Robert Nash Movies
- 1965
This episode reunites Branded star Chuck Connors with Johnny Crawford, who from 1958 through 1963 had played Connors' son on the popular western series The Rifleman. With all of the menfolk out prospecting for silver, the town of Jefferson City has been left unguarded, save for callow young deputy sheriff Clay Holden (Crawford), a few old people and children, and a one-legged bartender (Richard Arlen). Enter a group of outlaws who kidnap Clay's young wife Karin (Charla Doherty) and order him to stay out of their way while they rob the town's bank. Riding into this tense situation, so-called coward Jason McCord (Connors) must teach young Holden the true meaning--and proper application--of courage under fire. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Filmed in panoramic Cinerama, this star-studded, epic Western adventure is a true cinematic classic. Three legendary directors (Henry Hathaway, John Ford, and George Marshall) combine their skills to tell the story of three families and their travels from the Erie Canal to California between 1839 and 1889. Spencer Tracy narrates the film, which cost an estimated 15 million dollars to complete. In the first segment, "The Rivers," pioneer Zebulon Prescott (Karl Malden) sets out to settle in the West with his wife (Agnes Moorehead) and their four children. Along with other settlers and river pirates, they run into mountain man Linus Rawlings (James Stewart), who sells animal hides. The Prescotts try to raft down the Ohio River in a raft, but only daughters Lilith (Debbie Reynolds) and Eve (Carroll Baker) survive. Eve and Linus get married, while Lilith continues on. In the second segment, "The Plains," Lilith ends up singing in a saloon in St. Louis, but she really wants to head west in a wagon train led by Roger Morgan (Robert Preston). Along the way, she's accompanied by the roguish gambler Cleve Van Valen (Gregory Peck), who claims he can protect her. After he saves her life during an Indian attack, they get married and move to San Francisco. In the third segment, "The Civil War," Eve and Linus' son, Zeb (George Peppard), fights for the Union. After he's forced to kill his Confederate friend, he returns home and gives the family farm to his brother. In the fourth segment, "The Railroads," Zeb fights with his railroad boss (Richard Widmark), who wants to cut straight through Indian territory. Zeb's co-worker Jethro (Henry Fonda) refuses to cut through the land, so he quits and moves to the mountains. After the railway camp is destroyed, Zeb heads for the mountains to visit him. In the fifth segment, "The Outlaws," Lilith is an old widow traveling from California to Arizona to stay with her nephew Zeb on his ranch. However, he has to fight a gang of desperadoes first. How the West Was Won garnered three Oscars, for screenplay, film editing, and sound production. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Stewart, Henry Fonda, (more)
In this western, a discharged cavalry soldier rides a stage to his brother's cattle ranch. En route he meets a dance hall girl. Later he saves her from an outlaw's unsavory advances during a heist. When he gets to his brother's ranch he soon learns that his brother makes his real living by rustling cattle. The disappointed ex-soldier leaves him and goes to a trading post where he marries the dance hall girl. Later, one of the bad brother's men convinces him that his good brother snitched on them to the sheriff leading the rustler to seek revenge. Fortunately he learns that it was all a set-up by the outlaw; instead of killing the good brother, the rustler decides to join him on his fur-trapping excursions. This angers the gang member who rallies the rest of his band together to kill the brothers. The brothers end up killing the outlaws in a shoot-out. Unfortunately the rustlin' brother is also killed. The good brother and his wife end up naming their first born daughter after him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1961
Journalist Lawrence Vander (Paul Lambert) is murdered during a weekend retreat for the employees of Space Associates Ltd, a major defense contractor. It turns out that Vander was trying to track down ex-Nazi Max Keinermann, who may be working for Space Associates under an alias.. Accused of the murder is Harlan Merill (Dick Foran), who has a rather unsavory past of his own. Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) dedicates himself to clearing Merrill's name--actually two names, since he is also using an alias--and solving the murder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
Perennial loser Larry Benton (Wynn Pearce) is convinced that he has killed a guy named Mike during a poker-game argument. Actually, Larry is the victim of a blackmail scam, perpetrated by a shady customer named Johnny Clay. After Larry forges his brother Steve's name on a check to Johnny, the blackmailer is murdered, whereupon Steve (Dick Foran) tries to cover for his ne'er-do-well sibling. In his efforts to save Steve from the gas chamber, Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) must prove that the "late" Mike is still alive--if indeed he IS still alive! This episode is based on a short story by Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
In dire need of quick money to repay a debt, Bret (James Garner) agrees to act as guide when three visiting Britishers, all members of the Belcastle family, decide to go on a bear-hunting expedition. Unfortunately, the little party is ambushed by bandits and left to die in the desert. Though Bret thinks that the best course of action would be to chase after the outlaws, the Belcastles do not agree--leading to some very unforseen complications. (Fan alert: this is James Garner's favorite Maverick episode). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
George Montgomery stars in Pawnee as Paul, a white man raised by Indians. Upon attaining adulthood, Paul finds himself rejected by both the Pawnee tribe and the white community. He manages to attain a job as a wagon train scout, but even in this position of respect and authority he is treated with hostility and suspicion. When Wise Eagle (Ralph Moody), the Pawnee chief who raised Paul as his own son, dies, the tribe is taken over by Paul's lifelong enemy Crazy Fox (Charles Horvath). Thus, when the wagon train is attacked by Indians, Paul has no qualms about aligning himself with the passengers. Featured in the cast as Dancing Fawn is Charlotte Austin, the cult-favorite star of such horror cheapies as The Man Who Turned to Stone. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Montgomery, Bill Williams, (more)
- 1957
Eleven years after scoring one of the biggest hits on the Broadway stage, Irving Berlin's musical comedy Annie Get Your Gun was brought to television in a lavish, live two-hour color presentation. Mary Martin, who ironically had been offered the role before Ethel Merman made it her own back in 1946, stars as sharpshooter Annie Oakley, the rag-tag backwoods gal who became the toast of two continents as the main attraction of Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West show. The libretto, by Herbert and Dorothy Fields, naturally takes many liberties with the facts, focusing on the tempestuous romance between the level-headed Annie and the arrogant, bombastic marksman Frank Butler (John Raitt). Most of the laughs are provided by the wheeling and dealing of Annie's PR man, Charlie Davenport (Donald Burr), and by another of Buffalo Bill's star performers, Indian medicine man Sitting Bull (Zachary Charles), who has become so "assimilated" by the trappings of showbiz that he can't even remember how to perform a simple scalping (needless to say, much of the humor involving Sitting Bull would considered politically incorrect today). The songs include such Berlin standards as "Doin' What Comes Natur'lly," "The Girl That I Marry," "They Say It's Wonderful," "Sun in the Morning," "Anything You Can Do," and, of course, "There's No Business Like Show Business." This production of Annie Get Your Gun currently exists in black-and-white kinescope form, but though pictorial quality is rough, the entertainment value is unquestionable. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Martin, John Raitt, (more)
- 1951
Golden Girl is the life story (sort of) of legendary 19th-century American entertainer Lotta Crabtree. The daughter of a luckless gambler (James Barton), young Lotta (Mitzi Gaynor) supports herself and her dad by singing and dancing in mining camps during the California Gold Rush of 1849. She carries on her activities into Indian territory, where she saves her scalp by winning over her Native American audiences. During the Civil War, Lotta falls in love with a dashing Confederate spy (Dale Robertson), with whom she is briefly reunited in San Francisco before his inevitable demise. The finale is one of those "smiling through the tears" contrivances that always worked so well in musical films. Golden Girl was produced for 20th Century-Fox by entertainer George Jessel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mitzi Gaynor, Dale Robertson, (more)
- 1951
Delilah and Jeff (Betty Grable and MacDonald Carey) are a successful show-business team, but less successful as husband and wife. Finding that her producer hubby is unfaithful, musical-comedy star Delilah walks out on him, heading for Miami, where she got her start. In the process, Delilah feigns amnesia, then inaugurates a romance with a Miami playboy (Rory Calhoun). His jealousy aroused, Jeff heads to Miami to reclaim his wife, but she leads him on quite a merry chase until she finally allows herself to get caught. One of several 20th Century-Fox musicals produced by comedian George Jessel, Meet Me After the Show is a standard-issue Betty Grable vehicle, highlighted by several sprightly musical numbers, including a captivating routine with Grable and an uncredited Jack Cole and Gwen Verdon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Grable, MacDonald Carey, (more)
