Julie Adams Movies
A former secretary, Julie Adams inaugurated her film career in a series of slapped-together westerns starring James Ellison and Russell Hayden. She billed herself under her real name of Betty Adams until she was signed by Universal in 1949; she then became Julia Adams, which was modified to Julie by the early 1950s. Fans of the 1953 horror film Creature From the Black Lagoon tend to believe that Julie became a leading lady on the strength of her role in this film as the imperiled--and fetchingly underclad--heroine. In fact, she had been cast in good parts as early as 1950, notably the wealthy fiancee of newly blinded GI Arthur Kennedy in Bright Victory (1951). Curiously, some of her largest roles of the 1950s, in films like The Private War of Major Benson (1955) and Away All Boats (1956), were her least interesting. She cut down on her film appearances in the early 1960s to concentrate on television, a medium that permitted her to hold out for meatier acting assignments. Though she still tended to be cast in such negligible roles as the star's wife in The Jimmy Stewart Show (1971), Julie was proud of her many powerful guest-star appearances on dramatic programs: she was particularly fond of her performance as a middle-aged pregnant woman on a 1969 installment of Marcus Welby MD. Julie Adams was at one time married to actor/director Ray Danton. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
- PG
In this thriller, an innocent man is wrongfully committed to an asylum for the criminally insane. While there he learns how to tap into his psychic powers and to affect the lives of others via astral projection. These skills come in mighty handy after he is released and he heads out for revenge against those who framed him. This movie was originally filmed as The Kirlian Force. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Burke, Jim Hutton, (more)
Originally released as The Wild McCulloughs, this AIP melodrama stars Forrest Tucker as J.J. McCulloch, a domineering patriarch. In their race to escape their father's overbearing influence, J.J.'s grown sons come to grief; one son dies in Korea, while another is arrested for murder. Only Gary (Chip Hand), the youngest son, manages to survive the situation. J.J. also has a daughter, played by Janice Heiden, whose romantic misadventures add more fuel to the dysfunctional flames. Costarring in The McCulloughs is Julie Adams as Tucker's long suffering wife, and former "Beverly Hillbilly" Max Baer (who also produced, directed and wrote the film) as one of Heiden's beaus. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Forrest Tucker, Julie Adams, (more)
- 1975
The scene is a high-rise hotel in midtown San Francisco. Confronted by mobsters who are angry because he refused to throw a fight, an aging boxer manages to beat up two of his assailants and throw the third out the window to his death! Arriving on the scene to investigate the killer, Stone (Karl Malden) and Keller (Michael Douglas) conduct a room-by-room search for the fugitive boxer, who is now on the run from cops and crooks alike--and is presently hiding in the same room with a pair of adulterous lovers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Undoubtedly having second thoughts after turning down Dirty Harry, John Wayne showed up in 1974 in his own "maverick cop" adventure, McQ. Wayne, playing McQ, a veteran detective, turns in his badge when he's officially denied the opportunity of clearing the name of his late best friend, who has been posthumously accused of drug pushing. Investigating on his own, McQ becomes romantically involved with his friend's widow (Diana Muldaur), who unbeknownst to him is up to her neck in police corruption. Considering the usual flag-waving content of John Wayne's 1970s films, it is rather startling to discover that the real villains in McQ are a coterie of crooked cops! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Eddie Albert, (more)
- 1973
"Alice" was the pseudonymous name of the teenaged author who wrote the book upon which this above-average TV movie was based. Jamie Smith-Jackson portrays a shy, slightly overweight high schooler who is so anxious for acceptance that she falls in with the drug crowd. In a methodical, almost casual matter, we see how Alice descends into a nether world of pushers, pimps and prostitution. Perhaps to make the point that this could be the story of any impressionable youth, few of the characters are identified by name: Julie Adams plays "The Mother," William Shatner "The Professor," Andy Griffith "The Priest," and so on. Filmed in a cinema-verite fashion, Go Ask Alice makes excellent use of relatively unfamiliar Los Angeles locations. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
A rancher sets out to find the party responsible for killing his son and kidnapping his daughter. He enlists an arrogant professional tracker to help him in his search. Ernest Borgnine and Sammy Davis, Jr. star in this made-for-television western. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- 1971
With a barrage of cinematic distancing devices at hand (flashbacks and flash-forwards, super-imposed titles, missing frames, projectionist cue-marks placed in the wrong locations in a film reel), Dennis Hopper concocts a hallucinatory acid-trip concerning an American movie company making a western in Peru. In a remote mountain village in Peru, a Hollywood film company wraps up shooting a western and returns to California. Staying behind is a young stunt man, Kansas (Dennis Hopper). In the village, he takes up with the resident whore, Maria (Stella Garcia). At this point, the film flash-forwards to Kansas being crucified by the villagers. Back in the old time frame, the Peruvians decide that they want to make their own movie. Not having the necessary film equipment, but plenty of local raw material, the villagers construct the needed cameras, microphones, and sound recorders out of bamboo, and although the equipment is faked, the villagers substitute real, bloody violence for the make-believe violence of Hollywood. During this eruption of violence in the Peruvian village, the local priest (Tomas Milian) blames Kansas for the carnage. The priest decides that movies are the root of all worldly evil and convinces the villagers to seize Kansas. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Hopper, Stella Garcia, (more)
