Hoyt Axton Movies
Oklahoma-born singer/composer Hoyt Axton was the son of Mae Boren Axton, the highly respected country-and-western artist who wrote Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel." Upholding family tradition, Axton has penned several hit songs for performers other than himself, from the Kingston Trio's "Greenback Dollar" to Ringo Starr's "The No No Song." Axton's film career until the mid 1980s was confined to soundtrack contributions, notably for the 1969 groundbreaker Easy Rider. Switching to film acting in the late 1970s, Axton has appeared in good ole boy character roles in such films as The Black Stallion (1979) and Gremlins (1984). Hoyt Axton also sang the theme song for the TV sitcom Flo (1980-81). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1983
Director H. B. Halicki affords himself the lead in Deadline Auto Theft, playing a lover of fast cars and fast women, in that order. In search of new thrills, he gets involved with ring of thieves. There follows the usual film-length chase, with Halicki running from the law and the crooks. Veterans Hoyt Axton and Lang Jeffries (of the 1950s TV series Rescue 8) add a dash of professionalism to Deadline Auto Theft. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
- Add Faerie Tale Theatre: Goldilocks and the Three Bears to QueueAdd Faerie Tale Theatre: Goldilocks and the Three Bears to top of Queue
A delightful episode from Shelley Duvall's popular family-oriented cable television series, this version of the classic children's yarn takes an unusual twist in that poor little Goldilocks is an ill-mannered, destructive brat who turns the lives and household of three kindly bears upside down. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Heart Like a Wheel stars Bonnie Bedelia as real-life racing champion Shirley "Cha Cha" Muldowney. Overcoming sexist hurdles, Shirley works hard to qualify for the major auto race competitions of America. Firmly in her cheering section is her dad (Hoyt Axton), and--at least at first--her husband, mechanic Jack Muldowney (Leo Rossi). When Jack, jealous of Shirley's success, leaves her, she casts her lot with troublesome banned racer Connie Kalita (Beau Bridges). The film comes to a head at the 1966 National Hot Rod Association World Championship, which Shirley eventually wins three times. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bonnie Bedelia, Beau Bridges, (more)
H.B. Halicki, who wrote and directed the car chase classic Gone in 60 Seconds, returned with this action-comedy, in which Halicki claimed to have wrecked no fewer than 150 cars onscreen (a record confirmed by the Guinness Book of World Records). Harlan Hollis (H.B. Halicki) is a former junkyard owner whose knowledge of cars has helped him to move up in the world, becoming a well-known auto stuntman and film director. However, Hollis has made an enemy of one of his partners in the movie game, and as he hits the road to attend a James Dean memorial festival in Indiana, Hollis discovers a number of people are out to kill him, using guns, automobiles, airplanes, and anything else that's handy. Can Hollis find out who's after him and turn the tables before his luck runs out? Along with those 150 cars, The Junkman stars Christopher Stone, Lynda Day George, and Freddy Cannon. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- H.B. Halicki, Christopher Stone, (more)
- 1982
- R
Based on a true story, Endangered Species stars Robert Urich and JoBeth Williams. Urich plays vacationing ex-cop Ruben Castle, while Williams portrays Harriet Purdue, a small-town sheriff. Intrigued by Purdue's investigation of a rash of cattle mutilations, Castle begins following the evidence trail himself. What has been attributed to a religious cult or extraterrestrials by the locals turns out to be a covert operation conducted by a corrupt cartel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Urich, JoBeth Williams, (more)
- 1982
- PG
Against the wishes of both families, a poor boy (Matt Dillon) and a wealthy banker's daughter (Cindy Fisher) elope, only to discover that their immaturity and incompatibility may be the downfall of their relationship. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matt Dillon, Cindy Fisher, (more)
- 1981
The Dukes find out that their personable new neighbors, Adam and Esther Venable (John Larch, Cynthia Leake) are actually in the Federal Witness Protection Program. Complicating matters are a band of vicious bounty hunters who are pursuing the Venables in hopes of tracking down $2,000,000 in stolen ransom money. Somehow or other, all this is tied in Boss Hogg's (Sorrell Booke) uranium-hunting expedition. This week's victim of Boss' "celebrity speed trap" is Hoyt Axton, who performs "Out-of-State Cars". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1980
- PG
This is a routine story about Bradley (David Carradine), a stunt flyer who loves flying more than anything else, as apparently does the director, Barry Brown. Bradley is devoted to his brother who suffers from Downs syndrome and he helps a new flyer to ditch a potentially disastrous flirtation with drugs. He is clearly a "good guy" even though humanity in general tends to take a backseat to flying, as far as he is concerned. He is less successful in his relationship with his girlfriend Helen (Jennifer O'Neill) partly because of his interest in flying. The extended stunt flying sequences might cause some viewers to wish the pilot spent more time on the ground handling his personal relationships than in the air looping and twirling. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Carradine, Jennifer O'Neill, (more)
This beautifully mounted adaptation of Walter Farley's story for children tells the tale of Alec (Kelly Reno), a young boy touring the world with his adventurous salesman father (Hoyt Axton). While travelling back to the United States by ship, Alec discovers a wild, beautiful Arabian stallion being brought along in the cargo hold. When disaster strikes at sea, the ship sinks, and Alec and the stallion are the only survivors. Alone together on a nearby island, the boy and the horse develop a relationship; wary of each other at first, they learn to trust each other, and they become close friends. When a rescue party finally finds Alec, he refuses to leave the island without the stallion, and the horse goes with Alec to the small town that is his home. Alec's mother (Teri Garr) is at a loss about what to do with this remarkable but difficult animal. Henry Dailey (Mickey Rooney), an elderly horse trainer who lives in the neighborhood, senses a special connection between the boy and his horse; he's soon convinced that with the right training, and the boy as his jockey, the horse could be a champion on the race course. First-time director Carroll Ballard captures the mysterious relationship between humans and animals, treating the stallion with the same intelligence and respect as the rest of his cast; he also draws fine, understated performances from Kelly Reno and Mickey Rooney, and Caleb Deschanel's photography makes this a feast for the eyes. The Black Stallion is that rare contemporary family film that will fascinate adults as much as their kids, if not more so. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kelly Reno, Mickey Rooney, (more)
- 1979
When she was a little girl back in Rock Throw, West Virginia, Jennfer (Loni Anderson) promised to marry her childhood sweetheart T.J. Watson. Now T.J. is all grown up (and played by country singer Hoyt Axton), and he has come to Cincinnati to see Jennifer. Worried that T.J. will demand that she keep her marriage promise, Jennifer tries to pass off Johnny (Howard Hesseman) as her husband! Without tipping off the punch line of this episode, it can be noted that Hoyt Axton performs two of his own compositions, "I'm a Jealous Man" and "Della and the Dealer". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Joe D'Amato, notorious director of numerous Euro-porn epics, manages to exploit even more perverse theme material in this necrophiliac love story about a disturbed young taxidermist so bereaved over the loss of his fiancee that he exhumes and preserves her corpse to keep him company. When the stuffed cadaver no longer offers erotic satisfaction, he sets out with the help of his spooky housekeeper to find a new bride, murdering any prospects who don't measure up to his twisted standards -- or sometimes just for the fun of it -- and dissecting them in his convenient in-home mortuary. As grotesque and graphic as this film may be, it is made all the more grim by its straightforward dramatic presentation (as if this were no more than a slightly off-kilter romantic tragedy), with atmospheric photography and a moody score by Goblin. Viewers who might consider the devouring of a human heart in poor taste are advised to avoid this film. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kieran Canter, Cinzia Monreale, (more)
- 1979
Popular country music stars from the late 1970s populate this updated adaptation of Dickens', A Christmas Carol. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1977
- PG
A musician discovers that there's no such thing as bad publicity when a murder charge makes him a star in this comedy-drama. Bobby Ogden (Peter Fonda) is an ex-con trying to go straight and build a career as a country and western singer. Bobby gets the opportunity to show off some of his tunes to Nashville star Garland Dupree (James Callahan), but Garland takes Bobby's best song, "Outlaw Blues," and puts his own name to it. Suddenly Bobby's tune is a hit, with the struggling writer getting no credit (and no royalties). An understandably angry Bobby confronts Garland, and when Garland is found shot dead shortly afterward, Bobby becomes the prime suspect. Bobby is innocent, but hardly anyone believes this outside of Garland's back-up singer Tina Waters (Susan St. James). Bobby and Tina hit the road together, and the wanted man becomes an underground hero as Bobby climbs both the Billboard charts and the "Most Wanted" list. Peter Fonda does his own singing in Outlaw Blues, and he croons half a dozen tunes, including three written for the film by Hoyt Axton. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Fonda, Susan Saint James, (more)
- 1974
- R
In this coming-of-age movie from 1974 that mines the same territory as Summer of '42 and Class of '44, Joan Goodfellow plays Billie, an obliging blonde more than willing to dispense sexual favors for a group of horny high schoolers in rural Georgia of 1948. The only member of the high school group that doesn't seek out Billie is Buster (Jan-Michael Vincent), who is faithful to his fiancee, Margie (Pamela Sue Martin). But when Margie insists on preserving her virginity until their wedding day, Buster joins the crowd and seeks out Billie himself. Buster is so taken with her that he begins to openly date her. Because of their relationship, Billie has changed but the townspeople and the high school students react with disdain when they see Buster and Billie holding hands. The disdain turns to hate, then to violence. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jan-Michael Vincent, Joan Goodfellow, (more)
- 1974
- R
Narrated by Tom DeWitt, this theatrical video explores the reality that is created in illusion in several short scenes. ~ All Movie Guide
Tossing wristwatches away, two bikers hit the road to find America in Dennis Hopper's anti-establishment classic. After a major cocaine sale to an L.A. connection (Phil Spector), free-wheeling potheads Billy (Hopper) and Wyatt, aka Captain America (Peter Fonda, who also produced), motor eastward to party at Mardi Gras before "retiring" to Florida with the riches concealed in Wyatt's stars-and-stripes gas tank. As they ride through the Southwest, they take a hitchhiker (Luke Askew) to a struggling hippie commune before they get thrown in a small-town jail for "parading without a permit." Their cellmate, drunken ACLU lawyer George Hanson (Jack Nicholson, replacing Rip Torn), does them a "groovy" favor by getting them out of jail and then decides to join them. Babbling about Venusians, George discovers the joys of smoking grass, but an encounter with Southern rednecks soon proves how right he is about the danger posed by Billy's and Wyatt's unfettered life in a country that has lost its ideals. With the straight world closing in, Wyatt and Billy try to revel in New Orleans with some LSD and hookers (Karen Black and Toni Basil), but the acid trip is shot through with morbidity. Once they reach Florida, Billy raves about attaining the American dream; Wyatt, however, knows the truth: "We blew it."
Produced and directed by two Hollywood iconoclasts with under a half-million non-studio dollars, Easy Rider shook up the languishing movie industry when it grossed over 19 million dollars in 1969; it captured the spirit of the times as it woke Hollywood up to the power of young audiences and socially relevant movies, along with such other landmarks of the late '60s as Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate, and 2001. Shot on location by Laszlo Kovacs, Easy Rider eschewed old-fashioned Hollywood polish for documentary-style immediacy, and it enhanced its casual feel with improvised dialogue and realistically "stoned" acting. With a soundtrack of contemporary rock songs by Jimi Hendrix, the Band, and Steppenwolf to complete the atmosphere, Easy Rider was hailed for capturing the increasingly violent Vietnam-era split between the counterculture and the repressive Establishment. Experiencing the "shock of recognition," youth audiences embraced Easy Rider's vision of both the attractions and the limits of dropping out, proving that audience's box-office power and turning Nicholson into a movie star. The momentarily hip Academy nominated Nicholson for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar, and Fonda, Hopper, and Terry Southern for their screenplay. Though none of its imitators would match its impact, Easy Rider remains one of the seminal works of late '60s Hollywood both for its trailblazing legacy and its sharply perceptive portrait of its chaotic times. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
Produced and directed by two Hollywood iconoclasts with under a half-million non-studio dollars, Easy Rider shook up the languishing movie industry when it grossed over 19 million dollars in 1969; it captured the spirit of the times as it woke Hollywood up to the power of young audiences and socially relevant movies, along with such other landmarks of the late '60s as Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate, and 2001. Shot on location by Laszlo Kovacs, Easy Rider eschewed old-fashioned Hollywood polish for documentary-style immediacy, and it enhanced its casual feel with improvised dialogue and realistically "stoned" acting. With a soundtrack of contemporary rock songs by Jimi Hendrix, the Band, and Steppenwolf to complete the atmosphere, Easy Rider was hailed for capturing the increasingly violent Vietnam-era split between the counterculture and the repressive Establishment. Experiencing the "shock of recognition," youth audiences embraced Easy Rider's vision of both the attractions and the limits of dropping out, proving that audience's box-office power and turning Nicholson into a movie star. The momentarily hip Academy nominated Nicholson for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar, and Fonda, Hopper, and Terry Southern for their screenplay. Though none of its imitators would match its impact, Easy Rider remains one of the seminal works of late '60s Hollywood both for its trailblazing legacy and its sharply perceptive portrait of its chaotic times. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, (more)
- 1966
Tony (Larry Hagman) has GOT to learn not to reveal his innermost desires to Jeannie (Barbara Eden). Case in point: When Tony expresses a wish that he could have lived in the old west, Jeannie transports him back to the 19th century frontier town of Gopher Gulch--and makes him sheriff to boot.Unfortunately, the town is overrun with rustlers, who aim to fill Sheriff Tony full of lead. At least this episode affords us the opportunity to see Barbara Eden in a fetchingly low-cut saloon girl outfit...and yes, that's Hoyt Axton, playing one of the bad guys. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1966
In this touching western horse story, a wandering cowboy and rodeo rider finds a beautiful wild stallion, captures him, and trains him into a fine horse. Unfortunately, the cowboy's wicked brother trades the horse so he can pay off some debts. Just as he is trying to take Smoky from his pen, something goes wrong and the horse ends up killing him. Later the horse and his beloved rider are separated after the cowboy joins the service. Smoky ends up on the rodeo circuit and is very nearly killed. When the cowboy at last is reunited with his equine friend, he is appalled to discover that Smoky has become a broken down cart horse. He ends up saving him. This is the third screen version of Will James' popular horse story. It contains the following songs: "Smoky" (Ernie Sheldon, Leith Stevens, sung by Hank Thompson), "Five Dollar Bill," "Smile As You Go By," "Trouble and Misery," "Queen of the Rockin' R" (Hoyt Axton, sung by Axton). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fess Parker, Diana Hyland, (more)
- 1965
Singer Hoyt Axton made his dramatic debut in this episode of Bonanza, which first aired April 4, 1965. Axton is cast as drifter Howard Mead, whose singing skills are matched only by his predilection for running afoul of the law. While trying to straigthen Mead out, Adam Cartwright is forced to defend his new friend against a robbery charge. But Adam's troubles are only beginning: Mead has fallen in love with Hilda Brunners (Susanne Cramer), the sister of the man (Steve Ihnat) Mead is accused of robbing. Written by Paul Schneider, "Dead and Gone" was the last Bonanza episode in which Pernell Roberts appeared, though not the last one to be telecast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, (more)
