Robert Roark Movies
TV star Brett Halsey is the lead in The Girl in Lover's Lane. While drifting through a small town, Bix (Halsey) becomes involved with local tease Carrie (Joyce Meadows). Shortly afterward, Carrie is murdered, and Bix is held responsible. The actual killer is feeble-minded Jesse (Jack Elam), but the villagers aren't as quick on the uptake as the movie audience. Only the intervention of runaway youngster Danny (Lowell Brown) saves Bix from a lynch mob. Girl in Lover's Lane was directed by another TV habitue, Charles R. Rondeau. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1956
The D-Day invasion of 1944 provides a backdrop for the Allied Artists actioner Screaming Eagles. Tom Tryon plays Private Mason, an ill-tempered member of the 101st Airborne Infantry division. Mason makes plenty of enemies with his negative attitude until good-guy lieutenant Pauling (Jan Merlin) straightens him out. The 101st' s main objective (once all personal travails are swept away, that is) is to capture and hold a vital bridge in Normandy. Jacqueline Beer, later one of the costars of TV's 77 Sunset Strip, provides the feminine interest as an attractive resistance fighter (were there ever any unattractive resistance fighters?) Featured in the cast are TV favorites Martin Milner and Alvy Moore and second-generation thespian Edward G. Robinson Jr. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Tryon, Jan Merlin, (more)
- 1956
Blackjack Ketchum, the real-life gunslinger who'd previously been a peripheral character in several westerns, is herein afforded his own feature-length "vehicle". Howard Duff plays the title role, who at the beginning of the film is doing his best to live down his reputation. This proves impossible when land baron Jared Tetlow (Victor Jory) and his brood muscle into the territory. Hoping to champion the cause of his fellow ranchers, Ketchum once more straps on his guns and prepares to do battle against Tetlow's henchmen. Naturally, Ketchum's sweetheart Nita Riordan (played by Maggie Mahoney, the mother of actress Sally Field) would prefer that Our Hero abstain from gunplay, but.Blackjack Ketchum, Desperado was based on a novel by Louis L'Amour. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Howard Duff, Victor Jory, (more)
The life story of West Point athletic director Marty Maher was the inspiration for John Ford's The Long Gray Line. Told in flashback, the film recalls the first days at the Point for Irish immigrant Maher (Tyrone Power), a pugnacious boy who can't seem to fit in with the institution's regimen of unquestioning discipline. Athletic director Ward Bond takes a liking to Maher and arranges for the young man to become his assistant; Bond also plays Cupid between Maher and Irish maidservant Mary O'Donnell (Maureen O'Hara). When Mary's baby is stillborn, the Mahers begin to regard the West Point cadets as their surrogate children: this eventually leads to the film's most touching scene, in which Mary bids farewell to her son-substitute as he marches off to World War II. Following Mary's death, Marty stays on at the Point, until the place seems somehow incomplete without his presence. On the occasion of his forced retirement, Maher gently pleads with one of his former students--President Dwight D. Eisenhower--to permit him to remain at his post (Ike is played by Harry Carey Jr. in his early scenes, and by the voice of Paul Frees in the wraparound White House scenes). Based on Marty Maher's autobiography, The Long Gray Line seems at first glance too leisurely for its own good, but this appealing film gradually grows on its audience--just like Marty Maher himself. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tyrone Power, Maureen O'Hara, (more)
Henry Fonda returned to films after an eight-year absence in this masterful adaptation of the actor's Broadway hit Mister Roberts. Written and partially directed by Joshua Logan, the film stars Fonda as Lt. Doug Roberts, chief cargo officer of the supply ship "Reluctant." WW2 is in its last few months, and Roberts is itching for combat duty. But the Reluctant's surly, despotic captain (James Cagney), anxious to use Roberts to expedite his own promotion, refuses to sign any of Roberts' transfer requests. Helping to brighten Mister Roberts' humdrum existence are his best friends, Ensign Frank Pulver (Jack Lemmon, in an Oscar-winning performance) and the ship's philosophical doctor (William Powell, in his final film appearance). Most of the laughs are provided by Pulver, officer "in charge of laundry and morale." When he isn't wheeling and dealing to bring a bevy of beautiful nurses on board the Reluctant, Pulver is concocting elaborate schemes to avenge himself against the Captain -- even though he's spent 14 months on the Reluctant without ever meeting his nemesis. The film's highlights include the efforts by Roberts, Pulver, and Doc to mix a bottle of Scotch from Coca-Cola, Iodine, and other vital ingredients; and Mister Roberts' (and later Ensign Pulver's) assertion of manhood by tossing the Captain's precious palm tree overboard. Halfway through shooting, legendary director John Ford was replaced, ostensibly because of illness, by Mervyn LeRoy. One of the finest service comedies ever made, Mister Roberts spawned a less amusing sequel, Ensign Pulver (1964), as well as a 1965 TV sitcom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry Fonda, James Cagney, (more)
Target Earth was adapted from Paul W. Fairman's short story Deadly City. Set in, of all places, Chicago, this sci-fier concentrates on four people who've congregated in the deserted city after a sudden and mysterious evacuation. The ill-matched foursome are Vicki Harris (Virginia Grey), a flashy, trashy blonde; Nora King (Kathleen Crowley), a young widow; Frank Brooks (Richard Denning), a handsome fellow with a questionable past; and Jim Wilson (Dick Reeves), a brutish transient. Though they don't get along at first, the four strangers are compelled to unite against a common enemy: an invading Venusian army, using huge robots to do their dirty work. Nothing spectacular, Target Earth works well within its modest limitations. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Denning, Kathleen Crowley, (more)
The Killers from Space in this low-budget sci-fier are a group of aliens bent on conquering the earth. To this end, they overtake the mind and body of atomic scientist Peter Graves, using the poor man as a combination spy and saboteur. When Graves realizes this, he tries to warn mankind, but no one believes him. Marching defiantly back to the aliens' Bronson Canyon headquarters, where the slimy villains are busily syphoning off electrical power from a nearby generator, Graves vows to stop the extraterrestrials at any cost...including his own life (or what there's left of it). The makeup used for the aliens is laughable, but the film works so long as it concentrates on Graves' plight. Produced and directed by W. Lee Wilder, the brother of the more celebrated Billy Wilder, Killers from Space was distributed in the US by RKO Radio. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Graves, James Seay, (more)
- 1954
Also known as Stormy, the Thoroughbred with an Inferiority Complex, this live-action Disney short subject was originally released in tandem with The Living Desert and Ben and Me. Co-written by actor Jack Holt and narrated by George Fenneman, the film concentrates on a Kentucky-born colt who undergoes an emotional crisis when his actual August birthdate is officially changed to January 1st, just like every other thoroughbred. Smaller than most of his fellow horses, Stormy feels left out and ignored but eventually realizes his true worth as a polo pony. Director Larry Lansbaugh later graduated to features with the Disney release The Littlest Outlaw (1955). Stormy was first seen on television as the March 14, 1956 installment of the weekly anthology Disneyland. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1954
Debra Paget displays as much epidermis as the 1954 censors would allow in the escapist adventure Princess of the Nile. Ms. Paget is cast as Taura, a fearless 13th century princess who does her best to defend Egypt against an invading Bedouin (Michael Rennie). When not wielding her trusty scimitar, Taura poses as a dancing girl to undermine the Bedouin's plans. She is aided by the Prince Haidi (Jeffrey Hunter), son of the Caliph of Baghdad. The plotline is negligible: the audience was more interested in watching Debra Paget and scores of underclad lovelies undulating to the quasi-Eastern musical score by Lionel Newman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Debra Paget, Jeffrey Hunter, (more)
- 1951
A Girl for Joe was the reissue title for the 1951 WWII romantic drama Force of Arms. William Holden and Nancy Olson, previously teamed in Sunset Boulevard and Union Station, co-star once more as, respectively, an Army sergeant and a WAC officer. While on leave, Holden and Olson fall in love, but before long Holden is sent back to the front. Surviving the battle of San Pietro, Holden is tortured by the fact that he may have "choked" under fire, indirectly causing the deaths of his CO Frank Lovejoy and several of his comrades. Even after his happy marriage to Olson, Holden cannot purge himself of his guilt feelings. Despite his wife's protestations, Holden re-ups to atone for past mistakes. Told that Holden is missing in action, Nancy refuses to give her husband up for dead and heads for the front herself. Officially based on a short story by Richard Tregaskis, this drama is actually a semi-remake of Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, previously filmed in 1932 (this may partially explain why Warner Bros., producers of Force of Arms, purchased the rights to the 1932 film). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Holden, Nancy Olson, (more)
- 1951
The popular radio detective series The Fat Man was brought to the screen in 1951, with the series' original star J. Scott Smart retained in the title role. Smart plays porcine sleuth Brad Runyon, who tackles the mystery surrounding the murder of a Los Angeles dentist. With the assistance of general factotum Bill Norton (Clinton Sundberg), Runyon follows the trail of clues all the way to a three-ring circus. Famed Barnum & Bailey clown Emmett Kelly makes his screen debut as one of the suspects; others essential to the action are such up-and-comers as Rock Hudson, Julie London and Jayne Meadows. The film's flashback-within-flashback structure helps to enliven its more verbose passages. For the most part, The Fat Man plays more like a radio show than a movie--at least until the exciting climax, inventively staged by director William Castle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Smart, Julie London, (more)
