Ted Ryan Movies

A car with two men visible in it pulls up to a Los Angeles service station at night, with a single attendant (Dub Taylor) working. As he starts to pump the gas, he doesn't see the third man come around the side until it's too late and he's knocked cold. The trio carries out their robbery but before they can finish, a motorcycle cop rolls up. A gun battle ensues, and one of the robbers is shot, as is the police officer. Now a manhunt is on for the trio, all escapees from San Quentin who were making their way south; the other two give the wounded man enough money to get to the apartment of a former cellmate of one of them, Steve Lacey (Gene Nelson). But Lacey is genuinely trying to go straight and live a clean, honest life with his wife, Ellen (Phyllis Kirk), and wants nothing to do with anyone he knew in prison, or with harboring an escaped prisoner. He's even more unhappy when Dr. Otto Hessler (Jay Novello), another ex-con and a veterinarian, arrives to treat the gunshot victim. But when the hood dies, matters get even more complicated -- Lacey's life becomes a nightmare as the police arrive, led by the hardboiled Det. Sgt. Sims (Sterling Hayden), who doesn't believe that any hood ever goes straight. Sims doesn't believe that Lacey's claim of knowing nothing of the escapees, and is ready to send him back to prison on a parole violation -- even though his parole officer (James Bell) believes him -- when he won't cooperate. And worse still, the other two escapees, Doc Penny (Ted de Corsia) and Ben Hastings (Charles Buchinsky, aka Charles Bronson), force their way into Lacey's home, insisting on hiding out there and threatening Ellen. And as they're now a man short, they want Steve's help on a major heist they're planning -- and will kill Ellen if he doesn't cooperate. Soon Lacey is up to his neck in a daylight bank robbery, timed to the minute, and his wife is at the mercy of a mentally deficient, sexually deviant confederate (Timothy Carey), while the police still seem to be following every trail but the right one. Steve realizes that he is the only one who is going to be able to save himself or his wife from this nightmare, and isn't convinced that he'll get out of it alive -- but by then, between being put on him by Sims and his unwanted companions, he's prepared to die in order to save Ellen. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Future Leave It to Beaver paterfamilias Hugh Beaumont appears in this episode as Dan Grayson, an ex-convict who has gone straight for the sake of his wife Peg (Aline Towne) and son Tim (Bradley Mora). Alas, his former cellmate Luke Maynard (John Kellogg) has threatened to reveal Grayson's criminal past unless Dan joins him in a string of robberies. Unable to turn to the police, Dan places his fate in the hands of Superman (George Reeves). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Kansas City Confidential, Phil Karlson's low (low) budget, B-grade film noir, opens on a Kansas City armored-car robbery perpetrated by cynical, corrupt ex-policeman Timothy Foster (Preston S. Foster). Foster devises an outrageous scheme: he will recruit three of the most vicious and unrelenting criminals he can find (screen heavies Lee Van Cleef, Jack Elam and Neville Brand) to undertake a robbery, blackmailing them into the heist with incriminating evidence from other "jobs." As an eccentric and clever conceit, Foster forces each of the perpetrators to wear masks, thus concealing their identities from one another and preventing the old pitfall of the men squealing and backstabbing. The heist comes off without a scratch, but a complication arises when the ignorant cops pick up an unrelated fellow, Joe Rolfe (John Payne) for his ownership of a van similar to the one used in the caper. In time, Rolfe is cleared, but he grows irate over the accusations and sets off to find Foster and co. and teach them a lesson. He finally happens upon one of the perpetrators in Mexico, beats him nearly to death, and assumes the victim's identity - and that's when things really get complicated. Though produced under the Hays Code censorship regulations, Kansas City Confidential constituted one of the most brutal and violent crime pictures made up through that time; as such, it retains historical significance. It also claims a strong cult following. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Surprisingly, the Paramount Technicolor actioner Hurricane Smith was not produced by the studio's Pine-Thomas unit (it sure sounds like one of their efforts), but instead by "outsider" Nat Holt. John Ireland plays the title character, a 19th-century mercenary stranded in the South Seas with his pals McGuire (Forrest Tucker) and Brundage (Richard Arlen). When slavetraders come calling, Smith and his confreres steal the traders' ship and head for Australia, in hopes of searching for buried treasure. To raise some quick money, the trio agrees to rent "their" vessel to scientist Gorvahlsen (James Craig), who brings Dr. Whitmore (Murray Matheson) and the doctor's half-Polynesian daughter Luana (Yvonne DeCarlo) along on a scientific expedition. It gradually dawns on Smith that Gorvahlsen and Whitmore are actually fortune hunters, hoping to claim the treasure for themselves. But which side is the lovely Luana on during the film's unending series of crosses, double-crosses and triple-crosses? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide