Lane Chandler Movies

In this western, a gunfighter finds himself mistaken for a judge when he journeys to a beleaguered town that is under the oppressive influence of an outlaw and his evil gang. One couple knows the gunslinger's true avocation and they talk him into working as a lawman and putting one of the crooks on trial. Things go well until one of the outlaws recognizes him and tells all during the trial. This leads to a classic showdown in which the gunfighter shoots the gun from the villain's hand. He then discards his own weapon and literally rides off into the sunset to pursue a more peaceful life. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

John Fox Jr.'s popular 1906 novel has been filmed several times, and converted into a number of theatrical presentations. The 1961 edition of Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come stars singer Jimmy F. Rodgers as a confused young man growing up in 1860s Kentucky. Sheltered from his brutal guardian by a friendly schoolmaster, Rodgers learns to love the tiny village of Kingdom Come and has no inclination of leaving. But when the Civil War breaks out, Rodgers finds himself at odds with most of his friends by joining the Union Army. His wartime experiences force Rodgers to grow up in a hurry, and he returns to Kingdom Come with a whole new outlook on his future existence. Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come was elaborately produced, but failed to establish Jimmy Rodgers as a movie star. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In his second fifth-season Have Gun, Will Travel guest appearance, Charles Bronson is cast as vicious murderer Ben Jalisco. Escaping from custody, Jalisco vows to wreak vengeance against his treacherous wife Lucy (Coleen Gray)--and against Paladin (Richard Boone), the man who brought him in for trial. Much of this episode is filmed on location in Lone Pine, California. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Having been cheated by crooked railroad owner Wilbur Shanks (Richard Hale), Beau (Roger Moore) cooks up a scheme to make certain that the townsfolk of Silver Hill get a fair price for their land, which Shanks dearly covets. To do this, Beau arranges for the town to literally vanish by having everyone relocate some twenty miles down the trail. But when a valuable silver lode is discovered in the "real" Silver Hill, it looks like Shanks may have the last laugh. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Winning a high-stakes poker game, Bart (Jack Kelly) finds himself the owner of the Lucky Lady Saloon in Santa Leora. But when he shows up to claim his prize, he is confronted by the hired guns of Marquessa Luisa de Ruisenor (played byAdele Mara, the wife of Maverick producer-creator Roy Huggins). The Marquessa claims that she owns Santa Leora and everything in it, and she and her family are willing to back up that claim with guns, knives and fists. Rather than cut his losses and leave Santa Leora, Bart sticks around to find out if the Marquessa is the real villain of the piece, or if someone else is pulling the strings. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Jack Weston guest stars as Ciro Terranova, a neurotic gangster who takes over New York's wholesale produce business. Any wholesaler who refuses to purchase Terranova's artichokes at twice their value is roughed up or worse, and of course Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) is unable to persuade any of the victims to testify against the mob. Meanwhile, the tight-fisted Terranova has troubles of his own whe such rival thugs as Frankie Yale (Al Ruscio) and Felix Burke (Robert Ellenstein) muscle into his territory. Ultimately, Ness sends fellow Untouchable Enrico Rossi (Nick Georgiade) undercover in an effort to play one side against the other, culminating in a near-surrealistic showdown at a Halloween party. This episode was originally listed in TV Guide as "Murder by Contract". ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Paladin (Richard Boone) is hired by the entrepreneurial J. Brodie (Lane Chandler) to deliver a most unusual cargo to the Oregon mining town of Bend-in-the-River. The "cargo" consists of a bevy of beautiful mail-order brides, ordered directly from Paris for matrimonial purposes by Bend-in-the-River's lonely menfolk. Ordinarily, Paladin's task would be a pleasurable one--but the journey to Oregon proves to be fraught with unexpected danger. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This confusingly-titled science-fiction thriller is both an artifact of its time and a surprisingly forward-looking film, in terms of plot. On the one hand, its plot makes it a kind of 1950's B-movie antecedent to The Andromeda Strain -- on the other, it owes a lot to the popular police procedural films and television shows of the decade or so leading up to its production. The title refers to an advanced US satellite sent into orbit, in part to gather and return samples of material from space. The latter includes a microscopic organism believed to be the same existing on the planet Mars which, so one scientist, Dr. Charles Pommer (Paul Frees), believes, is responsible for that world's red coloration. Pommer, who is permitted to take the sample to his home laboratory, is brilliant and single-minded in his work; but his intellect and ambition, coupled with his unstable personality and chaotic personal life, leads to disaster. He discovers that the organism, which he christens "Blood Rust," can multiply incredibly fast in Earth's environment, and attach itself to (and ultimately consume) any living host creature, including human beings. The alien organism proves his undoing, and he lives just long enough to warn project security chief John Hand (Bill Williams) of the danger -- but the warning comes too late to prevent Pommer's ex-wife (Lyn Thomas) from becoming an unwitting carrier of the organism. It's up to Hand and his assistant, Radigan (Robert Ellis), to find this woman -- whose identity they don't even know at first -- even as she tries (for purely personal reasons) to elude the authorities, not knowing of the danger she presents to herself and the world. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

