Slim Pickens Movies

Ricardo Montalban is well cast as legendary Mexican bandit Joaquin Murietta in Desperate Mission. As in most previous filmed adaptations of the life of this controversial character, Murietta is depicted as a South of the Border Robin Hood, more sinned against than sinning. The storyline is open-ended enough to suggest that this made-for-TV movie was intended as the pilot for a weekly series. If this was indeed the case, the producers needn't have bothered. Lensed in 1969, Desperate Mission didn't get a TV playdate until December 3, 1971 (though it was released theatrically outside the US in 1970). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Anyone who adopts the initials "J.C." as a nickname probably has a Messianic complex. In Iron Horseman, the hero, the head of a motorcycle gang, wigs out on LSD. While day-tripping, he has a prophetic religious vision. This leads him back to his home town, where he challenges the local church leaders-even unto knocking down chairs and tables in righteous anger, just like....you know. Originally titled J.C., this cinematic epiphany was directed by its star, William McGaha; the better-known cast members include Joanna Moore and Slim Pickens. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After the intense bloodshed of The Wild Bunch (1969), this comic western fable took the opposite approach to director Sam Peckinpah's continuing examination of the end of the West. Left for dead by a couple of lizard-slaughtering desperados in the middle of the desert, prospector Cable Hogue (Jason Robards) is saved by his unexpected discovery of water "where there wasn't any." Hogue turns the water hole, felicitously located near a stagecoach route, into a thriving business, creating a rest stop for a never-ending series of parched travelers. On his occasional trips to the closest town, he meets chipper prostitute Hildy (Stella Stevens), who joins him in his oasis, completing Hogue's little paradise. But even though Hogue may be able to succeed and avenge himself against his original attackers, there is one thing that he cannot stop: progress. Completed before The Wild Bunch was released, and replete with comical and even musical interludes, Peckinpah's gently picaresque telling of Hogue's rise and fall stands in distinct contrast to the visual violence of its predecessor. The underlying message about the cost of modernity, however, equals The Wild Bunch in seriousness. The callous randomness of Hogue's fate is as shocking as the Bunch's final blaze of glory; as in Robert Altman's McCabe and Mrs. Miller from the same period, a tool of "civilization" provokes a most uncivilized end for an Old West dreamer. Although the film was as light-hearted in approach as the 1969 smash hit revisionist western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Warner Bros. mishandled the release and it did barely any business; Peckinpah returned to his trademark gore in his next film, the controversial Straw Dogs (1971). Still, The Ballad of Cable Hogue is less an anomaly for a master of violence than an ironically charming chapter in Peckinpah's career-long elegy to the western. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

Don't confuse this 1970 Italian/Yugoslav Operation Snafu with the 1962 British comedy-drama of the same name. While the earlier film boasted an engaging story and a boisterous early appearance by Sean Connery, the 1970 film is a witless mess. Even star Peter Falk fails to raise a laugh in his role as an American officer assigned to whip a troop of Algerian soldiers into shape during World War II. Their mission is an all-but-suicidal attack on a Sicilian enemy stronghold. As bad as Falk looks in this thing, his fellow "distinguished" American actors Jason Robards and Martin Landau look worse. The film's official title is Situation Normal, All Fouled Up; after five minutes, everyone in the audience will shout in unison the word for which "Fouled" is the accepted euphemism. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the conclusion of a two-part story (originally telecast as a single two-hour episode), Ironside steps up his efforts to locate the kidnapped daughter of his former sweetheart Barbara Richards (Barbara Rush). Complicating the Chief's investigation is Barbara's husband Vic (Philip Carey), who can't get over the fact that his wife was in love with Ironside during a period of amnesia. Meanwhile, an ill-tempered rural lawman (Slim Pickens) also does his best to thwart Ironside's efforts to rescue the kidnap victim, lest all the credit for cracking the case go to an "out-of-towner". Featured in the supporting cast are such impressive talents as Dane Clark and Cloris Leachman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jack Albany (Dick Van Dyke) is an actor in a television series who is mistaken for a real-life murderer Ace Williams (Jack Elam). Comedy ensues when gangster Leo Smooth (Edward G. Robinson) goes after Jack. Robinson reprises the role of the gangster tough guy he made famous in the 1930s. He leads a comical crew of criminals which include Ned Glass, Mickey Shaughnessy, Slim Pickens, Henry Silva and Tony Bill. Sally (Dorothy Provine) is the love interest who comes to the aid of the unhappy Jack. Jerry Paris, who starred as Van Dyke's neighbor in his highly successful television show of the 1960s, directs this Walt Disney-produced comedy. Disney had given the nod to the script and the production blueprints shortly before his death in 1966. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

The Cartwrights and Candy find themselves stranded in the backwater town of Tinbucket. Having picked up false rumors that the Ponderosa is on its last legs, the townsfolk refuse to extend Ben Cartwright any credit. Meanwhile, a series of bizarre coincidences leads to several embarrassing arrests: Candy is accused of cheating at poker, Hoss is nabbed for public drunkenness and theft, and Joe is pinched on a pickpocketing charge. Slim Pickens and Paul Richards guest star in this episode, which was written by David Lang. "Catch as Catch Can" originally aired on October 27, 1968. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This typical western tale of beleaguered townsfolk mustering up the courage to fight the villain that controls their town with an iron fist features atypically bloody violence. Supposedly the top peacekeeper in the frontier town of Jericho, Sheriff Alex Flood (Dean Martin) is actually a ruthless bully and racketeer who owns or profitably intimidates every enterprise in Jericho with the help of his henchmen, including the Yarbrough (Slim Pickens). That is, every business except the lucrative stagecoach line run by the widow Molly Lang (Jean Simmons) and Hickman (John McIntire). Predictably, Flood wants command of the stage business, too, but Lang resists him, even when threatened with bodily harm. Tough gambler Dolan (George Peppard), a former marshal, rides into town intending to work for Lang as a driver, but when he learns of the tension between Lang and Flood he backs off, not wanting any trouble. However, when Yarbrough is caught by Lang trying to sabotage a coach on her property, the thug savagely beats her, forcing Dolan to get involved. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Talion is the alternate title for the blood-splattered western An Eye for an Eye. You know that the filmmakers aren't kidding around when, in the very first scene, outlaw Slim Pickens puts a bullet into a squalling baby! Robert Lansing plays Talion, a homesteader who, after his ranch is burned to the ground and his wife and child are murdered, hires bounty hunter Pat Wayne to track down the killers. The men are forced to rely upon each other when Lansing's gun hand is shattered in a shoot out and Wayne is blinded during a confrontation with the outlaws. Lansing and Wayne combine into one single, unstoppable killing machine. Talion was co-scripted by Bing Russell, father of film star Kurt Russell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In Harm's Way, based on James Bassett's novel Harm's Way, has enough plot in it for four movies or a good miniseries (when it was shown on network television in prime time, it was broken into two very full nights). On the morning of December 7, 1941, a heavy cruiser, commanded by Captain Rockwell Torrey (John Wayne), and the destroyer Cassidy, under acting commander Lieutenant (jg) William McConnell (Thomas Tryon), are two of a handful of ships that escape the destruction of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Under Torrey's command, the tiny fleet of a dozen ships carries out its orders to seek out and engage the enemy fleet. But lack of fuel and a daring maneuver (but tragic miscalculation) by Torrey causes his ship to be seriously damaged. He's relieved of command and assigned to a desk job routing convoys in the shakeup following the attack, and his exec and oldest friend, Commander Paul Eddington (Kirk Douglas), is reassigned after a brawl, the result of his anger after identifying the body of his wife (Barbara Bouchet) who was killed during the attack while cavorting with an Marine Corps officer.

Torrey's shore assignment leads him to reestablish contact on a very hostile level with his estranged son, Ensign Jere Torrey (Brandon de Wilde), from his long-ended marriage; he establishes a romantic relationship with Lt. Maggie Haynes (Patricia Neal), a navy nurse; and he also befriends Commander Egan Powell (Burgess Meredith), a special-intelligence officer. Partly as a result of his contact with Powell, Torrey is chosen by the commander of the Pacific Fleet (Henry Fonda) to salvage an essential operation called Sky Hook, which has become bogged down through the indecisiveness of its area commander, Vice Admiral Broderick (Dana Andrews). Promoted to rear admiral, with Eddington -- who'd been rotting away on a shore assignment, drunk most of the time -- assigned as his chief of staff, Torrey gets Sky Hook rolling and finally finds his purpose in this war, gaining the belated admiration of his son in the process. Eddington is similarly motivated but is still haunted by the violent, ultimately self-destructive demons that blighted his marriage and his life -- he is particularly attracted to a young nurse, Annalee Dohrn (Jill Haworth), not knowing that she is already involved romantically with Jere Torrey. Meanwhile, McConnell survives the sinking of his ship and is ordered to join Torrey's staff. Matters all come to a head when the Japanese begin a counter-offensive to Torrey's planned troop landing. And just at the time Torrey needs his men at their best, Eddington's violence and rage boil to the surface in a way that will destroy him and blight both men's lives. In a final attempt at redemption, Eddington provides Torrey with the information he needs to set up a battle that he has at least a chance of winning, pitting his small task group of destroyers and cruisers against the Japanese task force led by the Yamato, the largest battleship ever built. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Though written by Sam Peckinpah (he adapted the film from a novel by Hoffman Birney), the direction of The Glory Guys was entrusted to the competent but perfunctory Arnold Laven. Cavalry captain Demas Harrod (Tom Tryon) and his faithful scout Sol Rogers (Harve Presnell) are placed under the command of xenophobic general Frederick McCabe (Andrew Duggan), who hates Indians almost as much as his own men hate him. When not preparing to decimate every Native American in their path, Harrod and Rogers carry on a rivalry over the hand of pretty Lou (Senta Berger; another authentic Wild West type). The novelty of the film is that the Indians, rather than the cavalry, win the final battle. Despite a few bursts of cinematic creativity from Laven in the climactic scenes, it still would have been more interesting to see how Sam Peckinpah would have handled The Glory Guys. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide