Mickey Finn Movies

In this western, set at the end of the Civil War, a group of rebels steal a million bucks from a Union shipment, and stash the gold in a cave near Phantom Hill, Texas. They are subsequently captured. The ring leader bargains with his captors offering to reveal the loot's location in exchange for his freedom. The Union soldiers set out to find the gold. They take the outlaw with him. An Apache attack ensues. Afterward, the outlaw gets a pair of soldiers drunk and kills them. He then flees leaving the rest of the weaponless Yankees to die. Meanwhile the outlaw finds the gold and falls in love with the Yankee leader's girl. Back in the desert, the Yankees endure another attack. The remaining two manage to catch up with the outlaw and the girl. In the ensuing battle, the girl throws the outlaws' gun to the Union leader who shoots him dead. The gold is sent back north and the lovers ride off into happiness. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

An unusually tense and intelligent political thriller, The Manchurian Candidate was a film far ahead of its time. Its themes of thought control, political assassination, and multinational conspiracy were hardly common currency in 1962, and while its outlook is sometimes informed by Cold War paranoia, the film seemed nearly as timely when it was reissued in 1987 as it did on its original release. It opens with a group of soldiers whooping it up in a bar in Korea as their commander, Sgt. Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey), arrives to inform them that they're back on duty. These men obviously have no fondness for Shaw, and he feels no empathy for them. While on patrol, Shaw and his platoon are ambushed by Korean troops. Months later, Shaw is receiving a hero's welcome as he returns to the United States to accept the Congressional Medal of Honor, and several of the soldiers who served under Shaw repeatedly refer to him as "the bravest, finest, most lovable man I ever met." It soon becomes evident that after their capture by the Koreans, Shaw and his men were subjected to an intense program of brainwashing prior to their release. While several are troubled by bad dreams and inexplicable behavior, it's Capt. Bennett Marco (Frank Sinatra) who seems the most haunted by the experience. In time, Marco is able to piece together what happened; it seems Raymond Shaw was programmed by a shadowy cadre of Russian and Chinese agents into a killing machine who will assassinate anyone, even a close friend, when given the proper commands. On the other side of the coin, Shaw is also used for political gain by his harridan mother (Angela Lansbury), who guides the career of her second husband, John Iselin (James Gregory), a bone-headed congressman hoping to win the vice-presidential nomination through a campaign of anti-Communist hysteria.

The Manchurian Candidate features a host of remarkable performances, several from actors cast cleverly against type. Frank Sinatra's edgy, aggressive turn as Marco may be the finest dramatic work of his career; Laurence Harvey's chilly onscreen demeanor was rarely used to s better advantage than as Raymond Shaw; James Gregory is great as the oft-befuddled Senator Iselin; and Angela Lansbury's ultimate bad mom will be a shock to those who know her as the lovable mystery writer from Murder, She Wrote. George Axelrod's screenplay (based on Richard Condon's novel) is by turns compelling, witty, and horrifying in its implications, and John Frankenheimer's direction milks it for all the tension it can muster. While Frankenheimer's career has had its ups and downs, The Manchurian Candidate and Seconds (1966) suggest that he deserves to be recognized as one of the most brilliantly paranoid American filmmakers of the '60s. Entertaining yet unsettling, both films indicate that things in the '60s were not what they seemed, with a resonance that still echoes uncomfortably in the present. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The spectacular hordes of Cossack horsemen flying across the steppes to do battle with first one enemy and then another are the highlights of this otherwise thinly scripted costume drama set in the 16th century in the Ukraine. After the Cossack leader Taras Bulba (Yul Brynner) makes a pact with the Poles to join forces against the Turks and drive them from the European steppes, victory brings betrayal as the Poles then turn on their ally and force the Cossacks into the hills. From there, Taras Bulba decides that one of his sons, Andrei (Tony Curtis), will be sent to Polish schools to better learn the nature of their enemy. While away from home and hearth, the adult Andrei falls in love with a Polish noblewoman, Natalia (Christine Kaufmann, who would become the second Mrs. Curtis). As time progresses, the tensions between father and son, loyalty and love, ethnic identity and assimilation steadily increase until they end in tragedy. Taras Bulba was nominated for a 1963 Academy Award for "Best Music", scored by Franz Waxman. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Quickie-flick entrepreneur Bert I. Gordon makes a bid for the kiddie trade in The Boy and the Pirates. Charles Herbert, the juvenile star of 13 Ghosts, plays a contemporary kid who finds a bottle on the beach. The bottle contains genie Joseph Turkel (a loyal member of Stanley Kubrick's "stock company"), who whisks Herbert back in time and on board the pirate ship captained by Bluebeard (Murvyn Vye, whose performance is as shamelessly over-the-top as anything concocted by Robert Newton). Reams of stock footage later, Herbert escapes Bluebeard's clutches, together with his new friend Susan Gordon (Bert I. Gordon's daughter). Veteran Hollywood scrivener Lillie Hayward brings some much-needed class and polish to the low-budget proceedings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Arrested for gambling in Dakota City, Beau Maverick (Roger Moore) is given a choice by Col. Gaylord Summers (Arch Johnson: Go to prison, or work as an undercover agent for the Army. Weighing the two options, Beau agrees to thwart a plot hatched by an Irish rebel group called the Fenians to invade and "liberate" Canada from the British Empire--or at least, liberate the chunk of Canada that the group really wants. This episode is a slight reworking of the earlier Maverick installment "Trooper Maverick", which focused on Beau's cousin Bart (Jack Kelly. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bob Hope plays a 19th-century insurance agent whose miserable sales record prompts his boss to send him out West, where he can (supposedly) do little harm. Hope manages to sell a $100,000 life insurance policy--to outlaw Jesse James (Wendell Corey), one of the worst "risks" in history! In his efforts to get the policy back, Hope finds himself being mistaken for Jesse, which is all part of the outlaw's plan to get Hope killed and thereby collect the policy money himself. But with the help of beauteous Rhonda Fleming (the essentially honest beneficiary to Jesse's policy), Hope gains a reputation as a lightning-fast gunslinger. In the inevitable shoot-out with the James gang, Hope is helped out by several famous Westerners, including Gary Cooper, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, James "Maverick" Garner, and even Tonto (Jay Silverheels). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Republic Studios' B pictures were generally more exciting than their As, as was certainly the case with Girl in the Woods. The eponymous heroine is Bell Cory, played by Maggie Hayes. Bell is the wife of restless lumberman Steve Cory (Forrest Tucker), who'd been in constant trouble with the authorities if his wife weren't around to provide a calming influence. It is also Bell who saves the day when Steve is ostracized by the lumber community for supposedly casting his lot with crooked land baron Whitlock (Murvyn Vye). Perennial "dumb blonde" Joyce Compton makes her final film appearance in Girl in the Woods as Bell's pragmatic Aunt. The film was based on Blood on the Branches, a novel by Oliver Crawford. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When Cecil B. DeMille was set to direct a re-make of his 1938 swashbuckler The Buccaneer and suddenly became ill, his son-in-law, Anthony Quinn, jumped into DeMille's jodhpurs. In this version, Yul Brynner plays the starring role of debonair pirate Jean Lafitte, who is contacted by General Andrew Jackson (Charlton Heston) to come to the aid of the United States when the British attack New Orleans during the War of 1812. Lafitte immediately falls in love with Annette Claiborne (Inger Stevens), the daughter of William Claiborne (E.G. Marshall), the first governor of Louisiana. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

This Dean Martin-Jerry Lewis romp is liberally based on the 1936 Bing Crosby film Rhythm on the Range. Set around 1910, the film stars Lewis as the pampered son of female tycoon Agnes Moorehead. Yearning to return to the Wild West where his father was a famed peacekeeper, Lewis purchases a prize bull, destined for the ranch inherited by rodeo star Dean Martin. It so happens that Martin and Lewis' late fathers were "pardners", so Martin takes it upon himself to protect Lewis from the various and sundry tough hombres in the region. Through a series of bizarre plot convolutions, Lewis gains a reputation as a rootin' tootin' gunslinger, and in his hubris he decides to round up a gang of outlaws headed by Jeff Morrow. As a result, he nearly gets himself blown to smitherines, but Martin shows up in the nick of time to rescue Lewis and help him capture the bad guys. Lori Nelson and Jackie Loughery supply the film's peripheral romantic angle. Pardners ends with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis turning to the camera and promising that they'll keep on making pictures for their faithful fans; ironically, the team was breaking up even while the cameras were turning. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The same studio that brought forth Father Was a Fullback was responsible for Mother is a Freshman. Loretta Young stars as Abbigail Abbott, the widowed mother of coed Susan Abbott (Betty Lynn). In order to legally validate Susan's scholarship fund (a legacy of her late grandmother), Abigail enrolls in the university as a freshman. Here she is wooed by Professor Richard Michaels (Van Johnson)--much to Susan's dismay, since she'd set her cap for the professor herself. Rudy Vallee reprises the "stuffy middle-aged suitor" characterization he'd essayed in such previous comedies as The Palm Beach Story and Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer. Mother is a Freshman afforded audiences the opportunity of glimpsing 20th Century-Fox's familiar "college campus" sets in full Technicolor (these standing sets were also seen in black & white in such 1949 releases as Mr. Belvedere Goes to College and It Happens Every Spring). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide