Jackie Loughery Movies

Who better than Zsa Zsa Gabor to guest star on F Troop as Marika, the leader of a tribe of glamorous Hungarian Gypsies? Sizing up the situation at Fort Courage, the enterprising Marika picks Corporal Agarn (Larry Storch) as a likely source of easy money. Before long, she has convinced the gullible Agarn that he is actually a member of her tribe--forcing O'Rourke (Forrest Tucker) to mount a counteroffensive to keep his own illegal business ventures afloat. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

California politics is the clinically dissected yet informative and interesting topic of this feature-length drama by co-directors Bernard Girard and Robert Lewis. Relegating any character development to secondary status, the two directors have opted for a mode more in keeping with a television educational drama (TV is their principle medium) than the dynamic, personal interactions of the larger screen. At issue is the mud-slinging involved in a campaign to stop legislation regulating the practices of collection agencies. A few California lawmen lead the legislation and are determined to succeed in spite of their underhanded detractors. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

In this drama, a Korean war vet becomes a pilot who must take care of his late war buddy's little sister and brother. The sister is upset when her brother begins hanging around with a bad biker gang. The vet manages to turn the kid around by convincing him that he would have more fun flying an observation plane for a uranium prospector. Meanwhile the vet and the little sister fall in love. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this teenage exploitation drama, a young woman secretly marries. The trouble begins after her husband is killed while drag racing. She bears his child, but she cannot prove that she was married. Caring nothing for the child, she spends her time hitting on a jazz trumpeter who takes her to Las Vegas. Soon she figures out that he is not interested in marriage. She takes off and marries a DJ. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

A ruthless crime lord saves his sister from social embarrassment by working diligently to get the gangster who fathered her unborn baby off death row and out of prison so he can do the decent thing and marry the girl. The freed gangster is not thrilled with his new bride, but stays loyal until the woman miscarries. He then returns to crime and begins messing with other women, something that outrages his wife's nefarious brother and leads him to frame the cocky youth and get him sent back to prison and certain death. Just before he is to die, the youth tells his story to a sympathetic reporter, who decides to go after the real troublemaker. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

It's a toss-up as to who looks better unclothed in Universal's Veils of Bagdad: Hero Victor Mature or heroine Mari Blanchard. Mature plays a Robin-Hood type named Antar, who travels with a troupe of jugglers and wrestlers, all of whom double as thieves, pickpockets and second-story men. When the evil Pasha of Bagdad (Leon Askin) conspires with the equally evil Vizier (Guy Rolfe) to steal tax money to finance a private war, Antar and his gang swings into action. Blanchard plays Selima, the toothsome daughter of a murdered tribal chieftain who works as a cabaret dancer while searching for her dad's murderer. TV fans are advised to keep an eye out for future Baretta star Robert Blake, who shows up in a bit as a youthful beggar. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

They don't really go to Mars, they go to Venus, but first they go to New Orleans. While working at a missile base, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello inadvertently launch a rocket ship with themselves aboard. After a wild ride around New York City (the Statue of Liberty ducks when the rocket heads her way), Bud and Lou land in the outskirts of New Orleans. The boys are convinced that they've reached Mars, and their faith in this supposition is affirmed when they come across several strangely costumed "creatures" (actually revellers at the Mardi Gras). Meanwhile, bank robbers Jack Kruschen and Horace McMahon stow away on A&C's rocketship. When Bud and Lou return, the crooks force them to make a quick getaway into outer space. After several days of weightlessness, the four space travellers land on Venus, a planet populated by the gorgeous winners of the Miss Universe contest (including Anita Ekberg). Venusian queen Mari Blanchard falls in love with Costello, only to order him and his companions to return to earth when Lou proves to be unfaithful. Reportedly, this bizarre melange of sci-fi and slapstick was based on a story by Charles Beaumont, who received no screen credit (it's worth noting that Beaumont's later Queen of Outer Space boasts a remarkably similar plotline). Long considered the team's worst film, Abbott and Costello Go to Mars ("and about time!" quipped the New York Times' TV-movie reviewer) is rather likeable in its own incoherent way. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi