Michael Hinn Movies

Adapted from an Elmore Leonard novel, Valdez is Coming stars Burt Lancaster in the title role. A scrupulously honest Mexican-American marshal, Bob Valdez is double-crossed and humiliated by wealthy, unscrupulous rancher Jon Cypher. Since Cypher has the law on his side, Valdez is obliged to mete out his own justice. He kidnaps Cypher's mistress Susan Clark to force the rancher's hand. At first, Cypher is able to rally a group of tough hombres against Valdez, but one by one they side with the marshal. Director Edwin Sherin, who'd helmed the Broadway production of The Great White Hope, makes several rather anachronistic points regarding the film's racial issues; on the other hand, Valdez is Coming is one of the most-authentic looking westerns ever made-right down to the deglamorization of Susan Clark, who in a 1950s film might have looked as though she'd just visited a frontier branch of Max Factor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Adapted from William Faulkner's final novel, The Reivers top-bills Steve McQueen, but the major character is feisty 11-year-old Lucius McCaslin, played by Mitch Vogel. Growing up in Mississippi in the early 1900s, Lucius finds himself (through a hectic series of circumstances) in a bordello, where he is nearly killed trying to defend the "fast lady" (Sharon Farrell) who has befriended him. He has been brought to the house of ill repute by ne'er-do-well farm hand Boon Hoggenbeck (Steve McQueen), with whom he has been tooling about the countryside in a vintage automobile, together with his very distant African-American relative Ned (Rupert Crosse). This adventure segues into the next, as the three man combine their resources to train a broken-down racehorse. Meanwhile, Vogel's grandfather (Will Geer), who owns the fancy automobile that the "reivers" hope to win back, threatens to reappear at any moment to tan Lucius's bottom. Not exactly as wholesome as a Disney film, The Reivers is nonetheless acceptable family entertainment, with Steve McQueen delivering one of his best and most laid-back performances. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Frank Nitti (Bruce Gordon) hopes to expand his bootlegging empire across the US-Canadian border, setting up headquarters in the small Canadian fishing town of St. Brenden's. Meanwhile, Nitti's rival Joe Palakopoulos (Simon Oakland) has already gained a foothold in St. Brenden's, setting himself up as the town's "benefactor", not only pouring money into the impoverished community and even purchasing an organ for the local church. It is up to Elliot Ness (Robert Stack), with some preliminary assistance by an undercover agent, to persuade the town's spiritual leader Father Francis Gregory (played by Canadian actor Arthur Hill) that Palakopoulos is up to no good. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Satan sends his newest most seductive minion back to the earthly plane to search for new recruits in this horror compilation from an unsold Swedish television series No. 13 Demon Street that stars Lon Chaney, Jr. as the Devil. Each of the beautiful hellcat's victims dies in interesting ways, including the one who sent her to hell in the first place. He too becomes a worker for the big-D, who gives the couple the formula for nuclear weapons with the instructions that they are to pass it around. They do so and soon Hell is filled to the brimstone with tormented souls. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A recent plague has decimated virtually all the crops in a farming community. The only rancher whose crops were spared is Max Bruckner (Morris Ankrum), a wealthy, peace-loving Mennonite. When Bruckner is threatened by ill-tempered merchant Milo Culligan (Karl Swenson), he turns to Paladin (Richard Boone) for help--on condition that Paladin use no violence to defend Bruckner's family. This task proves doubly difficult when it is revealed that Culligan's top gun Polk (Brad Dexter) harbors a deep-set grudge against Paladin. Appearaing as Bruckner's mother is Adeline deWalt Reynolds, who at age 96 was the oldest working actress in Hollywood at the time this episode was filmed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It's "Freud on the Frontier" time in the tension-filled western The Halliday Brand. Ward Bond plays Big Dan, the despotic head of the Halliday clan, while Joseph Cotten and Betsy Blair costar as Halliday's offspring Daniel and Martha. Intensely anti-Indian, Big Dan encourages a mob to lynch Jivaro (Christopher Dark), Martha's half-breed sweetheart. Despising his father's complicity in Jivaro's death, Daniel breaks off his relationship with the elder Halliday, casting his lot with Jivaro's father (Jay C. Flippen) and sister (Viveca Lindfors). The climactic showdown between father and son is superbly and innovatively handled by director Joseph H. Lewis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide