Touch (Mike) Connors Movies
- 1957
The endearingly awful Shake, Rattle and Rock! serves as a showcase for four top rock-and-roll talents of the 1950s. Fats Domino heads the cast as "himself", performing "I'm in Love Again", "Ain't it a Shame" and "Honey Chile". Likewise, Joe Turner offers renditions of "Feelin' Happy" and "Lipstick, Powder and Paint", while Tommy Charles and Annita Ray let loose with "Sweet Love on My Mind" and "Rockin' on Saturday Night". The plot is one of the oldest known to man: a quartet of buttinsky do-gooders, played by screen veterans Douglass Dumbrille, Margaret Dumont, Raymond Hatton and Percy Helton, try to impose a ban on rock-and-roll, while TV producer Touch (later Mike) Connors does his best to convince the "squares" that the new musical style is harmless fun. Sterling Holloway is a riot as Connors' jive-talking assistant, who lays on the hipster slang so heavily in one scene that he requires English subtitles! Shake, Rattle and Rock was (sort of) remade for TV in 1994 as one of Showtime Cable's "Rebel Highway" entries. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fats Domino, Lisa Gaye, (more)
- 1956
Faro dealer Earl Haney (Gene O'Donnell) is shot and killed by an unknown assailant, described as a man "in a red shirt with curly black hair." Now Marshal Matt Dillon (James Arness) must leave Dodge City unprotected as he tracks down the most likely suspect, Jim Bostick (played by future Mannix star Mike Connors, still billing himself as "Touch Connors"). Ultimately Matt catches up with Bostick, who insists that he is innocent, and that Doc (Milburn Stone can provide him with an alibi. . .but Doc is nowhere to be found. Capped by a grim but satisfying denoument, this episode is adapted from the Gunsmoke radio broadcast of March 19, 1955. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1956
In this western, a gunfighter is finally released from prison and returns to his hometown only to discover that it is being torn apart by conflicting forces. He is even more upset to discover that his girl has become the leader of the "evil" side of town and is completely committed to achieving a state of anarchy. He is disgusted by her and her new lover and so joins the good side of town. When the good politician leader and the sheriff are killed, the ex-gunfighter is blamed for the crime. Just as he is about to swing, the politician's daughter, who loves the ex-convict, forces the evil woman to sign a confession and save his life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Denning, Peggie Castle, (more)
Five convicted outlaws, sentenced to hang, are recruited by a Confederate Army officer on what could easily be a suicide mission -- they're each given a full pardon in exchange for a quick ride through hostile Indian territory to Dawn Springs, Kansas, where their job is to stop a stagecoach coming in from California. The coach is carrying Stephen Jethro, the head of intelligence for the Confederacy in California, who has sold out to the Union, and $30,000 in gold that Jethro was to use for espionage work on behalf of the south -- their job is to bring Jethro in alive if possible, but to stop him from reaching Union territory, and to bring the gold back to the Confederacy. But the temptation of that gold weighs on all of these men -- Hale Clinton (Touch Connors) and Govern Sturgess (John Lund) seem destined to fight it out to the death -- and the presence of Dorothy Malone at the Dawn Springs relief station doesn't help matters. Before it's over, there will be multiple double-crosses, one important partial redemption, and an ever growing list of casualties. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Lund, Dorothy Malone, (more)
Joan Crawford stars as wealthy San Francisco heiress Myra Hudson, a successful playwright who meets Lester Blaine (Jack Palance) while casting her new play in New York. They meet again on the train ride back, fall in love and marry. Unknown to Myra, Lester is seeing mistress Irene Neves (Gloria Grahame), whom he still loves and has married only for her money. While looking through her study, Irene and Lester learn that Myra has made a will leaving only $10,000 a year to Lester (though if he remarries following her death he receives nothing). Seeing that the will has not yet taken effect, they plot to kill Myra without noticing that Myra's dictating machine is on and recording their conversation. After listening to the conversation and spending a sleepless night, Myra goes to Irene's apartment and steals a gun. Irene then lures Lester to the apartment, intending to kill him. Losing her nerve, she flees the apartment with Lester chasing her. The film has an exciting and surprising climax as all meet unexpectedly during the chase. Joan Crawford gives a fine, if melodramatic performance, and Jack Palance is amazingly effective playing against type as a leading man. Despite a slow start, this is a fine suspense thriller that earned Oscar nominations for Joan Crawford and Jack Palance and a nomination for Charles B. Lang Jr. for his striking black and white photography. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Crawford, Jack Palance, (more)
