Ed Hinton Movies

This rodeo songfest finds Jackie (Mamie Van Doren) in love with Kelly (Jeff Richards) as they perform on the traveling rodeo circuit. Cool Man (Arthur Hunnicutt) is the likeable rodeo veteran. Jackie carries the torch for Kelly, who plays hard to get. Kelly plans to leave his bronco busting life behind before injuries and age catch up with him. Liz (Carol Ohmart) is a rich divorcee with eyes for Kelly. Van Doren sings five songs, and Tex Williams plays himself singing "Song Of The Rodeo". Johnny Olenn sings the title track and "You Lovable You". ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

There's a measure of sympathy for the Apaches at the beginning of Fort Bowie. Under the tyrannical rule of ambitious Major Wharton (P. Ian Douglas), a cavalry detachment slaughters a band of Apache who've arrived with the intention of surrendering. A counterattack is inevitable, but before this happens the story is sidetracked by the jealous behavior of Colonel Garrett (Kent Taylor). When stalwart young Captain Thompson (Ben Johnson) resists the romantic overtures of Garrett's wife Allison (Jan Harrison), she screams "Rape!" and Thompson finds himself facing court-martial and execution. This plot strand and several others are resolved after the Cavalry is forced to attack its own fort following an Apache takeover. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this Western, a rancher must perform a robbery lest the outlaw chief that holds his wounded brother hostage lets him die. The rancher does the job, then escapes to Mexico with his girl. En route, they marry. They soon find a cabin in the middle of Indian country. The Apaches had killed all the occupants, save for one baby. The couple begins raising the child. Soon the posse arrives to take the rancher back. He is charged with a murder that occurred during the heist. Later they realize that he is innocent and they protect him from another Apache attack. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

On behalf of his current client, Perry (Raymond Burr) is endeavoring to reach an acceptable financial settlement for a hit-and-run accident. Somehow or other, this assignment leads to a morass of intrigue involving blackmail, a frameup, a missing witness, a secret marriage--and the murders of two guys named Hollister (James Seay) and Pitkin (Harry Jackson). Based on a 1949 novel by Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner, this episode features one of the most repulsive "surprise" killers in the series' history. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A locked-in-the-fifties science fiction film, The 27th Day begins with five different people from five different countries suddenly disappearing from view. They have been gently abducted by the agent (Arnold Moss) of a faraway dying planet, who gives each of the five earthlings a "killing capsule" that will destroy everything on Earth and allow the residents of the alien planet to re-colonize the planet--but which will be ineffective if not used after 27 days. In typical Cold War fashion, the representatives of the "good" countries (including Gene Barry) refuse to utilize the capsules, while the Soviets, (personified by Azemat Janti and Stefan Schnabel) intend to deploy the capsules for their own nefarious purposes. Their perfidy only results in the utter decimation of the USSR. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Another "pocket" adventure film from 20th Century-Fox's Regal Films subsidiary, Under Fire is set during WW2. Four American soldiers are charged with desertion and murder. Their counsel (Rex Reason) tries to get to the bottom of his clients' motivations. It turns out that the actual culprits were Germans dressed as American GIs. Why, then, won't the accused men tell this to the judge? Surprisingly, the answer lies in the old adage "Love of money is the root of all evil." Billed second in Under Fire is Henry Morgan--not the comedian of the same name, but instead the character actor better known as Harry Morgan. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

When media mogul Amos Kyne (Robert Warwick) dies, his business, which includes a major newspaper, a television station, and a wire news service, is turned over to his sole heir, his foppish, ne'er do well son (Vincent Price). The younger Kyne has no knowledge of how to run the company his father built, preferring to spend his time spending the money that it generates, and he decides to let the heads of the three divisions -- newspaper editor John Day Griffith (Thomas Mitchell), wire service chief Mark Loving (George Sanders), and photo chief Harry Kritzer (James Craig) -- fight it out among themselves, winner-take-all. Each one has a key alley: Griffith, in Edward Mobley (Dana Andrews), a top reporter who is lately appearing on television as well; Loving, in resourceful but sluttish columnist Mildred Donner (Ida Lupino), who has her own way of digging up secrets; and Kritzer, who doesn't think he needs to dig up secrets because he's sitting on the biggest one of all, his "friendship" with Kyne's ex-model wife, Dorothy (Rhonda Fleming). Mobley becomes a focal point because the story-of-the-moment concerns the "Lipstick Killer," a serial murderer, burglar, and sex fiend who has been terrorizing the city -- break that case first and the job is won, and Mobley's specialty is crime reporting. The Lipstick Killer, a disturbed teenager named Robert Manners (John Drew Barrymore), continues to elude the police, and Loving's stumbling attempts to get information out first don't aid in the manhunt. Meanwhile, Mobley, using his own deductive powers and some basic psychology, manages to get under the killer's skin from afar on television and in print; however, unbeknownst to the reporter, the murderer is feeling more pressure to commit his crimes, and taking a very personal interest in targeting Mobley and his fiancée, Nancy Liggett (Sally Forrest). The two interwoven stories all get pulled together in a chase through the streets and into the city's subway tunnels, with Mobley, Nancy, Police Lieutenant Kaufman (Howard Duff), and the killer all crossing paths. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Julie is most enjoyable if one doesn't take it too seriously. Doris Day plays Julie Benton, whose off-the-coop musician husband Lyle Benton (Louis Jourdan) confesses that he in fact killed Julie's first husband. She immediately recognizes that he is so possessive of her that he would sooner rub her out than lose her altogether, and leaves Lyle, seeking protection under the wing of a country club acquaintance, Cliff Henderson (Barry Sullivan).
The San Francisco police deduce that Julie is in danger from Lyle, and begin to close in on the poor woman to protect her, but she inadvertently misses them. In the film's thrilling final sequence, Julie has returned to the stewardess job she once held - without realizing that Lyle has boarded the plane sans detection, planning to murder out most of the crew and take her out next. Silent film star Mae Marsh, a "regular" in the films of director Andrew L. Stone, appears in the closing scenes as an hysterical passenger. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

There's a surprising lack of action in the Sam Katzman-produced western Seminole Uprising. George Montgomery heads the cast as Army lieutenant Cam Elliot, who is assigned to round up a group of renegade Seminoles who've left their Florida reservation and have escaped to Texas. Along the way, Elliot rekindles his romance with Susan Hannah (Karin Booth), who'd previously rejected him because she thought he was part Indian (this is not the most sympathetic heroine in screen history). Elliot proves his worth by rescuing Susan when she's kidnapped by Seminole leader Black Cat (Steve Ritch). Seminole Uprising is based on Bugle's Wake, a novel by Curt Brandon. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Adventures of Superman switches from black and white to color in this first episode of the series' fourth season. Just as a crook named Turk (Jim Hyland) has shown up in the office of "Daily Planet" editor Perry White (John Hamilton) to sign a confession, in bursts eccentric scientist Professor Twiddle (Sterling Holloway) who announces that he has invented a time machine. In an instant, the invention has hurled White, Turk, Twiddle and reporters Clark (George Reeves), Lois (Noel Neill) and Jimmy (Jack Larson) back in time some 50,000 years to the Stone Age. There's just one small hitch: Twiddle hasn't invented a device to return the time travelers back to the Present! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Based on the radio series of the same name, Gang Busters was an episodic documentary-style tale of criminals brought to justice. Veteran screen baddie Myron Healey plays John Omar Pinson, a real-life criminal once rated Public Enemy #4. The film recounts the many prison breaks staged by Pinson, all of which resulted in his recapture. Gangbusters was comprised of three half-hour episodes from the Gangbusters TV series (53), stitched together into an ersatz feature film. This pastiche approach proved successful enough to spawn two subsequent films, again culled from Gang Busters TV footage: Guns Don't Argue (57) and Ma Barker's Killer Brood (60). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Director Otto Preminger's only western, River of No Return is set in Canada during the 19th century Gold Rush. Farmer Matt Calder (Robert Mitchum) is released from prison after serving a sentence for shooting a man in the back to protect a friend. He arrives in a small town to retrieve his young son, Mark (Tommy Rettig), who has befriended a sultry saloon singer, Kay (Marilyn Monroe). Matt is also friendly with Kay, and thanks her profusely for looking after Mark, but distrusts her paramour, Harry Weston (Rory Calhoun)- a gambler with the morals of an alley cat. Matt and Mark return to their rural homestead, but soon glimpse Kay and Harry on a sinking raft, apparently en route to make good on a gold claim; Matt rescues the two of them, but doesn't count on Harry doing an about face, beating him up, and stealing his horse and gun; Kay stays behind to look after Matt. Meanwhile, the Indians go on the warpath, and the defenseless trio decides to seek refuge by fleeing the farm and sailing down the river on a raft. En route, the son - thanks to Kay's doing - is unexpectedly disillusioned about the father's original crime. Moreover, as Matt approaches town, he begins to plot a decisive revenge against Harry. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi