Barry Coe Movies

Star Gregory Peck went into MacArthur disliking the title character that he was slated to play, but emerged from the experience with a deeper understanding and respect for this complex historical figure. The film is framed in flashback, with an octogenarian General
Douglas MacArthur (Peck) making his final address before his alma mater of West Point. We flash back to the fall of Corregidor in 1942, with MacArthur promising "I shall return" to the beleaguered (and eventually imprisoned) American and Filipino troops. The story follows MacArthur's subsequent victories in the South Pacific, occasionally pausing to show us the General's omnipresent sense of "showmanship" (e.g. his wading ashore on the beaches of the Philippines for the benefit of the newsreel cameras). The greater part of the film involves MacArthur's attempts to restore dignity to the defeated postwar Japan, and to keep the Russian Communists from overtaking the orient as they had Eastern Europe. MacArthur is eventually fired from his post by President Truman after the general defies orders during the Korean conflict. MacArthur was intended as Universal's "answer" to 20th Century-Fox's enormously successful Patton (1970), but box-office returns were disappointing. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This Mexican vaquero (cowboy) film centers on a group of no-good, dirty, low-down varmints who want to drive a group of law-abiding folks away from where they live in order to pull off a land deal. They will stop at nothing: not rape, not murder, in order to accomplish this feat. However, they are opposed by a good-hearted if peculiar gunman who gets his opponents under his control and then makes certain he gets a good look at their naked buttocks. He is searching for the man who killed his parents, who apparently bore a branding mark in that location. Though completely earnest and sincere, this goofy drama could enjoy some cross-over viewership among those who enjoy campy cowboy dramas and those with a yen to view male backsides without all those distracting clothes on them. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

John Considine does a cut-rate Vincent Price impersonation as the flamboyant Dr. Death, a thousand-year-old magician who has mastered he art of transferring souls from one body to another and thereby manages to perpetuate himself by jumping from one body to the next (which actually makes him more of a "Seeker of Bodies"). Apparently the Doc is a kindred spirit to the Alien, since his blood is a highly-corrosive acid that can strip flesh from bone, thus ensuring his personal safety. This is "Z"-grade fare that plays somewhat like a Herschell Gordon Lewis film, but without enough silliness to keep things amusing. The only point of interest keeping this film in circulation (mainly via late-night-cable) is the presence of sad-looking former Stooge Moe Howard in his last role as a perverted old man. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

Enemy agent James Reed (David Sheiner) intends to steal the plans for a new missile guidance system. The IMF is assigned to hoodwink Reed into pilfering a set of bonus plans. Endangering the mission is escaped mental patient Hecker (John Beck), who believes that IMF agent Dana is his former girlfriend. Watch for raspy-voiced cult actor Percy Helton in a typically fleeting role (one of his last). Originally telecast on January 16, 1971, "The Missile" was written by Arthur Weiss. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Stephen Boyd heads a team of scientists sent on a bizarre experimental mission. Through a revolutionary and as-yet-untested process, the scientists and their special motorized vehicle are miniaturized, then injected into the blood stream of a near-death scientist (Jean del Val). Their mission is to relieve a blood clot caused by an assassination attempt. One member of the expedition is bent on sabotage so that the scientist's secrets will die with him. Another member is Raquel Welch, seemingly along for the ride solely because of how she looks in a skintight diving suit. The film's Oscar-winning visual effects (by Art Cruickshank) chart the progress of the voyagers through the scientist's body, burrowing past deadly antibodies, chunks of tobacco residue in the lungs, and other such obstacles. Oscars also went to Jack Martin Smith and Dale Hennesy's art direction and Stuart A. Reiss and Walter M. Scott's set decoration. Fantastic Voyage was later spun off into a Saturday-morning cartoon series. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Season Four of Bonanza began on September 23, 1962 with what was intended to be a landmark episode. In "The First Born", Barry Coe plays Clay Stafford, a new ranchhand on the Ponderosa. Ordered to leave Virginia City after killing a man in self-defense (or so it seems), Clay reveals an astonishing secret: He is the son of Ben Cartwright's third wife Marie, and as such is the biological older brother of Ben's own son Joe. Although Ben and Joe take Clay at his word, the other Cartwright boys, Hoss and Adam are skeptical, and they intend to investigate Clay's strange story. As originally written by Judith and George W. George, "The First Born" was to have introduced Barry Coe as a new Bonanza costar. Reportedly, however, Coe's presence on the set caused friction among the series' established regular, and the notion of a "fifth Cartwright" was quietly dropped. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

TV producer Aaron Spelling first came up with the story for this standard western set in a small town just after the American Civil War. Mitch (Alan Ladd) has tragically lost his wife during a problem in her pregnancy because he could not come up with $1.87 for the medicine she needed. A little twisted right from the beginning, he vows revenge. In the first step toward his goal, he gets the post of deputy sheriff from the repentant townspeople. In the second step, he murders the sheriff and then recruits a gang of disreputable toughs to steal $100,000 and bankrupt the town. In the last and fatal part of his plan for vengeance, he turns on his own gang of thieves. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

A trio of energetic young men try to put on a good show for their Army camp, in this lightweight comedy by Raoul Walsh. Luigi (Sal Mineo just risen to stardom), Jerry (Berry Coe), and Mike (Gary Crosby) are in boot camp when they are presented with a chance to represent their unit in competition on a national television show. The three guys are up to the challenge, which begins a chain of unusual circumstances that not only have them singing and dancing at the proper times, but also running into a trio of alluring young women (Barbara Eden, Terry Moore, and Christine Carere). Then there is that little mix-up when the Assistant Secretary of War mistakenly marries herself off to a doped-up Private Jerry, all for a good cause. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

In this drama, a former Air Force hero becomes frustrated when he is pulled from active duty and is forced to train recruits at Edwards Air Force Base. He finds instructing the young fighter pilots terribly tedious. His frustration is compounded by his fear that one of his handsome bucks will steal his pretty girl friend. This causes him to become an angry, unfair teacher. Later, the reluctant instructor learns an invaluable lesson when he is forced to save one of his best students from certain death. Suddenly he begins taking his job seriously; as a result he becomes a respected and beloved teacher. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Grace Metalious' once-notorious bestseller Peyton Place is given a lavish -- and necessarily toned-down -- film treatment in this deluxe 20th Century-Fox production. Set during WWII, the film concentrates on several denizens of the outwardly respectable New England community of Peyton Place. Top-billed Lana Turner plays shopkeeper Constance McKenzie, who tries to make up for a past indiscretion -- which resulted in her illegitimate daughter Allison (Diane Varsi) -- by adopting a chaste, prudish attitude towards all things sexual. In spite of herself, Constance can't help but be attracted to handsome new teacher Michael Rossi (Lee Philips). Meanwhile, the restless Allison, who'd like to be as footloose and fancy-free as the town's "fast girl" Betty Anderson (Terry Moore), falls sincerely in love with mixed-up mama's boy Norman Page (Russ Tamblyn). And while all this is going on, "white trash" Selena Cross (Hope Lange) is raped by her stepfather, drunken school caretaker Lucas Cross (Arthur Kennedy). Other characters essential to the action are wealthy Rodney Harrington (Barry Coe), who must pay the price for his dalliance with Betty Anderson; Nellie Cross (Betty Field), Selena's long-suffering mother; and the town's Voice of Reason, Dr. Swain (Lloyd Nolan). This 166-minute soap opera (whittled down to 157 minutes before release) culminates in a spectacular murder trial which lays bare the deep, dark secrets of Peyton Place. Filmed on location in Camden, Maine, Peyton Place was a huge moneymaker (even those who felt that the film was but a heavily laundered shadow of the Metalious original were pleased with the professionalism of it all); it not only spawned a 1961 theatrical sequel, but also a long-running prime time TV serial. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The men behind America's first venture into space are honored in this drama that paid special emphasis on historical accuracy and obtained much input and assistance from the US Air Force. The story centers on an Air Force doctor who performs many detailed test to discover how the human body will respond to the rigors of space travel including its reactions to being ejected in a space capsule from 45,000 feet, to traveling 1,000 miles per hour in a rocket sled, and ascending to 100,000 feet in a balloon. His devoted wife supports him all the way even though he sometimes insists on using himself as a guinea pig. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi