Sal MineoFilmography

James Dean: The First American Teenager

Synopsis: In this documentary, narrated by Stacy Keach, the tragic screen-icon James Dean is remembered. Footage from early television appearances, stills from his life, and clips from his three Warner Brothers films are interwoven with interviews with his co-workers. The soundtrack includes music from Elton John Read More

The Hunters

Synopsis: The police gain assistance from a woman who is under threat by one of the criminals. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Man Running

Synopsis: A detective guards rich homes after a series of robberies. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

The Family Rico

Actors: Ben Gazzara, Sal Mineo

Synopsis: Made for television, The Family Rico was adapted from the same Georges Simenon novel that served as the basis of the 1958 Columbia theatrical feature The Brothers Rico. Ben Gazzara plays a powerful mobster put in an embarrassing position by younger brother Sal Mineo. When Mineo refuses to carry Read More

Left-Handed

In Search of America

Actors: Vera Miles, Carl Betz, Jeff Bridges, Ruth McDevitt, Renne Jarrett

Synopsis: The producers of In Search of America never declared outright that the made-for-TV film was intended as a series pilot, but there sure are plenty of loose plot ends. Carl Betz and Vera Miles play the parents of shaggy-haired college dropout Jeff Bridges. At the boy's suggestion, Betz and Miles Read More

Escape from the Planet of the Apes

Actors: Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter

Synopsis: Escape From the Planet of the Apes is the third in the series of films based upon the Planet of the Apes characters created by novelist Pierre Boulle. At the end of the second film, the centuries-in-the-future world colonized by simians was destroyed, but apes Cornelius (Roddy McDowall) and Zira (Kim Hunter Read More

How to Steal an Airplane

Synopsis: The alternate title for this TV pilot film is the more appropriate The Scavengers. Peter Deuel and Clintin Greyn play two soldiers of fortune who work outside the law in order to reclaim stolen goods for their rightful owners. The stolen item in this case is a jet plane, swiped by a Latin American Read More

Mission: Impossible: Flip Side

Actors: Peter Graves, Leonard Nimoy, Lesley Ann Warren, Greg Morris, Peter Lupus

Synopsis: In order to smash an international drug cartel, the IMF must stop the three men involving in an intricate smuggling route. Sal Mineo plays Mel Bracken, the Los Angeles distributor of the illicit drugs; Dana Elcaris seen as C.W. Cameron, the midwestern drug manufacturer; and Robert Alda rounds out Read More

Krakatoa, East of Java

Actors: Maximilian Schell, Diane Baker, Brian Keith, Barbara Werle, John Leyton

Synopsis: Volcano is the reissue title of the muddled disaster flick Krakatoa: East of Java. The name change was reportedly put into effect after thousands of filmgoers noted publicly that Krakatoa is west of Java. As might be expected, the story takes place in 1883, when the long-dormant volcano at Read More

80 Steps to Jonah

Actors: Wayne Newton, Jo Van Fleet, Keenan Wynn, Diana Ewing, Slim Pickens

Synopsis: Wayne Newton is the hero of the warm-hearted family feature 80 Steps to Jonah. The piping-voiced Newton is accused of car thievery, but who could doubt the sincerity of that angelic face? On the lam from the cops, he takes a job at a summer camp for blind children. Passing himself off as the new Read More

A Hard Case of the Blues

Synopsis: Sharon Farrell stars as blues singer Jesse Boone in the 90-minute, made-for-TV Hard Case of the Blues. Jesse's business manager has just died under mysterious circumstances. He has also swindled Jesse out of $200,000. Thing of it is, Jesse couldn't care less--and Crime magazine editor Dan Read More

The Challengers

Actors: Anne Baxter, Susan Clark, Sean Garrison, Juliet Mills, Sal Mineo, Darren McGavin, Nico Minardos

Synopsis: Completed in 1968, the made-for-TV The Challengers wasn't telecast until one year later. This Grand Prix melodrama top-bills Darren McGavin as a veteran racer whose wife (Juliet Mills) wants him to retire. A secondary plot involves Sean Garrison and Nico Minardos, who carry their on-track rivalry Read More

Stranger on the Run

Actors: Anne Baxter, Dan Duryea, Henry Fonda, Michael Parks

Synopsis: A prime early example of how to make a truly worthwhile TV movie, Stranger on the Run is a tough, minimalist western in the tradition of the theatrical oaters of director Anthony Mann (one of whose favorite actors, Dan Duryea, has a supporting part in Stranger). Michael Parks is painfully Read More

Combat!: Nothing to Lose

Synopsis: Lt. Hanley (Rick Jason) is fed up with the insubordination of streetwise punk Private Vinnick (Sal Mineo), and with Vinnick's constant ragging of fellow GI Private Burke (Tom Skerritt). Accused by Vinnick of being a coward, the resentful Burke is determined to prove his courage under fire, thus Read More

Combat!: The Brothers

Synopsis: Assigned to a reconnaisance mission, Hanley (Rick Jason) is aided by veteran Resistance fighter Leon Poulon (Fernando Lama), who agrees to cooperate only if the squad takes his younger brother Marcel (Sal Mineo) along. Though Marcel has an all-consuming fear of death, Leon pretends not to notice Read More

The Dangerous Days of Kiowa Jones

Actors: Gary Merrill, Sal Mineo

Synopsis: Wandering cowpoke Kiowa Jones (Robert Horton) is deputized by a mortally wounded marshal (Gary Merrill) for a deadly mission. Jones is to transport two killers (Sal Mineo, Nehemiah Persoff) to a faraway fort. One of the criminals has offered a $2000 reward to anyone who will help him escape. Since Read More

The Greatest Story Ever Told

Actors: Max von Sydow, Dorothy McGuire, Robert Loggia, Claude Rains, José Ferrer, Charlton Heston

Synopsis: Filmmaker George Stevens chose Monument Valley, Utah for his exterior sequences in The Greatest Story Ever Told, this ($20 million) adaptation of Fulton Oursler's best-selling book. The "Greatest Story" is, of course, the life of Jesus Christ, played herein by Max Von Sydow. The large supporting Read More

Who Killed Teddy Bear?

Actors: Sal Mineo, Juliet Prowse, Jan Murray, Elaine Stritch, Margot Bennett

Synopsis: Shot on location in Manhattan during the mid-'60s, Who Killed Teddy Bear? is a startling piece of dramatic filmmaking. Juliet Prowse portrays Nora, a deejay and hostess at a sleazy midtown discothèque who starts to receive obscene phone calls. Nora dismisses them, until she crosses paths with Bill 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

Combat!: The Hard Way Back

Synopsis: Sal Mineo guest stars as Private Larry Kogan, who bears witness when Sgt. Saunders (Vic Morrow) is trapped under a fallen beam during an enemy attack. Though he has plenty of time to pull Saunders out, Kogan panics and runs away--then reports to Lt. Hanley (Rick Jason) that the sergeant has been Read More

The Longest Day

Actors: John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Henry Fonda, Robert Ryan, Rod Steiger, Richard Todd

Synopsis: The Longest Day is a mammoth, all-star re-creation of the D-Day invasion, personally orchestrated by Darryl F. Zanuck. Whenever possible, the original locations were utilized, and an all-star international cast impersonates the people involved, from high-ranking officials to ordinary GIs. Each Read More

Escape from Zahrain

Actors: Yul Brynner, Sal Mineo, Jack Warden, Madlyn Rhue, Anthony Caruso

Synopsis: Essentially a chase film from beginning to end, this standard adventure yarn by director Ronald Neame is set in "Zahrain," a barely-disguised Middle Eastern nation. Sharif (Yul Brynner) is a rebel who has taken up arms against the country's corrupt government and the forces of Western imperialism. 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

A Private's Affair

Actors: Sal Mineo, Christine Carère, Barry Coe, Barbara Eden, Gary Crosby

Synopsis: A trio of energetic young men try to put on a good show for their Army camp, in this lightweight comedy by Raoul Walsh. Luigi (Sal Mineo just risen to stardom), Jerry (Berry Coe), and Mike (Gary Crosby) are in boot camp when they are presented with a chance to represent their unit in competition Read More

The Gene Krupa Story

Actors: Gene Krupa, Sal Mineo, Susan Kohner, James Darren, Susan Oliver, Yvonne Craig, Shelly Manne, Buddy Lester

Synopsis: Sal Mineo, who'd previously registered well as the lead in the TV drama Drummer Man, essays a strikingly similar role in The Gene Krupa Story. The film details Krupa's troubled home life: (he wanted to be a musician; his father wanted him to become a priest), his rise to fame as drummer for the Benny Goodman Read More

Aladdin

Synopsis: Sal Mineo plays the title role in this made-for-TV musical based on the famous folk tale, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. Starring alongside Mineo are Basil Rathbone as the Emperor, Cyril Ritchard as the Magician, Anna Maria Alberghetti as the Princess, and Geoffrey Holder as the Genie. Read More

Tonka

Actors: Sal Mineo, Philip Carey, Jerome Courtland, Rafael Campos, H.M. Wynant

Synopsis: This Disney adventure differed from many films of its era in that it depicted an unusually humanistic view of Native Americans as it tells the story of a young Sioux who finds a wild horse, captures the magnificent animal, names him Tonka, and patiently gentles him. According to custom, he is Read More

Dino

Actors: Sal Mineo, Brian Keith, Susan Kohner, Frank Faylen, Joe de Santis

Synopsis: Adapted from his own TV play by Reginald Rose, Dino stars Sal Mineo (who also appeared in the TV version) in the title role. Sent to reform school for his complicity in a gang killing, Dino is released in the custody of kindly settlement worker Sheridan (Brian Keith). Despite the efforts by Read More

The Young Don't Cry

Actors: Sal Mineo, James Whitmore, J. Carrol Naish, Gene Lyons, Leigh Whipper, Ruth Attaway

Synopsis: 17-year-old Sal Mineo was one of the hottest young actors in Hollywood when The Young Don't Cry was specially tailored for his talents. Filmed on location at the Bethesda Home for Boys in Savannah, Georgia, the film stars Mineo as Leslie Henderson, a lonely older orphan who befriends escaped Read More

Giant

Actors: Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Carroll Baker, Mercedes McCambridge, Jane Withers

Synopsis: George Stevens' sprawling adaptation of Edna Ferber's best-selling novel successfully walks a fine line between potboiler and serious drama for its 210-minute running time, making it one of the few epics of its era that continues to hold up as engrossing entertainment across the decades. Giant Read More

Somebody Up There Likes Me

Actors: Paul Newman, Anna Maria Pier Angeli, Everett Sloane, Eileen Heckart, Sal Mineo

Synopsis: Once you get past the fact that handsome Paul Newman could never pass for plug-ugly boxer Rocky Graziano in real life, you will be able to accept Somebody Up Their Likes Me as one of the more accomplished movie biopics of the 1950s. Based on Graziano's autobiography (co-written with Rowland Read More

Crime in the Streets

Actors: James Whitmore, John Cassavetes, Sal Mineo, Mark Rydell, Denise Alexander, Virginia Gregg

Synopsis: Frankie Dane (John Cassavetes) is the leader of the hornets, a local street gang that has had its share of rumbles and other trouble with the police. When one of his members is fingered to the police by a neighbor (Malcolm Atterbury) for having a gun, Frankie vows revenge, and when the same man Read More

Rock, Pretty Baby

Actors: Sal Mineo, John Saxon, Luana Patten, Edward Platt, Fay Wray

Synopsis: A must-see for students of 1950s pop culture, Rock, Pretty Baby was Universal-International's earliest acknowledgement of the rock 'n' roll craze. John Saxon plays 18-year-old high schooler Jimmy Daley, who intends to pursue a musical career despite the objections of his physician father (Edward Read More

Six Bridges to Cross

Actors: Tony Curtis, George Nader, Julie Adams, Jay C. Flippen, Sal Mineo

Synopsis: This exciting caper outing is loosely based on the famous robbery of Brinks in Boston that netted the crooks $2.5 million. The story covers the six years small-time hood Jerry Florea (Tony Curtis) spent planning the heist. The story begins with the events that led a young Florea (played by Sal Read More

The Private War of Major Benson

Actors: Charlton Heston, Julie Adams, Tim Hovey, William Demarest, Nana Bryant, Tim Considine

Synopsis: A too-tough Army major gets himself sent to run an ROTC program at a Santa Barbara military school after he calls unwanted attention to the military by mouthing off to a prominent news magazine. When he arrives to his new post, the major is shocked to find it run by nuns and that his new troops 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

Janet Dean: Registered Nurse

Synopsis: This 1950s medical drama focused on the life of Janet Dean, a registered private duty nurse who seeks the facts behind her patients' problems. The two episodes shown on this compilation tape are "The Apple Case" and "The Garcia Case." ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide Read More