J. Pat O'Malley Movies

In the third episode of Walt Disney's eight-part miniseries The Swamp Fox, Revolutionary War hero Francis Marion (Leslie Nielsen) must pretend to despise his sweetheart, Mary Videaux (Barbara Eiler), lest anyone suspects Mary is one of Francis' most valuable allies against the Redcoats. Despite this charade, Redcoat leader Col. Tarleton (John Sutton) smells a rat. Meanwhile, Marion's nephew, Gabe (Tim Considine), hopes to impress his girlfriend, Melanie (Sherry Jackson), and dons his new Continental Army uniform and rides off to visit her -- whereupon he is captured by British officer Col. Townes (Henry Daniell). "Tory Vengeance" originally aired as part of the Walt Disney Presents anthology. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the fifth episode of Walt Disney's eight-part miniseries The Swamp Fox, the guerilla forces under the leadership of Francis Marion (Leslie Nielsen) have succeeded in capturing British officer Col. Townes (Henry Daniell). Unfortunately, Marion's longtime enemy Col. Tarleton (John Sutton) has, at the same time, seized the home of Marion's brother Gabriel (John Sutton). As Marion prepares to escort Towne and his wife to Continental Headquarters, Tarleton lays a carefully planned trap for the elusive "Swamp Fox", using Redcoats disguised as American patriots. "Redcoat Strategy" originally aired as part of the Walt Disney Presents anthology. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

At the behest of Elliot Ness (Robert Stack), "Untouchable" Enrico Rossi (Nick Georgiade) goes undercover to pinpoint the source of some 190-proof grain alcohol being smuggled into Chicago. The trail leads to an outwardly respectable pharamaceutical firm, run by E. Carlton Duncan (Edward Andrews) and Brooks Wells (Henry Jones)--who are actually the Brittano brothers, racketeers in cahoots with mob boss Johnny Torrio (Charles McGraw). The trick now is to turn one Brittano against the other--which proves deceptively easy during an evening of drunken revelry. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lt. Tragg (Ray Collins) can't believe his eyes: traditional courtroom rivals Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) and DA Hamilton Burger (William Talman) are working together to save a man from a murder charge! The man in question is Jeff Pike (J. Pat O'Malley), who years earlier had saved Burger's life. When Jeff is accused of killing Denver Leonard (Walter Coy), Burger recuses himself from the case and puts his old friend's fate in the hands of his "friendly enemy" Perry. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One of producer Walt Disney's more blatant efforts to duplicate the success of his early TV miniseries Davy Crockett, the eight-part Swamp Fox featured another flamboyant frontiersman hero who wore coonskin-style headgear and whose adventures were introduced with a catchy, memorable theme song. Based on a book by Dr. Robert D. Bass, The Swamp Fox stars Leslie Nielsen as real-life American patriot Francis Marion, a wealthy landowner who during the Revolutionary War led a hardy band of guerilla fighters against the Redcoats and pro-British tories in his native South Carolina. The villain of the piece (at least in the first few episodes) was another actual historical figure, the ruthless Banastre Tarleton (John Sutton), an officer in the British Green Dragoons (Marion and Tarleton later served as the models for the hero and villain, respectively, of the 1999 Mel Gibson film Patriot). In the first episode, Marion is prevailed upon by his friends and neighbors to help free South Carolina from the grip of British rule. His task is made difficult by the fact that his sweetheart, Mary Videaux (Joy Page), is from a pro-Tory family. "The Birth of the Swamp Fox" originally aired as part of the Walt Disney Presents anthology. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Botany teacher Norman Logan (Dick York) is surprised to find that his bank account is short 200 dollars. Reporting this loss as an error, Norman confronts officious clerk Mr. Tritt (Philip Coolidge), who insists that the bank never, but never, makes a mistake. To prove Tritt wrong, and to extract a personal vengeance, Norman decides to get his money back by way of a nocturnal robbery -- with the "dusty drawer" of the title figuring prominently in the outcome of the story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

While often regarded as one of America's greatest novelists, William Faulkner produced work that did not always translate well to the screen; it's ironically appropriate that this movie, based on several of Faulkner's short stories, is often regarded as one of the best films based on his work, though not especially accurate to the original source material. Ben Quick (Paul Newman), a sullen but self-confident drifter, arrives in a small Mississippi town where his father had a bad reputation as a firebug. Will Varner (Orson Welles), the town's patriarch, still holds a grudge against Quick's dad, and when the young man decides to stay in town and sharecrop on Varner's land, Will goes out of his way to make his life difficult. However, Will develops a grudging respect for Quick's guts and determination, and he wishes that his weak-willed son Jody (Anthony Franciosa) could be more like him; Jody's wife Eula (Lee Remick) happens to agree. In time, Will gets the idea that Quick might be a good match for his daughter Clara (Joanne Woodward) and a better choice to take over his business dealings than Jody. However, neither Clara nor Quick care to be told what to do, and besides, Clara already has a beau -- though Alan Stewart (Richard Anderson) is even more of a milquetoast than Jody and is led by the nose by his mother (Mabel Albertson). However, sparks begin to fly between Clara and Quick, and when Jody fears he may lose his place as heir of Will's estate, he takes drastic action, trapping his father in a barn, setting it on fire, and planting evidence that would suggest that the blaze was Quick's doing. The Long, Hot Summer was the first film that Newman and Woodward made together, and they got married the same year. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Long before he became entrenched in the public's consciousness as Sgt. Carter on Gomer Pyle USMC, Frank Sutton topped the cast of the minor juvenile-delinquent melodrama Four Boys and a Gun. Sutton plays Ollie Denker, a runner for a gang of bookies who gets into deep doo-doo when he rips off his bosses. To raise a lot of money in a hurry, Denker masterminds a boxing-arena holdup with three pals: Johnny Doyle (a very young James Franciscus), Eddie Richards (Tarry Green) and Stanley Badek (Bill Hinnant). When a cop is killed during the holdup, it is up to the district attorney (Otto Hullett) to determine which of the four conspirators fired the fatal shot. Four Boys and a Gun can be seen as a precursor to the bigger budgeted The Young Savages (1961). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Shortly before signing on for TV's The Rifleman, Johnny Crawford played the juvenile lead in Courage of Black Beauty. Feeling alienated from his rancher father John Bryant,Crawford invests all his affections in his pet foal. Through his love for the horse--who of course grows up to become Black Beauty--Crawford learns to better appreciate his own lot in life. For a while, it looks as though the horse will be destroyed, but when this doesn't happen, Crawford draws even closer to his dad. No screen credit is afforded Anna Sewell, author of the original Black Beauty. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Teenaged soprano Gloria Jean plays the Little-Miss-Fixit heroine in Universal's Little Bit of Heaven. The most precocious member of an impoverished 10th Avenue family, little Midge (Gloria Jean) makes an impulsive appearance on a "man in the street" radio interview show. Catapulted to stardom, Midge becomes the primary support for her family, all of whom begin behaving atrociously and overspended insanely. The only one who doesn't go over the top is Midge's lovable Grandpa (C. Aubrey Smith), with whom our heroine concocts a scheme (straight out of Shirley Temple!) to teach her relatives a lesson. In the previous Gloria Jean starrer If I Had My Way, Universal featured several former Broadway favorites, including Blanche Ring and Julian Eltinge, in cameo roles: the studio repeats this stunt in Little Bit of Heaven, showcasing such silent-movie greats as Maurice Costello, Noah Beery Sr., Charles Ray, Monte Blue, William Desmond and Pat O'Malley as the heroine's "adopted uncles". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide