Harry Stanton Movies
- 1971
- PG
Though it bears more than passing resemblance to his macabre hits Hush ... Hush, Sweet Charlotte and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, this lesser-known outing from screenwriter Henry Farrell takes a more satirical turn, skewering the eccentricities of the Hollywood studio system. The story opens during the advent of talking pictures, where a school for would-be child stars is opened by voice coach Helen Hill (Shelley Winters) and dance instructor Adelle Bruckner (Debbie Reynolds). Haunted by a dark secret -- each of the women's sons was convicted of murder -- Hill and Bruckner are pursued by a cloaked interloper whose incessant snooping leads to a fatal altercation. Suspicion builds between the two until the expected climax, where it is revealed that one of the two women is even more lethal than her homicidal son. Though the film's absurdist tone is a harsh about-face from the deadly deadpan camp of Farrell's Gothic 1960s thrillers, the period flavor is a nice touch, and accomplished director Curtis Harrington frequently achieves the right balance of horror and humor. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Debbie Reynolds, Shelley Winters, (more)
- 1969
In the conclusion of a two-part story arc, Mr. Haney (Pat Buttram) watches the Douglas farm in Hooterville while Oliver (Eddie Albert), Lisa (Eva Gabor), Kimball (Alvy Moore), and Arnold the pig are in Washington. Seeking a quick financial turnover, Haney decides to temporarily transform the farm into a hotel. The result: while the Douglases are commiserating with the Secretary of Agriculture, their farm is being reduced to a shambles by the eight-member Holcombe family! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Guy Raymond, Fran Ryan, (more)
- 1969
Orrin Pike (Jonathan Daly) hopes to prove himself a worthy game warden by nabbing a pair of livestock poachers. Unfortunately the two crooks turn out to be a couple of nasty motorcycle bums--and poor Orrin isn't a fighter, he's a poet. One of the villains is played by a young Harry Dean Stanton, here billed as Dean Stanton so as not to be confused with actor Harry Stanton, who is cast as the sheriff (Clear as mud??) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1966
Oliver (Eddie Albert) is invited to give the keynote speech at a meeting of the Harvard Alumni Legal Society. As he clears his throat and begins to address the gathered throng, Oliver must first explain why he and wife Lisa (Eva Gabor) have arrived at this august occasion in the company of Arnold the Pig. To start with, they had no idea that Arnold had come along for the ride...and to reveal any more of this hilarious episode would be piggish of us. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1965
During a magazine interview, Rob (Dick Van Dyke) recalls his first job interview with Alan Brady (Carl Reiner) -- which, quite frankly, he can barely remember at all. It seems that, just before the all-important interview, Rob, then a radio DJ, had participated in a stunt wherein he was obliged to broadcast nonstop for 100 hours. Naturally, this required him to go without sleep -- and by the time he presented himself to Alan Brady, Rob was, to put it mildly, a gibbering shell of his former self! This episode was originally slated to air on April 7, 1965. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carl Reiner, Fred Clark, (more)
- 1964
Reba Burgess (Audrey Totter) has managed to keep her late husband's mining company alive by securing big bank loans, using a shoebox full of uncut diamonds as collateral. All this may come to an end when Carl Bascom (Jeff Corey) appears out of nowhere, claiming to have a written agreement that gives him half of the mine. Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) enters the scene when Bascom is killed with a weapon owned by Reba. This episode is topheavy with familiar character actors in the supporting cast, including Elisha Cook Jr. (The Maltese Falcon), Bruce Bennett (Treasure of the Sierra Madre), Ben Johnson (The Last Picture Show) and Roy Barcroft (who showed up in virtually every Republic serial and western ever made!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1964
Dr. Gregory Pelham (Peter Hobbs) specializes in discreetly treating high-profile alcoholics. This business reaps quite a profit, so much so that someone decides to cash in on it by kidnapping Pelham's son David (Tom Lowell) and holding him for ransom. As it turns out, the kidnapping is a hoax--but the murder of Joe Velvet (Ron Kennedy), for which Dr. Pelham is charged, is all too real. If ever there was a case for Perry Mason (Raymond Burr), this is it! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Director Alfred Hitchcock lets us know from the outset that The Wrong Man is a painfully true story and not one of his customary fabricated suspense yarns, through the simple expedient of walking before the camera and telling us as much (this introductory appearance replaced his planned cameo role as a nightclub patron). The real-life protagonist, musican Christopher Emmanuel Balestrero, is played by Henry Fonda. Happily married and gainfully employed at the Stork Club, Balestrero's life takes a disastrous turn when he goes to an insurance office, hoping to borrow on his wife's (Vera Miles) life insurance policy in order to pay her dental bills. One of the girls in the office spots Balestrero, identifying him as the man who robbed the office a day or so earlier. This, and a few scattered bits of circumstantial evidence, lead to Balestrero's arrest. Though he's absolutely innocent, he can offer no proof of his whereabouts the day of the crime. Lawyer Frank O'Connor (Anthony Quayle) does his best to help his client, but he's up against an indifferent judicial system that isn't set up to benefit the "little man". Meanwhile, Balestrero's wife becomes emotionally unhinged, leading to a complete nervous breakdown. As Balestrero prays in his cell, his image is juxtaposed onto the face of the actual criminal-who looks nothing like the accused man! Utilizing one of his favorite themes-the helplessness of the innocent individual when confronted by the faceless bureaucracy of the Law-Hitchcock weaves a nightmarish tale, all the more frightening because it really happened (the film's best moment: Fonda looking around the nearly empty courtroom during his arraignment, realizing that the rest of the world cares precisely nothing about his inner torment). Hitch enhances the film's versimilitude by shooting in the actual locations where the real story occured. His only concession to Hollywood formula was the half-hearted coda, assuring us that Mrs. Balestrero eventually recovered from her mental collapse (she sure doesn't look any too healthy the last time we see her!) Watch for uncredited appearances by Harry Dean Stanton, Bonnie Franklin, Tuesday Weld and Charles Aidman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry Fonda, Vera Miles, (more)
- 1954
Before Indiana Jones there was Harry Steele (Charlton Heston), an idealistic archaeologist determined to return an ancient Incan mask to the society from which it came. A greedy con-artist (Robert Young) has other ideas, though, and the two men race to fund an expedition to find the treasure, which has reportedly been buried by Spanish conquistadores somewhere in Machu Picchu. The con-artist (Young) seduces a beautiful tourist in order to reach his goal, leaving Steele (Heston) to locate the site through more honorable means. Twenty-seven years before directors George Lucas and Steven Spielburg collaborated to create Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jerry Hopper directed Secret of the Incas. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlton Heston, Robert Young, (more)
- 1952
Stanley Kramer's production unit at Columbia Pictures was known for its willingness to tackle subject matter that was not necessarily "box office" (much to the dismay, of course, of Columbia head man Harry Cohn!) Adapted by Michael Blankfort from the autobiography by Donald Powell Wilson, My Six Convicts is the true story of a prison psychologist and his efforts to "reach" his incarcerated patients. John Beal plays the Donald Powell Wilson counterpart, herein known simply as Doc. Convinced that psychological rehabilitation is, indeed, an option, Doc overcomes a great deal of opposition -- from both prison officials and prisoners -- to test out his theories. Once he's won the confidence of hardened safecracker James Connie (Millard Mitchell), Doc is able to bring five more convicts into his circle: murderous mobster Punch Pinero (Gilbert Roland); alcoholic, self-sacrificing Blivens Scott (Marshall Thompson); holdup man Clem Randall (Alf Kjellin); psychopathic killer Dawson (Harry Morgan -- yes, that Harry Morgan); and embezzler Steve Kopac (Jay Adler). These six cons learn to make their life behind bars not only tolerable but productive, and in so doing pass on their new outlook on life to their fellow inmates. Despite the seriousness of the subject matter, My Six Convicts is essentially a comedy, with the all-male cast working together in seamless perfection. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Millard Mitchell, Gilbert Roland, (more)
First published in 1932, Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer's speculative novel When Worlds Collide was immediately purchased by Paramount as a possible project for director Cecil B. DeMille. But because none of Paramount's scriptwriters were able to come up with an adequate screen treatment, the property lay on the shelf until 1950, when producer George Pal was casting about for a follow-up to his successful sci-fier Destination Moon. Though the film was top-heavy with special effects, Pal was able to bring When Worlds Collide in for under a million dollars, thanks to an inexpensive cast and a heavy reliance upon stock footage. The story is set in motion when Dr. Cole Henderson (Larry Keating) announces that a extraterrestrial planet is on a collision course with the Earth. No one believes Henderson's story, save for crippled financier Stanton (John Hoyt), who finances the construction of a gigantic spaceship, built for the purpose of transporting selected survivors from the doomed Earth to another Earthlike planet. As it becomes obvious that Henderson's predictions will come true, a worldwide lottery is held to select those people who will be rescued from oblivion by Stanton's spaceship. In the climactic scenes, the worlds do indeed collide, with appropriately spectacular results. But will the spaceship, overloaded with humanity, be able to take off and seek out a Brave New World? Amidst the thrills, a romantic triangle emerges, involving Richard Derr, Barbara Rush and Peter Hanson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Derr, Barbara Rush, (more)
Produced and distributed by legendary road-show entrepreneur Kroger Babb, One Too Many details the tragedy of alcoholism. Ruth Warrick stars as concert pianist Helen Mason, who destroys her life and career through drinking. Helen is finally saved from herself when she joins Alcoholics Anonymous. When originally released to theaters, One Too Many was screened in tandem with a live appearance by an ostensible expert on alcoholism, who delivered a cautionary lecture, then distributed pamphlets. Most Kroger Babb productions were shoddily put together: One Too Many is an exception, boasting a talented cast, competent direction (Erle C. Kenton) and reasonably attractive production values. As a bonus, the film features several guest stars, ranging from dancer Louis da Pron to Hollywood makeup artist Ern Westmore. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ruth Warrick, Richard Travis, (more)
