Scott Peters Movies

After his head is surgically removed and sustained, Hitler is, essentially, still alive and living on an island in the Caribbean. When a young woman and her husband goes in search of her scientist-father and sister, they find a group of Nazis--still under the command of Der Fuhrer--who plan to resume their atrocities upon humanity in a scheme of world domination. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

Science goes too far as one of the greatest villains of the 20th century makes a last stand in South America in this crackpot thriller. After government scientists develop a new and virulent variety of nerve gas, Professor John Coleman (John Holland) sets out to create an antidote until he mysteriously disappears. Coleman's daughter Kathy (Audrey Caire) and her husband, Phil Day (Walter Stocker), who works in U.S. intelligence, begin to suspect foul play; they're approached by a man named Teo (Carlos Rivas) who is trying to tell them about the professor and a strange place called Mandoras when he's suddenly shot to death. With no other clues to follow, Kathy and Phil travel to the tiny Latin American nation of Mandoras, where Kathy happens to meet her hepcat sister, Suzanne (Dani Lynn), at a nightclub. Suzanne tells Kathy and Phil that she and the professor had been kidnapped, and when they're introduced to Teo's brother Camino (also played by Rivas), they learn of a bizarre plot. According to Camino, scientists in a secret lab on Mandoras have kept the disembodied head of Adolf Hitler (Bill Freed) alive in a jar, and under the orders of "Mr. H" they're engaged in a deadly scheme to take over the world and resurrect the Third Reich. The film Madmen of Mandoras received a brief theatrical release in 1963; later, when it was sold to television, the movie (running a brief 74 minutes) was padded with additional sequences, reported shot by a group of film students, that feature a completely different cast and don't at all resemble the shadowy visual style of the original movie. The strange variant television cut of the film gained a cult following under its title, They Saved Hitler's Brain. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Ray Milland both starred in and directed the morose, minimalist sci-fier Panic in the Year Zero! (original title: Panic in Year Zero!). En route from Los Angeles to a vacation in the mountains, Harry Baldwin (Milland), his wife, Ann (Jean Hagen), and his teen-aged children, Rick (Frankie Avalon) and Karen (Mary Mitchell), are appalled to see a mushroom cloud forming over the L.A. skyline. With the highways clogged by panicking motorists, Milland and his family decide to head to the shelter of their fishing spot, there to wait until more news about the nuclear disaster is available. Everywhere they drive, however, the family is confronted by rampaging looters, heavily armed survivalists, and doped-up motorcycle punks. Attempting to remain calm and collected in the face of Armageddon, Milland ends up as violent and animalistic as everyone else. Though it avoids proselytizing for the most part, Panic in the Year Zero! does fall back on the old reliable "The Beginning" fadeout title. The most powerful aspect of the film is the "normalcy" of Milland's family: we are made to feel throughout that what happens to them could very well happen to us, and how then would we react? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A series of launches at the US government's new Cape Canaveral base go awry, and the head of the missile program, Dr. Von Hoften (Billy Greene), is at a loss to explain the failures. Meanwhile, the military commander, General Hollister (Chuck Howard), has nothing but a few vague clues of something amiss. But then a sentry puts a whole clip of bullets into a fleeing figure, who also leaves behind his arm while escaping the soldier's guard dogs -- all of it adds up to . . . what? A young scientist, Tom Wright (Scott Peters) and his girlfriend Sally Markham (Linda Connell) -- the niece of the program head -- follow a mysterious radio transmission and find their way to a newly carved out cave where a pair of alien scientists, Hauron (Jason Johnson and Nadja (Katherine Victor), have hidden their laboratory, all as part of a plan to delay Earth's rocket research and pave the way for an invasion. Tom tries to give warning to the authorities, but can he persuade them of the danger in time to save the world? ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

If Warner Bros.' pageantlike The FBI Story resembles an episode of Jack Webb's Dragnet at times, it's probably because the screenplay was by veteran Dragnet scrivener Richard L. Breen. The film meticulously details the history of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, from its formation in 1924 to the present day (1959, that is). The story is told through the eyes of FBI agent Chip Hardesty (James Stewart), who narrates the film. We see the FBI tackling such villains as the Ku Klux Klan, the mob, the Nazis and the communists. Subplots include the struggle by the federal agents to be given permission to carry firearms, a plight driven home when Hardesty's best friend (Murray Hamilton) is killed by gun-toting Baby Face Nelson (William Phipps). Offsetting moments like these are scenes of Hardesty's home life with his wife Lucy (Vera Miles), who at first opposed her husband's joining the bureau but who later becomesJ. Edgar Hoover's biggest fan. Excessively sentimental at times (it seems that the Hardesty family can never hold a party without receiving a terse telegram announcing yet another personal tragedy) and saddled with a rambling, stop-and-start continuity, the overall success of The FBI Story hinges upon its individual episodes, including a wowser of a pre-credits sequence involving matricidal mad bomber John Graham (Nick Adams). Since the film was made at a time when the FBI was considered to be of spotless reputation, don't expect to see any scenes of the bureau wiretapping civil rights leaders--or, for that matter, J. Edgar Hoover prancing around in drag. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

American-International's Suicide Battalion was filmed virtually simultaneously with the studio's Jet Attack; both films were originally released on a double bill. Michael Connors plays Lt. Matt McCormick, who leads the eponymous battalion on a suicide mission in the Philippines during WW II. Their objective: to destroy valuable American documents, left behind when the area was evacuated just before the Japanese takeover. Before long, only two of the volunteers are left alive to complete the mission -- and they're none too fond of each other. Hawaiian entertainer Hilo Hattie unexpectedly shows up as the proprietress of a native saloon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Drugs are the focus of the exploitation film set in the Los Angeles harbor. The plot centers around a villain's evil scheme to raid a ship and abscond with surplus war drugs. To help him get backers for the heist, he begins showing criminals a slide show depicting his scheme. A young woman accompanies one of the leader's gang members as he takes the slide show to various gangsters. The woman falls in love with an ambulance driver and gets him involved in the scheme. During the actual caper, the mastermind is killed, the drugs are safe, and the driver and the woman walk away from the whole thing unscathed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The title tells practically all in the American-International exploitationer Motorcycle Gang. The film's main conflict arises from the rivalry between "good" cyclist Randy (Steve Tyrrell) and his "bad" counterpart Nick (John Ashley). Recently released from a jail term, Nick forces Randy (who received probation for the hit-and-run accident which landed Nick in the slammer) into a clandestine race. Despite the fact that he's a "clean" cycle-hog who likes to keep on the right side of the law, Randy agrees to the race, with near-disastrous results. One of the featured cycle punks is played by Carl Switzer, who despite his raffish appearance still closely resembles the "Alfalfa" character he'd essayed in the Our Gang comedies. Motorcycle Gang was released on a double bill with Sorority Girl. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This unusual western drama stars Ben Cooper as Jeff Blaine ,a twelve-year-old boy growing up sans a mother or a father in the small town of Plainsville. Jeff's mom died during his infancy, and his dad Nate (Dane Clark) left not long after and became an outlaw. With both of the parents absent, Jeff's aunt, Ruth Sewall (Ellen Drew) decided to step in and raise the young boy. As the tale opens, Nate turns up at Ruth's home and reveals his recent involvement in a gunfight. Because the law is on his tail, his time is rapidly running out. Though Nate hopes to make amends with his son, Jeff stringently rejects him, and Ruth backs up the boy's sentiments by politely asking Nate to leave, then returning the meager amount of support money that Nate sent to Jeff. In time, father and son do begin to make amends, but several obstacles threaten to stand in the way of a peaceful long-term relationship between them, including the violence of Nate's past, and the hostility of Ruth, who soon demonstrates that she's willing to do almost anything to make sure that the outlaw father doesn't take permanent custody of his son. ~ All Movie Guide