Peter Palmer Movies

1959's Li'l Abner was adapted from the hit 1956 Broadway musical--which, in turn, was inspired by the satirical comic strip by Al Capp. Peter Palmer recreates his Broadway role as Li'l Abner Yokum, the handsome, muscle-bound, muscle-brained leading hillbilly of Dogpatch, USA. The citizens of Dogpatch are in an uproar because their ramshackle community has been designated the "most useless" town in America, and therefore a prime candidate for an atomic bomb testing site. At first, the Dogpatchers consider their least-desirable status a great honor, but then they despair upon realizing that they'll have to vacate the premise before the annual girl-chases-boy Sadie Hawkins Day race. Together with his Mammy (Billie Hayes) and Pappy (Joe E. Marks), Li'l Abner is dispatched to Washington DC, to argue that Dogpatch has some vital significance: after all, only in Dogpatch can one partake of the Yokumberry Tonic, the source of Abner's super strength. Shifty billionaire General Bullmoose (Howard St. John) wants that Yokumberry tonic for his own devices, and to that end dispatches his lady friend Appasionatta von Climax (Stella Stevens) to Dogpatch to catch Li'l Abner during the Sadie Hawkins race and thus secure the mountain boy's cooperation via marriage. Li'l Abner's erstwhile girl friend Daisy Mae Scragg (Leslie Parrish) would likewise like to snare Abner in the race, but Appasionata wins, thanks to the squirrelly Evil Eye Fleegle (Al Nesor), whose "triple whammy" paralyzes Abner just inches before the finish line. If you think all this is unbelievable, wait till you see how the story resolves itself. Featured in the cast is Stubby Kaye as Marryin' Sam, who leads the hillbilly chorus in the musical's best number, "Jubilation T. Corpone". Other Johnny Mercer-Gene de Paul tunes carried over from the Broadway version of Li'l Abner are "A Typical Day," "If I Had My Druthers," "Namely You," "The Country's in the Very Best of Hands," "Past My Prime," "Put 'Em Back (The Way They Wuz)" and "The Matrimonial Stomp."The film is staged in the same broad, caricatured manner as the play, which only adds to the fun. An earlier, unrelated movie adaptation of Li'l Abner, filmed in 1940, is best forgotten, as is a series of lukewarm Abner cartoons produced by Screen Gems in the late forties. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bob Hope makes his first starring film appearance in 14 years in this made-for-TV movie. Hope stars as a seedy private eye, hoping to get one last good case before calling it quits. Don Ameche, a retired art thief reduced to working as a chauffeur, teams with his old friend Hope to solve the mystery of a missing painting. The unknown criminal has a murderous streak, resulting in a few close calls for the octogenarian heroes. Masterpiece of Murder is murder, all right, but definitely no masterpiece. Bob Hope appears to be sleepwalking, while Don Ameche does his utmost to breathe life in the tiresome proceedings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Conny (Bjorn Skifs) is a high-school chemistry teacher who is falsely accused of making amphetamines in his home. He is throw in jail but manages to evade the abuse of his fellow prisoners. Conny discovers a way out of the jail, and he and his new 'friends" make plans to rob the Royal Mint. Only when he saves the pretty female officer Susanne (Gunnel Fred) from being hit by a car do his fortunes begin to change. Conny is chased through a hospital just out of reach of hypodermic needles. Director Jonas Frick briskly tries to combine action, comedy, and thrills in this one. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

The daughter (Abigail Wolcott) of the owner of a ghost-town tourist attraction was killed by strangers, and the owner bears a serious grudge to those who are his bread and butter. So much so, that when he runs across a crystal that revivifies corpses and turns them into monsters or worse, he uses it on his newly dead daughter. When she is revived, she looks normal, and is able to lure unsuspecting victims to the man's town where he can then chop them up. In this horror thriller, a group of college students on a lark come to the town with predictable results. Fortunately for the hero (Ron Palillo), the dead girl still has some human feelings left. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Suzannah teaches at one of the very few racially mixed schools in apartheid-era South Africa. One of her more appealing students is the intensely Afrocentric black activist named Tsepo, who asserts that the white European culture has not contributed anything of value to the world. While Suzannah has been teaching at school, her very susceptible husband Felipe has been falling under the spell of a femme fatale, a radical terrorist of the white-rule movement, and soon Felipe is arrested along with his female mentor for violent crimes. However, the woman terrorist has some political strings to pull that Felipe doesn't, and he is soon left alone to stand trial on the charges against him. Meanwhile, Tsepo has also been hauled into prison. Suzannah only learns of her husband's perfidy when his arrest is reported on television, in this earnest drama about the complexities of South African life not so very long ago. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide