Reed Hadley Movies

Wendell Corey and Forrest Tucker, the Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy of Republic, star as a pair of World War II Army Air Corps officers. In between their battles over the affections of beautiful nurse Vera Hruba Ralston, Corey and Tucker prepare to fly a bombing mission in the South Pacific. Before boarding their B29 Superfortress, Tucker appears to be chickening out, but he's steadfastly at his cockpit post at takeoff time. For a big-budget war picture, Wild Blue Yonder contains a surprising amount of chorus boy-style singing. The best musical vignette is supporting player Phil Harris' rendition of his hit song "The Thing" ("Get outta here with that [thump! thump! thump!] /Before I call a cop" etc.) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ninety per cent of Little Big Horn takes place before Custer's Last Stand; thus, the emphasis is on character and suspense rather than spectacle (just as well, since spectacle was well out of the range of parsimonious Lippert Studios). Lloyd Bridges heads a small band of cavalrymen who desperately try to reach the Little Big Horn in time to warn Custer of a Sioux ambush. One by one, the men are picked off by Indian sharpshooters. The only survivors are Bridges and John Ireland, longtime enemies who may very well knock each other off before ever getting to Custer. Little Big Horn was the first directorial assignment for western-writer Charles Marquis Warren. It was hardly the last: Warren would later be one of the most prolific contributors to the Gunsmoke TV series of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

With Dallas, Gary Cooper revived his long-dormant association with westerns. Cooper plays ex-Confederate officer Blayde Hollister, who rides into Dallas in search of the men who killed his family and stole his land. Because he is considered to be an outlaw by the authorities, Hollister is compelled to switch identities with U.S. marshal Martin Wetherby (Leif Erickson). This ruse requires Hollister to explain his plan to Wetherby's lady friend, Tonia Robles (Ruth Roman). One by one, Hollister gets rid of the men responsible for the murders of his loved ones. The most formidable of his enemies, Will Marlow (Raymond Massey), proves to be a bit too clever to fall into Hollister's trap...at least until Marlow shows his hand in the final scene. There's more talk than action in Dallas, but Gary Cooper's laconic performance holds the audience's interest throughout. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The sexual dysfunction of a married couple provides the basis of this thought-provoking drama that was originally released in 1950 and was then re-released 11 years later with a prologue tacked on. In the prologue, the couple begin attending a group therapy session helmed by a prominent doctor. Neither the husband and wife are able to enjoy sex. The doctor then tells them a story and this story is the original 1950 film of a sexually repressed and unresponsive bride who ends up trying to kill herself. Fortunately, a psychiatrist helps her to see that her overbearing mother is the cause of her difficulty. This story inspires the first couple to keep working on their problem. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Samuel Fuller wrote and directed this lively drama based on the real-life adventures of James Addison Reavis, one of the most ambitious swindlers of the 19th Century. In 1871, Reavis (played by Vincent Price) began hatching an elaborate scheme to claim the Arizona territory (then three decades away from statehood) as his own. At the time, land grants established during Spanish rule of Arizona were still valid, and one rainy evening Reavis visited Pepito Peralta (Vladimir Sokoloff) and his daughter Sofia (Karen Kester) with some exciting news. While working as a real estate clerk, Reavis found documents which granted ownership of nearly the whole of the Arizona territory to one Miguel Peralta, who was named Baron of the new land by Spain's rulers, and as his heir Sofia will become Baroness when she reaches adulthood, giving her claim to the territory. After giving Pepito and Sofia money and hiring a governess (Beulah Bondi) to educate the girl in a manner befitting the Barony, Reavis sailed for Spain on business; unknown to the Peraltas, Reavis posed first as a monk and then as a gypsy in order to revise old land grant documents to conform with his story. Several years later, Reavis returned to Pepito and Sofia's home, and asked the young woman (now played by Ellen Drew) to marry him. Once wed, Reavis presented his carefully forged paperwork to the Arizona authorities which gave him and his bride royal claim to the land; however, not everyone believed Reavis's elaborate tale, and John Griff (Reed Hadley), an expert in falsified documents, was brought in to examine the evidence. The Baron of Arizona gave Vincent Price a rare leading role in a non-horror vehicle, and he cited it as one of his favorite performances on film. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This dark, gloomy Western chronicles the shame and self-destruction of Bob Ford, the real-life James Gang member that murdered Jesse James for the reward money. In this fictionalized account, James (Reed Hadley) tends to Ford (John Ireland) after he is wounded during a heist. When Ford's longtime love, Cynthy (Barbara Britton), gains a new admirer, he decides that settling down and buying a farm is the only way to win her for himself. He learns that the governor issued a 10,000-dollar reward and amnesty for Jesse's murder, and, after some deliberation, shoots his savior in the back when the outlaw turns to straighten a painting. Neither the government nor Cynthy takes kindly to his treachery: Ford is jailed, collects only 500 dollars, and is dumped. He is reduced to re-enacting the infamous murder in a stage show, hearing a traveling minstrel sing about his dirty deed, and running from the would-be gunfighters that hope to kill the man who shot Jesse James. The film follows Ford's vain attempts to achieve redemption and win back Cynthia's heart. I Shot Jesse James suffered through several casting related problems. Producer Robert L. Lippert refused to hire Lawrence Tierney, director Fuller's first choice to portray Ford. Barbara Woodell replaced Ann Doran as Jesse James' wife only days before production. Lastly, casting director, Yolanda Molinari's, name was misspelled "Yolondo" in the film's opening credits, making many believe that she was a man. ~ Aubry Anne D'Arminio, All Movie Guide

By the none-too-exacting standards of Screen Guild Productions, Last of the Wild Horses is practically an "A" picture. James Ellison plays Duke Barnum, an innocent soul who is set up as the fall guy for duplicitious horse-ranch foreman Riley (Reed Hadley). When ranch owner Charlie Cooper (Douglass Dumbrille) discovers that Riley has been raiding the neighboring ranchers' stock, he confronts the foreman with the evidence. Riley responds by killing Cooper and placing the blame on Barnum, leading to a deadly climactic confrontation between the two. Filmed on location in Southern Oregon, Last of the Wild Horses was directed by Robert L. Lippert, who'd later assume control of Screen Guild and rename the studio after himself. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Allan "Rocky" Lane finds himself linked up with an unexpected ally in Wyoming Bandit. That ally is none other than the title character, a hard-bitten outlaw named Wyoming Dan (Trevor Bardette). The bad guy has briefly turned "good" in hopes that Lane will help him find his son's murderer. To do this, Lane must also alter his personality and pose as a deadly gunman. The pivotal scene finds Dan and Lane in the villain's lair, facing a daunting array of firearms. Wyoming Bandit is one of a handful of Republic "B" westerns with no leading lady whatsoever. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hot on the heels of Columbia's The Fuller Brush Man, MGM released another Red Skelton gagfest, A Southern Yankee. Set during the Civil War, the film casts Skelton as bumbling bellboy Aubrey Filmore. Yearning to help the Northern cause by becoming an undercover spy, Aubrey succeeds beyond his wildest dreams when circumstances force him to pose as notorious Southern secret agent Major Drumman (George Coulouris), aka "The Grey Spider". Infiltrating rebel territory, our hero does his best (which is none too good) to intercept the Grey Spider's messages and smuggle them to the North. Along the way, he falls in love with pert Southern belle Sallyann Weatherby (Arlene Dahl). Many of the side-splitting gag routines were devised by Buster Keaton, notably the now-famous scene in which Aubrey gingerly walks across the battlefield between Northern and Southern lines carrying a two-sided flag -- the Northern Stars and Stripes on one side, the Southern Stars and Bars on the other -- a strategy that works until the wind suddenly changes! Though Edward Sedgwick is credited with the direction, Red Skelton later revealed that A Southern Yankee was actually directed by S. Sylvan Simon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Regarded by some film buffs as the best of director Leslie Selander's many westerns, Panhandle stars Rod Cameron as an ex-lawman turned gunslinger. He hopes to bury his past and homestead in Texas, but his plans change when his newspaper-reporter brother (John Champion) is killed. Reluctantly, Cameron buckles on his gun belt and heads out for retribution against crooked gambler Reed Hadley. Making his screenwriting debut, Blake Edwards (who also coproduced the film and played a small supporting role) does his best to steer free of cliches, structuring his script in the manner of the detective stories Edwards had been churning out for radio. No mere B picture, Panhandle was permitted to unspool at an "A" length of 84 minutes. To further assure audience approval, Blake Edwards rewrote the ending, in which hero Rod Cameron had originally been killed off. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Eagle-Lion studios inaugurated its new "big budget" western policy with 1948's The Man From Texas. James Craig stars as the El Paso Kid, who can't make up his mind whether to be an upstanding, decent citizen or a masked bandit. He continues to vacillate all through the picture, much to the dismay of his wife Zoe (Lynn Bari, in a rare sympathetic performance). Among those benefitting from the Kid's "good" spells is the Widow Weeks (Una Merkel), who's in danger of losing her farm. Singing star Johnnie Johnston wanders in and out of the proceedings as a frontier balladeer, occasionally commenting upon the action -- a device later used to better effect in Lang's Rancho Notorious and Zinneman's High Noon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide