora Templeton Massingale, who is determined to halt a shipment of whiskey headed for Denver. The shipment is being escorted by the US cavalry, under the guidance of Col. Thadeus Gearhardt (Burt Lancaster). As the Denver miners thirstily Read More

Bonanza: The Flannel-Mouth Gun

Actors: Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, Earl Holliman

Synopsis: Held in thrall by a gang of rustlers, the local cattleman's association hires a professional gunman named Simmons (Robert Wilke) to deal with the outlaws. The Cartwrights vote against engaging the services of Simmons, fearing that he will cause more harm than good. Their predictions apparently Read More

Fate Is the Hunter

Actors: Glenn Ford, Nancy Kwan, Rod Taylor, Suzanne Pleshette, Jane Russell

Synopsis: Suspense builds around the investigation of a plane crash that caused 53 deaths in this dramatic adaption of Ernest K. Gann's novel. Authorities systematically eliminate probable causes, finally placing blame on the pilot, who was seen drinking before the flight. The airline's director of flight Read More

Bonanza: Return to Honor

Actors: Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, Guy Williams

Synopsis: First telecast March 22, 1964, "Return to Honor" served to introduce onetime Zorro star Guy Williams in the role of Ben Cartwright's nephew Will-a potential replacement for Adam Cartwright, should Pernell Roberts make good on his repeated threats to leave Bonanza. As the story opens, Ben receives Read More

Have Gun, Will Travel: American Primitive

Synopsis: This is the story of two old men who have outlived their time and usefulness, but are determined not to go gentle into that good night. Harry Morgan is cast as elderly sheriff Ernie Backwater, who joins his friend Paladin in search of another senior citizen, condemned fugitive Will Tybee (Robert Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Drowsy Mosquito

Synopsis: This episode is unusual in that there is no defendant as Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) attempts to solve a murder during a coroner's inquest in the mining town of Gold Gulch. Having learned that someone has been selling phony gold mines in the area, Perry disguises himself as a prospector to draw out Read More

The Untouchables: Arsenal

Synopsis: Once again, Frank Nitti (Bruce Gordon) crosses swords with rival gangster Bugs Moran (previously played by Lloyd Nolan, here enacted by Robert J. Wilke). To avoid an all-out gang war, Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) begin confiscating all the machine guns owned by the two mobsters' torpedoes. To keep Read More

The Untouchables: The Eddie O'Gara Story

Synopsis: In hiding ever since his gang was wiped out in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, Bugs Moran (George J. Wilke) is surprised when he is visited by a dead man. Actually, Eddie O'Gara (Michael Connors) is very much alive; it's just that everyone assumed he'd been killed by his fellow hoodlums when he Read More

Maverick: Epitaph for a Gambler

Synopsis: In yet another high-stakes poker game, Bart (Jack Kelly) wins part ownership of Diamond Jim Malone's gambling casino. Unfortunately, our hero also "wins" a certain Lucky Matt Elkins (Dan Haggerty), who has been blackmailing Diamond Jim (Robert J. Wilke) and doesn't intend to let up now that the Read More

Blueprint for Robbery

Actors: Jay Barney, J. Pat O'Malley, Robert Gist, Romo Vincent, Marion Ross

Synopsis: Theft is the pivotal element of this drama which was based on a Brink's robbery. A gang of thieves decide to pull a major heist. They carefully prepare, including a trip inside to pinpoint the alarms and guards while making key impressions. The actual robbery is shown as is the chaos which Read More

The Long Rope

Actors: Hugh Marlowe, Alan Hale, Jr., Robert J. Wilke, Chris Robinson

Synopsis: Talented action film director William Witney shows the depth of his skills in turning this one-week-in-production wonder into a passable, entertaining, one-hour western. The focus of attention is a trial in a town with no respect for the law, where the federal judge (Hugh Marlowe) valiantly tries Read More

The Untouchables: Stranglehold

Synopsis: The price of fish in New York City has gone up nearly fifty percent, and it's all because of mobster Frank Makouris (Ricardo Montalban), who wields control over Fulton's Fish Market with an iron hand, killing and maiming his enemies in broad daylight. With Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) collaborating Read More

Have Gun, Will Travel: Return to Fort Benjamin

Synopsis: An Indian chief (Anthony Caruso) whose son has been sentenced to be executed by the Army seeks out the help of Paladin (Richard Boone). The chief does not want his son released, but merely to make certain that the boy is afforded the proper tribal burial rites. Upon reaching the Army outpost Read More

Spartacus

Actors: Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov

Synopsis: Spartacus (Kirk Douglas) is a rebellious slave purchased by Lentulus Batiatus (Peter Ustinov), owner of a school for gladiators. For the entertainment of corrupt Roman senator Marcus Licinius Crassus (Laurence Olivier), Batiatus' gladiators are to stage a fight to the death. On the night before Read More

Maverick: Hadley's Hunters

Synopsis: Bart (Jack Kelly) is framed for crimes he didn't commit by sadistic sheriff Horace Hadley (Edgar Buchanan) and his equally odious deputy Jones (played by future Oscar winner George Kennedy). The two crooked lawmen specialize in hunting down and murdering innocent men, then claiming that their Read More

Bonanza: The Trail Gang

Actors: Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, Edgar Buchanan

Synopsis: Outlaw Johnny Logan (Dick Davalos) has sworn to kill a sheriff (James Westerfield) who is also named Logan-and who happens to be Johnny's father. Travelling under the alias of Sam Jackson, Johnny signs on as a Ponderosa drover, intending to murder Sheriff Logan when the Ponderosa herd passes Read More

The Magnificent Seven

Actors: Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach, Steve McQueen, Horst Buchholz, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, Brad Dexter, James Coburn

Synopsis: Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai (1954) is westernized as The Magnificent Seven. Yul Brynner plays Chris, a mercenary hired to protect a Mexican farming village from its annual invasion by bandit Calvera (Eli Wallach). As Elmer Bernstein's unforgettable theme music (later Read More

The Slowest Gun in the West

Actors: Phil Silvers, Jack Benny, Bruce Cabot

Have Gun, Will Travel: Hunt the Man Down

Synopsis: Hired for what he thinks will be a straightforward manhunt assignment, Paladin (Richard Boone) finds himself caught in the middle of a deadly feud between two brothers, Tony and Walt DeVries (James Drury, Robert J. Wilke). Walt is bitter because Tony has married his girlfriend Elizabeth (Madlyn Read More

Never Steal Anything Small

Actors: James Cagney, Roger Smith, Shirley Jones, Cara Williams, Nehemiah Persoff

Synopsis: Only one of three films directed by screenwriter Charles Lederer, known for movies as disparate as The Thing (1951) and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), this crime comedy-drama-musical obviously defies categorization. Mixing James Cagney as a gangster out to control a big union, with musical Read More

Have Gun, Will Travel: The Naked Gun

Synopsis: Guest star Ken Curtis serves up a dry run for his "Festus" character on Gunsmoke as a grungy, highly eccentric Oregon cattle rustler named Monk. Attaching himself to Paladin (Richard Boone), Monk hopes that the gunslinger will protect him from Rook (Robert J. Wilke), a sadistic trail boss. Read More

Walt Disney Presents: Tales of Texas John Slaughter: Texas John Slaughter

Synopsis: Of the many TV miniseries produced by Walt Disney for his various weekly anthologies of the '50s and '60s, only Tales of Texas John Slaughter came close to matching the "Davy Crockett" programs in popularity and longevity. Based on fact, the 17-episode saga of Texas Ranger-turned-rancher John Read More

Man of the West

Actors: Gary Cooper, Julie London, Lee J. Cobb, Arthur O'Connell, Jack Lord

Synopsis: Anthony Mann's final foray into the western genre is a disturbing examination of man's baser instincts, rising in intensity to the level of Shakespearean tragedy. The film begins as seemingly naive Link (Gary Cooper) leaves his family to take a train to Fort Worth. Also on the train is saloon Read More

Walt Disney Presents: Tales of Texas John Slaughter: Ambush at Laredo

Synopsis: In the second episode of Walt Disney's 17-part miniseries Tales of Texas John Slaughter, newly installed Texas ranger Slaughter (Tom Tryon) has succeeded in rounding up the last members of Frank Davis' outlaw gang. Unfortunately, Davis (Robert Middleton) has been released on bail and has fled to Read More

Have Gun, Will Travel: The High Graders

Synopsis: Paladin's suspicions are aroused when his favorite tailor is killed in an "accident" shortly after purchasing a gold mine. Believing that the tailor was murdered for his gold, Paladin (Richard Boone) is assured that this is not the case, inasmuch as the mine is deemed worthless. Why, then, have Read More

The Rifleman: The Marshall

Synopsis: Future Virginian star James Drury and Paul Fix are among the guest players in this, the fourth installment of The Rifleman television series. This time Lucas McCain (Chuck Connors) takes on a broken-down, alcoholic lawman, Micah Torrance (Fix), who's hired to help build a corral. But the arrival Read More

The Tarnished Angels

Actors: Rock Hudson, Robert Stack, Dorothy Malone, Jack Carson, Robert Middleton

Synopsis: William Faulkner's novel Pylon was optioned by Universal producer Albert Zugsmith, who used it as the source for his 1957 production The Tarnished Angels. Robert Stack is a disillusioned World War One ace eking out a living as a barnstorming pilot/parachutist during the early 1930s. New Orleans Read More

Night Passage

Actors: James Stewart, Audie Murphy, Dan Duryea, Dianne Foster, Elaine Stewart

Synopsis: Night Passage is so similar in spirit to the successful collaborations between star James Stewart and director Anthony Mann that it comes as a surprise that this film is directed by James Nielson. Stewart plays Grant McLaine, ex-railroad employee and the level-headed brother of firebrand Read More

Disneyland: The Saga of Andy Burnett: Andy's First Chore

Synopsis: In this second episode of Walt Disney's six-part miniseries The Saga of Andy Burnett, easterner Andy (Jerome Courtland) and his trapper pal Joe Crane (Jeff York) have joined a group called the Mountain Men in their journey the west. In order to survive the rough terrain ahead, Andy trains himself Read More

Gun the Man Down

Actors: James Arness, Angie Dickinson, Robert J. Wilke, Emile G. Meyer

Synopsis: Two years into Gunsmoke, James Arness took time out of his busy schedule to star in the medium-budget western Arizona Mission. Trading in his white hat for a black one, Arness plays a bandit. He and partners Robert J. Wilke and Don Megowan pull off a robbery; the partners then vamoose with the Read More

Disneyland: The Saga of Andy Burnett: Andy's Initiation

Synopsis: Originally telecast on the Disneyland anthology, the six-part miniseries The Saga of Andy Burnett was the first of several efforts by Walt Disney to create a live-action property that would match the success of his Davy Crockett programs. Based on a novel by Stewart Edward White, Andy Burnett Read More

Raw Edge

Actors: Rory Calhoun, Yvonne De Carlo, Mara Corday, Neville Brand, Rex Reason

Synopsis: Raw Edge is a modest Universal western from the peak of the double-feature era. Rory Calhoun plays a rancher whose "equal opportunity" hiring policies backfire. Calhoun learns that several of his ranch hands plan to kill him and take over the property. The treacherous employees further intend Read More

The Rawhide Years

Actors: Tony Curtis, Colleen Miller, Arthur Kennedy

Synopsis: In this western, an adventurous gambler goes on the lam when he is falsely accused of a riverboat killing. He hides out for three years before returning to prove his innocence, and to find the girl he loves. Unfortunately, the girl is involved with a gambler, the ringleader of the gang responsible Read More

The Lone Ranger

Actors: Clayton Moore, Jay Silverheels, Lyle Bettger, Bonita Granville, Perry Lopez

Synopsis: The Lone Ranger was the first of two Technicolor theatrical features based on the popular TV series of the same name. Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels, stars of the video version, essay the roles of the Masked Rider of the Plains and his faithful Indian companion Tonto. This time around, our Read More

Backlash

Actors: Richard Widmark, Donna Reed, William Campbell, John McIntire, Barton MacLane

Synopsis: The breathtakingly beautiful Technicolor cinematography of Irving Glassberg is but one of the many small pleasures of the big-budget western Backlash. Set in post-Civil War Arizona, the film stars Richard Widmark as Jim Slater, who hopes to prove that his down-and-out father (John McIntire) was Read More

Canyon River

Actors: George Montgomery, Marcia Henderson, Peter Graves, Richard Eyer, Walter Sande

Synopsis: Canyon River stars George Montgomery as trail boss Steve Patrick. Reversing the procedure usually depicted in westerns of this nature, Patrick is assigned to guide a cattle drive from the west-coast state of Oregon to the wilds of Wyoming. En route, our hero must fend off attacks from both Read More

Written on the Wind

Actors: Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, Robert Stack, Dorothy Malone, Robert Keith

Synopsis: Perhaps the definitive Douglas Sirk production, Written on the Wind is based on the novel by Robert Wilder. The story revolves around the Hadleys, a wealthy but thoroughly debauched family of Texas oil millionaires. Robert Stack is self-destructive alcoholic Kyle Hadley, while Dorothy Malone won Read More

The Far Country

Actors: James Stewart, Ruth Roman, Corinne Calvet, Walter Brennan, John McIntire

Synopsis: One of the most entertaining of the Western movies to come out of the 1950s, this is a Stewart vehicle in which he must take on the ruthlessness of the frontier. Set in the Yukon, Stewart and his friends are driving cattle to market from Wyoming to Canada, where the boom towns pay top dollar for Read More

Smoke Signal

Actors: Dana Andrews, Piper Laurie, Rex Reason, William Talman, Milburn Stone

Synopsis: Dana Andrews plays Cavalry deserter Brett Halliday in the compact Universal western Smoke Signal. Cavalry captain Harper (William Talman) is determined to bring Halliday to justice, but first he must lead his men and a handful of Indian-massacre survivors to safety through hostile, uncharted Read More

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Actors: Kirk Douglas, James Mason, Paul Lukas, Peter Lorre, Robert J. Wilke

Synopsis: This 1954 Disney version of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea represented the studio's costliest and most elaborate American-filmed effort to date. Kirk Douglas plays a trouble-shooting 19th century seaman, trying to discover why so many whaling ships have been disappearing of late. Read More

The Adventures of Superman: Perry White's Scoop

Synopsis: When the corpse of a man in a diving suit shows up miles from the ocean on the top floor of the "Daily Planet" building, editor Perry White (John Hamilton) is inspired to return to reporting to solve the mystery himself. The closer Perry comes to cracking the case, the more his life is endangered Read More

War Paint

Actors: Robert Stack, Joan Taylor, Charles McGraw, Keith Larsen, Peter Graves

Synopsis: War Paint stars Robert Stack as a courageous U.S. Cavalry lieutenant, assigned to deliver a peace treaty to a powerful Indian chief. Unfortunately, a band of bloodthirsty renegades have vowed to kill the officer before he completes his mission. Will our hero be able to deliver the treaty at the Read More

Arrowhead

Actors: Charlton Heston, Jack Palance, Katy Jurado, Brian Keith, Mary Sinclair

Synopsis: Adapted from a novel by W.R. Burnett (which hadn't yet been published when the film was released), Arrowhead is a tough, uncompromising western dealing with the delicate issue of White-Indian relations. Charlton Heston is at his most truculent as Indian agent Ed Bannon, who though raised by Read More

Powder River

Actors: Rory Calhoun, Corinne Calvet, Cameron Mitchell, Penny Edwards, Carl Betz

Synopsis: A climactic donnybrook between hero Allan Lane and ace Republic villain Roy Barcroft is the highlight of this otherwise routine B-Western effort directed by John Ford's nephew Philip Ford. The railroad is coming to El Dorado on the Powder River and a phony agent, Devereaux (Douglas Evans) Read More

From Here to Eternity

Actors: Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed, Frank Sinatra

Synopsis: The scene is Schofield Army Barracks in Honolulu, in the languid days before the attack on Pearl Harbor, where James Jones' acclaimed war novel From Here to Eternity brought the aspirations and frustrations of several people sharply into focus. Sergeant Milt Warden (Burt Lancaster) enters into an Read More

High Noon

Actors: Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Thomas Mitchell, Lloyd Bridges, Katy Jurado, Otto Kruger

Synopsis: This Western classic stars Gary Cooper as Hadleyville marshal Will Kane, about to retire from office and go on his honeymoon with his new Quaker bride, Amy (Grace Kelly). But his happiness is short-lived when he is informed that the Miller gang, whose leader (Ian McDonald) Will had arrested, is Read More

The Las Vegas Story

Actors: Jane Russell, Victor Mature, Vincent Price, Hoagy Carmichael, Brad Dexter

Synopsis: The Las Vegas Story features two of Hollywood's most impressive physiques. Victor Mature stars as Dave Andrews, a gambler, while Jane Russell plays Linda, the love of his life. Assuming that Andrews has forgotten her, Linda marries Lloyd Rollins (Vincent Price) on the rebound. All three main Read More

Laramie Mountains

Actors: Charles Starrett, Smiley Burnette, Jock Mahoney, Fred Sears, Marshall Reed

Synopsis: Charles Starrett is back as The Durango Kid in Laramie Mountains. The villains this time are a group of white outlaws who disguise themselves as Indians to stage raids on various U.S. army posts. Their plan is to foment an all-out war for their own profit. Government agent Steve Holden (Starrett) Read More

Fargo

Synopsis: Cowboy hero Wild Bill Elliot (whose trademark was wearing his six-shooters backwards in his holsters) stars in this oater. After his brother is murdered by crooked cattlemen, Elliot is determined to bring honest business to the plains of North Dakota, and he pioneers the use of barbed wire to Read More

Cattle Town

Actors: Dennis Morgan, Philip Carey, Amanda Blake, Rita Moreno, Paul Picerni

Synopsis: Cattle Town is a rare low-budget western from the Warner Bros. mills. Dennis Morgan plays Mike McGann, a troubleshooter sent out by the governor of Texas to keep a group of dispossessed ranchers from causing trouble. Disgusted by the activities of land baron Judd Hastings (Ray Teal), who has the Read More