Gene Palmer Movies
- 1971
Some prisoners pin their hopes for freedom on a homemade aircraft in this made-for-television thriller. Based on a true World War Two story, Doug McClure stars as Harry Cook, an Allied soldier who tries to escape a Nazi prison camp with a scientist in tow, using a glider built by their fellow inmates. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
- 1971
- PG
The British fleet is enroute to North Africa to engage the Germans, and the best port for them to use is Tobruk. There, they have problems: Germans occupy Tobruk, and have fortified it with devastating heavy artillery which would prevent a British landing. The original scheme for sabotaging the guns, by using British commandos planted behind the lines as prisoners of war, has gone awry. Posing as a Nazi officer, the man who was to lead the attack (Richard Burton) arrives at the rendezvous point, but all he finds are genuine prisoners of war, all of them sick, accompanied by their medics who are pacifists. A great many British lives hang in the balance, and a failure here could affect the outcome of the entire Second World War. Somehow, he must make use of these unlikely recruits to carry out the raid. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1969
- PG
This routine western finds Gannon (Tony Franciosa) as a lone drifter on the Kansas plains. He never looks for any trouble because trouble always manages to find him. Gannon takes on a young Eastern dude named Jess (Michael Sarrazin) and teaches him the ropes of being a cowboy. The two end up in conflict with the widow Beth (Judy West) when she desires to erect a barbed wire fence to corral the cattle. The widow also wishes to corral Gannon before he is befriended by Mattie (Susan Oliver), the local hooker with a heart of gold. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Franciosa, Michael Sarrazin, (more)
- 1968
This military comedy finds chief petty officer Doc Willoughby (Doug McClure) on board the submarine U.S.S. Bustard. He spends the majority of his off-duty time chasing women, getting in fights and trying to stay one step ahead of the irascible commanding officer. He scatters cockroaches in the captain's quarters in an attempt to gain shore leave to make time with a pretty female. Nancy Kwan is the Japanese nurse who is his love interest, and James Whitmore is the infuriated commander who suspects but is unable to pin anything on the resourceful CPO. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bea Bradley, Steve Carlson, (more)
- 1968
Schuyler (Kirk Douglas) is a hard-boiled detective who turns in his badge when he believes the criminals are being handled with kid gloves and too much respect. He is hired by prominent attorney Fredericks (Eli Wallach) as a bodyguard for his client Rena (Sylva Koscina), who is accused of murdering her husband. Her playboy boyfriend Fleming (Kenneth Haigh) is also under suspicion. Schuylur keeps one eye on his beautiful suspect while trying to uncover more information about the murder. Fredericks displays a disarming, folksy nature which belies his shrewdness. The detective soon comes to believe that Rena is being framed for the murder. Singer Jackie Wilson delivers the song "A Lovely Way To Die" during the opening credits of this murder mystery. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kirk Douglas, Sylva Koscina, (more)
- 1967
Never once does Bobby Darin sing "Mack the Knife" or "Splish Splash" in Gunfight in Abilene. Instead, he plays a peaceable western sheriff, determined to stave off an outlaw invasion. The head outlaw is Leslie Nielsen, which makes this film very hard to watch with a straight face these days. The Universal City backlot gets a good workout in the blood-spattered finale of Gunfight in Abilene, which barely made the theatrical rounds before entrenching itself on late night television. The film should not be confused with Gunfighters of Abilene, a 1960 oater starring Buster Crabbe. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bobby Darin, Emily Banks, (more)
- 1967
The movie opens as two outlaws are just being rescued from being hung as thieves by an old friend. They go their separate ways, but keep running into each other across the country on their way to California as they alternately are on the good and bad side of the law. Their rescuer becomes the infamous "Black Bandit," the nemesis of the Wells Fargo line, they work for the line and have to protect it. They decide to rob the line.... ad infinitum. Good working relationship between the actors makes this a much more comfortable movie than it might have been with the hackneyed plot line. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Lord, James Farentino, (more)
- 1965
Frank Puglia reprises his 1944 role as Prince Cassim for this remake of the Arabian Nights adventure. Ali Baba (Peter Mann) battles against the Mongol invaders and fights for the woman he loves. Footage from the 1944 feature is used to tie the stories together. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Mann, Jocelyn Lane, (more)
- 1963
In this western, an ex-officer for the confederate Army becomes a Texas cattle rancher. He and his fellow ranchers are dismayed when they learn that the coming railroad intends on bypassing their ranches. The rancher then leaves his land to begin fighting the railroad. Meanwhile the railroad executives have hired Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill Cody, and Calamity Jane to defend their decision against the rancher and his guerrilla gang. When the marauders are finally surrounded by the Army and it looks as if they will die, the three western legends suddenly ride in to save them. They then all band together to convince the railroad that the Texas ranchers desperately need their services. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1957
Future "Master of Disaster" Irwin Allen produced this curious but inarguably fascinating adaptation of Henrik Willem Van Loon's best- selling historical volume. A Celestial Tribunal has been convened to decide the fate of the Earth after the invention of nuclear weapons, with The Devil (Vincent Price) and The Spirit of Man (Ronald Colman) debating if humankind should be allowed to continue or be exterminated once and for all. Both men present examples of human behavior at its best and worst, including Dennis Hopper as Napoleon, Hedy Lamarr as Joan of Arc, Virginia Mayo as Cleopatra, Peter Lorre as Nero, Edward Everett Horton as Sir Walter Raleigh, and Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, and Chico Marx as, respectively, Peter Minuit, Sir Isaac Newton, and a monk (yes, the producers had the daring and vision to cast the Marx Brothers without having them play any scenes together). The Story of Mankind proved to be the last film for both Ronald Colman and Hedy Lamarr; it was also the last time the three Marx Brothers appeared in the same film, though the individual Marxes appeared in a few films following this. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ronald Colman, Hedy Lamarr, (more)
- 1954
The 3D melodrama Dangerous Mission starts off with a bang when innocent Piper Laurie inadvertently witnesses the murder of her gangster boss. Though she doesn't get a particularly good look at the killer, she knows she's dead meat if she remains in town. Thus, Laurie skeedaddles to Montana's Glacier National Park, where most of the film takes place. Following her westward are Victor Mature and Vincent Price. One of these men is a federal agent, bound and determined to bring Laurie back to the East to testify; the other is the murderer, who intends to silence our heroine for keeps. Laurie doesn't know which is which, but the audience does. A bit poky at times (thanks in part to the uninspired editing of Gene Palmer), Dangerous Mission roars into life during a mid-film forest fire and a climactic chase through the glacier fields. Featured in the cast are William Bendix as a Montana ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor Mature, Piper Laurie, (more)
- 1953
RKO Radio's second 3D production, Devil's Canyon is a combination western and jail-break picture. The scene is Arizona Territorial Prison, wherein 500 desperate men are incarcerated. The inmates become even more desperate when female outlaw Abby Nixon (Virginia Mayo) is likewise locked up. As the prisoners draw up plans to escape, Abby is attracted to handsome but psychotic ringleader Jessie Gorman (Stephen McNally)--and to U.S. marshal Billy Reynolds (Dale Robertson), who is serving time for manslaughter. The climactic bust-out threatens to get out of hand until the marshal calms things down with a Gatling gun. Available for many years only in washed-out black-and-white prints, the original color version of Devil's Canyon was finally telecast over the American Movie Classics cable service in the late 1980s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Virginia Mayo, Dale Robertson, (more)