- 1969
Neil Kriton (Michael Tolan), a respectable businessman, is none too pleased when his black-sheep younger brother Ricky (Scott Marlowe) shows up, begging for a job. Neil relents and finds employment for Ricky, despite the reservations of Neil's wife Denise (Julie Adams) and sister-in-law Lori Donna Baccala). Perhaps the elder Kriton would have been wise to heed the warnings of the women in his life: Ricky happens to be a fugitive from the FBI, wanted for hijacking and attempted murder--and he has no intention of reforming. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1968
Milton Berle is both guest star and cowriter of this episode, which was clearly inspired by the rantings of provocative TV talkshow host Joe Pyne. Playing completely straight, Berle is cast as vituperative TV personality Ross Howard, who hopes to parlay both his war record and his media notoreity into a political career. Not surprisingly, Howard has made dozens of enemies throughout his career, one of whom begins sending him death threats. Despite his distate for Howard's tactics, Ironside (Raymond Burr) agrees to protect the man from his unknown would-be murderer--a difficult assignment that becomes even more so when Howard's alcoholic wife is killed by a car bomb. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1967
In this adventure, a commercial plane crashes in a remote South American jungle. All but one of the passengers survive. Unfortunately, he was the sheriff in charge of taking a dangerous criminal to the executioner. During the excitement of the crash, the prisoner killed the lawman. Among the other survivors is a famous singer, a washed-up funnyman, a mentally ill teacher, and a writer looking for his sister who married a missionary and is now living in the jungle. Amazingly, she is rumored to live fairly close to the crash sight. The survivors manage to make it to the isolated village where she resides. There the writer learns that his sister's husband has gone insane and that she is dead. The megalomaniacal missionary now believes himself king of the natives and is preparing the author and a few others to become human sacrifices when a neighboring tribe intervenes and saves them. The amiable natives then take the survivors back to the wreckage where navy rescue helicopters are preparing to land. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Egan, Harry Guardino, (more)
The original king of rock-n-roll (Elvis Presley) stars in this light comedy musical as a singing buck who finds employment at an all femme ranch & spa. After kissing the girls and making them cry, the stud-clad crooner is sent away, but soon comes back to rescue a pretty maiden from the hands of fortune-seeking baddies. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elvis Presley, Julie Adams, (more)
- 1965
Every prediction made by a fortune teller to Patricia Kean (Julie Adams) has come true, including her marriage to her wealthy boss Max Armstead (Jesse White). This is why Patricia begins worrying when the seer predicts "You'll wear white. . .then widow's black." Sure enough, Max ends up being fatally poisoned--and as he breathes his last, he accuses Patricia of being his murderer. This place Patricia's lawyer Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) in an uncomfortable position, inasmuch as both he and Lt. Drumm (Richard Anderson) were present when Max spoke his final words! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1964
Season eight of Perry Mason begins with Perry (Raymond Burr) in the middle of a natsy child-custody battle between divorcing couple Janice and Dirk Blake (Julie Adams, Ed Nelson). The child in question is the Blakes' five-year-old daughter Button (Claire Wilcox), who has just inherited a four-million-dollar trust fund. With both Janice and Dirk behaving deplorably, Perry arranges for Button to be placed in the temorary custody of her cousins Lois and Roger Gray (Dee Hartford, Alan Baxter). As it turns out, the Grays may end up with the kid for keeps: dad Dirk has been charged with the murder of Vince Rome (Anthony Eisley), who had earlier conspired with Dirk to "kidnap" Button from her mother. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1963
Not long after divorcing his wife Valerie (Julie Adams), Roy Comstock (John Conte) apparently commits suicide. In truth, both the divorce and the phony suicide are part of an elaborate scheme to swindle Comstock's partner Peter Brent (Carleton Carpenter). When Comstock turns up dead for real, it is Brent who is charged with murder--whereupon Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) sets about to untangle the web of deceit that has already enmeshed this sordid affair. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1963
Extra! Extra! The unthinkable has happened! PERRY MASON HAS LOST A CASE! The jury brings in a guilty verdict, and Perry's client Janice Barton (Vera Miles) is convicted of murder and sentenced to the gas chamber. Though perennial also-ran Hamilton Burger (William Talman) should be elated, he is sympathetic towards the brooding Mason (Raymond Burr), who blames himself for Janice's plight. But it soon develops that Janice had virtually condemned herself by lying about her whereabouts when the murder was committed. Still convinced of his former client's innocence, Perry works feverishly behind the scenes to expose the real killer--whose identity will come as quite a shock to fans of 1960s sitcoms. This justifiably famous episode, ranked as #51 in the "100 Greatest TV Episodes of All Time" by TV Guide, was originally scheduled to air on October 3, 1963. (Curiously, it was removed from the series' syndicated package in 1966, and not seen again until it was cablecast in 1988). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1962
Julie Adams guest-stars as Mary Simpson, the new county nurse. At her wit's end, Mary enlists Andy's aid in persuading Rafe Hollister (Jack Prince) to get a tetanus shot. When all other methods fail, Andy wears down Rafe's resistance with a strategy not dissimilar to the "Poor Jud is Dead" scene in the Broadway musical Oklahoma. Originally broadcast on March 19, 1962, "The County Nurse" was written by Jack Elinson and Charles Stewart. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julie Adams
- 1962
This sci-fi melodrama about housing construction in the murky deep sea is as clear as the muddied water itself. Enterprising individuals have decided that if humans are going to blow themselves sky-high at some point in the future then it might be a good idea to have an escape hatch down at the bottom of the ocean. And so a series of underwater living units are carefully created and tested until it seems like they are ready for residents to move in. What no one considers is that the sea floor and the sea itself may not be as stable as they first seem. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Lundigan, Julie Adams, (more)
- 1961
In modern-day Salem, MA, Phyllis and Ben Kendall (Julie Adams, James Franciscus) purchase an old house from local eccentric Amelia Gastell (Charity Grace). The location of the house is perfect in every respect save one -- there are no playmates in the neighborhood for the Kendalls' 9-year-old daughter Kate (Susan Gordon). Soon, however, Kate begins playing with an imaginary friend whom she calls Letty -- the same name of a child who died in Salem way back during the "witch hunt" of 1692. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
Julie Adams guest-stars as Helen, the widow of Ben Cartwright's old friend Josh Layton. As beautiful as she is charming, Helen has a fatal flaw: She is a chronic gambler, one who tends to drag her lovers down into her own bottomless pit of debt and despair. Now Helen has caught the eye of Hoss-much to Ben's dismay. Marshall Reed and Lyle Talbot also appear in this episode, which was written by Richard N. Morgan. "The Courtship" first aired on January 7, 1961. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, (more)
- 1960
Championing the cause of widowed bank president Wilma White (Julie Adams), Bart (Jack Kelly) is determined to find out who has been writing threatening letters to the beleagured woman. At the same time, Bart wants to track down the person who stole the money that he'd had locked up in a hotel safe. As it turns out, the intended victim of the murderous poison-pen correspondent isn't Wilma--it's Bart. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1960
The story of a boy and his fish is chronicled in this heartwarming children's drama. The story centers around Raymie, a young boy who is determined to catch 'Old Moe,' a big barracuda who has become a local legend. Along with a variety of older fisherman, he sets up his gear on a California pier and patiently begins fishing for his prize; when he finally catches it, the tender-hearted lad decides to release the great creature. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Ladd, Julie Adams, (more)
- 1959
Philandering husband Courtney Masterson (Joseph Cotten) and his paramour, Peg Valence (Julie Adams), are attacked by a robber named Rudy (Don Gordon). Fortunately, Courtney and Peg manage to overpower their assailant and lock the man in the trunk of Masterson's car. At this point, Courtney should have gone to the police -- except that he doesn't, knowing full well that he'll have to explain to the authorities why he's in the company of Peg and not his wife. So should the couple allow Rudy to go free? Well...he could turn out to be a blackmailer...couldn't he? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
Developing a hankerin' for Bart Maverick (Jack Kelly), wealthy young widow Belle Morgan (Julie Adams) arranges it so Bart can participate in a big-time poker game. Emerging victorious, Bart finds himself the proud owner of the Brasada railroad spur. Unfortunately, the "prize" soon turns out to be far more trouble than it's worth--and Bart once again faces a quick and ignominious demise. Featured in the cast is actor-producer James Lydon, best known for his portrayal of goofy teenager Henry Aldrich in a series of popular B-movies of the 1940s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
As his wife Helen (Julie Adams) and son Steve (Charles Herbert) are off exploring an abandoned mine, recovering alcoholic Carl Archer (Charles Aidman) remains in his room, struggling desperately to stay on the wagon. Suddenly, he has a vision of a strange, disheveled woman, who warns him that his wife and son are in grave danger. Can it be that this is merely a drunkard's hallucination--or are Helen and Steve about to meet with tragedy? This episode features several sci-fi/fantasy movie veterans, including Julie Adams (Creature from the Black Lagoon), Charles Herbert (13 Ghost) and William Schallert (The Man from Planet X). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
