Allison Hayes Movies
A former concert pianist and beauty contest winner, well-endowed blonde leading lady Allison Hayes entered films in 1954 as a Universal-International contract starlet. Most of her film work in the late 1950s was confined to inexpensive drive-in fare, notably such monster rallies as The Unearthly, Zombies of Mora Tau and The Hypnotic Eye. In 1961, Allison appeared on a weekly basis as nightclub songstress Chloe on the TV detective series Acapulco. Though her career was by and large unmemorable, Hayes achieved immortality of sorts as the scantily clad star of the original 1957 version of The Attack of the 50 Foot Woman; few who've seen this picture can forget the awesome spectacle of the gigantasized Allison stalking through a tinker-toy Las Vegas, bellowing "HAAARRRYYY.....I want my HUSBAAAAND". After several years' inactivity, Allison Hayes was rediscovered for the nostalgia-convention circuit by actor and horror enthusiast Barry Brown; alas, soon afterward, the 47-year-old actress died of blood poisoning. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
- R
Piper Laurie (the mother in the horror film Carrie) appears here as the mother of a deranged deaf-mute girl. The mom runs a drive-in theater which shows mostly horror films. The girl is deranged because she is possessed by the spirit of her long-dead dad, a gangster who was gunned down by the mob. The vengeful spirit uses his daughter to gain vengeance on his assassins, many of whom now work at the drive-in. One by one the mobsters bite the dust as the demonized little girl extracts revenge for her deceased daddy. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Piper Laurie, Stuart Whitman, (more)
- 1966
Turncoat scientist Lawrence Underwood (Linden Chiles) manages to steal some top-secret documents from an atomic lab in Idaho. Picking up Underwood's trail, Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) methodically tracks the man down. What Erskine doesn't know is that Underwood has been exposed to deadly atomic radiation--and is contaminating everyone with whom he comes in contact. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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
Quitting the police force when his father dies of a heart attack, detective Danny Talbert (Robert Quarry of Count Yorga, Vampire fame) holds his shiftless brother Carl (Chris Robinson) responsible for their dad's demise. Up to his ears in debt, Carl has begged his father to get him off the hook with mobster Steve Radom (Gregory Morton)--and it was the stress of this situation which, Danny believes, brought about the fatal coronary. Later on, Radom is murdered with Danny's gun, prompting Perry Mason (Perry Mason) to plunge into this unpleasant situation and ferret out the facts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1965
Moving to a new Sunday-night timeslot opposite Bonanza for its ninth and final season, Perry Mason gets the ball rolling as Perry (Raymond Burr) is requested by a judge (Dan Tobin) to handle the defense of Carla Chaney (Jean Hale) a destitute young woman with a really nasty attitude. Charged with the murder of two-bit journalist Gerald Havens, Carla has failed to convince three previous lawyers that she is innocent, especially since her fingerprints were all over the murder weapon. But Perry is willing to take a chance, and immediately set about to locate the mysterious "laughing lady" whom Carla claims to have seen standing over the corpse. With this episode, Richard Anderson becomes a regular as Lt. Steve Drumm. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1963
This romantic adult comedy finds psychiatrist Jason Steel (Dean Martin) the leader of a women's group therapy session. Jill St. John, Elizabeth Frazier, Macha Meril, Yoko Tani and Diane Foster all seek the advice of the handsome doctor, while husbands Louis Nye, Jack Soo, Richard Conte, and Martin Balsam ignore them in their usual poker game every Wednesday night. Jason plays doctor with pretty fiance Melissa (Elizabeth Montgomery) and Carol Burnette is his scatter brained secretary who does a hilarious striptease when she and Melissa can't pay for their dinner at a local nightclub after being stuck with the bill. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dean Martin, Elizabeth Montgomery, (more)
The hand of an exploded astronaut takes on a life of its own in this unintentionally funny horror film that begins when the hand is discovered near the crash site by a naive young med student who takes it home as a grisly souvenir. He has no idea that the hand has been possessed by a strange, murderous alien who gradually begins to take over the hapless med student. Suddenly people all around town are found mysteriously strangled to death and now only a very hungry cat can save the rest of them. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Breck, Kent Taylor, (more)
- 1962
Moving from Saturday to Thursday evening for its sixth season on CBS, Perry Mason kicks off the new year with another baffling murder case. This time the victim is Joseph Kraft (Maurice Manson) a crooked book dealer who traffics in forgeries of rare first editions. Not long after firing his clerk Ellen Carter (Phyllis Love) for misplacing a copy of Tristam Shandy), Kraft is found dead in a locked room, apparently the victim of a gas leak. Ultimately, the police decide that Kraft was murdered, and that Ellen is the most likely suspect. Enter Perry Mason (Raymond Burr), who intends to prove Ellen's innocence while setting a trap for the real killer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1962
Schoolteacher and maritime historian Philip Andrews (Jeremy Slate) incurs the wratch of shipping-company owner Ben Farraday (Herbert Rudley) when he insists that Evelyn Farraday (Joan Patrick), Philip's fiancee and Ben's niece, deserved a portion of the company's profits. It inevitably follows that Ben is murdered and Philip is charged with the crime. Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) must wade through a morass of corporate intrigue and sibling rivalry to save his client and expose the real killer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
The Untouchables launches its second season with one of the series' most celebrated episodes. Elizabeth Montgomery earned an Emmy nomination for her bravura performance as Rusty Heller, a scheming chorus girl who has a personal vendetta against the mobsters who've done her dirt all her life. Using every feminine wile at her disposal, Rusty hopes to use an upcoming gang war between two bootlegging operations to her own advantage by cozying up to the leaders of both operations. Meanwhile, Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) hopes to appeal to Rusty's last vestige of decency to enlist her aid in bringing the criminals to justice. Paul Picerni joins the regular cast in the role of "Untouchable" Lee Hobson. Fans of Bewitched will particularly enjoy the now-famous scene in which Elizabeth Montgomery makes passionate love to David White, long before the two actors were cast respectively as Samantha Stevens and Larry Tate. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1960
A curious "gimmick" movie in the William Castle tradition (though not itself a Castle project), screenings of this film featured a hokey but creative "Hypno-Magic" process allegedly designed to hypnotize the theater audience. The otherwise mundane psycho-thriller plot features Jacques Bergerac as stage mesmerist "The Great Desmond," whose act includes hypnotizing entire audiences into performing rather dull Simon-says maneuvers and such. The real trick, it turns out, involves Desmond's Svengali-like seduction of his more comely female patrons -- most of which end up horribly disfigured the next morning, the victims of apparent self-mutilation. Thanks to several scenes hinting at the obvious hatred Desmond's wife and assistant, Justine (Allison Hayes), harbors toward her husband's pretty subjects, there's not much of a mystery here. Nevertheless, the police are baffled, leading one victim's best friend to set herself up as bait and trap the guilty party -- whose secret is revealed in the "shocking" climax. The Hypno-Magic gimmick, though certainly ineffective, provides some of the film's more hilarious diversions, and thoroughly disarms any potential for suspense. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jacques Bergerac, Merry Anders, (more)
- 1960
The High-Powered Rifle is a "B"-grade, private detective flick about Dancer (Willard Parker), a PI with a serious problem. Some hired hitmen are trying -- again and again -- to kill him, and now Dancer has had enough. He starts to get to the bottom of these attempts on his life, and that search leads to one suspect in particular. On the way to checking it out, Dancer gets involved with his suspect's girlfriend (Allison Hayes) and without knowing it puts himself in serious jeopardy. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Willard Parker, Allison Hayes, (more)
- 1960
Gambling-casino owner George Anclitis (Henry Lascoe) has two big problems on his hands: His second-in-command Slim Marcus (H.M. Wynant) has been caught cheating in a high-stakes card game, and Slim's girlfriend Vivian (Jeanne Moody) has been murdered. Hoping to kill several birds with a single stone, Anclitis uses a hot gun and a few ounces of marijuana to frame Betty Roberts (Joan O'Brien), a cigarette girl who "knows too much", for Vivian's murder. Lucky for Betty that she'd previously engaged the services of Perry Mason (Perry Mason) because she'd figured that Anclitis and Marcus were up to something fishy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1960
In this western, a US marshal escorts five female killers across Texas to prison. Along the way, they are ambushed by Indians and by one of the women's outlaw husbands. They must also endure the rugged terrain, weather, and romantic yearnings. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1959
Counterplot is a standard murder melodrama in which a man mistakenly believes he has killed someone. Brock (Forrest Tucker) flees to Puerto Rico from New York City, the scene of his supposed crime. A Puerto Rican boy who had befriended Brock years ago turns out to offer him a haven in this aftermath of the presumed murder. As time goes by, it is revealed that the murdered man's business partner was the one responsible for his death. Complicating matters is the fact that the dead man had taken out a hefty life insurance policy before he died. Brock's next challenge then, is to get evidence on the real killer. This was director Kurt Neumann's last film, he died within a year at the age of fifty-two. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Forrest Tucker, Allison Hayes, (more)
- 1959
Having the unique distinction of being perhaps the only American drama filmed in Cuba just after Fidel Castro's revolution, Pier 5, Havana is also distinctive because the American hero Steve Daggett (Cameron Mitchell) fights to protect Castro from dangerous pro-Batista counterrevolutionaries. Steve comes to Cuba to find his friend Hank Miller (Logan Field) who has been missing for awhile. It turns out that he has been captured by Fernando (Eduardo Noriega), the leader of the pro-Batista forces, who needs Hank to convert their airplanes into bombers. Steve enlists the help of the local police in his search for Hank. Complicating matters is the fact that Steve's former girlfriend Monica (Allison Hayes) is now Mrs. Hank Miller. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cameron Mitchell, Allison Hayes, (more)
Attack of the 50 Foot Woman may well be one of the worst science-fiction films of all time, but that's not to say that it isn't thoroughly enjoyable. Allison Hayes achieved screen immortality as Nancy Archer, the wealthy, dipsomaniac wife of shameless philanderer Harry Archer (William Hudson). When she witnesses the crash landing of a alien spaceship -- whose occupant is a 30-foot giant, dressed in the manner of a medieval Frenchmen! -- Nancy goes to the local sheriff (George Douglas) with her story, only to be laughed off as a drunken crank. Even the local TV anchorman makes cruel fun of Nancy on his nightly newscast. Meanwhile, hubby Harry is making whoopee at a roadhouse with his latest tootsie, Honey Parker (Yvette Vickers). Not long afterward, Nancy, who's been exposed to the radiation of the spaceship, begins to feel queasy. Within a few days, she has grown to the height of 50 feet and is lumbering around the countryside clad only in a gigantic towel, smashing houses and trees in search of her faithless husband ("HARRY-HARRY!!!") Hilarious in its ineptitude (the special effects are particularly shoddy), Attack of the 50 Foot Woman is impossible to dislike, which cannot be said of its slicker but less entertaining 1993 cable-TV remake (with Darryl Hannah in the title role). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Allison Hayes, William Hudson, (more)
- 1958
Director Edward L. Cahn always knew how to make lemonade from a lemon; his B pictures of the late 1950s displayed a raw energy that many of his higher-budgeted films of the 1930s lacked. Hong Kong Confidential is a backlot cheapie starring Gene Barry and second-feature stalwarts Beverly Tyler and Allison Hayes. Barry plays a secret agent, in Hong Kong to rescue an Arabian prince from his kidnappers. The villains, of course, are Soviet spies, easily recognizable by their baggy suits and flabby accents. Also in the cast of Hong Kong Confidential is Ed Kemmer, who'd once starred in that baby-boomer favorite Space Patrol. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Barry, Beverly Tyler, (more)
Republic's The Unearthly was originally released on a double bill with The Beginning of the End. John Carradine chews the scenery as Professor Conway, who claims to have discovered a gland which enables his patients to live forever. Alas, most of Conway's human experiments are failures, left to scream and gibber in the doctor's cellar. His latest "volunteer", a beautiful neurotic named Grace (Allison Hayes), arouses Conway's libido, and as a result he is hesitant to operate upon her; the same does not apply to another patient (Sally Todd), whom Conway inadvertently transforms into a nonagenarian. Fortunately, a police officer (Myron Healey) posing as an escaped convict manages to put an end to Conway's unearthly experiments. Harry Thomas' makeup work on Dr. Conway's hideously deformed human guinea pigs is the only worthwhile aspect of The Unearthly. Tor Johnson makes another of his appearances as mute monstrosity Lobo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Carradine, Allison Hayes, (more)
- 1957
Quickie king Sam Katzman's Zombies of Mora Tau is a game attempt to imitate what Roger Corman was doing so well over at American-International. The story takes place on the coast of Africa, where a race of white zombies jealously guards an ancient, jewel-encrusted African Idol. The treasure rests somewhere under the sea, and adventurers Jeff Clark (Gregg Palmer) and George Harrison (Joel Ashley) intend to get their hands on it. Before long, Jeff and George are in danger of being zombified themselves. Jeff's solution to this dilemma is surprisingly bland, bringing this otherwise rousing melodrama to a flat conclusion. Allison Hayes, of Attack of the 50 Foot Woman fame, is decorative as George's wife, who has the misfortunate to fall under the spell of the "living dead". Zombies of Mora Tau was originally released on a double bill with Katzman's The Man Who Turned to Stone. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gregg Palmer, Allison Hayes, (more)
- 1957
Legendary shlockmeister Roger Corman and long-time collaborator Charles B. Griffith attempted to cash in on the popular 1950s surge in Bridey Murphy reincarnation mania with this confusing and throughly weird thriller. It begins with researcher Richard Garland hypnotizing streetwalker Pamela Duncan in an attempt to record her past-life experiences as a condemned witch in the Dark Ages. After numerous silly attempts by Garland to save her -- including regressing himself into the same period, where, by remarkable coincidence, he also lived as a soldier -- Duncan decides not to alter the course of history, and she resigns herself to her fate. Despite the spooky ambience, a cast of Corman regulars (including Mel Welles and Allison Hayes), and some clever plot twists -- including one which finds the tables turned on our meddling scientist -- Griffith's static and talky screenplay is so absurdly crammed with half-baked metaphysical musings that it becomes almost impossible to discern the plot. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pamela Duncan, Richard Garland, (more)
- 1957
The Disembodied is a voodoo melodrama set in a Hollywood-backlot jungle. The villain of the piece is Tonda (Allison Hayes), the craven wife of jungle doctor Metz (John Wengraf). Whenever she can't get what she wants, Tonda resorts to voodoo to confound and destroy her enemies. Naturally, she receives her comeuppance in a particularly untidy fashion. Top billing is bestowed upon Paul Burke, who after achieving stardom in TV's Naked City and 12 O'Clock High tended to remove Disembodied from his resume. The film was originally released on a double bill with From Hell it Came. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Burke, Allison Hayes, (more)
In this western, an imprisoned outlaw is allowed to attend the funeral of his brother, who was shot down by lawmen. He overpowers his guards with a gun slipped to him by his girlfriend then goes searching for his former partners, whom he blames for his brother's death. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide
- 1956
Produced by Roger Corman, Gunslinger stars Corman's then-sweetheart Beverly Garland as tough lady-marshal Rose Hood. Dance-hall girl Erica Page (Allison Hayes), Rose's bitterest enemy, hires gunslinger Cane Miro (John Ireland) to bump off the marshal. When he falls in love with Rose, Cane is faced with the most delicate dilemma in his entire murderous career. Cheaply made, Gunslinger has a raw, dusty integrity often lacking in more expensive westerns. The best scenes involve the confrontations between Beverly Garland and Allison Hayes, two of the most fearsome females ever captured on celluloid. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Ireland, Beverly Garland, (more)
