Willis B. Bouchey Movies

Frank Sinatra stars in this bawdy western satire as Dingus Magee, a would-be outlaw who robs Hoke Birdsill (George Kennedy) while Hoke is en route to Yerkey's Hole, New Mexico. Hoke reports the theft to Belle Knops (Anne Jackson), the mayor of Yerkey's Hole and proprietor of the town's biggest business, a brothel favored by the enlisted men at the nearby Army fort. Belle appoints Hoke as the new deputy, and he tracks down Magee as he's enjoying a roll in the bushes with Anna (Michele Carey), a very friendly Indian maid. Hoke brings in Magee, but Anna then helps him escape; Belle uses Magee's unscheduled release to convince the commanding officers at the Army base that an Indian uprising is imminent, and that their planned relocation to Little Big Horn (where they hope to arrive before Gen. Custer and his troops) might be a bit premature (not to mention bad for her business). Soon Hoke is after Magee for robbing a stage and stealing the strongbox (which, of course, he can't open), the Indians are after Magee for running off with Anna, a sexually repressed schoolmarm named Prudence (Lois Nettleton) is after Magee after he awakens the woman within her, and John Wesley Hardin (Jack Elam) is after Magee, well, just because. "Catch-22" author Joseph Heller co-wrote the screenplay. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

James Garner is a nothing short of a delight in this western spoof that stands western clichés on their ears. The film takes place in the small western town of Calender, a town that experiences a gold rush when gold is discovered in an open grave by Prudy Perkins (Joan Hackett). As gold prospectors flood in and out of town, the Danby clan, anxious to take advantage of the situation (since their ranch blocks the main road out of town) levies a 20% tribute on every gold shipment that passes through. Three sheriffs have been dispatched by the Danbys, and they control the town. Into this situation, on his way to Australia, rides Jason McCullough (Garner). McCullough is an easy-going sort who just happens to be a crack shot. The town rapidly makes him sheriff. His first line of business is to break up a fight and to arrest Joe Danby (Bruce Dern) for murder. As McCullouch settles down in the Perkins boarding house, Pa Danby (Walter Brennan) plots to spring his son from jail. But when all his mechanizations fail to gain Joe's release, Pa Danby gathers together all the Danbys in the surrounding countryside to head into Calender to get rid of McCullough. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Veteran western director Burt Kennedy wrote the screenplay for this tale, based on the novel Who Rides with Wyatt? and also released under the title Who Rides with Kane? Robert Mitchum, who sings the title song, stars as Ben Kane, an ex-sheriff hunting for Frank Boone (John Anderson), the man who killed his son. He enlists the aid of Billy Young (Robert Walker), a hired gun who was abandoned by his fleeing partner Jesse Boone (David Carradine) after they killed a Mexican general. Kane becomes marshal of Lordsburg and falls in love with Lily Beloit (Angie Dickinson), a dance hall girl. John Behan (Jack Kelly) and Jesse Boone try to kill Kane, but Lily warns him of the plot in time. Kane arrests Jesse Boone, and when Kane learns that his captive is the son of his son's killer, he uses him as bait in a plan to catch Frank Boone. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

Follow Me, Boys!, Disney's paean to the Boys Scouts of America, leaves no cliché unturned: we're even offered the old reliable "kid hanging over cliff by rope" bit. Corny, sentimental and obvious though it may be, the film is a delight to watch, especially whenever Fred MacMurray dominates the screen. MacMurray plays Lem Siddons, a 1930s musician who decides to settle down in a small Midwestern town. Here he meets pretty bank teller Vida Downey (Vera Miles), who bemoans the fact that the local boys have no organized activities with which to occupy their time. Volunteering to be a scoutmaster, Lem begins a local scout troop. There are some tense moments when banker Ralph Hastings (Elliot Reid) demands that Lem's scouts vacate their headquarters, but Reid's feisty millionaire Aunt Hetty (Lillian Gish) comes to the rescue. The film's throughline is the regeneration of local "tough kid" Whitey (Kurt Russell), who, after joining the Boy Scouts, straightens out and matures into a solid citizen. The film's lachrymose climax is kept "honest" by the sincere underplaying of Fred MacMurray. Though lambasted by reviewers, Follow Me, Boys! struck a responsive chord with filmgoers, to the tune of a $5.5 million box-office take. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this final episode of The Munsters, former Petticoat Junction costar Pat Woodell appears as schoolteacher Miss Thompson, who gives Eddie (Butch Patrick) the assignment of writing an essay about his home life. After reading Eddie's account of the Munster Mansion and its residents, Miss Thompson concludes that the boy suffers from a too-vivid imagination. Thus it is that a brace of school officials pay a visit to the Munsters to find out the "real" story--and boy, do they ever! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hooterville storekeeper Sam Drucker (Frank Cady) has noticed a considerable drop in business over the past few days. The rest: a brand-new supermarket in nearby Pixley is stealing away all of Sam's steady customers. While things look bleak for a while,fans can take heart in the fact that Sam Drucker would remain on both Petticoat Junction and its spinoff series Green Acres for several seasons to come. Former child actor Jack Searl, best known for his portrayals of such snivelling brats as Sidney Sawyer in the 1930 version of Tom Sawyer, shows up in the role of Jack Hull. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, another entry in the slapstick series based on a popular TV show, meek little Ensign Parker finds himself getting promoted for no apparent reason. He gets himself rip-roarin' drunk one night and finds himself wearing an Air Force uniform and mistaken for a big-wig. He continues to mess up, but to no avail, no matter what he does, he continues to get promoted. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Bernard Fox guest stars as Major Bentley Royce (foreign-car fanciers please note!), late of the Bengal Lancers. Arriving amidst much ceremony at Fort Courage, the "Phantom Major" sets about to instruct the men of F Troop in the fine art of camouflage. Unfortunately, the troopers can barely find themselves even when they aren't camouflaged, and it looks as though Bentley Royce's planned infiltration of the Hekawi Tribe will be a humiliating bust unless O'Rourke (Forrest Tucker) can come to the rescue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the conclusion of a two-part story arc, Mrs. Drysdale is "liberated" from her hospital room by the Clampett family. They take the poor lady to their mansion, where she is put under Granny's care. The fact that Mrs. D entered the hospital to escape the Clampetts does not phase Granny one bit: She intends to cure the lady of her ills with her own brand of "home-brewed" medicine. "Clampett General Hospital" was first broadcast on January 6, 1965. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Fresh from her six-year stint on Lassie, June Lockhart is cast as Mona Harvey, the wife of wildly eccentric sculptor Hannibal Harvey (Sean McClory), and the principal stockholder in the highly respected publishing firm owned by her uncle Everett Stanton (Stuart Erwin). In dire need of $10,000, Hannibal takes advantage of Mona's temporary absence to shake down Everett for the money, arranging for his model Bonnie (Sue Ane Langdon) to deliver a blackmail note. But Mona gets her hands on the note and decides to confront Bonnie--and as a result, she and Hannibal show up just in time to find the girl's corpse, and to be charged with murder. Looks like it's going to be another one of those days for overworked defense attorney Perry Mason (Raymond Burr)! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A chain of weird events has Ramona Ambrose (Mona Freeman) convinced she is going insane. Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) is hired to find out with Roseanne is indeed crazy, or if she has been targeted for persecution by an unknown party. Inevitably, murder rears it ugly head and the sinister plot to drive Ramona bonkers is revealed--but by this time, she has been charged with killing her tormentor's co-conspirator. Amusingly, the character played by Berry Kroeger is named "Kirk Cameron"--but take our word for it, there is absolutely no resemblance! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

John Ford's last western film, Cheyenne Autumn was allegedly produced to compensate for the hundreds of Native Americans who had bitten the dust in Ford's earlier films (that was the director's story, anyway). Set in 1887, the film recounts the defiant migration of 300 Cheyennes from their reservation in Oklahoma territory to their original home in Wyoming. They have done this at the behest of chiefs Little Wolf (Ricardo Montalban) and Dull Knife (Gilbert Roland), peaceful souls who have been driven to desperate measures because the US government has ignored their pleas for food and shelter. Since the Cheyennes' trek is in defiance of their treaty, Captain Thomas Archer (Richard Widmark), who agrees with the Indians in principle, reluctantly leads his troops in pursuit of the tribe. While there was never any intention to shed blood, the white press finds it politically expedient to distort the Cheyennes' action into a declaration of war. Thanks to the cruelties of such chauvinistic whites as Captain Oscar Wessels (Karl Malden), the Cheyennes are forced to defend themselves--and whenever Indians take arms against whites in the 1880s, it's usually misrepresented as a massacre. Only the intervention of US secretary of the interior Carl Schurz (Edward G. Robinson) prevents the hostilities from erupting into wholesale bloodshed. Based on a novel by Mari Sandoz, Cheyenne Autumn is a cinematic elegy--not only for the beleaguered Cheyennes, but for John Ford's fifty years in pictures. It is weakest when arbitrarily throwing in a wearisome romance between Richard Widmark and pacifistic schoolmarm Carroll Baker, who out of sympathy for the Indians has joined them in their 1500-mile westward journey. When the Warner Bros. people decided that the film ran too long, they chopped out the wholly unnecessary but very funny episode involving a poker-obsessed Wyatt Earp (James Stewart). Contrary to popular belief, this episode was included in the earliest non-roadshow prints of Cheyenne Autumn; the scene was excised only when the film went into its second and third runs in 1966 (it has since been restored). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide