Tyler MacDuff Movies
- 1993
The murder of a cosmetics company tycoon leads lawyer Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) into a strange case involving a new anti-aging concoction. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1966
This futuristic sci-fi film contains a strong message against communism. It begins in the year 2087 and presents a totalitarian world ruled by Cyborgs. They are half-machine and their are incapable of free thought. Cyborg Garth has a glitch and is a rebel who swipes a time machine and travels back to 1965. There he encounters Marx, the scientist who started it all. Garth tries to prevent him from continuing his experiments. He succeeds and future humans are spared. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1965
Police sergeant Dave Wolfe (Skip Homeier) has already ordered Joe Oliver (Dale Van Sickel) to stay away from Dave's sister Susan (Chris Noel). Heading to Joe's apartment for a final showdown, Dave hears a woman's scream and breaks down the door. Several shots later, Joe lies on the floor dead, while the badly beaten Susan stands by in mute horror. In order to defend Dave on a murder charge and to find out whether or not Joe was really Susan's assailant, Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) must break through the wall of stony silence which surrounds the six people who may have witnessed the crime--but who claim to have seen and heard nothing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
Although the trial of young Theodore Balfour (Tyler MacDuff), who was accused of killing his father Lawrence (Bruce Bennett), had ended in a hung jury, Theodore's lawyer had advised him to plead to the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter. Outraged that Theodore seems to have been railroaded into prison, his grandfather Addison (Richard Hale) asks Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) to reopen the case, clear the boy, and expose the real killer. This episode is based on a 1957 novel by Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
Fury at Showdown stars John Derek as a gunfighter who hopes to hang up his guns and live the peaceful life of a cattle ranch. Settling down on his new spread with his brother Nick Adams, Derek finds that he can't live down his reputation. When his brother is murdered on the orders of land-grabbing lawyer Gage Clarke, Derek is forced to strap on his guns again. But Clarke, one step ahead of our hero, tries to save himself from prosecution by kidnapping Derek's girlfriend Carolyn Craig. As the title indicates, a showdown is inevitable, though not as predictable as one might suspect. Fury at Showdown was adapted from a novel by Lucas Todd. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Derek, John Smith, (more)
- 1957
After winning a poker game, Bret (James Garner) looks forward to claiming his prize, an "Arabian mount." But he is less than pleased when this prize turns out to be a broken-down Army camel--and an obnoxiously affectionate one at that. But soon Bret comes to appreciate his new travelling companion when the camel helps extricate our hero from a deadly dilemma involving his old friend Donna Selly (Maxine Cooper) and her crooked-gambler fiance Honest Carl Jimson (Fredd Wayne. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1956
The plot of The Burning Hills is motivated by revenge, which only a few years earlier had been on the Motion Picture Code's no-no list. Cattleman Trace Jordan (Tab Hunter) seeks retribution for the murder of his brother, killed at the behest of cattle baron Joe Sutton (Ray Teal). Before long, however, it is Jordan who is being pursued by Sutton's henchmen. Accompanying Jordan on his flight is his Anglo-Latino girlfriend Maria Colton (a miscast Natalie Wood). Clearly designed to cash in on the teenaged fan following of Tab Hunter and Natalie Wood, Burning Hills is nonetheless entertaining enough to please even nonfans of the stars. The film is based on a novel by Louis L'Amour. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tab Hunter, Natalie Wood, (more)
- 1955
Cell 2455 Death Row is based on the autobiography of condemned prisoner and "jailhouse lawyer" Caryl Chessman. William Campbell plays the Chessman counterpart, here renamed Whit. A seriously disturbed misfit, Whit begins a life of crime, culminating in sexual assault as the "Lover's Lane Bandit." Condemned to the gas chamber at San Quentin, Whit spends six years fighting his sentence, gradually winning the support and sometimes the respect of various legal experts. The film ends in 1955 (the year of its production), some five years before Caryl Chessman's ultimate execution; accordingly, the film's "open-ended" finale has been removed from many TV prints. A more thorough and incisive study of the Chessman case was offered in the made-for-TV movie Kill Me If You Can, which starred Alan Alda. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Campbell, Marian Carr, (more)
- 1954
Randolph Scott once more contributes mightily to Warner Bros.' annual box-office gross in the well-mounted western The Bounty Hunter. Filmed in 3D but released "flat", the film casts Scott as the title character, who is hired by the Pinkertons to bring in three train robbers. Riding into the town of Twin Forks, Scott quickly ascertains that the outlaws are hiding somewhere in the vicinity. He then bides his time, hoping that the crooks will tip their hands, lead him to the stolen money, and let down their guard long enough to allow for a speedy capture. Scott's leading ladies on this trip are Dolores Dorn as the daughter of the town doctor, and Marie Windsor as the postmistress with Something To Hide. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Randolph Scott, Marie Windsor, (more)
- 1954
Based on the novel by Mika Waltari and helmed by Casablanca director Michael Curtiz, The Egyptian, a lavish period soaper, is set several centuries before the birth of Jesus Christ. Young Egyptian healer Sinuhe Edmund Purdom (ere accompanied by his servant, Kaptah, played by Peter Ustinov) draws the affection of barmaid Merit (Jean Simmons) who seeks his hand in marriage. Sinuhe provides medical assistance to the epileptic Pharoah, Akhnaton (Michael Wilding), who, meanwhile, becomes convinced that only one god exists, and thus infuriates all of his polytheistic priests, who secretly plot to assassinate him. Sinuhe has an affair with a Babylonian whore, Nefer (Bella Darvi), but grows listless with her and eventually ends the relationship, harkening back to Merit. However, she is soon extinguished, with an arrow through the heart, for also being monotheistic. Angered by this, and believing Akhnaton's ideas directly responsible for Merit's death,
Sinuhe and his muscular friend, the affable Horemheb (screen heartthrob Victor Mature) poison the Pharoah. Akhnaton then dies while Horemheb prepares to ascend to the throne.
Ingmar Bergman had a point when he admonished the idea of falling for one's lead actress, and it is a lesson one wishes producer Daryl Zanuck had learned; he purportedly had an extramarital affair with Darvi, taking her as a "plaything," but grew sick of her after casting her in seven films. Her career then torpedoed. (Little wonder - her horrendous performance in this film must be seen to be believed; Variety called it "less than believable or skilled.") This $4.2 million film (a massive amount for 1954) suffered from additional production problems as well, with Marlon Brando originally slated to star, but replaced, at the very last minute, by Purdom, a contract player for 20th Century-Fox.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Purdom, Jean Simmons, (more)
- 1954
Reminiscent of Destry Rides Again, this feature is about peaceable young lawyer Tom Brewster (Will Rogers Jr.), who sets up shop in a rowdy western town. Though perfectly able to wield a six-gun, Brewster refuses to use brawn when brain will do. He is galvanized into action when his old pal Wallace Ford is murdered by the villains. Brewster cleans up the town and wins the heroine (Nancy Olsen) in the bargain. One of two Will Rogers Jr. vehicles produced at Warner Bros. (the other was the life story of Rogers' famous father), The Boy From Oklahoma served as the basis for Warners' later TV series, Sugarfoot. Watch for a supporting appearance by a young and callow Merv Griffin! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Will Rogers, Jr., Nancy Olson, (more)
