John Sturges Movies
One of Hollywood's top action directors of the late 1950s and 1960s, John Sturges, for a time, was a name associated almost exclusively with large-scale action-adventure films. A one-time assistant in RKO's blueprint department, Sturges spent most of his early career in the studio's art department and editing room (an especially productive department, where directors Robert Wise and Mark Robson also got their starts), before joining David O. Selznick as a production assistant and later as an editor. He became a director in the U.S. Army Air Force, making documentary and training films, including Thunderbolt, in collaboration with veteran director William Wyler. He returned to Hollywood as a director and, for a time, made successful if fairly undistinguished films (mostly action or suspense) until 1954, when he took on Bad Day at Black Rock. Sturges, who had shown a knack for working with the increasingly difficult Spencer Tracy (in The People Against O'Hara), coaxed a great performance out of the legendary star (and some of the best work ever by Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, and Anne Francis, among others) and transformed the film from a routine suspense vehicle into a powerful thriller, dealing with the then increasingly topical subject of racism and violence. Sturges received his only Academy Award nomination for Bad Day At Black Rock, and his career was made, as he became sought out by Hollywood's top producers. Gunfight At the O.K. Corral (1957), which he directed for producer Hal Wallis, was another hit. He was also responsible for The Old Man and the Sea (1958) and The Last Train From Gun Hill (1959), starring Spencer Tracy and Kirk Douglas. Sturges then became his own producer, beginning with The Magnificent Seven (1960), a large-scale Western action vehicle adapted from Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai (1954). It turned most of its featured players (including Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, and James Coburn) into stars and was popular enough to generate four sequels as well as a major hit musical theme by Elmer Bernstein. The Great Escape (1963), a fact-based all-star World War II thriller, was the high water mark of Sturges' career. It became an enormous theatrical hit and a subsequent favorite on home video and laserdisc (where there are two rival editions out -- one featuring Sturges's own recollections about the movie). His next movie, The Satan Bug (1965), based on a popular best-seller, seemed to be a deliberate attempt to get away from big, all-star vehicles. It failed and quickly ended up on television, while The Hallelujah Trail (1965) proved an awkward, unpopular Western satire despite its big-name cast. His subsequent movies, including Ice Station Zebra (1968) and Joe Kidd (1972), were popular but never on the scale of Sturges's early 1960s work. And his Hour of the Gun (1967), a more personal, deeply psychological reinterpretation of events surrounding the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, was a failure at the box office. Marooned (1969), which he inherited as a project from Frank Capra, was initially a failure, until the story of an Apollo spacecraft trapped in orbit suddenly took on new relevancy in the wake of the Apollo 13 explosion; it became a hit soon after. The Eagle Has Landed (1976), a return to Great Escape-style action and scale dealing with an attempt by the Germans to kidnap Winston Churchill during World War II, was successful, but also marked his retirement. In 1991, Sturges came out of retirement to participate in the making of a special laserdisc edition of The Great Escape for Voyager Company. Although not highly regarded as a stylist, Sturges had a way of working with actors and designing scenes that elicited strong emotional response from audiences -- especially men -- that made his pictures extremely compelling. He probably rated Academy Award consideration for The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape. Curiously, he seemed to understand the special appeal that his films had for male audiences seeking escapist entertainment, and several of his films, including The Great Escape and Ice Station Zebra, don't feature a single female cast member. However, he never descended into cheap entertainment in catering to his audience. And one actress, Anne Francis, did some of her best work in two of his movies, Bad Day at Black Rock and The Satan Bug. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi
John Sturges directed this taut adaptation of Jack Higgins' suspense novel about an attempted kidnapping of Winston Churchill by the German high command during World War II. When it is discovered that in November 1943 Winston Churchill is scheduled to spend a weekend in a country home in Norfolk, the Germans plan to kidnap him. Heinrich Himmler (Donald Pleasence), under orders from Hitler, assigns Nazi colonel Max Radl (Robert Duvall) the chore of sneaking the English-hating Irishman Liam Devlin (Donald Sutherland) into the British countryside and arranging for a 16-man task force to be parachuted into the English country town of Sudley Constable, under the auspices of Colonel Kurt Steiner (Michael Caine). The efficient planning works too well, and before long their exactingly perfect timetable begins to come apart. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland, (more)
Undoubtedly having second thoughts after turning down Dirty Harry, John Wayne showed up in 1974 in his own "maverick cop" adventure, McQ. Wayne, playing McQ, a veteran detective, turns in his badge when he's officially denied the opportunity of clearing the name of his late best friend, who has been posthumously accused of drug pushing. Investigating on his own, McQ becomes romantically involved with his friend's widow (Diana Muldaur), who unbeknownst to him is up to her neck in police corruption. Considering the usual flag-waving content of John Wayne's 1970s films, it is rather startling to discover that the real villains in McQ are a coterie of crooked cops! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Eddie Albert, (more)
- 1973
- PG
The US title of this Italian-Spanish-French coproduction is Chino, in deference to the character played by star Charles Bronson. Having long suffered the stigma of being part-Indian, New Mexico horse breeder Chino Valdez (Bronson) wants nothing more than to be left alone with his beloved horses. Even so, Chino opens his heart and his home to teenaged runaway Jamie Wagner (Vincent Van Patten), who becomes his protégé. But things take an unpleasant turn when the formerly taciturn Chino falls in love with Louise (Jill Ireland, the half-sister of antagonistic rancher Maral (Marcel Bozzuffi, replacing the original choice for the role, Lino Ventura). This film was based on The Valdez Horses, a novel by Lee Hoffman. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Charles Bronson, Marcel Bozzuffi, (more)
In John Sturges'sAmericanized version of Sergio Leone's Man-With-No-Name films, Clint Eastwood is Joe Kidd, a cryptic stranger who arrives in the New Mexican town of Sinola, where Mexican bandito/revolutionary Luis Chama (John Saxon) has organized a peasant revolt against the local landowners, who are throwing the poor off land that rightfully belongs to them. When a posse -- financed by wealthy landowner Frank Harlan (Robert Duvall) -- is formed to capture Luis, Kidd is invited to join but prefers to remain neutral. Harlan keeps badgering Kidd to join up, and Kidd finally relents when he finds that Luis's band has raided his own ranch and one of his ranch hands has been injured. The bloodthirsty posse rounds up five Mexicans hostages and threaten to kill them unless Luis surrenders to them. One of the hostages is the attractive Stella Garcia (Helen Sanchez), and Kidd falls in love with her. Harlan notices this and throws Kidd in jail to prevent him from helping Stella and the Mexicans. Kidd decides the position himself as the voice of reason in this nest of disorder. He escapes and saves the Mexican hostages, determined to capture Luis himself and see that he gets a fair trial. But when Kidd captures Luis and delivers him to Sheriff Mitchell (Gregory Walcott), Harlan is in town waiting for him. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Clint Eastwood, Robert Duvall, (more)
In this tense and suspenseful science fiction thriller, Charles Keith (Gregory Peck) is the ground commander in Houston who monitors the space mission of three astronauts. Buzz (Gene Hackman), Jim (Richard Crenna) and Clayton (James Franciscus) have their lives put in jeopardy when the oxygen supply in the space capsule drops. Ted Dougherty (David Janssen) is sent to try and rescue the doomed astronauts. When it becomes clear there is not enough oxygen, it is suggested that one of the men commit suicide to allow the other two to live. Jim, the unit commander, makes an excuse to spacewalk. Under the guise of making repairs, he cuts himself loose from the life line and drifts away into the cold darkness of space. Russian cosmonauts race against time to try and save their American counterparts. An Oscar-winner for "Best Special Visual Effects," the film also picked up nominations for "Best Cinematography" and "Best Sound." It was later retitled Space Travelers. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Gregory Peck, Richard Crenna, (more)
A top-secret Soviet spy satellite -- using stolen Western technology -- malfunctions and then goes into a descent that lands it near an isolated Arctic research encampment called Ice Station Zebra, belonging to the British, which starts sending out distress signals before falling silent. The atomic submarine Tigerfish, commanded by Cmdr. James Ferraday (Rock Hudson), is dispatched with orders to get to Ice Station Zebra carrying three passengers, a Englishman going by the name of David Jones (Patrick McGoohan), a Soviet turncoat named Boris Vaslov (Ernest Borgnine), and an American Marine officer, Captain Anders (Jim Brown), who is supposed to command the Marine unit assigned to the mission. Jones is problem enough, as he is in command of the mission and he prefers to withhold as much information as it's possible to do from Ferraday, even at the risk of the Tigerfish's safety. Add to that the fact that Anders is suspicious of Vaslov, and Vaslov seems much too inquisitive and is telling even less of what he knows about the mission, and Ferraday has his hands full trying to get these men to the polar ice -- 600 miles of dangerous travel -- in just two days. When an attempt to break through the ice -- coupled with some timely sabotage -- kills one man and nearly destroys the boat, the men surrounding these contending parties start to understand just how high the stakes are for everyone. It turns out that the Soviets want what was aboard that satellite as much as the West does; indeed, both sides are frantic to get it, and, just as much, to keep the other side from getting it -- and they're prepared to take it by brute force. Once Ferraday and his men arrive at Zebra, they find a disaster and still more mystery, with most of the men dead and the object that Mr. Jones is supposed to secure nowhere in evidence, and he and his two fellow men of mystery suddenly showing their killing instincts quite freely. And with the storm clearing from the Soviet side first, their planes and their paratroops are closing in on Ferraday, and his relative handful of men. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi
- Starring:
- Rock Hudson, Ernest Borgnine, (more)
John Sturges directed this sequel to his Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, which is more of a melancholy character study than an action Western. The Edward Anhalt screenplay (based on Douglas D. Martin's Tombstone's Epitaph) traces Wyatt Earp's (James Garner) moral decline from a lawman with high ideals to a mean-spirited vigilante bent on personal revenge. Ironically, Doc Holliday (Jason Robards), an admitted lawless gambler, reacts to Earp's vengeful turnabout by becoming the moral force that Earp has rejected. When Earp's brothers are killed by goons employed by Ike Clanton (Robert Ryan), Earp becomes obsessed with vengeance and organizes a posse to track down the killers. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- James Garner, Jason Robards, Jr., (more)
- 1965
Alarms start flashing all the way from California to Washington when Station 3, a top-secret, ultra-high-security research facility, is broken into -- and a group of flasks containing two deadly viruses, one of them (nicknamed "The Satan Bug") possibly unstoppable, are stolen. Counter-intelligence specialist Lee Barrett (George Maharis) is called in to work with the regular security and intelligence personnel in determining who has the deadly substances, and why. Working with him is Ann (Anne Francis), an old flame and the daughter of the man (Dana Andrews) handling this on behalf of Washington -- working against them are a pair of psychopaths (Frank Sutton, Ed Asner) reporting to a mysterious financier, Charles Reynolds Ainsley, who has an agenda he's keeping secret for now. And the sidelines are populated by a group of flustered scientists (Richard Basehart, Simon Oakland, Harold Gould) and administrators (John Larkin, John Anderson), one of whom knows a lot more than he's telling about why the Satan Bug was stolen. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi
- Starring:
- George Maharis, Richard Basehart, (more)
In The Hallelujah Trail, Lee Remick plays temperance leader Cora Templeton Massingale, who is determined to halt a shipment of whiskey headed for Denver. The shipment is being escorted by the US cavalry, under the guidance of Col. Thadeus Gearhardt (Burt Lancaster). As the Denver miners thirstily await the precious booze, Gearhardt must fend off not only Cora and her minions, but a bibulous tribe of Sioux warriors, headed by Chief Walks-Stooped-Over (Martin Landau)-not to mention an outsized sandstorm. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Burt Lancaster, Lee Remick, (more)
The Great Escape is based on the true story of a group of Allied prisoners of war who managed to escape from an allegedly impenetrable Nazi prison camp during World War II. At the beginning of the film, the Nazis gather all their most devious and troublesome POWs and place them at a new prison camp, which was designed to be impervious to escapes. Immediately, the prisoners develop a scheme where they will leave the camp by building three separate escape tunnels. Richard Attenborough is the British soldier who masterminds the whole plan, and who commands his motley squad--featuring Charles Bronson as a Polish trench-digging expert, James Garner as an American with a talent for theft, Donald Pleasence as a masterful forger, and Steve McQueen as an American rebel--through the construction of the tunnels and, eventually, their escape. An epic adventure film, The Great Escape runs nearly three hours, featuring a rousing Elmer Bernstein score and exciting action sequences -- including a notorious motorcycle chase between McQueen and the Nazis -- the likes of which had never been seen before in Hollywood productions. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi
- Starring:
- Steve McQueen, James Garner, (more)
- 1962
Certain film historians are perpetually amazed that the doggedly unappetizing Laurence Harvey became a major film star. In Girl Named Tamiko, Harvey is once more the embittered heel, this time playing a Eurasian photographer who pretends to be in love with numerous American ladies. His only true interest is obtaining American citizenship, something most of his erstwhile amours find out all too late. Harvey's latest prospect is Martha Hyer; his true love, however, is innocent Japanese girl France Nuyen, the Tamiko of the title. Stuck with a cold fish for a leading man, producers Hal Wallis and Paul Newman and director John Sturges work overtime to get the audience to "pull" for the luckless Ms. Nuyen. A Girl Named Tamiko was one of several early-1960s Paramount films shot on location in the Orient--though certainly not the best of the group. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Laurence Harvey, France Nuyen, (more)
The 1939 adventure classic Gunga Din is transferred from British India to the American West, courtesy of Frank Sinatra's "Clan." Sinatra, Dean Martin and Peter Lawford play three cavalry officers, always ready for a brawl but willing to die for each other if need be. Sammy Davis Jr. a cavalry bugler who has aspirations of being a combat soldier. The three officers and the bugler take on a Napoleonic Native American chief, who plans to unify all the tribes and kill every white man in sight. Davis does his "Gunga" bit by blowing his bugle and warning the approaching cavalry that they're riding into a trap. About all that isn't pilfered from Gunga Din is the death of the noble bugler; Davis survives being shot up by the Indians with little more than a flesh wound! Sergeants Three also stars another Sinatra crony, Joey Bishop, playing the role originally essayed in Gunga Din by Robert Coote. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, (more)
- 1961
There's always something simmering beneath the quaint and placid surface of small-town New England lives -- and that includes the usual maladies of alcoholism, rape, and suicide. At least this is the case if you go by the tortuous tale told in By Love Possessed, a Peyton Place knock-off, directed with glossy intensity by the usually reliable action director John Sturges (Bad Day at Black Rock and The Magnificent Seven). The tale chronicles the miserable lives of Arthur Winner (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.), Julius Penrose (Jason Robards Jr.), and Noah Tuttle (Thomas Mitchell) -- legal counseling partners in a law firm that could probably use some good counseling themselves. Arthur's wife Clarissa (Barbara Bel Geddes) has nothing but contempt for poor Arthur because she considers their marriage as more a business deal than a love match. Then there's Julius's wife Marjorie (Lana Turner) who has become a full-time alcoholic ever since Julius has been rendered impotent by an automobile accident. Arthur and Marjorie's frustrations both gel into an illicit romantic union. Arthur certainly needs some kind of diversion since his son Warren (George Hamilton) refuses to follow in his father's footsteps by becoming a lawyer. As if that weren't enough, he also refuses to marry Helen Detweiller (Susan Kohner), the girl Arthur wants him to marry because she is rolling in money and is also the ward of Noah. Instead, Warren runs off with the local town whore (Yvonne Craig), who accuses Warren of raping her. Despondent, Helen resorts to desperate measures when she is rejected, and Arthur realizes that he must begin to reconsider his life choices. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lana Turner, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., (more)
Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai (1954) is westernized as The Magnificent Seven. Yul Brynner plays Chris, a mercenary hired to protect a Mexican farming village from its annual invasion by bandit Calvera (Eli Wallach). As Elmer Bernstein's unforgettable theme music (later immortalized as the "Marlboro Man" leitmotif) blasts away in the background, Chris rounds up six fellow soldiers of fortune to help him form a united front against the bandits. The remaining "magnificent six" are played by Charles Bronson, Steve McQueen, Horst Buchholz, Robert Vaughn, James Coburn, and (the one that everybody forgets) Brad Dexter. Though jam-packed with action, William Roberts's screenplay pauses long enough to flesh out each of its characters, allowing the audience to pick their own favorites. The Magnificent Seven was followed by three sequels, not to mention dozens of imitations. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach, (more)
Action director John Sturges had a few good films behind him (Bad Day at Black Rock, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral) and a few more to come (The Great Escape, The Magnificent Seven) when he put together this colorful story of wartime romance. In addition to his talents as a director, this saga of an American Captain stationed with his Allied command in Burma during World War II is helped by a stellar cast. Frank Sinatra is Captain Tom Reynolds who is supposed to be battling the Japanese in Burma but gets side-tracked when his unit and his Kachin allies are attacked by Chiang Kai-shek's forces. In supporting roles are Charles Bronson, Steve McQueen (about to make his mark on the big screen), Gina Lollobrigida, Peter Lawford, Brian Donlevy, and several others. After General Chiang's attack, Captain Reynolds leads the remainder of his men into Nationalist Chinese territory for a fast retaliation -- basically a wholesale slaughter. He is called on the carpet for this action later, and his would-be love, Carla Vesari (Lollobrigida) is suddenly faced with a decision to stay with her current man (Paul Heinreid) or take off for the unknown USA with the American Captain. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Frank Sinatra, Gina Lollobrigida, (more)
Just outside the small town of Pauley, a Native American woman is attacked by two riders on horseback, raped, and killed. Her husband, Matt Morgan (Kirk Douglas), the town marshal, has only two clues to their identity, a fancy saddle with the initials "C.B." that one of the men left behind, and the fact that his wife cut one of the two men deep across the cheek with a buggy whip. Morgan traces the saddle to Craig Belden (Anthony Quinn), an old friend and now a wealthy rancher in the town of Gun Hill, but he knows Belden well enough to know that he couldn't have had anything to do with attacking his wife. Morgan's arrival with Belden's saddle sets off ugly rumblings in Gun Hill, and when he confronts the rancher, he discovers that it was his son Rick (Earl Holliman) who had his horse and the saddle, and rode out with a cowhand friend of his, Lee (Brian G. Hutton) -- but they claim their horses were stolen. Belden tries to convince Morgan, and wants to believe himself that whoever stole the horses must have killed his wife, but when Morgan mentions the cut that one of the killers will have on his face, they both know the truth. He vows to take Rick and Lee back to Pauley to stand trial, while Belden swears he'll do anything it takes to protect his son. Belden is virtually all the law there is in Gun Hill -- the sheriff (Walter Sande) won't help Morgan serve his arrest warrants on the two men, or even let him use the jail to hold them until the last train that night; there's not a working man, a shopkeeper, or even a prostitute in the whole town that will go against the rancher, and Belden's foreman Beero (Brad Dexter) and his men will strongarm anyone who might start feeling brave. Only Linda (Carolyn Jones), a woman who has been both romanced and abused by Belden, will lift a finger on Morgan's behalf. The marshal is nothing if not resourceful, however, and Rick Belden is also too stupid for his own good, and manages to fall into Morgan's hands in short order. Very quickly, a standoff ensues, with Morgan holding Rick in one of Belden's buildings against virtually the entire town, while the deadline -- the last train out of Gun Hill that night -- approaches. People die and a chunk of Belden's holdings are destroyed, but Morgan is about to get Rick onto the train and off to trial when suddenly, one sudden act of violence destroys father and son in a matter of seconds. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, (more)
Although reformed and a town marshal Jake Wade (Robert Taylor) has one thing more to do before he can settle down and marry Peggy Carter (Patricia Owens): spring former comrade-in-arms Clint Hollister (Richard Widmark) from jail. Clint had done the same for Jake way back and the latter now considers the score settled. But Clint wants the loot from the gang's final heist, which the reformed Wade had buried before leaving for good, and to make sure that the marshal doesn't lead everyone on a wild goose chase, he brings Peggy along as leverage. An Indian raid complicates matters but all scores are settled in the end in this fine western originally lensed in Cinemascope. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert Taylor, Richard Widmark, (more)
Ernest Hemingway's short novel The Old Man and the Sea was probably unfilmable to begin with, but this didn't stop John Sturges from trying to cinematize Hemingway's tight little character study. Spencer Tracy is the Old Man, a Cuban fisherman who tries to haul in a huge fish that he catches far from shore. Tracy's tiny boat is besieged by sharks and by natural elements, but the Old Man stubbornly sticks to his job. In the end, the fish is nothing more than a skeleton, and the Old Man returns to his tiny hovel to "dream about the lions." Spencer Tracy may have been dreaming about the Oscar when he agreed to make this film, but Old Man and the Sea is defeated by pretentiousness and by several unconvincing "sea" scenes shot in a studio tank (even though both Tracy and director Sturges underwent incredible hardships filming in a real boat on the real ocean). Old Man and the Sea was remade as a 1990 made-for-TV movie starring Anthony Quinn, which compounded the mistakes made in the Tracy version by grafting on a pointless love story. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Spencer Tracy, Felipe Pazos, (more)
Of the many filmed versions of the October 26, 1881, O.K. Corral shootout in Tombstone, Arizona, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral was one of the most elaborate and star-studded. Burt Lancaster plays Wyatt Earp, the renowned lawman, while Kirk Douglas is consumptive gambler (and gunfighter) Doc Holliday -- the two meet in difficult circumstances, as Earp discovers that Holiday, for whom he initially feels little but loathing, is being held on a trumped up murder charge and being set up for a lynching, and intercedes on his behalf. The action shifts to Dodge City, Kansas, where Earp is marshal and Holiday, hardly grateful for the good turn, shows up right in the middle of all kinds of trouble, this time mostly on Earp's side of the ledger. And, finally, the two turn up in Tombstone, Arizona, where Wyatt's brother Virgil is city marshal, and where Wyatt finally gets to confront the Clanton/McLowery outlaw gang (led by Lyle Bettger as Ike Clanton). Since the time-span of the actual gunfight was at most 90 seconds, the bulk of the film concerns the tensions across many months leading up to the famous battle. As scripted by Leon Uris (from a magazine story by George Scullin), the story involves two unrelated but parallel plot-lines -- a long-standing vendetta against Holliday and the efforts of Earp to bring the Clanton/McLowery gang to justice -- that are eventually drawn together on the streets of Tombstone. Woven into these proceedings are Earp's and Holliday's romantic dalliances with lady gambler Laura Denbow (Rhonda Fleming) and Kate Fisher (Jo Van Fleet), whose switch in affections from Holiday to outlaw fast-gun Johnny Ringo (John Ireland) only rachets up gambler's rage and the reasons behind the bloody climax. There are plenty of bribery attempts, terse dialogue exchanges and "Mexican standoffs" before the inevitable gunfight takes place. Director John Sturges takes some dramatic license with this confrontation, as well, stretching things out to nearly six minutes, but this is after all an "A" production, and a minute-and-a-half of gunfire just wouldn't cut it. The huge cast of western veterans includes Earl Holliman as Charles Bassett, Dennis Hopper as Billy Clanton, Kenneth Tobey as Bat Masterson, Lee Van Cleef as Ed Bailey, Jack Elam as Tom McLowery, and John Hudson, DeForest Kelley and Martin Milner as Virgil, Morgan, and James Earp, respectively. And there's that Dimitri Tiomkin score, pushing the movie's momentum as relentlessly as the two driven heroes, complete with a song (sung by Frankie Laine) underscoring the major transitions of scenes that's impossible to forget, once heard. Sturges himself would produce and direct a more fact-based and realistic version of the story -- focusing mostly on its aftermath -- a decade later, entitled Hour of the Gun, starring James Garner, Jason Robards, Jr., and Robert Ryan, which wasn't nearly as attractive or successful. But after Gunfight At The OK Corral, there would not be so impressive a lineup of talent at the OK Corral again until the twin Earp biopics of 1994, Wyatt Earp and Tombstone.
~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, (more)
- 1956
The breathtakingly beautiful Technicolor cinematography of Irving Glassberg is but one of the many small pleasures of the big-budget western Backlash. Set in post-Civil War Arizona, the film stars Richard Widmark as Jim Slater, who hopes to prove that his down-and-out father (John McIntire) was not involved in a gold robbery. To prove this, Slater has to find the money, which is also the goal of Karyl Orton (Donna Reed), the supposed widow of one of the thieves. Eventually, Slater discovers that his father is every bit as rotten as the law claims he is, though he can take some comfort in the fact that Karyl is now in love with him. As in his earlier Bad Day at Black Rock, Backlash director John Sturges is more concerned with building tension than with overt displays of wanton violence. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Richard Widmark, Donna Reed, (more)
- 1955
The infamous Benedict Arnold affair is the basis of the lively MGM costumer The Scarlet Coat. Arnold is played with suitably subtle menace by Robert Douglas, while his principal co-conspirator, Major John Andre, is essayed by Michael Wilding. The largely speculative storyline concerns the efforts of one Major John Boulton (Cornel Wilde), a colonial counterspy, to foil Arnold's plans. Thanks to some deft scriptwriting, the much-abused Major Andre emerges as the most sympathetic character in the film, if only because he is willing to face the consequences for his actions. Less sympathetic is George Sanders in another of his patented "cad" roles, while Anne Francis is the spunky (if unnecessary) heroine. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Cornel Wilde, Michael Wilding, Sr., (more)
- 1955
Both Jane Russell and her uncredited stunt double look great in skimpy swimwear throughout the Technicolor and SuperScope romantic adventure Underwater. Ms. Russell is cast as the wife of fortune-chasing Richard Egan, who takes her along to the Caribbean on a treasure hunt. The couple is accompanied by mercenary Gilbert Roland, priest Robert Keith, and Egan's blonde-doxy secretary Lori Nelson. While exploring the depths in search of untold riches, the little party is menaced by a band of modern-day pirates, led by Joseph Calleila. Partially filmed on location in Mexico, Underwater was completed in a newly-constructed underwater tank in an RKO Radio soundstage. For its world premiere, Underwater was projected on a submerged movie screen at Silver Springs Florida, and the invited guests were encouraged to don aqualungs and bathing uits so that they could watch the picture while swimming! A similar publicity ploy was utilized nine years later at Marineland of the Pacific for the premiere of The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1955). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jane Russell, Gilbert Roland, (more)
This powerfully tense, fast-paced suspense drama also yields a grim social message about racial prejudice. Spencer Tracy is John J. MacReedy, a one-armed stranger who comes to the tiny town of Black Rock one hot summer day in 1945, the first time the train has stopped there in years. He looks for both a hotel room and a local Japanese farmer named Komoko, but his inquiries are greeted at first with open hostility, then with blunt threats and harassment, and finally with escalating violence. MacReedy soon realizes that he will not be allowed to leave Black Rock; town boss Reno Smith (Robert Ryan), who had Komoko killed because of his hatred of the Japanese, has also marked MacReedy for death. MacReedy must battle town thugs, a treacherous local woman (Anne Francis), and finally Smith himself to stay alive. The entire cast is flawless, especially Ernest Borgnine and Lee Marvin as the mean-spirited town bullies, and the relentlessly paced action never eclipses the film's sobering themes. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi
- Starring:
- Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan, (more)
- 1953
The answer is: A turgid melodrama. The question: What is Jeopardy? Barbara Stanwyck stars as a suburbanite on a Mexican vacation with her husband (Barry Sullivan) and son (Lee Aaker). The threesome runs afoul of escape convict Ralph Meeker. Stanwyck's dilemma: Attempting to rescue her husband from drowning, while staving off the carnal demands of Meeker, who holds Stanwyck and her son at gunpoint. Jeopardy is on and off in only 69 minutes, but 64 of those minutes seem far longer. Trivia note: When dramatized on Lux Radio Theater, Jeopardy costarred child actor Harry Shearer, later a comic regular on Saturday Night Live. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan, (more)
- 1953
In this musical comedy, a young woman inherits a race horse. She wants to race it but encounters difficulty with its trainer who wants to be able to buy the horse for himself. To do so, he makes sure the horse keeps losing races. The woman refuses to sell it. Later, race track con artists try to scam her. The trainer comes to her aide, and soon they fall in love. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Howard Keel, Polly Bergen, (more)
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