Robert Simon Movies
Inaugurating his career at the Cleveland Playhouse, American character actor Robert F. Simon made his first Broadway appearance in Clifford Odets' Clash By Night. In 1949, Simon succeeded Lee J. Cobb in the role of Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. He made his film debut in 1954, spending the next two decades playing a steady stream of generals, doctors, executives and journalists. One of Simon's most prominent film roles was the father of the title character in 1956's The Benny Goodman Story. On television, Simon played bombastic newspaper editor J. Jonah Jameson in the weekly adventure series The Amazing Spider-Man (1977-78), and could also be seen in recurring roles on Saints and Sinners (1961), Bewitched (1964), Custer (1967), Nancy (1970) and MASH (1972-73 season, as General Mitchell). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1960
Wealthy Morgan Gibbs (Robert F. Simon) hires Paladin (Richard Boone) to locate Gibbs' son David (Bud Slater), a fugitive from justice, and bring him back alive. Shortly thereafter, Paladin returns with David's dead body in tow. Accused of murdering the boy in order to collect a $500 body, Paladin is himself put on trial--and the jury has been hand-picked by the vengeful Morgan Gibbs. One of the best episodes of the series' third season, this one is a real treat for movie buffs, filled to overflowing with an abundance of familiar faces in the supporting cast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1960
Unlike the typical Bob Hope and Lucille Ball vehicles, The Facts of Life is essentially a domestic drama with comic undertones. Hope is married to Ruth Hussey, while Ball is the wife of Don DeFore. All four are old friends, who for many years have taken each other for granted. A series of unforeseen circumstances requires Hope and Ball to spend a great deal of time together without their spouses, and as a result they fall in love. Though the affair is never consummated, Hope and Ball are prepared to run off together, but in the end they decide that adultery at their age just isn't worth the trouble. Long unavailable for viewing due to legal tangles, The Facts of Life has gained legendary status as one of the few Bob Hope films of the 1960s to concentrate on character development rather than silly one-liners. Recent viewings have revealed that, though a far more mature work than one might expect from Hope or Ball, Facts of Life still relies to a great extent on the sort of TV sitcom material that the fans of the two stars had come to expect by 1960. Still, the film was considered offbeat enough to warrant an Oscar nomination for best screenplay (by longtime Hope associates Norman Panama and Melvin Frank). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, (more)
- 1960
Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) dispatches his team to Calum City, a mob-controlled town 30 miles south of Chicago (and obviously based on the real-life Calumet City), when honest mayoral candidate Leon Zabo (Raymond Greenleaf) dies in a suspicious accident. Zabo's demise was actually ordered by Guido Morelli (Anthony Caruso), who controls all gambling activities in Calum City. With the help of Zabo's duaghter Rosetta (Gail Kobe), Ness sets in motion a plan to break Morelli by getting hold of his incriminating financial records--and this time he isn't above using some slightly unethical methods to sweat the truth out of secondary hoodlum Nick Bravo (Jack Elam). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
Director Albert Band is also a screenwriter, and this is his second drama based on a story by Stephen Crane (his first screenplay was 1951's Red Badge of Courage). Band's interpretation of Crane's story The Monster, is a slow, pedestrian rendition of the emotional upheaval of a lowly handyman, Monk Johnson (James Whitmore). Johnson works for a local doctor and is a friend of everyone in town when disaster strikes. The doctor's house catches on fire and Johnson's face is completely burnt as he rushes in to save the physician's young son. After he recuperates, his grotesque appearance alienates his former friends to the point where they are aggressive, threatening, and ready for violence. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cameron Mitchell, James Whitmore, (more)
- 1959
In danger of losing his job, TV-producer David Wayne hopes to cook up a real ratings winner by building a network special around the life and work of elderly doctor Paul Muni. For the past 45 years, the iconoclastic Muni has run a free clinic in the slums of Brooklyn. Muni has no time for television, however, so Wayne tries to get Muni's lifelong friend Luther Adler to talk the doctor into appearing before the cameras. Adler agrees, on the proviso that Wayne's network promises to build a nice home in the suburbs for the physician and his wife (Nancy R. Pollock). Going to work on Muni, Adler convinces the old man that a coast-to-coast special will permit him to vent his spleen on the subject of the mercenary medical profession. On the night of the broadcast, Muni discovers that one of his slum patients, Billy Dee Williams, has been arrested for car theft. Leaving Wayne high and dry, Muni rushes down to the police station, where he is pressed into service to save a life. While doing so, he suffers a fatal heart attack, with the weeping Adler at his side. Wayne finally realizes that Muni's selfless idealism was of greater value than any commercially-motivated television program, and says as much when he hands in his resignation. The Last Angry Man turned out to be the cinematic swan song for veteran-actor Paul Muni; he died eight years later. Based on a novel by Gerald Green, The Last Angry Man would be remade for television with Pat Hingle in the Muni role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Muni, David Wayne, (more)
Compulsion is a compelling, stylish thriller, loosely based on the famous 1924 murder trial of thrill-killers Loeb and Leopold, two homosexual students who murdered a young boy to demonstrate their intellectual superiority. Artie Straus (Bradford Dillman) is a sadistic, mother-dominated bully. Judd Steiner (Dean Stockwell) is a submissive, introverted sissy. Having been raised by wealthy, arrogant families, both Artie and Judd consider themselves above conventional morality. Unfeeling and conceited, the boys, after the killing, take delight in offering to aid in finding the culprits. It is this arrogance which leads to their capture and prosecution for the murders. Jonathan Wilk (Orson Welles), playing a Clarence Darrow-like criminal defense attorney, takes on the case, and puts on a defense, without the cooperation of his clients, who will offer no explanation for what they have done. Bradford Dillman gives an outstanding performance, as does Dean Stockwell as the utterly unsympathetic murderers. Orson Welles is flamboyantly imposing as Wilk, who must use all his wits to try to save the boys from execution. Compulsion is a suspenseful courtroom drama, even though most viewers will know the outcome. Tautly directed by Richard Fleischer, the film is an outstanding, believable courtroom drama. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Orson Welles, Dean Stockwell, (more)
Rear Admiral Matt Sherman (Cary Grant) visits the submarine Sea Tiger on the morning of its decommissioning and reminisces about his time as the first commander of the boat, in 1941. Three days after Pearl Harbor, the sub is damaged during an enemy air raid in the Philippines; rather than abandoning her, Sherman and his chiefs refloat the boat. He's forced to accept the services of Lt. (jg) Nick Holden (Tony Curtis), who has no sea experience. Sherman appoints Holden -- a born conniver, deal-maker, and scrounger (his motto: "In confusion, there is profit") -- as supply officer, and through a series of burglaries and petty thefts he gets the Sea Tiger seaworthy again. Up to this point, the movie is an increasingly amusing service comedy, akin to the lighter moments of Mr. Roberts, running on Grant's wry exasperation and Curtis's cool arrogance, coupled with Arthur O'Connell's periodic sardonic yet optimistic jabs at their situation and Gavin MacLeod's fidgety nervousness. The Sea Tiger puts to sea ahead of the Japanese with a quintet of stranded army nurses aboard. The film shifts to a new level of humor as the officers and crew try to cope with living in close quarters with five attractive women in their midst. Grant gives a very witty performance as a man who is both exasperated by the situation he is in, having to adjust his masculinity to keep it from clashing with the feminine sensibilities of his guests, and also trying to control the mating urges of his men, starting with Holden, who can't stay away from Lt. Duran (Dina Merrill). Complicating matters more is Grant's awareness that the Sea Tiger is a "virgin" -- she has never engaged the enemy, but when they finally do, the accident-prone Lt. Crandall (Joan O'Brien) causes their torpedo to miss a tanker and sink a truck (probably the funniest sight gag in the movie). The boat also gets an accidental coat of pink paint when their supply of red and white runs low, and ends up carrying several Filipino families -- including two pregnant women. Since neither the Japanese nor the Americans officially has a pink submarine, the Sea Tiger ends uphunted by both sides and come under attack by an American destroyer. That's where the women's presence becomes a godsend. The movie ends 18 years later, with Holden a serious career navy man and responsible father, married to Duran, and Grant married to Crandall, who is as accident prone as ever. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cary Grant, Tony Curtis, (more)
- 1958
Gunfighter-turned-rancher Roy Calvert (Robert F. Simon) has a deep-seated hatred for the citizens of the town of Benedict, whom he holds responsible for the death of his wife. Seeking vengeance, Calvert denies the neighboring cattlemen access to the water on his property. Hired to talk sense to Calvert, Paladin comes face to face with the embittered rancher's son Jeff (Paul Carr), who has been trained by his father to be a cold-blooded gunslinger, willing to kill anyone who crosses his path without question or pause. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
In the second episode of Walt Disney's ten-part miniseries Elfego Baca, the title character (Robert Loggia), a former gunman who yearns to be a lawyer, has been appointed sheriff of Socorro County, NM. Banking on his reputation as a fast gun, Baca "invites" all the wanted men in the area to come into town and give themselves up. All these men surrender except one, prompting Elfego to launch a manhunt in Apache territory. Originally telecast on the Walt Disney Presents anthology, "Four Down and Five Lives to Go" was later edited together with the first Elfego Baca episode, The Nine Lives of Elfego Baca, and released overseas as a theatrical feature. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
Elfego Baca was another of several miniseries developed by producer Walt Disney in hopes of matching the earlier success of the Davy Crockett programs. Originally telecast on the Walt Disney Presents anthology, this newest effort was launched with the first of its ten episodes, "The Nine Lives of Elfego Baca." Based on the memoirs of the real-life Baca, the miniseries stars Robert Loggia as the title character, a former gunslinger who becomes a lawyer in 1880s New Mexico. Arriving in the town of Frisco, Elfego Baca subdues a drunken rowdy, much to the delight of the townsfolk and the embarrassment of the cowardly sheriff. Deputized by the local justice of the peace, Elfego learns that he has been marked for death by the drunk's scurrilous friends. The bad guys try to kill Baca with guns and gunpowder, but he proves to have more lives than a cat. Based on a true incident, "The Nine Lives of Elfego Baca" was later edited together with the second episode in the miniseries, "Four Down and Five Lives to Go" and released overseas as a theatrical feature. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
In this family-oriented western, a living western legend finds himself plagued by a constant onslaught of young guns, each eager to prove his mettle and become the new fastest-gun in the West. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1958
Claiming to be suffering from amnesia, an 18-year-old girl (Gigi Perreau) asks Perry (Raymond Burr) to find out who she is and help restore her memory. As it turns out, the girl has plenty to forget: Her name is Doris Bannister, and she is the daughter of Lisa Bannister (Osa Massen)--who herself is the daughter of the East German Communist party leader, and is living incognito in the U.S. When Stefan Riker (a pre-Hogan's Heroes Werner Klemperer) arrived in America threatening to expose Lisa, Doris pretended to fall in love with him to throw him off the track. Thus, when Riker turns up murdered, Doris is accused of the crime--and Perry really has his work cut out for him! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
When Cecil B. DeMille was set to direct a re-make of his 1938 swashbuckler The Buccaneer and suddenly became ill, his son-in-law, Anthony Quinn, jumped into DeMille's jodhpurs. In this version, Yul Brynner plays the starring role of debonair pirate Jean Lafitte, who is contacted by General Andrew Jackson (Charlton Heston) to come to the aid of the United States when the British attack New Orleans during the War of 1812. Lafitte immediately falls in love with Annette Claiborne (Inger Stevens), the daughter of William Claiborne (E.G. Marshall), the first governor of Louisiana. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yul Brynner, Charlton Heston, (more)
- 1958
The highly variable Tab Hunter delivers his best film performance in the grim western Gunman's Walk. Hunter plays Ed Hackett, the son of gunslinger-turned-land baron Lee Hackett (Van Heflin). Out of respect (and fear) of his father, the hotheaded Ed is given a wide berth by the resentful townsfolk. The elder Hackett doesn't make things any better when he tacitly approves of Ed's violent behavior, all the while giving short shrift to his law-abiding younger son Davy (James Darren). Inevitably, Ed goes one step too far, forcing his father to make a devastating decision. Kathryn Grant, future wife of Bing Crosby, registers well as the half-breed girl with whom Davy falls in love. Gunman's Walk is seen at a disadvantage on television; director Phil Karlson's inventive use of the CinemaScope lens will be largely lost on a 22-inch screen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Van Heflin, Tab Hunter, (more)
- 1957
Fos Capper (Andrew Duggan) wants to marry Flora Stancil (Peggy Webber), but her brutish brother Ben (Robert F. Simon) refuses to give permission: after all, if Flora leaves home, who could Ben find to do all his chores for free? So determined is Ben to break up his sister's romance that he tries to provoke Capper into a gunfight. Knowing Ben's reputation as a dirty fighter, Matt (James Arness) tries to intervene, but things take a surprising turn just before fadeout time. This episode is based on the Gunsmoke radio broadcast of June 17, 1956. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
Paladin (Richard Boone) is hired by Colonel Lathrop (Robert F. Simon), a wealthy and aristocratic ex-military man who claims to be writing a history of the West. Lathrop wants Paladin to find out what became of a legendary saloon queen who once presided over a now-deserted Nevada mining town. The job turns out to be a lot more dangerous than it first appears: no one previously hired by the Colonel to find the missing lady has ever returned alive. Supporting players Denver Pyle (Clay Sommers) and Peggy Rea (Lulu) were later reteamed on another popular TV series, The Dukes of Hazzard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
- NR
Edge of the City is a modern morality play, acted out in the railyards of New York. AWOL soldier John Cassavetes takes a job as a railroad worker, where he is taunted and bullied by supervisor Jack Warden, a union functionary appointed by the Mob. Cassavetes befriends his African-American co-worker Sydney Poitier, whose very presence enrages the bigoted Warden. Poitier dies in an "accident" arranged by Warden; Cassavetes knows the truth, but is frightened into silence by the corrupt union. Inspired by Poitier's widow to stand up for what is right, Cassavetes challenges Warden in a climactic one-on-one battle. Edge of the City was produced by David Susskind, who'd previously staged Robert Alan Aurthur's screenplay for television under its original title, A Man is Ten Feet Tall. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Cassavetes, Sidney Poitier, (more)
- 1957
F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story "Winter Dreams" is brought to life in this 1957 Playhouse 90 presentation. John Cassavetes stars as Dexter Green, who has spent most of his life trying to fulfill the ambitions and hopes of his socially ambitious mother and his conservative father. Thanks to his mom's aggressiveness, Dexter has achieved financial success and prestige in his community--and, as a bonus, he is poised to marry the girl carefully selected by his parents. But things change radically when wealthy but fickle Judy Holt (Dana Wynter) slinks into Dexter's life. Actor Joseph Sweeney was a last minute-replacement for Edmund Gwenn, who was slated to play the role of Mr. Gordon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dana Wynter, John Cassavetes, (more)
- 1956
This emotional drama concerns a WWII medic who marries a German woman but leaves her in a jealous rage, taking their baby with him. They lose touch after she is arrested behind the Iron Curtain after the war. Eight years later, she sees him in a Chicago cafe, rushes across the street to see him, and is hit by a truck. He operates on her and saves her life, and they get back together. Eventually, the daughter accepts her mother, and the whole family is reunited. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rock Hudson, Cornell Borchers, (more)
- 1956
- NR
The Korean conflict of the early '50s saw widespread use of psychological torture by the North Korean communists on enemy prisoners of war. That young American GIs cracked under this brainwashing at higher rates than the troops of our allies led to much soul searching within the military and the nation during that era. In Hollywood, this was most famously reflected in The Manchurian Candidate (1962), and lesser-known films like Time Limit (1955) and The Rack. The failure of all three films at the box office suggests that the public didn't care to be reminded of this painful issue. Paul Newman stars as Captain Edward W. Hall Jr., a career soldier being tried by a military court for collaborating with the enemy. As the son of a highly distinguished career officer (Walter Pidgeon), and with a brother who had been killed in the war, he is especially tormented by the accusations which have been brought against him. Although reluctant to take the case, Major Sam Moulton (Wendell Corey) elicits incriminating testimony from Hall, comparing him unfavorably with soldiers like Captain John Miller (Lee Marvin), who were able to withstand similar punishment. But defending attorney Lt. Colonel Frank Wasnick (Edmond O'Brien), makes the case that this new type of torture is a new and barely understood weapon, to which some will be more innately immune than others. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Newman, Wendell Corey, (more)
- 1956
- NR
Bette Davis goes the "kitchen sink drama" route in The Catered Affair. As the frowsy wife of Bronx cabdriver Ernest Borgnine, Davis insists that her daughter Debbie Reynolds have a high-class wedding--caterers and all. Reynolds and future hubby Rod Taylor want a simple ceremony, but Davis' mind is made up. The wedding snowballs into an unwieldy affair as Davis and Borgnine find that they must invite everyone they know or risk incurring the wrath of their neighborhood. When the cost of the affair exceeds the family's bank account, Davis rails at Borgnine for failing to be a good provider. It takes her till the very end of the film to realize what a fool she's been. Gore Vidal, of all people, adapted The Catered Affair from a TV drama written by Paddy Chayefsky; the original telecast had starred Thelma Ritter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bette Davis, Ernest Borgnine, (more)
- 1956
Based on an article in the New Yorker, Nicholas Ray's Bigger Than Life stars James Mason (who also produced the film) as elementary school teacher Ed Avery, a thoughtful, gentle man, with a loving wife, Lou (Barbara Rush), and a young son, Richie (Christopher Olsen), who loves him. Avery is successful and well liked in his community, but he is over-extended in his pursuit of the American dream -- he secretly works a second job to earn extra money, and doesn't dare break stride, despite the increasingly painful physical spasms that he suffers. He collapses one day, and the doctors inform him that he suffers from an arterial disease that will probably give him less than a year to live. But they also offer him one hope, with treatment using cortisone, which was then a new, not-fully-tested drug. Avery makes a seemingly full recovery and returns to work, but it soon becomes clear that he's not the same -- he has a new, cavalier attitude toward money, and then Lou becomes alarmed over his expressions of rage over seemingly insignificant annoyances. He starts expressing himself in grand, exalted terms, first to Lou and then to his colleagues at school, including his closest friend, Wally Gibbs (Walter Matthau). And matters only get worse when Wally determines that it is the cortisone -- which Ed has been taking in far greater doses than prescribed -- that is making him act this way. And his obsession w ith forcing Richie to live up to his full potential soon turns into a much darker fixation. Director Ray later offered regret over having used cortisone by name, as it was still not standard treatment and its benefits and drawbacks weren't known. But this did lend the movie a verisimilitude that was essential for what appeal it did hold for audiences. (Seven years later, screenwriter William Read Woodfield would incorporate Bigger Than Life's cortisone plot device into his script for the Voyage To The Bottom of the Sea episode \"Mutiny\". Bigger Than Life's more immediate problem at the time lay in its broader plot -- with a story that brought drug addiction and fact-based psychological unhingement into a suburban American setting, it was a daring subject for its time, for which audiences were unprepared in 1956. It was also one of a group of offbeat pictures that Mason produced as well as starred in. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Mason, Barbara Rush, (more)
- 1955
Reviled in his lifetime as a lunatic insurrectionist, Chief Crazy Horse has in recent years emerged as a Native American hero. In this off-beat western, unusual for its time in that it sympathetically presented the Native American viewpoint, Victor Mature plays the misunderstood Sioux leader while the treaty-breaking villain General Crook is played by James Millican (who had earlier portrayed an equally unsympathetic General Custer in Warpath). The battle of the Little Big Horn is staged with less bravura but more authenticity than in 1941's They Died With Their Boots On (a wildly inaccurate pro-Custer opus). Chief Crazy Horse falters only in its verbose dialogue sequences, wherein the native tongue of the Sioux seems to be Fluent Cliche. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor Mature, Suzan Ball, (more)
- 1955
Judith Evelyn, who played the pathetic Miss Lonelyhearts in Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 theatrical feature Rear Window, offers a radically different characterization in this episode. Grocery store owners Stanley and Dorothy Crane (Joe Mantell, Kathleen Maguire) are fed up by the loud and ceaseless squabbling of their next-door neighbors, Dan and Amelia Verber (Ed Kemmer, Judith Evelyn). Then one night, the arguments immediately cease -- whereupon Dorothy Crane becomes convinced that Amelia has murdered Dan. As things turn out, it seems that at least one of the four principals has what could be termed a special interest in the outcome of the case. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1955
- Add The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell to QueueAdd The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell to top of Queue
In this 1955 Otto Preminger film, Gary Cooper stars as World War I hero Brigadier General Billy Mitchell. The film recounts Mitchell's efforts to prove the viability of a strong air force. The hidebound military higher-ups refuse to finance aviation any further, figuring that the strength of the United States lies in its navy. When a friend is killed by flying a faulty plane, Mitchell charges the War and Navy department with incompetence and criminal negligence. When the brass tries to quietly court-martial Mitchell, they are forced into the open by the strength of public opinion, largely in Mitchell's favor. Subjected to the grilling of prosecutor Alan Guillon (Rod Steiger) during his trial, Mitchell sticks to his guns, even outlining a potential Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor unless the military wises up and strengthens its air power. Elizabeth Montgomery makes her film debut in the role of Margaret Landsdowne. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Cooper, Charles Bickford, (more)
