Mary Patton Movies
- 1964
Troy Donahue stars in this drive-in quality "B"-Western from the Warner Brothers backlot, directed by veteran director Raoul Walsh. Donahue is U.S. Cavalry Lieutenant Matt Hazard, who arrives at Fort Delivery on the Mexican border of Arizona for a new assignment. Kitty Mainwaring (Suzanne Pleshette), the wife of the commanding officer, greets Hazard upon his arrival. The next day, when he takes some of his men outside of the fort to gather wood, Hazard and his men find themselves attacked by Indians. Hazard survives and later saves Kitty from another Indian attack. A terrible storm forces the two to spend a night in a cave as they make their way back to the fort. Meanwhile, the new commander, General Quait (James Gregory), arrives at the fort and takes command -- his first order of business to launch an all-out war on the Indians. He tries to capture the belligerent Indian Chief War Eagle but fails. When Hazard arrives back at the fort, Quait orders Hazard into Mexico to convince War Eagle to surrender. Hazard has War Eagle agree to return with him on the promise that the Indians can have a safe haven at an Arizona reservation. But, on their way back to the fort, they are met by Major Miller (Lane Bradford), who, instead, orders the Indians to be sent to Florida. Hazard and Quaint end up traveling to Washington to try to convince the United States government to reverse their decision against the Indians. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Troy Donahue, Suzanne Pleshette, (more)
- 1962
Delmer Daves directs this cross between a travelog and a routine romantic drama set in Italy. The story begins when beautiful librarian Prudence (a misnomer, played by Suzanne Pleshette) decides to take off for Italy. She works in a women's college and was brought up short for recommending a racy book to one of the students. In a huff, she opts to go to the land of opera and find out if Italian men are as romantic as legend maintains. Once there, she runs into Roberto (Rossano Brazzi), who is likely to prove the legend true, and meets Don (Troy Donahue), an American running away from the love of his life, Lyda (Angie Dickinson). Between the glamour and the setting, Daves has geared this fluffy tale for the more innocent-minded teen set. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Troy Donahue, Angie Dickinson, (more)
- 1962
The right for a rape victim to have an abortion is examined in this socially conscious drama. 21-year old Patty Smith is distraught to learn that she was impregnated during a rape. She looks for help, but finds none amongst the regular medical community. She tries talking to her priest, but he turns a blind eye, and offers no help. Finally, desperate to get rid of her unwanted baby, Patty goes to a back-alley abortionist. He literally butchers her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Merry Anders, J. Edward McKinley, (more)
- 1961
This is an uneven melodrama on the tragic life of Pima Indian Ira Hayes, one of the men who raised the U.S. flag on Iwo Jima. The story picks up with Hayes (Tony Curtis) leaving his reservation in Arizona to join the Marines, enter boot camp, and start to adapt to the life of a Marine. Hayes becomes good friends with Sorenson (James Franciscus), and it is this friendship that sustains him in a white man's world. But as time goes by and the moment immortalized on Iwo Jima ends, Hayes goes into a decline, being unconvinced there was any heroism involved in his actions during the war and never being able to adjust to civilian life. At this point in time, no one recognized the afflictions common to all soldiers after long years in battle, and the death of Sorenson is blamed for Hayes' downfall. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Curtis, James Franciscus, (more)
In this entertaining comedy by Charles Walters, everyone seems to get in on the act, even the dog and especially the four overactive kids in a wildly challenging family. David Niven co-stars with Doris Day as Lawrence and Kate Mackay, distinctive parents struggling with home, life, and family. Lawrence opts for leaving his job teaching at Columbia University in New York for a post as a drama critic for a Gotham newspaper, bringing new problems to the pile the family already owns. First, they are forced to move out -- far out -- to the countryside with their brood and canine. And next, while Kate handles home, hearth, and hellions, Lawrence proceeds to alienate one of his best friends with a shattering review. That unhappy beginning to his new career also brings in one of the actresses damaged by his cutting remarks (Janis Paige), who wreaks her own form of havoc on poor Lawrence. In the meantime, Day gets to sing some songs which add to the light-hearted attitude of it all. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Doris Day, David Niven, (more)
- 1960
Robert Preston plays the flip side of his eternally ebullient Professor Harold Hill in Dark at the Top of the Stairs. Preston portrays an early 20th-century harness salesman, fully aware that his product is rapidly becoming obsolete. He tries to compensate for his own lack of self-esteem by cheating on his patient wife Dorothy McGuire; Preston's "other woman" is played by Angela Lansbury. Meanwhile, daughter Shirley Knight falls in love with Jewish boy Lee Kinsolving, who kills himself in the face of relentless bigotry. And McGuire's sister Eve Arden is stuck in a loveless marriage with spineless Frank Overton. Robert Eyer plays the young alter-ego of William Inge, who wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning play on which this film is based. Eyer's fear of the "dark at the top of the stairs" is meant to be symbolic of the other characters' inner demons, a fact that Inge drives home every three minutes or so. In typical Inge fashion, an unlikely happy ending is reached just before "The End." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Preston, Dorothy McGuire, (more)
- 1960
Leslie Stevens adapted his own stage comedy Marriage-Go-Round for the movies, watering down the more explicit sex talk but keeping its sly innuendo intact. The stunning Julie Newmar plays a Swedish gymnast who wishes to mate with a genius and produce the "perfect child." She chooses professor James Mason for this honor, which wouldn't have been such a problem had not Mason already been married to Susan Hayward. Mason is tempted, but ultimately the head wins out over the libido and the professor returns to his wife, while the decidedly unpregnant Newmar returns to Sweden. Marriage-Go-Round is inclined towards staginess, but this can be forgiven whenever Julie Newmar, recreating her Broadway role, sashays into view. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susan Hayward, James Mason, (more)
- 1959
Acting on information provided by a bartender, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate the apparent kidnapping of Kenneth Gorman. Though a man of modest means, Gorman liked to go around impressing strangers by flashing a huge roll of bills--especially after having a few drinks. The detectives further discover that, despite the denials of Gorman's wife, the missing man had been running around with a flashy blonde, who turns out to have a criminal record. But that's not the end of the story by a long shot! This labyrinthine episode is based on the Dragnet radio broadcast of June 26, 1952. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
Working out of Bunco Detail, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) set their sights on Tim and Doris Hubert (Donald Kirke, Mary Patton), a husband-wife team of con artists with a police record stretching back seventeen years. The Huberts have been out of circulation for a long time--but now they've come out of the woodwork to victimize a minister and his entire congregation (and that's only the beginning!) This episode was adapted from the Dragnet radio broadcast of February 22, 1951. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
A father-son team of circus aerialists, Gino and Mario Patruzzio (Robert Carricart, Mike Conners), quarrel bitterly over Mario's slatternly young wife Carlotta (Yvette Vickers) just before beginning their act. An accident occurs in mid-air, causing Gino to plunge helplessly to the ground. Though exonerated of any blame, Gino still feels responsible for the tragedy and becomes dangerously suicidal. Can Gino save his son from destroying himself--even though the elder Patruzzio lies paralyzed in a hospital bed? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
Based on the Anton Myrer novel The Big War, In Love and War is an entertaining showcase for several of 20th Century-Fox's younger contract players. Robert Wagner, Jeffrey Hunter and Bradford Dillman plays three young San Francisco residents who sign up for the Marines at the outbreak of WW2. The film traces the progress of all three in the Pacific "theater of operations", emphasizing the characters' individual strengths and shortcomings. One of the men is a gung-ho patriot, the second is a perennial goof-off, and the third hopes to prove his worth to his wealthy father. The women in the three protagonists' lives are played by Sheree North, Hope Lange, France Nuyen, and Dana Wynter, the latter delivering a powerhouse performance in an extremely difficult role. Providing comic counterpart to the more serious goings-on is nightclub comedian Mort Sahl, making his screen debut in a tailor-made role as an eternal griper. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Wagner, Dana Wynter, (more)
- 1948
- NR
Although Montgomery Clift shot this film following Red River (1948), it was released six months earlier and the combined success of both immediately made him a star. The film, which was the first to be made in Europe after WWII with an American director and cast, was partially based on Europe's Children, a book of photographs by Therese Bonney documenting the orphans of the war. Shot in the American occupied zone of Germany, much of the film, the product of years of research, was based on actual incidents. It opens at the UN Relief and Rehabilitation Administration camp at which war orphans, who have been found wandering through bombed-out ruins, are given temporary housing. The severely traumatized children, many of whom are survivors of concentration camps whose parents are dead, find normal communication almost impossible. Karel Malik (Ivan Jandl), a young Czech boy, is one of these. His mother, Hanna (Jarmilia Novotna), lost contact with him when they were in Auschwitz and she now travels from one refugee camp to another in search of her son. While being transported in an ambulance, some of the children, including Karel, break out and scatter. American G.I. Ralph Stevenson Clift finds him wandering aimlessly, takes him back to his base to feed him, and begins to teach him English. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Montgomery Clift, Aline MacMahon, (more)
