Arthur Hunnicutt Movies
One of the youngest "old codgers" in show business, Arthur Hunnicutt left college when funds ran out and joined an acting troupe in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. His first important New York engagement was in the Theatre Guild's production of Love's Old Sweet Song. Hunnicutt entered films in 1942, specializing in grizzled western sidekicks even though he was only in his early 30s. When Percy Kilbride retired from the "Ma and Pa Kettle" series in 1955, Hunnicutt, still a youngster in comparison to Kilbride's sixtysomething co-star Marjorie Main, filled the gap in The Kettles in the Ozarks (1955). And when director Howard Hawks needed someone to play a Walter Brennan-type role when Brennan wasn't available for The Big Sky (1952) and El Dorado (1967), Hunnicutt was the man of the hour (his work in Big Sky won him an Oscar nomination). Arthur Hunnicutt was last seen in 1975's The Moonrunners, at long playing someone closer to his own age. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1976
- PG
This melodramatic adventure follows the exploits of a young Blackfoot Indian who goes to the Anglos for some badly needed smallpox serum. Instead of helping him, they attack. The young man is enraged and retaliates by kidnapping two young people from the unfriendly settlement. He takes them through beautiful wild country, and as they go he and his female hostage begin falling in love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leif Erickson, Woody Strode, (more)
- 1975
- PG
Writer/director Gy Waldron makes his feature film debut with the 1975 action comedy Moonrunners. Cousins Grady (James Mitchum) and Bobby Lee (Kiel Martin) run moonshine for their wise old Uncle Jessie (Arthur Hunnicutt). Lately, though, his fine quality liquor hasn't been moving that much. That's because boorish businessman Jake Rainey (George Ellis) has been trying to take over all the moonshine running in the area. He'll stop at nothing to shut down Uncle Jessie's little operation, including paying off the local law enforcement officers and recruiting speed driver Zeebo (Pete Munro). When Jake tries to buy out Uncle Jessie's stock, Grady and Bobby Lee plan a little operation of their own. Meanwhile, Grady carries on an affair with Jake's wife Reba (Joan Blackman) and Bobby Lee falls in love with blonde runaway Beth (Chris Forbes). Outlaw country singer Waylon Jennings narrates and composes the musical score. If this whole premise sounds familiar, it's because director Waldron was also the creator of the TV series The Dukes of Hazzard. Based on this film, the show debuted four years later on CBS. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Mitchum, Kiel Martin, (more)
- 1975
[124828] This TV movie is a sequel to 1972's Daughters of Joshua Cabe (which was also a TV movie). Cabe (Dan Dailey) is an itinerant western trapper hoping to gain extra homesteading land by pretending to have a family. He hires three "fallen women" (Ronne Troup, Brooke Adams and Christina Hart) to pose as his daughters. Unfortunately, the real father of one of the girls kidnaps his daughter, compelling the remaining ladies to track down their missing "sister". Like the earlier movie, Daughters of Joshu Cabe Return was produced by Aaron Spelling, and was the pilot for a potential TV series. It didn't sell, but Spelling was back in 1976 with another "three girls" adventure project, Charlie's Angels. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
- PG
In this western, an outlaw is wounded in battle and manages to escape to the home of two helpful runaways who help him recuperate. During this time, the outlaw regales them with thrilling tales of his adventurous exploits. His stories inspire the lads to form a gang of their own; the outlaw is more than happy to help and become their leader. They rob a few banks and have great fun until the outlaw becomes a turncoat and begins hunting them for a generous bounty. But one of the boys decides to get revenge and rootin' tootin' mayhem ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
In Paul Mazursky's rueful character drama, 57-year-old Art Carney plays Harry, a 70-plus Manhattan widower who loses his tiny apartment to the wrecking ball. Accompanied by his pet, an aged cat named Tonto, Harry sets out on an odyssey to Los Angeles. During his journey, he finds a kindred spirit in a youthful hitchhiker (Melanie Mayron), who eventually finds happiness with Harry's grandson (Joshua Mostel). Harry makes stops at the homes of his grown children (Philip Bruns, Ellen Burstyn, and Larry Hagman), but each visit is more disappointing than the last; he also touches base with an old flame (Geraldine Fitzgerald), who has slipped into senility. By the time he arrives in L.A., Harry has become dispirited by his desultory visits with friends and family, but he eventually realizes that each new day can be a beginning rather than an end. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Art Carney, Ellen Burstyn, (more)
- 1973
Fresh from her eight-season run on Bewitched, Elizabeth Montgomery embarked upon a whole new career as everyone's favorite TV-movie star in the ABC production Mrs. Sundance. Shamelessly promoted as a sequel to the movie megahit Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the film cast Montgomery as Sundance's schoolteacher widow Etta Place, the role played in the earlier movie by Katherine Ross. Like her outlaw husband, Etta finds herself on the lam from the law, with a $10,000 bounty on her head. Resigned to spending the rest of her life in hiding, Etta is ultimately flushed out by the rumor that Sundance is still very much alive (In truth, the authorities never found Etta Place, and even the date of her death is shrouded in mystery). Lensed on location near Lone Pine, California, the film represented the first on-screen teaming of Elizabeth Montgomery and her real-life future husband Robert Foxworth. Mrs. Sundance premiered January 15, 1974. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
The Bounty Man is Clint Walker, back in the saddle some nine years after the cancellation of his TV series Cheyenne. Walker is hired to bring in his quarry dead or alive, and in the past has had no qualms about choosing the latter option. Now he is in competition with hard-bitten Richard Basehart in tracking down a young murderer (John Ericson)--and now he begins to ask himself questions about the morality of his profession. Though there's no authentication of this opinion, The Bounty Man sure looks like a series pilot. It was originally telecast October 21, 1972. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
The made-for-TV Climb an Angry Mountain revives the reliable "country cop vs city cop" concept, with Fess Parker and Barry Nelson on either side of the argument. New York City officer Nelson wants to use state-of-art methods to track down a fugitive Indian criminal (played by former football star Joe Kapp) who is hiding out on California's Mount Shasta. Local rancher/sheriff Parker wants to handle the case on his own, since his son (Clay O'Brien) is the fugitive's hostage. The rival authority figures eventually come to the "united we stand" understanding in trailing their quarry. Climb an Angry Mountain benefits mightily from extensive location shooting. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
- PG
Despite the fact that most of the westerns made at this time (early '70s) were "deconstructionist" westerns, which either spoofed or subverted the themes of this genre, occasionally a traditional western got filmed. The Revengers is a traditional western. John Benedict (William Holden) returns to his ranch, only to find all his cattle stolen and his family murdered. He vows to exact revenge on Tarp (Warren Vanders), the varmint who did this to him. He recruits a treacherous gang of convicts, bribing the warden for their release, and makes his move. When the attack fails, the convicts aren't interested in making another try. Instead, they shoot him and, leaving him for dead, head off to follow their own concerns. On her way to a new landholding, Elizabeth (Susan Hayward) stumbles upon the injured man, and nurses him back to some semblance of health. She begs him to drop his revenge plan, but he resumes his quest, receiving unexpected help along the way from Hoop (Ernest Borgnine), one of the renegade ex-convicts. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
This western drama from the team that made True Grit -- director Henry Hathaway, screenwriter Marguerite Roberts. and producer Hal B. Wallis -- stars Gregory Peck as a gunfighter who served a seven-year stretch in prison after his partner turned on him during a bank robbery. Shortly after his release, he's saddled with the responsibility of looking after a six-year-old girl while looking for his old sidekick with revenge on his mind. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gregory Peck, Dawn Lyn, (more)
In $1,000,000 Duck, the titular duck is exposed to radiation and begins laying golden eggs, which brings it under the scrutiny of the treasury department, the FBI, and a gang of comic-opera crooks. The cast includes Disney perennials Dean Jones and Joe Flynn, with Sandy Duncan taking over the part usually assumed by someone like Michele Lee or Stefanie Powers. $1,000,000 Duck was directed by Vince McEveety. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sandy Duncan, Dean Jones, (more)
- 1970
The third season of Adam-12 begins as mobile police officers Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) and Jim Reed (Kent McCord) set their sights on breaking up a gang of loan sharks. Each time the cops think they have the gang dead to rights, they are stymied by intimidated witnesses. Finally, one teenager (played by Tim Rooney, son of film star Mickey Rooney) agrees to provide evidence against the criminals--only to be promptly kidnapped. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1969
Although Salty Hubbard (Arthur Hunnicutt) is Sunville's biggest liar, everyone in town believes Salty's claim that stranger Hoss Cartwright is really notorious outlaw Big Jack (Mike Mazurki). To stay alive, Hoss is forced to fake his own death, funeral and all. Meanwhile, the real Big Jack prepares to take full advantage of "Good Tuesday", a local bank holiday. In the episode's comic highlight, Hoss suddenly rises from the dead as the nonplussed Preacher (John Carradine) and the other mourners look on in bug-eyed terror. Others in the cast include Ivor Francis as the Banker and Milton Parsons as (what else?) the Undertaker. First shown on December 7, 1969, "Dead Wrong" was written and directed by Bonanza star Michael Landon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, (more)
Having struck pay dirt with his 1958 western Rio Bravo, Howard Hawks more or less remade the picture twice in the 1960s. The first of these rehashes was El Dorado, with Rio Bravo star John Wayne back for more. Wayne plays a gunfighter who rides into El Dorado to link up with his old pal, sheriff Robert Mitchum ("It's the big one with the big two!" declared the film's advertisements). Wayne has turned down a job with evil land baron Ed Asner, who'd hoped to drive a family off the land that he needed for its water. That family, headed by R.G. Armstrong, is convinced that Wayne is working with Asner; when Armstrong's son Johnny Crawford dies, Wayne is held responsible, earning him a bullet in the spine from Crawford's sister Michele Carey. A year passes: Wayne returns to El Dorado, in the company of his new saddle pal James Caan. They find that Asner is still up to his old tricks, and that Mitchum has descended into alcoholism. Several plot twists and power shifts ensue, leading to the slam-bang climax, with the partially paralyzed Wayne, the newly crippled Mitchum (on crutches), and the concussion-suffering Caan battling together to stave off Asner's minions. The final long-shot, of Wayne and Mitchum limping off together arm-in-arm, is one of the most enduring images in the entire Hawks canon. If they loved it twice they'll love it thrice: in 1969, John Wayne and Howard Hawks teamed up for a third Rio Bravo derivation, Rio Lobo--which, like the first two films, was scripted by Leigh Brackett. Incidentally, that's famed artist Olaf Weighorst (whose paintings appear in the title sequence) in a cameo as the gunsmith. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, (more)
- 1966
Jim Walker Rory Calhoun is a hero who fights Indians and crooks who plan a series of stagecoach robberies in this routine western. He defends the honor of a woman (Corinne Calvet) wrongly accused of having a bad reputation. Johnny Mack Brown plays the local Sheriff Ben Hall, with Lon Chaney, Jr. as the friendly stagecoach driver Charlie Russell. Watch for DeForest Kelley in a pre-Star Trek role as a crazed gunman. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rory Calhoun, Corinne Calvet, (more)
- 1966
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This rambunctious Disney comedy was based on the novel By the Great Horn Spoon by Sid Fleischman. Roddy McDowall plays Griffin, the very proper butler of Bostonian Bryan Russell. When Russell runs off to California during the 1849 gold rush, Griffin dutifully tags along. Master and butler team up with Shakespearean actor Richard Haydn, who owns a treasure map. Crooked judge Karl Malden (a master of many disguises), pilfers the map once Our Heroes reach San Francisco. While endeavoring to retrieve the valuable parchment, Griffin has any number of adventures, ranging from a bout of fisticuffs with ox-like Mike Mazurki to a romance with Russell's sister Suzanne Pleshette, a former debutante turned saloon singer. If Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin resembles an animated cartoon at times, credit should go to veteran Disney animator Ward Kimball, who provided the spirited cartoon transitions between scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roddy McDowall, Suzanne Pleshette, (more)
This musical spoof of Westerns featured Lee Marvin in dual roles that won him a Best Actor Oscar. Jane Fonda stars as the title character, a prim schoolmarm returning to her hometown of Wolf City, Wyoming, after receiving an Eastern education. On the train ride, Cat meets up with a pair of friendly, charming crooks, Clay Boone (Michael Callan) and his uncle, Jed (Dwayne Hickman), the former becoming hopelessly smitten with the naive but tough Cat. Upon arriving home, Cat discovers that her eccentric father, Frankie (John Marley), is being threatened with bodily harm by a development company that desperately wants his land. When Frankie is murdered by ruthless, noseless killer Tim Strawn (Marvin), Cat straps on a pair of six-shooters and persuades Clay, Jed, and her father's loyal Native American hand Jackson Two-Bears (Tom Nardini) to sign on as her posse. In her quest for revenge, Cat also recruits Kid Shelleen (also played by Marvin), a one-time fearsome gunslinger who's now a hopeless alcoholic. Cat Ballou (1965) is interspersed throughout the narrative with appearances by Stubby Kaye and Nat King Cole as a pair of balladeers who comment on the action musically in Greek chorus style. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Fonda, Lee Marvin, (more)
- 1964
After a dangerous tiger turns on its trainer and escapes from the circus, a small town in Texas finds itself in an uproar over its capture. As it is hunted by numerous parties, a young girl begins protesting and starts a nationwide movement to plead for the tiger's safety. As the situation gains more attention, the local attitude is torn by politics and outside pressure. At the time of its release, this feature (taken from a book by Ian Niall) was quite different for Disney as it portrayed realistic small-town politics rather than an ideal community. The titular tiger, on the other hand, seemed to have an uncanny knack of choosing baddies to prey upon while leaving all well-meaning folks alone. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brian Keith, Vera Miles, (more)
- 1964
Season Five of Bonanza came to a close on May 24, 1964 with the episode titled "Walter and the Outlaws", a sequel to the previous season's "Any Friend of Walter's" (the scripts for both episodes were written by Lois Hire). Arthur Hunnicutt returns as grizzled prospector Obie, who lives in a squalid shack with his pet dog, the redoubtable Walter. Also making return appearances are Steve Brodie, Vic Werber and James Luisi as dimwitted but deadly outlaws Macie, Teague, and Willard, still determined to steal Obie's cache of gold. This time around, the crooked trio kidnap Walter, hoping to make Obie surrender his treasure. The prospector and the Cartwrights concoct an elaborate rescue scheme which goes hilariously awry. The classic scene in which head outlaw Macie is forced to take castor oil has, alas, often been removed from syndicated prints of "Walter and the Outlaws." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, (more)
- 1964
In Volume 38 of a collection culled from the 1963-1965 science fiction anthology television series, a couple finds themselves the target of alien stalkers. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1963
Returning to work after a four-week absence, Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) makes up for lost time by agreeing to represent cantankerous orange grower Amos Keller (Arthur Hunnicutt). To get even with Amos for messing up his plans to bulldoze the local orange groves, land developer Gerald Thornton is suing the old coot, claiming to have been bitten by Amos' dog Hard Tack. Things turns deadly serious, however, when Thornton is murdered and Amos' granddaughter Sandra (Natalie Trundy) is charged with the crime. Watch for future spaghetti-western icon Lee Van Cleef in a supporting role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1963
One of the best-remembered and best-loved Bonanza episodes, "Any Friend of Walter's" first aired on March 24, 1963. While travelling to visit his sweetie Bessie Sue (Katie Sue), Hoss Cartwright is forced to take shelter in the shack occupied by scroungy prospector Obie (Arthur Hunnicutt) and Obie's mangy dog Walter. Though Walter is supposed to possess great intelligence, he demonstrates the instincts of an ignoramus when Obie's shack is besieged by three dimwitted bandits-Macie (Steve Brodie), Teague (Vic Werber) and Willard (James Luisi)-who think that Obie is harboring a fortune in gold. Written by Lois Hire, "Any Friend of Walter's" proved popular enough to warrant a sequel, the 1964 episode "Walter and the Outlaws." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, (more)
- 1963
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 the culprit. Meanwhile, Perry's associate Paul Drake, searching for clues, stumbles upon the body of James Bradisson. Former light-heavyweight boxing champ Archie Moore plays a supporting role in this episode, which was based on a 1943 novel by Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Tom Tryon plays the title role in this Otto Preminger version of the Henry Morton Robinson novel. In his matriculation from Monsignor to the College of Cardinals, Stephen Fermoyle (Tom Tryon) must undergo several grueling life experiences: standing up to bigots in Georgia, defying Nazis in Austria, and so on. The film boasts cameo appearances by Dorothy Gish, Cecil Kellaway, John Saxon, John Huston, Robert Morse, Burgess Meredith, Raf Vallone, Ossie Davis. Incidentally, Tryon eventually quit acting and became a popular novelist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Tryon, Carol Lynley, (more)
- 1962
Originally telecast January 26 1962, this episode was the first of several Twilight Zone scriptwriting assignments for Earl Hamner, Jr., future creator of The Waltons. Arthur Hunnicutt stars as backwoodsman Hyder Simpson, who despite the dire predictions of his superstitious wife Rachel (Jeanette Nolan) embarks upon a hunting expedition with his faithful dog Rip. While chasing down their quarry, Hyder and Rip fall into a river and drown -- then promptly return home in ghostly form, to find Rachel weeping over Hyder's coffin. Not altogether convinced that he is dead, Hyder wanders the countryside in search of answers -- while Rip uses his still-acute sense of smell to save Hyder from making the biggest mistake of his life -- or death! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arthur Hunnicutt, Jeanette Nolan, (more)
