Rhonda Fleming Movies

Dan Mitchell (Randolph Scott) is the town marshal of Abilene, KS, in the turbulent years after the Civil War and the start of the big cattle drives out of Texas. The town is growing faster than a lot of citizens are prepared to deal with it, especially as homesteaders start moving in, fighting for space with the cattlemen. Dan has kept the peace, such as it is, by keeping the saloons, gambling, and guns on one side of Main Street and the shop-owners, farmers, women, and children on the other. He's also been walking a tightrope in his own life, conducting a sometimes turbulent romance with Rita (Ann Dvorak), a saloon singer and co-owner, while also not discouraging the attentions of Sherry Balder (Rhonda Fleming), the "nice girl" daughter of one of the town's leading businessmen, who would love to marry Dan if only he would settle down. A new wave of homesteaders is arriving, and the cattlemen, cowboys, and saloon owners want them driven out and the town kept wide open, fearing the homesteaders' religious beliefs and the arrival of families, which means schools, building, and encroaching "respectability." Trouble breaks out and people are killed, with Dan caught in the middle. Using his guile and a good deal of bravery, and the unwitting help from the cowardly county sheriff (Edgar Buchanan), Dan manages to get the shop owners onto the side of the homesteaders, and plays a dangerous game of divide-and-conquer with the saloon-keepers and cowboys. ~ Bruce Eder, 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

When seen today, Bullwhip seems to be a dry run for the 1975 Jack Nicholson-Mary Steenburgen western Goin' South. To save himself from being hanged on a trumped-up murder charge, frontiersman Guy Madison agrees to marry whip-wielding spitfire Rhonda Fleming. Once the ceremony is over, Fleming wants nothing to do with her new husband, but he insists upon insinuating himself in her burgeoning fur-trading business. How long will it be before the heroine succumbs to Madison's rakish charms? When Shakespeare wrote this story, he called it Taming of the Shrew. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Paramount's immensely successful Pine-Thomas production unit once more struck box-office gold with The Last Outpost. Ronald Reagan stars as devil-may-care Confederate officer Vance Britton, who leads a band of guerillas on a series of sabotage raids. The Northern Army dispatches Vance's brother, Union officer Jeb Britton (Bruce Bennett), to put an end to Vance's activities. Both brothers are forced to work shoulder to shoulder when a Northern attempt to enlist the aid of the Apache tribe backfires, sparking an all-out Indian war. Rhonda Fleming, who seemed to spend her entire career in Technicolor adventure flicks, appears as the romantic bone of contention between the battling Brittons. Halfway down the cast list as Lieutenant Fenton is TV's future "Ward Cleaver," Hugh Beaumont. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dick Powell stars in this suspenseful melodrama, directed by Robert Parrish. Rocky Mulloy (Powell) has recently returned from prison, after being pardoned from a life sentence when new evidence clears him from a robbery conviction. Delong (Richard Erdman), a crippled Marine veteran who concocted the new evidence that got Mulloy released, thinks that Mulloy will be so grateful that he will cooperate with him and share some of the $100,000 Mulloy supposedly has hidden somewhere from the robbery. But Mulloy has other ideas -- instead he wants the use his pardon as a chance to bring the real guilty parties involved in the crime to justice and to help out a needy friend who is still in the penitentiary. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Of the many filmed versions of the October 26, 1881, O.K. Corral shootout in Tombstone, Arizona, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral was one of the most elaborate and star-studded. Burt Lancaster plays Wyatt Earp, the renowned lawman, while Kirk Douglas is consumptive gambler (and gunfighter) Doc Holliday -- the two meet in difficult circumstances, as Earp discovers that Holiday, for whom he initially feels little but loathing, is being held on a trumped up murder charge and being set up for a lynching, and intercedes on his behalf. The action shifts to Dodge City, Kansas, where Earp is marshal and Holiday, hardly grateful for the good turn, shows up right in the middle of all kinds of trouble, this time mostly on Earp's side of the ledger. And, finally, the two turn up in Tombstone, Arizona, where Wyatt's brother Virgil is city marshal, and where Wyatt finally gets to confront the Clanton/McLowery outlaw gang (led by Lyle Bettger as Ike Clanton). Since the time-span of the actual gunfight was at most 90 seconds, the bulk of the film concerns the tensions across many months leading up to the famous battle. As scripted by Leon Uris (from a magazine story by George Scullin), the story involves two unrelated but parallel plot-lines -- a long-standing vendetta against Holliday and the efforts of Earp to bring the Clanton/McLowery gang to justice -- that are eventually drawn together on the streets of Tombstone. Woven into these proceedings are Earp's and Holliday's romantic dalliances with lady gambler Laura Denbow (Rhonda Fleming) and Kate Fisher (Jo Van Fleet), whose switch in affections from Holiday to outlaw fast-gun Johnny Ringo (John Ireland) only rachets up gambler's rage and the reasons behind the bloody climax. There are plenty of bribery attempts, terse dialogue exchanges and "Mexican standoffs" before the inevitable gunfight takes place. Director John Sturges takes some dramatic license with this confrontation, as well, stretching things out to nearly six minutes, but this is after all an "A" production, and a minute-and-a-half of gunfire just wouldn't cut it. The huge cast of western veterans includes Earl Holliman as Charles Bassett, Dennis Hopper as Billy Clanton, Kenneth Tobey as Bat Masterson, Lee Van Cleef as Ed Bailey, Jack Elam as Tom McLowery, and John Hudson, DeForest Kelley and Martin Milner as Virgil, Morgan, and James Earp, respectively. And there's that Dimitri Tiomkin score, pushing the movie's momentum as relentlessly as the two driven heroes, complete with a song (sung by Frankie Laine) underscoring the major transitions of scenes that's impossible to forget, once heard. Sturges himself would produce and direct a more fact-based and realistic version of the story -- focusing mostly on its aftermath -- a decade later, entitled Hour of the Gun, starring James Garner, Jason Robards, Jr., and Robert Ryan, which wasn't nearly as attractive or successful. But after Gunfight At The OK Corral, there would not be so impressive a lineup of talent at the OK Corral again until the twin Earp biopics of 1994, Wyatt Earp and Tombstone.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This thriller is set in Asia and follows the exciting exploits of a villainous soldier of fortune (Ronald Reagan) involved in shady shenanigans with the communists who gets caught red-handed by the authorities. He manages to escape and during his flight encounters a charming Chinese orphan who carries with him a priceless old statue. Wanting the sculpture, the mercenary allows the child to travel with him. He next teams up with a beautiful Red Cross volunteer. The three use their considerable con-artist skills to make it into a Hong Kong hotel room. There he finds himself feeling drawn towards the honest life by the woman and the child, but not before he steals the lad's statue and takes it to an art-dealer, who turns out to be a major crook. The mercenary finally goes straight after he nearly causes the boy's death. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this adventure, four explorers search for a vast treasure in the Amazon jungle. One of the explorers is a woman who got involved after she traveled from California to marry her fiance whom she hasn't seen in two years. Another man tries to convince her that her fiance has become an alcoholic idealist obsessed with finding gold in the jungle. Another takes her into the jungle to find her love. En route he falls in love with her. Later they learn that her fiance has been killed by the Jivaro headhunters. The other man, who went in before them is also attacked, but the woman's guide saves his life. This film did not use stock footage. Much of it was actually filmed in the jungle to provide the backgrounds. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Prolific character actor Ed Lauter enjoys one of his few starring roles in this made-for-TV mystery yarn. Set in the 1940s, the film casts Lauter as Bud Delaney, a former policeman who was bounced from the force after being framed by a mysterious higher-up. As he tries to track down the person responsible for his firing, Delaney keeps food on the table by working as a house detective in a seedy Hollywood hotel, moonlighting as a private eye. Along the way, he gets mixed up in the theft of a movie star's jewelry and the murder of a pompous gambler--two seemingly diverse crimes that are actually, and inextricably, linked together. Originally telecast April 19, 1975 by NBC, Last Hours Before Morning was the pilot film for the unsold weekly series Delaney. ~Saw Film/TV Guide/Goldberg/Marrill/Internet ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Little Egypt is a lighthearted "biopic" all about the hootchie-kootchie dancer who created a sensation at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. An incongruously redheaded Rhonda Fleming plays Izora, a cabaret dancer in old Cairo. American impresario Cyrus Graydon (Minor Watson) hopes to re-create an authentic Cairo street at the World's Fair, and to that end he ties up with fast-buck promoter Wayne Cravat (Mark Stevens) and a self-styled Pasha (Steven Geray). Graydon's plan is fulfilled, with one slight alteration; along for the ride is Izora, posing as an Egyptian princess. At Cravat's behest, Izora performs a belly dance at the World's Fair to draw in customers, resulting in a tempest of outrage stirred up by local blue-noses. Amusingly, while Little Egypt--aka Izora--is arrested for indecent exposure, by 1990s standards she is most modestly garbed; in fact, the audience never sees her famous bejeweled belly button. Perhaps realizing that no one could take this concoction seriously, the producers of Little Egypt wisely opted to play for laughs--and got them. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Out of the Past is so perfect a film noir that it is considered practically a textbook example of the genre. In his first starring role (it had previously been offered to John Garfield and Dick Powell), Robert Mitchum plays Jeff Bailey, the friendly but secretive proprietor of a mountain-village gas station. As Jeff's worshipful deaf-mute attendant (Dick Moore) looks on in curious fascination, an unsavory character named Joe (Paul Valentine) pulls up to the station, obviously looking for the owner. Jeff is all too aware of Joe's identity; he's been dreading this moment for quite some time, knowing full well that it will mean the end of his semi-idyllic existence, not to mention his engagement to local girl Ann (Virginia Huston). In a lengthy flashback, the audience is apprised of the reasons behind Jeff's discomfort - and thus begins a tale of treachery, betrayal and intrigue that extends into the present day and turns Jeff's life upside down. Out of the Past was remade in 1984 as Against All Odds, with Jane Greer cast as the mother of her original character. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

David O. Selznick's first production since 1940's Rebecca, Since You Went Away, based on Margaret Buell Wilder's bestselling novel, is a long but rewarding paean to the World War 2 "home front". Claudette Colbert plays the wife of a businessman who, though well past draft age, volunteered to serve his country as an officer (though the husband is never seen, he is "played"-via a photograph-by Neil Hamilton). Fighting back her own fears and anxieties, Colbert does her best to maintain a normal, stable household for the sake of her growing daughters Jennifer Jones and Shirley Temple. She is offered moral support by cynical-but-kindly boarder Monty Woolley, by maid Hattie McDaniel (who willing foregoes her salary "for the duration") and by Navy man and friend-of-the-family Joseph Cotten, whose relationship with Claudette remains staunchly platonic. The harsh realities of war hit home several times throughout the film, first when it seems as though Colbert's husband is missing in action, and later when Jennifer's young boyfriend, GI Robert Walker, is killed in combat. From the vantage point of the 1990s, it is easy to see why Since You Went Away scored with its wartime audiences. Though the leading characters are slightly more financially secure than most of the moviegoers of 1944, the various vignettes presented throughout-complaints about rationing and priorities, shoulder-to-shoulder sacrifices, the weekly escape to the local movie house, tender partings, joyous reunions, the returning wounded, the dreaded wire from the war department-all had the ring of truth and topicality. Even today, the film's emotional highlights, particularly the much-imitated farewell scene at the railroad station, are sufficient to bring tears to the eyes of the most jaded viewer. Enhancing the film's heartstring tugging tenfold is Max Steiner's Oscar-winning musical score. If you can remain objective while watching Since You Went Away (it isn't easy), see if you can spot Ruth Roman, Guy Madison and John Derek, making their screen debuts in microscopic roles ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide