Elisha Cook, Jr. Movies
American actor Elisha Cook Jr. was the son of an influential theatrical actor/writer/producer who died early in the 20th Century. The younger Cook was in vaudeville and stock by the time he was fourteen-years old. In 1928, Cook enjoyed critical praise for his performance in the play Her Unborn Child, a performance he would repeat for his film debut in the 1930 film version of the play. The first ten years of Cook's Hollywood career found the slight, baby-faced actor playing innumerable college intellectuals and hapless freshmen (he's given plenty of screen time in 1936's Pigskin Parade). In 1940, Cook was cast as a man wrongly convicted of murder in Stranger on the Third Floor (1940), and so was launched the second phase of Cook's career as Helpless Victim. The actor's ability to play beyond this stereotype was first tapped by director John Huston, who cast Cook as Wilmer, the hair-trigger homicidal "gunsel" of Sidney Greenstreet in The Maltese Falcon (1941). So far down on the Hollywood totem pole that he wasn't billed in the Falcon opening credits, Cook suddenly found his services much in demand. Sometimes he'd be shot full of holes (as in the closing gag of 1941's Hellzapoppin'), sometimes he'd fall victim to some other grisly demise (poison in The Big Sleep [1946]), and sometimes he'd be the squirrelly little guy who turned out to be the last-reel murderer (I Wake Up Screaming [1941]; The Falcon's Alibi [1946]). At no time, however, was Cook ever again required to play the antiseptic "nerd" characters that had been his lot in the 1930s. Seemingly born to play "film noir" characters, Cook had one of his best extended moments in Phantom Lady (1944), wherein he plays a set of drums with ever-increasing orgiastic fervor. Another career high point was his death scene in Shane (1953); Cook is shot down by hired gun Jack Palance and plummets to the ground like a dead rabbit. A near-hermit in real life who lived in a remote mountain home and had to receive his studio calls by courier, Cook nonetheless never wanted for work, even late in life. Fans of the 1980s series Magnum PI will remember Cook in a recurring role as a the snarling elderly mobster Ice Pick. Having appeared in so many "cult" films, Elisha Cook Jr. has always been one of the most eagerly sought out interview subjects by film historians. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1970
Robert Pirosh's teleplay for this Bonanza episode was based on an actual 19th century phenomenon. In the years following the Civil War, many young and disillusioned ex-soldiers formed nomadic groups called the "Weary Willies", who roamed throughout the west living off the land and avoiding "proper" employment. In other words, they were the hippies of their time, something with which viewers could instantly relate when this episode first aired on September 27, 1970. In the course of the story, the Ponderosa welcomes the Willies to their property, but their neighbors do not. When a girl is attacked, the Willies are accused of the crime, but the truth lies closer to home. The cast includes a pre-Waltons Richard Thomas as Billy, Lee Purcell as Angie, Elisha Cook Jr. as Marcus, and Kevin Tighe as Krulak. In keeping with its flower-child ambience, "The Weary Willies" features several songs, including "Man Passing Through", "Blood Brothers" and "It Won't Be Very Long". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, (more)
- 1970
- R
Jim Brown and Lee Van Cleef team up for this western set on the Mexican border. Brown is Luke, who escapes from a chain gang after learning that a fortune in gold is hidden in the Mexican fortress of El Condor. He joins up with the snake-eyed crook Jaroo (Lee Van Cleef) and together they round up a tribe of Apaches, headed by Santana (Iron Eyes Cody), to attack the fort -- convincing the Indian renegades that the fort houses food and guns greatly needed by the Apaches. During their first crack at taking the fort, Luke and Jaroo are captured by the fort's commandant, Chavez (Patrick O'Neal). Claudine (Marianna Hall), the wife of the commandant, falls in love with Luke and she aids them in their escape from the fort. Later on, she is instrumental in getting Luke and Jaroo's band into the fort -- diverting the gaze of the fort's defenders by disrobing in front of a well-lit bedroom window. Chavez escapes, but Santana is shot by Jaroo after discovering that Jaroo deceived him. With Santana shot, the Apaches leave the fort, carrying the food and ammunition. Now the only ones left to defend the defenseless fort are Luke, Claudine, and Jaroo. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Florencio Amarilla, Per Barclay, (more)
- 1970
Will David Janssen never stop being a fugitive? In the made-for-TV Night Chase, he's a Los Angelino on the lam after shooting his wife's lover. Believing he's killed the man, Janssen boards Yaphet Kotto's taxi and orders Kotto to head for Mexico. The film's level of suspense holds up until the end, when the logic holes begin widening. Night Chase went into production with the more appropriate title The Man in the Back Seat. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1969
- PG
In this western comedy, a bogus evangelist and his assistant travel to the town of Friendly and endeavor to rob the West's purportedly most unrobbable bank. Unfortunately, they are not the only bandits planning to rob the bank. Their rivals in robbery include a Mexican bandido and his dullard son. A gunman and his assistant also want to attempt a heist. To make things even more confusing, a Texas Ranger and his six Chinese-American G-men pose as laundrymen to investigate a crooked mayor. They all converge on Friendly at the same time and chaos ensues when they meet. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Zero Mostel, Kim Novak, (more)
In Roman Polanski's first American film, adapted from Ira Levin's horror bestseller, a young wife comes to believe that her offspring is not of this world. Waifish Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow) and her struggling actor husband, Guy (John Cassavetes), move into the Bramford, an old New York City apartment building with an ominous reputation and only elderly residents. Neighbors Roman and Minnie Castevet (Sidney Blackmer and Ruth Gordon) soon come nosing around to welcome the Woodhouses to the building; despite Rosemary's reservations about their eccentricity and the weird noises that she keeps hearing, Guy starts spending time with the Castevets. Shortly after Guy lands a plum Broadway role, Minnie starts showing up with homemade chocolate mousse for Rosemary. When Rosemary becomes pregnant after a mousse-provoked nightmare of being raped by a beast, the Castevets take a special interest in her welfare. As the sickened Rosemary becomes increasingly isolated, she begins to suspect that the Castevets' circle is not what it seems. The diabolical truth is revealed only after Rosemary gives birth, and the baby is taken away from her. Polanski's camerawork and Richard Sylbert's production design transform the realistic setting (shot on-location in Manhattan's Dakota apartment building) into a sinister projection of Rosemary's fears, chillingly locating supernatural horror in the familiar by leaving the most grotesque frights to the viewer's imagination. This apocalyptic yet darkly comic paranoia about the hallowed institution of childbirth touched a nerve with late-'60s audiences feeling uneasy about traditional norms. Produced by B-horror maestro William Castle, Rosemary's Baby became a critically praised hit, winning Gordon an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Inspiring a wave of satanic horror from The Exorcist (1973) to The Omen (1976), Rosemary's Baby helped usher in the genre's modern era by combining a supernatural story with Alfred Hitchcock's propensity for finding normality horrific. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, (more)
- 1967
The starship Enterprise arrives at Star Base 11 after having sustained severe damage from an ion storm, which has also resulted in the death of one crewmember, Lt. Comdr. Ben Finney. An examination of the ship's computer log shows that, contrary to his own account, Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) apparently violated regulations by prematurely jetisoning the ion pod in which Finney was stationed. Rumors start to spread that, despite the supposed friendship between the two men, Finney nursed a grudge against Kirk -- which the captain knew about -- derived from an incident during their service together years earlier and the fact that Kirk had moved past the older officer to become a starship commander. Based on the computer record, the star base commander, Commodore Stone (Percy Rodriguez), believes Kirk to be guilty of either negligence or something worse, and urges him to resign for the good of the service. Kirk, however, insists on a full court martial that will either clear him or destroy his career. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- 1967
Long before he scored with the epic Ragtime, novelist E.L. Doctorow wrote a minor novel upon which this stark 1967 film is based. It was adapted for the screen by veteran western director Burt Kennedy. In a forlorn town called Hard Times in the Old West, a cowardly mayor, Will Blue (Henry Fonda), does little to protect the citizens from the rampages of a ruthless criminal known as The Man from Bodie (Aldo Ray). The cold-blooded killer gets away with murder -- and then he burns down the town as he leaves. The citizens rebuild, and a newcomer named Zar (Keenan Wynn) injects some life into the desolate place by opening a saloon that attracts a bevy of interesting women, including Molly Riordan (Janice Rule) and Adah (Janice Paige). However, things again look bleak when The Man from Bodie returns to town. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry Fonda, Janice Rule, (more)
- 1966
In this episode from The Man from U.N.C.L.E. series, the two good guy spies must stop a criminal mastermind from altering the course of the Gulf Stream. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1966
Bonanza closed out its seventh season on May 15, 1966 with the comic episode "A Dollar's Worth of Trouble." Gypsy palm reader Mme. Adella (Mabel Albertson predicts that Hoss Cartwright's life will soon accommodate a blue-eyed blonde, a moonshiner, and a murderous gunslinger. As these prognostications come true in the form of blue-eyed Kathleen Walker (Sally Kellerman) and booze-brewing John Walker (Elisha Cook Jr.), Hoss nervously gears himself for his inevitable confrontation with gun-wielding Craig Bonner (Hampton Fancher III). This episode was written by Robert L. Goodwin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, (more)
- 1964
Reba Burgess (Audrey Totter) has managed to keep her late husband's mining company alive by securing big bank loans, using a shoebox full of uncut diamonds as collateral. All this may come to an end when Carl Bascom (Jeff Corey) appears out of nowhere, claiming to have a written agreement that gives him half of the mine. Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) enters the scene when Bascom is killed with a weapon owned by Reba. This episode is topheavy with familiar character actors in the supporting cast, including Elisha Cook Jr. (The Maltese Falcon), Bruce Bennett (Treasure of the Sierra Madre), Ben Johnson (The Last Picture Show) and Roy Barcroft (who showed up in virtually every Republic serial and western ever made!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1964
In this experimental mystery film, a young woman is arrested for killing a burglar. A lovesick detective gets her acquitted. Later her older sister vanishes. Her cruel father gets even worse and so she runs away to the zoo where she falls into the bear exhibit. Just before she is to become a grizzly's tasty snack, the woman is rescued. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1964
In this western, the sole survivor of an Apache ambush rides out to save a young boy who has been captured. The hero was a captured outlaw en route to his trial. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
This charming tale is about a young girl's father and his slightly erratic behavior after sampling a refreshing alcoholic beverage. Although Papa Jack Griffith (Jackie Gleason) never appears to be drunk, his "delicate condition" is well known to his family. His wife is definitely unhappy over his penchant but loves him just the same. He is adored by his youngest daughter, six year old Corinne (Linda Bruhl). When he tries to buy a pony for Corinne, he not only gets the pony but the entire broken down, debt ridden circus as well. This is too much for wife Ambolyn (Glynis Johns), who packs up the kids and heads for her father's house in Texarkana. Jack follows with the entire circus in pursuit to take his loving family back home. He also hoodwinks some local investors to put money into a proposed drug store, thereby circumventing a blue law that forbids the sale of alcohol. Gleason's performance contain many fine moments that run the full spectrum of human emotions and clearly illustrates why he has deservedly been referred to as "The Great One." ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackie Gleason, Glynis Johns, (more)
- 1963
This violent, gore-filled, effective horror tale by director Robert Gordon is about a totally wacko private zoo keeper, Michael Conrad (Michael Gough) whose literal worship of the animals he tends -- especially the cat species -- starkly contrasts with his cold-blooded disregard for human life. Conrad has a mute son Carl (Rod Lauren) with a simmering Oedipal hatred, and a wife who should have left him eons ago. Whenever Conrad gets miffed with anyone coming a little too close to his private affairs he simply feeds the hapless victim to the animals. It seems inevitable that if the animals do not get him, then the human species will. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Gough, Jeanne Cooper, (more)
- 1963
In this offbeat crime drama, Mafia boss Johnny Colini (Marc Lawrence) has run afoul of the law and is being deported back to his native Sicily. Colini is not at all happy about this, and after he saves the life of a young thug, Johnny Giordano (Henry Silva), he knows the perfect way for Giordano to pay him back. Colini teaches Giordano the fine art of being a hit man, then sends him to America as Johnny Cool, with a long list of people who he believes informed on him to the police. Johnny Cool begins knocking off Colini's old enemies with a brutal violence that betrays the cool detachment of his personality; along the way, he meets Dare Guinness (Elizabeth Montgomery), a beautiful but promiscuous woman with whom Johnny falls in love. Several gangsters wanting to stop Johnny Cool's reign of terror rough up Dare as a warning to the hit man, but this only serves to make him all the more bloodthirsty. Produced in part by Peter Lawford, Johnny Cool features an interesting variety of notables as Johnny's associates and victims, including Telly Savalas, Mort Sahl, Joey Bishop, Jim Backus, and Sammy Davis, Jr., who also sings the theme song. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry Silva, Elizabeth Montgomery, (more)
- 1963
Taking on the alias of Jim Fowler, fugitive Richard Kimble (David Janssen) finds work as a delivery man in a farming community. Unfortunately, he runs afoul of little Jenny Ammory (Gina Gillespie) a compulsive liar who accuses Kimble of trying to assault her. The only person in the community who believes in Kimble's innocence is schoolteacher Emily Norton (Patricia Crowley), who is jealously shunned by the local ladies because of her beauty. Later on, the spiteful Gina claims that Kimble and Emily are having an affair--and when Kimble steps forward to defend the beleagured teacher, he finds himself facing a lynch mob. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1963
The Haunted Palace is a witches' brew of stories written by Edgar Allan Poe and H. P. Lovecraft--with the fine hand of sinister scenarist Charles Beaumont stirring the pot. Vincent Price plays two roles this time: A New England doctor burned as a sorcerer in 1745, and the dead man's great-grandson of 1855. Arriving in the village where his grandfather was killed, Price and his bride Debra Paget are shunned by the community. They are told that the mutant progeny of the "sorcerer"'s evil experiments are still roaming the countryside--with hulking manservant Lon Chaney Jr. a good example of these monstrosities. The longer he stays in the family mansion, the more Price is taken over by the spirit of his ancestor. The result: The possessed Price, together with Chaney and a warlock assistant, set about to create a mutant race to overtake the world. Concluding with the near-sacrifice of bride Debra Paget and the torching of the mansion, The Haunted Palace is a marvelous--and economically produced--exercise in Grand Guignol. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vincent Price, Debra Paget, (more)
Western bandit Kid Rio (Marlon Brando) is betrayed by his partner, Dad Longworth (Karl Malden). Escaping from prison, Rio learns that Longworth has become a wealthy and influential lawman. Rio thirsts for revenge, but bides his time, waiting for the right moment to strike. In the meantime, Rio spitefully seduces Longworth's adopted daughter, Louisa (Pina Pellicer). After killing a man in self-defense, Rio is publicly whipped by the powerful Longworth. When Rio's old gang accidentally kills a child during another holdup, Longworth has the perfect excuse to eliminate the troublesome Rio once and for all by hanging him. But that's not what happens at all. Stripped to its fundamentals, One-Eyed Jacks is a workable Western, worthy of perhaps 90 minutes' running time. But when Marlon Brando succeeded Stanley Kubrick in the director's chair, he allowed the film's 60-day shooting schedule to stretch into six months, and delivered a finished product running in excess of four hours. The current 141-minute version of One-Eyed Jacks isn't as ponderous as some critics have claimed, but it's still too much of a good thing. While Brando the director isn't precisely in the Kubrick class, Brando the actor delivers one of his finest and most focused performances (though he is upstaged throughout by Karl Malden). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, (more)
- 1960
This is a low-budget, standard drama by Charles Haas (his last film) in which a father investigates the mysterious death of his son in a military school. Steven Conway (Mickey Rooney) never knew his son who was raised by the ex-Mrs. Conway after their divorce. The son had been enrolled in a hard-as-nails military school, a place of last resort for delinquents of wealthy families unable to straighten out in any other way. Once he learns of his son's death, Conway goes to the school and comes up against a stone wall when he tries to find out how he died. As his investigation raises dangerous confrontations with school authorities it becomes more than apparent that his son was murdered. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mickey Rooney, Terry Moore, (more)
- 1960
An expose on campus sex provides the basis of this bizarre film made in 1960. A college professor is taking the survey which focuses upon the sexual habits of the students. Unfortunately, some people object and bring him up on charges of indecency. The film climaxes with his trial. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve Allen, Jayne Meadows, (more)
Set in an isolated, snow-covered town in the far West, this story has a renegade army officer named Jack Bruhn (Burl Ives) and his henchmen riding into the town threatening their worst to the men and women there. Blaise Starrett (Robert Ryan) decides to agree to Bruhn's demands for someone knowledgeable to lead them away from the law and the town, to safety. Mortally wounded himself, Bruhn opts to take Starrett up on his offer in one last act of generosity toward the townspeople, sparing them the mayhem threatened by his men. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Ryan, Burl Ives, (more)
- 1958
The Hargrove Finance Company has been robbed and Frank Anderson (James Anderson) lies dead. Identified by witnesses as one of the robbers, old Pop Renzi (Eduardo Ciannelli) is accused of murder. At the behest of Renzi's little grandson Nicky (Bobby Clark), Perry (Raymond Burr) agrees to handle Pop's defense--which proves a formidable task indeed, thanks to the obstreperous attitude of the dead man's sexy widow Iris (Nita Talbot). Veteran movie "gunsel" Elisha Cook Jr. appears in this episode, which was directed by the prolific Buzz Kulik. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A perennial favorite of the "Shock Theatre" TV circuit, House on Haunted Hill stars Vincent Price as sinister gent (you're surprised?) Frederick Loren, who resides in a sinister mansion on a sinister hill, where seven murders have occurred. He makes a proposal to several strangers, offtering $10,000 to anyone who can last the entire night. Loren festively gives each of his guests a tiny coffin containing a loaded handgun, designed to protect them from the spooks that emerge in the house over the course of the night. The picture hinges on its surprise ending, which packs in several by-now-familiar twists. When originally released to theaters, House on Haunted Hill was accompanied by one of those gimmicks so beloved of producer/director William Castle: the gimmick was "Emergo," and it involved a prop skeleton that "emerged" from the side of the screen at a crucial moment to frighten the audience. Like most of Castle's best films, House didn't really need the gimmick, but its presence added to the fun -- especially when second- and third-time viewers responded to "Emergo" by bombarding the skeleton with popcorn and empty soda bottles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vincent Price, Carol Ohmart, (more)
- 1957
Chicago Confidential may not have been the best of the late-1950s "expose" films, but it certainly boasted one of the most impressive casts. Based on the factual best-seller by Jack Lait and Lee Mortimer, the film stars Brian Keith as a State Attorney who vows to bring corrupt Chicago union officials to justice. It turns out that the union crooks are in cahoots with a gambling syndicate, conspiring to frame uncooperative union leader Dick Foran for murder. With the considerable assistance of his coworker-fiancee Beverly Garland, Keith strives to prove Foran's innocence and punish the genuine miscreants. Crucial to the plotline is nightclub comedian Buddy Lewis, cast as an impressionist who helps to frame the troublesome Foran; also in the cast are such crime-flick perennials as Elisha Cook Jr., Paul Langton, Douglas Kennedy, Jack Lambert, John Indrisano, Phyllis Coates, and Thomas B. Henry. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brian Keith, Beverly Garland, (more)
- 1957
Boris Karloff amiably walks through his undemanding starring role in Voodoo Island. Lensed in Hawaii, the film casts Karloff as Phillip Knight, a professional skeptic who enjoys skewering those who believe in the supernatural. Accompanied by his secretary, Sara (Beverly Adams), Knight arrives on a tiny Pacific island to disprove claims that a voodoo curse has invested itself in the community. After several horrible murders, however, it looks as though there really is voodoo activity in the region. Characters essential to the action are Elisha Cook Jr. as a zombie-fied petty thief, and a rather surly carnivorous plant! Some prints of Voodoo Island have eliminated a subplot involving lesbian interior decorator Claire Winter (Jean Engstrom). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Boris Karloff, Beverly Tyler, (more)
