Arch Hall Sr. Movies

Released in the same 12-month span as Terrence Malick's Badlands (1973) and Steven Spielberg's The Sugarland Express (1974), Robert Altman's Thieves Like Us (1974) also tells a story of doomed outlaws in love. Depression-era criminals T-Dub (Bert Remsen), Chicamaw (John Schuck), and Bowie (Keith Carradine) band together to rob banks after escaping from a prison farm. Hiding out with Dee Mobley (Tom Skerritt) and Keechie (Shelley Duvall), and then with T-Dub's in-law Mattie (Louise Fletcher) between bank jobs, the three crooks are a loyal group, but increasingly sensational news accounts of their bloodless robberies force them to split up before their next crime. After a car accident, Chicamaw leaves the injured Bowie in Keechie's care. Love blossoms between the two naïfs, compelling Bowie to find a way to balance his bond to Keechie with his loyalty to his friends and the need for money to head for Mexico. With the law closing in, Bowie and Keechie learn the hard way about the finite honor among thieves, and the need to survive. Adapted from the same Edward Anderson novel as Nicholas Ray's They Live By Night (1949), Altman, writers Calder Willingham and Joan Tewkesbury, and Altman's acting "regulars" reworked not just the classical crime movie but also the 1967 hit Bonnie and Clyde, presenting a resolutely unglamorous portrait of this Coke-swilling outlaw couple and the survivors' stoic drive to carry on. With the radio providing soundtrack and commentary, and the newspapers sending a veiled warning, Bowie and Keechie cannot escape the outside world, but they also cannot transcend it into the realm of myth. Rather than turning the crimes into stylish exploits, Altman's camera remains outside most of the robberies, observing the banal action on the street; he saves the slow-motion in the climactic shoot-out for the witnesses rather than the dead. His zoom shots hover between fragments of emotion and place, while they maintain their observational distance. Unfortunately for Altman (and Malick and Spielberg), audiences preferred outlaw glamour to genre-bending introspection. Still, with its deceptively laid-back tone, eye for expressive detail, and ear for ironic juxtaposition, Thieves Like Us takes its place in Altman's exceptional body of early 1970s work. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

This parody takes a poke at Cold War espionage films as it tells the tale of two Red spies who sneak into the U.S. and onto a Western dude ranch with an infectious bunny. It is hoped that the little hopper will cause a deadly epidemic. Once on the ranch, the Soviet agents finds themselves surrounded by similarly disguised agents from all over the world. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This low-budget, mediocre teen rock 'n roll tale features a raft of unknowns, headed by Arch Hall, Jr. as Bud Eagle who leaves on a motorscooter from Spearfish, South Dakota with his guitar and dreams, and heads toward Hollywood. Soon after he arrives, a comely young woman, Vicki, manages to get Bud a spot on a TV show and the response is wild. Crafty wheeler-dealer Mike McCauley cons Bud into taking him on as a manager and then does everything he can to exploit Bud and pump up his popularity -- and income. Since ethics are no consideration, Bud soon wants out of his contract. Several mishaps later, he and his brother come up with a devious plan. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

A young speed demon drives himself down the road to ruin in this crime drama. The trouble starts because the teen is so desperate to get a special set of hub caps for his dragster that he steals them off another car. It was easy and a car theft ring is born when he enlists the aid of pals to help him. They call themselves the Choppers and soon get into hot water with a determined insurance investigator. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The titular valley is the locale for an inordinate amount of double-crosses and betrayals. Young prospector Carroll Nye thinks he's doing a good deed when he rescues heroine Rada Rae, whom he finds wandering aimlessly in the desert. Little does Nye realize that Rae is in cahoots with claim-jumping Raymond Wells, who intends to get his hands on a valuable gold mine, the location of which is known only by our hero. Upon realizing he's been duped, Nye begins to punch out the girl (a startling scene!), but comes to regret his rash behavior when it develops that Rae has been forced to betray him under threat of death. By film's end, however, it is the villainous Wells who suffers the most. Death Valley was remade, scene-for-scene, in 1946, with Helen Gilbert and Nat Pendleton in the main roles. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

PRC's Apology for Murder is aptly named: the production values in this 67-minute quickie are pretty sorry. If you're willing to look past the mildewed sets and murky lighting, however, this well-paced film noir is pretty enjoyable. Hugh Beaumont (yes, that Hugh Beaumont) plays a tough reporter whose honesty is compromised by scheming Anne Savage. Unable to unwrap himself from Savage's little finger, Beaumont agrees to go in on her plan to murder her husband Russell Hicks. They then contrive to frame an innocent man for their perfidy. You've seen this before as Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice, but the actors are energetic and the direction by the overworked Sam Newfield is better than usual. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Opera singer-turned-cowboy hero George Houston stars in PRC's Lone Rider in Ghost Town. Houston is cast as Tom Cameron, who in the guise of the Lone Rider comes to the rescue of a group of gold prospectors. The villains are a band of big-city racketeers who've brought their strong-arm tactics to the Great Frontier, jumping the prospectors' claims and killing off all opposition. The climax takes place in a supposed ghost town which serves as the gangsters' hideout. Al "Fuzzy" St. John, PRC's house comic sidekick, is on hand for a few snickers, chuckles and guffaws. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Sagebrush Family Trails West was the first attempt by Producer's Distributing Corporation (later known as PRC Pictures) to create a western series of its own. Heading the cast is Bobby Clark-not the celebrated Broadway comedian, but a trick roper and rider billed as "The 13-Year-Old World's Champion Junior Cowboy". The story concentrates on a travelling medicine show maintained by Clark and his relatives Minerva Urecal, Earle Hodgins and Joyce Bryant. Their progress is impeded when Hodgins is framed on a robbery charge, but Clark uses his fancy lariat to hog-tie the genuine crooks. No series resulted from The Sagebrush Family Trails West, but by the end of the year PRC had established its western manifest with its Tim McCoy and "Billy the Kid" series. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The oft-filmed Zane Grey story The Mysterious Rider was given another go-round by Paramount Pictures in 1938. Produced by Harry Sherman of "Hopalong Cassidy" fame, the film bestows top billing upon stalwart supporting actor Douglass Dumbrille. Usually cast as a villain, Dumbrille is here seen in a sympathetic role as "good bad man" Pecos Bill, who turned to a life of crime after being falsely accused of murder. In the company of his comic sidekick Frosty (Sidney Toler), Pecos chances arrest by returning to his home town to visit his grown daughter Collie (Charlotte Field). He discovers that Collie is about to enter into a loveless marriage Jack (Weldon Heyburn), the shiftless son of Pecos' former foreman Bellounds (Stanley Andrews), who seems to be in cahoots with an cattle-rustling gang headed by Folsom (Monte Blue). In rapid succession, Pecos ends Folsom's criminal activities, clears the name of his old friend Bellounds, and plays matchmaker for Collie and the boy she really cares about, young Wils (Russell Hayden). To long and expensive to qualify as a mere B picture, Mysterious Rider is one of the best of Paramount's late-1930s "Zane Grey" series. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi