Dee Pollock Movies

In this spy thriller, Gorenko (Max Von Sydow) is on the run from his Russian spymasters, and wants to defect. The Americans hide him in their Beirut embassy until they can sneak him into the States. Colonel Kesten (Chuck Connors) appears to be an American, but is actually a Russian double agent with orders to kill Gorenko. Their dangerous cat-and-mouse game continues until Kesten is revealed for what he is and is finally subdued. Chuck Connors' performance is one of the highlights of this film. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Elaine Bayler (Mala Powers), the wife of small-town big shot Richard Bayler (Lloyd Gough), is being blackmailed by an unknown party who threatens to expose Elaine's romance with her protegee, musician Donald Hobart (Will Hutchins), unless she ponies up $10,000. While making the "drop", Elaine is murdered, whereupon Donald's girlfriend Cynthia Perkins (Luana Patten) is charged with the crime. Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) is forced to relinquish a long-awaited fishing excursion to defend Cynthia in court. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Acting as squad leader in Saunders' absence, Caje (Pierre Jalbert) is faced with an unexpected problem from within his own ranks. For some reason, Private Thomas (Dee Pollock) lives in mortal terror of Private Jackson (Mike Kellin), a cynical wisecracker from another squad. What is the power that Jackson holds over Thomas--and what will this mean to Caje, who is now himself the target of Jackson's vitriol? ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In Bayou country, Kimble (David Janssen) hitches a ride with Hanes McClure (Warren Oates), an obnoxious braggart who happens to be wanted by the authorities of a variety of crimes. Local police captain Charles Shafter (Philip Abbott) is grateful when Kimble subsequently helps him capture McClure, but he still is duty-bound to hold Kimble until Lt. Gerard (Barry Morse) arrives. Complicating matters is a mixed-up kid named Tad Thompson (Dee Pollock), who idolizes Hanes and helps him bust out of jail. Though willing to take advantage of the jailbreak himself, Kimble realizes that he must prevent Tad from following in McClure's crooked footsteps. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Plunderers is a fairly slow-paced, uneven western about a group of young toughs who run amok until they are brought up short by a one-armed Civil War vet. The leader Jeb (Ray Strickland) is accompanied by his three cohorts, Mule (Roger Torrey) a hulking Paul Bunyan type, Rondo (John Saxon), and Davy (Dee Pollack), the most innocent of the quartet. When the young men arrive in the small town, they take it over and rule the roost like four despots. Sam (Jeff Chandler), a shell-shocked veteran of the Civil War, slowly gets his act together and begins to take the four down, one at a time. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

The Kingston Trio's hit song with the lyrics "hang down your head Tom Dooley, hang down your head and cry..." may have been the inspiration for this well-wrought drama, but the film stands on its own. Three Confederate soldiers learn too late that the stagecoach they just attacked, killing two Union soldiers, was off-limits because the Civil War was over. Killing the former enemy after peace has been declared is considered murder, so the three young men decide to head for refuge further south. One of the three, Tom Dooley (Michael Landon) takes a detour to find his Northern sweetheart and marry her before escaping. That, it turns out, was a fatal mistake and the beginning of a folk hero and a folk song. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

A steamship docks in San Francisco, and as one of the passengers, Philip Dressler (Raymond Bailey), is waiting for a cab after clearing customs, a baggage handler suddenly grabs one of his cases and throws it into a taxi, which takes off. In the ensuing getaway, a police officer is killed, but not before he gets off a shot that takes the fleeing cab driver's life. What Lieutenant Ben Guthrie (Warner Anderson) and Inspector Al Quine (Emile G. Meyer) can't figure out is why two men are suddenly dead within a matter of seconds, all for a seemingly inexplicable baggage snatch. The truth begins to come out when an examination reveals that a small ornamental statue in Dressler's case is loaded with half a million dollars in pure heroin. Then the bodies start turning up -- beginning with a baggage handler at the docks. Guthrie and Quine uncover a plan by a drug syndicate to use innocent, unsuspecting tourists visiting the Far East as unknowing drug couriers -- and now that the original method of retrieval at the docks has unraveled, thanks to the wheelman being an addict who got himself killed, another method is improvised.

Enter a pair of hitmen from out of town, Dancer (Eli Wallach), a soft-spoken psychopath with a perfect memory and not a trace of conscience, and his philosophical mentor and "handler," Julian (Robert Keith). Taken around San Francisco by their mob-employed driver, Sandy McLain (Richard Jaeckel), a juicehead who's not quite as good a wheelman as he thinks he is, the hitmen start collecting the latest shipment of heroin from three new arrivals: a ship's crew member who knows too much for his own good, a wealthy husband and wife, and a woman and her young daughter. They calmly go about their business, Dancer and his silenced pistol taking care of any "problems" while Julian runs interference and discusses issues of grammar and speech with him, and adds to his collection of "last words" from Dancer's victims -- until the last shipment turns up missing. It seems the little girl (Cheryl Callaway) found the bag of white powder hidden on the doll her mother bought her, and used it to powder the doll's face....Now Dancer and Julian have to disrupt the planned drop to "The Man" (Vaughn Taylor) to explain the short count, and to do that they have to keep the little girl and her mother (Mary Laroche) alive, at least long enough to tell their story. Meanwhile, Guthrie and Quine keep getting closer, following the trail of bodies and putting together a description of the two killers. But can they find them before the kidnapped mother and daughter join the other victims? ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Police detectives Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) race against time to rectify a potentially fatal error. The drug presciptions for two different women have accidentally been switched--and both women have already purchased the drugs. The detectives all but turn L.A. inside out to locate the women before the wrong prescriptions can be consumed. This episode was cowritten by Ken Kolb, whose other credits include the classic fantasy film The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Robert Jordan is a television star. Robert Jordan likes things orderly, on time and properly executed. In his world children are to be seen, not heard. So why would Mr. Jordan want to become the master of a rambunctious band of Boy Scouts? Ratings. His staff figures that if learns how to interact with the youth, they will be more inclined to watch his show. Of course watching Jordan cope comprises most of the fun. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Irene Dunne made her final film appearance in the frothy fantasy It Grows on Trees. Looking at least two decades younger than her 52 years, Dunne plays Polly Baxter, the ebullient wife of Phil Baxter (Dean Jagger). Miracle of miracles, two of the trees in Polly's backyard garden begin sprouting paper currency! Assuming that it's genuine mazumah, Polly goes on a spending spree, and also pays off the long-standing mortgage on the house. The money-yielding trees soon become a nationwide sensation, drawing thousands of interested parties to the Baxters' tiny backyard. A major setback is inevitable, but the manner in which the dilemma is solved is both clever and logical. When it isn't concentrating on the plot proper, It Grows on Trees offers some amusing jibes at the U.S. Treasury Department, the IRS, and small-town pretentiousness. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Adapted from the stage thriller The Man (itself based upon a half-hour radio drama), Beware My Lovely is a taut suspenser tailor-made for the talents of Ida Lupino and Robert Ryan. Lupino plays a pretty widow who impulsively hires handyman Ryan to look after her house. She soon learns Ryan is a dangerous schizophrenic, but by the time she comes to this realization she is unable to escape her house. The tension mounts apace, leading to an unexpected but quite logical finale. Produced by Lupino's then-husband Collier Young, Beware My Lovely was released by RKO Radio. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi