William Demarest

Originally released as The Wild McCulloughs, this AIP melodrama stars Forrest Tucker as J.J. McCulloch, a domineering patriarch. In their race to escape their father's overbearing influence, J.J.'s grown sons come to grief; one son dies in Korea, while another is arrested for murder. Only Gary (Chip Hand), the youngest son, manages to survive the situation. J.J. also has a daughter, played by Janice Heiden, whose romantic misadventures add more fuel to the dysfunctional flames. Costarring in The McCulloughs is Julie Adams as Tucker's long suffering wife, and former "Beverly Hillbilly" Max Baer (who also produced, directed and wrote the film) as one of Heiden's beaus. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

"Old Sheba" is a scraggly circus elephant, which the Cartwrights receive as payment for Hoss' one-night stand as a big-top performer. Ben and Adam insist that Hoss and Joe return the pachyderm, but the boys are convinced that they can take care of Old Sheba all by themselves. To make a long story short, they can't. Also appearing are William Demarest as Tweedy, Henry Kulky as Bearcat, and Clegg Hoyt as Barney. First shown on November 22, 1964, the hilarious "Old Sheba" was written by Alex Sharp. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As a repairman (Sterling Holloway) works on his malfunctioning television set, middle-aged TV addict Joe Britt (William Demarest) fusses and fumes, while his wife Phyllis (Joan Blondell) launches another of her nag sessions. Once the repairman leaves, Joe tunes in to his favorite program, only to watch in amazement as his own extramarital dalliances are recreated on the 21-inch screen. Dumbfounded, Joe continues watching, whereupon the screen is filled with images of a dire and dismal future for the battling Britts. The second of Martin M. Goldsmith's Twilight Zone scripts (and the last episode directed by Twilight Zone veteran Richard L. Bare, "What's in the Box" was oriignally telecast March 13, 1964. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

With this all-star Cinerama epic, producer/director Stanley Kramer vowed to make "the comedy that would end all comedies." The story begins during a massive traffic jam, caused by reckless driver Smiler Grogan (Jimmy Durante), who, before (literally) kicking the bucket, cryptically tells the assembled drivers that he's buried a fortune in stolen loot, "under the Big W." The various motorists setting out on a mad scramble include a dentist (Sid Caesar) and his wife (Edie Adams); a henpecked husband (Milton Berle) accompanied by his mother-in-law (Ethel Merman) and his beatnik brother-in-law (Dick Shawn); a pair of comedy writers (Buddy Hackett and Mickey Rooney); and a variety of assorted nuts including a slow-wit (Jonathan Winters), a wheeler-dealer (Phil Silvers), and a pair of covetous cabdrivers (Peter Falk and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson). Monitoring every move that the fortune hunters make is a scrupulously honest police detective (Spencer Tracy). Virtually every lead, supporting, and bit part in the picture is filled by a well-known comic actor: the laughspinning lineup also includes Carl Reiner, Terry-Thomas, Arnold Stang, Buster Keaton, Jack Benny, Jerry Lewis, and The Three Stooges, who get one of the picture's biggest laughs by standing stock still and uttering not a word. Two prominent comedians are conspicuous by their absence: Groucho Marx refused to appear when Kramer couldn't meet his price, while Stan Laurel declined because he felt he was too old-looking to be funny. Available for years in its 154-minute general release version, the film was restored to its roadshow length of 175 minutes on home video; the search goes on for a missing Buster Keaton routine, reportedly excised on the eve of the picture's premiere. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bounty hunters hired by an ex-con focus on the Wells Fargo agent who placed the ex-con in prison. ~ All Movie Guide

David Janssen is hardly perfect casting for the role of 1920s gambling king Arnold Rothstein (Rod Steiger or Gene Barry may have been better choices), but the sure-handed direction of Joseph Newman smooths over all the rough spots in this fanciful biopic. Set up in the gambling business by crooked politico Jack Carson, Rothstein cheats his partner Mickey Shaughnessy, cheats on his lovely wife Dianne Foster, and does his best to discredit his bitterest enemy, on-the-take police detective Dan O'Herlihy. When O'Herlihy engineers the death of Rothstein's pal Mickey Rooney, Rothstein pulls strings in the New York judicial system, assuring the conviction and execution of the rogue cop. As quickly as he rises to the top of the dung-heap, Rothstein falls with equal rapidity, and ends up riddled with mob bullets. Curiously, King of the Roaring Twenties bypasses Rothstein's involvement in the "Black Sox" baseball scandal of 1919, perhaps because too many participants in that debacle were still alive in 1960 (this incident would later be covered in toto in the 1988 film Eight Men Out, which co-starred Michael Lerner as Rothstein). While King of the Roaring Twenties ignores the facts, for the most part the film is to be treasured if for no other reason than the fact that director Newman managed to draw uncharacteristically subtle performances from Mickey Rooney and Jack Carson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tom (William Demarest) and Ben (Roscoe Ates) are a pair of old coots living in the Nevada desert. The local sheriff (Ben Johnson) shows up at their place with an eviction notice, but he agrees to let them stay on their property if they can get a dead rosebush to bloom within the next 30 days. Not long afterward, Tom and Ben are confronted by a fugitive from justice (Mike Kellin), leading to a fight and a killing -- and thereby hangs the conclusion of the story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this western, an adventurous gambler goes on the lam when he is falsely accused of a riverboat killing. He hides out for three years before returning to prove his innocence, and to find the girl he loves. Unfortunately, the girl is involved with a gambler, the ringleader of the gang responsible for the killing. The fugitive, assisted by a comic sidekick, soon brings them all to justice, and reclaims his lady love. Songs include: "Give Me Your Love," "Happy Go Lucky," and "The Gypsy with the Fire in His Shoes." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The Untamed West is the reissue title of the Pine-Thomas production The Far Horizons. This romanticized retelling of the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1803-06 stars Fred MacMurray as Meriwether Lewis and Charlton Heston as Bill Clark. The film doesn't delve much into the real-life animosity between the two, though it's clear that there's little love lost between the cerebral Lewis and the two-fisted Clark. Aiding the men in their expedition is Indian maiden Sacajawea, played with fist-in-the-air defiance by Donna Reed. Since interracial romances were still largely taboo in American films of the early 1950s, Sacajawea can only pine and sigh as Lewis and Clark square off over the affections of white-woman Julia Hancock (Barbara Hale). This Technicolor-and-Vistavision film works best as an outdoor adventure; its dramatic scenes tend to bog down in an excess of verbiage. The Far Horizons was based on Sacajawea of the Shoshones, a novel by Della Gould Edmonds. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hell on Frisco Bay is a slam-bang return to the sort of gangster fare turned out by the yard at Warner Bros. in the 1930s. Alan Ladd plays ex-cop Steve Rollins, who serves five years on a manslaughter rap. Upon his release, Rollins dedicates himself to finding the real killer. He soon learns that the man responsible for the frame-up was Victor Amato (Edward G. Robinson), the crime kingpin who rules the roost on the docks of San Francisco. Hoping to keep the heat off his operation, Amato "invites" Rollins to join his gang. Had Rollins accepted at this point, the film would have been over; instead, he doggedly pursues the gang boss with the help of such allies as cast-off gangster moll Kay Stanley (Fay Wray) and police lieutenant Dan Bianco (William Demarest). Amato is so desperate at one point that he orders the murder of his own nephew; surely a man with this sort of temperament is doomed to a horrible demise, and that's just what happens. Joanne Dru costars as Rollins' estranged wife Marcia, who believes in her husband but doesn't relish the notion of his being shot full of holes by Amato's goons. At the time of the film's release, the critics went overboard in their approval of Edward G. Robinson's full-blooded reprisal of the sort of role which made him famous (Robinson himself hated the part, but needed the work). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Esther Williams' long association with MGM came to an abrupt end with Jupiter's Darling, which even she will admit was her silliest film. Based on Robert Sherwood's satirical play The Road to Rome, the film cast as Williams as Amytis, fiancee of vacillating Roman statesman Fabius Maximus (George Sanders). When it appears as though the forces of Hannibal (Howard Keel) will conquer Rome, Amytis takes it upon herself to halt the invasion. In the process, she and Hannibal embark upon a tempestuous romance, much to the consternation of the barbarian general's aide-de-camp Mago (William Demarest) and the bemusement of Hannibal's official chronicler Horatio (Richard Haydn). A subplot concerns the romance between Varius (Gower Champion), who tends Hannibal's fabled elephants, and spunky slave girl Meta (Marge Champion). Somewhere along the line Williams performs a water ballet with "living statues", and Varius and Meta come up with a herd of pink elephants. The Burton Lane-Harold Adamson songs are as forgettable as the film itself. Curiously, Jupiter's Darling opened to good reviews, but the film was killed by word of mouth. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide