Mara Lynn Movies

The third (and last) of author Norman Mailer's experiments in cinéma vérité filmmaking created between 1968 and 1970, Maidstone stars Mailer as Norman T. Kingsley, a celebrated filmmaker who is often described as "the American Buñuel." Kingsley and a large retinue of friends, actors, and colleagues have descended on his estate in Upstate New York to work on his latest project, a sexually provocative drama. At the same time, Kingsley is planning to launch a campaign for president, and he's visited by a large number of guests eager to discuss his political perspectives, including journalists, academics, and a handful of African-American radicals. Also on hand is Kingsley's ever-present posse of hangers-on nicknamed "the cash box," led by his half-brother Raoul (Rip Torn). As a British television reporter records the proceedings for an upcoming profile, a shadowy group of American intelligence agents questions if the nation might be better off without the possibility of a Kingsley candidacy. In the film's final reels, Mailer and his cast and crew drop their collective improvisation and discuss their work so far before the camera, but Torn takes it upon himself to give the film the ending he feels it needs by attacking Mailer with a hammer. Fascinating if only for its remarkable portrait of Mailer's legendary ego in full flight, Maidstone would be the writer's last stab at filmmaking until he was hired to direct a film adaptation of his novel Tough Guys Don't Dance in 1987. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Though it was made in 1964, this romantic farce was not released until 1971. It stars an aging Ginger Rogers as a prosperous madam who teams up with the crooked town mayor (Ray Milland) and tries to trick one of her "girls" into revealing the location of a famous hidden treasure. The prostitute the two pick on (Barbara Eden) is pregnant and they try to convince her that she has witnessed a miracle. Unfortunately for the schemers, their scheme backfires. During production, the film underwent many changes and was shelved due to a dispute over editing. When it was finally released it bombed and is now considered most notable for containing the screen debut of actor Elliot Gould, who plays a deaf mute. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Just outside the small town of Pauley, a Native American woman is attacked by two riders on horseback, raped, and killed. Her husband, Matt Morgan (Kirk Douglas), the town marshal, has only two clues to their identity, a fancy saddle with the initials "C.B." that one of the men left behind, and the fact that his wife cut one of the two men deep across the cheek with a buggy whip. Morgan traces the saddle to Craig Belden (Anthony Quinn), an old friend and now a wealthy rancher in the town of Gun Hill, but he knows Belden well enough to know that he couldn't have had anything to do with attacking his wife. Morgan's arrival with Belden's saddle sets off ugly rumblings in Gun Hill, and when he confronts the rancher, he discovers that it was his son Rick (Earl Holliman) who had his horse and the saddle, and rode out with a cowhand friend of his, Lee (Brian G. Hutton) -- but they claim their horses were stolen. Belden tries to convince Morgan, and wants to believe himself that whoever stole the horses must have killed his wife, but when Morgan mentions the cut that one of the killers will have on his face, they both know the truth. He vows to take Rick and Lee back to Pauley to stand trial, while Belden swears he'll do anything it takes to protect his son. Belden is virtually all the law there is in Gun Hill -- the sheriff (Walter Sande) won't help Morgan serve his arrest warrants on the two men, or even let him use the jail to hold them until the last train that night; there's not a working man, a shopkeeper, or even a prostitute in the whole town that will go against the rancher, and Belden's foreman Beero (Brad Dexter) and his men will strongarm anyone who might start feeling brave. Only Linda (Carolyn Jones), a woman who has been both romanced and abused by Belden, will lift a finger on Morgan's behalf. The marshal is nothing if not resourceful, however, and Rick Belden is also too stupid for his own good, and manages to fall into Morgan's hands in short order. Very quickly, a standoff ensues, with Morgan holding Rick in one of Belden's buildings against virtually the entire town, while the deadline -- the last train out of Gun Hill that night -- approaches. People die and a chunk of Belden's holdings are destroyed, but Morgan is about to get Rick onto the train and off to trial when suddenly, one sudden act of violence destroys father and son in a matter of seconds. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

In this wartime espionage comedy, a mentally-ill soldier looks exactly like the notorious enemy spy who has been trying to steal the plans for a highly classified new plane. Mayhem ensues when the bungling GI is assigned to capture this spy. Somehow he manages to succeed. The film is also titled Blown Skyhigh. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Partially filmed at Whittier, CA, and at Hollywood's General Service Studio, this low-budget exploitation melodrama features Laurette Luez as Tigri, the head of a tribe of Amazonian women charged by an elder (Janette Scott) to find and capture husbands by the next full moon. Tigri finds and captures Engor (Allan Nixon), but a rival, Arva (Mara Lynn), also claims the handsome cave-dwelling tribesman. Tigri, however, manages to hold on to her man, but Engor gets the upper hand after accidentally discovering how to make fire by striking two stones together. The women are soon turned into slaves, but this little idyll is rudely disrupted by the arrival of Guaddi, an eight-foot giant who threatens to destroy them all. The giant is eventually slain by the men and Tigri, who has fallen in love, persuades Engor to return with her to the women's camp where the elder marries them. Sold on the independent exploitation circuit, Prehistoric Women reportedly made a mint for its producer, Albert J. Cohen. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide