Sam Rolfe Movies

The made-for-TV Climb an Angry Mountain revives the reliable "country cop vs city cop" concept, with Fess Parker and Barry Nelson on either side of the argument. New York City officer Nelson wants to use state-of-art methods to track down a fugitive Indian criminal (played by former football star Joe Kapp) who is hiding out on California's Mount Shasta. Local rancher/sheriff Parker wants to handle the case on his own, since his son (Clay O'Brien) is the fugitive's hostage. The rival authority figures eventually come to the "united we stand" understanding in trailing their quarry. Climb an Angry Mountain benefits mightily from extensive location shooting. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One of the best and most fondly remembered of the classic black-and-white adult Westerns, Have Gun, Will Travel starred Richard Boone as a gunslinger for hire who traveled under the name of Paladin. Headquartered at the Hotel Carlton in San Francisco, the college-educated Paladin spent his leisure hours pursuing the finer things in life: gourmet food, vintage wines, classical music, the best literature...and, of course, the most beautiful women on the West Coast. But whenever his professional services were called upon by a potential client, Paladin would slap on leather and issue forth his famous business card: "Have Gun, Will Travel. Wire Paladin, San Francisco" (the card was, of course, embossed with the image of a chess knight, or paladin). On the job, Paladin ritualistically dressed in black, his pearl-handled revolvers ever at the ready. Though he tended to operate outside and sometimes above the law, Paladin was scrupulously honest, adhering to a rigid code of honor. This, however, did not prevent him from verbally assaulting clients who had lied to or misled him -- which happened more than once in the course of his perambulations throughout the West. Once the job was done (usually by filling the villain of the week full of holes), Paladin bade farewell to those he had helped and rode back to San Francisco alone...always alone. If he felt particularly poetic, Paladin would mutter a few words of Shakespeare, appropriate to the occasion. Although Richard Boone was the only regular who appeared on each episode, Kam Tong was frequently seen as Hey Boy, the Hotel Carlton's best bellhop and Paladin's unofficial general factotum. Some episodes featured Lisa Lu as Hey Boy's female counterpart, a maid who answered to Hey Girl. Many of the series' episodes were written by such top-rank talent as Irving Wallace and Gene Roddenberry, while among the directors were Lewis Milestone, Andrew V. McLaglen, Buzz Kulik, and Richard Boone himself. Produced by Sam Rolfe, Have Gun, Will Travel ran on CBS for six top-rated seasons: from September 14, 1957, through September 21, 1963. The series' famous opening theme music was composed by Bernard Herrmann, while its closing theme, "The Ballad of Paladin"," was written by Richard Boone, Sam Rolfe, and Johnny Western, the latter doubling as singer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The sixth and final season of Have Gun, Will Travel opens with the series' long-overdue "origins" episode, explaining how soldier-of-fortune Paladin came to be...Paladin (though we still don't learn his real name). Richard Boone plays three roles, as the "contemporary" Paladin, his younger self, and an aging, world-weary gunfighter named Smoke. After preventing young Roderick Jefferson (James Mitchum) from killing him, Paladin learns that Jefferson isn't really a gunslinger, simply a luckless young man who'd agreed to the "hit" to pay off a gambling debt. With this, Paladin flashes back to his own youth, recalling how he too once tried to square a debt by offering to capture or kill a wily fugitive from justice. William Conrad, who directed this episode, also appears in a minor role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The title character in this episode is James Brunswick (Tom Helmore), who has left London behind to take over the Montana ranch he has inherited. Paladin (Richard Boone) is hired to guide Brunswick and his rambunctious Americanized cousin Felicia (Alix Talton) to their new property, despite the resistance of the local citizenry--and the hostility of the Native Americans in the vicinity. With Paladin's help, the Englishman ultimately wins the respect and support of his new neighbors...but it isn't easy by a long shot! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Paladin (Richard Boone) and two strangers named Fisher (James Best) and Broderick (William Schallert) find themselves the prisoners of embittered cattle baron Louis Strome (Kent Smith). Strutting around his captives, Strome explains that his wife was recently murdered--and that the suspected murderer was seen skulking around the ranch in the dead of night, dressed entirely in black. Now all three prisoners are slated to hang at sunrise, unless one of the three confesses to the murder! As the minutes agonizingly tick away, Paladin must figure out how to extricate himself from this death-trap. . .and to learn all the facts surrounding the death of Mrs. Strome. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Paladin (Richard Boone) comes to the defense of a strong-willed schoolteacher named Molly Stanton (Marian Seldes). It seems that Molly has been instructing her pupils in the facts concerning an infamous band of Civil War vigilantes, incurring the wrath of several former members of the organization who have threatened to burn the schoolhouse down unless the teacher retracts her statements. This is one of several episodes wherein Paladin surreptitiously acts as spokesman for all those blacklisted filmmakers who had been denied the right of free speech during the "Red Scare" of the 1950s. Among the child actors appearing as the schoolkids is Lana Wood, the younger sister of film star Natalie Wood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Charles Martin Smith and Don Johnson highlight the cast of this TV movie about a prostitute-stalking serial killer plaguing the Old West. Johnson and Smith play tough lawmen who set out to capture the murderer. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

In this detective adventure, the pilot episode for the short-livedTV series, suave Matt Helm gets involved with the smugglers who have been providing black market munitions to African mercenaries when he assigned to protect the life of a movie star. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Pillars of the Sky is the lyrical title bestowed upon this cinemadaptation of Will Henry's novel Frontier Fury. Jeff Chandler stars as Sgt. Emmett Bell, whose job it is to put down an Indian uprising. Since converting to Christanity, the local tribe has done its best to keep the peace. But Chief Kamiakan (Michael Ansara), understandably angered over an impending government plan to build a road through his territory, intends to break that peace, despite the strenuously pacifistic efforts of missionary Joseph Holden (Ward Bond). A subplot involves a romantic triangle between Bell, Calla Gaxton (Dorothy Malone), and Calla's husband Tom (Keith Andes), Bell's superior officer. Magnificently photographed in Technicolor, Pillars of the Sky is a better-than-average Universal oater. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When an heiress is falsely accused of the murder of her husband, she is assisted by 2 crafty criminal lawyers. ~ All Movie Guide

Next Generation's final first-run episode of 1989 premiered on November 25 of that year. Written by Sam Rolfe (whose previous credits included such prestigious TV series as Have Gun, Will Travel and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.), "The Vengeance Factor" got under way as Captain Picard attempted to mediate a bitter dispute between a band of space pirates called the Gatherers, and the ruler of their home planet, Acamar. There Picard's peace-keeping mission is imperiled by a mysterious and elusive assassin. Meanwhile, Riker falls in love with Yuta (Lisa Wilcox), the beautiful, enigmatic servant of Acamarian leader Marouk (Nancy Parsons). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Delphi Bureau was the pilot film for a short-lived TV espionage series. Lawrence Luckinbill plays an operative for a secret agency that answers only to the US President. His current mission is to locate an entire fleet of obsolete Air Force planes that have vanished without a trace. Very ordinary cold-war fare, The Delphi Bureau contains one or two neat touches, notably the cryptic poems that appear on-screen just before the commercial breaks. Celeste Holm, playing the Washington social leader who acts as Luckinbill's contact, was replaced by Anne Jeffreys when this TV movie graduated to a weekly series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide