Edmond O'Brien Movies
Reportedly a neighbor of Harry Houdini while growing up in the Bronx, American actor Edmond O'Brien decided to emulate Houdini by becoming a magician himself. The demonstrative skills gleaned from this experience enabled O'Brien to move into acting while attending high school. After majoring in drama at Columbia University, he made his first Broadway appearance at age 21 in Daughters of Atrus. O'Brien's mature features and deep, commanding voice allowed him to play characters far older than himself, and it looked as though he was going to become one of Broadway's premiere character actors. Yet when he was signed for film work by RKO in 1939, the studio somehow thought he was potential leading man material -- perhaps as a result of his powerful stage performance as young Marc Antony in Orson Welles' modern dress version of Julius Caesar. As Gringoire the poet in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), O'Brien was a bit callow and overemphatic, but he did manage to walk off with the heroine (Maureen O'Hara) at the end of the film. O'Brien's subsequent film roles weren't quite as substantial, though he was shown to excellent comic advantage in the Moss Hart all-serviceman play Winged Victory, in a role he repeated in the 1944 film version while simultaneously serving in World War II (he was billed as "Sergeant Edmond O'Brien"). Older and stockier when he returned to Hollywood after the war, O'Brien was able to secure meaty leading parts in such "films noir" as The Killers (1946), The Web (1947) and White Heat (1949). In the classic melodrama D.O.A. (1950), O'Brien enjoyed one of the great moments in "noir" history when, as a man dying of poison, he staggered into a police station at the start of the film and gasped "I want to report a murder...mine." As one of many top-rank stars of 1954's The Barefoot Contessa, O'Brien breathed so much credibility into the stock part of a Hollywood press agent that he won an Academy Award. On radio, the actor originated the title role in the long-running insurance-investigator series "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar" in 1950. On TV, O'Brien played a Broadway star turned private eye in the 1959 syndicated weekly "Johnny Midnight," though the producers refused to cast him unless he went on a crash vegetarian diet. Plagued by sporadic illnesses throughout his life, O'Brien suffered a heart seizure in 1961 while on location in the Arabian desert to play the Lowell Thomas counterpart in Lawrence of Arabia, compelling the studio to replace him with Arthur Kennedy. O'Brien recovered sufficiently in 1962 to take the lead in a TV lawyer series, "Sam Benedict;" another TV stint took place three years later in "The Long Hot Summer." The actor's career prospered for the next decade, but by 1975 illness had begun to encroach upon his ability to perform; he didn't yet know it, but he was in the first stages of Alzheimer's Disease. Edmond O'Brien dropped out of sight completely during the next decade, suffering the ignominity of having his "death" reported by tabloids several times during this period. The real thing mercifully claimed the tragically enfeebled O'Brien in 1985. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi- 1975
- PG
A disturbed woman slips over the edge into violent madness in this low-budget horror story. Grace (Brooke Mills) was abandoned by her parents as an infant, and grew up in an orphanage. As an adult, Grace is engaged to Patrick (Paul Prokop), a medical student, and she performs as a high-dive artist in a bizarre Christian revival show staged by Patrick's brother Jesse (Michael Pataki); Grace shares enough of Jesse's religious convictions to insist on abstaining from sex before marriage, though she struggles with her physical desires. The scars from Grace's unpleasant childhood cause her to drift in and out of a world of her own, and she wants to find closure by locating her long-lost father. While looking for her dad, Grace finds her way to a cheap hotel, where a pimp (Marc Lawrence) informs her that he knew her father, and that he died the night before. When Grace sees the dead body of her father (Edmond O'Brien) in the morgue, she snaps and imagines that the corpse has come to life. As Grace drifts deeper into her fantasy world, she goes on a spree of violence and lust fueled by the demons in her mind and the actions of her re-animated dad. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- 1974
- PG
John Frankenheimer's bizarre, satirical gangster film is not for all tastes but has acquired a minor cult following. Elderly mobster Edmond O'Brien hires a hitman (Richard Harris) to eliminate his rival (Bradford Dillman) in a dystopic setting of not-quite reality. There are albino alligators, skillful chase scenes, and Chuck Connors as a one-handed psycho who can fit various deadly weapons on his stumpy arm. None of it makes much sense, and mainstream viewers may end up scratching their heads in bewilderment, but fans of more esoteric films should find it a lot of fun. It would likely have ended up as a big hit on the drive-in circuit if it hadn't been directed by Frankenheimer, from whom most people expect better. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
- Starring:
- Richard Harris, Edmond O'Brien, (more)
- 1973
Director Francesco Rosi returns to his recurring theme of the connections between legal and illegal exercises of power in this sensationalized account of the infamous gangster Charles "Lucky" Luciano (Gian Maria Volonte). The film examines the life of Luciano after serving nine years of his 50-year sentence in the 1930s and 1940s, after which he was pardoned and deported to Italy. Once back in Italy, Luciano travels to Naples, where he finds himself under a continuous ten-year investigation by narcotics investigator Charles Siragusa (who plays himself). Rosi uses Luciano as a clinical study, questioning his legendary status and exploring the truth behind the legend. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Gian Maria Volontè, Rod Steiger, (more)
- 1973
This curious made-for-TV movie stars Alan Alda as a police detective in a small New England town. The community's elderly are dying at an unusual rate, prompting Alda to investigate. He deduces that the old folks are being murdered, but can't find a motive (there are no robberies involved, and none of the victims have any enemies to speak of). The hunt for the killer becomes personal when Alda's best friend, police chief Lloyd Nolan, falls victim to the unknown assailant. With the help of his funky girlfriend Louise Lasser, Alda assembles the clues and arrives at a startling conclusion. Isn't it Shocking? is enhanced by the presence of several veteran character actors, including Ruth Gordon as a disheveled cat fancier. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1972
- PG
A small-town California sheriff attempts to uncover facts behind the killing of a pregnant woman by her Doberman pinscher. James Garner stars in this mystery with performances by June Allyson and Ann Rutherford among others. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi
- Starring:
- James Garner, Katharine Ross, (more)
- 1972
The premiere episode of Streets of San Francisco follows veteran SFPD detective lieutenant Mike Stone (Karl Malden) in his grim search for the killer of his old friend Officer Gus Charnovski (Edmond O'Brien), who was shot three days before his retirement after 30 years on the force. Stone's obsession takes a toll not only on his job performance, but also his relationship with his 28-year-old partner Steve Keller (Michael Douglas). Eileen Heckert contributes a poignant performance as Gus' widow Stella. Like all future episodes, this one is filmed completely on location, making good use of the tunnels then being constructed for the new San Francisco rapid-transit system. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1971
In this comedy drama, an ingenious young woman from the Bronx impersonates a socialite so she can con a confused old man out of his money. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1970
The year is 1876. The place is Medalia, MN. With the Jesse James and Cole Younger gangs cutting a murderous swath through the land, the citizens of Medalia brace themselves against an outlaw invasion. Normally, the townsfolk could turn to their marshal, Sam Garrison (Don Murray), for salvation; but alas, it has been years since Sam has picked up a gun, and both his nerves and his trigger hand are gone. Made for television, The Intruders first aired November 10, 1970, on NBC, while most viewers were watching the vastly superior TV movie Tribes on ABC. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
In this uneven comedy, Abner (Don Knotts) is the editor of a bird-watching magazine who is the victim of a hostile corporate takeover by Osborn Tremaine (Edmond O'Brien). When Abner returns from a bird-watching excursion to Brazil, he finds his publication has been purchased for the fourth-class mailing permit. Osborn turns the publication into a girlie magazine and puts his wife Elanor (Maureen Arthur) on the front cover. Still listed as an editor, Abner becomes The Love God as the public perceives him as a Hugh Hefner-like character, epitomizing the life of a swinging bachelor playboy. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Don Knotts, Anne Francis, (more)
"If they move, kill 'em!" Beginning and ending with two of the bloodiest battles in screen history, Sam Peckinpah's classic revisionist Western ruthlessly takes apart the myths of the West. Released in the late '60s discord over Vietnam, in the wake of the controversial Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and the brutal "spaghetti westerns" of Sergio Leone, The Wild Bunch polarized critics and audiences over its ferocious bloodshed. One side hailed it as a classic appropriately pitched to the violence and nihilism of the times, while the other reviled it as depraved. After a failed payroll robbery, the outlaw Bunch, led by aging Pike Bishop (William Holden) and including Dutch (Ernest Borgnine), Angel (Jaime Sanchez), and Lyle and Tector Gorch (Warren Oates and Ben Johnson), heads for Mexico pursued by the gang of Pike's friend-turned-nemesis Deke Thornton (Robert Ryan). Ultimately caught between the corruption of railroad fat cat Harrigan (Albert Dekker) and federale general Mapache (Emilio Fernandez), and without a frontier for escape, the Bunch opts for a final Pyrrhic victory, striding purposefully to confront Mapache and avenge their friend Angel. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
- Starring:
- William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, (more)
- 1969
In this action drama, a diamond hunter and a revolutionary leader look for demolitions experts. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1968
The title character in this Mission: Impossible episode is Raymond Calder (Edmond O'Brien), the unscrupulous manufacturer of counterfeit drugs. Distressed that Calder has exploited the needs of the desperately ill, his former colleague Dr. McConnell (Noah Keen) conspires with the IMF agents to hoist Calder on his own petard. "The Counterfeiter" was one of several excellent episodes scripted by the team of William Read Woodfield and Allan Balter, working from a story by Lily Woodfield and Joseph Gantman. It was first telecast on February 4, 1968. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Peter Graves, Barbara Bain, (more)
- 1967
The Outsider is a refreshingly cynical TV detective drama, starring master cynic Darren McGavin. McGavin plays David Ross, a John MacDonaldesque private eye who virtually lives in his beat-up car and who spends most of his time eluding creditors. An ex-convict, Ross is prohibited from carrying a gun, which means that he gets beaten up on an average of once every ten minutes. Ross is hired by a theatre manager who suspects a female employee of embezzlement; the employee winds up dead, and Ross winds up Suspect Number One. Capped with an twist ending right out of Mickey Spillane, The Outsider was an excellent intro for the weekly TV series which followed. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1967
In this stylish crime drama, a smooth-talking insurance investigator looks into a bank robbery and ends up breaking up two famous gangs involved in a drug war. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean Yanne
- 1967
Charles (Louis Jourdan) is a writer who falls for Sandra (Senta Berger) in this routine spy story. Sandra talks the writer into helping her stop her husband from kidnapping a nuclear scientist and delivering him to the Chinese. (Edmond O'Brien) gives the standout performance in this otherwise forgettable film. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Louis Jourdan, Senta Berger, (more)
- 1966
- PG
Stephen Boyd heads a team of scientists sent on a bizarre experimental mission. Through a revolutionary and as-yet-untested process, the scientists and their special motorized vehicle are miniaturized, then injected into the blood stream of a near-death scientist (Jean del Val). Their mission is to relieve a blood clot caused by an assassination attempt. One member of the expedition is bent on sabotage so that the scientist's secrets will die with him. Another member is Raquel Welch, seemingly along for the ride solely because of how she looks in a skintight diving suit. The film's Oscar-winning visual effects (by Art Cruickshank) chart the progress of the voyagers through the scientist's body, burrowing past deadly antibodies, chunks of tobacco residue in the lungs, and other such obstacles. Oscars also went to Jack Martin Smith and Dale Hennesy's art direction and Stuart A. Reiss and Walter M. Scott's set decoration. Fantastic Voyage was later spun off into a Saturday-morning cartoon series. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Stephen Boyd, Raquel Welch, (more)
- 1966
In this made-for-TV movie, a deadly bomb is concealed aboard a passenger jet in a devious plan to blackmail the airline company. With the bomb threatening to go off any minute, the passengers and crew aboard the plane must search to find and dismantle the deadly device. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi
- 1965
Carroll Baker, the Sharon Stone of the sixties, plays another classy-looking blonde with a sordid background in Sylvia. Millionaire Peter Lawford is about to marry the glamorous but secretive Sylvia (Baker). Before taking the plunge, he hires private eye George Maharis to do a background check on the girl. Whew, what he finds out! Apparently the only sin Sylvia doesn't commit is robbing parking meters, but we have no idea what might happen after the final fadeout. Shortly before it opened, Sylvia was the subject of several magazine articles, trumpeting the fact that Carroll Baker had conducted extensive interviews with real-life prostitutes in order to prepare herself for her role. This apparently left her no time to consult an acting coach. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Carroll Baker, George Maharis, (more)
- 1965
The difficulties faced by drug addicts attempting to kick their habits provide the basis of this gritty, realistic drama that was filmed at a real rehab house in Santa Monica, California. The story centers on Zankie (Alex Cord), an ex-con who is having trouble following the strict rules of the house. Soon he finds himself involved in an affair with another inmate, an ex-hooker (Stella Stevens). She is only supposed to monitor and assist with his recovery, not get emotionally involved. When Zankie gets into a fight with another patient (Chuck Connors) both he and the girl leave the center. Soon after leaving, he begins looking for more drugs and dies of an overdose in a cheap hotel. The ex-hooker then returns to the rehab house to resume her own treatment. Synanon, the model for the rehab-house of this 1965 feature, was a large ex-addict-run (and ex-con-run) enterprise which expanded its operations steadily over the next decade. It was famous for its harsh "tough-love" policies and its high success rate and would have continued its high-profile role in the rehab industry except that it became embroiled in several scandals in the late 1970s, effectively closing its doors well before the Reagan era. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Edmond O'Brien, Chuck Connors, (more)
- 1964
A huge shipment of rifles are stolen in Texas sometime shortly following the close of the Civil War. It turns out the rifles are going to Apaches who are being recruited by a disgruntled Rebel officer (Edmond O'Brian) who wishes to resurrect the war. Richard Boone and company are sent to reclaim the rifles and apprehend the scheming thieves. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Richard Boone, Stuart Whitman, (more)
- 1964
Made for television, Gallegher was a recurring feature on Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color. Roger Mobley played Gallegher, the adventurous 19th century cub reporter created by Richard Harding Davies, while Edmond O'Brien costarred as bombastic newspaper editor Crowley. The first three-part Gallegher adventure, telecast in early 1965, was later released overseas as a feature film. So too was the 3-part Further Adventures of Gallagher, which ran from September 26 through October 10, 1965. "The Big Swindle" was the second hour-long chapter in the Further Adventures, and thus qualifies for the alternate title Gallagher V. In "Big Swindle", Crowley assigns woman reporter Adeline Jones (Anne Francis) to team up with Gallagher on a series about confidence tricksters. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Adapted by Rod Serling from the best-selling novel by Fletcher Knebel and Charles Waldo Bailey II, Seven Days in May was allegedly inspired by the far-right ramblings of one General Edwin Walker. Burt Lancaster plays General James M. Scott, who, convinced that liberal President Jordan Lyman (Fredric March) is soft on America's enemies, plots a military takeover of the United States. Every effort made by President Lyman to find concrete evidence of General Scott's scheme is scuttled by political protocol, human error and accidental death. Ultimately, Lyman must rely upon the man who first uncovered the plot: Colonel "Jiggs" Casey (Kirk Douglas). John Frankenheimer's terse direction and Ellsworth Fredericks' stark black and white photography enhance the "docudrama" feel of Seven Days in May. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, (more)
- 1964
Don Siegal directed this made-for-TV remake of the western drama Ride The Pink Horse, in which Robert Culp stars as Harry Pace, who has set out to avenge the violent death of a good friend. Pace's search leads him to New Orleans during the Mardi Gras celebration, where he meets a beautiful woman, Lois Seeger (Vera Miles). Pace's infatuation with Seeger leads him into a dangerous conflict with her husband, Arnie Seeger (Edmund O'Brien), a ruthless political power broker. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
The Longest Day is a mammoth, all-star re-creation of the D-Day invasion, personally orchestrated by Darryl F. Zanuck. Whenever possible, the original locations were utilized, and an all-star international cast impersonates the people involved, from high-ranking officials to ordinary GIs. Each actor speaks in his or her native language with subtitles translating for the benefit of the audience (alternate "takes" were made of each scene with the foreign actors speaking English, but these were seen only during the first network telecast of the film in 1972). The stars are listed alphabetically, with the exception of John Wayne, who as Lt. Colonel Vandervoort gets separate billing. Others in the huge cast include Eddie Albert, Jean-Louis Barrault, Richard Burton, Red Buttons, Sean Connery, Henry Fonda, Gert Frobe, Curt Jurgens, Peter Lawford, Robert Mitchum, Kenneth More, Edmond O'Brien, Robert Ryan, Jean Servais, Rod Steiger and Robert Wagner. Paul Anka, who wrote the film's title song, shows up as an Army private. Scenes include the Allies parachuting into Ste. Mere Englise, where the paratroopers were mowed down by German bullets; a real-life sequence wherein the German and Allied troops unwittingly march side by side in the dark of night; and a spectacular three-minute overhead shot of the troops fighting and dying in the streets of Quistreham. The last major black-and-white road-show attraction, The Longest Day made millions, enough to recoup some of the cost of 20th Century Fox's concurrently produced Cleopatra. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, (more)
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