Brian Keith Movies

The McKenzie Break is an unusual POW escape drama in that the would-be escapees are German prisoners, held in a Scottish camp. When a Luftwaffe pilot is murdered in the compound, British major Ian Hendrey investigates. He suspects that the killing is tied in with a complex escape plan, engineered by German commander Helmut Griem. Before the inevitable break, the prisoners form into the sort of separate factions and pressure groups that fomented the Nazi upheaval in Germany in the first place. Based on a novel by Sidney Shelley, The McKenzie Break was actually filmed in Ireland rather than Scotland. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After three years on CBS' powerhouse Monday-night schedule--and two consecutive years in TV's "top ten" list--Family Affair moved to a Thursday berth for its fourth season on the air. Despite this displacement, not to mention fresh competition from NBC's long-running Daniel Boone and the ABC upstart The Ghost and Mrs Muir, the series retained its huge following, remaining securely fastened into the "Number Five" ratings position. Beyond the shift to a different evening, very little had changed on Family Affair proper. We still find bachelor engineer Bill Davis (Brian Keith) gamely coping with the pressures of surrogate parenthood as guardian of his orphaned nephew Jody (Johnnie Whitaker) and nieces Buffy (Anissa Jones) and Cissy (Anissa Jones). Likewise still on hand is Bill's supremely efficient British manservant Mr. French (Sebastian Cabot), who has grown to like his role as the children's "male nanny"--with reservations, of course. This season's guest stars include the magnificent Ida Lupino as a titled British lady whom Mr. French fondly remembers as his former sweetheart, a London barmaid named Maude; a very young Darlene Carr (remember her as Karl Malden's daughter on Streets of San Francisco?) as a starry-eyed teenager who develops a crush on the hapless Bill; former B-western star Bob Steele as. . .a former B-western star; and in an unusually serious episode, Dana Andrews as a troubled ex-convict who has trouble going straight. Also showing up with increasing frequency is Gregg Fedderson, the son of Family Affair creator Don Fedderson, who after a brief apprenticeship in character parts is seen in the recurring role of Cissy's boyfriend Gregg Bartlett. Perhaps the most memorable episode this season is "What's So Funny About a Broken Leg", hastily written to accommodate the fact that costar Anissa Jones' leg was really in a cast. Certainly the most elaborate installment is the two-part Season Four opener, wherein the entire family seriously considers bidding farewell to New York City and moving bag and baggage to Tahiti! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A young widow with three children and a sheepdog marries a widowed man with a young daughter and a French poodle in this amusing comedy. Abby (Doris Day) is the owner of a lumberyard who falls for Jake (Brian Keith) when her sister Maxine (Pat Carroll) introduce the two at a party. The couple is initially reluctant and somewhat embarrassed over the blatant matchmaking attempt but meet later at an all-night store. The two marry and deal with constant canine and sassy sibling rivalries. Jake falls out of the family trailer on vacation, leading Abby to recruit a group of hippies to find her lost husband. Jamie Farr is the far out hippie, Barbara Hershey is Jake's daughter Stacey, comedian George Carlin plays Herbie Fleck, owner of a local hamburger stand, and Alice Ghostley is the harried housekeeper in this engaging romp. The Grass Roots provide some of the music in this feature. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This dreary story of the latent desires of the sexually repressed and psychologically tormented is taken from the 1944 novel by Carson McCullers. Major Penderton (Marlon Brando) is a hard-driving Army officer married to Leonora (Elizabeth Taylor). The impotent Penderton hides his latent homosexuality under his strict military discipline, while Leonora is having an affair with Lt. Colonel Langdon (Brian Keith), who is married to the troubled Allison (Julie Harris), who slices off her own nipples after a disappointing pregnancy. Private Williams (Robert Forster) is a young recruit who likes to ride naked on horseback. The Major is driven to insane jealousy when he discovers Williams would rather be with Leonora than with him. The idea is good, but the story plays like a sort of discarded (Tennessee Williams) play. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Comical chaos erupts when milquetoast astronaut Peter Mattemore (Jerry Lewis) and his bride-of-convenience and fellow astronaut (the government forced them to marry to avoid scandal) Eileen Forbes (Connie Stevens) are sent to a lunar space station, which they will share with a Russian couple, to monitor the weather and replace their two predecessors, both of whom have gone bonkers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Henry Hathaway's film is based on a character from Harold Robbins' The Carpetbaggers, who, in turn, based it on cowboy actor Ken Maynard. Set in the West of the 1890s, the film opens with the torture and murder of the parents of Max Sand (Steve McQueen) by a trio of gunslingers seemingly motivated by their hostility toward the mixed nature of the marriage, since the wife is a Native American. Swearing revenge, the young cowhand enlists the help of itinerant gunsmith Jonas Cord Brian Keith, who teaches him how to shoot while counseling against revenge. Nonetheless, Sand doggedly scours one town after the other before finally running up against one of the murderers, Jesse Coe (Martin Landau). He finally kills Coe in a vicious knife fight, but is severely wounded himself and has to be nursed back to health by Neesa (Janet Margolin), a young Kiowa woman. He next heads for Louisiana where another of the murderous trio, Bill Bowdre (Arthur Kennedy), is serving a prison sentence in a remote swamp. In order to get close to the man, Sand stages a robbery, and is soon among the prison inmates. This was the only film on which McQueen worked with Landau, the only other person admitted to the Actor's Studio out of thousands of applicants in 1957. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide

Season One of Family Affair is by and large a "shakedown cruise" for wealthy consulting engineer Bill Davis (Brian Keith) and his new, ready-made family. After the deaths of his brother and sister-in-law in an accident, Bill is placed in charge of the couple's three children: 6-year-old twins Buffy (Anissa Jones) and Jody (Johnnie Whitaker), and 15-year-old Cissy (Kathy Garver). The responsibilities of instant parenthood understandably puts a crimp in Bill's swinging-bachelor lifestyle, but he loves the children enough to grit his teeth and make the best of things--as does his "veddy British" gentleman's gentleman Mr. Giles French (Sebastian Cabot), who has quite a time overcoming the shock of being, for all intents and purposes, a "nanny." Stories during Season One deal with Bill's trials and tribulations dealing with such necessities as getting the kids enrolled in school and coping with the orphaned youngsters' insecurities arising from spending the previous several months being shunted from one relative to the next. The most poignant moments find Buffy, Jody and Cissy recalling their deceased parents--and it is particularly compelling to witness Buffy's obsessive attachment to her doll Mrs. Beasley, the one remaining viable link between herself and her late mother. On a more upbeat note, despite his newly acquired parental obligations Bill still manages to find time to squire several lovely young ladies, played by such attractive actresses as Mary Murphy, Rita Gam and Kathleen Crowley--not to mention Judith Landon, the then wife of series star Brian Keith. Among the noteworthy guest stars showing up in Season One are Myrna Loy, cast as a once-wealthy dowager reduced to domestic work; Brian Donlevy as a down-to-earth "hardhat" who turns out to be a millionaire architect; Richard Loo as a stuffy Chinese diplomat; Sterling Holloway as a window washer who happens to be a whiz at math; and John Agar as a charismatic rodeo star. This is also the season in which John Williams makes nine guest appearances as Mr. French's brother Nigel French, who signs on as temporary replacement in the Davis household while his brother briefly serves the Royal Family (in real life, Sebastian Cabot had been forced to briefly bow out of the series due to illness). Though nowhere near as popular as its Monday-night competition Peyton Place, Family Affair still managed to carve out a comfortable ratings niche and accumulate a loyal audience during its Freshman season on CBS, ending up as the nation's 14th highest-rated program. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on author James H. Tevis' Arizona in the 50s, The Tenderfoot stars Brandon De Wilde as young Tevis. With nothing more than a stetson, a gun, and three buddies, Tevis heads west to seek his destiny. Along the way, he befriends a crusty Army dragoons captain (James Whitmore), Kit Carson's black-sheep brother Mose (Brian Keith), and an itinerant musician-turned-trooper (Paul Durand). Tevis' adventures include the roundup of wild mustangs and a climactic horse race. Originally telecast in three parts on Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color in October 1964, Tenderfoot was released theatrically overseas two years later. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In The Hallelujah Trail, Lee Remick plays temperance leader Cora Templeton Massingale, who is determined to halt a shipment of whiskey headed for Denver. The shipment is being escorted by the US cavalry, under the guidance of Col. Thadeus Gearhardt (Burt Lancaster). As the Denver miners thirstily await the precious booze, Gearhardt must fend off not only Cora and her minions, but a bibulous tribe of Sioux warriors, headed by Chief Walks-Stooped-Over (Martin Landau)-not to mention an outsized sandstorm. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bristle Face is a stray hound with a fondness for hunting turtles. Orphaned Jace Landers (Philip Alford) adopts the personable mutt. With the help of Luke Swank (Brian Keith), Bristle Face learns how to hunt foxes. Trouble is, the dog doesn't know when to stop hunting. This made-for-TV Disney production boasts an impressive supporting cast, including Wallace Ford, Parley Baer, Miss Jeff Donnell (as she used to be billed on The George Gobel Show), Slim Pickens and George "Goober" Lindsay. Bristle Face was originally telecast January 26 and February 2, 1964, as a two-part entry on Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This made-for-TV Disney effort stars Kevin Corcoran as Johnny, an orphan who becomes a drummer for the Union Army during the Civil War. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

In this western, an ex-officer for the confederate Army becomes a Texas cattle rancher. He and his fellow ranchers are dismayed when they learn that the coming railroad intends on bypassing their ranches. The rancher then leaves his land to begin fighting the railroad. Meanwhile the railroad executives have hired Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill Cody, and Calamity Jane to defend their decision against the rancher and his guerrilla gang. When the marauders are finally surrounded by the Army and it looks as if they will die, the three western legends suddenly ride in to save them. They then all band together to convince the railroad that the Texas ranchers desperately need their services. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide