Harry Guardino Movies

Don Siegel's only war film and unfortunately his only teaming with Steve McQueen, an actor whose rebellious persona jibed well with the director's vision, it puts the star in the familiar role of antihero. His character, Reese, is an embittered G.I. who has just been sent back to join his war-weary unit holding down a position opposite a pillbox on the Siegfried Line in Belgium. Recently demoted back to private from staff sergeant for drinking, he chafes under all authority, and is a pariah to fellow grunts, despite their awareness of his extraordinary courage in battle. A natural leader, he persuades his sergeant (Harry Guardino) to implement a plan he's formulated to keep the Germans at bay by making them believe that the small outfit is larger than it is. While this is temporarily effective, Reese knows that it's only a matter of time before the enemy discovers the truth, and takes it on his own authority to lead an attack on the well-defended pillbox, although his unit has been assigned only to hold their ground. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide

Knowing that syndicate errand boy Smiley Barris (Frank Sutton) has enough information to send him to the chair, Joe Kulak (Oscar Beregi) orders his hired torpedoes to bump Smiley off. When his plans are thwarted by Elliot Ness (Robert Stack), Kulak brings in an out-of-town assassin named John Quist (John Larkin). Now on the lam from both Ness and Quist, Smiley seeks protection from high-rolling gambler Johnny Templar (a "Bugsy Siegel" clone played by Harry Guardino). Both Johnny and his girlfriend Jeanne (Gloria Talbott) take a liking to Smiley and do everything they can to help him--which turns out to be a fatal miscalculation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One major film star referred to director Nicholas Ray as a "loser," because of Ray's alleged willingness to let his more temperamental actors walk all over him. Evidently, Ray had a very compliant and cooperative cast in King of Kings, inasmuch as the film emerged as one of the most disciplined Biblical epics ever made. Jeffrey Hunter is cast as Jesus Christ, delivering a wholly credible performance in this most taxing of roles (never mind the wags who referred to the film as "I Was a Teenage Jesus"). Siobhan McKenna is a radiant if somewhat overaged Mary; Hurd Hatfield offers a properly preening Pontius Pilate; Rip Torn portrays Judas more for the tragedy than the treachery; Robert Ryan (a personal favorite of Ray's) is one of the best John the Baptists you're ever likely to see; and Harry Guardino convincingly interprets Barabbas as a firebrand political extremist. The only false note in the casting is the MGM-dictated selection of teenaged Brigid Bazlen as Salome. The best aspect of the film is its handling of the days after the Resurrection; the "Jesus sightings" are offered as secondhand information, so as to retain some of the mystery inherent in the Scriptures. King of Kings was previously filmed in 1927 by Cecil B. DeMille, with a middle-aged H.B. Warner as Jesus. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Newly released from prison, Frank O'Dean (Harry Guardino) would like to go straight, but is forced into working for the illicit slot-machine operation run by Augie Viale (John Beradino). It turns out that Viale has a powerful hold on O'Dean: he knows that Frank's daughter, who is convinced that her father died a war hero, is about to marry into a respectable society family. Rather than ruin his daughter's chances at happiness, O'Dean agrees to play ball with Viale--while Elliot Ness (Robert Stack), who senses that Frank is a decent guy despite his criminal record, does what he can to turn the hapless ex-convict against his boss. A powerful finale caps this curiously sentimental (but still extremely violent) episode. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Five Pennies is the life story of influential jazz cornetist Red Nichols, played here by a remarkably straight-faced Danny Kaye. The somewhat romanticized screenplay chronicles Nichols' rise from obscurity, annotates the many future bandleaders who would play with Nichols' "Five Pennies," and details his self-destructive streak and (seeming) inability to conform to changing musical tastes. Weaving in and out of the main story is a sentimental subplot concerning Nichols' physically impaired daughter Dorothy, played by Susan Gordon as a child and by Tuesday Weld (in her movie debut) as a young woman. Nichols's long-suffering wife is portrayed by Barbara Bel Geddes. The storyline occasionally lapses into sappiness and the ending is almost impossibly lachrymose, but the musical highlights save the day. Especially memorable is Danny Kaye's duet with Louis Armstrong. Among the real-life musicians who grace the supporting cast of The Five Pennies are Bob Crosby, Ray Anthony, Shelly Manne, and, as Jimmy Dorsey, Bobby Troup. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

On the eve of his execution for a crime he didn't commit, Gerald Daniels (Harry Guardino) makes one last request: a typewriter. Angrily, Daniels pounds out a damning critique of D.A. Bernard Butler (Hugh Marlowe), the man who had sent him to death row. Daniels reveals that, not only did Butler prosecute him unfairly, but that the D.A. had previously condemned an innocent man for a murder that Butler had actually committed! "Is this the sort of man you want for governor?" Daniels asks at the conclusion of his embittered harangue -- just before an ironic twist caps this episode. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A TV telethon is the "gimmick" in Allied Artists' The Big Tipoff. Richard Conte plays two-bit newspaper columnist Johnny Denton, who gains notoreity by printing tips on upcoming gangland activities. Denton heightens his fame by refusing to reveal the source of his information; the audience knows, however, that Denton's tip-off man is crime kingpin Bob Gilmore (Bruce Bennett), who is in the process of staging a phony telethon to scam the public. This plot element is mainly an excuse to offer a series of unrelated variety acts featuring such LA TV personalities as Spade Cooley, April Stevens, Chuy Reyes, and Ginny Jackson. The two male protagonists are given a chance for redemption through the auspices of Sister Joan (Cathy Downs), but an apparent murder muddies the proceedings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Singer Frances Langford stars as herself in Purple Heart Diary. The film is a reenactment of Langford's USO tours during WW II, as reported in the singer's newspaper columns for the Hearst syndicate. Also appearing as themselves are two of Langford's fellow troupers, singer Tony Romano and comic pianist Ben Lessy. Since Langford couldn't very well participate in a fictional wartime romance (her actual love life was public domain thanks to the various Hollywood columnists of the era), the love interest is handled by Aline Towne and Brett King, cast respectively as an army nurse and a crippled ex-football jock. The musical sequences in Purple Heart Diary play a lot more credibly than the melodramatic "courage under fire" setpieces. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide