Herb Jeffries Movies
- 1977
A painter doubles as a hitman and is hired to kill Jim Buck (Jack Palance). But he can't do it: Palance once saved his life. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1971
- PG
This film is notable for singer Marvin Gaye's debut acting performance. In Chrome and Hot Leather, Green Beret sergeant Mitch's (Tony Young) girlfriend has been mortally injured, and just before her death divulges that a motorcycle gang called "The Devils" were responsible. Mitch and his sergeant buddies (including Marvin Gaye as Jim) take military leave and prepare themselves to track down the evildoers by adopting, as best as they can, the appearance of a motorcycle gang: bikes, clothes and all. This results in some humorous moments. They use their army skills in the quest for justice, and The Devils come in for some serious trouble. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1967
In the first of three episodes filmed in Hawaii, Jeannie (Barbara Eden) and Tony (Larry Hagman) cross the paths of a clever con artist named Charlie (Milton Berle). Hoping to get his mitts on the valuable King Tut scarab pin in Jeannie's possession, Charlie "trades" the bauble for Diamondhead Beach, with the help of a partner in crime named Vanderhaven (Fred Clark). Unfortunately for the crooks, Jeannie gets even by conjuring up a deucedly clever "sting" operation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1967
This nudie mystery/comedy has two detectives on the trail of a "sex monster" who preys on strippers. While the detectives crack lame jokes and do terrible Ed Sullivan impressions, a voyeur stalks the strippers (Tempest Storm among them). ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide
- 1957
One of the more diverting byproducts of the short-lived Calypso craze was this quickie Allied Artists musical. What plot their is concerns a lover's quarrel between TV personality Ed Kemmer and stewardess Angie Dickinson. When Dickinson runs off to South America, Kemmer follows. As they try to patch up their differences, the viewer is regaled by a vast array of topnotch musical performers. Among the special guest stars spotlighted herein are Herb Jeffries (who in the 1930s was Hollywood's only black singing cowboy), the Easy Riders, Duke of Iron, Lord Flea and his Calypsonians and the Lester Horden Dancers. Conspicuous by his absence is the real Calypso Joe, a Hawaii-based entertainer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Herb Jeffries, Angie Dickinson, (more)
- 1955
Filmmakers Joseph Kohn and Leonard Reed assemble this patchwork collection of kinescopes featuring such legendary musicians as Sarah Vaughn, Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Nipsey Russell, and Lionel Hampton. Master of Ceremonies Willie Bryant offers a stirring rendition of "Bad Bad Whiskey". ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1955
This video offers a feast of legendary musical acts from 1940's. Shot in the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, this film features Sarah Vaughan, Lionel Hampton, Nat "King" Cole, and Count Basie. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1953
Though Wicked Woman may look like one of those heavy-breathing Hugo Haas-directed melodramas, the film was in fact directed by screenwriter Russell Rouse. The title character, played by Beverly Michaels, is a trashy blonde who swivels into a small California town. Here she weaves her seductive web around a bar owner (Richard Egan), who leaves his alcoholic wife (Evelyn Scott) behind. The two lovers scheme to sell the bar for a profit and dash off to Mexico, but their scheme is foiled by their own perfidy. Wicked Woman represents perhaps the best-ever screen performance of ubiquitous, squeaky-voiced character actor Percy Helton, who deservedly ends up as the recipient of one of the most spectacular slaps in the face in movie history. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Beverly Michaels, Richard Egan, (more)
- 1951
Evidently Monogram had high hopes for the modestly produced Disc Jockey, else why would the studio release the film through its "prestige" subsidiary Allied Artists? Songstress Ginny Simms stars as Vickie Peters, an unknown selected for stardom by radio deejay Mike Richards (Michael O'Shea). It is Richards' contention that he can create a singing star exclusively through exposure on disc-spinning radio programs, without resorting to that upstart medium called television. Along the way, Mike falls in love with Vickie, though she has eyes only for her manager Johnny (Tom Drake). Guest stars in this pleasant bit of fluff include Russ Morgan, Tommy Dorsey, George Shearing, Nick Lucas, Herb Jeffries, Sarah Vaughan, The Weavers, Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage, and a veritable legion of real-life disc jockeys. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ginny Simms, Tom Drake, (more)
- 1939
Produced in 1938 at the N.B. Murray dude ranch near Victorville, California, Harlem Rides the Range was the last of three all-black Westerns starring troubadour Herb Jeffries (billed for the occasion Herbert Jeffrey) as cowboy Bob Blake. Blake, on his horse "Stardusk" (!), obtains a job on the ranch belonging to Watson (Spencer Williams of Amos 'n Andy fame). Meanwhile, a neighbor, Dennison (Leonard Christmas), is threatened by Bradley (Clarence Brooks) and his thug Connors (Tom Southern) who want to get their hands of the man's secret radium mine. Leaving Dennison for dead, Bradley schemes to kidnap his daughter Margaret (Artie Young), who is arriving with $6,000 for the mortgage and presumably knows where the secret mine is located. The talkative Connors is killed by his boss, who puts the blame on Blake. Arrested by the sheriff (Wade Dumas), Blake uses his dexterity to break out of jail and arrives just in time to save Margaret from Bradley and his gang. Returning to the Dennison spread, Blake and his sidekick Dusty (Lucius Brooks) find the owner, who has stayed alive by hiding in his underground mine. Jeffries, whose singing was better than his acting, warbled his own I'm a Happy Cowboy (over the opening credits) and Prairie Flower, the latter accompanied by the singing group The Four Tones. Lucius Brooks and Flournoy E. Miller (who wrote his own dialogue) provided the same kind of demeaning comedy that almost all African-Americans were subjected to in the 1930s. Following his brief movie career, Jeffries sang with the Duke Ellington orchestra and ran a nightclub in Paris, France. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1939
African-American cowboy Herb Jeffries (here billed Herbert Jeffrey) headed an all-black cast in this otherwise ordinary Western filmed at the "all-colored" N.B. Murray dude ranch near Victorville, CA. Jeffries plays Bob Blake, a cowboy investigating the mysterious disappearance of his friend, Joe. Joe, it appears, sits on some mighty valuable land and nasty Pete (Spencer Williams Jr.) aims to make him sign over the deed. Bob and his cowboy friends arrive just in time to prevent Joe's sister Betty (Atie Young) from being branded with a hot iron. This African-American Western was produced, written, and directed by the white Richard C. Kahn, and included musical interludes performed by Jeffries and the Four Tones. Adhering to every cliché in the book, The Bronze Buckaroo came complete with an idiotic, easily scared sidekick (ventriloquist Lucius Brooks). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1938
As indicated by the title, Harlem on the Prairie was aimed at the "all-colored" theaters which flourished in the 1930s. The star of this musical western is Herb Jeffries, a former vocalist with the Duke Ellington Orchestra who might have been a major film personality in a more equitable world. Though the film takes place in an all-black west, the plot is indistinguishable from the many "white" B westerns of the era. Jeffries plays a heroic vigilante who hopes to purge the territory of the evil influence of big-city gangster Maceo B. Sheffield. Nightclub singer Connie Harris is the ingenue, Spencer Williams Jr. ("Andy" on TV's Amos 'N'Andy) contributes to the plotline as a glib-tongued medicine show huckster, and the comedy team of Mantan Moreland and Flournoy Miller provide the laughs. Very cheaply made, Harlem on the Prairie is nonetheless very watchable, if only because of the imposing presence of Herb Jeffries. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Herb Jeffries, Mantan Moreland, (more)
- 1938
The first of three all-black music Westerns released by white-operated Sack Amusement Enterprises, Two Gun Man from Harlem was filmed at N.B. Murray's African-American dude ranch near Victorville, California, and starred popular black entertainer Herb Jeffries (who billed himself Herbert Jeffrey for the occasion). Slightly more adult in tone than the average B-Western, the film was made by veterans of the genre, including cameraman Marcel LePicard, production manager Al Lane and art director Vin Taylor. Jeffries played Bob Blake, a ranch foreman falsely accused of killing his boss, John Steele (Tom Southern) after spurning the man's flirtatious wife, Ruth (Mae Turner. Returning from a stay in New York's Harlem, Bob returns West in the guise of the Deacon, a former preacher turned killer and Bob's look-alike ("I preach the gospel, brother -- gun gospel!"). He arrives just in time to rescue Ruth, the only witness to her husband's killing and thus the sole person who can clear him, from suffering the same fate as her late spouse. Filmed on the very cheap, Two Gun Man from Harlem was enlivened by the presence of Matthew "Stymie" Beard, of Our Gang fame, as heroine Marguerite Whitten's kid brother, Mantan Moreland as Jeffries' comedic brother and Spencer Williams, the future "Andy" of television's Amos 'n Andy, as the killer's hired hand. Jeffries, whose rather wooden acting style was no worse than most B-Western heroes, sang his own I'm a Happy Cowboy accompanied by The Cats and the Fiddle, an African-American hillbilly group. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Herb Jeffries, Marguerite Whitten, (more)
