Louis Bacigalupi Movies
- 1966
When Cheyenne Indians attack a wagon train, the only survivors are a young Indian warrior and a young white girl. With his knife drawn to kill the girl, he stops and lets her live. The two set out across the great expanse of land and love blossoms between the two. Later, a renegade group of ex-Confederate horsemen come upon the duo, and the Indian is nearly killed. The girl intervenes on his behalf and the warrior is allowed to ride away. The men proceed to get drunk and rape the girl, leaving her nearly dead and insane. The Indian can't forget his love for the girl and returns to find she has bee violated. He vows to avenge her attack by hunting down the criminals. One man is staked out in the desert before venomous rattlesnakes. Another is buried up to his neck in sand and honey is poured on his head for insects to gnaw at his flesh. The third is tied between two trees and is ripped in half when the Indian cuts the rope to one of the bent saplings in this violent western saga of murder and revenge. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ned Romero, Linda Hawkins, (more)
- 1950
Double Crossbones is an unusually elaborate comedy vehicle for Donald O'Connor. Set in the Carolinas in the 18th century, the film casts O'Connor as Davy Crandall, a bumbling shopkeeper's apprentice. Davy's boss (Hayden Rourke) is in cahoots with the corrupt colonial governor (John Emery), who in turn deals directly with the pirates who sail in and out of port with impunity. Unfairly accused of piracy, Davy finds refuge on a buccaneer's boat. Through circumstances better seen than described, our hapless hero gains the reputation of being the boldest pirate on the Seven Seas. The stellar supporting cast includes Helena Carter as the heroine, Will Geer as O'Connor's aide-de-camp, and Hope Emerson, Alan Napier and Robert Barrat, cast respectively as notorious pirates Anne Bonney, Capt. Kidd and Henry Morgan. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Donald O'Connor, Helena Carter, (more)
- 1949
This musical comedy stars William Powell as Emery Slade, who was once a major film star but lately isn't getting much work. Arrogantly determined to climb back to the top, Slade convinces studio chief Melville Crossman (Adolphe Menjou) to give him the male lead in the film version of a Broadway musical. However, Crossman's offer comes with a catch: Emery has to persuade the show's female lead to appear in the movie. Slade heads to New York to seal the deal, but instead he discovers a gifted young unknown named Julie Clark (Betsy Drake) and decides she's perfect for the role. Crossman is not too enthusiastic about this news, and neither is publicist Bill Davis (Mark Stevens), who is given his pink slip along with Slade. However, Slade is determined to make a career for Julie in Hollywood, though it's not until later that he realizes why he feels so strongly about her. Movie buffs will get a kick out of Menjou's performance, closely modeled on 20th Century Fox boss Darryl F. Zanuck. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- William Powell, Mark Stevens, (more)
The moodily evocative docudrama T-Men stars Dennis O'Keefe as Dennis O'Brien, a treasury agent determined to bring a counterfeiting ring to justice. O'Brien and his partner Tony Genaro (Alfred Ryder) go undercover to gain the confidence of the ruthless Detroit mob responsible for the phony money. The plot, compelling though it is, takes second place to the film's stylish set pieces, superbly directed by Anthony Mann and brilliantly photographed by John Alton. Among the film's most famous moments is the scene in which two-bit hood Wallace Ford is bumped off in a steam bath by sadistic hood Charles McGraw, not to mention the harrowing vignette wherein O'Keefe, posing as a crook, must stand by silently as his partner Ryder is murdered. One of the finest examples of the film noir form, T-Men proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that a film didn't need to have a lush budget, brilliant Technicolor and Clark Gable to score a hit with postwar moviegoers. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Dennis O'Keefe, Mary Meade, (more)
After several years' service with the Marines in World War II, Tyrone Power made his much anticipated return to the screen in The Razor's Edge. Power is appropriately cast as disillusioned World War I vet Larry Darrell, who returns from hostilities questioning his old values. To find himself, Larry joins several other members of the Lost Generation in Paris. He is disillusioned once more when the society deb whom he loves, Isabel Bradley (Gene Tierney), marries another for wealth and position. She returns to Larry's life to break up his romance with unstable, alcoholic Sophie MacDonald (Anne Baxter in a powerhouse Oscar-winning performance). After Sophie's death, Larry determines that the life offered him by Isabel is not to his liking, and continues seeking his true place in the scheme of things. Acting as a respite between the plot's various intrigues is Clifton Webb as a waspish social arbiter, who ends up a lonely, dying man, imperiously dictating arrangements for his own funeral. The Razor's Edge was based on the novel by W. Somerset Maugham, who appears onscreen in the form of Herbert Marshall. The film would be remade in 1984, with Bill Murray in the Tyrone Power role. This film re-teamed Tierney and Webb two years after their appearance together in Laura. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tyrone Power, Demetrius Alexis, (more)
- 1945
In this prison drama, a stern hanging judge is assigned to take over a chaotic prison. There he imposes an almost inhumanly strict regimen of discipline on the inmates. He is similarly rigid and harsh with his own two children. Later his compassionate daughter befriends a wrongfully convicted model prisoner who works as the warden's chauffeur. His son becomes a hardened criminal and ends up incarcerated in his father's prison. There he and several other inmates conspire to bust out. Later he sees inmates threatening his father and sacrifices his life to save him. The enraged judge then shoots the convict who killed his son. In the end, the experience changes the judge who becomes a more humane warden in favor of prison reform. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Thomas Mitchell, Mary Anderson, (more)
- 1937
Is it any surprise that hoydenish child star Jane Withers plays the title role in The Holy Terror? This time she plays Corky Wallace the irrepressible daughter of Naval Air Service Lt. Commander Wallace (John Eldredge), spending her spare time staging all-aviator musical shows. One of these entertainments takes place in a café which, unbeknownst to our heroine, serves as a rendezvous for a gang of foreign spies. The villains provoke a brawl with the servicemen, in hopes of getting the café closed down so that they can conduct their sinister activities in secret. But Withers gets wise to their scheme, and with the help of her aviator pals she literally smashes the spy ring once and for all. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jane Withers, Tony Martin, (more)
