Maurice Jara Movies

En route to Virginia City, Adam Cartwright bears witness as Chief Chato (Hal Jon Norman) kills two white trappers who have dared to venture upon a Shoshone burial ground. But Chato refuses to scalp the corpses, eliciting the name "White Buffalo Woman" as he walks off. Later on, Adam rescues the selfsame Woman (Anna-Lisa), a white Shoshone captive long believed to be a spirit woman, capable of healing the sick. Unfortunately, the Indians have discovered that White Buffalo Woman possesses no recuperative powers, and have condemned her to death. She is afforded a rare opportunity to redeem herself when Adam is seriously wounded. Cowritten by Joe Stone and Paul King, "The Savage" originally aired on December 3, 1960. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This second theatrical-feature spin-off of TV's Lone Ranger series stars, as ever, Clayton Moore as the Masked Rider of the Plains and Jay Silverheels as his faithful Indian companion Tonto. This time around, the plot concerns five silver medallions. When placed together, these tiny hunks of silver reveal the location of the titular Lost City of Gold. The owners of three of the medallions have already been killed by the mystery villain; it's up to the Lone Ranger and Tonto to save the other two owners -- Douglas Kennedy and little Noreen Nash -- from harm. Unfortunately, the bloom was (temporarily) off the rose for the Lone Ranger franchise, and Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold ended up in the red. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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, Rovi

After Robert Francis became an "instant star" in Columbia's The Caine Mutiny (54), the studio rushed Francis into as many vehicles as possible. In They Rode West, Francis plays a young Army doctor, stationed at a remote cavalry post. The post's commander (Philip Carey) immediately clashes with Francis due to the latter's humanitarian attitudes towards Native Americans. When a malaria epidemic breaks out at a local Kiowa encampment, Francis insists upon treating the Indians, despite opposition from both Carey and the tribe's medicine men. May Wynn, Francis' Caine Mutiny vis-a-vis, is third-billed in They Rode West. Alas, Robert Francis' skyrocketing career plummeted to earth when he was killed in a 1955 accident. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

"You guys will never be soldiers!" With these words, Richard Widmark opens and closes Take the High Ground. Widmark plays tough drill sergeant Thorne Ryan, whipping his recruits through basic training in preparation for shipment to Korea. Merton Tolliver (Carleton Carpenter) is the standard-issue private who just can't seem to cut it, despite Ryan's (Widmark) relentless special attention. To prove that the behemoth sergeant has a tender side, the script contrives a romantic triangle involving Ryan, Julie Mollison (Elaine Stewart), and Sgt. Laverne Holt (Karl Malden). The film is an amalgam of rugged realism and Hollywood hokiness, with Widmark terrific as the topkick you love to hate. Filmed at Fort Bliss, TX, Take the High Ground utilizes several real-life soldiers in the drill sequences (you can recognize the real ones; they aren't afraid of Richard Widmark). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Even without its 3D/stereophonic sound gimmickry, Second Chance is a crackling good suspenser. Robert Mitchum plays Russ Lambert, a prizefighter who heads to South America to forget a recent tragedy in the ring. Here he meets Clare Shepard (Linda Darnell), who is likewise running away -- not from her bitter memories, but from her boyfriend, a vicious gangster. Also newly arrived in South America is Cappy Gordon (Jack Palance), the cold-blooded triggerman for Clare's ex-beau. After several close calls and near-misses, the three main characters converge in a disabled cable car, high above a deep abyss. Filmed on location at RKO Radio's Mexican facilities, Second Chance takes a while getting started, then rapidly builds to a heart-pounding finale. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Virile leading man Phil Carey heads the cast of the 3D western The Nebraskan. Carey plays U.S. Army scout Wade Harper, assigned to keep his Native American aide Wingfoot (Maurice Jara) in protective custody. Accused of killing an Indian chief, Wingfoot is dearly coveted by the dead man's tribe, who'd like to exact their own brand of justice. Stirring up trouble among the whites is the scurrilous Reno (Lee Van Cleef), who gives psychos a bad name. The film's tiny budget is able to accommodate a few gratuitous "comin' at ya" 3D effects, which do little to enhance the overall quality of the film. More fascinating is the presence of Richard Webb, TV's stalwart "Captain Midnight", as a craven coward. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Technicolor adventure epic Flying Leathernecks offers two things that film cultists can never get enough of: star John Wayne and director Nicholas Ray. Filmed at the behest of RKO chieftain Howard R. Hughes, Leathernecks is a paean to the Marine Flying Corps of World War II. Wayne plays Major Dan Kirby, a squadron commander, whose no-nonsense attitude is sharply at odds with the easygoing approach of executive officer Captain Carl Griffin (Robert Ryan). Griffin eventually learns the value of discipline at all costs, while Kirby becomes more humanized as he gets to know his pilots. Jay C. Flippen steals the show as a supply sergeant who "borrows" from other companies to keep his men happy. Though not entirely cliché-free, Flying Leathernecks is one of the more solid war films of the 1950s, and one that has remained readily available in theaters, on TV and in video stores to the present day. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Cary Grant's utter credibility in the role of a brilliant, world-famous brain surgeon Dr. Eugene Norland Ferguson is the single element that keeps Crisis afloat. While vacationing in a politically unstable Latin American country, Ferguson and his wife, Helen (Paula Raymond), find themselves the unwilling house guests of dictator Raoul Farrago (José Ferrer). Suffering from a brain tumor, Farrago insists that Ferguson operate at once. The "crisis" of the title arises when revolutionary leader Gonzales (Gilbert Roland) demands that Farrago be killed on the operating table -- and kidnaps Dr. Ferguson's wife to bind the bargain. Unaware of his wife's plight, Ferguson proceeds with the operation, setting into motion a series of events leading to a grimly ironic denouement. Director Richard Brooks adapted the screenplay of Crisis from a story by George Tabori. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi