Don Beddoe Movies

Teen-aged waitress Heather Langekamp is impregnated by college student Patrick Cassidy. Heather's kindly "loser" boss Michael Cole provides aid and comfort for the lonely, confused girl. Her father Ed Lauter wants to finance an abortion, but Cole insists upon taking responsibility. He marries Langenkamp, even though she hasn't expressed any overt love for him. The reasons are slightly vicarious: Cole had once been the suitor of Heather's mother. A novel by John Gardner was the source for the take-its-time Nickel Mountain. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this syrupy comedy, a father attempts to reconnect with his troubled, estranged son, a philosophy professor. The chance at reconciliation comes when the son learns that his father, whom he hasn't seen in years is fighting a strange nameless movie disease in a French hospital. The young man's wife is not pleased. While aboard the jet, the son reflects upon his upbringing and the fights that would erupt between his mother, a fundamentalist Christian, and his father, an atheist. He remembers how his father turned to a free-spirited artist for comfort. Just before she left him, the artist gave the father a lovely poem. Later after his son became a teacher, the father decides to enter to piece in a poetry contest and wins $10,0000, which he plans to donate to his son's department. Unfortunately someone discovers that the artist's "original" poem is anything but and the father is publicly humiliated while his son is passed for promotion. Seeing how unhappy his son has become, the father decides to go to a church and pray for his son to get promoted. It works, but unfortunately a man had to die for the son to get it leaving the father to be wracked with guilt. Fortunately with the son's arrival comes the father's salvation. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This situation comedy comes from a Bob Fisher and Arthur Marx play. Jonathan Kingsley (David Niven) is the teaching psychiatrist at the local university and is happily married to his wife Alice (Lola Albright). The couple has two teenage daughters, and the trouble begins when the oldest daughter Linda (Christina Ferrare) begins to take an adult interest in boys. Her misadventures corrupt her impressionable sister Abbey (Darlene Carr) and is driving the head of the university, Dean Rockwell (John Harding), absolutely crazy as he fears a scandal that could blight the school. Jonathan is put under review by the board of directors. Linda falls for Jonathan's teaching assistant Richard (Chad Everett) as her father receives neighborly advise from Dr. Fleischer (Ozzie Nelson), a hopeless hypochondriac. Linda is also pursued by a spaced-out hippie (Jeff Cooper) and another admirer (Michael McGreevey). Jonathan tries to stop his daughter's lustful yearnings before the reputation of the university and his family become fodder for the local gossip mongers. The title track is sung by The Cowsills. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

O'Rourke (Forrest Tucker), Agarn (Larry Storch), Dobbs (James Hampton) and Vanderbilt (Joe Brooks) buy their way out of the army and take up homesteading in a ghost town. Though prospects for success seem bleak, O'Rourke advises his comrades to be patient: The railroad will be coming through soon, and they'll be millionaires. Unfortunately, the town's reputation for being haunted seems to be well-founded, and before long the four pals are shivering in their boots at the sound of things going bump in the night. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A Very Special Favor stars Rock Hudson as a notorious romeo and Leslie Caron as a prudish psychiatrist. At the urging of Caron's lawyer father Charles Boyer, Hudson begins a seduction campaign. Caron resents this intrusion in her private affairs and builds up a wall of resistance against the ardent Mr. Hudson. Still, the film ends with Hudson and Caron happily married, with plenty of children underfoot and another one on the way. Roundly panned for its alleged smarminess in 1965, A Very Special Favor is offensive today not for its sex talk but for its "pregnant, barefoot, in-the-kitchen" mentality. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This charming tale is about a young girl's father and his slightly erratic behavior after sampling a refreshing alcoholic beverage. Although Papa Jack Griffith (Jackie Gleason) never appears to be drunk, his "delicate condition" is well known to his family. His wife is definitely unhappy over his penchant but loves him just the same. He is adored by his youngest daughter, six year old Corinne (Linda Bruhl). When he tries to buy a pony for Corinne, he not only gets the pony but the entire broken down, debt ridden circus as well. This is too much for wife Ambolyn (Glynis Johns), who packs up the kids and heads for her father's house in Texarkana. Jack follows with the entire circus in pursuit to take his loving family back home. He also hoodwinks some local investors to put money into a proposed drug store, thereby circumventing a blue law that forbids the sale of alcohol. Gleason's performance contain many fine moments that run the full spectrum of human emotions and clearly illustrates why he has deservedly been referred to as "The Great One." ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

On the strength of testimony provided by a 10-year-old eyewitness, Paladin (Richard Boone) goes after a white man suspected of leading an Indian attack on a wagon train. Unfortunately, the suspect is currently residing in a town run by outlaws, whose citizens deeply resent the presence of outsiders. To bring his quarry to justice--and to save his own skin--Paladin must act as witness in a heavily rigged courtroom trial. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Nathan Juran, director of The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, tries to make the magic happen again on a much more attenuated budget in Jack the Giant Killer. Torin Thatcher, another Sinbad alumnus, plays a wicked wizard who kidnaps toothsome-princess Judi Meredith. Kerwin Mathews, still another veteran of Sinbad, plays Jack, who rescues Meredith and promises to escort her to safety. Stop-motion animator Jim Danforth creates several fire-breathing perils along the same lines as Ray Harryhausen's special effects in Sinbad; happily, Danforth emulates the Harryhausen style without stooping to imitation. Prominent among the supporting actors is Don Beddoe as an impish genie. In the recently reissued prints of Jack the Giant Killer, most of the original voices have been dubbed over, and incongruous musical numbers added. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Heading towards Johnsonville, Paladin (Richard Boone) comes across a young woman named Kathy Rousseau (Pippa Scott), who is burying something along the road. That "something" turns out to be Kathy's fiancee, who was murdered by a jealous rival. The guilty party is ruthless town boss Leander Johnson (Werner Klemperer, minus his Hogan's Heroes German accent), who controls everything in Johnsonville including the local constabulary--meaning that justice for Kathy will have to be meted out by Paladin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this children's movie, an adorable newsboy, his dog, and his friend the hobo accidently stumble across a briefcase containing $100,000. It belongs to a desperate thief who definitely wants it back. The honest child, not knowing the loot is stolen, looks for its owner. Fortunately the police save the day. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

When scatterbrained millionairess Kiz Bouchet (Kathleen Crowley) insists that somebody is trying to murder her, Beau Maverick (Roger Moore) is convinced that the girl is out of her mind. But he soon comes to believe Kiz's story--and in so doing, he tries to thwart a scheme hatched by the girl's cousin (Peggy McCay) and a crooked doctor (Tristam Coffin) to cheat Kiz out of her inheritance. Devotees of humorist Mark Twain will get a chuckle out of the character name bestowed upon supporting actor Whit Bissell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Paladin (Richard Boone) is one of four travellers who witness a man falling down a ravine and being trapped on a ledge by a landslide. It is highly likely that the man died in the fall, but there is also the likelihood that he is still alive. Paladin is all for making the perilous downward climb to check on the man's fate, but he is unable to do so without the help of his four diverse companions--all of whom, for various reasons, are reluctant to even attempt the climb. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Having experienced a disturbing premonition, Stanley Lockhart (Joe Mantell) pays a visit to his father Simon (Arthur Shields), whom Stanley believes is at death's door. Much to the younger Lockhart's surprise, Simon is in the best of health. Even so, Simon insists that he will be dead before the day is done...a fate seemingly predetermined by the chiseled message on a tombstone. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide