Ben Johnson Movies

The saddle tramp cowboy was made into a hero in large part by the movies. As early as 1903, Edwin S. Porter's The Great Train Robbery was helping to create a mystique about men who rode horses and wore that special type of hat. Although Westerns usually had little to do with historical reality, life began to imitate art, as cowboy movie heroes such as John Wayne became real-life role models. This is the eighth installment in the 13-volume American Documents documentary series, which presents United States history in an entertaining, yet well-researched manner. Highlights of this program include archival photographs and clips from various motion pictures. The documentary is narrated by Academy Award-winning actor Ben Johnson, star of The Wild Bunch and The Last Picture Show, who was at one time being groomed to become the next John Wayne. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide

High in the Superstition Mountains of Arizona, a cache of stolen bank money was hidden back in the 1960s. LA based lawyer Bill Paxton, whose security-guard father (David Michael-Standing) has long been held responsible for the heist-he was the only survivor when his armored car was ambushed-conducts a search for witnesses in order to clear his dad's name. Working from his late father's notes, Paxton and his mentally handicapped brother Todd Field attempt to reconstruct the crime and recover the loot. Expressing inordinate fascination in Paxton's efforts are mysterious hitchiker Apollonia Kotero, as well as local sheriff Luke Askew, whose brother was murdered during the robbery. A great many hidden truths and deep dark secrets come to surface during a final bloody confrontation in the mountains. All evidence indicates that director John Kincade intended Back to Back as a tribute to filmmaker Sam Peckinpah-as evidenced by the presence of Peckinpah regular Ben Johnson in a pivotal role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Oscar-winning character actor Ben Johnson was never as well known as other stars, and yet for many industry insiders, he was the epitome of cowboy actors. Of Cherokee and Irish heritage, Johnson was born in Oklahoma and became a cowboy at age eleven. He grew up to become the only movie cowboy to win both an Oscar and a rodeo championship. This documentary tells the fascinating, colorful story of his life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Bloodsport began life under the less alluring title Poetry in Motion. Gary Busey and Ben Johnson star as, respectively, a high-school football quarterback and his "winning is the only thing" father. The more his dad pushes him, the less Busey truly wants to be an athlete. The inter-family hostility comes to a head during an excitingly filmed climactic gridiron battle. Made for TV, Bloodsport was initially telecast on December 5, 1973. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

While on a cattle drive, the Cartwright men make a stopover in the town of Alkali. The next morning, the Cartwrights are tossed into the local jail, accused of robbing the town's bank and killing several innocent bystanders. Escaping from his cell, Joe Cartwright tries to summon help before his father Ben and his brothers Adam and Hoss are summarily hanged. Featured in the cast are two of Hollywood's most reliable tough guys, Charles McGraw as Sheriff Gains and Ben Johnson as Stan. First telecast April 1, 1962, "The Gamble" marked the scriptwriting debut of Bonanza star Michael Landon, who coauthored the episode with Frank Chase. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Joining his fellow ranchers in a big cattle drive, Ben Cartwright chooses veteran cowboy Kelly James (Ben Johnson) as trail boss. This decision is staunchly opposed by rancher Weatherby (Walter Barnes), who once fired James for drunkenness. Meanwhile, Weatherby's cocksure young foreman Bert Yates (Roger Davis) ruthlessly lobbies for James' job. A pre-stardom Richard Farnsworth appears as Sourdough. Originally broadcast on January 17, 1971, "Top Hand" was written by John Hawkins and Arthur Heinemann. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Despite his dishonorable discharge from the Army, Jason (Chuck Connors) is asked to be sheriff in the small town where he has recently killed a gunslinger. It soon develops that Jason doesn't have much in the way of job security. In the past year alone, the town has had three other sheriffs--all of whom have been shot to death. Veteran western player Ben Johnson, some six years away from his Oscar-winning performance in The Last Picture Show, appears as Bill Latigo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

John Hurt plays the British jockey Bob Champion in this true story of how Champion overcame cancer and the rigors of chemotherapy for an impressive personal and professional comeback. Just as Champion is in the middle of a vacation in Kentucky, he finds out he has cancer, and, like others before him, submits to the full, painful treatments of multiple injections and radiation, suffering as much or more from the cure as from the illness (these treatments are graphic). Gaunt and nauseous, Champion also endures realistic meetings with his doctors that hold forth no guarantee of a cure. His eventual remission leads to yet another grueling physical schedule to get him back into shape for the Grand National Steeplechase -- a 30-fence, well-publicized race that offers difficult hurdles for both the horses and their jockeys. If the 115-minutes running time of this film were cut in places, it would create a better, trim and slim, fast-paced telling of an even more focused tale. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

John Ford's last western film, Cheyenne Autumn was allegedly produced to compensate for the hundreds of Native Americans who had bitten the dust in Ford's earlier films (that was the director's story, anyway). Set in 1887, the film recounts the defiant migration of 300 Cheyennes from their reservation in Oklahoma territory to their original home in Wyoming. They have done this at the behest of chiefs Little Wolf (Ricardo Montalban) and Dull Knife (Gilbert Roland), peaceful souls who have been driven to desperate measures because the US government has ignored their pleas for food and shelter. Since the Cheyennes' trek is in defiance of their treaty, Captain Thomas Archer (Richard Widmark), who agrees with the Indians in principle, reluctantly leads his troops in pursuit of the tribe. While there was never any intention to shed blood, the white press finds it politically expedient to distort the Cheyennes' action into a declaration of war. Thanks to the cruelties of such chauvinistic whites as Captain Oscar Wessels (Karl Malden), the Cheyennes are forced to defend themselves--and whenever Indians take arms against whites in the 1880s, it's usually misrepresented as a massacre. Only the intervention of US secretary of the interior Carl Schurz (Edward G. Robinson) prevents the hostilities from erupting into wholesale bloodshed. Based on a novel by Mari Sandoz, Cheyenne Autumn is a cinematic elegy--not only for the beleaguered Cheyennes, but for John Ford's fifty years in pictures. It is weakest when arbitrarily throwing in a wearisome romance between Richard Widmark and pacifistic schoolmarm Carroll Baker, who out of sympathy for the Indians has joined them in their 1500-mile westward journey. When the Warner Bros. people decided that the film ran too long, they chopped out the wholly unnecessary but very funny episode involving a poker-obsessed Wyatt Earp (James Stewart). Contrary to popular belief, this episode was included in the earliest non-roadshow prints of Cheyenne Autumn; the scene was excised only when the film went into its second and third runs in 1966 (it has since been restored). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A grease monkey becomes so obsessed with stock-car racing that the rest of his life begins to fall apart in this character-driven drama. The one who suffers most from his fixation is his devoted wife whom he totally ignores until she gets a job and her husband begins thinking she is fooling around with her boss. In a jealous rage, he makes his accusation and during the ensuing scuffle kills his rival and takes off with the police in hot pursuit. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The good people of Milo, Kansas (pop. 1,972) combine forces to battle against the evil agribusiness Farmco that conspires to drive up the price of bread to six dollars a loaf. Farmer Jeff Parker (Sonny Gibson) and the crusading journalist Charlie Stevens (Buck Henry) recruit former Farmco executive James Kirkland (Doug McClure) who resigns when his conscience bothers him too much. Reporter Roger Crandall (Paul Newson) uncovers the plot to inflate the price of grain and sends it to colleague Jessica Stanton (Reparata Mazzola) before he is killed. Jessica investigates Roger's "accidental" death and the shooting of a federal grain inspector. Jeff saves Jessica after she is kidnapped and drugged with ether. Ben Johnson plays the local sheriff in this message drama. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

The first half of this Walt Disney Presents episode, "Rapids Ahead," is ostensibly a salute to John Wesley Powell, the first man to explore the Colorado River. The presence of such actors as Brian Keith and John Beal tips us off that this segment is actually a promo for the upcoming Disney theatrical feature Ten Who Dared, concentrating on the special photographic techniques required to complete the picture. The remainder of the episode is a full-length presentation of the Oscar-winning "True Life Adventure" short subject Bear Country (1953), filmed on location in Yellowstone National Park. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide