Stephen McNally Movies

A young woman (Jean Simmons) manages a remote California sheep ranch with her father (Brian Aherne). A plane carrying a sheriff (Stephen McNally) and a man indicted for manslaughter (Rory Calhoun) crashes nearby. Both men are cared for by the girl, who doesn't know at first which is the cop and which is the criminal. She falls in love with the convicted man and believes protestations of innocence, but the vindictive sheriff tries to dissuade her of these feelings. Given several chances to finish each other off, both sheriff and convict relent. Under the influence of the girl, they agree to return to Utah together, where (it is implied) the criminal will be given a bias-free trial. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Shortly before his death, horror film producer Val Lewton switched creative gears by overseeing the Universal western Apache Drums. The scene is the potentially prosperous western town of Spanish Boot, built from nothing by a group of determined settlers. Before they can enjoy the fruits of their labors, the townsfolk are threatened with an imminent Apache attack. Delivering this sobering news is gambler Sam Leeds (Stephen McNally), previously kicked out of town by the "proper" citizens. At first, no one believes Leeds, but soon the Apaches prove the veracity of the gambler's claims. The rest of the film is light on action but heavy on tension, as the true personalities of all concerned are revealed while they await the final, fatal Apache assault. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This violent blaxploitation film stars Jim Brown as the owner of a Los Angeles nightclub. When his brother, a Vietnam veteran, is murdered by gangsters, Brown gathers some of his brother's fellow veterans and an assortment of ex-convicts to get brutal revenge. Martin Landau, Luciana Paluzzi, and Jeannie Bell head the cast, along with genre regulars Bruce Glover, Bernie Casey, and Gary Conway. Director Robert Hartford-Davis is best known for horror films like Incense of the Damned and Corruption, while Brown went on to more successful genre fare in Slaughter and Slaughter's Big Rip-Off. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

Call to Danger was a title that had already been applied to two unsold pilot films before this TV movie made its first appearance in February of 1973. Like the previous 1968 Call to Danger, the 1973 film stars Peter Graves as a federal agent who enlists "ordinary" people to solve crimes. Headquartered in Washington DC (where most of this film was shot), Graves selects his erstwhile agents by means of a computer. The case at hand is the retrieval of an underworld informer who has been kidnapped. Peter Graves appeared in Call to Danger even while his series Mission: Impossible was in production; there was talk that Mission: Impossible would soon be cancelled, and Graves wanted a pilot film to fall back on. Come September of 1973, there was neither hide nor hair of Mission: Impossible, Call to Danger or Peter Graves on any network. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Steve Thompson (Burt Lancaster) returns home after a few years of knocking around the country following his divorce from good-time girl Anna (Yvonne De Carlo). Getting his old job back driving an armored car, and not even convincing himself that he's making a new start, he also wants his old wife back. When he finds Anna, he quickly learns that she is involved with gangster Slim Dundee (Dan Duryea). Nonetheless, they carry on a clandestine affair, with Steve foolishly believing that Anna will return to him. Even after she marries Slim, Steve, with her encouragement, masochistically clings to this doomed obsession. So when Slim catches them together, Steve ad libs plans for an armored car robbery that includes Slim. The two rivals form an uneasy and untrusting collaboration, but Steve and Anna plan to double cross Slim. However, the title of Robert Siodmak's film noir gem is, not incidentally, Criss Cross. ~ Steve Press, Rovi

When undercover secret agent Tyrone Power is thwarted in his efforts to obtain a vital document with details of the Russian invasion of Yugoslavia by the death of the courier at the hands of two Russian agents, played by Mario Siletti and Charles Buchinski (aka Charles Bronson), it becomes his duty to go after the murderers and retrieve the papers. With more loops and turnabouts than a snake, the plot has surprises with agents, double agents, mistaken information and is, all in all, a surprisingly exciting spy vehicle. Michael Ansara and Lee Marvin also make brief appearances in this early cold war story. A script with a lot of holes in it is pulled off by the fine performances and tight direction given in this film. ~ Tana Hobart, Rovi

Hell Bent for Leather is a standard western that features Audie Murphy in the role of Clay, a cowboy hunted by a posse out for blood. Clay deals and trade in horses in an honest way, and he does not suspect that a crooked U.S. Marshal (Stephen McNally) interested in furthering his career, is determined to nab him as a killer though he knows full well Clay is innocent. When first attacked, Clay grabs a hostage (Felicia Farr) who eventually sides with him and helps him in the long chase that follows. Clay's challenge is not only to get away from the Marshal and his posse but to somehow prove his innocence as well. Murphy, the most decorated soldier in World War II was still riding the popularity of his own real-life story in 1955's To Hell and Back when this western was released. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Hell's Five Hours begin ticking away when Nash (Vic Morrow), a disgruntled employee of a rocket-fuel manufacturing plant, goes berserk. Wielding a home-made bomb, Nash threatens to blow himself, his hostages and the plant to smithereens. Nash's supervisor Mike (Stephen McNally) takes it upon himself to talk Nash into surrendering, playing for time while all the fuel is pumped out of the plant's supply tanks and the rockets are removed from the premeses. Mike has only five hours (hence the film's title) to convince Nash to come to his senses. Hell's Five Hours makes up in tension what it lacks in production finesse. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A remake of the 1931 film of the same name, Iron Man stars Jeff Chandler as up-and-coming boxer Cokie Martin. A relatively pleasant fellow outside the ring, Martin turns into a monster whenever he dons boxing gloves and trunks. As a result, he becomes "the man you love to hate" so far as the fans are concerned. Only his fiancee Rose (Evelyn Keyes) is willing to stand by him, but even her devotion is sorely tested when Cokie continues displaying his killer instinct. Only the intervention of "clean" fighter Speed O'Keefe (Rock Hudson) prevents Cokie from destroying himself. Told in flashback, Iron Man is at its best in its expository scenes, showing the hero working his way out of a coal mining town and into the championship. Joyce Holden co-stars as a good-time girl who enjoys a brief fling with the hero; in the original 1931 version, Holden's character was played by Jean Harlow. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

After years of dumb-blonde and best-friend roles, Jane Wyman proved her skills as a dramatic actress -- and won an Academy Award in the bargain -- in Johnny Belinda. Adapted from a stage play by Elmer Harris, the story takes place in Nova Scotia, where deaf-mute Belinda (Wyman) leads a lonely existence on the hardscrabble farm of her father Black Macdonald (Charles Bickford) and her aunt Aggie (Agnes Moorehead). Newly arrived doctor Robert Richardson (Lew Ayres) takes a special interest in Belinda, vowing to ease her road in life by teaching her sign language. Despite initial resistance from her father and aunt, Belinda quickly learns how to communicate with others, opening a whole, wonderful new world for her. But things take a sorry turn when local lout Locky (Stephan McNally) corners poor Belinda after a village dance and rapes her. If the ending seems a bit ambiguous, it is because director Jean Negulesco intended it that way, allowing the viewer to draw his or her own conclusion regarding Belinda's future relationship with her mentor Dr. Richardson. Upon accepting her Oscar, Jane Wyman commented on the fact that she accomplished this feat through the simple expedient of "keeping my mouth shut." But there is nothing simple or facile in Wyman's astonishing performance as Belinda, which far outclasses the actresses who repeated the role in the two TV remakes. Also worthy of praise is the lush musical score by Max Steiner, one of his best post-Casablanca efforts. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A gangster is sentenced to prison for killing his wife, but the woman isn't really dead: she's alive and well, raising her daughter in New Mexico. After 18 years, though, the husband comes back looking for revenge. Dorothy McGuire and Stephen McNally star in the 1954 film. ~ John Bush, Rovi

Stephen McNally guest-stars as Nazi war criminal Kruger Schtelman, the only man who knows the whereabouts of a fortune hidden by the Germans during WW2. To prevent Schtelman from using the money to finance a neo-Nazi revolt, the IMF must trick him into revealing the whereabouts of the hidden cash. The solution: To convince Schtelman that the War is still in progress--and that he is on board a Nazi submarine (meticulously recreated by Mission: Impossible art director Gibson Holley). Lee Meriwether makes her second appearance as IMF agent Tracey. Written by Donald James, "Submarine" first aired on November 16, 1969. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Telecast April 17, 1974, Nakia was the pilot film for the shortlived ABC drama series of the same name. In the tradition of Billy Jack, Native American deputy sheriff Nakia Parker (Robert Fortier) tries to protect his people from the machinations of villainous whites. In this instance, Nakia stands up against an insensitive city council which plans to sell a historic mission to an evil land developer (is there any other kind on TV?) Nakia was filmed on location in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as was the weekly series itself, which ran from September 21 to December 28, 1974. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi