Fred Clark Movies
American actor Fred Clark embarked upon his lifelong career immediately upon graduation from Stanford University. With his lantern jaw, bald pate and ulcerated disposition, Clark knew he'd never be a leading man and wisely opted for character work. After several years on stage, during which time he was briefly married to musical comedy actress Benay Venuta, Clark made his movie debut in Ride the Pink Horse (1947), playing one of his few out-and-out villains. The actor's knowing portrayal of a callous movie producer in Sunset Boulevard (1949) led to his being typecast as blunt, sometimes shady executives. Clark's widest public recognition occurred in 1951 when he was cast as next-door neighbor Harry Morton on TV's Burns and Allen Show; when Clark insisted upon a larger salary, producer-star George Burns literally replaced him on the air with actor Larry Keating. Dividing his time between films and television for the rest of his career, Clark earned latter-day fame in the 1960s as star of a series of regionally distributed potato chip commercials. Though most of his fans prefer to remember the disappointing Otto Preminger farce Skiddoo (1968) as Fred Clark's screen farewell, the truth is that Clark's last performance was in I Sailed to Tahiti with an All-Girl Crew (1969). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1960
When a space alien's fascination with Earthlings gets the better of him, he breaks one of his planet's laws and speeds off to visit the blue planet. Once there the alien (Jerry Lewis) encounters a nice family who kindly take him in. The father is a news commentator. Ironically, just prior to meeting the visitor, he had just aired a piece in which he derided all notions of extraterrestrial visits. In exchange for having them teach him about human ways, he uses his many fantastic powers to help them. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jerry Lewis, Joan Blackman, (more)
- 1966
This WW II comedy centers upon a hapless German general (played by Buster Keaton in one of his last roles) who is stationed in Italy the night before the Allied invasion. Two Yankee POWs are planning to steal the plans for the Nazi offensive strategy. The Germans anticipate this and replace the real ones with phony plans. At least that's what they were supposed to do. Actually a mix-up results in the real plans being left out for the Americans to steal. During the offensive, the two soldiers are captured by the German general. The fellow is rather absent-minded and a tad confused so when the soldiers dress up as Hitler and an SS general, the poor man is totally fooled. Seeing that he isn't too bright, the Americans take pity upon him, disguise him as a scarecrow and help him escape with them. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Franco Franchi, Ciccio Ingrassia, (more)
- 1965
Narrative takes a back seat to music in this loose remake of Girl Crazy, as Harve Presnell plays a footloose young millionaire who meets perky Connie Francis and hatches a scheme to save her father's failing Nevada ranch by turning it into a resort for people waiting out their quickie Las Vegas divorces. This was an early musical vehicle for then-Broadway star Presnell, who would gain notoriety with film fans years later as a character actor in Fargo, Patch Adams, and Saving Private Ryan. Besides, how often do you get to see a musical that features Louis Armstrong, Liberace, Herman's Hermits, and Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs? ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Connie Francis, Harve Presnell, (more)
In later years, James Cagney regarded White Heat with a combination of pride and regret; while satisfied with his own performance, he tended to dismiss the picture as a "cheap melodrama." Seen today, White Heat stands as one of the classic crime films of the 1940s, containing perhaps Cagney's best bad-guy portrayal. The star plays criminal mastermind Cody Jarrett, a mother-dominated psychotic who dreams of being on "top of the world." Inadvertently leaving clues behind after a railroad heist, Jarrett becomes the target of the feds, who send an undercover agent (played by Edmond O'Brien) to infiltrate the Jarrett gang. While Jarrett sits in prison on a deliberately trumped-up charge (he confesses to one crime to provide himself an alibi for the railroad robbery), he befriends O'Brien, who poses as a hero-worshipping hood who's always wanted to work with Jarrett. Busting out of prison with O'Brien, Jarrett regroups his gang to mastermind a "Trojan horse" armored-car robbery. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, (more)
- 1962
TV actor Tom Poston stars as Prof. Jonathan Jones in this early feature-film appearance, a standard comedy-fantasy oriented to the youngsters. The good professor has come into possession of "zotz," a coin that has three magical properties. It can either cause intense pain if its bearer points an accusing finger at an intended victim or it can make things move in slow-motion, with the right command. If the accusatory finger and the command are used simultaneously, the victim dies. Naturally, just about everyone wants this coin. The hapless professor is soon involved in problems at school, at the Pentagon, and worse yet, with a group of commie agents who have their own designs on the coin. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Poston, Julia Meade, (more)