The premiere episode of Maverick opens with a characteristic grace-note from director Budd Boetticher, in which Bret Maverick (James Garner) rides into the town of Echo Springs, caked with trail dust and dressed in seedy "cowboy" clothes--only to re-emerge a few moments later as the well-groomed, sartorially splendid professional gambler that he is. Before long Bret is playing poker with Phineas King (Edmund Lowe), the owner of a large silver mine. When Bret wins the game, King orders his flunkeys to beat up the gambler and boot him out of town. But Mr. Maverick isn't about to be scared off so easily, especially after finding out that King is systematically cheating the local miners. With the help of an old derelict who turns out to be a judge, Bret turns the tables on the unscrupulous silver king--but not before he has a painful encounter with burly Irishman Big Mike McComb (Leo Gordon in his first series appearance). Played "straight" for the most part, this debut episode was based on the unfilmed Warner Bros. property "War of the Copper Kings", which in turn was inspired by the career of copper speculator F. Augustus Heinze. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Lone Ranger was the first of two Technicolor theatrical features based on the popular TV series of the same name. Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels, stars of the video version, essay the roles of the Masked Rider of the Plains and his faithful Indian companion Tonto. This time around, our heroes take on evil rancher Reece Kilgore (Lyle Bettger), who hopes to become an all-poweful land baron by fomenting an Indian war. It is up to the Lone Ranger to keep the peace and to find out why Kilgore is up to what he's up to. To expedite this, the Ranger adopts a couple of clever disguises (though we never see his full face au naturel). Among the more novel aspects of the film is little Beverly Washburn as Lila Kilgore, the sweet, innocent daughter of the double-dyed villain. The nominal leading lady is played by Bonita Granville, who co-produced the film with her husband Jack Wrather. The Lone Ranger proved successful enough to warrant a sequel, The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold (also 1956). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

While John Ford and Howard Hawks received all the critical plaudits, Lesley Selander quietly went about his business directing some of the best westerns of the 1950s. In Selander's Shotgun, deputy sheriff Clay (Sterling Hayden) embarks upon a long, vengeful journey to track down Thompson (Guy Prescott), the man responsible for his boss' murder. Packing a sawed-off, double-barrelled shotgun for this purpose, Clay also carries a rifle and sixgun for such "lesser" threats as marauding Indians. Rescuing half-breed Abby (Yvonne de Carlo) from certain death, Clay takes her along on his manhunt, and later the two travellers are joined by bounty hunter Reb (Zachary Scott), who intends to get to Thompson first to collect the reward on the fugitive's head. Naturally, a bitter romantic triangle arises involving Clay, Abby and Reb, but this is briefly set aside when Thompson is finally cornered. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A gangster is killed by a big man who pays no attention to bullets, and who leaves glowing fingerprints. Police scientist Chet Walker (Richard Denning) discovers that the fingerprints are radioactive -- as well as those of a dead man. We soon learn that this walking corpse was created by Dr. Wilhelm Steigg (Gregory Gaye); he's allowing secretly-returned deported gangster Buchanan (Michael Granger) to get revenge on those who were responsible for his conviction. Steigg removes part of the brains of recently-dead men, and replaces them with a device that allows them to control the body from a distance, like a robot; they can even see through the creature's eyes via television. Another atomic zombie kills the district attorney who convicted Buchanan, which leads Chet and his homicide detective friend Dave Harris (S. John Launer) to deduce that the killings are connected to the Buchanan case. Warnings are issued to other possible targets, but they're unable to prevent another death. The last two go into hiding. The movie concludes with a headline: "Creatures with the Atomic Brains Destroyed." This entertaining but cheesy little movie is completely unpretentious. Broad, surprisingly gruesome and well-paced, it's obviously aimed straight at the juvenile market -- and it hits it, too. A sterling artifact of its time: brisk, efficient and entertaining, even if it is awfully silly. ~ Bill Warren, Rovi

Screenwriter Philip Dunne doubled as director on the elaborate filmed biography Prince of Players. Richard Burton stars as the eminent American tragedian Edwin Booth, whose life and career is thrown into turmoil after his younger brother John Wilkes Booth (John Derek) assassinates Abraham Lincoln. The film begins as the younger Edwin assists his alcoholic, ailing father Junius Brutus Booth (Raymond Massey) during a tour of the American hinterlands. When Junius dies just before a performance, Edwin goes on in his stead, thereby launching his own starring career. In danger of becoming as much of a drunk and carouser as his father, Edwin eventually pulls himself together, but his brother's act of violence turns the audience against the name of Booth. Almost booed offstage during a performance of Hamlet, Edwin stands his ground, finally earning the respect of his rowdy audience. Not exactly packed with fast action, Prince of Players will appeal most to lovers of theater in general and Shakespeare in particular. Highlight: Richard Burton and Eva LeGalleine performing the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet in the courtyard of a brothel. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi