Dick Contino Movies
Dick Contino started his entertainment career as an accordion virtuoso -- at one time he was known as "the Valentino of the Accordion." He rose to fame by winning first prize in an amateur talent competition run by bandleader Horace Heidt. He later broke away from Heidt and, after forming his own band, became an extremely popular entertainer in the years 1949-1951. A scandal involving his attempt to evade the draft in April 1951 led to his imprisonment for six months, which was followed by military service in Korea. He was discharged honorably with the rank of sergeant, and attempted a return to the music business as a singer in the mode of Vic Damone in the mid- to late '50s. His film career, consisting of four movies, stemmed from that comeback. With his solid build and dark good looks, Contino was attractive enough by the standards of the time, but he had very little acting ability, based on the evidence of the four movies in which he appeared. Additionally, he had the bad fortune to fall in with producer Albert Zugsmith, who cast him in such sleazy exploitation films as Girls' Town and The Beat Generation. He got a starring role in one American International Pictures release, Daddy-O, directed by Lou Place, portraying a truck driver-turned-singer involved with thugs, but he lacked the screen charisma to pull off the part. Contino had disappeared from popular culture after his appearance in 1960's The Big Night, though he continued performing as an accordionist and singer. He re-emerged, after a fashion, in 1991 when Daddy-O was revived by Mystery Science Theater 3000 in that program's satiric film showcase format. Many of the MST3K characters' jokes during the presentation of Daddy-O on the Comedy Central cable channel (the widest exposure that Contino had enjoyed since the early '50s) came at the expense of his appearance and his acting and singing talents. He remains something of a '50s pop icon to this day, however, and is still remembered by accordion players the world over. Contino was married to actress Leigh Snowden for 25 years, until her death from cancer in 1982. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide- 1960
For those of you who might have wondered whether accordion virtuoso Dick Contino ever made a film, we refer you to The Big Night. Fourth-billed Contino weaves in and out of a plotline involving stolen money, an innocent married couple, and not-so-innocent gangsters. Newlyweds Randy Sparks and Venetia Stevenson find a sack of cash, then stash it away for a rainy day rather than inform the cops. That this is not a smart move is hammered home before the film is half over. You'll have to see The Big Night yourself to find out if Dick Contino gets the opportunity to render "Lady of Spain" on his squeeze-box. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
Set within the popular bohemian coffee houses of the late '50s where beatniks gathered to recite poetry and perform, this sensationalistic detective drama centers upon the attempts of an insensitive police detective to catch an arrogant serial rapist, a rich young man who believes himself mentally superior and therefore beyond the law. His favorite victims are married women. When he learns that the detective is after him, the rapist targets the cop's wife. Later the poor wife discovers she's pregnant and cannot be sure who fathered her child. The film is alternatively titled This Rebel Age. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve Cochran, Mamie van Doren, (more)
- 1959
This sexually explicit, low-budget film makes no pretensions about being anything other than offensive. There is no plot since none is especially necessary. Director Charles Haas (his last film was the following year), opens with a scene of sexually active men and women at a party. Then one of these women, Silver Morgan (Mamie Van Doren), is mistakenly accused of a crime and sent to an institution, run by Catholic nuns, for wayward young women. As it turns out, the inmates in the institution actually run it through sadistic means. One of them is even more seriously mentally disturbed than the others, and so the nuns welcome her as a novitiate, making even a non-Catholic viewer grimace. The content of this story, such as it is, is made all the worse by an accompanying disregard of the craft of filmmaking. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mamie van Doren, Mel Tormé, (more)
