Frank Puglia Movies

Dean Martin had his final leading role in this obscure drama about a San Francisco lawyer defending a black militant (Thalmus Rasulala) on trial for murder. The familiar supporting cast includes Cindy Williams, Philip Michael Thomas, and Room 222's Denise Nicholas. Filmmaker Paul Bogart, who directed many of the best episodes of the ground-breaking series All in the Family, went on to make Torch Song Trilogy. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

When a wealthy friend of the San Francisco police commissioner reports that his dog is missing, a disgruntled Ironside (Raymond Burr) passes the responsibility of locating the pooch to his assistants Ed (Don Galloway) and Eve (Barbara Anderson). Meanwhile, Mark (Don Mitchell) finds out that the lost dog is in the hands of some two-bit thieves who've decided to "achieve greatness" by kidnapping the pets of the rich and famous--and they're not above eliminating anyone who gets in their way. Frequent Ironside director Abner Biberman takes on an acting role in this episode. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Posing as "Tony Maxwell", Richard Kimble (David Janssen) hides out in the Barrio of an unnamed city. Taking a job at the cigar-manufacturing business run by Jose Anza (Gilbert Roland), Kimble befriends Jose's grandson Jimmy (Tom Nardini), a troubled youth torn between the demands of his father and the peer pressure exerted by a local street gang. Offering to help Kimble hide from the police, Jimmy soons discovers that the real threat to the fugitive's safety is the boy's own hoodlum "friends". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this episode from The Man from U.N.C.L.E. series, the two good guy spies must stop a criminal mastermind from altering the course of the Gulf Stream. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Frank Puglia reprises his 1944 role as Prince Cassim for this remake of the Arabian Nights adventure. Ali Baba (Peter Mann) battles against the Mongol invaders and fights for the woman he loves. Footage from the 1944 feature is used to tie the stories together. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

One of Elvis Presley's biggest moneymakers, Girls Girls Girls casts ol' swivel-hips as a tuna-boat fisherman working out of Hawaii. Elvis chases after all the wrong girls, while ignoring the girls who genuinely care for him. Here, as Ross Carpenter, Presley has two main love interests: sexy vocalist Robin (Stella Stevens and heiress Laurel (Laurel Goodwin), who pretends to be poor so as not to wound Ross's pride. When rude 'n' crude Wesley Johnson (Jeremy Slate), who owns Ross's boat, makes a play for Laurel, Ross punches him out. He loses his boat, but it hardly matters since he and Laurel have found true love. Songs crucial to the action are the title tune, "Return to Sender," and "Song of the Shrimp." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The six Genna brothers have figured out a clever method to make and distribute illegal whiskey right under the noses of Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) and the Untouchables. The Gennas smuggle illegal immigrants into Chicago's Little Italy district, then force them to manufacture whiskey in their homes, lest they be turned over to the immigration authorities. Though Al Capone has warned gang boss Mike Genna (Marc Lawrence) never to put his trust in "greenhorns", the plan works beautifully--until a careless gang member makes the mistake of killing the daughter of immigrant bootlegger Carlo Giovanni (Frank Puglia). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This was the first film directed by Paul Stanley, and its theme of second-generation Puerto Ricans living in New York's Spanish Harlem would be picked up again in 1961's smash success, West Side Story. Miguel Estrada (John Saxon) was a member of a local gang before he went to prison for a year, and now that he is out he wants to walk the straight-and-narrow. His attempts at getting away from the life that binds him to the gangs are not anything his father can understand, and the gangs are not going to let him just walk away. At one point, he is forced into a knife fight with a gang member. A counterpoint to Miguel's dilemma is found in Sarita (Linda Cristal), a local "hostess" who prefers single bliss to marriage and its problems. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

One of special-effects wizard Ray Harryhausen's pre-Seventh Voyage of Sinbad efforts, 20 Million Miles to Earth borrows a few pages from King Kong. An American spaceship crashlands off the coast of Sicily. The rescue party discovers that the astronauts have inadvertently brought back a curious gelatinous mass from the planet Venus. This lump of goo rapidly evolves into be a living reptilian creature, which scientists label an "Ymir". While being subjected to laboratory experimentation, the Ymir begins growing by leaps and bounds, and before long the gigantic monstrosity has escaped and is wreaking havoc in Rome. After battling a zoo elephant and taking a swim in the Tiber, the gargantuan creature holes up in the Colosseum, where the film's pyrotechnic finale occurs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cashing in on the popularity of TV's Davy Crockett and the jukebox favorite "Yellow Rose of Texas", Allied Artists came up with the CinemaScope biopic The First Texan. The title character is Sam Houston, played with rugged assuredness by Joel McCrea. The film begins when Houston leaves Tennessee for Texas, where at first he keeps to himself and avoids politics. As events overwhelm him, however, Houston evolves into the territory's most conspicuous patriot. His efforts to thwart Mexican general Santa Ana's efforts to recapture Texas for Mexico culminate in the battle of the Alamo, which is recreated in brisk, economical fashion. Somewhat perversely, Davy Crockett is reduced to a bit part in The First Texan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Nightclub singer Ilona Vance (Vera Ralston) is Accused of Murder in this Republic programmer. And from the looks of things, Ilona is guilty; she was, after all, the last person to see crooked lawyer Hobart (Sidney Blackmer) alive. But Lt. Roy Hargis (David Brian) is convinced that Ilona is innocent, and he intends to prove it. Except for the mildly surprising denoument, there is little in Accused of Murder that is not thoroughly predictable. Star Vera Ralston, the wife of Republic chieftan Herbert J. Yates, is her usual expressionless self. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by Gwen Bristow, Jubilee Trail is a sprawling, all-star western from the Republic Studio mills. Despite is vaunted budget, the plot is strictly B-picture material. Ambitious California landowner Charles Hale (Ray Middleton) hopes to add to his riches by marrying off his brother Oliver (John Russell) to a wealthy Spanish family. But when Oliver weds a gal named Garnet (Joan Leslie) instead, Charles vows revenge against the new bride. Later, Oliver is killed, leaving Garnet to raise their baby alone. Charles intends to claim the baby for himself, but Garnet, who has subsequently fallen in love with John Ives (Forrest Tucker), isn't about to let that happen. Top-billed Vera Ralston plays saloon-hall chirp Florinda, a Woman With a Past who is peripherally involved in the plot proper, while Richard Webb, TV's "Captain Midnight", fills the obligatory "disgruntled suitor" role. The film is stolen hands down by Pat O'Brien as a drunken doctor who serves as last-minute problem-solver. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bob Hope tries to capture the comic magic of his 1946 costume farce Monsieur Beaucaire with the splashy Technicolor romp Casanova's Big Night (filmed in 1952, released in 1954). Set in 18th century Venice, the film casts Hope as Pippo, the humble tailor of notorious ladies' man Casanova (an unbilled Vincent Price). When Casanova skips town without paying his debts, the local tradesman's guild, led by Casanova's butler Lucio (Basil Rathbone), conspire to pass off one of their number as the great lover and arrange a profitable marriage. Selected to impersonate Casanova is the hapless Pippo, who soon afterward is hired by the imperious Duchess of Castelbello (Hope Emerson) to test the fidelity of the duchess' future daughter-in-law Elena (Audrey Dalton). Along the way, Pippo is given lessons in etiquette and swordsmanship by both Lucio and tradeswoman Francesca (Joan Fontaine). Eventually, Pippo finds himself up to his neck in court intrigue, courtesy of the scheming Doge of Venice (Arnold Moss). Further complications include a couple of hilarious swashbuckling scenes, an interlude in a dungeon with addlepated prisoner Emo (Lon Chaney), and the obligatory disguise scene. The Pirandellian ending of Casanova's Big Night was later imitated by such films as The Maltese Bippy (1969) and Wayne's World (1992). Bob Hope is in fine form, the production is sumptuous and the supporting cast superb, but somehow there's a little something missing in Casanova's Big Night. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide