David Kasday Movies

Strong acting and direction overcomes the more cliched aspects of Red Sundown. It all begins when gunslinger Alec Longmire (Rory Calhoun), weary of living up to his reputation, decides to hang up his firearms and start life anew as a cowpuncher. Before long, however, Alec is obliged to strap on his shooting irons as the deputy of sheriff Jade Murphy (Dean Jagger). It's for a good cause, of course: Murphy hopes to avoid a violent range war with a nonviolent show of force. Will Longmire be able to keep the peace without resorting to his six-guns, or will his hand be forced by crooked land baron Rufus Henshaw (Robert Middleton) and Henshaw's menacing hired gun Chet Swann (Robert Middleton)? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

During her brief stay at MGM, starlet Jarma Lewis received starring roles in two programmers. One of these was The Marauders, in which she appeared with Dan Duryea, Keenan Wynn and Jeff Richards. The bulk of the film's drama is handled by Richards, cast as a homesteader who refuses to move despite the threats of land baron Harry Shannon. After Shannon's death, the persecution of Richards is supervised by Dan Duryea, an unhinged frustrated soldier who fancies himself a second Napoleon. The looney Duryea manages to kill James Anderson, weak-willed husband of Jarma Lewis, with the help of hired gun Keenan Wynn. But Richards stands his ground, winning Jarma in the process. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hollywood, 1927: the silent-film romantic team of Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) and Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) is the toast of Tinseltown. While Lockwood and Lamont personify smoldering passions onscreen, in real life the down-to-earth Lockwood can't stand the egotistical, brainless Lina. He prefers the company of aspiring actress Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds), whom he met while escaping his screaming fans. Watching these intrigues from the sidelines is Cosmo Brown (Donald O'Connor), Don's best pal and on-set pianist. Cosmo is promoted to musical director of Monumental Pictures by studio head R.F. Simpson (Millard Mitchell) when the talking-picture revolution commences. That's all right for Cosmo, but how will talkies affect the upcoming Lockwood-Lamont vehicle "The Dueling Cavalier"? Don, an accomplished song-and-dance man, should have no trouble adapting to the microphone. Lina, however, is another matter; put as charitably as possible, she has a voice that sounds like fingernails on a blackboard. The disastrous preview of the team's first talkie has the audience howling with derisive laughter. On the strength of the plot alone, concocted by the matchless writing team of Betty Comden and Adolph Green, Singin' in the Rain is a delight. But with the addition of MGM's catalog of Arthur Freed-Nacio Herb Brown songs -- "You Were Meant for Me," "You Are My Lucky Star," "The Broadway Melody," and of course the title song -- the film becomes one of the greatest Hollywood musicals ever made. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Steve Allen makes his dramatic film debut in The Benny Goodman Story. Outside of Goodman's conflicts with his parents over his career choice, and his early frustration over not being able to play his kind of music, the film tends to be more a series of musical highlights than a biography. The film features guest appearances by Gene Krupa, Lionel Hampton, Teddy Wilson, Harry James, Martha Tilton, Ziggy Elman, and Sammy Davis Sr. (as Fletcher Henderson). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide