Halsted Welles Movies
- 1974
In a daring daylight robbery, two criminals steal $20,000,000 in Wall Street securities, killing a man as they escape. Lt. Kojak (Telly Savalas) determines that the best way to bring the thieve out in the open is to dangle an attractively baited hook. The highlight of this episode is Kojak's bravura impersonation of a billionaire Greek tycoon (not named Onassis, but the hints are there). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
New York City is held in thrall by a serial killer known as Excalibur, who rapes and strangles unmarried women, then tosses them in the river--but not before marking their heads with a design resembling the sword of King Arthur. After several months' activity, Excalibur is back in business, and Kojak (Telly Savalas) is determined to put him away. But is it really Excalibur who has resumed the killing spree, or a demented copycat? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1968
Two former World War II pilots take to running an air-freight company in South Africa after the war. They get mixed up with Lee Harris (Harry Guardino), the dangerous black-market crime boss who flaunts his beautiful mistress Elana (Claudia Cardinale). Brynie (Rod Taylor) and Mike (Peter Deuel) are the former ace flyboys who get on the wrong side of Harris and his henchmen. The action starts at Al Poland's (William Marshall), a favorite watering hole where everyone has one ear on the live music as the other listens to the next sordid smuggling plan hatched by shadowy underworld types. Harris and his gun-wielding thugs mean to bring down the high-flying operation. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rod Taylor, Claudia Cardinale, (more)
- 1967
The Long Ride Home is the British title for the Columbia Civil War western A Time for Killing. The stars are Glenn Ford, a regular of sagebrushers, and Inger Stevens, a relative newcomer to the genre who between 1967-1970 made up for lost time with such films as Hang 'Em High and Firecreek. Ford is Union POW camp commander Major Walcott who rides out to capture escaped Confederate prisoner Captain Bentley (George Hamilton). Bentley and his men have kidnapped Walcott's fiancee Emily Biddle (Stevens) to assure themselves safe passage, but several of the escaped Rebs hope to divest themselves of Bentley and have their way with their beautiful captive. Among the troops is a very young Harrison Ford, collecting his meager Columbia contract paycheck and hoping for better days. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenn Ford, George C. Scott, (more)
- 1962
After being injured in a train wreck, salesman Pedro Siqueras (David Opatoshu) is told by a doctor that he will never walk again. But after spending time in a wheelchair, Siqueras discovers that he has regained the use of his legs. However, he does not reveal this recovery, having already collected a sizeable insurance settlement. Ultimately tiring of faking paralysis, Siqueras concocts a scheme whereby he can undergo a "miraculous" cure -- a scheme that involves the unwitting aid of a genuine paraplegic named Maria (Miriam Colon). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
Seeking emotional and financial security, young Elisa Minden (Antoinette Bower) marries the wealthy, and considerably older, Sir Humphrey J. Orford (Michael Rennie). Before long, however, Elisa has reason to regret her decision -- especially when evidence surfaces indicating that Sir Humphrey, a widower, used torture to keep his first wife from cheating on him. But this is nothing compared to the double-barrelled shock Elisa receives upon meeting an ominously silent woman named Flora (Shirley O'Hara). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1960
Alfred Hitchcock Presents moved from its familiar Sunday-night slot on CBS to a new Tuesday-night berth for rival network NBC to launch its sixth season with this amusingly ironic tale from the pen of frequent series contributor Roald Dahl. Audrey Meadows adroitly suppresses her familiar "Alice Kramden" characterization in the role of Mrs. Bixby, the pampered -- and faithless -- wife of a prosperous doctor (Les Tremayne). When Mrs. Bixby's latest paramour, a colonel (Stephen Chase), decides to break off their relationship, he gives her a costly mink coat as a parting gift. Not wanting to have her husband find out how she really got the coat, Mrs. Bixby works out an elaborate subterfuge involving a "found" pawn ticket. But it turns out that Dr. Bixby is not entirely above a bit of subterfuge himself! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1960
Based on a short story by John Cheever, this episode stars Gary Merrill as suburbanite Cash Bentley, who despite his business success prefers to bask in his past glory as a college hurdling champ. While at a country club dance, Cash accepts a challenge to run a race with another, much younger man. Fearing for her husband's health, Cash's wife Louise (Patricia Breslin) tries to talk him out of the challenge, but he refuses to listen -- an act of stubbornness for which he will soon pay dearly. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
Gary Cooper plays a frontier doctor with a checkered past who works in a rowdy Montana mining camp. Cooper falls in love with Maria Schell, a young Swiss girl whom he has treated for shock after she was the victim of a holdup. He finances Schell's grubstake, which makes her rich. When Schell's unscrupulous partner Karl Malden tries to have his way with the girl, Cooper kills Malden. Sentenced to an immediate hanging, Cooper is saved when Schell offers to give the town her valuable mine. A surprise hit in 1959, The Hanging Tree was based on an award-winning novel by Dorothy M. Johnson. The film not only yielded a hit theme song by Mack David and Jerry Livingston, but also served as the film debut of George C. Scott, who plays Cooper's doctor predecessor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Cooper, Maria Schell, (more)
- 1959
Botany teacher Norman Logan (Dick York) is surprised to find that his bank account is short 200 dollars. Reporting this loss as an error, Norman confronts officious clerk Mr. Tritt (Philip Coolidge), who insists that the bank never, but never, makes a mistake. To prove Tritt wrong, and to extract a personal vengeance, Norman decides to get his money back by way of a nocturnal robbery -- with the "dusty drawer" of the title figuring prominently in the outcome of the story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
This 1959 episode is set in "the future" -- precisely, July 13, 1980. Worn to a frazzle by his domineering old mother-in-law, John Treadwell (Henry Jones) joins the Society of Gerontology, an organization dedicated to eliminating those people who have lived too long to suit the younger members. Unfortunately, Treadwell learns from another member named Bunce (Dick York) that his worries won't end with his mother-in-law's demise. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
Another of the handful of Playhouse 90 dramas that were filmed rather than telecast "live", "Homeward Borne" is based on a novel by actress Ruth Chatterton. Upon returning from war duty, fighter pilot Bob Lyttleton (Richard Kiley) is surprised to discover that his has a new son. Actually, the boy is a European war orphan, adopted by Bob's wife Meg (Linda Darnell). Though Meg loves the boy unconditionally, Bob resents the child's presence, since it conjures up painful memories of his years in combat. Richard Eyer, a child actor best known for his roles in such theatrical features as The Desperate Hours and Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, is cast as Tommy Lyttleton. In 1958, Homeward Borne was released in syndication as part of a Screen Gems feature-film package, thereby obscuring its TV roots. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Linda Darnell, Richard Kiley, (more)
- 1949
Barbara Stanwyck plays a woman whose addiction to gambling all but ruins her life. Stanwyck's husband Robert Preston tries to stand by her side, but even he is driven away by her gambling mania. Stanwyck lies, cheats and steals in order to raise capital for her addiction, descending from comparative wealth to grinding poverty in the process. Eventually she is reduced to gambling for penny-ante stakes in back alleys, before she is rescued by her still-faithful spouse. The Lady Gambles includes an appearance by young Tony Curtis, in the bit role of a helpful bellhop. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Preston, (more)
Russell Crowe plays a desperado whose accomplices stage an ambush after he is taken into custody by a determined local sheriff in this remake of the 1957 film starring Glenn Ford and Van Heflin. James Mangold directs a script based on the Elmore Leonard short story and penned by Stuart Beattie, Michael Brandt, and Derek Haas. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, (more)
Desperate for money, frontier rancher Van Heflin holds outlaw Glenn Ford at gunpoint, intending to collect the $200 reward. While both men await the train to Yuma that will escort Ford to prison, the cagey outlaw offers Heflin $10,000 if he'll set Ford free. The rest of the film is a sweat-inducing cat-and-mouse game between captive and captor, interrupted with bursts of violence from both Ford's gang (commandeered by Richard Jaeckel) and the vacillating townsfolk. 3:10 to Yuma is one of the best of the character-driven "psychological" westerns of the 1950s. Its only flaw is Ford's unconvincing character turnaround towards the end. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenn Ford, Van Heflin, (more)
