Lloyd Bridges Movies

A Case of Libel was adapted from the 1953 Broadway play by Henry Denker. The story was inspired by the real-life courtroom battle between journalists Quentin Reynolds and Westbrook Pegler. Gordon Pinsent plays a liberal news correspondent who has performed heroically in World War II. Nonetheless, he is characterized as a drunkard and a Communist sympathizer by ultraconservative columnist Daniel J. Travanti. With the help of brilliant attorney Edward Asner (based on the actual case's Louis Nizer), Pinsent brings a libel suit against Travanti. The climax, in which Travanti is tripped up by his own contradictory writings, was in reality based on a small portion of the Reynolds/Pegler litigation, but it provides a satisfactory "sauce for the goose" third act. A Case of Libel had previously been adapted for television in 1969, with Jose Ferrer and Arthur Hill in the cast. The later version premiered October 17, 1983 on the Showtime Cable service. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A Tattered Web starts out at a high level of tension which seldom flags during its lean 74 minutes. Lloyd Bridges stars as a police detective who finds out that his son-in-law Frank Converse is cheating on his daughter Sallie Shockley. Catching up with the "other woman," Bridges accidentally kills her. After his initial panic has subsided, the detective rearranges the evidence, pinning the murder on a harmless drunk. Avoiding two-dimensionality, A Tattered Web is told largely from the murderer's point of view; we don't like the man, but we can understand him. Made for television, the film first aired September 24, 1971. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dan Mitchell (Randolph Scott) is the town marshal of Abilene, KS, in the turbulent years after the Civil War and the start of the big cattle drives out of Texas. The town is growing faster than a lot of citizens are prepared to deal with it, especially as homesteaders start moving in, fighting for space with the cattlemen. Dan has kept the peace, such as it is, by keeping the saloons, gambling, and guns on one side of Main Street and the shop-owners, farmers, women, and children on the other. He's also been walking a tightrope in his own life, conducting a sometimes turbulent romance with Rita (Ann Dvorak), a saloon singer and co-owner, while also not discouraging the attentions of Sherry Balder (Rhonda Fleming), the "nice girl" daughter of one of the town's leading businessmen, who would love to marry Dan if only he would settle down. A new wave of homesteaders is arriving, and the cattlemen, cowboys, and saloon owners want them driven out and the town kept wide open, fearing the homesteaders' religious beliefs and the arrival of families, which means schools, building, and encroaching "respectability." Trouble breaks out and people are killed, with Dan caught in the middle. Using his guile and a good deal of bravery, and the unwitting help from the cowardly county sheriff (Edgar Buchanan), Dan manages to get the shop owners onto the side of the homesteaders, and plays a dangerous game of divide-and-conquer with the saloon-keepers and cowboys. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

This spoof of the Airport series of disaster movies relies on ridiculous sight gags, groan-inducing dialogue, and deadpan acting -- a comedy style that would be imitated for the next 20 years. Airplane! pulls out all the clichés as alcoholic pilot Ted Striker (Robert Hays), who's developed a fear of flying due to wartime trauma, boards a jumbo jet in an attempt to woo back his stewardess girlfriend (Julie Hagerty). Food poisoning decimates the passengers and crew, leaving it up to Striker to land the plane, with the help of a glue-sniffing air traffic controller (Lloyd Bridges) and Striker's vengeful former captain (Robert Stack), who must both talk him down. Along the way, we meet a clutch of stock disaster movie passengers like the guitar-strumming nun, a sick little girl, a frightened old lady, and two African-American travelers whose "jive" has to be subtitled. Leslie Nielsen portrays the plane's doctor, launching a new phase of the actor's career that carried him through the next two decades in several similarly comedic roles. The trio of directors Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker, and David Zucker responsible for the film would eventually go on to solo careers, but not before making Top Secret! and Ruthless People. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

This live action trip back to Wonderland finds Alice dodging the Jabberwocky and encountering a Wonderland crew including Humpty Dumpty, Tiger Lily, and Tweedledum and Tweedledee. The voice cast is staggering, including (to mention a few) father and son Lloyd Bridges and Beau Bridges, Phyllis Diller, and George Gobel, Ringo Starr, Jonathan Winters, Sally Struthers, Karl Malden, and many, many more. ~ All Movie Guide

In 1870s Arizona, Anne LeBeau (Joan Taylor) is caught between two cultures in a conflict that may kill her and her brother Armand (Lance Fuller). They're the children of a white French father and an Apache mother (the daughter of a chief, no less), and they find that they're equally despised by both sides. With a series of raids on the stage-line killing whites, and apparently carried out by the Apaches, there's very little prospect for peace in their lives. Enter Rex Moffet (Lloyd Bridges), sent in by the government to try and settle the situation -- instead of being a militarist, Moffet is a conciliator, much to the outrage of the townspeople, who want all of the Apaches driven out or killed, starting with the LeBeaus. When Moffet starts to fall in love with Anne (and visa versa), he must face the wrath of her embittered brother and the Apaches as well as the whites. It turns out that Armand -- who is college educated, and a lawyer, no less -- is the man leading the attacks, out of his bitterness and anger over the rejection he's faced by the whites all of his life. One thing that Rex has on his side is the truth, that the raids are actually the work of a small band of renegades working in tandem with opportunistic whites from the town. But can he stay alive long enough to uncover the identities of those responsible and prevent an Indian War? ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Released shortly after the similar Columbia wartime mellers Submarine Raider and Parachute Nurse, Atlantic Convoy is set on the coast of Iceland. Civilian weatherman Carl Hansen (John Beal) is suspected of being a Nazi spy after an unexpected enemy attack on an Allied convoy. With the help of nurse Lida Adams (Virginia Field), Beal not only proves his innocence but also rounds up a gang of Fifth Columnists. Bruce Bennett costars as a fearless fighter pilot, while Victor Kilian is the rather obvious "secret" villain. Cheaply and hastily assembled, Atlantic Convoy benefits from the believable performances by its main characters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the first episode of a two-part story, a recon mission led by Apollo (Richard Hatch) and Starbuck (Dirk Benedict) confronts a fleet of Vipers from the long-lost Battlestar Pegasus. Ultimately, Cmdr. Adama (Lorne Greene) comes face to face with the Pegasus' skipper, legendary colonial warrior Cain (Lloyd Bridges). Unfortunately, Cain's heroism is dwarfed by his ego and his recklessness--and he is determined to lead his vessel and the Galactica on a suicidal attack against the Cylon forces. Anne Lockhart makes her first series appearance as Cain's daughter, Sheba. Parts one and two of "The Living Legend" were later combined with excerpts from the Battlestar Galactica episode "Fire in Space" and released theatrically overseas as Mission Galactica: The Cylon Attack. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Up on Bear Island -- somewhere off the northeast American coast -- a U.S. meteorological team discovers German submarines stashed with gold. Though the plot is difficult to follow, it does involve murder and a certain amount of intrigue, though many have felt that this movie version of the excellent Alistair MacLean novel left most of the intrigue between the covers of the book. ~ All Movie Guide

One of the most fondly remembered of the "Blondie" series entries, Blondie Goes to College is predicated on the notion that Dagwood Bumstead (Arthur Lake) must receive a college diploma or lose his job with the Dithers Construction Company. Not wishing to be separated from her husband, Blondie (Penny Singleton) enrolls in college as well-but the rules stipulate "no married couples", forcing our hero and heroine to pretend that they're not married. This causes quite a dilemma when coed Laura Wadsworth (Janet Blair) begins flirting with Dagwood and B.M.O.C. Rusty Bryant (Larry Parks) does same with Blondie. Making things worse-Blondie is expecting another child (who will make her first appearance in the next installment, Blondie's Blessed Event), but she daren't tell anyone lest both she and Dag be expelled. The student body at this particular seat of learning is comprised of quite a few familiar faces (most well past college age), including Lloyd Bridges, Sid Melton, and Adele Mara. The biggest laughs in Blondie Goes to College are garnered by famed double-talk expert Al Kelly, playing an uncredited cameo as a tangle-tongued professor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

For various reasons, the 1949 western Calamity Jane and Sam Bass has a rather poor reputation amongst film buffs. Many observers feel that stars Yvonne de Carlo and Howard Duff merely go through the motions, while others complain that the usually dependable Universal-International production values are largely absent. Recent cable-TV showings of this film have revealed that, while not in the same league as Stagecoach or Winchester 73, Calamity Jane and Sam Bass is a relatively entertaining rehash of a familiar story. Most of the film consists of Bass' rise to notoriety as a colorful outlaw. On the verge of retirement, he agrees to one last holdup, which proves his undoing. According to the film, Calamity Jane remains by Bass' side throughout his various exploits, even though she ultimately loses him to "nice" girl Katharine Egan (Dorothy Hart). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dana Andrews -- in one of the best performances of his career -- plays Logan Stuart, a bold, ambitious general store and freight company owner based in the mining settlement of Jacksonville, OR, in 1856. He and his best friend, local banker and express company owner George Camrose (Brian Donlevy), share an attraction for young, beautiful Lucy Overmire (Susan Hayward). However, that's all the two men share -- Stuart sees life in the Oregon territory as a challenge, to be worked out and overcome with thought and time, with the opportunity to build something lasting and significant in the process. Camrose only sees the opportunity to get rich fast and live easy, and he's addicted to gambling at the local saloon. What no one knows is that he's been doing his gambling with the gold dust that the miners have left on deposit in his vault -- and he's been losing. He wants to get out of the territory, to someplace like San Francisco, and plans to take Lucy away. Stuart, by contrast, is as much a frontiersman as a businessman, and so much a part of the community and so trusted and liked that he might even be a potential political leader, if he ever had the time and the willingness to settle down and stay put. He finds consolation over his loss of Lucy in an engagement to Caroline Marsh (Patricia Roc), a daughter of an Englishman who came to Oregon only to see her father killed by Indians, who lives with the homesteading family of Ben Dance (Andy Devine) and his wife (Dorothy Peterson) and their children. Out of friendship, and also a little guilt over the fact that he would love to be engaged to Lucy, Stuart gives Camrose the money to get even, but Camrose can't resist one last card game, and not only loses what Stuart gave him, but the gold dust of one miner -- who shows up unexpectedly in town that night, planning on getting his dust the next day. When the man turns up drowned, Camrose is accused of murder; Stuart stands by his friend, but he's found guilty and the miners, led by hot-headed young Johnny Steele (Lloyd Bridges), plan on hanging him, and shooting anyone who tries to get in the way. But before his fate can be settled, an Indian war starts over the killing of a young Native American woman, and the lives of every white settler in and around Jacksonville are suddenly endangered. There's all of that, plus four songs (including "Old Buttermilk Sky") from Hoagy Carmichael (who does a great acting job), all convincingly woven into the drama along with one of the music legend's best acting performances. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide