Strother MartinFilmography

Saturday Night Live: Strother Martin

Actors: Strother Martin, The Specials

Synopsis: This 1980 episode of Saturday Night Live is hosted by Strother Martin and features musical guest the Specials. ~ Skyler Miller, All Movie Guide Read More

Nightwing

Actors: Nick Mancuso, David Warner, Kathryn Harrold, Stephen Macht, Strother Martin

Synopsis: In this chiller, a trio of heroes must enter a black Southwestern cave and destroy an entire colony of plague-bearing bats, vampire bats. The story is based on a novel by Martin Cruz Smith. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

The Secret of Nikola Tesla

Actors: Orson Welles, Strother Martin, Dennis Patrick, Oja Kodar

Synopsis: Nikola Tesla (here played by Petar Bozovic) was a famous 19th century Yugoslavian inventor. The film recounts Tesla's development of the alternating electric current, first under the dictatorial thumb of Thomas Edison (Dennis Patrick), then on his own. Tesla develops a harmonious working Read More

The Champ

Actors: Jon Voight, Faye Dunaway, Rick Schroder, Jack Warden, Arthur Hill, Strother Martin

Synopsis: Billy (Jon Voight) is on the road with his son T.J. (Ricky Schroder), fighting low-end boxing matches for drinking money before moving on to the next town for another match. When his ex-wife (and T.J.'s mother) Annie (Faye Dunaway) shows up, it's to tell him that she wants custody of the boy. She Read More

The Villain

Actors: Kirk Douglas, Ann-Margret, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Paul Lynde, Foster Brooks, Ruth Buzzi

Synopsis: The presence of Paul Lynde, in a small role, reveals more about the quality and tone of this film than the three top names. A farce with plenty of slapstick, it offers Kirk Douglas as a road agent dealing with a naive hero (a young Arnold Schwarzenegger) who is seemingly out of western serials in Read More

Love and Bullets

Actors: Charles Bronson, Rod Steiger, Jill Ireland, Strother Martin, Bradford Dillman, Michael Vincente Gazzo

Synopsis: Charles Bronson is out for revenge (and doesn't that sound familiar) in this action drama. Jackie Pruit (Jill Ireland) is the girlfriend of notorious gangster Joe Bomposa (Rod Steiger). When it looks as if Jackie's life is being threatened by Bomposa's goons, the FBI moves in to protect Read More

Better Late Than Never

Actors: Harold Gould, Strother Martin, Tyne Daly, Harry Morgan, Marjorie Bennett

Synopsis: The elderly residents of a nursing home tire of being oppressed and stage a revolution in this made-for-television comedy. Following the ensuing riot they rush out and commandeer a passing train to go out for a few final adventures. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

The End

Actors: Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise, Sally Field, Strother Martin, David Steinberg

Synopsis: At the beginning of The End, Wendell Sonny Lawson (Burt Reynolds) is informed by his doctor that he's dying from "the same thing Ali MacGraw had in Love Story." Lawson's first reaction is to cry uncontrollably, much to the discomfort of his fellow elevator passengers. He heads to a nearby church Read More

Fast Line Fever

The Ransom of Red Chief

Synopsis: This fun film is based upon the classic O. Henry tale about a bratty kid who kidnappers find to be more than they can handle, so they're happy to de-kidnap him. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Steel Cowboy

Synopsis: Steel Cowboy is one of an overabundance of "trucker" films (made for both TV and theaters) inflicted upon the public in the mid- to late-'70s. James Brolin stars as an independent trucker weighed down with financial difficulties. When first we meet him, he is in danger of losing both his rig and Read More

Up in Smoke

Actors: Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong, Stacy Keach, Edie Adams, Tom Skerritt

Synopsis: Then professional potheads Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong teamed up for Cheech & Chong: Up In Smoke, which features the drug-addled duo on a road trip throughout California; that is to say, a road-trip they hope will culminate in finding some quality weed. Instead, a series of mishaps result in Read More

Baretta: Open Season

Actors: Robert Blake, Edward Grover, Tom Ewell, Michael D. Roberts, Chino "Fats" Williams

Synopsis: Oscar-winning character actor Strother Martin makes a return visit to Baretta, this time in the role of an embittered doctor named Shaner. Having given up on humanity, Shaner has become a professional bounty hunter. Undercover cop Tony Baretta (Robert Blake) finds himself in the uncomfortable Read More

The Rockford Files: The Trees, the Bees and T.T. Flowers, Part 2

Synopsis: In the conclusion of a two-part story, Jim (James Garner) infiltrates a sanitarium called Horizon's Crest to rescue T.T. Flowers (Strother Martin), who is being victimized by evil land developer Jack Muellard (Scott Brady). But though Muellard is temporarily stopped in his tracks, T.T. still isn't Read More

The Rockford Files: The Trees, the Bees and T.T. Flowers, Part 1

Synopsis: In the first episode of a two-part story, Rocky's somewhat eccentric friend T.T. Flowers (Strother Martin) has been forced off his "Freedom" property, declared mentally incomptetent, and placed in a sanitarium called Horizon's Crest. It's all the handiwork of crooked land developer Jack Muellard Read More

Slap Shot

Actors: Paul Newman, Strother Martin, Michael Ontkean, Jennifer Warren, Lindsay Crouse

Synopsis: Paul Newman plays Reggie Dunlop, the coach of a pathetic minor-league American hockey team. His career at a standstill and his marriage in tatters, Dunlop has nothing to lose by taking on a new group of players who are one evolutionary step above Neanderthals. Only when the team begins winning Read More

The Great Scout and Cathouse Thursday

Actors: Lee Marvin, Oliver Reed, Robert Culp, Elizabeth Ashley, Strother Martin

Synopsis: In this broad comedy-western set in 1908 Colorado, Lee Marvin and Oliver Reed team up as Sam Longwood and Joe Knox, two con-men who once worked as a team. They reunite in order to get revenge upon their third partner, Jack Colby (Robert Culp), who used the trio's ill-gotten gains to become a high Read More

The Revenge of Red Chief

Synopsis: This half-hour sequel to the famous O. Henry tale The Ransom of Red Chief finds our hero, the little boy who pretends to be a legendary American Indian named Red Chief, using his powers of deception to outwit a group of con artists. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide Read More

Baretta: On the Road

Actors: Robert Blake, Edward Grover, Tom Ewell, Michael D. Roberts, Chino "Fats" Williams

Synopsis: A pre-One Day at a Time Mackenzie Phillips guest stars as Mindy, a runaway teenager. Undercover cop Tony Baretta (Robert Blake) manages to catch up to Mindy and to handcuff himself to the girl. Anxious to return to headquarters, Baretta and Mindy clamber into a police squad car and ask the Read More

One of Our Own

Synopsis: One of Our Own stars George Peppard as Dr. Jake Goodwin, the chief neurosurgeon of an inordinately busy hospital. As he makes his rounds, Goodwin becomes involved in a vast array of medical cases, solving virtually every problem he's confronted with. It looks, however, as though he's going to have Read More

Hard Times

Actors: Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Jill Ireland, Strother Martin

Synopsis: Also known as The Streetfighter, Hard Times stars Charles Bronson as Chaney, an aging bare-knuckle boxer, trying to scratch out a living in the middle of the Depression. "Speed" (James Coburn) is the two-bit promoter who books Chaney in the tank towns of the South and Midwest. He is briefly Read More

Rooster Cogburn

Actors: John Wayne, Katharine Hepburn, Anthony Zerbe, Richard Jordan, John McIntire

Synopsis: John Wayne returned to the role that won him an Oscar in this sequel to the western classic True Grit. Rooster Cogburn (Wayne) has once again been stripped of his badge after some questionable behavior with his gun, but he's given the chance to earn it back after an especially appalling crime Read More

Candidate for Murder

Synopsis: Candidate for Murder stars Jimmy Stewart as folksy private detective Hawkins. Paul Burke costars as Hawkins' client, the campaign manager for a charismatic politician (John Ericson). A TV reporter who had threatened to release a damaging story about the politico has been murdered, and Burke is the Read More

Murder on the 13th Floor

Synopsis: Murder on the 13th Floor is a 90-minute episode of the Jimmy Stewart TV series Hawkins. Detective Hawkins (Stewart) tries to clear the murder-suspect son (Andrew Parks) of an old flame (Teresa Wright). The boy was found at the scene of the crime just minutes after the victim breathed his last. Read More

Hawkins on Murder

Actors: Strother Martin

Synopsis: Also known as Death and the Maiden, Hawkins on Murder introduced Jimmy Stewart to the TV-detective genre as folksy sleuth Billy Jim Hawkins (this TV movie was produced by MGM, the studio which gave Stewart his start in the 1930s). Hawkins travels from his West Virginia hometown to investigate a Read More

Murder in Movieland

Synopsis: Murder in Movieland was the first episode in the Hawkins TV series of 1973-74. Jimmy Stewart stars as Billy Jim Hawkins, a country lawyer who plays detective. Hawkins arrives in Hollywood to defend the husband of a movie star on a murder charge. The suspect has confessed--to clubbing another man Read More

Sssssss

Synopsis: In this spooky horror movie, a crazed doctor is able to transform a man into a giant cobra. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Blood Feud

Synopsis: Blood Feud is a 90-minute episode of the TV series Hawkins. Folksy lawyer/detective Hawkins (Jimmy Stewart) is faced with a murder in his own family. The killing was apparently the outgrowth of a century-old feud between the Hawkinses and their unfriendly neighbors. Lew Ayres guest stars as a Read More

Bonanza: The Younger Brothers' Younger Brother

Actors: Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, Mitch Vogel, Strother Martin

Synopsis: Written and directed by Bonanza star Michael Landon, "The Younger Brothers' Younger Brother" is one of the series' zaniest episodes. It all begins when Hoss Cartwright is mistaken for one of the notorious Younger Brothers, who have recently resumed their criminal activities after a 12-year prison Read More

Pocket Money

Actors: E. Baca, R. Camargo, R. Manning, Wynn Pearce, Paul Newman, Lee Marvin, Strother Martin, Christine Belford, Kelly Jean Peters

Synopsis: Two modern day cowboys smuggle a herd of cows across the border in this loosely amiable comedy. Jim Kane (Paul Newman) is a cowboy who unexpectedly finds himself deep in debt and in need of some fast cash. A less-than-scrupulous businessman approaches Kane and offers him a handsome payday to Read More

Hannie Caulder

Actors: Raquel Welch, Robert Culp, Ernest Borgnine, Strother Martin, Jack Elam

Synopsis: It's hard to discern the filmmakers' true point of view on Hannie Caulder. On one hand, you've got the heavily somber story of Raquel Welch's efforts to exact vengeance on the men who raped her and killed her husband. On the other hand, you've got the leisurely-paced, lightly amusing sequences in Read More

Fools' Parade

Actors: James Stewart, George Kennedy, Anne Baxter

Synopsis: Just as they did for 1965's Shenandoah and 1968's Bandolero!, director Andrew V. McLaglen and screenwriter James Lee Barrett team up with actor James Stewart for this Western about a band of ex-convicts trying to go straight. Stewart stars as Mattie Appleyard, the leader of the group. After Read More

The Brotherhood of Satan

Actors: Strother Martin, L.Q. Jones, Charles Bateman, Ahna Capri, Charles Robinson

Synopsis: Noted character actor L.Q. Jones (who would later direct the cult classic A Boy and His Dog) produced this low-budget horror item about a small Southwestern town torn asunder by the mysterious disappearances of several of its children. Jones plays the town sheriff, who joins forces with some of Read More

Adam-12: Log 88: Reason to Run

Synopsis: Officers Jim Reed (Kent McCord) and Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) investigate a series of baffling thefts at a fancy riding school run by a washed-up cowboy star (Rod Cameron). Elsewhere, the two cops bust up a drug ring, and confront the problem of a young girl who has been hoodwinked into driving Read More

Red Sky at Morning

Synopsis: In this drama, based on a novel by Richard Bradford, an adolescent boy and his mother are sent to live in New Mexico after his father goes off to fight WW II. The move is hard on both mother and son. The boy, one of the few whites in the area, must deal with making friends, the strange new land Read More

Bonanza: The Impostors

Actors: Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, Strother Martin, Tony Colti

Synopsis: Oscar winner Strother Martin is cast as Joad Bruder, the father of jailed stagecoach robber Randy Bruder (Anthony Colti). Aware that Joad is holding the Ponderosa money that was stolen by Randy, Joe and Hoss hatch another of their hare-brained schemes to retrieve the loot. Heading to Pineville Read More

The Ballad of Cable Hogue

Actors: Jason Robards, Jr., Stella Stevens, David Warner, Strother Martin, Slim Pickens

Synopsis: After the intense bloodshed of The Wild Bunch (1969), this comic western fable took the opposite approach to director Sam Peckinpah's continuing examination of the end of the West. Left for dead by a couple of lizard-slaughtering desperados in the middle of the desert, prospector Cable Hogue (Jason Robards Read More

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Actors: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katharine Ross, Strother Martin, Henry Jones

Synopsis: Opening with a silent "movie" of Butch Cassidy's Hole in the Wall Gang, George Roy Hill's comically elegiac Western chronicles the mostly true tale of the outlaws' last months. Witty pals Butch (Paul Newman) and Sundance (Robert Redford) join the Gang in successfully robbing yet another train with Read More

True Grit

Actors: John Wayne, Glen Campbell, Kim Darby, Jeremy Slate, Robert Duvall

Synopsis: In fine Hollywood tradition, John Wayne had to play a "one-eyed fat man" before the Motion Picture Academy considered him worthy of an Oscar. In True Grit, Wayne plays grumpy, pot-bellied U.S. marshal "Rooster" Cogburn, hired by 14-year-old Mattie Ross (Kim Darby) to find Tom Chaney (Jeff Corey) Read More

The Wild Bunch

Actors: William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O'Brien, Warren Oates

Synopsis: "If they move, kill 'em!" Beginning and ending with two of the bloodiest battles in screen history, Sam Peckinpah's classic revisionist Western ruthlessly takes apart the myths of the West. Released in the late '60s discord over Vietnam, in the wake of the controversial Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and Read More

Goodbye, Harry

Synopsis: This 90-minute episode of TV's Name of the Game guest-stars Darren McGavin as roving reporter Sam Hardy. Sam's boss, Crime magazine publisher Glenn Howard (Gene Barry), sends Hardy and magazine researcher Peggy Maxwell (Susan St. James) on a dangerous fact-finding mission. Their quarry is American Read More

Bonanza: The Silence at Stillwater

Actors: Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, David Canary, Pat Hingle

Synopsis: Sheriff Austin (Pat Hingle) of Stillwater jails Candy on the basis of highly suspicious eyewitness testimony. Not only does Austin refuse to tell Candy that he's suspected of robbery and murder, but he also refuses to inform the Cartwrights of their top hand's whereabouts. Why is the Sheriff Read More

The Invaders, Vol. 6: Moonshot

Synopsis: Roy Thinnes was the star of this 1967-1968 science fiction series, about an Earth poised on the brink of alien takeover. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide Read More

Gilligan's Island: Take a Dare

Actors: Strother Martin

Synopsis: In an amusing precursor to the Survivor school of "reality" broadcasting, a radio station on the mainland has set up a "Take a Dare" contest, with contestants vying for a $10,000 prize. One such contestant is George Barkley (played by future Oscar winner Strother Martin), who will win the contest Read More

Cool Hand Luke

Actors: Paul Newman, George Kennedy, J.D. Cannon, Lou Antonio, Robert Drivas, Strother Martin

Synopsis: Paul Newman was nominated for an Oscar and George Kennedy received one for his work in this allegorical prison drama. Luke Jackson (Paul Newman) is sentenced to a stretch on a southern chain gang after he's arrested for drunkenly decapitating parking meters. While the avowed ambition of the Read More

The Flim-Flam Man

Actors: George C. Scott, Sue Lyon, Michael Sarrazin, Harry Morgan, Jack Albertson

Synopsis: Michael Sarrazin plays Curley, a young man gone AWOL from the Army who soon makes the acquaintance of Mordechai (George C. Scott), a veteran confidence man. Mordecai takes a liking to Curley, and offers to show him the tricks of the trade as they drift through the American South, pulling one scam Read More

Nevada Smith

Actors: Steve McQueen, Karl Malden, Brian Keith, Arthur Kennedy, Suzanne Pleshette

Synopsis: Henry Hathaway's film is based on a character from Harold Robbins' The Carpetbaggers, who, in turn, based it on cowboy actor Ken Maynard. Set in the West of the 1890s, the film opens with the torture and murder of the parents of Max Sand (Steve McQueen) by a trio of gunslingers seemingly motivated Read More

Harper

Actors: Paul Newman, Lauren Bacall, Julie Harris, Arthur Hill, Janet Leigh

Synopsis: Screenwriter William Goldman has claimed that Paul Newman agreed to do Harper, the film that established the grateful writer's career, only because he was working unhappily on Lady L. (1965) in Europe, and was looking for something as unlike that film as possible. He stars as Lew Harper, a hip Read More

Lost in Space: Blast Off into Space

Synopsis: The first episode of Lost in Space's second season--and the first filmed in color--features Oscar-winning character actor Strother Martin as interplanetary miner Nerim. In search of a rare ore, Nerim sets off a series of explosive blasts on the planet currently occupied by the Robinson family. Read More

An Eye for an Eye

Actors: Robert Lansing, Slim Pickens, Gloria Talbott, Paul Fix

Synopsis: Talion is the alternate title for the blood-splattered western An Eye for an Eye. You know that the filmmakers aren't kidding around when, in the very first scene, outlaw Slim Pickens puts a bullet into a squalling baby! Robert Lansing plays Talion, a homesteader who, after his ranch is burned to Read More

Bonanza: Meredith Smith

Actors: Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, Anne Helm, Strother Martin

Synopsis: Ben Cartwright makes a solemn promise that the entire estate of dying skinflint Jake Smith (Burt Mustin will go to Jake's next of kin, Meredith Smith. But Ben never expected to be besieged by six different people, all laying claim to be the Meredith Smith-among them a woman named Meredith Read More

Brainstorm

Actors: Jeffrey Hunter, Anne Francis, Dana Andrews, Viveca Lindfors, Stacy Harris

Synopsis: Brainstorm is a somewhat contrived but still well done and frightening thriller written and well-directed by actor William Conrad. Jim Grayam (Jeffrey Hunter) is a young scientist who saves Lorrie Benson (Anne Francis) from committing suicide. They fall in love, but Lorrie's husband Cort Benson (Dana Andrews Read More

The Sons of Katie Elder

Actors: John Wayne, Dean Martin, Martha Hyer, Michael Anderson, Jr., Earl Holliman

Synopsis: Henry Hathaway directs the 1965 psychological Western The Sons of Katie Elder. Four sons reunite in their Texas hometown to attend their mother's funeral. John (John Wayne) is the gunfighter, Tom (Dean Martin) is the gambler, Matt (Earl Holliman) is the quiet one, and Bud (Michael Anderson Jr.) is Read More

Shenandoah

Actors: James Stewart, Doug McClure, Glenn Corbett, Patrick Wayne, Rosemary Forsyth

Synopsis: The year is 1863. Wealthy Virginia landowner Charlie Anderson (James Stewart), a man of peace despite his autocratic behavior, steadfastly refuses to take sides in the Civil War. Bit by bit, Anderson's isolationism--and his way of living--is torn apart.
Charlie's daughter, Jannie Anderson (Rosemary Forsyth Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Hasty Honeymooner

Synopsis: Wealthy California widow Millie Barton (Cathy Downs) is matched up by a computer-dating service with Oklahoman Lucas Tolliver (Noah Beery Jr.). Though he pretends to be a poverty-stricken rube, Lucas is actually a filthy-rich oil man. This sets Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) to wondering why Lucas Read More

The Dick Van Dyke Show: Baby Fat

Actors: Carl Reiner, Strother Martin, Sandy Kenyon, Richard Erdman

Synopsis: Alan Brady (Carl Reiner) has signed on to star in the first comedy ever written by celebrated playwright Harper Worthington Yates (Strother Martin). During out-of-town tryouts, a nervous Alan decides that the play needs a lot more laughs, so he begs Rob (Dick Van Dyke) to join him for some Read More

Bonanza: The Saga of Muley Jones

Actors: Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, Bruce Yarnell

Synopsis: Bruce Yarnell makes his first appearance as the Cartwrights' cousin Muley from Missouri. "Blessed" with a singing voice that can literally shatter glass, Muley manages to make life difficult for his rich relations-and also inadvetently louses up negotiations with a neighboring Indian tribe. The Read More

Invitation to a Gunfighter

Actors: Yul Brynner, Janice Rule, Brad Dexter, Alfred Ryder, Mike Kellin

Synopsis: Matt Weaver (George Segal) returns home after fighting for the South in the Civil War to his home in the New Mexico territory. He discovers that in his absence his ancestral house and land have been sold by Sam Brewster (Pat Hingle), an unscrupulous land developer. Matt tries to kill Sam, but when Read More

The Fugitive: Devil's Carnival

Synopsis: In Bayou country, Kimble (David Janssen) hitches a ride with Hanes McClure (Warren Oates), an obnoxious braggart who happens to be wanted by the authorities of a variety of crimes. Local police captain Charles Shafter (Philip Abbott) is grateful when Kimble subsequently helps him capture McClure Read More

McLintock!

Actors: John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Yvonne De Carlo, Patrick Wayne, Stefanie Powers

Synopsis: George Washington McLintock (John Wayne) has a saddlebag full of trouble. The owner of the largest ranch in the territory, which also includes a mine and a lumber mill that he built up himself, should be a happy, fulfilled man, but he isn't. His wife, Katherine (Maureen O'Hara), walked out on him Read More

Showdown

Actors: Audie Murphy, Kathleen Crowley, Charles Drake, Harold J. Stone

Synopsis: In this western adventure set in a Mexican border town, two prisoners Foster and Pickett (Audie Murphy and Charles Drake), who are chained to a stake, somehow escape with other prisoners. They are led by cruel outlaw Lavalle (Harold J. Stone) who steals $12,000 in securities. Later the two 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

Perry Mason: The Case of the Fickle Filly

Synopsis: Young and wealthy Jennifer Wakely (Joan Freeman) is heartbroken when boyfriend Brad Shelby (Bob McQuain) dumps her to marry the older and wealthier Madelon Haines (Jennifer Howard). As if this wasn't bad enough, Jennifer is told that she has lost all her money and possessions, save for a worn-out Read More

Have Gun, Will Travel: Lazarus

Synopsis: His curiosity aroused, Paladin (Richard Boone) decides to find out why a man named Boise Peabody (Strother Martin) has purchased a gaudy costume for a chorus girl. It turns out that Peabody is under the impression that he is terminally ill, and figures he has nothing to lose to fulfill his Read More

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Actors: John Wayne, James Stewart, Vera Miles, Lee Marvin, Edmond O'Brien

Synopsis: Like Pontius Pilate, director John Ford asks "What is truth?" in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance--but unlike Pilate, Ford waits for an answer. The film opens in 1910, with distinguished and influential U.S. senator Ransom Stoddard (James Stewart) and his wife Hallie (Vera Miles) returning to the Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Grave

Actors: Lee Marvin, Strother Martin, James Best, Lee Van Cleef, Stafford Repp

Synopsis: Originally filmed for Twilight Zone's second season, writer-director Montgomery Pittman's "The Grave" was not telecast until Season Three -- to be exact, October 27, 1961. Lee Marvin stars as western gunslinger Conny Miller, who upon arriving in a flea-bitten town for a showdown with outlaw Pinto Read More

The Deadly Companions

Actors: Maureen O'Hara, Brian Keith, Steve Cochran, Chill Wills, Strother Martin

Synopsis: Sam Peckinpah's first feature as director is this modest Western, taking place in the late 1860s. Yellowleg (Brian Keith), a former sergeant in the Union army, is obsessed with tracking down Turk (Chill Wills), a Rebel army deserter who, during the War Between the States, tried to scalp him as he Read More

Sanctuary

Actors: Lee Remick, Yves Montand, Bradford Dillman, Harry Townes, Odette

Synopsis: Combining elements from William Faulkner's novel Sanctuary, its sequel Requiem for a Nun, and a stage adaptation of Requiem for a Nun by Ruth Ford, director Tony Richardson's film is set in 1920s Mississippi and recounts the story of Temple Drake (Lee Remick), a young, lustful white woman who Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Brazen Bequest

Synopsis: Charles Cromwell (Karl Weber), president-elect of Euclid College, arranges a meeting with Robert Haskell, who is handling a million-dollar college grant provided by wealthy James Vardon (Will Wright). Alas, the deal may be nullified if a woman named Maizie Frietag (Barbara Stuart) reveals Read More

The Shaggy Dog

Actors: Fred MacMurray, Jean Hagen, Tommy Kirk, Annette Funicello, Tim Considine

Synopsis: This is a routine Disney comedy-fantasy about a boy who turns into a large sheep dog at the most inopportune moments. That is assuming there would be opportune moments. Young Wilby Daniels (Tommy Kirk) finds a magic ring that used to belong to the Borgia family. When he pronounces an inscription Read More

Have Gun, Will Travel: One Came Back

Synopsis: Recently released from prison, an infamous Civil War guerilla named Ben Harvey (George Mathews) insists that he wants to change his ways and start life anew. To this end, he hires Paladin (Richard Boone) to escort himself and a wagonload of trade goods to the town of Gila, where Harvey's brothers Read More

The Wild and the Innocent

Actors: Audie Murphy, Joanne Dru, Gilbert Roland, Jim Backus, Sandra Dee

Synopsis: In this comical western, a curmudgeonly fur-trapper is hurt by an enraged bear and must send his nephew to town with his pelts so he can get much-needed supplies. En route, the young man passes a covered wagon and convinces the man who lives there to allow his daughter to travel with him. The two Read More

The Horse Soldiers

Actors: John Wayne, William Holden, Constance Towers, Althea Gibson, Hoot Gibson

Synopsis: Based on an actual Civil War mission, Colonel Marlowe (John Wayne) and Major Kendall (William Holden) are ordered by General Grant to take three regiments 300 miles into enemy territory. They must destroy the railroad line between Newton Station and Vicksburg in hopes of choking off supplies to Read More

Cowboy

Actors: Jack Lemmon, Glenn Ford, Brian Donlevy, Anna Kashfi, Dick York

Synopsis: The once-scandalous autobiography of Frank Harris was the source of the fascinating "adult" western Cowboy. Jack Lemmon plays Harris, who when first the audience meets him is a citified desk clerk in a frontier hotel. Harboring romantic notions of the West, Harris prevails upon hard-living Read More

Adventures of Charlie Chan, Vol. 1

Adventures of Charlie Chan, Vol. 3

Adventures of Charlie Chan, Vol. 2

Adventures of Charlie Chan, Vols. 1-3

Gunsmoke: Liar from Blackhawk

Synopsis: A decidedly pre-Dukes of Hazzard Denver Pyle appears in this episode as Hank Shinn, who swaggers around Dodge City bragging about his skills as a gunfighter. To "prove" his speed with a six-shooter, Hank provokes a duel with a drunken man and kills him. Though disgusted by Hank's actions, Matt can Read More

Copper Sky

Actors: Jeff Morrow, Coleen Gray, Paul Brinegar, William Hamel, Jack Lomas

Synopsis: Copper Sky was directed by Charles Marquis Warren, one of the prime movers of TV's Gunsmoke. The scene is a small western town that has been decimated by an Apache raid. The only survivor is drifter Jeff Morrow, who was locked up in jail at the time of the massacre. Before long, Boston schoolmarm Coleen Gray Read More

Black Patch

Actors: George Montgomery, Diane Brewster, Thomas Pittman, Leo Gordon, House Peters, Jr.

Synopsis: George Montgomery both produced and starred in the psychological western Black Patch. Written by character actor Leo Gordon (who also appears on screen), the story revolves around one-eyed marshal Clay "Black Patch" Morgan (Montgomery). The marshal is delighted to find out that his old buddy Hank Read More

Have Gun, Will Travel: A Matter of Ethics

Synopsis: Riding into the Wyoming town of Bender, Paladin (Richard Boone) is hired by accused murderer Bart Holgate (Harold J. Stone). Though willing to answer for his crimes, Holgate is terrified that he will be lynched before he ever reaches the courtroom, thus he agrees to pay Paladin to keep him alive Read More

Have Gun, Will Travel: High Wire

Synopsis: Ubiquitous western villain (and future Oscar winner) Strother Martin is seen in an uncharacteristically sympathetic role as Dooley Delaware, a former circus acrobat fallen upon hard times. In need of booze money, Dooley wagers that he can cross a tightrope stretched across the roof of a salloon. Read More

Gunsmoke: Professor Lute Bone

Synopsis: Doc Adams (Milburn Stone) reacts with uncharacteristic violence when snake-oil peddler Lute Bone (John Abbott) shows up in town. Though everyone (including Chester [Dennis Weaver) falls for Professor Bone's line of patter, Doc is convinced that the man is not only a fraud but a potential murderer Read More

Gunsmoke: Cooter

Synopsis: Crooked gambler Ben Sissle (Vinton Hayworth) intends to get even with Matt Dillon (James Arness) for exposing him as a cheat. To this end, Sissle callously uses feeble-minded Cooter Smith (Strother Martin) as a dupe in a scheme to force Matt into a fatal gunfight. Cooter is persuaded that the Read More

I Love Lucy: Off to Florida

Actors: Elsa Lanchester, Strother Martin

Synopsis: In another "on the road" story arc, the Ricardos and the Mertzes prepare to vacation in Florida. When Lucy (Lucille Ball) loses two of the train tickets, she and Ethel (Vivian Vance) advertise for a traveling companion to help drive to Florida and pay expenses. The ad is answered by Mrs. Grundy (Elsa Lanchester Read More

The Black Whip

Actors: Hugh Marlowe, Coleen Gray, Richard Gilden, Angie Dickinson, Strother Martin

Synopsis: After closing down his film studio, producer Robert L. Lippert took charge of Regal Films, a subsidiary of 20th Century-Fox designed to turn out low-budget, non-CinemaScope productions. One of the first of these films was the modest western The Black Whip. Colleen Gray, Angie Dickinson, Adele Mara Read More

Attack

Actors: Jack Palance, Eddie Albert, Lee Marvin, Robert Strauss, Richard Jaeckel

Synopsis: It is easy to see why the US Army refused to cooperate in the production of Attack. Based on the Norman Brooks play The Fragile Fox, this searing war film is a powerful indictment against a military system which protects even its most incompetent of officers. Eddie Albert plays a posturing but Read More

Kiss Me Deadly

Actors: Ralph Meeker, Albert Dekker, Paul Stewart, Wesley Addy, Maxine Cooper, Cloris Leachman

Synopsis: Regarded by many critics as the ultimate film noir, and by many more as the finest movie adaptation of a book by Mickey Spillane, Kiss Me Deadly stars Ralph Meeker as Spillane's anti-social private eye Mike Hammer. While driving down a lonely road late one evening, Hammer picks up a Read More

The Big Knife

Actors: Jack Palance, Ida Lupino, Wendell Corey, Rod Steiger, Shelley Winters

Synopsis: Robert Aldrich's screen adaptation of Clifford Odets' stage play reflects the quandary of the writer's later career; the golden boy of the Group Theater in the '30s, when his plays were the toast of Broadway, his talent seemed to wither after a number of years in the screenwriting trenches, and a Read More

Target Zero

Actors: Richard Conte, Peggie Castle, Charles Bronson, Richard Stapley, L.Q. Jones

Synopsis: Apparently as a reward for his excellent performance in the 1954 western Drum Beat, Charles Bronson was given a leading role in this Warner Bros. programmer. The action takes place during the Korean War: a melting-pot unit of American soldiers, together with three British troopers, find themselves Read More

Strategic Air Command

Actors: James Stewart, June Allyson, Frank Lovejoy, Barry Sullivan, Alex Nicol

Synopsis: Inspired in part by the true story of baseball great Ted Williams, who after serving in World War II was drafted to serve in the Korean War just as his baseball career was taking off, Strategic Air Command stars James Stewart as "Dutch" Holland, a star third baseman with the St. Louis Cardinals. Read More

Drum Beat

Actors: Alan Ladd, Audrey Dalton, Marisa Pavan, Robert Keith, Rodopho (Rudy) Acosta

Synopsis: Though heavily advertised as Delmar Daves' Drum Beat, this film owed its existence to producer-star Alan Ladd. The star is cast as a veteran Indian fighter Johnny MacKay, who because of his close relationship with the Medoc tribe is sent out to negotiate a peace treaty. Once he has arrived in Read More

The Silver Chalice

Actors: Virginia Mayo, Anna Maria Pier Angeli, Jack Palance, Paul Newman, Natalie Wood, Walter Hampden

Synopsis: Paul Newman made his screen debut in the gloriously nonsensical costume epic The Silver Chalice. Freely adapted from a novel by Thomas B. Costain, the film casts Newman as Basil, a first century Greek sculptor who is sold into slavery by his wicked uncle. Transported to Rome, Basil manages to Read More

A Star is Born

Actors: Judy Garland, James Mason, Jack Carson, Charles Bickford, Tommy Noonan

Synopsis: The 1954 musical remake of A Star is Born could have been titled A Star is Reborn, in that it represented the triumphal return to the screen of Judy Garland after a four-year absence. The remake adheres closely to the plotline of the 1937 original: An alcoholic film star, on his last Read More

South Sea Woman

Actors: Burt Lancaster, Virginia Mayo, Chuck Connors, Barry Kelley, Arthur Shields, Hayden Rorke

Synopsis: Burt Lancaster and Virginia Mayo, the stars of 1950's Flame and the Arrow, are reteamed in the lusty adventure romp South Sea Woman. It all begins at the military trial of Marine sergeant O'Hearn (Burt Lancaster), facing a court-martial for desertion. In flashback, O'Hearn recalls how he was Read More

The Witness

Synopsis: A video of two television dramas: "One Way Out" and "Witness." ~ All Movie Guide Read More

The Magnetic Monster

Actors: Richard Carlson, King Donovan, Harry Ellerbe, Leo Britt

Synopsis: Curt Siodmak's The Magnetic Monster (1953) is a truly novel science fiction film, in terms of its rather cerebral plot and low-key, quietly intense execution. As much a mystery and, in its first half, a manhunt, as it is a sci-fi-thriller, the movie pushed lots of suspense buttons for viewers in Read More

Dragnet: The Big Blast

Synopsis: Working out of Homicide, Friday (Jack Webb) and Jacobs (Barney Phillips) investigate the murder of Josephine Stevens, who was killed by a shotgun blast while sitting up in bed. The only witness to the crime is Mrs. Stevens' 7-year-old son, who though lying in the same bed with his mother was Read More

Storm Over Tibet

Actors: Myron Healey, Robert Karnes, Strother Martin, Harold Fong, Harold Dyrenforth

Synopsis: Most of Storm Over Tibet is built around footage gleaned from a 1930 German documentary lensed in the Himalayas, portions of which had been previously glimpsed in Frank Capra's Lost Horizon. The 1930 film had been directed by Andrew Marton, who also helmed Storm Over Tibet. Concocted by Ivan Tors Read More

The People Against O'Hara

Actors: Spencer Tracy, Pat O'Brien, Diana Lynn, John Hodiak, Eduardo Ciannelli

Synopsis: Fish-market worker Johnny O'Hara (James Arness) is named as a suspect when his boss -- with whom he had a dispute the previous day -- is shot to death in an apparent robbery. When he's arrested, his family appeals to their old friend James Curtayne (Spencer Tracy), who was once a renowned criminal Read More

Rhubarb

Actors: Ray Milland, Jan Sterling, Gene Lockhart, William Frawley, Elsie Holmes

Synopsis: Rhubarb is an amusing, if not entirely faithful, adaptation of the H. Allen Smith novel of the same name. When Thaddeus J. Banner (Gene Lockhart), multimillionaire owner of the Brooklyn baseball team, passes away, he wills the team -- and his $30 million estate -- to his pugnacious pet cat Read More

The Asphalt Jungle

Actors: Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, James Whitmore, Jean Hagen, Sam Jaffe

Synopsis: The Asphalt Jungle is a brilliantly conceived and executed anatomy of a crime -- or, as director John Huston and scripter Ben Maddow put it, "a left-handed form of human endeavor." Recently paroled master criminal Erwin "Doc" Riedenschneider (Sam Jaffe), with funding from crooked attorney Emmerich Read More

The Damned Don't Cry

Actors: Joan Crawford, David Brian, Steve Cochran, Kent Smith, Hugh Sanders

Synopsis: A woman's desire to rise above her drab lower middle-class life take her down the road to destruction in this gripping crime melodrama. The story opens as she cowers insider her old home, fearing the inevitable arrival of the murderous gangsters pursuing her. Her tragic tale unfolds via flashback. Read More

Hot Wire

Synopsis: Car repossession is the focus of this comedy which examines the illegal aspects of this organization. ~ All Movie Guide Read More