Dee Cooper Movies
- 1987
Hunter (Fred Dryer) and McCall (Stepfanie Kramer) go undercover to find out why a murdered woman was tortured and injected with truth serum before she was killed. Adding to the intrigue is the fact that the dead woman was the girlfriend of McCall's onetime partner Sgt. Riley Causland (Robert Firth), who seems to have gone out of his way to frame Hunter for the crime. Before the final fadeout, the detectives uncover a plan to imbed Soviet "sleeper agents" in the US--and one key character pays a terrible price for his involvement in the plot machinations. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
Mac (Charlie Robinson) is literally driven to drink by his maddeningly clueless Vietnamese bride Quon Le (Denice Kumagai). Not only has she driven her husband to the brink of bankruptcy with her reckless shopping sprees, but now Mac faces the added burden of his bride's impending motherhood. This is the infamous episode in which the ashes of a deceased man are accidentally mixed with the courtroom coffee supply! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
Hunter (Fred Dryer) and McCall (Stepfanie Kramer) go undercover to find out why a seemingly insignificant accountant has been murdered gangland-execution style in the small resort town of Campo Alto. It turns out that the dead man was using an alias--and that he was somehow connected with the town's richest and most powerful citizen, Raymond Bellamy (Stuart Whitman). Doing everything he can to impede the two detectives' progress is town sheriff Johnson (Don Stroud), who like everyone else in the vicinity seems to be harboring a terrible secret. Oh, and did we mention that series star Stepfanie Kramer gets to show off her singing talents again? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This bittersweet comedy looks at the denizens of Echo Park, a decaying section of Los Angeles popular with struggling actors and musicians, largely because of its (relatively) low rents. May Greer (Susan Dey) is a single mother and aspiring actress who makes ends meet by tending bar (the most lucrative job she's been offered in show biz is as a combination stripper and singing telegram girl). Her neighbor August (Michael Bowen) is a body-builder from Austria who dreams of becoming a movie star like Arnold Schwarzenegger, though these days he's supporting himself by doing low-budget TV commercials for deodorant. May and August have an on-again, off-again relationship, which has more to do with sex and loneliness than love. Hoping to stretch her budget a bit, May rents out a room to Jonathan, a wannabe singer/songwriter who makes his money delivering pizzas. May takes a liking to Jonathan, and her son Henry (Christopher Walker) sees Jonathan as the benevolent father figure that's been missing from his life. The supporting cast includes cult figure Timothy Carey and Cassandra Peterson, best known as princess of the dark Elvira. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1985
- R
This undistinguished comedy about life in prison features caricatures of inmates and law enforcement officers, as well as prison guards, in attempts at slapstick action. After Duke Jarrett (Jeff Altman) is put into prison because he had sex with the wife of a government VIP, he discovers that life in the prison is out of control -- until a disciplinarian takes charge. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Altman, Dey Young, (more)
- 1980
The real Belle Starr was a homely, ill-tempered woman whose career as a western bandit was blown out of proportion by the "dime novels" of the era. Previous media Belle Starrs have included such attractive performers as Gene Tierney, Isabel Jewell and Abby Dalton, all of whom appeared to have included a cosmetician amongst their bandit cohorts. To her credit, Elizabeth Montgomery tries hard to deglamorize Belle in this 1980 TV movie, but she's still Elizabeth Montgomery. The script, by James Lee Barrett, attempts to stick closer to the facts than the earlier versions of Belle's exploits. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1978
In this western, a family of cattle rustlers find themselves observed by a man who did not want to be sheriff. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1949
Monogram's Whip Wilson western series occasionally produced a better-than-average entry. In Range Land, Wilson and saddle pal Andy Clyde try to get the goods on a gang of stagecoach bandits. The robberies are being staged by a "solid citizen" who hopes to accumulate a fortune in gold bars. Whip goes undercover, joins the gang, has a few close shaves, and collars the crooks. And, in keeping with his screen nickname, Wilson wields a mean bullwhip whenever the occasion arises. One of the villains is played by Leonard Penn, the father of actors Sean and Christopher Penn. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Whip Wilson, Andy Clyde, (more)
- 1949
A late entry in Monogram's Jimmy Wakely musical Western series, Brand of Fear features a nice performance by Gail Davis, television's Annie Oakley. Davis plays Anne Lamont, whose guardian, Marshal Black Jack Flint (Tom London), hires her as the new schoolteacher of Oreville, AZ. Black Jack, however, is really a reformed outlaw and is being blackmailed by crooked blacksmith Cal Derringer (Marshall Reed). Derringer is in league with outlaw Tom Slade (William H. Ruhl), who plans to rob a shipment of ore. On the side of law and order are trouble-shooter Jimmy Wakely and his sidekick Cannonball (Dub Taylor). They run down the villains, and with his dying breath, Derringer confesses that Black Jack was innocent of the charges leveled against him 20 years earlier and that he is actually Anne's natural father. In between battling the bad guys, Wakely finds time to sing "There's a Rainbow Over the Range" by Tim Spencer and "Cool Water" by the prolific Bob Nolan. Monogram could have done much worse than this tightly packaged piece of Western hokum, and often did. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1949
Johnny Mack Brown's first starring western for 1950 is cut from the same cloth as his 1949 releases. Brown's principal antagonist this time is the town boss (Hugh Prosser), an outlaw who has killed the community's leading citizen. The dead man's grown children (Jane Adams and Riley Hill) want to investigate the killing, but the outlaw puts a stop to this by hiring a dance-hall dame (Constance Worth) to pose as the kids' long-lost mother. Johnny isn't fooled by this subterfuge, nor is his comic sidekick (Max Terhune). Once the plot has been established, Western Renegades adheres strictly to formula -- right down to Johnny Mack Brown's relinquishing the film's romantic-lead responsibilities to the younger, thinner Steve Clark. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Mack Brown, Max "Alibi" Terhune, (more)
- 1949
Lash LaRue essays a dual role in the 1949 western Outlaw Country. LaRue plays himself (or at least his screen self) and an outlaw known only as The Frontier Phantom. The story finds the "good" Lash and his sidekick Fuzzy Q. Jones (Al St. John) searching for counterfeiters. Meanwhile, the "bad" Lash is in cahoots with the crooks. After the two LaRues face each other in a showdown, the "bad" Lash turns good and helps the hero round up the villains. The leading lady this time out is Nancy Saunders, whose previous experience included a handful of Three Stooges 2-reelers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lash LaRue, Dan White, (more)
- 1949
Riders of the Dusk is another of Monogram's formula Whip Wilson westerns. Since the studio couldn't build an entire film around Wilson's bullwhip prowess, a plot was called for. This time around, it's the one about a U.S. marshal who searches high and low for a mysterious masked desperado. The mystery angle is minimal, since seasoned movie fans will be able to determine the mystery person's identity within 15 minutes. As always, Andy Clyde is a tower of comic strength as Whip Wilson's grizzled old sidekick. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Whip Wilson, Andy Clyde, (more)
- 1949
Even his cinematic rival Lash LaRue allowed that Whip Wilson was one of the best whip wielders in the movies. Shadows of the West was Wilson's second starring vehicle for Monogram, and as in the first, Crashing Thru, the star is teamed with seasoned sagebrush funster Andy Clyde. The Whipster plays a vacationing lawman who takes time out from his much-needed R-and-R to help out a reformed criminal. Striking an incongruous note is heroine Reno Browne, whose lavish wardrobe is a bit too lavish for her frontier surroundings. Though Whip Wilson wasn't much in the acting department, and while his singing and fisticuffs left a lot to be desired, his prowess with a whip was nothing short of astonishing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Whip Wilson, Andy Clyde, (more)
- 1949
Western star Whip Wilson stars in the Monogram oater Crashing Thru. He periodically displays his whip-wielding skill (which far outclasses his acting ability) to bring a gang of rustlers to heel. In so doing, he rescues Christine Larson from financial ruin and physical danger. Wilson's comic sidekick Andy Clyde again proves that he's got more talent in his little pinky than most cowboy heroes have in their whole carcasses. Crashing Thru was produced by Barney A. Sarecky, later one of the leading lights of TV's Wild Bill Hickok. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1948
Although technically crude, Stage to Mesa City, an entry in PRC's "The Cheyenne Kid" series, was a great favorite with the small fries when unceremoniously dumped on theaters in February of 1948. Al "Lash" LaRue once again played the black-clad, whip-wielding hero who, along with sidekick Fuzzy Q. Jones (Al St. John), comes to the aid of troubled stagecoach proprietor John Watson (Steve Clark). Watson, who has been forced to sell his ranch in order to keep the stages running and win a valuable mail contract, is opposed by Baxter (Marshall Reed), a crooked lawyer working for the mysterious "The Boss." When Watson is found murdered, his grown children, Margie (Jennifer Holt) and Bob (Brad Slavin), assign Marshals Cheyenne Davis and Fuzzy to catch his killer and unmask the mysterious "The Boss." Needless to say, the latter proves to be the least likely candidate and is therefore easy to spot for any armchair detective in the audience. Stage to Mesa City was remade in 1951 as Stage to Blue River, this time starring the less than enthralling Whip Wilson. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lash LaRue, Jennifer Holt, (more)
- 1948
PRC's singing cowboy Eddie Dean once again brings law and order to a corrupt town in this average Western co-starring Roscoe Ates and Nancy Gates. When Red Gap's old sheriff (Edward Cassidy) is shot in cold blood by Ace (Mikel Conrad), a member of Brad Taggert's gang, the new lawman, Eddie, orders all firearms in Red Gap to be deposited in the sheriff's office. Taggert (I. Stanford Jolley) takes umbrage, of course, and hires a couple of gunmen (Russell Asrms and Marshall Reed) to rid the town of such nuisance. When that ploy fails, the villain falls back on crooked Judge Hammond (William Fawcett), but Eddie gets rid of him as well in favor of law-abiding Judge Walsh (Steve Clark) -- then the real Boss Villain reveals himself. Ates, Andy Parker, and the Plainsmen perform "A Miserable Ornery Coyote" and Dean sings "God's Little Lanterns" and "Moseyin' Along," the latter in a duet with leading lady Nancy Gates. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Dean, Roscoe Ates, (more)
- 1948
Three fellows band together to help a woman find her uncle's cache of gold in this western. All they have to help them is a tattered map that her uncle, a prisoner of war, created in camp. Unfortunately two badguys have the map and try to turn the three goodguys against the niece. They do not succeed and justice prevails. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1947
Whip-wielding westerner Lash LaRue closes out his 1947 schedule with Cheyenne Takes Over. Once again teamed with comical sidekick Fuzzy Q. Jones (Al St. John), the Cheyenne Kid (LaRue) investigates the murder of a prosperous rancher. The audience knows that PRC's all-purpose villain George Cheseboro is the culprit, and so does saloon owner Fay (Nancy Gates). Intimidated into silence by the bad guys, Fay turns to Cheyenne and Fuzzy for help. Surprisingly, Lash LaRue lays his legendary bullwhip aside in the last reel, preferring to use his fists to bring the criminals to justice. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lash LaRue, Nancy Gates, (more)
- 1947
"King of the Bullwhip" Lash LaRue continues lashing away in the PRC western Ghost Town Renegades. In this one, the Cheyenne Kid (LaRue) and Fuzzy Q. Jones (Al St. John) investigate mysterious goings-on in an abandoned mining town. The villains have suddenly taken an inordinate interest in the town's played-out mine, and it looks like the mine's rightful owners will end up getting the shaft. But Cheyenne wields his whip in the last reel, forcing the bad guys to cower in submission. The better-than-usual cast includes Jennifer Holt (daughter of Jack, sister of Tim) as the heroine and William Fawcett, future costar of TV's Fury, in one of his "grizzled" characterizations. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lash LaRue, Al St. John, (more)
- 1947
In this low-budget Western from PRC, Marshal Cheyenne (Al "Lash" LaRue) and his sidekick Fuzzy Q. Jones (Al St. John) are looking into the strange goings-on in the town of Buffalo Gap. A ranger (Bob Woodward) has been killed and the trail leads to a gang headed by Bill Judd (Jack Ingram). There is yet another killing, young Al Walters (Steve Drake) is brutally shot by Judd after calling gambler Grayson (Terry Frost) a cheat. But the sheriff (Henry Hall) seems remarkably hesitant to arrest the culprit and may be taking his orders from a mystery boss, who operates out of a shack in the wilderness. Teaming up with Al's pretty sister, Betty and her Uncle Bob (William Fawcett), Cheyenne and Fuzzy go in search of the mystery villain, whose identity may come as a surprise to anyone who has never seen a Grade-Z movie before. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lash LaRue, Jennifer Holt, (more)
- 1947
Johnny Mack Brown races to the rescue in the Monogram western Raiders of the South. But we're a bit ahead of ourselves here: we should explain that Johnny has come to the aid of helpless settlers who've been victimized by a vigilante group. The mysterious masked leader turns out be...but wait, we're gettting ahead of ourselves again. Featured in the cast is former silent screen star Evelyn Brent, and Superman's Perry White, aka John Hamilton. Raiders of the South benefits from the production polish indigenous to producer Scott R. Dunlap and director Lambert Hillyer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1947
Return of the Lash exists primarily to display the bullwhip-wielding prowess of cowboy star Al "Lash" LaRue. The plot is set in motion when six wanted outlaws are rounded up and captured by The Cheyenne Kid (LaRue). Collecting the reward money, Cheyenne instructs his sidekick Fuzzy Q. Jones (Al St. John) to give the money to a group of financially strapped ranchers. Alas, Fuzzy falls off his horse, loses his memory, and forgets what became of the money. Fortunately, he snaps out of his amnesia during a climactic fistic set-to with secondary villain Kirby (George Cheseboro). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lash LaRue, Mary Maynard, (more)
