Slim Pickens Movies

An Italian mechanic (Terence Hill) finds that he has inherited a billion-dollar company from his dead uncle, but he needs to be in San Francisco in 20 days to sign over the will. In the meantime, he is chased by kidnappers and the affected corporation's president (Jackie Gleason). ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

Joe Camp, the writer and director of Benji, tried his hand with another breed of animal in this comedy. A U.S. Cavalry unit in Texas is having a hard time dealing with horses who aren't acclimated to the hot, dry weather, so it becomes the subject of an experiment -- instead of horses, the cavalry men will be issued camels, with hapless Howard Clemmons (James Hampton) put in charge of training the soldiers to handle their new mounts. While no one is happy with the arrangement at first, in time the soldiers become quite fond of their camels, so they're quite upset when the experiment is declared a failure and they're ordered to let the camels go free. Hawmps! also starred Western stalwarts Slim Pickens, Denver Pyle, and Jack Elam; well-known animal trainer Frank Inn has a bit part as a cook. Hawmps! was originally released at 126 minutes, though it was soon trimmed to 113 minutes; the shorter version is the only one in circulation at this time.


~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this action film, trucker Carrol Jo Hummer (Jan-Michael Vincent) borrows money to purchase a truck of his own, only to discover that part of his "payment plan" includes smuggling goods on his trips. When Carrol refuses to participate in the underhanded scheme, a group of thugs threaten his wife, leading Carrol to fight back with a vengeance. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

In this low-budget, violent and trashy exploitation outing, an African-American singer is kidnapped and forced to endure all sorts of torments and indignities at the hands of a white, psycho Southern family. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Susan Clark won an Emmy for her performance as legendary woman athlete Babe Didrickson (1916-1956). The film starts in Port Arthur, Texas, with teenaged Babe depriving herself of a social life in order to excel at track and field. Her well-honed skills and fierce competitive spirit win Babe a slot at the Los Angeles-based 1932 Olympics. Able to excel in practically any sport, Babe becomes a pro golfer, tennis player and billiard champ. In 1940, she meets and marries roughhewn ex-wrestler George Zaharias (played by Alex Karras, Clark's real-life future husband), who becomes her mentor and manager. Despite the anticipated career and personal conflicts, George stays by Babe's side for the next sixteen years, ultimately buoying her spirits during her three-year ordeal with terminal cancer. Babe was adapted by Emmy nominee Joanna Lee from Babe Didrickson Zaharias' autobiography This Life I've Led. Footnote: for a glance at the real Babe Zaharias in action on the golf links, see the Spencer Tracy/Katharine Hepburn vehicle Pat and Mike (52). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In Frank Perry's curious, off-center comedy Western, Jeff Bridges and Sam Waterston play Jack McKee and Cecil Carlson, a couple of cattle rustlers whose special target is taciturn rancher John Brown (Clifton James). Both men are outcasts by choice; McKee can't stand being around his stuck-up ex-wife (played by Doria Cook), while Carlson, an Indian, finds his fellow tribesmen too tradition-bound for his tastes. Together, they plan to lift themselves out of the penny-ante class with one big crime caper. Brown gets wind of their scheme, and sends private eye Henry Beige (Slim Pickens) after them. The cast is top-heavy with attractive women, ranging from Brown's bored wife, Cora (Elizabeth Ashley), to "camp followers" Betty Fargo (Patti D'Arbanville) and Mary Fargo (Maggie Wellman). Thomas McGuane authored the script; Jimmy Buffett provides the songs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this countrified comedy, a pair of hell-raisin' bootleggers try to get revenge upon the moonshiners who plugged their Grandpappy. They also try to get their latest batch of corn-squeezin's to Memphis before their rivals. Look carefully for a young Jaclyn Smith. When she became a star in the television show Charlie's Angels a short time later, this film was retitled Bootlegger's Angel. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Veteran art director Gordon Wiles occasionally wielded the directorial megaphone in both films and television with mixed results. Ginger in the Morning is an aggressively "small" picture, its success or failure totally reliant on the rapport between its stars. A young Sissy Spacek plays the title character, a gangly teenaged hitchhiker who thumbs a ride from travelling salesman Joe (Monte Markham). He is drawn to her free-spirited outlook on life. She, in turn, is attracted by his conservative, old-fashioned values. Nothing much happens, but the scenery is lovely and the leading players seem to be having a good time. Also appearing in the all-TV supporting cast are Susan Oliver, Mark Miller and Slim Pickens. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A former friend betrays a legendary outlaw in Sam Peckinpah's final Western. Holed up in Fort Sumner with his gang between cattle rustlings, Billy the Kid (Kris Kristofferson) ignores the advice of comrade-turned-lawman Pat Garrett (James Coburn) to escape to Mexico, and he winds up in jail in Lincoln, New Mexico. After Billy theatrically escapes, inspiring enigmatic Lincoln resident Alias (Bob Dylan) to join him, the governor (Jason Robards Jr.) and cattle baron Chisum (Barry Sullivan) requisition Garrett to form a posse and hunt him down. Rather than flee to Mexico when he can, Billy heads back to Fort Sumner, meeting his final destiny at the hands of his friend Pat, who, two decades later, is forced to face the consequences of his own Faustian pact with progress. With a script by Rudolph Wurlitzer, Peckinpah uses the historical basis of Billy's death to eulogize the West dreamily yet violently as it is desecrated by corrupt capitalists. Both Pat and Billy know that their time is passing, as surely as Garrett's posse knows that they are participating in a legend. Using familiar Western players like Slim Pickens and Katy Jurado, Peckinpah underscores the West's existence as a media myth, and he even appears himself as a coffin maker. Just as the bloodletting of Peckinpah's earlier The Wild Bunch (1969) invoked the Vietnam War, the casting of Kristofferson and Dylan alluded to the chaotic late '60s/early '70s present; the counterculture has little place in a corporate future. Also like The Wild Bunch, Pat Garrett was truncated by its studio; the cuts did nothing to help its box office. Key scenes, particularly the framing story of Garrett's fate, have since been restored to the home-video version. In this director's cut, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid stands as one of Peckinpah's most beautiful and complex films, killing the Western myth even as he salutes it. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

Dennis Weaver plays a tow-truck driver sent to prison on a trumped-up charges of attempted murder. Out after serving four years, Weaver finds himself a reluctant loner. His wife has died, and his two sons have disappeared. In seeking out his boys, Weaver also keeps an eye out for the man responsible for railroading him into jail. Whenever the script or the character threaten to lapse into cliche, The Rolling Man compensates with attractive camerawork taking full advantage of the Southern California landscape. This TV movie had all the earmarks of a pilot for a series, but there's no evidence to back up this suspicion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The exciting world of rodeo provides the framework for this western saga that centers around a temperamental bronc rider who tries prove himself worthy of his wife, son, and his best friend's respect. He also wants to keep his freedom. Songs include: "Easy Made for Lovin," "My Special Day," "I'm a Rodeo Cowboy." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Ernest Borgnine plays alcoholic vagabond Sam Hill in this pilot film for a potential western detective series. Sam Hill is appointed sheriff of a one-horse town, then promptly becomes mixed up in a murder case. The victim was a preacher who was collecting $10,000 to build a new church; the money of course disappeared the moment the preacher turned up dead. Hill investigates and learns that the mysterious Bible-thumper was not all he claimed to be. The sheriff must get to the bottom of the case before he's ousted by a special election. Sam Hill: Who Killed Mr. Foster? lost out in the "Disheveled Frontier Detective" sweepstakes to another TV pilot film, Richard Boone's Hec Ramsey. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide