Philo McCullough Movies

A total of nine Academy Award nominations went to this wildly acclaimed, allegorical drama set amongst the contestants in a marathon dance contest during the Great Depression. Gig Young stars as Rocky, the obnoxious emcee for a dance marathon that offers prize money of $1,500, a small fortune during hard economic times that brings out the worst in several participants. Among them are Gloria Beatty (Jane Fonda), a malcontent who's partnered with a drifter, Robert Syverton (Michael Sarrazin); a pregnant farm girl (Bonnie Bedelia) and her husband (Bruce Dern); a sailor (Red Buttons); and an aspiring actress (Susannah York). As the marathon winds into a staggering second month, suspicion, doubt and insecurity rages among the competitors and even the decaying and increasingly manipulative Rocky, leading to a shocking crime. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

John Ford's last western film, Cheyenne Autumn was allegedly produced to compensate for the hundreds of Native Americans who had bitten the dust in Ford's earlier films (that was the director's story, anyway). Set in 1887, the film recounts the defiant migration of 300 Cheyennes from their reservation in Oklahoma territory to their original home in Wyoming. They have done this at the behest of chiefs Little Wolf (Ricardo Montalban) and Dull Knife (Gilbert Roland), peaceful souls who have been driven to desperate measures because the US government has ignored their pleas for food and shelter. Since the Cheyennes' trek is in defiance of their treaty, Captain Thomas Archer (Richard Widmark), who agrees with the Indians in principle, reluctantly leads his troops in pursuit of the tribe. While there was never any intention to shed blood, the white press finds it politically expedient to distort the Cheyennes' action into a declaration of war. Thanks to the cruelties of such chauvinistic whites as Captain Oscar Wessels (Karl Malden), the Cheyennes are forced to defend themselves--and whenever Indians take arms against whites in the 1880s, it's usually misrepresented as a massacre. Only the intervention of US secretary of the interior Carl Schurz (Edward G. Robinson) prevents the hostilities from erupting into wholesale bloodshed. Based on a novel by Mari Sandoz, Cheyenne Autumn is a cinematic elegy--not only for the beleaguered Cheyennes, but for John Ford's fifty years in pictures. It is weakest when arbitrarily throwing in a wearisome romance between Richard Widmark and pacifistic schoolmarm Carroll Baker, who out of sympathy for the Indians has joined them in their 1500-mile westward journey. When the Warner Bros. people decided that the film ran too long, they chopped out the wholly unnecessary but very funny episode involving a poker-obsessed Wyatt Earp (James Stewart). Contrary to popular belief, this episode was included in the earliest non-roadshow prints of Cheyenne Autumn; the scene was excised only when the film went into its second and third runs in 1966 (it has since been restored). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Rory Calhoun stars as veteran gunfighter Brett Wade in Dawn at Socorro. In a lengthy flashback, the audience learns why Wade has hung up his guns and turned to gambling. Upon meeting dance-hall girl Rannah Hayes (Piper Laurie), he vows to take her out of the shady saloon run by Dick Braden (David Brian). He engages Braden in a card game, winner take all, with Rannah as the stakes--only to lose everything. Sorely tempted to strap on his guns again to claim Rannah, Wade is saved from this fateful decision by the timely arrival of another notorious fast gun, Jimmy Rapp (Alex Nicol). Less of a traditional western than a character study, Dawn at Socorro received better-than-usual reviews when it first came out in July of 1954. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

No relation to the TV and radio series of the same name, Universal-International's Gunsmoke is a Technicolor vehicle for action star (and war hero) Audie Murphy. Murphy plays a wandering hired gun who is commissioned to kill a rancher (Paul Kelly). The film's conflict arises when the gunslinger befriends his would-be victim and comes to reject the attitudes of those who hired him. The fact that the gunman has fallen in love with the rancher's daughter (Susan Cabot) may have something to do with his change of heart. Audie Murphy mends his ways by the time Gunsmoke comes to a close, as if there was any doubt. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Another of the collaborations between actor James Stewart and director Anthony Mann, Bend of the River casts Stewart as a former outlaw, now working as trail guide for a group of Oregon-bound farmers. He is aided in this endeavor by Arthur Kennedy, a far-from-reformed horse thief. Upon arriving in Portland, Stewart gets in the middle of a scam operated by trader Howard Petrie, who has reneged on his promise to ship goods to the settlers. Unable to take action through legal channels, Stewart and farmer Jay C. Flippen steal the provision and scurry back to the settlement by boat. On their return, they discover that Kennedy has sold out to the crooked Petrie and intends to reclaim the supplies, taking Flippen and his daughter Julie Adams as hostages to ensure safe passage. It's up to Stewart to turn the tables on his former friend and save the day. As in the other Stewart-Mann productions, Jimmy breaks away from his usual easygoing screen persona to play a tough, self-serving rugged individual, whose true motives and loyalties remain in doubt until the very end of the film. Bend of the River was adapted by Borden Chase from Bill Gulick's novel Bend of the Snake. Watch for Stepin Fetchit, Rock Hudson, Royal Dano, and Frances Bavier in minor roles. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Randolph Scott stars as a former Confederate Army officer known only as "Sugarfoot." Hoping to start life anew in Arizona, Sugarfoot manages to incur the wrath of territorial bigwigs Jacob Stint (Raymond Massey) and Asa Goodhue (Hugh Sanders), who've carried a grudge against him since the Civil War. Fortunately he also gets on the good side of saloon-hall singer Reva Cairn (Adele Jergens), which if nothing else affords him comfort during the plot's darker moments. Somewhere along the way, Sugarfoot loses Reva's affections, and nearly loses his life to Stint and Goodhue's hired guns. The aggressively mittel-European S.Z. Sakall is featured in the cast as a local merchant named Don Miguel. Based on a novel by Clarence Buddington Kelland, Sugarfoot was renamed Swirl of Glory when released to television, to avoid confusion with the TV series Sugarfoot--which, in turn, was based on the 1954 feature Boy From Oklahoma. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Forget what you've been led to believe: Bedtime for Bonzo is a most enjoyable film, and Ronald Reagan is not outacted by the chimpanzee. Reagan is cast as psychology professor whose reputation is sullied by the fact that his father was a convict. To prove that environment rather than heredity dictates a man's personality, Reagan uses Bonzo the chimp to test out his theories. The hairy little guy seems to be responding to the kindnesses lavished upon him--and then he is accused of robbery. Reagan nearly goes to jail in Bonzo's stead, but everything turns out all right in the end (we're not giving anything away; after all, everybody knows that there was a Bonzo Goes to College in 1952). While it's an uphill climb, Ronald Reagan and his able costars Diana Lynn and Walter Slezak manage to keep Bonzo from running away with the picture. And yes, director Fred DeCordova is the same guy who produced Johnny Carson's late-night show in the 1980s and 1990s. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Unlike his earlier Warner Bros. westerns, Errol Flynn's Montana was strictly a programmer, inexpensively produced and modestly promoted. Flynn plays Morgan Lane, an Australian sheepherder who arrives in the middle of Montana's cattle country. He faces opposition from wealthy cattle rancher Maria Singleton (Alexis Smith), not to mention several bigger, tougher galoots. It takes a few fistfights and gun battles to settle the sheepherders vs. cattlemen imbroglio peacefully. While the action highlights are so-so, Montana scores best during the scenes between stars Errol Flynn and Alexis Smith; they were good friends in real life, so much so that Flynn served as best man at Smith's wedding to actor Craig Stevens. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Stampede is a choice example of the Lesley Selander B-plus westerns of the late 1940s/early 1950s. Rod Cameron and Don Castle star as feuding brothers who own separate cattle ranches. The siblings find themselves on opposite sides of a water-rights battle, in which settlers are being deprived water by a gang of clever criminals. The war turns ugly before the film is over, resulting in the destructive stampede promised by the title. Despite poor reviews from big-city critics, this stacks up favorably against the more costly big-studio westerns of the era. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Samson and Delilah is Cecil B. DeMille's characteristically expansive retelling of the events found in the Old Testament passages of Judges 13-16. Victor Mature plays Samson, the superstrong young Danite. Samson aspires to marry Philistine noblewoman Semadar (Angela Lansbury), but she is killed when her people attack Samson as a blood enemy. Seeking revenge, Semadar's younger sister Delilah (Hedy Lamarr) woos Samson in hopes of discovering the secret of his strength, thus enabling her to destroy him. When she learns that his source of his virility is his long hair, Delilah plies Samson with drink, then does gives him the Old Testament equivalent of a buzzcut while he snores away. She delivers the helpless Samson to the Philistines, ordering that he be put to work as a slave. Blinded and humiliated by his enemies, Samson is a sorry shell of his former self. Ultimately, Samson's hair grows back, thus setting the stage for the rousing climax wherein Samson literally brings down the house upon the wayward Philistines. Hedy Lamarr is pretty hopeless as Delilah, but Victor Mature is surprisingly good as Samson, even when mouthing such idiotic lines as "That's all right. It's only a young lion". Even better is George Sanders as The Saran of Gaza, who wisely opts to underplay his florid villainy. The spectacular climax to Samson and Delilah allows us to forget such dubious highlights as Samson's struggle with a distressing phony lion and the tedious cat-and-mouse romantic scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Despite the film's title, socialite Linda Vickers (Virginia Mayo) isn't smart enough to steer clear of the gambling den operated by gangster Marty Fain (Bruce Bennett). Forced to join Fain's operation, Linda gets mixed up with duplicity and murder-not to mention a torrid romance with the gangster chief. Interestingly enough, Fain is the more sympathetic of the two leading characters. He seems like a basically nice guy stuck with not-so-nice associates, while Linda comes off as surfacey and selfish. In the end, however, it must be proven to the satisfaction of the censors that crime doesn't pay, especially when the life of Linda's brother "Doc" (Robert Hutton) is at stake. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this slick melodrama, a sort of film-noir for women, a nightclub singer has an affair with an unhappily married San Francisco doctor. Though the physician desperately wants to leave his wife, he lacks the courage to ask for a divorce. In retaliation, the singer accepts an offer to move East and start up a new club in New York. Lost without the singer, the doctor is without option until his partner suddenly dies. With a burst of inspiration, he fakes his own death and flees to New York. Later, he is horrified to learn that his death has been officially declared a homicide, and so he goes into hiding in the singer's apartment. To cope with his fear and the increasing success of his lover, the physician begins drinking heavily. This only makes him paranoid and more depressed and he begins to suspect his lover is having an affair. Upon confronting the "lover," a fight ensues, the doctor wins, and thinking he killed his rival, he takes off -- only to end up in a horrible traffic accident that leaves his face unrecognizable. Though plastic surgery gives him a new identity, it is at that time that he is arrested and sent back to California to stand trial for his own murder. Rather than burden his family with the shock that he is still alive, the doctor insists that his lover keep mum, and he stoically goes to trial where he is sentenced to Death Row. Beautifully photographed by James Wong Howe in typically expressionistic style, the film focuses on the desperation and entrapment of the characters and expresses a true bleak, fatalistic film-noir sensibility which makes this film unique in the genre. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The 1931 George Arliss vehicle The Millionaire was updated and retailored in 1947 as That Way With Women. Sidney Greenstreet plays the old Arliss role as automobile tycoon James P. Alden, forced into involuntary retirement by his well-meaning wife Minerva (Barbara Brown) and family doctor Harvey (Howard Freeman). Anxious to get his hands grimy with good honest work once more, Alden assumes the identity of family gardener Herman Brinker and takes a grease-jockey job at the corner gas station run by pugnacious Greg Wilson (Dane Clark). It so happens that Wilson, unaware of Alden's true identity, has fallen in love with Alden's snobbish daughter Marcia (Martha Vickers)-and though she won't admit it, she's crazy about Wilson too. The plot thickens when a group of corrupt local-government officials, in league with Marcia's duplicitous fiance Carter Andrews (Craig Stevens), use underhanded methods to force the honest Wilson out of business. As an upshot, the flustered Alden, still posing as Brinker, spends a night in the hoosegow. Eventually everything turns out OK, permitting Sidney Greenstreet to give out with his trademarked gravelly chuckle. More slapstick-oriented than the original The Millionaire (which was based on a story by Earl Derr Biggers, of "Charlie Chan" fame), That Way With Women was perfectly attuned to postwar audience tastes. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi