Carroll Baker Movies

This weird, psycho-sexual horror tale -- the kind they do so well in Italy -- is based on an S&M-flavored comic series by erotic artist Guido Crepax, creator of the popular character "Valentina" -- played here by Isabelle De Funes. Valentina is a fashion photographer who comes under the spell of the enigmatic witch Baba Yaga (Carroll Baker), who may in fact be the legendary sorceress of Russian folklore. It is in this magical abode that Valentina eventually becomes a captive, tormented mentally and physically... or is it all the product of her overactive imagination? Director Corrado Farina seems unable to make up his mind either, choosing instead to get lost in the sensual ambiance which only vaguely manages to re-create the dark, hedonistic fantasy-land of Crepax's works. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

The title may be Blonde Fist, but that doesn't mean that the leading characters have yellow hair growing from their knuckles. This British actioner deals with the specialized world of female boxers. People essential to the action bear such monikers as "Crazy Sue" (Susan Atkins) and "Big Alice" (Jane Poter). Veteran Hollywood leading lady Carrol Baker shows up as a don't-mess-with-me promoter. There are some attempts at social satire, contrasting the female pugilists with "proper" British ladies, but Blonde Fist is essentially an excuse to show scantily clad women duke it out and sweat a lot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A Native American working for the government must investigate the Indian Commissioner's death. Soon he uncovers the schemes of a wealthy land owner and an assassination plot which will further victimize the local natives. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

The very young computer whizzes in this big-big budget Italian movie are beginning to lose their focus on their assignment: to create a computer-generated Eden. In order to inspire them, an innocent gardener (rock-star and comedian Adriano Celentano) is brought in. For a while, this works, as they start taking their models from nature and make some real progress. Unfortunately, a weird phenomenon sends one of the youths hurtling into the computerized world, and it is up to the gardener and a relative to haul him back out. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The Cole Porter title tune is but one of the musical highlights in the (literally) splashy Esther Williams musical Easy to Love. Reshuffling plot devices utilized in previous Williams vehicles, the film casts Williams as Julie Hallerton, the star of Ray Lloyd's (Van Johnson) aquacade. She loves Lloyd, but he hardly knows she exists. Only when she inaugurates romances with swimming instructor Hank (John Bromfield) and singer Barry (Tony Martin) does Lloyd wake up and smell the chlorine. The plot's finale is top-heavy with "good sport" behavior involving the three male leads. However, if you've come to an Esther Williams movie for the plot, maybe you'd better try another theatre. Easy to Love is the film that includes Busby Berkeley's legendary "motorboat/hang-glider" production number, performed at Florida's Cypress Gardens--though, incredibly, this aquatic tour de force is not the end of the picture! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

George Stevens' sprawling adaptation of Edna Ferber's best-selling novel successfully walks a fine line between potboiler and serious drama for its 210-minute running time, making it one of the few epics of its era that continues to hold up as engrossing entertainment across the decades. Giant opens circa 1922 in Maryland, where Texas rancher Jordan "Bick" Benedict (Rock Hudson) has arrived to buy a stallion called War Winds from its owner, Dr. Horace Lynnton (Paul Fix). But much as Bick loves and knows horses, he finds himself even more transfixed by the doctor's daughter, Leslie Lynnton (Elizabeth Taylor), and after some awkward moments, she has to admit that she's equally drawn to the shy, laconic Texan. They get married and Leslie spends her honeymoon traveling with Jordan to his ranch, Reata, which covers nearly a million acres of Texas. Once there, however, she finds that she has to push her way into her rightful role as mistress of the house, past Bick's sister, Luz (Mercedes McCambridge), who can't accept her brother's marriage or the changes it means in the home they share. Also working around Reata is the laconic ranch hand Jett Rink (James Dean) -- from a family as rooted in Texas as the Benedicts but not nearly as lucky (or "foxy"), Jett is dirt-poor and barely educated at all, and he fairly oozes resentment at Bick for his arrogance, although Luz likes him and for that reason alone Bick is obliged to keep him on. One thing Jett does have in common with his employer is that he is in awe of Leslie's beauty; another is his nearly total contempt for the Mexican-Americans who work for them -- Jett and Bick may have contempt for each other, but either one is just as likely to dismiss the Mexican-Americans around them as a bunch of shiftless "wetbacks." Luz feels so threatened with a loss of power and control that she decides to assert herself with War Winds, yet another "prize" that Bick brought back from Maryland that resists her authority -- then decides to ride the stallion despite being warned that no one but Leslie is wholly safe on him, and spurs him brutally in an effort to break him, which ends up destroying them both in the battle of wills she starts.

After Luz's death, Jett learns that she left him a tiny piece of land for his own, on Reata, which he refuses to sell back to Bick, preferring to keep it for his own and maybe prospect for oil on it. Meanwhile, Leslie and Bick have their own problems -- Leslie can't abide the wretched conditions in which the Mexican families who work on Reata are allowed to live, taking a special interest in Mr. and Mrs. Obregon and their baby, Angel; but Bick doesn't want his wife, or any member of his family, concerning themselves with "those people." Leslie's humanity and her independence push their marriage to the limit, but Bick comes to accept this in his wife, and in four years of marriage they have three handsome children, a boy and two girls, and a loving if occasionally awkward home life. Meanwhile, Jett strikes oil on his land -- which he's named Little Reata -- and in a couple of years he's on his way to becoming the richest man in Texas, getting drilling contracts on all of the land in the area (except Reata) and making more money than the Benedicts ever saw from raising cattle. Bick is almost oblivious to the way Jett grows in power and influence across the years and the state, mostly because he's got his own family to worry about, including a son, Jordan III (Dennis Hopper), who doesn't want to take over the ranch from him, but wants instead to be a doctor; an older daughter, Judy (Fran Bennett), who wants to study animal husbandry and marry a local rancher (Earl Holliman) and start a tiny spread of her own; and a younger daughter, Luz (Carroll Baker), who's just a bit man-crazy and star-struck by the movies.

The American entry into the Second World War and the resulting need for oil forces Bick to go into business with Jett and allow him to drill on Reata, and suddenly the Benedicts are wealthy enough to be part of Jett Rink's circle, which includes the governor of the state and at least one United States senator at his beck and call -- and Luz develops a serious crush on Jett, who likes his women young and is especially attracted to her, as Bick's and Leslie's daughter. Young Jordan marries Juana, a Mexican-American nursing student (Elsa Cardenas), and his father accepts it begrudgingly, with help from Leslie. The war kills Angel Obregon (Sal Mineo), a death that even affects Bick, but the Benedict family gets through it wealthier than ever and grows some more with the birth of Jordan IV to Jordie and Juana. When the family attends a gala opening of Jett Rink Airport, which concludes with a dinner honoring Jett's success, however, young Jordan's wife is humiliated by Jett's racist edicts, and he is beaten up by Jett's men after punching the oil baron. Seeing this, Bick challenges his old rival to the fight that's been brewing for a quarter of a century and wins by default, Jett being too drunk to defend himself or to hit; he's also too drunk to make the grand speech that was to climax the celebration, and he ends up alone in the ballroom. The Benedicts have it out with each other, young Jordan accusing his father of being as much a racist as Jett, and Leslie caught in the middle between her husband and her son. It looks like the Benedicts may lose each other, until an encounter with a racist diner owner forces Bick to stand up and get knocked down (more than once) defending his daughter-in-law and his grandson.

Seen today, Giant seems the least dated of any of James Dean's three starring films, in part because it addresses issues that remain relevant more than 50 years later, and also because it has the best all-around acting and the best script of any of the three. Taken in broader terms, it's even better, with two of the best performances that Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson ever gave, and perhaps the second best of Hudson's whole career (after Seconds) -- the only unfortunate element at modern theatrical screenings is the tendency of younger viewers, who only know him in terms of the revelations late in his life of his being gay, to laugh and snicker at elements of Hudson's characterization; but his work is so good that the titters usually fade after the first 30 minutes or so. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

A modern-day prodigal son, Isaiah Dockett (Rick Schroder) returns to his family farm in Nebraska after a six-year absence. Although he is welcomed back by his ailing mother Edith (Carroll Baker) and younger brother Jacob (Gabriel Mann), and is even able to platonically reconnect with his now-married former girlfriend Susan Doyle (Kim Dickens), Isaiah is unable to penetrate the wall of resentment that his taciturn and unforgiving father Arliss (Richard Crenna) has built around himself. Only when the farm is threatened by a raging flood are Isaiah and Arliss able to come to any sort of an understanding--but will it be permanent, or will it wash away once the waters have receded? Filmed in Alberta, the made-for-TV Heart Full of Rain first aired on October 5, 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Filmed in panoramic Cinerama, this star-studded, epic Western adventure is a true cinematic classic. Three legendary directors (Henry Hathaway, John Ford, and George Marshall) combine their skills to tell the story of three families and their travels from the Erie Canal to California between 1839 and 1889. Spencer Tracy narrates the film, which cost an estimated 15 million dollars to complete. In the first segment, "The Rivers," pioneer Zebulon Prescott (Karl Malden) sets out to settle in the West with his wife (Agnes Moorehead) and their four children. Along with other settlers and river pirates, they run into mountain man Linus Rawlings (James Stewart), who sells animal hides. The Prescotts try to raft down the Ohio River in a raft, but only daughters Lilith (Debbie Reynolds) and Eve (Carroll Baker) survive. Eve and Linus get married, while Lilith continues on. In the second segment, "The Plains," Lilith ends up singing in a saloon in St. Louis, but she really wants to head west in a wagon train led by Roger Morgan (Robert Preston). Along the way, she's accompanied by the roguish gambler Cleve Van Valen (Gregory Peck), who claims he can protect her. After he saves her life during an Indian attack, they get married and move to San Francisco. In the third segment, "The Civil War," Eve and Linus' son, Zeb (George Peppard), fights for the Union. After he's forced to kill his Confederate friend, he returns home and gives the family farm to his brother. In the fourth segment, "The Railroads," Zeb fights with his railroad boss (Richard Widmark), who wants to cut straight through Indian territory. Zeb's co-worker Jethro (Henry Fonda) refuses to cut through the land, so he quits and moves to the mountains. After the railway camp is destroyed, Zeb heads for the mountains to visit him. In the fifth segment, "The Outlaws," Lilith is an old widow traveling from California to Arizona to stay with her nephew Zeb on his ranch. However, he has to fight a gang of desperadoes first. How the West Was Won garnered three Oscars, for screenplay, film editing, and sound production. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Romolo Guerrieri directed this well-constructed thriller from a screenplay from genre specialist Ernesto Gastaldi. Returning to Geneva from their honeymoon, newlyweds Deborah (Carroll Baker) and Marcel (Jean Sorel) meet a man named Philip (Luigi Pistilli), who blames Marcel for the suicide of his girlfriend. Spaghetti-western star George Hilton appears as an artist-neighbor with a secret, and Evelyn Stewart (aka Ida Galli) also appears. The plot has many twists and turns, but Guerrieri manages to keep it on track until the intriguing conclusion. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

The success of several 1960s-era cat-burglar movies depended upon the suave and agreeable machinations of the film's antiheroic hero, as he stylishly worked to remove surplus wealth from the obscenely wealthy. That formula reaped a box-office bonanza, and here the producers are back with it again, with Jeff Hill (George Hamilton) learning the ropes of being a gentleman-thief from the redoubtable Ace of Diamonds (Joseph Cotton). Unfortunately, there is a reason these fine gents weren't cast in the original films, and despite good performances (and direction) all around, the magic just didn't strike this time. Three female movie stars (Carroll Baker, Zsa Zsa Gabor and Lilli Palmer) play themselves as the burglar's wealthy victims. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Arnold Schwarzenegger sheds his action image in Ivan Reitman's police comedy Kindergarten Cop, where he plays an undercover cop teaching a class of hyperactive six-year-olds. As the film begins, John Kimble (Schwarzenegger) and his partner Phoebe O'Hara (Pamela Reed) are in pursuit of notorious drug dealer Cullen Crisp (Richard Tyson) and his scabrous mother Eleanor (Carroll Baker). John learns Cullen is searching for his ex-wife and his little boy, and Kimble plans to nail them when they find the former wife, who is believed to have $3 million of Cullen's drug profits. John and Phoebe follow the trail to Astoria, Oregon, where they believe Cullen's son is attending kindergarten. Although the child and his mother have changed names, John hopes they can pick up some clues. By coincidence, Phoebe used to be a schoolteacher and the school board permits her teach the kindergarten class, but Phoebe gets food poisoning and John is forced to teach the six-year-old whippersnappers himself. Along with lighthearted gags with the kids and the pursuit of the drug dealers, John has time for a little romance when he falls in love with one of the teachers (Penelope Ann Miller), who ends up surprising him with more than love. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Before making the string of cannibal adventures which made him notorious, Umberto Lenzi directed three kinky giallo thrillers starring Carroll Baker (Baby Doll). This one is a bisexual round-robin, in which chemist Jean (Jean-Louis Trintignant) is married to Danielle (Erika Blanc), a lesbian who may be sleeping with Baker, who may in turn be sleeping with Trintignant. Baker is being stalked by a mysterious killer, Helga Line might be sleeping with any of them, and then there's Horst Frank, who may or may not be the killer. Everyone wants to kill everyone else, as in Trintignant's previous La Morte Ha Fatto l'Uovo (1967), and although it may not be quite as all-out bizarre as that film, its' still a lot of fun for genre fans. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide