Val Benedict Movies
- 1959
In this comical western, a curmudgeonly fur-trapper is hurt by an enraged bear and must send his nephew to town with his pelts so he can get much-needed supplies. En route, the young man passes a covered wagon and convinces the man who lives there to allow his daughter to travel with him. The two innocent mountain youths then make their way to the town. It is the first time for either of them. There they meet the sheriff who controls the town. As soon as the previously rag-tag girl has bathed and donned a pretty dress, the sheriff is attracted to her. He gets her a job in a "dance hall." The naive nephew thanks the sheriff for being so kind. He then falls in love with the dance-hall madam. Fortunately, a truly kind storekeeper removes the innocent veil from the boy's eyes. Quickly he moves in to save his traveling companion from a life of ill-repute. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Audie Murphy, Joanne Dru, (more)
- 1958
Taking a brief respite from professional gunslinging, Paladin (Richard Boone) opts instead for the more pleasurable pursuit of judging a wine exhibit. Unfortunately, gunplay is lurking around the corner, thanks to an Irish-born oil driller named Tim Gorman (Richard Shannon). Insisting that Gorman's oil rigs are polluting his vineyard, Italian winemaker Renato Donatello (Eduardo Ciannelli) asks Paladin to intervene--with the expected violent results. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
In one of Maverick's all-time greatest episodes, Bret (James Garner) is cheated out of $15,000 by "respectable" banker John Bates (John Dehner). Since Bret is unable to reclaim the money through legal means, his brother Bart (Jack Kelly) devises an elaborate sting operation to beat Bates at his own game. Participants in this grand-scale swindle include an honor roll of the series' most popular (and sneakiest) recurring characters: Gentleman Jack Darby (Richard Long), Dandy Jim Buckley (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.), Samantha Crawford (Diane Brewster), Cindy Lou Brown (Arlene Howell) and Big Mike McComb (Leo Gordon). And what about Bret? Well, he spends virtually the entire episode sitting on a hotel porch, calmly whittling away at a block of wood...and when anybody asks what he's doing about his problem, he replies casually that he's "workin' on it." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
Ultra-pasteurized pop singer Pat Boone makes his feature film debut in this comical and tuneful look at adolescent life in the late 1950s. A group of teen-age boys discuss the attributes of the perfect girl and proceed to create a mental image of their dreamboat. Later they find her in the form of Jean, the new telephone operator in town. One of the lads, Sanford Wilson, falls hard for the comely lass. They begin dating, but as final exams approach, Sanford must temporarily shift his attention to his school work. To keep her from the other less-honorable boys who want her, he has handsome Lieutenant Langley Beaumont squire her around. Unfortunately, she and Langley soon fall in love, causing the anguished Sanford to join the military and leave for a year and a half. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pat Boone, Terry Moore, (more)
