Jerry Lawrence Movies
This oddly technical drama about three test pilots for the X-15 devotes a great deal of time to scientific explanations and militarese, leaving slightly less time to examine the personal lives and motivations of the three pilots. The head honcho among the pilots is Lt. Col. Lee Brandon (Charles Bronson in a good performance), and Mary Tyler Moore makes her first feature-length film appearance as one of the Air Force wives who are in the background of their husbands' careers. Narrated by James Stewart, this drama was released just when the X-15 aircraft was breaking flight records. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David McLean, Charles Bronson, (more)
- 1959
An armored mail truck has been held up by three masked bandits, and 22 sacks of registered mail have been stolen. Though badly beaten, mail guard Bud Huston (Don Warren) is able to recall that one of the bandits was referred to as "Sid." But the clue that enables Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) to close in on the outlaws is a $20 bill that has somehow ended up in the possession of a petty thief. This episode is based on the Dragnet radio broadcast of May 15, 1952. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Daniel Mainwaring took this story right out of the headlines of the day, penning this true story of a mass murderer who was eventually executed in San Quentin's gas chamber. Released during McCarthy's witch-hunt, Mainwaring was not given credit because Howard R. Hughes, who produced it under RKO, refused to give credit to any "radicals." The story is that of two men on a fishing trip who pick up a hitchhiker. He turns out to be a sadistic psychopath who has committed multiple murders, a sociopath who hates humanity because of his own abuse as a child. He also has an affliction which terrifies these two men: an eye which is permanently open, thereby never allowing them to know if he is really asleep or just faking it--something which he does with regularity to scare them...letting them take off and then meeting up with them just as they feel they have escaped from him. A tense thriller skillfully directed by the only female director of the time, Ida Lupino, it is a suspenseful tale of terror on the highways. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmond O'Brien, Frank Lovejoy, (more)
