Lee Aaker Movies

With his master Rusty in tow, Rin Tin Tin appoints himself marshal of a rural Arizona village to make sure justice reigns. ~ John Bush, Rovi

In the concluding episode of Walt Disney's two-part miniseries Moochie of the Little League, the Bobcats baseball team has successful prevented their ball field from being sold, and young Moochie Morgan (Kevin Corcoran) and several of his fellow Bobcats have been selected to play in an all-star game. Moochie's sister, Marian (Donna Corcoran), is none too happy over this, since if Moochie stays in town to play, the Morgan's annual vacation is off. Be that as it may, the day of the Big Game approaches, whereupon Moochie takes to wearing his "lucky socks" day and night. As indicated by the title of this episode, however, things don't go quite the way our hero had hoped. Originally telecast as part of the Walt Disney Presents anthology, "Wrong Way Moochie" and the previous episode "A Diamond Is a Boy's Best Friend" were later edited together and released theatrically in Europe as Little League Moochie. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Based on an article in the New Yorker, Nicholas Ray's Bigger Than Life stars James Mason (who also produced the film) as elementary school teacher Ed Avery, a thoughtful, gentle man, with a loving wife, Lou (Barbara Rush), and a young son, Richie (Christopher Olsen), who loves him. Avery is successful and well liked in his community, but he is over-extended in his pursuit of the American dream -- he secretly works a second job to earn extra money, and doesn't dare break stride, despite the increasingly painful physical spasms that he suffers. He collapses one day, and the doctors inform him that he suffers from an arterial disease that will probably give him less than a year to live. But they also offer him one hope, with treatment using cortisone, which was then a new, not-fully-tested drug. Avery makes a seemingly full recovery and returns to work, but it soon becomes clear that he's not the same -- he has a new, cavalier attitude toward money, and then Lou becomes alarmed over his expressions of rage over seemingly insignificant annoyances. He starts expressing himself in grand, exalted terms, first to Lou and then to his colleagues at school, including his closest friend, Wally Gibbs (Walter Matthau). And matters only get worse when Wally determines that it is the cortisone -- which Ed has been taking in far greater doses than prescribed -- that is making him act this way. And his obsession w ith forcing Richie to live up to his full potential soon turns into a much darker fixation. Director Ray later offered regret over having used cortisone by name, as it was still not standard treatment and its benefits and drawbacks weren't known. But this did lend the movie a verisimilitude that was essential for what appeal it did hold for audiences. (Seven years later, screenwriter William Read Woodfield would incorporate Bigger Than Life's cortisone plot device into his script for the Voyage To The Bottom of the Sea episode \"Mutiny\". Bigger Than Life's more immediate problem at the time lay in its broader plot -- with a story that brought drug addiction and fact-based psychological unhingement into a suburban American setting, it was a daring subject for its time, for which audiences were unprepared in 1956. It was also one of a group of offbeat pictures that Mason produced as well as starred in. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Marjorie Main is the whole show in the Universal programmer Ricochet Romance. Playing the outspoken new cook at a rundown dude ranch, Marjorie forces everyone around her to pitch in and bring some life back into the place. She also sets her sights on old layabout Chill Wills, scheming to rope the critter into marriage. Veteran comedy director Charles W. Lamont moves the proceedings along with style, never missing an opportunity for a low-comedy slapstick turn. The most surprising aspect of Ricochet Romance is that it is not an entry in Marjorie Main's Ma and Pa Kettle series. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The answer is: A turgid melodrama. The question: What is Jeopardy? Barbara Stanwyck stars as a suburbanite on a Mexican vacation with her husband (Barry Sullivan) and son (Lee Aaker). The threesome runs afoul of escape convict Ralph Meeker. Stanwyck's dilemma: Attempting to rescue her husband from drowning, while staving off the carnal demands of Meeker, who holds Stanwyck and her son at gunpoint. Jeopardy is on and off in only 69 minutes, but 64 of those minutes seem far longer. Trivia note: When dramatized on Lux Radio Theater, Jeopardy costarred child actor Harry Shearer, later a comic regular on Saturday Night Live. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Bob Danvers, an arrogant, irresponsible rodeo star, retaliates for losing his wife by having an affair with a pretty fan in this melodrama. His wife, Ruth, really loves him, but she can no longer handle his selfishness and leaves. Hob has his moment of truth at a major Tucson rodeo when his ex-buddy, now a rodeo clown, sacrifices his life to save Hob from being gored by a berserk Brahma bull. The film features realistic scenes from a rodeo and was originally a 3-D picture. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

An outdoor adventure musical comedy, Take Me to Town features Ann Sheridan as Vermilion O'Toole, a barroom singer with a shady past who has taken refuge in a small timber town in the Pacific Northwest. She's on the run from a federal agent, Ed Daggett (Larry Gates). Just out of town lives Will Hall (Sterling Hayden), a logger and preacher who is widowed and raising three children. The children meet O'Toole and try to hook her up with their father -- because they want a mother to care for them. This arouses the jealousies of Mrs. Stoffer (Phyllis Stanley), a widow who was hoping to snare Hall herself. Hall comes to prefer O'Toole, but she must overcome the resentment of the local townspeople, who think she's a floozy. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi

The city of the title is Los Alamos, where nuclear physicist Gene Barry lives and works. Terrorists kidnap Barry's son and demand that the physicist turn over the H-bomb formula. It's cat-and-mouse for a while, but when the FBI gets on the case, the criminals haven't got a chance. Outdated almost before its release, The Atomic City is still effective on a purely melodramatic level. There's a particularly tense climax played out along the mountain mesas surrounding Los Alamos. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Desperate Search is a lower-echelon MGM programmer, elevated by the crisp direction of cult favorite Joseph H. Lewis. Jane Greer plays the mother of two small children who are on board an airliner which crashes. The children survive, but are stranded in the middle of the Canadian wilderness. With the help of forest ranger Keenan Wynn and bush pilot Howard Keel, Greer launches an agonizing all-points search for the missing children. Desperate Search was an entertaining and efficient means for MGM to keep its contract players busy at minimum cost. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Something to Live For is the last of director George Stevens' "small" films, before he concentrated full-time on such blockbusters as Shane and Giant. Joan Fontaine plays a popular actress who descends into alcoholism. Ray Milland, in an unofficial extension of his Lost Weekend role, plays a reformed drunkard who comes to Fontaine's rescue. He encourages her to join Alcoholics Anonymous--one of the first times that this organization was given any kind of screen treatment. Milland's concern strains his relationship with his wife (Teresa Wright), who doubts that Ray's interest in Fontaine is merely humanitarian. But Milland refuses to endanger his marriage no matter how strong his feelings towards Fontaine--nor how much the audience wants him to. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi