Tommy Cook Movies

Rollercoaster was a by-product of the brief "Sensurround" craze of the 1970s. Nutsoid Timothy Bottoms sabotages an amusement-park roller coaster, killing several innocent revelers. After several other acts of terrorism, Bottoms (whose character is credited as Young Man) presents his demands to the authorities via audio tape: one million dollars, or he'll stage five roller-coaster disasters simultaneously in five different parks. Because detective Harry Calder George Segal evinces a grudging respect for the elusive extortionist, Bottoms declares that only Detective Calder will be permitted to deliver the money. Thus the stage is set for an explosive climax, which during the film's original run was accompanied by the Sensurround effect, a gimmick that electronically caused the filmgoer's chairs to begin shaking and vibrating during the "thrill scenes." As with most disaster flicks of the era, Rollercoaster is top-heavy with "guest stars," including Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda, Harry Guardino, and Susan Strasberg. Watch for 13-year-old Helen Hunt as Detective Calder's spunky daughter. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this sci-fi horror movie with comedic elements, a racist transplant surgeon (Ray Milland) learns that he's dying of cancer. He's recently performed some revolutionary experiments with a gorilla (special effects guru Rick Baker), by attaching a second head to the gorilla's body and removing the first one after the second has grown firmly into place. Now he wants to replicate the experiment with a human body, by grafting his head onto another person's frame. This way, he reasons, he'll be able to continue his medical and scientific work unabated. When he comes to after surgery, however, he's horrified to find out that his head has been stitched onto the body (and next to the head) of a large black man (former football player Roosevelt 'Rosey' Grier) due for a murder sentence. Enormous complications then ensue, as the two headed person runs about, with the convict intent on proving his innocence to the cops, and the scientist intent on having the convict's head removed. Director Frost formerly worked on stag films such as 1964's Love is a Four-Letter Word.
~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Light and laugh-filled, Send Me No Flowers is typical Rock Hudson and Doris Day fare. George (Hudson) is a hypochondriac married to Judy (Day) in this marital comedy. When George goes to visit the doctor, he overhears two doctors talking about a diagnosis of a terminally ill patient. George believes they are talking about him and that he is doomed to die. He recruits his friend Arnold (Tony Randall) to find a new husband for Judy. Judy thinks George is covering up for an illicit affair and throws him out of the house. George locates Judy's old college flame Bert (Clint Walker), now a Texas oil millionaire. Excellent performances by Edward Andrews as Dr. Morrissey and Paul Lynde as the aggressive cemetery-plot salesman help this feature along. Although not as solid as the Day/Hudson pairing in Pillow Talk or Lover Come Back, Send Me No Flowers is still a good romantic comedy. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Racketeer Larry Fay (Sam Levene) gains control of New York's dairy industry, forcing the price of milk to an astronomical (for 1933) price of 13 cents a quart. Hoping to put Fay out of business, Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) appeals to the better nature of singer Sally Kansas (Claire Trevor), star attraction of Fay's popular nightclub (Sally is a thinly disguised caricature of real-life entertainment Texas Guinan, of "Hello, suckers!" fame ). Though she has managed to steer clear of her boss' criminal activities, Sally isn't about to bite the hand that feeds her--until Larry goes one step too far and orders the murder of Sally's kid brother Tommy (Tommy Cook). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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 run a general store. Unfortunately, the Harvey boys aren't the reforming kind: in fact, each and every one of them has a price on his head. A young and menacing James Coburn appears as Jack Harvey. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Perry (Raymond Burr) is suspicious when Rhoda Reynolds (Christine White) shows up in his office to ask advice on the legality of marriage, claiming she is doing so on behalf of "friends." As it turns out, Rhoda is being blackmailed by her shifty ex-husband Arthur Kane (Michael Emmet). When Kane is murdered, everyone is convinced that Rhoda is the guilty party--including Rhoda, who recalls striking him with a blunt object before rushing out of his apartment. Convinced that Rhoda is innocent, Perry tries to get at the truth by meticulously reconstructing the crime in the courtroom, with an alarm clock and a doorbell as key props. This episode is based on a 1934 novel by Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner, which was previously adapted as a theatrical feature in 1935 with Warren William as Mason--and a pre-stardom Errol Flynn as the murder victim! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Though released by 20th Century-Fox, Mohawk was produced independently by Edward L. Alperson, who also doubled as the film's musical composer. Scott Brady stars as an 18th century Boston artist, sent to Mohawk Valley to paint landscapes and portraits of Native Americans. Brady is forced to pack up his easel when he becomes embroiled in a war between the Indians and avaricious land baron John Hoyt. The villain intends to play both ends against the middle, then claim what's left when the Mohawks and settlers wipe each other out. Brady not only defies Hoyt, but also battles near-psychotic Mohawk warrior Neville Brand. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The "juvenile delinquent" film cycle of the 1950s, sparked by The Blackboard Jungle, resulted in such hastily assembled B-flicks as Columbia's Teenage Crime Wave. The "crime wave" of the title consists of the criminal activities of teenager Mike Denton (Tommy Cook). After escaping from reform school, Mike goes on a statewide shooting spree, accompanied by his girlfriend Terry Marsh (Mollie McCart) and victim-of-circumstance Jane Koberly (Sue England). Most of the film takes place in the farmhouse of middle-aged Tom Grant (James Bell), as Mike, Terry and Sue hold the Grant family hostage. Since Sue is really a nice kid at heart, the audience can rest assured that she will foil Mike's perfidy before fade-out time. One noted film critic has bestowed a "BOMB" rating upon Teenage Crime Wave, though it's certainly no worse than the others of its ilk. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

For an actress who seemed more at home in the lavish penthouses and smart supper clubs of New York, Phyllis Kirk appeared in a lot of westerns. Canyon Crossroads is a contemporary sagebrusher, wherein Ms. Kirk is cast as the daughter of geology professor Russell Collins. Father and daughter embark upon a uranium-hunting expedition in Colorado, accompanied by prospector Richard Basehart and Native American Alan Wells. Their trail is dogged by Charles Wagenheim, the sinister henchman of Basehart's bitter enemy Stephen Elliot. Trapped in a cave by the villains, Kirk and her companions spend at least a third of the film trying to figure a way out. Reviewers were impressed by the opening and closing scenes of Canyon Crossroads, but were indifferent to the reels in-between. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The scene is a German POW camp, sometime during the mid-1940s. Stalag 17, exclusively populated by American sergeants, is overseen by sadistic commandant Oberst Von Schernbach (Otto Preminger) and the deceptively avuncular sergeant Schultz (Sig Ruman). The inmates spend their waking hours circumventing the boredom of prison life; at night, they attempt to arrange escapes. When two of the escapees, Johnson and Manfredi, are shot down like dogs by the Nazi guards, Stalag 17's resident wiseguy Sefton (William Holden) callously collects the bets he'd placed concerning the fugitives' success. No doubt about it: there's a security leak in the barracks, and everybody suspects the enterprising Sefton -- who manages to obtain all the creature comforts he wants -- of being a Nazi infiltrator. Things get particularly dicey when Lt. Dunbar (Don Taylor), temporarily billetted in Stalag 17 before being transferred to an officer's camp, tells his new bunkmates that he was responsible for the destruction of a German ammunition train. Sure enough, this information is leaked to the Commandant, and Dunbar is subjected to a brutal interrogation. Certain by now that Sefton is the "mole", the other inmates beat him to a pulp. But Sefton soon learns who the real spy is, and reveals that information on the night of Dunbar's planned escape. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Stalag 17 is as much comedy as wartime melodrama, with most of the laughs provided by Robert Strauss as the Betty Grable-obsessed "Animal" and Harvey Lembeck as Stosh's best buddy Harry. Other standouts in the all-male cast include Richard Erdman as prisoner spokesman Hoffy, Neville Brand as the scruffy Duke, Peter Graves as blonde-haired, blue-eyed "all American boy" Price, Gil Stratton as Sefton's sidekick Cookie (who also narrates the film) and Robinson Stone as the catatonic, shell-shocked Joey. Writer/producer/director Billy Wilder and coscenarist Edmund Blum remained faithful to the plot and mood the Donald Bevan/Edmund Trzcinski stage play Stalag 17, while changing virtually every line of dialogue-all to the better, as it turned out (Trzcinski, who like Bevan based the play on his own experiences as a POW, appears in the film as the ingenuous prisoner who "really believes" his wife's story about the baby abandoned on her doorstep). William Holden won an Academy Award for his hard-bitten portrayal of Sefton, which despite a hokey "I'm really a swell guy after all" gesture near the end of the film still retains its bite today. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Though filmed in Hollywood, The Vicious Years is set in postwar Italy. Tommy Cook plays a homeless orphan named Mario, who happens to witness a murder committed by the son of a wealthy family. The enterprising Mario moves in with the family, promising to keep his mouth shut in exchange for food, shelter, and creature comforts. Gradually, a genuine affection develops between the boy and the family. But the homicidal son (Gar Moore) unrepentantly schemes to rid himself of Mario at the first opportunity. The slow, leisurely pace of The Vicious Years accelerates dramatically during the climactic scenes. Way down on the cast list is future MGM leading man Russ Tamblyn, here billed as Rusty. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The year is 1942. Ensign Chuck Palmer (Tyrone Power) is stranded in the Japanese-occupied Philippines after his ship is torpedoed. Linking up with several other American refugees, Palmer helps the Filipinos organize a resistance movement against the enemy. They even manage to construct a few jerry-built radio stations to keep tabs on Japanese fleet movements. Hard to believe that Palmer finds romance under these trying circumstances, but he does, in the form of Jeanne Martinez (Micheline Presle), the wife of a Filipino war hero. Based on the novel by Ira Wolfert, American Guerilla in the Philippines is directed with unvarnished efficiency by Fritz Lang. Standouts in the supporting cast include Tom Ewell as Tyrone Power's wisecracking buddy and Robert Barrat as General Douglas MacArthur. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In 1947, Variety Clubs International, a showbiz charitable organization, was responsible for the frothy musical Variety Girl. The organization's 1949 film effort, Monogram's Bad Boy, is a bit on the grimmer side, but not too much so. Most of the film was lensed at the VCI's Boys Club Ranch at Copperas Cove TX. In his first starring role (and second film appearance), war hero Audie Murphy plays Danny Lester, the "bad boy" of the title. A delinquent with a long rap sheet, Danny is sent to the Ranch in hopes that he can be rehabilitated. This seems to be a hopeless goal until ranch head Marshall Brown (Lloyd Nolan) digs into Danny's past to find a reason for the boy's ungovernable behavior. Jane Wyatt as Brown's wife, James Gleason as his assistant, and a coterie of talented juvenile actors lend sensitivity and credibility to this refreshingly unsentimental yarn. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi