Wade Crosby Movies

Cliff Robertson wrote, produced, directed and acted the lead in this film about a rodeo performer. The rodeo footage in this film was shot at actual rodeo competitions. Rodeo rider J.W. Coop (Robertson) has just spent ten years in jail for passing bad checks. He comes out and discovers that everything except his crazy mother (Geraldine Page) has changed. Riders don't compete in all-around events anymore, but fly all over the country in private planes to compete in the same event in several rodeos a day. Furthermore, the sexual liberation movement has changed the way women relate to men. He is nonplused to discover a hippyish woman (Cristina Ferrare) who wants a no-strings relationship with him. The idea of health food catches him by surprise, too. Coop wants and needs to win a national rodeo championship, despite all the new challenges he faces. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

"Arizona Cowboy" Rex Allen heads the cast of Republic's Old Overland Trail. Rex plays an operative for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, assigned to pacify a disgruntled Apache tribe. Villain John Anchor (Roy Barcroft), a railroad contractor, has been stirring up trouble with the Indians as part of a complex scheme to build a spur line at slave-labor wages. Making things difficult for Rex is the fact that his wayward brother Jim (Gil Herman) has joined Anchor's gang. Of interest to audiences of the 1990s is the presence of Leonard Nimoy, here cast as Apache chief Black Hawk. Despite the surfeit of action in Old Overland Trail, Rex Allen finds time to sing three tunes. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Daniel Mainwaring took this story right out of the headlines of the day, penning this true story of a mass murderer who was eventually executed in San Quentin's gas chamber. Released during McCarthy's witch-hunt, Mainwaring was not given credit because Howard R. Hughes, who produced it under RKO, refused to give credit to any "radicals." The story is that of two men on a fishing trip who pick up a hitchhiker. He turns out to be a sadistic psychopath who has committed multiple murders, a sociopath who hates humanity because of his own abuse as a child. He also has an affliction which terrifies these two men: an eye which is permanently open, thereby never allowing them to know if he is really asleep or just faking it--something which he does with regularity to scare them...letting them take off and then meeting up with them just as they feel they have escaped from him. A tense thriller skillfully directed by the only female director of the time, Ida Lupino, it is a suspenseful tale of terror on the highways. ~ Tana Hobart, Rovi

A handful of strangers are suddenly thrown together as America goes face-to-face against the Communist threat in this curious example of Cold War exploitation. A few people are enjoying drinks in a Manhattan cocktail lounge - television reporter Vince Potter (Gerald Mohr), vacationing tractor tycoon George Sylvester (Robert Bice), cattle baron Ed Mulfory (Erik Blythe), Congressman Arthur Harroway) (Wade Crosby), aimless party girl Carla Sandford (Peggie Castle), and cheerfully dunderheaded bartender Tim (Tom Kennedy). As they discuss the state of the world and their disinterest with U.S. defense and paying taxes, one Mr. Ohman (Dan O'Herlihy) begins swirling his brandy snifter, and before long the other patrons are lulled into a hypnotic state, where they're given a sneak preview of what to expect when an unnamed Communist nation invades the West Coast. Mulfory is able to return home just in time to see his ranch flooded by enemy sabotage, armed troops take over Sylvester's factory, the Congressman watches as Reds seize power, and the suddenly patriotic Carla falls in love with Vince as he covers the brave but futile resistance dished out by our ill-equipped and poorly-prepared military forces. Spectacularly paranoid and loaded with often tattered stock footage, Invasion USA was shot in a mere seven days on a budget of $127,000, and ended up earning its producers well over a million dollars upon its initial release in 1952. Superman fans take note: Phyllis Coates and Noel Neill, both of whom played Lois Lane in the 50's television series The Adventures of Superman, appear in Invasion USA's supporting cast. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Valley of Fire is a fairly gutsy title for this formula Gene Autry western. This time, Autry plays the reform-minded mayor of a wide-open western town. The villain of the piece, Tod Rawlings (Harry Lauter), decides to undermine Gene by convincing a band of disreputable miners to hijack a wagon train which is bringing mail-order brides into the community. Fortunately, the community's "good" miners thwart Rawling's plan and claim the brides for themselves (fear not: the ladies are more than willing to be claimed). One of Rawling's partners in crime is played by Russell Hayden, who only a few months earlier had been the clean-cut hero of Lippert's "Four Star Western" series. Once again, Gene Autry's feminine vis-a-vis in Valley of Fire is Gail Davis, who went on to star in TV's Annie Oakley. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Streets of Laredo is a streamlined and Technicolorful remake of Paramount's 1936 box-office champ The Texas Rangers. William Holden, William Bendix and MacDonald Carey star as roguish outlaws Jim Dawkins, Wahoo Jones and Lorn Remming. After rescuing a little girl named Rannie Carter from a wicked tax collector, Dawkins and Jones decide to switch to the right side of the law; Remming, however, has other ideas. Years later, Rennie has grown up quite prettily into Mona Freeman, while Jim and Wahoo have become scrupulous members of the newly-formed Texas Rangers. Jim is in love with Rennie, but she has eyes for the still-crooked Lorn -- at least until Lorn proves to be the louse that the audience knew he was from the first reel. Streets of Laredo meticulously recreates the most famous scene from Texas Rangers, wherein one of the film's more sympathetic characters is abruptly shot to death from under a table; the scene still works, though it packed a bigger wallop in the original. Alfonso Bedoya, the "I don't have to show you any stinking badges" bandit from Treasure of the Sierra Madre, is appropriately menacing as the tax collector. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Also known as Reign of Terror, The Black Book is a bold effort by director Anthony Mann to film a French Revolution epic on a "B" detective picture budget. Robert Cummings stars as Charles D'Aubigny, who has been engaged by a group of political moderates to retrieve a little black book from Revolutionary leader Robespierre (Richard Basehart). The book allegedly contains evidence that Robespierre has been acting in his own interest rather than on behalf of the new government. D'Aubigny is compelled to deal with the tangible threat of Robespierre's chief henchman (Charles McGraw) as well as his uncertainty concerning the loyalties of those working with him. The Black Book is retrieved, but not before Robespierre has self-destructed on his own. The cheapness of The Black Book works in its favor, especially its overuse of shadows; while this photographic device was intended to disguise the seediness of the sets, it accurately conveys a "dark" period in French history that here is literally as well as figuratively dark. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this western, an amiable cowpoke rides into town to help the daughter of a stagecoach operator whose business is being destroyed by a wicked banker and his crooks. Naturally, the villains object to the hero's actions and frame him, but not before they jail him and beat him senseless. Fortunately, the tough saddle-tramp quickly recovers and brings the crooks to justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Ralph Byrd returns to the character he had originated ten years earlier in the serial Dick Tracy. This time, Chester Gould's immortal comic strip hero is called in to handle a fur theft. The owner of Flawless Furs, Humphreys (Charles Marsh), has just signed on with the Honesty Insurance Company whose investigator, Cudd (Al Bridge), made him change the combination to the vault. The insurance policy --as the head of Honesty, Peter Premium (William B. Davidson), explains -- holds the company liable if the stolen furs haven't been recovered within 24 hours of the theft. The trail leads to Longshot Lily (Bernadene Hayes), a would-be fence who is promptly arrested. But when Tracy's snitch, Sightless (Jimmy Conlin), is found brutally murdered, the detective realizes that he has more than a simple fur theft on his hands. With the help of master thespian Vitamin Flintheart (Ian Keith) and ever-present sidekick Pat Patton (Lyle Latell), Tracy follows a series of clues that leads him to a deserted junkyard and a fateful confrontation with fiendish killer "the Claw" (Jack Lambert). Dick Tracy's Dilemma was followed by Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947), after which RKO retired the series. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

In the RKO swashbuckler Sinbad the Sailor, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. nostalgically emulates his famous father. The first seven voyages of Sinbad have come and gone: now he is on an eighth mission, in search of the island where Alexander the Great allegedly hid his treasure. Participants in the proceedings are the incredibly gorgeous Maureen O'Hara as a feisty princess, Walter Slezak as a duplicitous green-skinned barber, George Tobias and Mike Mazurki as two of Sinbad's faithful seamen, and Anthony Quinn as the villain of villains, who meets a suitably fiery demise. If the plot seems well nigh impossible to follow at times, you can always wallow in the splendiferous Technicolor and the eye-popping stunt work of Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (and, it must be admitted, his uncredited stunt double). Budgeted at nearly $3 million, Sinbad the Sailor was one of the few postwar RKO flicks to post a profit. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Abbott & Costello western spoof The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap is predicated on an actual Montana law of the 19th century, which dictated that if a man killed another in a gun duel, that man was responsible for the care and support of the victim's family. The film gets under way with an introductory title: "MONTANA: Where Men Are Men? With Two Exceptions." Those exceptions are travelling salesmen Duke (Bud Abbott) and Chester (Lou Costello), freshly arrived in the wide-open western town of Wagon Gap. No sooner has Chester reached Main Street than he is falsely arrested for the murder of Hawkins, the town layabout. He and Duke are spared the hangman's noose when the genially corrupt Judge Benbow (George Cleveland) reminds the jury that Chester is now responsible for Hawkins' debts and family. In short order, Chester is moved bag and baggage into the ramshackle home of the rowdy Widow Hawkins (Marjorie Main) and her brood of seven noisy children. Forced to do all the chores around the Widow's home, poor Chester must also put in overtime at Jake Frame's (Gordon Jones) saloon to pay off Hawkins' debts. While the crafty Duke tries to figure out various methods of extricating Chester from his dilemma, the Widow uses all of her wiles to get Chester to propose marriage to her. The plot goes off on a new tangent when it is discovered that none of the town desperadoes are willing to shoot down Chester, lest they inherit the Widow and her brats. Emboldened by his "untouchable" status, Chester swaggers around town striking fear in the hearts of the local menfolk, bosses Duke around for a change, and is even appointed sheriff! Alas, his invulnerability comes to an abrupt end when it turns out that the Hawkins spread is the most valuable property in town, thereby making Widow Hawkins the territory's most eligible bachelorette. The story comes to an uproarious conclusion when Chester and Jake Frame confront each other in a "high noon" gun duel. Incredibly, screenwriters D.D. Beauchamp and William Bowers originally intended The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap as a vehicle for James Stewart! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

If Grecian storyteller Aesop really did exist, he was most likely a black slave. He wasn't an Austrian actor with an Egyptian name, but that's who played him in A Night in Paradise. Turhan Bey portrays the fable-spouting Aesop, who tries to escape his bondage by disguising himself as an old man. It is at the lavish court of King Croesus that the greyed-up Aesop first meets luscious Grecian princess Merle Oberon. The low-born talespinner is smitten, and determines to win the princess for his very own. Moral: If Universal buys a novel by George S. Hellman titled The Peacock's Feather, transforms it into a picture called A Night in Paradise, and appoints onetime Abbott and Costello cohort Arthur Lubin as director, you know what you're in for. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi