Lee Roberts Movies

This film represents the first cinematic venture by the comic troupe Duck's Breath Mystery Theater. Sight gags abound. The story concerns the efforts of a Hollywood type to make a low-budget horror film in his home state of Iowa. His family's proximity causes endless complications. The film-within-a-film concerns the adventures of a giant radioactive cow. The film's comic highlight is the difficulty faced by extras when the cow horns stuck to their heads with super strong adhesive won't come off. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Green cheese? Men in the Moon? Nah, everyone knows that the moon is really populated by beautiful women wearing silk underwear and spiked heels. They are ruled by an evil temptress and share the moon with giant rock men and an enormous spider. Honest. Just watch this campy remake of Cat Women of the Moon and see for yourself. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Of the many filmed versions of the October 26, 1881, O.K. Corral shootout in Tombstone, Arizona, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral was one of the most elaborate and star-studded. Burt Lancaster plays Wyatt Earp, the renowned lawman, while Kirk Douglas is consumptive gambler (and gunfighter) Doc Holliday -- the two meet in difficult circumstances, as Earp discovers that Holiday, for whom he initially feels little but loathing, is being held on a trumped up murder charge and being set up for a lynching, and intercedes on his behalf. The action shifts to Dodge City, Kansas, where Earp is marshal and Holiday, hardly grateful for the good turn, shows up right in the middle of all kinds of trouble, this time mostly on Earp's side of the ledger. And, finally, the two turn up in Tombstone, Arizona, where Wyatt's brother Virgil is city marshal, and where Wyatt finally gets to confront the Clanton/McLowery outlaw gang (led by Lyle Bettger as Ike Clanton). Since the time-span of the actual gunfight was at most 90 seconds, the bulk of the film concerns the tensions across many months leading up to the famous battle. As scripted by Leon Uris (from a magazine story by George Scullin), the story involves two unrelated but parallel plot-lines -- a long-standing vendetta against Holliday and the efforts of Earp to bring the Clanton/McLowery gang to justice -- that are eventually drawn together on the streets of Tombstone. Woven into these proceedings are Earp's and Holliday's romantic dalliances with lady gambler Laura Denbow (Rhonda Fleming) and Kate Fisher (Jo Van Fleet), whose switch in affections from Holiday to outlaw fast-gun Johnny Ringo (John Ireland) only rachets up gambler's rage and the reasons behind the bloody climax. There are plenty of bribery attempts, terse dialogue exchanges and "Mexican standoffs" before the inevitable gunfight takes place. Director John Sturges takes some dramatic license with this confrontation, as well, stretching things out to nearly six minutes, but this is after all an "A" production, and a minute-and-a-half of gunfire just wouldn't cut it. The huge cast of western veterans includes Earl Holliman as Charles Bassett, Dennis Hopper as Billy Clanton, Kenneth Tobey as Bat Masterson, Lee Van Cleef as Ed Bailey, Jack Elam as Tom McLowery, and John Hudson, DeForest Kelley and Martin Milner as Virgil, Morgan, and James Earp, respectively. And there's that Dimitri Tiomkin score, pushing the movie's momentum as relentlessly as the two driven heroes, complete with a song (sung by Frankie Laine) underscoring the major transitions of scenes that's impossible to forget, once heard. Sturges himself would produce and direct a more fact-based and realistic version of the story -- focusing mostly on its aftermath -- a decade later, entitled Hour of the Gun, starring James Garner, Jason Robards, Jr., and Robert Ryan, which wasn't nearly as attractive or successful. But after Gunfight At The OK Corral, there would not be so impressive a lineup of talent at the OK Corral again until the twin Earp biopics of 1994, Wyatt Earp and Tombstone.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A misfire for all concerned, The Spirit of St. Louis can be chalked up as a courageous failure. At age 48, James Stewart was far too old to be convincing as 27-year-old "Lone Eagle" Charles Lindbergh. Director Billy Wilder, a past master of cynical pessimism, was clearly the wrong choice to helm this paean to ingenuous optimism. And the CinemaScope process was totally inappropriate for the claustrophobic nature of the film's storyline. Even so, this retelling of Lindbergh's historic flight across the Atlantic has its moments, especially during the main character's flashbacks to the events leading up to his history-making achievement. Reportedly, James Stewart was uncharacteristically sullen and uncomfotable throughout the filming, which as it turned out was wholly appropriate for his portrayal of the equally taciturn Charles Lindbergh. An excellent musical score by Franz Waxman helps smooth over the lumpier portions of the narrative. Though Spirit of St. Louis was a box-office failure, both James Stewart and Billy Wilder rapidly recovered with, respectively, Night Passage and Love in the Afternoon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Two well-armed criminals terrorize the city with a three-week robbery spree. Though one of the outlaws is captured and held in a Highland Park jail, his machine gun-wielding sidekick breaks him out of his cell, along with another prisoner. With three criminals now at large, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are more determined than ever to bring them to justice. Imagine the detectives' surprise when one of the fugitives casually strolls into police headquarters to give himself off an provide vital information on the other two! This episode is based on the Dragnet radio broadcast of July 13, 1954. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Feds investigate a counterfeit ring operating out of a traveling circus in this 12-part Republic crime serial. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

In this deceptively titled and paced Western, Kirk Douglas shines in the hyper-macho role of Dempsey Rae, a good-natured drifter with a mysterious past up from Texas, a top hand with a gun, a horse, or a herd, who can even play the banjo and sing. He rides into a Wyoming town in a freight car, in the company of much younger drifter Jeff Jimson (William Campbell), who knows even less about the West than he does about life. Dempsey gets Jeff out of a few scrapes with the law, and both get hired by the foreman (Jay C. Flippen) of the Triangle Ranch. With 8,000 head, the Triangle is already the largest spread in the territory, but the new owner from back east, Miss Reed Bowman (Jeanne Crain), arrives with plans to move in another 22,000 head onto the open range, threatening to squeeze out the smaller ranches completely. Meanwhile, the other ranchers plan on saving some of the grass for winter feed and fence it off with barbed wire. When Bowman discovers that she can't hold onto Dempsey as either a man or a foreman, she seduces Jeff -- who's too quick to become a man -- to run interference on him, and hires a crew of gunmen led by Steve Miles (Richard Boone) to tear down the wire. A range war is about to break out, and Dempsey, who wants no part of barbed wire and carries the scars to show why, plans on pulling out. But then Miles and his men overplay their hand, and Dempsey throws in with the smaller ranchers. The body count suddenly starts going against Miles, who digs in for a final fight, and now it's Jeff and Bowman who find themselves caught between two unstoppable forces that they've helped unleash. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Neville Brand plays one of his earliest good-guy roles in Return from the Sea. Brand plays a sailor named Maclish, who is a boisterous, love 'em and leave 'em type--until he meets a lonely waitress named Frieda (Jan Sterling). Through her example, Maclish realizes that he too has been lonesome all his life, just waiting for the "right girl" to come along. Falling in love, Maclish and Frieda begin saving up for a little ranch of their own. When Maclish is seriously wounded in battle, however, it looks as though their dreams for happiness and security will be dashed again. . .but the movie isn't over, yet. Return From the Sea was directed by Lesley Selander, who helmed so many films for Allied Artists during this period that he must have slept and taken meals at the studio. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Columbia Pictures elevated a run-of-the-mill B-western supporting player, Marshall Reed, to the title role in this equally run-of-the-mill western serial released in 15 chapters. Like most serials in the '50s, Riding with Buffalo Bill consisted of quite a bit of budget-stretching stock footage telling a highly fictionalized account of Buffalo Bill Cody aiding a group of ranchers in their defeat of a local crime lord. The serial's assistant director, Leonard Katzman, later produced the long-running television series Gunsmoke and Dallas. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Yet another serial from penny-pinching producer Sam Katzman, the fifteen chapter Gunfighters of the Northwest suffered from the usual Katzman shortcomings, including grainy stock-footage and slapdash writing. As an added economy measure, not a single scene was filmed indoors! Jock Mahoney plays Northwest Mounted Police Constable O'Mahoney, assigned to track down a mysterious villain known only as The Leader. Trying to locate a secret gold mine, The Leader pits the Indians against the Mounties, whom he blames for creating trouble. All in all, Gunfighters of the Northwest did nothing to re-establish the serial genre as a viable alternative to cheap television Westerns. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In this convoluted adventure serial, a U.S. Air force captain begins searching for some stolen microfilm that contains vital information. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The Lion and the Horse is one of the best efforts to come out of Bryan Foy's "B"-picture unit at Warner Bros. Steve Cochran stars as Ben Kirby, an easygoing cowboy who is dead set on owning a magnificent wild stallion. After Kirby and his partners capture the horse, the animal is purchased outright by nasty rodeo operator Dave Tracy (Ray Teal). Cruelly exploiting the horse as a bronco-busting attraction, Tracy refuses all entreaties to sell back the steed to Kirby, whereupon the latter "appropriates" the horse and heads for the high country. Taking refuge on the ranch owned by Cas Bagley (Harry Antrim), Kirby begins to train the horse himself. When Tracy catches up with Kirby, the horse panics and kills the villainous rodeo owner. Slated for destruction, the horse redeems itself in a manner that explains the film's title. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

At the time of its release, Republic's Desperadoes Outpost was regarded as one of the studio's better Allan "Rocky" Lane westerns. As was customary, Lane is cast as a federal operative, sent westward to offer aid and comfort to his old pal Nugget Clark (Eddy Waller). This time, Clark runs a stagecoach service that has been targetted for destruction by a pair of clever crooks (Lyle Talbot, Roy Barcroft). The villains hope to force Nugget off his land so they can lay claim to his valuable water supply. But they haven't got a chance with Rocky and his faithful steed Black Jack around and about. Myron Healey, normally cast as a sneering heavy, plays a relatively benign role as an Army lieutenant. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide