John Ericson Movies

This powerfully tense, fast-paced suspense drama also yields a grim social message about racial prejudice. Spencer Tracy is John J. MacReedy, a one-armed stranger who comes to the tiny town of Black Rock one hot summer day in 1945, the first time the train has stopped there in years. He looks for both a hotel room and a local Japanese farmer named Komoko, but his inquiries are greeted at first with open hostility, then with blunt threats and harassment, and finally with escalating violence. MacReedy soon realizes that he will not be allowed to leave Black Rock; town boss Reno Smith (Robert Ryan), who had Komoko killed because of his hatred of the Japanese, has also marked MacReedy for death. MacReedy must battle town thugs, a treacherous local woman (Anne Francis), and finally Smith himself to stay alive. The entire cast is flawless, especially Ernest Borgnine and Lee Marvin as the mean-spirited town bullies, and the relentlessly paced action never eclipses the film's sobering themes. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

To escape her strict and oppressive father Sheriff Kincaid (Val Avery), headstrong Dolly (Myrna Fahey) rebelliously courts disaster by associating with disreputable men. On this occasion, Dolly skips town with rakishly charming Vince Dagen (John Ericson), blissfully unaware that Vince is an outlaw. Joe Cartwright tries to catch up with the fleeing couple before Dolly suffers the consequences of her defiance. Also appearing are Hal Baylor as Clegg and Norm Alden as Poke. Written by David Lang, "Breed of Violence" was originally broadcast on November 5, 1960. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this horror move, a husband sends a demonic antique car after his wife. She uses her own black magic to fight back. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Revenge and violence are the key motifs in this action film by Philippine director Cirio Santiago). Vince (Richard Young) is a Vietnam vet who has been a shade too brutal in his handling of some petty thieves. His actions rankle the murderous minds of the thieves, and they exact revenge by blowing up Vince's pleasure boat with his wife and child on board. Now fueled with hatred, Vince not only goes after the killers, but with the help of a military friend, he determines who it was that supplied the technical, explosive know-how to the punks who blew up the boat. It seems Vince had an enemy during the Vietnam war who is in league with the murderous thieves. Once the two sides have been defined, a kind of mini-war results. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Set in the coffee fields of Colombia, Green Fires stars Stewart Granger and Grace Kelly. Granger plays emerald prospector Rian X. Mitchell, who intends to explore an old deserted mine despite the protests of his partner Vic Leonard Paul Douglas and the threat of death at the hands of local bandit El Moro Murvyn Vye. Ms. Kelly costars as Catherine Knowland, whose coffee plantation lies at the foot of the mine where Mitchell labors away. Such natural disasters as rain and flood, coupled with such man-made weapons of destruction as guns and dynamite, continually thwart Mitchell's search for riches. As the film winds down, he is forced to choose between the emeralds and Catherine. Largely filmed on location, Green Fire is good, old-fashioned Saturday matinee stuff, dressed up and prettified by MGM. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This low-budget horror anthology from Oklahoma presents a quartet of eerie tales, told by a strange mortician (Ivor Francis) to a young man on the run from his lover's irate husband (John Ericson). The tales involve a crotchety old woman whose hatred of children sparks an attack from a group of homicidal kids; a "Spy vs. Spy" detective story; a foul-tempered curmudgeon who gets his violent comeuppance in a grim variation on "A Christmas Carol"; and a serial killer with a penchant for photography a la Peeping Tom. Young Ericson's sins are not forgotten either, as we learn at the film's creepy climax. A passable home-grown omnibus, comparable with the similarly themed Chillers or Screams of a Winter Night. Released to video as House of the Dead. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Over the protests of several local residents, shady tycoon Henderson Wheatley (John Ericson) intends to build a high-rise hotel in Cabot Cove. During excavation, a set of bones comes to surface, supposedly belonging to Revolutionary war hero Joshua Peabody. Almost immediately, those who oppose the hotel insist that the land be consecrated as a national monument, while others insist that those aren't Peabody's bones at all. Whatever the case, it soon develops that the centuries-old remains are those of a murder victim--and before long, Wheatley himself is murdered. William Windom makes his first series appearance as Dr. Seth Hazlitt, an old friend of heroine Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury)...and a likely suspect in the killing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Operation Atlantis is the American title for this obscure Italian spy flick. John Ericson is the token American "name" star, playing a Bond-like secret agent. Ericson is sent to Africa to investigate recent sabotage attacks. He runs up against a modern-day Captain Nemo, operating from an underwater nerve center. Maria Granada costar as the obligatory love interest. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The seventh live presentation of the CBS drama anthology Playhouse 90 was "Heritage of Anger", written especially for television by Harold Jack Bloom. Ralph Bellamy heads the cast, as ruthless millionaire industrialist Eddie Hannemann. Naturally expecting his two sons to follow in his footsteps, Hannemann is outraged to discover that the "boys" would rather chart their own course in life. But more trouble is to come in the Hannemann household, thanks to the old man's sales manager Paul Fletcher (Lloyd Bridges), who wants to take over the business himself. Nina Foch and John Ericson costar in this drama, directed by a young John Frankenheimer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this actioner a tough Vietnam vet must get his group of crack commandos back together and return to the jungle after an ambassador's wife is kidnapped and taken deep into the Laotian jungles by a crazed drug czar. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Tony Randall has the showcase of a lifetime in the marvelous George Pal production The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao. We first see Randall as Dr. Lao, an enigmatic Chinese medicine-show impresario. The doctor brings his travelling show into the frontier town of Abalone, which is chafing under the oppression of land-hungry Clint Stark (Arthur O'Connell). Newspaper editor Ed Cunningham (John Ericson) is conducting a campaign of words against Stark, but he is no match for the land baron's money, power, and hulking henchmen. Nonetheless, Cunningham continues his crusade, all the while attempting to romance icy young widow Angela Benedict (Barbara Eden). All of this is observed with bemusement by Dr. Lao, who has already established himself as a man of many talents by alternating between pidgin-English and eloquent articulation, depending on the circumstances. Each of the townspeople--including the three already mentioned--learn a great many truths about themselves when they attend Dr. Lao's unusual circus. In the course of straightening out everyone's problems, Lao metamorphoses into (1) Merlin the Magician, (2) Pan, (3) Medusa, (4) The Abominable Snowman, (5) Apollonius of Tyana and (6) a Talking Serpent. The combined talents of Randall, puppeteer Pal and make-up wizard William J. Tuttle (who won two Special Oscars) resulted in this captivatingly unique entertainment experience. Curiously, Tony Randall is not fond of Seven Faces of Dr.Lao, and refuses to be interviewed on the subject. Perhaps he was unhappy that much of the philosophy dispensed in the original Charles G. Finney novel The Circus of Dr. Lao was weeded out of Charles Beaumont's script....or perhaps he just didn't like having his head shaved for the part. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide