Seeleg Lester Movies

Jockey Billy Pearson, who skyrocketed to fame by winning big-time on the 1950s TV game show The $64,000 Question, is appropriately cast in this episode--not as a game-show winner, but as a jockey named Tic Barton. Banned from the track after losing a fixed race, Tic confronts the man who arranged the fix, racketeer Johnny Starr (Don Durant), knocking him down in the process. Naturally, when Johnny turns up dead, Tic is charged with the crime. Representing Tic in court, Perry (Raymond Burr) finds that the case against his client may be insurmountable--especially when it is revealed that the jockey's avaricious wife Gloria (Barbara Lawrence) was having an affair with the dead man. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

While enmeshed in a vicious proxy war with business rival Warner Griffith (played by former western star Johnny Mack Brown), Daniel Conway (H.M.Wynant) is charged with murdering Griffith's secretary Rose Calvert (Pamela Duncan), who'd been spying on him. Agreeing to defend Conway, Perry (Raymond Burr) first tries to prove that Griffith is the guilty party, only to find out that the man has an airtight alibi. When all is said and done, Conway's fate may rest with a curious witness who is able to identify people by memorizing their shoes! This episode is based on a 1957 novel by Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Frontier peacekeeper Sheriff Galt (Sterling Hayden) faces a crisis of conscience in The Iron Sheriff. In the aftermath of a robbery-murder, Galt follows the trail of evidence directly to his own son, Benjie (Darryl Hickman). Sworn to uphold the law at all costs, Galt is grimly determined to see that Benjie will receive a fair trial without any coercion on his part. But the townsfolk have already decided that the sheriff will try to spring the boy, and a lynch-mob mentality slows festers its way through the community. As the trial proceeds, it becomes obvious that Benjie is going to hang for his alleged crime, but there's still one or two surprises in store. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ronald Reagan delivers one of his best screen performances as baseball great Grover Cleveland Alexander in The Winning Team. The title refers to the mutually supportive relationship between Alexander and his loving wife Aimee (top-billed Doris Day); with this in mind, is it any surprise that the real Aimee Alexander served as the film's technical advisor. While the basic milestones of Alexander's career are adhered to, the film is a typical Hollywood blend of fact and fancy-plenty of fancy. While playing in the minors, Alexander is is hit on the heat by a batted ball, resulting in the dizziness and double vision that would ever after plague him. After toting up a record of 28 wins with the Philadelphia Phillies, Alex is traded to the Cubs, but World War 1 intervenes. On the battlefield, Alex suffers a recurrence of his double vision; and when he plays his first postwar game with the Cubs, he collapses on the field. Warned that his seizures will persist if he doesn't retire, Alex swears the doctor to secrecy. When the dizzy spells continue, Alex turns to drink. Branded an "alky", he descends to the depths of a House of David-style team, thence to the humiliation of carnival side shows. With the help and support of both Aimee and his old pal Rogers Hornsby (Frank Lovejoy), Alex stages a spectacular comeback, striking out Yankee Tony Lazzeri during the 1926 World Series and leading his team to victory. The script rearranges the chronology of Alexander's life, suggests incorrectly that the Lazzeri strikeout was the last play in the deciding Series game, and-most amusingly-depicts the unloveable Rogers Hornsby as a 100 % sweetheart. Otherwise, The Winning Team provides an excellent showcase for Ronald Reagan-though in later years he expressed some reservations about the script, noting that, by adhering to Warner Bros' insistence that the word "epilepsy" never be spoken, the picture confused audiences as to the true nature of Alexander's affliction. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide