Maurice Manson Movies

All hell breaks loose in a Texas town when an escaped convict heads home in Arthur Penn's Southern gothic melodrama. Appointed by local kingpin Val Rogers (E. G. Marshall), benevolent Sheriff Calder (Marlon Brando) manages to keep the peace in Tarl, but the situation starts to fester one Saturday when news filters in that wild child Bubber Reeves (Robert Redford) has jumped prison. Bubber's impending arrival arouses hostility among Tarl's citizens, such as Edwin Stewart (Robert Duvall), who believes that Bubber will come after him to settle an old score, and Damon Puller (Richard Bradford), who, between grope sessions with Edwin's wife Emily (Janice Rule), uses Bubber as an excuse to terrorize black residents. As the atmosphere heats up, Calder wants to keep Bubber alive, and he convinces Bubber's wife Anna (Jane Fonda) and her lover, Val's son Jake (James Fox), to find Bubber and coax him into surrender. Val's fear that Bubber will kill his son, however, sparks a long confrontation that leaves rational law and order pummeled into the ground by the town's ignorant cruelty. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

Entering a bank to make a small withdrawal, Herman (Fred Gwynne) and Grandpa (Al Lewis) are mistaken for a pair of bank robbers who wear "monster" masks when pulling off their heists. As a result, the terrified teller hands over $18,000 to the hapless duo--and when Herman finally realizes that a mistake has been made, he regards it as his civic duty to return the money immediately. Unfortunately he makes this decision late night, long after the bank has closed, meaning that Herman and Grandpa are going to have to stage a break-in to prove their honesty! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Rat Pack packed it in after this sprightly musical comedy that owes more than it should to Damon Runyon's stories and Frank Loesser and Abe Burrows's classic musical Guys and Dolls. Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen's bright and snappy score features such songs as "Style", "Bang-Bang" and the Sinatra standard "My Kind of Town". Set in 1920s Chicago, the tale begins during a birthday party for head mobster Big Jim (Edward G. Robinson) who is shot to death during the celebration. Rival gangster Guy Gisbourne (Peter Falk) immediately declares himself the chief gangster. The northside gang, headed by Robbo (Frank Sinatra) is willing to grant Guy his self-declared title as long as he leaves the northside territory alone. Guy refuses and when small time hood Little John (Dean Martin) joins Robbo's crew, turf warfare breaks out between the two gangs, resulting in the destruction of both Robbo and Guy's nightclubs. Meanwhile, Big Jim's daughter Marian (Barbara Rush) offers Robbo $50,000 to find the man who killed her father. Robbo demurs and gives the money to his henchman Will (Sammy Davis Jr.) to get rid of. Will, hoping to do a good deed, hands the money over to Allen A. Dale (Bing Crosby), who runs an orphanage. Allen, finding out that the money came from Robbo, informs the newspapers of Robbo's philanthropic enterprise and Robbo immediately becomes a local celebrity, referred to as Chicago's Robin Hood. For his part, Robbo is willing to go along with the publicity. On the romantic front, although Robbo is attracted to Marian, he gives her the brush-off when he finds she is using a charitable foundation as a front for a counterfeiting ring being run by herself and Little John. Robbo tells Marian to leave town. Instead, she hooks up with Guy, proposing that he kill both Robbo and Little John. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

The only episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour directed by Hitchcock himself (though he'd previously helmed several of the anthology's half-hour installments), "I Saw the Whole Thing" draws its suspense from the reliability -- or lack of reliability -- of eyewitness testimony. Arrested on suspicions of causing a fatal car accident, mystery writer Michael Barnes (John Forsythe) insists upon acting as his own attorney. Five witnesses insist under oath that they saw Barnes run a stop sign -- and in each case, Barnes discredits their testimony by proving that the witnesses only thought they saw what they saw, based on their own experiences and personal prejudices. Things take an unexpected turn when a sixth witness offers a sixth version of the accident. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

En route to Denver, Bart (Jack Kelly) finds himself sharing a stagecoach with a curious assortment of passengers, including a woman (Suzanne Lloyd) searching for her fiancee, a taciturn gunman (Hampton Fancher) and an overly friendly undertaker (Maurice Manson). Stopping at a way station, the passengers unwittingly fall into the clutches of homicidal outlaw Nero Lyme (Buddy Ebsen) and his equally murderous family. Realizing that everyone is in danger, Bart tries to tip off one of the passengers that the Lymes intend to kill them all; unfortunately, that passenger promptly betrays Bart to Nero Lyme. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Arrested for embezzling 20,000 dollars, mild-mannered Milton Potter (Paul Hartman) immediately surrenders to the police, explaining that he is "not the running type." Sentenced to 12 years in jail, Milton is given several opportunities to shorten his sentence by revealing the whereabouts of the stolen money, but he refuses each time. And then, upon his release, Milton promptly returns every penny of the 20 grand. So what was in it for him? You'd be surprised. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a short story by John Cheever, this episode stars Gary Merrill as suburbanite Cash Bentley, who despite his business success prefers to bask in his past glory as a college hurdling champ. While at a country club dance, Cash accepts a challenge to run a race with another, much younger man. Fearing for her husband's health, Cash's wife Louise (Patricia Breslin) tries to talk him out of the challenge, but he refuses to listen -- an act of stubbornness for which he will soon pay dearly. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Myra Jensen (Barbara Baxley) loves her pets more than she does people -- and that includes her long-suffering husband, Hermie (a pre-Dragnet and pre-M*A*S*H Harry Morgan). Ultimately, Hermie plots to exact vengeance against Myra by purchasing a pet that she doesn't already have: a poisonous coral snake. What Hermie hasn't counted on is Myra's thorough knowledge of all animals -- not to mention his utter lack of that same knowledge. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hell's Five Hours begin ticking away when Nash (Vic Morrow), a disgruntled employee of a rocket-fuel manufacturing plant, goes berserk. Wielding a home-made bomb, Nash threatens to blow himself, his hostages and the plant to smithereens. Nash's supervisor Mike (Stephen McNally) takes it upon himself to talk Nash into surrendering, playing for time while all the fuel is pumped out of the plant's supply tanks and the rockets are removed from the premeses. Mike has only five hours (hence the film's title) to convince Nash to come to his senses. Hell's Five Hours makes up in tension what it lacks in production finesse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Accused of murdering her Uncle Martin (Alexander Price), Nadine Marshall (Christine White) makes a detailed confession of the crime while under drugged hypnosis. The doctor handling the case informs Perry Mason (Raymond Burr), who despite this damning evidence is convinced that Nadine is innocent. The key to the solution would seem to be Nadine's engagement to one John Locke (Sherwood Price)--which under normal circumstances would be a happy occasion, but which for reasons unknown prompted Nadine to attempt suicide! This episode is based on a 1954 novel by Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Kelly is a big, lovable, immensely talented German Shepherd. "Me" is Len Carmody (Van Johnson), a third-rate vaudevillian. Carmody's fortunes take an upswing when he teams with the personable Kelly for professional reasons. When talking pictures come in, Carmody is signed to appear in short subjects, only to discover that it's the dog the producers want, rather than him. As if this wasn't enough for Carmody to worry about, Kelly's original owner pops up out of nowhere, demanding that the dog be returned to him. As something of a balm, Carmody enjoys the romantic attentions of two lovely ladies: Mina Van Runkel (Piper Laurie), daughter of movie-studio owner Walter Van Runkel (Onslow Stevens), and cinema vamp Lucy Castle (Martha Hyer). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bret and Bart Maverick (James Garner, Jack Kelly) bid on the salvage rights to a derelict cargo ship, the Apolonia. It turns out that someone is willing to commit murder to steal those rights away--which naturally arouses the curiosity of the Mavericks. In their efforts to determine why the sunken cargo is so valuable, our heroes find themselves up against a gang of drug smugglers. This episode is adapted from The Wrecker, a novel by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide