Bill Dunbar Movies
- 1987
In this romantic comedy, a lonely man meets a lonely woman after they each post ads in the lonely-hearts section of the classified ads. Unfortunately, neither one is totally honest about themselves and merry mix-ups ensue until a romance finally blossoms. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marc McClure, Jennifer Edwards, (more)
The Apple Dumpling Gang stars Bill Bixby as Russell Donovan, a slick frontier gambler. In Runyon-esque fashion, he is compelled to look after three precocious oprhaned kids. He can't handle the responsibilities alone, so he agrees to an in-name-only marriage to hoydenish stagecoach driver, Magnolia Dusty Clydesdale (Susan Clark). Fortuitously, they discover that a mine belonging to the kids' late father is worth millions. This brings several disreputable characters into the storyline: bumbling "nice" bandits Theodore Ogelvie and Amos (Don Knotts and Tim Conway), and deadly "bad" bandits headed by Frank Stillwell (Slim Pickens). Based on a novel by Jack M. Bickham, The Apple Dumpling Gang was successful enough to spawn a sequel-not to mention several future screen teamings for Don Knotts and Tim Conway. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Bixby, Susan Clark, (more)
Based on the novel by Wilson Rawls, this film follows the events that befall a young Oklahoma farm boy as he, with the help of his two beloved hounds, struggles to help his family get by in the hard times of the 1930s. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Whitmore, Beverly Garland, (more)
The "Andromeda Strain" is a deadly extraterrestrial virus. It is brought to Earth when a research satellite crashes near a tiny Arizona town. Everyone in the community dies within days, except for a baby and an "insulated" drunkard. Recruited from labs all over North America, doctors Charles Dutton (David Wayne), Jeremy Stone (Arthur Hill), Ruth Leavitt (Kate Reid), and Mark Hall (James Olson) don radiation suits and race against time to isolate and destroy the virus. The film is based on a novel by Michael Crichton. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arthur Hill, David Wayne, (more)
Cornel Wilde produced, directed, and stars in this sincere, hard-edged look at World War II that doesn't flinch from the horrors of battle. The action takes place during a single American campaign to take an island held by the Japanese. Brief flashbacks to civilian life are the only escape from the gritty, dreary setting. The usual cliché characters are replaced by new ones, such as the captain (Wilde) who loves his wife but hates the war, the sergeant (Rip Torn) who gets sadistic pleasure out of battle, the minister's son (Patrick Wolfe) who keeps remembering the girl he left back home, and the Southern illiterate (Burr DeBenning) who finds a place for himself in the Marines. The screenplay (from a 1945 novel by Peter Bowman) avoids stereotypes yet doesn't make any of these men into fleshed-out characters. Still, the acting is solid and Wilde deserves commendation for taking a harsh, unromanticized look at the Big One, over thirty years before Steven Spielberg did it with Saving Private Ryan. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cornel Wilde, Rip Torn, (more)
