George Peppard Movies

Filmed in Flagstaff, Arizona, The Bravos top-bills George Peppard as a frontier cavalry commander. It is Peppard's job to protect his fort, and the wagon train passengers sheltered within, from the 2000 Kiowa Indian warriors who dot the surrounding hills. This being a 1972 TV movie, the Native Americans are "savage" only when provoked. When they abduct Peppard's son Vincent Van Patten, it is in retribution for the death of their own chief's son. The Bravos was the 90-minute pilot film for a never-sold western series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this western, a train robber is framed by a fellow gang member and sent to prison. The gang member betrayed him so that he could marry the robber's love. To get his revenge, the robber helps out a gang of Chinese whose father, the other guy kidnapped. A showdown between the two leads ensues. Naturally the hero wins it all. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Set in England, The Executioner stars American actor George Peppard as John Shay, a British spy. Shay is convinced that there's a double agent at large, and he's further convinced that it's his former colleague Adam Booth (Keith Michell). Having set himself up as judge and jury, Shay now intends to act the part of executioner. Also figuring into the proceedings (and displaying various degrees of guilt and innocence) are Joan Collins, Judy Geeson and Oscar Homolka. The talky script isn't given much in the way of visual dynamics by director Sam Wanamaker, but The Executioner manages to sustain an acceptable level of tension. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, New York City undergoes a dramatic change when a toucan carrying a strange virus is smuggled through customs. In those it infects, the virus causes an intense euphoria and a desire to do good. The first man to receive the infected bird is a misanthropic, cynical artist who lives in an apartment with his girlfriend. The couple names the toucan "Amigo," and soon they are indeed happy. They decide to spread it around and so the bird is freed. The Big Apple goes into an economic tailspin as its residents become deliriously happy and stop buying cigarettes, booze and tranquilizers. To save the financially foundering city, the mayor and a presidential envoy begin distributing unpleasant masks to the happy city-dwellers. The artist and friends thwart the officials' scheme by infecting the masks. So begins a battle between the officials and the artist. Eventually Amigo is caught, and an antidote is delivered. The renowned rudeness, cruelty and selfishness of the native New Yorkers quickly returns, and the city is saved. The artist realizes that his quest has been futile, and he devotes the rest of his time and energy to making his girlfriend happy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Reno Davis (George Peppard) is an American writer who has retired from the gentle art of boxing. Now wandering through France, he takes a job as a tutor for the son of a wealthy widow. Anne de Villemont (Inger Stevens) employs Reno to help in the education of her son Paul (Barnaby Shaw). Reno is led to believe Anne's husband was a French general killed in the Algerian conflict. He is puzzled over Anne's fears that her eight-year-old son will be kidnapped. Reno discovers the family has ties to a fascist organization that plans to takeover France, Algeria and finally, all of Europe. He contends with the shady psychiatrist Morillon (Keith Michell) and mysterious family friend Leschenhaut (Orson Welles), both of whom scare Anne whenever they are around. Reno is framed for his best friend's murder as he and Anne become the targets of the ambitious and maniacal schemers who wish to rule the entire European continent. Reno and Anne escape by car and plane, dodging bullets and kidnap attempts as they try to protect Paul from being abducted. The chase ends at the Coliseum in Rome, where Reno and the villains engage in a showdown in this gripping, mysterious crime thriller. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Arthur Hiller directed this exciting World War II drama starring Rock Hudson as Major Donald Craig of the British North African Army. In 1942, Craig is captured by the Vichy French, rescued by Palestinian Jews, and taken to the headquarters of Col. John Harker (Nigel Green). Harker explains that since Craig is an expert on the desert, he has been recruited to mount a suicidal raid upon the fuel bunkers at Rommel's key source of supplies at Tobruk. In order to get to Tobruk, a band of Palestinian Jews, commanded by Captain Kurt Bergman (George Peppard), will pose as German soldiers escorting a group of British prisoners. Making their way across the Libyan desert, the band endures a series of close calls until two Nazis spies are captured. When the spies suddenly escape, Harker and Craig realize someone in their group is a traitor. But by this point they have reached their destination and have to table the problem of the traitor as they battle the Germans around the fuel depot at Tobruk. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

This big-budget, big-studio espionage film is set in the last years of World War II. George Peppard, Tom Courtenay and Jeremy Kemp parachute into Germany, with orders to destroy the Nazis' V-1 rocket base at Peenemunde. Given the order of billing, guess which special operative survives the longest. This being an MGM production, Peppard has time to commiserate with Sophia Loren, the wife of the Nazi collaborator whom Peppard is pretending to be. If you're wondering about the film's outcome, remember who won the war. Operation Crossbow failed badly in its first release; MGM, deciding that the title misled moviegoers into thinking that the picture was a "Robin Hood" derivation, cleared up matters by renaming the film The Great Spy Mission. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Edward Dmytryk brings Harold Robbins' trashy, dirt-dishing Hollywood best-seller to the screen with George Peppard starring as Jonas Cord, a rancidly-sketched portrait of Howard Hughes. In 1925, when his father dies of a stroke, Jonas inherits the Cord Chemical factory, a manufacturer of dynamite and other explosives. Jonas proceeds with several cut-throat transactions, making a settlement with his sexy stepmother Rina (Carroll Baker) and liquidating the stock owned by cowhand Nevada Smith (Alan Ladd, in his final American film role). With the help of Mac McAllister (Lew Ayres), his father's attorney, Jonas builds his father's company into a multi-million dollar business, expanding into plastics and aeronautics. Meanwhile, Rina has become a top fashion model and movie star and Nevada Smith has parlayed his laconic demeanor into a career as a popular silent film cowboy idol. Jonas then marries, then ignores, the well-meaning Monica Winthrop (Elizabeth Ashley), and ruins her father's company in the process. Then, with the advent of sound films, Jonas helps Nevada Smith through the sound film crisis by offering financial backing for a film to star both Nevada and his ex-mother-in-law Rina. Jonas decides to direct the film himself, hoping to seduce Rina. But Jonas's insensitive and egomaniacal behavior causes Monica to leave him. Jonas invests all his time in film production but the alcoholic Rina dies in a car accident. The owners of the film studio -- Bernard B. Norman (Martin Balsam) and Dan Pierce (Robert Cummings) -- want to sell the studio to Jonas but hide the fact that Rina, the studio's biggest star, has died. Jonas buys the studio and when he finds his biggest asset is gone, he goes on a drunken binge. But Jonas quickly meets call girl Jennie Denton (Martha Hyer), who he decides to turn into a superstar modeled upon Rina. Despite having made her a star, Jonas's vile treatment of Jennie repulses both her and his old friend Nevada Smith, and Smith decides it's time to beat some sense into Jonas's head. ~ Paul Brenner, 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

William Humphrey's novel Home From the Hill is compressed into 150 minutes for this MGM all-starrer. Robert Mitchum plays Capt. Wade Hunnicutt, a Texas millionaire, married to Hannah (Eleanor Parker). The Hunnicutts have two children of approximately the same age: Wade's biological son, Theron (George Hamilton in one of his earliest film roles), and his illegitimate son, Rafe (George Peppard). As the story opens, Wade conducts an extramarital affair; meanwhile, Theron (George Hamilton), disturbed by his parents' dysfunctional relationship, is not anxious to marry his true love, Libby Halstead (Luana Patten). The vicious cycle threatens to continue when Libby gives birth to Theron's out-of-wedlock son, but it is Rafe who turns Libby into an "honest woman" by acting as father to the child. Vincente Minnelli directs his material operatically, which is as it should be given the larger-than-life character and emotional entanglements he has to deal with. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Pork Chop Hill was based on the eyewitness essays of ex-soldier S. L. A. Marshall. The film is set during the Korean "police action." While diplomats argue pointlessly over the shape of the negotiation tables at Panmunjon, United Nations troops bleed and die. Lieutenant Gregory Peck leads a 135-man unit on the attack of the Chinese-held Pork Chop Hill. When reinforcements finally arrive, only 25 of Peck's men survive (and they aren't the usual survivors we've come to expect from earlier, cliché-ridden war films). Among the American troops are such dependable performers as Harry Guardino, Woody Strode, Rip Torn, Barry Atwater, George Peppard, Robert Blake and Martin Landau. Former cowboy-star Bob Steele also shows up briefly as an American general. According to director Lewis Milestone, Pork Chop Hill was cut by nearly twenty minutes because the wife of star Gregory Peck felt that her husband made his first entrance too late into the picture. True or not, the film does show signs of post-production tampering, with flashes of several excised scenes showing up under the main title credits. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

While on vacation in Mexico, a wealthy woman dies in the back seat of the car owned by her daughter Janet (Mary Scott) and son-in-law Evan (George Peppard). Reporting the woman's demise, the couple returns to find that the car has been stolen -- and with no corpse, they will be unable to claim Janet's inheritance. In desperation, Janet and Evan hire a sleazy private eye named Tomas Salgado (a role made to order for Peter Lorre), who agrees to locate the body and ship it back to Los Angeles...but only for a hefty price. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide