William FawcettFilmography

Adam-12: Log 43: Hostage

Synopsis: Wounded and in a state of shock, Officer Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) is held captive by two escaped convicts in a small café. Malloy's partner is told that unless he frees the convicts' comrade from jail, Pete will be killed. It is at this point that the department's S.W.A.T. team swings into Read More

Bonanza: The Night Virginia City Died

Actors: Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, Angel Tompkins, Ray Teal

Synopsis: Bonanza's twelfth season commenced on September 13, 1970 with the episode titled "The Night Virginia City Died." Several Virginia City buildings have burned to the ground; the townsfolk are in an uproar, and the local constabulary is apparently helpless. Meanwhile, the Cartwrights have befriended Read More

Ironside: The Lonely Hostage

Synopsis: After stealing $150,000 from a bank and shooting another officer, rogue cop Fred Hickman (Robert Lansing) offers to give himself up to Chief Ironside (Raymond Burr). Instead, he takes both the Chief and Mark (Don Galloway) hostage, forcing them to accompany him as he attempts to escape. Ironside Read More

I Dream of Jeannie: Genie, Genie, Who's Got the Genie?, Part 4

Synopsis: In the conclusion of a four-part story, Tony (Larry Hagman) has failed in every attempt to rescue Jeannie (Barbara Eden) from a safe that is slated to be blasted to the moon. Now, Jeannie has a new reason to despair: If she remains locked up for a month, Tony will no longer be her master, and she Read More

Hostile Guns

Actors: George Montgomery, Yvonne De Carlo, Tab Hunter, Brian Donlevy, John Russell

Synopsis: U.S. Marshal Gid McCool (George Montgomery) leads a wagon train of convicted felons to Huntsville prison in this routine western. The only female among the crooks is the dancehall girl Laura Mannon (Yvonne De Carlo), McCool's former flame. When McCool cannot be swayed from completing his lawful Read More

The Gnome-Mobile

Actors: Walter Brennan, Tom Lowell, Matthew Garber, Karen Dotrice, Ed Wynn, Richard Deacon

Synopsis: The Gnome-Mobile was Walt Disney's first all-out fantasy since Mary Poppins. Walter Brennan stars in a dual role, as kindly lumber tycoon D. J. Mulrooney and the irascible (and much tinier) 943-year-old gnome Knobby. Mulrooney likes Knobby and his fellow gnomes, but the feeling isn't reciprocal Read More

Bonanza: Check Rein

Actors: Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, David Canary, James MacArthur

Synopsis: Future Hawaii 5-0 regular James MacArthur guest-stars as Jase Fredericks, who tries to protect his inheritance, and his life, from his selfish uncle Bingham (Ford Rainey). The Cartwrights become involved when the conflict between Jase and Bingham boils down to Jase's prize stallion. Patricia Read More

The Munsters: Herman's Sorority Caper

Synopsis: Placed in a trance by Grandpa (Al Lewis) to cure a bad case of hiccups, Herman (Fred Gwynne) is discovered by a pair of frat brothers (one of whom is played by Ken Osmond, aka "Eddie Haskell" of Leave It to a Beaver fame). Assuming that Herman is a monstrous mannequin, the prankish collegians Read More

King Rat

Actors: George Segal, Tom Courtenay, James Fox, Patrick O'Neal, Denholm Elliott, John Mills, Todd Armstrong

Synopsis: James Clavell incorporated a few of his own experiences as a British POW in his novel King Rat. Bryan Forbes' film version stars George Segal as the mastermind of all black market operations in a Japanese prison camp. He is called "King Rat" because of his breeding of rodents to serve as food for Read More

Petticoat Junction: Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Jinx?

Synopsis: Lately, everything Uncle Joe (Edgar Buchanan) does is wrong, and everything he touches has a tendency to break. Word spreads that Joe is a jinx, and as a result he is treated like a leper by the rest of the community. Kate (Bea Benadaret) takes it upon herself to prove that Joe is not a walking Read More

Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter

Synopsis: William "One Shot" Beaudine's companion piece to the equally nonsensical Billy the Kid vs. Dracula represents a memorable closing to the eccentric "Z"-movie auteur's amusing body of work. The hare-brained concept finds the legendary outlaw Jesse James (John Lupton) stumbling into the decrepit lair Read More

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour: The Gentleman Caller

Actors: Roddy McDowall, Ruth McDevitt, Diane Sayer, Naomi Stevens, Juanita Moore

Synopsis: Elderly eccentric Emmy Rice (Ruth McDevitt) is charmed by the attentions of her much-younger gentleman caller, a fellow named Gerald Musgrove (Roddy McDowall). This is quite agreeable to Musgrove, a safecracker who has hidden 100,000 dollars in stolen money in Emmy's voluminous collection of old Read More

Sex and the Single Girl

Actors: Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, Henry Fonda, Lauren Bacall, Mel Ferrer

Synopsis: Helen Gurley Brown's self-help best-seller was the nominal source for this Hollywood sex romp, directed by Richard Quine, co-scripted by Joseph Heller and David R. Schwartz, and starring Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood. Tony Curtis plays Bob Weston, a writer for the scandal sheet "Dirt," who is Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Wednesday Woman

Synopsis: Although he no longer works for the insurance company that had hired him to track down the stolen Jokarta Diamond, shady private detective Jack Mallory (Michael Pate) has never given up the chase. Worming his way into the confidence of Katherine Stewart (Phyllis Hill), Mallory puts a tail on Read More

The Quick Gun

Actors: Audie Murphy, Merry Anders, James Best, Ted de Corsia, Walter Sande

Synopsis: In this western, a cowboy finally returns to his home after a long absence precipitated by his killing a wicked rancher's son in a forced duel. The cowboy wants to live peacefully on his daddy's ranch and be with the woman that he loves. While on the trail home, he encounters a ruthless outlaw Read More

Bonanza: A Pink Cloud Comes from Old Cathay

Actors: Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, Marlo Thomas

Synopsis: Hoping to purchase some fireworks from the Chinese Yiphee Trading Company, Hoss Cartwright gets his order scrambled, and as a result winds up with a "picture bride" named Tai Li (Marlo Thomas), aka Pink Cloud. Hardly the shy, retiring type, the feisty, outspoken Tai Li proceeds to make like Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Bluffing Blast

Synopsis: A young woman named Linda (Antoinette Bower) arrives in the town of Ladera, claiming to be the daughter of wealthy Addison Blake--who died seven years earlier, presumably a bachelor. Floyd Grant (played by Bill Williams, in real life the husband of Perry Mason costar Barbara Hale) insists that he Read More

The Wheeler Dealers

Actors: James Garner, Lee Remick, Phil Harris, Chill Wills, Jim Backus, Louis Nye, John Astin, Charles Watts

Synopsis: This comical farce is a lighthearted lampoon of Wall Street and the vibrant trading and selling on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Henry Tyroon (James Garner) is the chameleonic broker who changes his colors and ethical standards to fit every deal. Molly (Lee Remick) is the novice trader Read More

Bonanza: Journey Remembered

Actors: Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, Inga Swenson

Synopsis: In this sequel to the 1962 Bonanza episode "Inger, My Love," Ben Cartwright once again waxes nostalgic over his late second wife, Inger (again played by Inga Swenson). In a lengthy flashback, Ben and Inger head westward to a remote frontier outpost, where they are besieged by hostile Indians. In Read More

The Fugitive: See Hollywood and Die

Synopsis: During a gas station holdup, Richard Kimble (David Janssen) and Joanne Spencer (Brenda Vaccaro) are taken hostage by psychotic gunmen Miles (Chris Robinson) and Vinnie (Lou Antonio). In an effort to save Joanne's life, Kimble pretends to be a master criminal, offering to cut the two thugs in on a Read More

Gypsy

Actors: Rosalind Russell, Natalie Wood, Karl Malden, Paul Wallace, Betty Bruce, Ann Jillian

Synopsis: This Stephen Sondheim/Jules Styne/Arthur Laurents musical comedy Gypsy had been a Broadway smash with Ethel Merman in the lead. Based on the autobiography of striptease artist Gypsy Rose Lee, it centers on the antics of Mama Rose (here played by Rosalind Russell), the Stage Mother from Hell who 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

The Music Man

Actors: Robert Preston, Shirley Jones, Buddy Hackett, Pert Kelton, Ronny Howard, Hermione Gingold, Paul Ford

Synopsis: Meredith Wilson's hit 1957 Broadway musical was transferred to the screen in larger-than-life fashion in 1962. Robert Preston repeats his legendary stage performance as fast-talking con man Harold Hill, who goes from town to town selling citizens on starting a "boy's band," then extracts money Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank

Actors: James Best, Sherry Jackson, Edgar Buchanan, Lance Fuller, Dub Taylor

Synopsis: Writer-director Montgomery Pittman's final Twilight Zone offering was the bucolic comedy "The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank." As the youthful title character (James Best) lies in his coffin during his funeral, the assembled mourners listen to the droning words of the local pastor (William Fawcett) Read More

Maverick: Poker Face

Synopsis: In a variation on the classic Guy de Maupassant short story "Boule de Suif", gambler Bart Maverick (Jack Kelly) is ostracized by his more "respectable" fellow passengers during a stagecoach ride. But when the coach is held up by a vicious bandit, the passengers must literally put their lives in Read More

The Untouchables: The Underground Court

Synopsis: After stealing a million dollars from the burning ocean liner "Morro Castle", Cuban thief Valentine Ferrar is pursued by by both Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) and underworld "judge" Foley (Richard Devon). Seeking a means of escape without detective, Ferrar answers a classified ad from widow Lucy Read More

Bonanza: Denver McKee

Actors: Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, Franchot Tone

Synopsis: B-picture auteur Jacques Tourneur served as director for the October 15, 1960 Bonanza episode "Denver McKee." The title character, played by Franchot Tone, is a former lawman who wants to give his beloved daughter Connie (Natalie Trundy) everything that money can buy. To that end, McKee has Read More

The Walking Target

Synopsis: In this crime drama, a man serves five years in the state pen for armed robbery. Upon his release, the man is anxious to retrieve the $260,000 in loot he hid before he went to jail. Unfortunately, he is still pursued by both the police and his former gang mates. He ends up severely beaten, robbed Read More

Maverick: Gunshy

Synopsis: This is Maverick's celebrated spoof of Gunsmoke, emulating its more serious "role model" right down to the pre-credits showdown--with Bret Maverick (James Garner) at the wrong end of the six-shooter. The story is narrated by Marshal Mort Dooley (Ben Gage), who in is never-ending efforts to keep Read More

Go, Johnny Go!

Actors: Alan Freed, Ritchie Valens

Synopsis: Go, Johnny, Go! was second and last of a proposed trio of jukebox movies built around and co-produced by DJ Alan Freed. He plays himself in this rags-to-riches tale, told in flashback, of a young rock & roll singer named Johnny Melody (Jimmy Clanton), whose rise from life in an orphanage where no Read More

Good Day for a Hanging

Actors: Fred MacMurray, Maggie Hayes, Robert Vaughn, Joan Blackman, James Drury

Synopsis: The Springdale, NE, bank is held up and robbed by a well organized gang. One of the members is Eddie Campbell (Robert Vaughn), a onetime resident of the town and orphan who was brought up in part by Ben Cutler (Fred MacMurray), an ex-lawman-turned-rancher. While pursuing the robbers, the town Read More

No Time for Sergeants

Actors: Andy Griffith, Nick Adams, Myron McCormick, Murray Hamilton, Howard I. Smith

Synopsis: Mac Hyman's hilarious barracks novel No Time for Sergeants was adapted for TV by Ira Levin in 1955, with newcomer Andy Griffith as bumptious Air Force draftee Will Stockdale. This TV version was soon afterward transformed into a Broadway play, and then a movie, again with Griffith in the lead. Read More

Gun Glory

Actors: Stewart Granger, Rhonda Fleming, Chill Wills, Steve Rowland, James Gregory

Synopsis: Originally titled Man of the West (the name of the Philip Yordan novel on which it was based), Gun Glory was rechristened to avoid confusion with a like-vintage Gary Cooper vehicle of the same title. Stewart Granger plays gunslinger/gambler Tom Early, who tries a bit too late to make amends for Read More

The Tijuana Story

Actors: Rodopho (Rudy) Acosta, James Darren, Robert McQueeney, Jean Willes, Joy Stoner

Synopsis: This gritty crime drama is based on the true story of a Mexican news reporter who single-handedly takes on a crime syndicate. The journalist begins by publishing the names of several prominent, corrupt politicians. The syndicate retaliates and the journalist is killed. The locals rebel and the Read More

The Storm Rider

Actors: Scott Brady, Mala Powers, Bill Williams, Olin Howland, William Fawcett

Synopsis: Edward Bernds, graduate of Columbia's "Three Stooges" shorts and Allied Artists' "Bowery Boys" epics, expertly guides The Storm Rider through its paces. Scott Brady plays an ex-gunslinger who is hired by a group of ranchers to protect them from covetous land baron Roy Engel. Unbeknownst to the Read More

Dragnet: The Big Full Moon

Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are on the prowl for a man suspected of pulling a holdup. An anonymous tip leads the two detectives to the Full Moon, a cocktail bar which the suspect is known to frequent. But will the crook be scared off by the presence of The Law? Featured in one of Read More

Have Gun, Will Travel: The Great Mojave Chase

Synopsis: Crooked "sportsman" Billy Joe Kane (Lawrence Dobkin) is promoting a race in the Mojave desert, in which he is wagering that his posse will be able to track down any contestant before reaching the finish line. Accepting the challenge, Paladin (Richard Boone) enters the race--and, confirming his Read More

Band of Angels

Actors: Clark Gable, Yvonne De Carlo, Sidney Poitier, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Patric Knowles

Synopsis: Based on a novel by Robert Penn Warren, this Southern potboiler stars Yvonne DeCarlo as Amantha Starr, the daughter of a wealthy Louisiana plantation owner. When her father unexpectedly dies, Amantha discovers that her father was deep in debt and the family is penniless, and she is forced to drop Read More

Leave It to Beaver: Beaver's Crush

Actors: Diane Brewster, Doris Packer, William Fawcett, Rusty Stevens, Stanley "Tiger" Fafara

Synopsis: When Beaver (Jerry Mathers) develops a crush on his attractive teacher Miss Canfield (Diane Brewster), his classmates and his brother Wally (Tony Dow) really give him "the business," accusing him of being teacher's pet. To prove them wrong, Beav gets ahold of a toy spring snake and hides it in Read More

Dakota Incident

Actors: Dale Robertson, Linda Darnell, John Lund, Ward Bond, Regis Toomey

Synopsis: Some good performances overcome the scripted cliches in Dakota Incident. In the tradition of Stagecoach, the film offers a disparate group of travellers whose lives are imperiled when their coach heads deep into Indian territory. Linda Darnell plays Amy Clarke, the requisite you-know-what with a Read More

The Proud Ones

Actors: Robert Ryan, Virginia Mayo, Jeffrey Hunter, Robert Middleton, Walter Brennan

Synopsis: A small Kansas town braces itself for the arrival of the first Texas trail herd. The marshal (Robert Ryan) expects trouble from the herd drivers, who'll be thirsty and lascivious after months on the trail. The town's saloon owner (Robert Middleton), anticipating a business boom, wants to remove Read More

The First Traveling Saleslady

Actors: Ginger Rogers, Barry Nelson, Carol Channing, David Brian, James Arness, Clint Eastwood

Synopsis: Ginger Rogers ended her 23-year association with RKO Radio with the indifferent musical comedy western The First Travelling Saleslady. Ginger and Broadway favorite Carol Channing (whose only starring film this was) play a pair of corset salespersons who head westward in 1897 to hawk their wares. 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

Gangbusters

Actors: Myron Healey, Don C. Harvey, Sam Edwards, Frank Gerstle, Frank Richards

Synopsis: Based on the radio series of the same name, Gang Busters was an episodic documentary-style tale of criminals brought to justice. Veteran screen baddie Myron Healey plays John Omar Pinson, a real-life criminal once rated Public Enemy #4. The film recounts the many prison breaks staged by Pinson Read More

Seminole Uprising

Actors: George Montgomery, Karin [Katharine] Booth, William Fawcett, Steven Ritch, John M. Pickard

Synopsis: There's a surprising lack of action in the Sam Katzman-produced western Seminole Uprising. George Montgomery heads the cast as Army lieutenant Cam Elliot, who is assigned to round up a group of renegade Seminoles who've left their Florida reservation and have escaped to Texas. Along the way Read More

Pirates of Tripoli

Actors: Paul Henreid, Patricia Medina, Paul Newlan, John Miljan, Mark Hanna

Synopsis: Paul Henreid was light-years removed from Now Voyager and Casablanca when he starred in the Columbia costume cheapie Pirates of Tripoli. Henreid is cast as Edri-Al-Gadrian, a bold buccaneer who comes to the rescue of Princess Karjan (Patricia Medina). Much of the action footage is culled from Read More

Fireside Theatre: Sergeant Sullivan Speaking

Tall Man Riding

Actors: Randolph Scott, Dorothy Malone, Peggie Castle, John Baragrey

Synopsis: Who else but Randolph Scott could be the Tall Man Riding in this rugged western? Forced to lay low for several years after being forced out of town by land baron Tucker Ordway (Robert Barrett), Larry Madden (Randolph Scott) returns to wreak vengeance against Ordway and claim the land that is Read More

Lay That Rifle Down

Actors: Judy Canova, Robert Lowery, Jill Jarmyn, Jacqueline De Wit, Richard Deacon

Synopsis: In this musical comedy, a young woman endures the drudgery of working as a charwoman in her aunt's hotel. She is not paid much for her hard work. To make her drab existence a little more exciting, she enrolls in a correspondence charm course, which unbeknownst to her is a scam. Soon the swindlers Read More

The Yellow Mountain

Actors: Lex Barker, Mala Powers, Howard Duff, William Demarest, John McIntire

Synopsis: Lex Barker trades his Tarzan loincloth for buckskins in the Universal western Yellow Mountain. Barker stars as gold prospector Andy Martin, who has a serious falling out with his partner Pete Menlo (Howard Duff) over the affections of pretty Nevada Wray (Mala Powers). But Andy and Pete patch up Read More

Riding with Buffalo Bill [Serial]

Actors: Marshall Reed

Synopsis: Columbia Pictures elevated a run-of-the-mill B-western supporting player, Marshall Reed, to the title role in this equally run-of-the-mill western serial released in 15 chapters. Like most serials in the '50s, Riding with Buffalo Bill consisted of quite a bit of budget-stretching stock footage Read More

The Law vs. Billy the Kid

Actors: Scott Brady, James Griffith, Alan Hale, Jr., Paul Cavanagh

Synopsis: Scott Brady plays a decidedly mature Billy the Kid in this Columbia western programmer. According to this acount, Billy was just a mixed-up kid who was forced against his will to become a gunslinger. Billy's friendship with sheriff Pat Garrett (James Griffith), which has always been a matter of Read More

Alaska Seas

Actors: Robert Ryan, Jan Sterling, Brian Keith, Gene Barry, Richard Shannon, Ross Bagdasarian, Sr.

Synopsis: Alaskan salmon fisherman Matt Kelly (Robert Ryan) doesn't care who he runs over in race to get ahead in life. He even manages to exploit his friendship with Jim Kimmerly (Brian Keith) so he can make time with Kimmerly's fiancee Nicky (Jan Sterling). As a capper to his many misdeeds, Kelly's Read More

Star of Texas

Actors: Wayne Morris, Paul Fix, Frank Ferguson, Rick Vallin, Jack Larson

Synopsis: Wayne Morris plays a Texas ranger who goes undercover to trap a criminal gang. Posing as a wanted killer, Morris is able to move freely amongst the town riffraff, unencumbered by the innocent ingenue (mainly because there is no innocent ingenue). The marshal learns that the brains behind the gang Read More

Run for the Hills

Actors: Barbara Payton, John Harmon, Mauritz Hugo, Jack Wrightson

The Marksman

Synopsis: Considered by many the weakest of Wayne Morris' latter-day B-Westerns, The Marksman features the no longer svelte star as a U. S. Marshall chasing down the gang of rustlers that killed his colleague (I. Stanford Jolley). Masquerading as a harmless prospector, Morris uses a rifle complete with Read More

The Homesteaders

Actors: William "Wild Bill" Elliott, Emmett Lynn, George Wallace, Buzz Henry

Synopsis: After a number of overproduced, overlong western "specials," Wild Bill Elliot went back to basics with a series of Monogram/Allied Artists "B"s. In the 62-minute The Homesteaders, Mace Corbin (Elliot) is hired to pick up a consignment of dynamite on behalf of a group of Oregon homesteaders. But Read More

Has Anybody Seen My Gal?

Actors: Piper Laurie, Rock Hudson, Charles Coburn, Lynn Bari

Synopsis: Douglas Sirk directed this frothy musical comedy set in the 1920s starring Charles Coburn as Samuel Fulton, an elderly man with a multi-million dollar fortune. With no family of his own to whom he can leave his money, Fulton is pondering what to do with his estate. Years ago, he was in love with a Read More

The Lion and the Horse

Actors: Steve Cochran, Ray Teal, Bob Steele, Harry Antrim, George O'Hanlon

Synopsis: The Lion and the Horse is one of the best efforts to come out of Bryan Foy's "B"-picture unit at Warner Bros. Steve Cochran stars as Ben Kirby, an easygoing cowboy who is dead set on owning a magnificent wild stallion. After Kirby and his partners capture the horse, the animal is purchased Read More

Jungle Jim in the Forbidden Land

Actors: Johnny Weissmuller, Angela Greene, Lester Matthews, William Tannen

Synopsis: This 1952 programmer was the eighth entry in Columbia's profitable "Jungle Jim" series. Johnny Weissmuller, as ever, stars as pith-helmeted Jungle Jim, who this time must grapple with an avaricious ivory hunter. And that's not all: Jungle Jim is confronted by a legendary "giant man," actually a Read More

King of the Congo [Serial]

Synopsis: In this convoluted adventure serial, a U.S. Air force captain begins searching for some stolen microfilm that contains vital information. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Kansas Territory

Actors: William "Wild Bill" Elliott, House Peters, Jr., Peggy Stewart, Lane Bradford

Synopsis: Kansas Territory is one of Bill Elliot's latter-day Allied Artists westerns--meaning that even the non-western fan is in for a treat (albeit a violent one). Elliot's brother is killed, which naturally prompts him to seek revenge. On his bloody quest for the guilty party, Elliot learns many facts Read More

Blackhawk [Serial]

Actors: Kirk Alyn, Carol Forman, John Crawford, Michael Fox, Don C. Harvey

Synopsis: The 15-episode Columbia serial Blackhawk was based on the comic book created by Reed Crandall and Charles Cuidera. The title character is played by Kirk Alyn, previously the leading man in Columbia's Superman serial. Also returning from Superman is Carol Forman, here cast as slinky Soviet spy Read More

Montana Incident

Barbed Wire

Actors: Gene Autry, Pat Buttram, Anne James, William Fawcett, Leonard Penn

Synopsis: Gene Autry plays a cattle buyer in the better-than-average formula western Barbed Wire. Investigating a paucity of fresh livestock, Autry returns to his home turf of Texas. Here he discovers that powerful ranch owner Steve Ruttledge (Leonard Penn) has been fencing off valuable grazing land Read More

Springfield Rifle

Actors: Gary Cooper, Phyllis Thaxter, David Brian, Paul Kelly, Lon Chaney, Jr.

Synopsis: Springfield Rifle was Gary Cooper's third western in a row, released not long after the classic High Noon. Cooper plays Union army officer Lex Kearney, who undertakes a covert investigation to find out why the North's supply of horses has suddenly diminished. Because of the top-secret nature of Read More

Ace in the Hole

Actors: Kirk Douglas, Jan Sterling, Robert Arthur, Porter Hall, Frank Cady

Synopsis: Billy Winder directed and co-wrote this bitterly satiric comedy-drama which turns a jaundiced eye towards both the news media and its consumers. Chuck Tatum (Kirk Douglas) is a talented but short-tempered reporter whose fondness for booze and unwillingness to bow to authority has cost him jobs at Read More

Captain Video [Serial]

Synopsis: Based on the television series Captain Video and His Video Rangers, this 15-chapter serial was pretty much the beginning of the end for that venerable format (the last serial was made five years after this). Although put together by such longtime serial specialists as director Spencer Bennett Read More

Mysterious Island [Serial]

Synopsis: This serial is set during the American Civil War and is based on the Jules Verne story. A Union Army captain is captured by the Confederates and imprisoned in Richmond, Virginia. He and four other men escape in a balloon, but a hurricane blows them off course and they land on an uncharted island. Read More

Oklahoma Annie

Actors: Judy Canova, John Russell, Grant Withers, Roy Barcroft, Emmett Lynn

Synopsis: Judy Canova continues to bring home the box-office bacon for Republic Pictures in Oklahoma Annie. Judy plays Judy, Queen of the Cowgirls, a backwoods shopkeeper who falls in love with new sheriff Dan Fraser (John Russell). In order to stay in close proximity with the handsome lawkeeper, Judy Read More

Comin' Round the Mountain

Actors: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Dorothy Shay, Kirby Grant, Joe Sawyer

Synopsis: In this Abbott & Costello vehicle set in rural Kentucky, a magician (Lou Costello), his agent (Bud Abbott) and his sister (Dorothy Shay) unwittingly become involved in a down-home feud. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide Read More

Valley of Fire

Actors: Gene Autry, Pat Buttram, Gail Davis, Russell Hayden, Christine Larson

Synopsis: Valley of Fire is a fairly gutsy title for this formula Gene Autry western. This time, Autry plays the reform-minded mayor of a wide-open western town. The villain of the piece, Tod Rawlings (Harry Lauter), decides to undermine Gene by convincing a band of disreputable miners to hijack a wagon Read More

Canyon Raiders

Synopsis: Whip Wilson only gets to crack his trademark weapon once in this economic Western filmed in toto at the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, CA. A government agent, Wilson arrives in the near ghost town of Tunis, where his friend (Jim Bannon) is in trouble with a couple of horse thieves. The Read More

Cattle Queen

Actors: Maria Hart, Drake Smith, William Fawcett, Robert Gardett, John Carpenter

Synopsis: With a female protagonist as its only selling point, Cattle Queen trots out a farfetched Western story of Queenie Hart (Maria Hart), a rather glamorous bleached blonde cattle driver in 1866 Wyoming. After conning a potential buyer (Robert Robinson) into believing that Queenie's herd is diseased Read More

The Hills of Utah

Actors: Gene Autry, Pat Buttram, Elaine Riley, Donna Martell, Onslow Stevens

Synopsis: Hills of Utah casts Gene Autry as a frontier doctor with a predilection for singing. A recent med-school graduate, Autry sets up practice in the midst of a long-standing feud between cattlemen and miners. While patching up the participants of the feud, Gene searches every nook and cranny for the Read More

Stage to Blue River

Actors: Whip Wilson, Fuzzy Knight, Lee Roberts, Phyllis Coates, John Hart

Synopsis: A stage line is once again threatened by a greedy rival in this ultra low-budget western from small-scale Monogram Pictures. This time the owner is lovely Phyllis Coates, who desperately needs to win a valuable mail contract in order to survive. The rival appears at first to be none other than the Read More

Roar of the Iron Horse [Serial]

Synopsis: Columbia Pictures elevated stunt man Jock O'Mahoney to stardom in this 15 chapter western serial about the building of the transcontinental railroad. O'Mahoney played a railroad agent who uncovers the master criminal behind a series of sabotage attempts on the construction site. The culprit, a Read More

The Longhorn

Actors: William "Wild Bill" Elliott, Phyllis Coates, Myron Healey, Lane Bradford

Synopsis: After several elaborate Republic western vehicles, William Elliot returns to the clean-cut minimalism of his "Wild Bill Elliot" days in Longhorn. The story involves the efforts by cattle rancher Jim Kirk (Elliot) to cross-breed his Longhorn cattle with Hereford stock, thereby increasing their Read More

The Magic Carpet

Actors: Lucille Ball, John Agar, Patricia Medina, George Tobias, Raymond Burr

Synopsis: Hoping to force Lucille Ball into breaking her contract, Columbia Pictures chieftain Harry Cohn assigned her to the low-budget Arabian Nights escapade The Magic Carpet. Much to Cohn's amazement, the plucky Ball agreed to appear in the film, forcing Columbia to pay her salary until her option ran Read More

The Mating Season

Actors: Gene Tierney, John Lund, Miriam Hopkins, Thelma Ritter, Jan Sterling, Larry Keating

Synopsis: A pair of top 20th Century Fox contractees were loaned to Paramount as stars of The Mating Season. Gene Tierney plays globe-trotting socialite Maggie Carleton, while Thelma Ritter is cast as Ellen McNulty, the hash-slinging mother of Maggie's husband, Val (John Lund). Perceiving that her son is Read More

Honeychile

Actors: Judy Canova, Eddie Foy, Jr., Walter Catlett, Claire Carleton

Synopsis: After a lengthy absence from the screen, Judy Canova returned in the raucous musical Honeychile. The plot had been utilized in several previous Republic films, but was good for yet another go-round here. Canova plays Judy, a would-be songwriter who sends one of her tunes to a big-city composer. Read More

Chain Gang

Actors: Douglas Kennedy, Marjorie Lord, Emory Parnell, Thurston Hall

Synopsis: Columbia's Chain Gang combines biting social commentary with good old-fashioned melodrama. Reporter Cliff Roberts (Douglas Kennedy) intends to expose political corruption by posing as a convict and joining a prison chain gang. While a "guest of the state," Roberts gets the lowdown on how cheap Read More

Tyrant of the Sea

Actors: Rhys Williams, Ron Randell, Valentine Perkins, Doris Lloyd, Lester Matthews

Synopsis: Rhys Williams is afforded the leading role in Columbia's Tyrant of the Sea. The film borrows a few pages from Jack London's The Sea Wolf by depicting Captain William Blake (Williams) as a power-hungry despot, who runs his ship like a private fiefdom. In contrast, Blake is a perfect gentleman on Read More

Cody of the Pony Express [Serial]

Synopsis: Juvenile actor Dickie Moore starred in the title role of this 15 chapter serial as a teen-aged Buffalo Bill Cody, who with an adult friend (played by the husky Jock Mahoney, still billed as Jock O'Mahoney), battles a gang of outlaws secretly headed by an unscrupulous lawyer (George J. Lewis). Read More

Pirates of the High Seas [Serial]

Actors: Larry "Buster" Crabbe, Lois Hall, Symona Boniface

Synopsis: Buster Crabbe stars in this Columbia serial about a modern-day "Flying Dutchman" ghost ship. Costarring are Tristram Coffin, Lois Hall), and Symona Boniface as "The Lotus Lady." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide Read More

State Penitentiary

Actors: Warner Baxter, Onslow Stevens, Karin [Katharine] Booth, Robert Shayne, Richard Benedict

Synopsis: Warner Baxter made his final screen appearance in Columbia's State Penitentiary. Baxter plays airplane engineer Roger Manners, falsely accused of embezzling nearly half a million dollars from his company. Sent to prison, Manners escapes, hoping to track down the real culprit, his ex-partner Read More

Ride, Ryder, Ride!

Actors: Jim Bannon, Emmett Lynn, Peggy Stewart, Gaylord "Steve" Pendleton

Synopsis: Filmed in "glorious" Cinecolor by Eagle-Lion, this was the first of four "Red Ryder" westerns starring Jim Bannon in the title-role, Don Kay Reynolds (billed, a bit condescendingly, as "Little Brown Jug") as juvenile sidekick Little Beaver, Emmett Lynn as Buckskin, and Marin Sais as Red Ryder's Read More

Barbary Pirate

Actors: Donald Woods, Trudy Marshall, Lenore Aubert, Stefan Schnabel, Ross Ford

Synopsis: Quickie king Sam Katzman was responsible for the 64-minute swashbuckler Barbary Pirate. Set mostly in the bay of Tripoli in the early 19th century, the film stars Donald Woods as American army officer Tom Blake. Hoping to trap the titular pirates, Blake gains the confidence of Yussef, the ruler of Read More

Batman and Robin [Serial]

Actors: Robert Lowery

Synopsis: Following up on the popular 1943 film serial The Batman, this 15-part serial is about a nefarious masked figure called the Wizard, who swipes a diamond-powered remote control device that renders all of Gotham City's machines immobile. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide Read More

The Adventures of Sir Galahad [Serial]

Actors: Charles King

Synopsis: The legendary Knights of the Round Table came to the screen in 1949 courtesy of penny-pinching serial producer Sam Katzman. A pre-Superman George Reeves starred in the title role, a knight who, in order to join King Arthur (Nelson Leigh) and his famous table, must obtain the missing sword Read More

Roll, Thunder, Roll

Actors: Jim Bannon, Don Kay Reynolds, Emmett Lynn, I. Stanford Jolley

Synopsis: Jim Bannon is back as enduring cowboy hero Red Ryder in Eagle-Lion's Roll, Thunder, Roll. As ever, Ryder's cohorts are Little Beaver and the Duchess, here played by "Little Brown Jug" (aka Don Kay Reynolds) and Marin Sais. This time, Ryder tries to prove that a series of cattle raids and ranch Read More

Check Your Guns

Actors: Eddie Dean, Roscoe Ates, Nancy Gates, George Cheseboro

Synopsis: PRC's singing cowboy Eddie Dean once again brings law and order to a corrupt town in this average Western co-starring Roscoe Ates and Nancy Gates. When Red Gap's old sheriff (Edward Cassidy) is shot in cold blood by Ace (Mikel Conrad), a member of Brad Taggert's gang, the new lawman, Eddie, orders Read More

The Tioga Kid

Actors: Eddie Dean, Roscoe Ates, Jennifer Holt, Dennis Moore, Lee Bennett

Synopsis: PRC/Eagle-Lion's Eddie Dean western series came to an end with The Tioga Kid. Dean plays a dual role, as an upright Texas ranger and a desperate outlaw. The "bad" Dean joins a gang of horse rustlers who've been making life miserable for rancher Jennifer Holt. It's up to the "good" Dean to save Read More

Black Hills

Actors: Eddie Dean, The Plainsmen, Eddie Parker, Shirley Patterson, Lane Bradford, Steve Clark, Terry Frost, Tex Palmer, Steve Drake

Synopsis: Eddie Dean and sidekick Roscoe Ates come to the aid of a young rancher in this low-budget singing Western from PRC. Discovering that Hadley (Steve Clark) hides a gold-encrusted cave on his property, villainous saloon owner Kirby (Terry Frost) kills the elderly rancher and seals the cave. But when Read More

Ghost Town Renegades

Actors: Lash LaRue, Al St. John, Jennifer Holt, Jack Ingram, Terry Frost

Synopsis: "King of the Bullwhip" Lash LaRue continues lashing away in the PRC western Ghost Town Renegades. In this one, the Cheyenne Kid (LaRue) and Fuzzy Q. Jones (Al St. John) investigate mysterious goings-on in an abandoned mining town. The villains have suddenly taken an inordinate interest in the Read More

Green Dolphin Street

Actors: Patrick Aherne, Lana Turner, Van Heflin, Linda Christian, Gladys Cooper, Donna Reed, Richard Hart, Bernie Gozier, Edmund Gwenn

Synopsis: The 161-minute costume drama Green Dolphin Street is set in 1840, on an island off the coast of Newfoundland, (or at least, the MGM backlot facsimile of same). Boiled down to essentials, it's the story of two sisters, blonde Marguerite Patourel (Donna Reed) and brunette
Marianne Patourel Read More

Pioneer Justice

Actors: Lash LaRue, Jennifer Holt, William Fawcett, Jack Ingram

Synopsis: In this low-budget Western from PRC, Marshal Cheyenne (Al "Lash" LaRue) and his sidekick Fuzzy Q. Jones (Al St. John) are looking into the strange goings-on in the town of Buffalo Gap. A ranger (Bob Woodward) has been killed and the trail leads to a gang headed by Bill Judd (Jack Ingram). There is Read More

Wild Country

Actors: Eddie Dean, Roscoe Ates, Peggy Wynn, Douglas Fowley, I. Stanford Jolley

Synopsis: The country in this low-budget Eddie Dean Western from PRC isn't so much wild as it is familiar. Dean is assigned to bring in escaped convict Rif Caxton (I. Stanford Jolley), whose trademark is a polka dot hatband. The bandit is holed up in Silver Springs, where he frames Sheriff Bill Devery Read More

The High Wall

Actors: Robert Taylor, Audrey Totter, Herbert Marshall, Dorothy Patrick, H.B. Warner, Warner Anderson

Synopsis: Former army pilot Robert Taylor is accused, on the basis of strong circumstantial evidence, of his wife's murder. Suffering from periodic blackouts, Taylor isn't so certain of his innocence himself. When offered a brain operation, Taylor refuses, knowing that if he is proven sane he will be Read More

The Tumbleweed Trail

Actors: Eddie Dean, Roscoe Ates, Shirley Patterson, John McGovern, Bob Duncan

Synopsis: A nasty rancher orders his men to kill his own half-brother for a piece of valuable ranch land in this low-budget PRC oater starring singing cowboy Eddie Dean. Bill Ryan (Kermit Maynard) is indeed cowardly ambushed by Brad Barton's (Bob Duncan) henchmen, and the following day, Barton and his Read More

Stars over Texas

Actors: Eddie Dean, Roscoe Ates, Shirley Patterson, Lee Bennett, Lee Roberts

Synopsis: Eddie Dean, PRC's low-budget answer to Gene Autry, starred in this lethargic singing western which benefited from Dean performing his own title-tune, "Fifteen Hundred and One Miles to Heaven" and "Sands of the Old Rio Grande", the last mentioned co-written with B-Western supporting actor Glenn Read More

Driftin' River

Synopsis: A virtual remake of the 1943 "Trail Blazers" western Wild Horse Stampede, this unspectacular but pleasant Eddie Dean oater once again featured a lawless town worrying about the coming of the railroad. Assigned by Army Major Hammond (Forrest Stanley) to inspect 500 heads of horses for sale by J. C. Read More