Charles Lang Movies

While sitting in a barber's chair, Carlos Rodriguez (Alex Montoya) is killed by impatient customer Duke Miller (Perry Lopez. The only person who could possibly identify Duke as the murderer is Joe Cartwright-who, unfortunately, was unconscious during the tragedy. Feeling responsible for Rodriguez' death, Joe personally escorts Carlos' son Paco (Raphel Lopez) to his grandparents in Mexico. Upon his arrival in the town of Juarez, Joe enters another barbershop-where Duke Miller is waiting for a final showdown. First shown on February 3, 1963, "The Last Haircut" was written by Charles Lang. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

James Dunn guest-stars as Danny Lynch, an elderly Ponderosa ranch hand. Upon learning that his mother Nellie (Cheerio Meredith) has left Ireland to pay him a visit, Danny goes into a panic: For lo these many years, he has been lying to his mother that he is in charge of the Ponderosa. To make the old woman happy, the Cartwrights put on an elaborate charade, wherein Danny is lord and master of their ranch, and they are merely his hired hands. Naturally, this little deception snowballs into a major crisis. Written by Charles Lang, "The Auld Sod" first aired February 4, 1962. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Buchanan (Randolph Scott) rides alone through Texas, en route to his future home of Mexico. He is sidetracked during a stopover in a lawless border town, where Mexican youth Juan (Manuel Rojas) sits in jail, awaiting trial for the killing of the local bully. It seems that the dead man had several influential relatives who intend to string up poor Juan before justice can be served. Championing the boy's cause, Buchanan methodically sets out to undermine the villains by playing one against the other. As was customary in the Randolph Scott-Budd Boetticher films of the 1950s, Buchanan Ride Alone offers unrelenting tension and innumerable plot twists until its explosive finale. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Partially filmed in the San Bernardino Mountains, Call of the Klondike was perhaps the best of producer Lindsley Parson's seven "Northwest Mounted" films starring Kirby Grant and the white malamute Chinook. Written by actor Charles Lang, who had played the villain in the earlier The Wolf Hunters, Call of the Klondike had Northwest Mounted Police Officer Rod West (Grant) and his faithful dog charged with investigating the disappearance of a couple of prospectors. Accompanied by Nancy (Anne Gwynne), the pretty daughter of one of the missing miners, Grant and Chinook discover that the men had been murdered by fellow miner Paul Mallory (Tom Neal) and his sister Emily (Lynne Roberts), who have been stealing their gold through a tunnel leading from their own, dry, mine. But before they can be apprehended, Paul and Emily take Nancy hostage and it is up to Chinook, Rod, and fellow miner Menchek (Marc Krah) to recover her. Like the 1926 silent film of the same name, Call of the Klondike was ostensibly based on a story by pulp writer James Oliver Curwood, but apart from the Northwest setting and the involvement of a clever dog, the two films had nothing in common. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

A mentally unstable naval officer goes mad with jealousy when his wife's recent lover shows up as a lieutenant on the submarine he commands. It is the smell of cheap perfume that arouses the husband's suspicions, and he plans to confront the lieutenant in the sub. The wife follows him there, knowing very well that while in a jealous rage her husband cannot be responsible for his actions. Her husband catches her and locks her in his cabin then deftly steers the sub towards a freighter. Just before the ships collide, he forces the lieutenant to take the controls. It is a terrible crash and the sub sinks, stone-like, towards the bottom. Even as they go down, the cuckoo commander insists the lieutenant is to blame for the tragedy. Meanwhile the woman successfully convinces the remaining crew members of her husband's lunacy, they accept the orders of their new commander, the lieutenant, and escape together just in the nick of time. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi