Dick Curtis Movies

This Western action/comedy is told in the same tongue-in-cheek manner as its predecessor, Support Your Local Sheriff. Goldie (Marie Windsor), a madam, is a formidable woman, and Latigo Smith (James Garner) knows perfectly well that his disreputable ways will be trimmed considerably should she succeed in marrying him. Instead, he escapes from her and winds up in the town of Purgatory. The town's inhabitants have been expecting the arrival of Swifty Morgan (Chuck Connors), the famous gunfighter. All things being equal, Latigo is happy to be mistaken for Morgan's sidekick, while Jug May (Jack Elam) impersonates Morgan himself. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Season five of The Dick Van Dyke Show opens with one of the series' best episodes -- and an Emmy Award-winner to boot. While in the audience of "The Johnny Patrick Show," Laura (Mary Tyler Moore) is coerced to join host Patrick (Dick Curtis) on-stage, even though she's been warned that Johnny specializes in getting his guests to make embarrassing statements. True to form, Patrick maneuvers Laura into revealing that Alan Brady (Carl Reiner), the comedian boss of her writer husband Rob Petrie (Dick Van Dyke), wears a toupee. The climax of this episode contains some of the funniest lines ever written for the show, beginning with Alan's melancholy farewell speech to a row of expensive hairpieces, and culminating with Laura's far-from-helpful reference to "needy bald people"! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The eponymous Rose is played by Mala Powers, a white girl raised by Cherokee Indians after her family was massacred. Powers considers herself a Native American and regards all whites as her enemies. Her feelings are justified to an extent when outlaws kill her Indian parents. Realizing she can't seek vengeance alone, Powers grudgingly accepts the help of white marshal Jack Beutel. Beyond its "Natural Color" photography, Rose of Cimarron is of interest in that it shows how Jack Beutel kept busy after he costarred with Jane Russell in the legendary "bosom western" The Outlaw. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Alcoholic Bill Cannon's (Dan Duryea) past sins catch up with him in Chicago Calling. Cannon's daughter Nancy (Melinda Plowman) is seriously injured in an accident while out of town, and his wife Mary (Mary Anderson) has promised to call him back as soon as she learns the result of Nancy's operation. Unfortunately, Cannon's phone service is cut off for nonpayment, forcing him to go begging for the $50 necessary to square his phone bill. Only through the kindness of waitress Peggy (Marsha Jones) and telephone engineer Jim (Ross Elliot) is Cannon able to make the crucial call to his wife. Alas, the operation has proved unsuccessful. Will the impact of this tragedy push Cannon over the brink, or will it inspire him to seek out a new lease on life? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The backstory of The Red Badge of Courage involves the toppling of MGM's old Louis B. Mayer regime in favor of Dore Schary and his young Turks. It is also the tale of how an intended epic was ruthlessly whittled down to a lower-berth programmer. Since this story has already been related in detail in Lillian Ross' Picture (not to mention several John Huston biographies), the focus here will be what shows up on screen in Red Badge of Courage. Based on the novel by Stephen Crane, the film stars real-life war hero Audie Murphy as a Civil War soldier who must redeem himself in his own eyes after an act of cowardice. When he finally gets his opportunity, he realizes that he is no less frightened than before; it is simply that he has learned to push on in spite of that fear. A comparative newcomer to films, Murphy acquits himself magnificently in the difficult title role; equally impressive are political cartoonist Bill Mauldin as "The Loud Soldier," John Dierkes as "The Tall Soldier" and Royal Dano as "The Tattered Man." When Red Badge of Courage tested poorly in preview, the studio sliced it down to 69 minutes and added a narrator (James Whitmore) to clarify the more obscure plot passages. Further hurting the film was Bronislaus Kaper's overbaked musical score, which seemed more suited to a gung-ho John Wayne flick than a comparatively intimate tale of personal fortitude. Though the finished product plays like a Reader's Digest adaptation, a few brilliant passages remain, notably the sequence in which a commanding officer ingratiatingly lies to his troops for the sake of morale. Like Orson Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons, Red Badge of Courage is a truncated classic -- but a classic, all the same. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Rawhide is a westernized remake of the 1936 crime melodrama Show Them No Mercy. Tyrone Power stars as Tom Owens, the assistant manager of a remote stagecoach way station. A coach arrives, bearing Vinnie Holt (Susan Hayward), who carries her baby niece in her arms. Having learned that an outlaw gang is in the vicinity, Owens advises Vinnie to hold up at the station until the next day. Shortly thereafter, the gang arrives and kills stationmaster Sam Todd (Edgar Buchanan). Outlaw leader Zimmerman (Hugh Marlowe), assuming that Owens and Vinnie are the baby's parents, decides not to kill them as well but to hold them prisoner while he and his men await the arrival of a gold shipment. Tension mounts as the relatively civilized Zimmerman argues with his psychotic henchman Tevis (Jack Elam) over the fate of the "married couple." Meanwhile, Owens tries to think up an escape plan for himself, Vinnie and the child. The film closes with a nail-biting shootout, with the baby in the thick of the fray. So as to avoid confusion with the TV series of the same name, Rawhide was retitled Desperate Siege for its first television showing in 1962. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Three Stooges are census-takers this time around, running afoul of a knife-wielding magician (series regular Dick Curtis). Jean Willes (formerly Jean Donahue) also appears in this very average Stooges comedy two-reeler produced and directed by Jules White. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Lorna Doone is based on the oft-filmed novel by Richard D. Blackmore. Set in 17th century Scotland during the reign of Britain's Charles II, the story concerns young Lorna (Barbara Hale), a member of a much-hated landowning family. Lorna falls in love with a humble villager (Richard Greene), who like the rest of community has suffered under the rule of the despotic Doones. The villagers revolt against their oppressors, but when it is revealed that Lorna is not a genuine Doone, she is able to marry her low-born swain. Star Barbara Hale was pregnant throughout the filming of Lorna Doone; thus it can be said that the film "co-starred" her son, future actor William Katt. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Jackpot is a generally pleasing satire of quiz programs. James Stewart stars as Bill Lawrence, an average Joe who picks up the phone one day, answers a simple question, and suddenly finds himself the recipient of a radio quiz-show jackpot. Tons of prizes are shipped to Lawrence's house, to the delight of his wife Amy (Barbara Hale) and his kids. Unfortunately, the Lawrences must now contend with the income tax folks, who levy huge tariffs on their "free" prizes. Complications begin piling up with dizzying rapidity, resulting in a night in the hoosegow for the befuddled Mr. Lawrence. Featured in The Jackpot as the Lawrence children are a couple of stars-in-the-making: Natalie Wood and Tommy Rettig. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the western Sheriff of Wichita, an unjustly imprisoned Army Lieutenant searches for the actual perpetrators of a robbery he was unfairly accused of five years earlier. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Promoted from Republic B westerns to "A" productions, William "Wild Bill" Elliot found himself in the sort of roles previously essayed by John Wayne, Richard Dix and Errol Flynn. In the Republic "special" Wyoming, Elliot plays Charles Alderson, a wealthy Wyoming Territory ranch owner who takes an adversarial position against the congressional Homestead Act of the late 19th century. Alderson's grown daughter Karen (Vera Ralston, whose foreign accent is "explained" by the fact that she's been educated in Europe!) tries to dissuade her father from his ruinous path, but it is only through the villainy of crooked landgrabber Duke Lassiter (Albert Dekker) that Alderson realizes he's been all wrong about the incoming homesteaders. Only in a Republic picture would a film's supporting cast include both Maria Ouspenskaya and Gabby Hayes! This Wyoming, incidentally, is not a remake of the 1940 Columbia film of the same name. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

While it was not one of the best latter-day Curly Howard comedies, this Three Stooges short still had enough amusing moments to get by. It opens up with the boys, dusty and worn out, reaching Dead Man's Gulch. The population of the town is rapidly dwindling, as evidenced by the sound of gunfire and ever-shrinking numbers on the population sign. Badlands Blackie and his gang are the culprits -- they've killed six sheriffs in five months (and that doesn't count deputies). Now the blacksmith has been kidnapped and Blackie is threatening to do away with him unless his daughter, Nell (Christine McIntyre), agrees to marry him. The desperate townsfolk make Curly sheriff, and Moe and Larry deputies, and their first task is to help out Nell -- especially since she has promised to wed Curly if he saves her father. The Stooges manage to vanquish the bad guys -- only because Blackie is not any brighter than they are -- and they save Nell's dad. But when the girl informs him that she has promised to marry Curly, the blacksmith replies, "I'd rather be dead!" Curly gives him a stick of dynamite and the Stooges run off. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide