Sammy McKim Movies

Above and Beyond is the story of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, as told from the perspective of the man who flew the mission. Robert Taylor stars as Col. Paul Tibbetts, commander of the Enola Gay. Once selected for this extremely dangerous mission, Tibbetts must hand-pick a crew worthy of the task. He is also forced to keep his mission a closely guarded secret, even unto withholding all information from his loving and patient wife Lucey (Eleanor Parker). The film concentrates on the strain placed upon Tibbetts, his crew and their families in the crucial days before the "big drop". The bombing itself is handled with taste and decorum, though the horror and mixed emotions of the moment are brilliantly conveyed on the faces of Tibbetts and his men. Above and Beyond represents a rare noncomedy endeavor from the writer-director team of Melvin Frank and Norman Panama. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Dorothy Patrick, the sweetheart of Republic Pictures' "B" unit, stars in Lonely Hearts Bandits. Patrick plays Louise Curtis, a petty crook who teams with mobster Tony Morelli (John Eldredge) to fleece the lonely. Victim number one is a lovelorn farmer, who is summarily robbed and murdered by Morelli. The second victim is a small-town widow Nancy Crane (Ann Doran). Passing themselves off as brother and sister, Louise and Tony intend to fleece Nancy for every penny she's got and to bump her off if she gets in the way. This time, however, Nancy's erstwhile fiancé Aaron Hart (Richard Travis) suspects that something is amiss. Hopefully, Hart's realization hasn't come too late. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The fourth of Joan Crawford's Warner Bros. vehicles, Flamingo Road doesn't hold up as well as her earlier Mildred Pierce or Humoresque, but there's plenty to please the eye and ear. Sideshow kootch-dancer Lane Bellamy (Crawford), stranded in a backwater town, gets a job as a waitress. Lane begins falling in love with Fielding Carlisle (Zachary Scott), the political protégé of the town's big-daddy sheriff Titus Semple (Sidney Greenstreet). Semple regards Lane as a gold-digging troublemaker, and does his best to break up the romance, framing her on a trumped-up morals charges and having her shipped off to prison. Once out of the "joint," Lane returns to town, seeking revenge against both Semple and Carlisle. She charms political hack Dan Reynolds (David Brian) into marriage, then transforms Reynolds into a "reform candidate" bent on destroying the corrupt Semple machine. Faced with political ruin, Lane's ex-beau Carlisle commits suicide, a fact that Semple uses as a weapon against Reynolds. A showdown is inevitable--but the story is far from over! Flamingo Road later served as the basis for a weekly TV series; both the film and the series were based on a play by Robert and Sally Wilder. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

When he was first offered the film version of the best-selling Frederick Wakeman novel The Hucksters, Clark Gable turned it down, characterizing the book as "filthy and not entertainment." He finally agreed to star in the film after screenwriter Luther Davis' extensive laundering job. Gable plays Vic Norman, a radio advertising executive just returned from World War II. His wartime experiences have soured him on the phony aspects of his profession; nonetheless, he takes a job with the biggest and phoniest agency in town, headed by the glad-handing Kimberly (Adolphe Menjou). At Kimberly's recommendation, Vic takes over the Beautee Soap account, which brings him in close quarter's with Beautee's boorish head man Evans (Sidney Greenstreet). At their first meeting, Evans unexpectedly spits on his highly polished conference table. "Gentlemen," he growls, summing up his philosophy on advertising, "You have just seen me do a disgusting thing. But you will always remember it!" (Evans was based on George Washington Hill, the colorfully crude president of the American Tobacco Company). Vic's first assignment for Evans is to round up 25 high society women to sign testimonials for Beautee Soap. The least cooperative of the bunch is young widow Mrs. Dorrance (Deborah Kerr, in her American film debut), the stepdaughter of an American war hero. Attracted to Vic, Mrs. Dorrance signs the agreement, but breaks off her personal relationship with Vic when it appears as though he's making unsolicited advances towards her. The ever-demanding Evans then insists that Vic sign up two-bit comedian Buddy Hare (Keenan Wynn) for a radio program. Becoming more and more corrupt with each passing day, Vic obtains Hare's service at a rock-bottom price by blackmailing the comedian's agent (Edward Arnold), Vic's onetime close friend. A demo record is made of Hare and of nightclub singer Jean Ogilvie (Ava Gardner), who is in love with Vic but who eventually gives him up because of his apparent lack of scruples. Returning to the Beautee Soap headquarters, Vic watches dumbstruck as Evans smashes the demo record--then laughs uproariously, telling Vic that the contract is his, along with a $25,000 bonus. By this time, Vic is so disgusted with himself and with Evans' childish baiting tactics that he tells off the soap mogul in no uncertain terms, ending his tirade by dousing Evans with a pitcher of water. Having regained his integrity, Vic is now worthy of the love of Mrs. Dorrance, who has forgiven him his earlier misdeeds. As the film ends, she encourages Vic to use his advertising talents for something clean and honest (and, undoubtedly, starve to death in the process!) To mollify Madison Avenue, screenwriter Davis narrowed the attack on advertisers to one single radio sponsor; to please Gable, Mrs. Dorrance was changed from a still-married woman to a widow, while Vic Rodman is transformed from a "huckster" to an idealist who Does the Right Thing at the end. The Hucksters is one of Clark Gable's best postwar films, as well as one of the finest Hollywood satires of the rarefied world of advertising. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this drama an eager-beaver reporter loses his job when he prints a false story about a society girl. The unemployed reporter, anxious to redeem himself, then gets involves in a gangster backed smuggling operation. Meanwhile the wronged socialite falls in love with him. Unfortunately, he will not marry her because she is to wealthy. But when the gangsters kidnap her, he comes to her rescue and eventually becomes her husband. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

1940's Laddie was the third cinemadaptation of the heartwarming story by Gene Stratton-Porter (the second version, filmed in 1935, was directed by no less than George Stevens). Tim Holt plays the title character, a good-natured Indiana farmer who falls in love with immigrant English girl Pamela (Virginia Gilmore). Though Pamela's irascible father (Miles Mander) intensely dislikes Laddie and his parents, hero and heroine manage to keep romance alive with the help of Laddie's hero-worshipping kid sister (Joan Carroll). Featured in the cast is 16-year-old Joan Brodel, who shortly afterward achieved stardom under the stage name of Joan Leslie. Even further down the cast list is an angular young British actor named Peter Cushing! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This "Three Mesquiteers" western entry stars Robert Livingston as Stony Brooke, Raymond Hatton as Rusty Joslin and Duncan Renaldo as Rico Rinaldo. Livingston also does double duty as the villain of the piece, a desperado known as The Laredo Kid. Working undercover for the Texas Rangers, Stony Brooke poses as the recently deceased Laredo Kid to get the goods on the latter's gang. The film's action highlight is a leap from a runaway stagecoach over a perilous cliff and into a raging stream-a bit of derring-do that popped up as stock footage in many a future Republic western. Handling the leading-lady duties is Rosella Towne, formerly with Warner Bros. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Little Men, Louisa May Alcott's followup to her successful novel Little Women, has never truly adapted well to the screen, though this 1940 version is better than most. Kay Francis stars as the all-grown-up Jo March, now in charge of a private school for young boys. Her most contentious charge is rebellious Dan (Jimmy Conlin), who finally learns the rudiments of gentlemanly behavior from the firm-but-gentle Jo. Despite its huge and talented cast, the film is handily (and appropriately) stolen by Jack Oakie as an affable con artist named Willie the Thief. Also on hand is the original Elsie the Cow (but where's Elmer and his glue?) A loser at the box office, Little Men is currently in wider circulation than ever before thanks to its Public Domain status (also available in the P.D. market is the 1933 version of Little Men, produced by Monogram). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The then-popular government agents, the so-called G-Men, took to the air in this standard 15-chapter serial thriller courtesy of Columbia Pictures. Hal Andrews, known under the colorful alias "The Black Falcon," and his two fellow operatives, Bart Davis (Robert Fiske) and John Cummings (James Craig), track down the villain who killed one of their colleagues. The murderer proves to be the head of a gang of saboteurs who are planning a strike on the country's air defense. Lorna Gray, later known as Adrian Booth, lent a bit of feminine appeal to the otherwise decidedly masculine goings-on. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

The Three Mesqueteers attempt to prevent wholesale slaughter in this fine Republic Western starring John Wayne, Ray "Crash" Corrigan, and Raymond Hatton. Planning to build a reservoir on the site, the state government has condemned the town of New Hope and surrounding ranches. Construction chief M.C. Gilbert (LeRoy Mason) arrives with a clear mandate to buy off both the townsfolk and the ranchers but receives unwanted resistance from old Major Braddock (Eddy Waller) and his grandchildren (Jennifer Jones, Dave O'Brien, and Sammy McKim), who are ready to take up arms against the intrusion. When Gilbert and his cohort, Proctor (Harrison Greene), resort to ungentlemanly methods, including bringing in a crooked real-estate developer (Wilbur Mack), the Mesqueteers ride into action. Jennifer Jones, in her screen debut, is billed under her real name of Phyllis Isley. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

An enjoyably silly Gene Autry romp, this music Western had an early ecological message: Horse-power instead of tractors. Or at least tractors manufactured by greedy Thornton Farming Equipment. Having lost his horse-trading business to Thornton (Ivan Miller), Autry signs with Helen Valkis' local Grainville radio station. But unbeknownst to the singer, the program is sponsored by none other than Thornton, and when the farmers cannot live up to the greedy manufacturer's finance plan, they blame Autry. In typical Autry style, Autry not only bests Thornton on the business front, but also receives more attention at the local fair than the Thornton-sponsored Big City entertainment. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

In this episode of the western series, the Mesquitters try to stop a ring of silk thieves while dealing with a shady medicine show man and his kids. One of his offspring is a beautiful young woman. The Mesquiteers must hurry to find the thieves as they too are suspects. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The villains in the "Three Mesquiteers" entry Red River Range are bunch of progressive cattle thieves. This being 1939, the bad guys round up their stolen goods and herd them into streamlined trucks. It's a plot device that had previously used in Republic's Gene Autry series, but it still had plenty of mileage here. Riding to the rescue are the Mesquiteers, who on this occasion consist of John Wayne (Stony Brooke), Ray Corrigan (Tucson Smith) and Max Terhune (Lullaby Joslin). Lorna Gray, aka Adrian Booth, is the heroine, while raucuous comedy relief is provided by old-timer Polly Moran. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi