Frank Richards Movies

John Cassavetes' harrowing masterpiece charts the emotional meltdown of a suburban housewife and its effects on her blue-collar Italian family. Gena Rowlands stars as Mabel Longhetti, a mother of three whose husband Nick (Peter Falk) works as a construction worker; a mismatched couple like so many others in Cassavetes films, the Longhettis seem to be complete opposites: she's impetuous, extroverted, and fragile, while he's controlling, distant, and hard-bitten. Their differences underscore a series of domestic dramas, culminating in a nervous breakdown that sends Mabel to a psychiatric hospital for six months, only to return to a home environment on even thinner ice than before. The improvisational style central to Cassavetes' vision is at its most acute throughout A Woman Under the Influence. Like its title heroine, the film threatens to veer out of control at any time, its shape and scope defined not by narrative but by the emotional upheaval at its center. Embracing the full spectrum of the Longhettis' relationship, from seismic bursts of high drama to small, even trivial moments of domestic tedium, its long scenes relentlessly probe every nook and cranny of the family's life, drawing out each moment for maximum emotional impact; the film is by turns beautiful and ugly, illuminating and frustrating, and it features a performance by Rowlands as heartwrenching and unforgettable as any ever committed to celluloid. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Only slightly murky around the edges of character delineation, this wartime drama by George Seaton focuses on three American soldiers on board a neutral Finnish vessel during the Korean War. Seasoned veteran Sgt. P.J. Briscoe (Kirk Douglas) has had no more than the normal difficulties when being forced to kill the enemy during combat. But now he and Pvts. Dennison (Robert Walker) and Hackett (Nick Adams) have been given orders to execute a prisoner they have on board. Killing outside of active combat is something else, and the men vacillate as they try come to grips with their reluctance. Meanwhile, a few shady aspects of their past come to light. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Hopelessly in love with Poopsie Barrett (Sarah Marshall), the childlike, scatterbrained wife of his boss James Barrett (Richard Gaines), Philip Weaver (Peter Walker) begins plotting Barrett's demise. The scheme involves a business trip to Toronto and an "accidental" tragedy. What Philip hadn't counted on is the fact that Poopsie is not only scatterbrained, but rather stupid as well!€ ° ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Feeble in the action department, this drama directed by Thor Brooks fizzles before the arsonist gets his due. John (Steve Brodie) is the leader of an arson squad and he does not realize that it is one of his men who is setting the disastrous fires around town. The duplicitous and secretly criminal member of the squad is a part of an arson ring that preys on the victims of the fires they set in order to get them to divvy up the insurance money. To assure cooperation, the arsonists use either blackmail or intimidation. In-between fires, John is intent on tracking down the arsonists. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Hard-boiled, self-educated newspaper editor Clark Gable turns down an opportunity to lecture before a night-school journalism class, publicly ridiculing the notion that the art of news writing can be taught. Gable's publisher, sensing a good story, orders the recalcitrant editor to appear at the lecture. Upon entering the classroom, Gable overhears journalism teacher Doris Day, the daughter of a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, condemn Gable's attitude towards higher education. Intrigued by the lovely Day, Gable enrolls in her class under an assumed name. He quickly goes to the head of the class (after all, he's had more experience than all the other students combined), then begins a campaign to romance Day. But there's a fly in the ointment: Day's fiance Gig Young, who gives an Oscar-calibre performance as a smug know-all. Likewise stealing every scene she's in is Mamie Van Doren, playing an exotic dancer who's set her sights on Gable. Fay and Michael Kanin's sprightly screenplay for Teacher's Pet manages to steer clear of any and all potential cliches. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

For his film directorial debut, producer Dore Schary selected a longtime pet property: Miss Lonelyhearts, Nathaniel West's trenchant 1933 novel. Montgomery Clift delivers a haunting performance as journalist Adam White, assigned by his cynical editor Adam Shrike (Robert Ryan) to take over a newspaper advice column. Signing himself Miss Lonelyhearts, White is appalled by the human misery pouring out of the letters sent to him (one of his correspndents was born without a nose), but Shrike insists that anyone who'd write to such a column is fake. To find out for himself, White looks up one of the correspondents, unhappily married Fay Doyle (Oscar-nominated Maureen Stapleton). His pity for the seriously disturbed Fay nearly leads to tragedy (in the novel, there's no "nearly"). Meanwhile, Shrike tries to contend with his own tottering marriage to his wife Florence (Myrna Loy). In additional to shortening the title to Lonelyhearts, Dore Schary made a number of radical changes in the original, adding an overabundance of "meaningful" dialogue and softening the character of Florence Shrike. Purists were enraged by Schary's liberties, while critics carped at his perfunctory direction; audiences, however, seemed to like the film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this Western, a rancher must perform a robbery lest the outlaw chief that holds his wounded brother hostage lets him die. The rancher does the job, then escapes to Mexico with his girl. En route, they marry. They soon find a cabin in the middle of Indian country. The Apaches had killed all the occupants, save for one baby. The couple begins raising the child. Soon the posse arrives to take the rancher back. He is charged with a murder that occurred during the heist. Later they realize that he is innocent and they protect him from another Apache attack. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Edward Bernds, graduate of Columbia's "Three Stooges" shorts and Allied Artists' "Bowery Boys" epics, expertly guides The Storm Rider through its paces. Scott Brady plays an ex-gunslinger who is hired by a group of ranchers to protect them from covetous land baron Roy Engel. Unbeknownst to the ranchers, Brady is the killer of their former leader. Emotional complications ensue when Brady falls in love with Mala Powers, the widow of the man he killed. The film's ending upholds the uncompromising integrity of the rest of The Storm Rider. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After he accidentally foils a bank robbery, meek bookkeeper Frank Smullins (Carl Ritchie) is invited to join the staff of the "Daily Planet" as a criminologist. Jealous cub reporter Jimmy Olsen (Jack Larson), frustrated by the ability of the novice Smullins to outscoop him, decides to go after the bank robbers himself. That's right, folks: Jimmy and Smullins both end up in the clutches of the outlaws, necessitating another last-minute rescue by Superman (George Reeves). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Bowery Boys find themselves up to their unwashed necks in international intrigue when they agree to help the exiled king (Sig Ruman) and the lovely princess (Lisa Davis) of the mythical country of Truania. It seems that sweet shop owner Louie (Bernard Gorcey) was born in Truania and is still loyal to its monarchy, thus Bowery boys Slip (Leo Gorcey) and Sach (Huntz Hall) are entrusted with a valuable half-coin that will be conjoined with its other half when it is safe for the king to return to his homeland. The king's "faithful" retinue (Leon Askin and Veola Vonn) turn out to be traitors, hoping to trap the king by doctoring the coin. Plots and counterplots are hatched in and around Louie's sweet shop, but the Bowery Boys vanquish the traitors and save the throne. The best scenes involve Sach, who is periodically put under a hypnotic spell by the wily female traitor. Spy Chasers isn't exactly John Le Carre, but as a Bowery Boys epic it's one the best. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The dramatic weight of Man From Del Rio rests securely on the broad shoulders of star Anthony Quinn. Cast as an indigent Mexican gunslinger, Quinn is asked by an old pal to clean up an outlaw-ridden western town. Knowing that his reputation is exaggerated, Quinn relies on braggadocio and bluff to keep the villains at bay. But when he is appointed town sheriff, it is "put up or shut up" time. Katy Jurado, who'd become "typed" as a western actress since High Noon, costars as Quinn's would-be lover. Man From Del Rio offers little that hasn't been seen before, but Anthony Quinn keeps things moving at a fast and exciting clip. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When Otto Preminger was willing to release his drug-addiction drama Man With the Golden Arm without the sanction of a Production Code seal, it proved to be yet another nail in the coffin of that censorial dinosaur. Based on the novel by Nelson Algren, the film stars Frank Sinatra as Frankie Machine, expert card dealer (hence the title). Recently released from prison, Frankie is determined to set his life in order -- and that means divesting himself of his drug habit. He dreams of becoming a jazz drummer, but his greedy wife Eleanor Parker wants him to continue his lucrative gambling activities. Since Parker is confined to a wheelchair as a result of a car accident caused by Frankie, he's in no position to refuse. Only the audience knows that Parker is not crippled, but is faking her invalid status to keep Frankie under her thumb. Gambling boss Robert Strauss wants Frankie to deal at a high-stakes poker game; terrified that he's lost his touch, Frankie asks dope pusher Darren McGavin to supply him with narcotics. When McGavin discovers that Parker is not an invalid, she kills him, and Frankie (who is elsewhere at the time) is accused of the murder. He is willing to go to the cops, but he doesn't want to show up with drugs in his system. So with the help of sympathetic B-girl Kim Novak, Sinatra locks himself up and goes "cold turkey"-a still-harrowing sequence, despite the glut of "doper" films that followed in the wake of this picture. After Parker herself is killed in a suicidal fall, the path is cleared for Frankie to pursue a clean new life with Novak. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide