Bob Steele Movies

Pork Chop Hill was based on the eyewitness essays of ex-soldier S. L. A. Marshall. The film is set during the Korean "police action." While diplomats argue pointlessly over the shape of the negotiation tables at Panmunjon, United Nations troops bleed and die. Lieutenant Gregory Peck leads a 135-man unit on the attack of the Chinese-held Pork Chop Hill. When reinforcements finally arrive, only 25 of Peck's men survive (and they aren't the usual survivors we've come to expect from earlier, cliché-ridden war films). Among the American troops are such dependable performers as Harry Guardino, Woody Strode, Rip Torn, Barry Atwater, George Peppard, Robert Blake and Martin Landau. Former cowboy-star Bob Steele also shows up briefly as an American general. According to director Lewis Milestone, Pork Chop Hill was cut by nearly twenty minutes because the wife of star Gregory Peck felt that her husband made his first entrance too late into the picture. True or not, the film does show signs of post-production tampering, with flashes of several excised scenes showing up under the main title credits. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Having gained a measure of TV fame by 1958, the nightclub comedy duo of Dan Rowan and Dick Martin decided to give movies a try with Once Upon a Horse. Dan and Dick play Dan Casey and Doc Logan, a pair of nitwitted cowboys who turn to outlawry because they can't make a go at any honest profession. Stealing a valuable herd of cattle, the boys' dreams of financial security are dashed when they're forced to raise money to feed their stolen bovines. Martha Hyer costars as Miss Amity Babb, a resourceful saloon hall owner who applies 20th century business methods to her 19th century operation. For nostalgia buffs, several western-movie favorites (billed as "Our Old Pals") make cameo appearances, including Tom Keene, Bob Livingston, Kermit Maynard and Bob Steele. Hal Kanter's screenplay is full of clever, satirical touches, most of which proved to be too smart for the room in 1958. A financial disappointment, Once Upon a Horse (aka Hot Horse) would be Rowan and Martin's last joint film effort until 1969's The Maltese Bippy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bret (James Garner) is among the participants when the lovely but larcenous Samantha Crawford (Diane Brewster) organizes a big, no-limit poker game. Before long, Bret is being accused of cheating, and of masterminded a robbery in which the players are cleaned out. Naturally, Samantha has vanished, forcing Bret to venture into Indian territory to bring her back and clear his name. One of the minor pleasures of this episode is the verbal give-and-take between Bret and Samantha, including several pointed comments about marriage. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Decision at Sundown was one of several felicitous collaborations between star Randolph Scott and director Budd Boetticher. Scott plays a flint-eyed gunman who rides into a sleepy town to drive out local tough guy John Carroll by sundown. Scott is motivated not by justice but by revenge; years earlier, Carroll had stolen Scott's wife. The woman subsequently killed herself, and the fact that she had left Scott willingly is torturing both men, each of whom feels partially responsible for her death. As sundown approaches, the "angst" suffered by both hero and villain spreads to the rest of the townspeople, who do a lot of soul-searching while waiting for the final confrontation. Decision at Sundown truly lives up to the label "psychological western". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lensed in Republic's widescreen Naturama process, this modest little western would seem to be better suited to a standard-ratio screen. After a four-year absence, Johnny Shattuck (Ben Cooper) returns home to find that ex-rustler Dean Cannary (Jim Davis) has his eyes on the Shattuck family farm. To force Johnny off the property, Cannary has fenced off a formerly accessible water hole. Unable to best Cannary through legal means, Johnny reluctant prepares for a one-on-one showdown. Top billing in Duel at Apache Wells is bestowed upon Anna Maria Alberghetti, making her first dramatic, nonsinging film appearance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by Robert Penn Warren, this Southern potboiler stars Yvonne DeCarlo as Amantha Starr, the daughter of a wealthy Louisiana plantation owner. When her father unexpectedly dies, Amantha discovers that her father was deep in debt and the family is penniless, and she is forced to drop out of the exclusive girls' school she was attending. What's more, it is discovered that Amantha has a small amount of African-American blood, and under the laws she is to be sold into slavery in New Orleans. Amantha is purchased by Hamish Bond (Clark Gable), a dashing, wealthy, but mysterious landowner. While Amantha is at first terrified by her new situation, in time she grows fond of Hamish and becomes romantically involved with him. However, the outbreak of the Civil War leads to Union forces taking New Orleans; RauRu (Sidney Poitier), Hamish's trusted overseer, joins the Northern forces as the Rebels go down in defeat. RauRu hates Amantha for literally sleeping with the enemy, and Hamish for the corrupt system he represents, but his last remaining threads of loyalty prevent him from taking them prisoner. With his crops destroyed, Hamish must rebuild his empire from the ground up, and, as he joins forces with his former associate Capt. Canavan (Torin Thatcher), he must reveal a shameful secret to Amantha: he once earned his living as a slave trader. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

James Craig plays Sheriff Pat Garrett, the man who gunned down Billy the Kid. We always thought that was the end of the story, but Last of the Desperados informs us that Garrett was forced to flee from the vengeance of Billy's gang (we also never knew that Billy had a gang). Everywhere he goes, Garrett is dogged by his pursuers, who leave a trail of corpses in their path to dissuade anyone from helping the former lawman. Finally Garrett puts on his badge again and picks off Billy's buddies one by one. Last of the Desperados was written by western movie "regular" Orville Hampton. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Steel Jungle is the prison where most of this film takes place. Perry Lopez heads the cast as two-bit bookie Ed Novak, who goes to jail rather than squeal on his Syndicate higher-ups. Novak's silence exacts a toll on his wife Frances (Beverly Garland), who is expecting a child. The longer he remains in prison, the more Novak becomes aware that the mob has deserted him--and the more he's willing to spill what he knows. Fellow prisoner Steve Marlin (Ted De Corsia) intends to see that Novak keeps his mouth shut permananently. Produced independently, The Steel Jungle was distributed by Warner Bros. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A friendship is ripped apart by a greedy woman in this drama. The trouble begins when a horse trainer and a jockey, both long-time friends, fall for the same woman. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Audie Murphy is at his taciturn best in the Universal western Drums Along the River. Murphy is cast as Gary Brannon, a peaceful homesteader living a quiet existence with his father Sam (Walter Brennan). No-account Frank Walker (Lyle Bettger), hoping to open up the Ute Indian territory for gold-mining purposes, tries to foment a war between the Utes and the local whites. As an added filip, he steals a gold shipment and pins the blame on Brannon. Now a fugitive from justice, Brannon joins Walker's gang, much to his father's dismay. Actually, it's all part of a plan to expose Walker's perfidy and prevent Ute hostilities, but no one knows this until Brannon wants them to. Jay Silverheels, best known as Tonto on TV's Lone Ranger, co-stars as Ute warrior Taos. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

During World War II, a Military Air Transport Command DC-3 piloted by a civilian crew is forced down in northern Labrador. The five men, led by Dooley (John Wayne), have barely any food and almost no way to keep warm, and their power supply is fading fast, but they have to find a way of staying alive until search planes find them. At first, even Dooley is overwhelmed by the responsibility for his crew's safety, and he is too lax in handling them -- but after one man dies, frozen to death just steps from help, he takes over and pushes his men and himself to the limits of their endurance; he even seems ready to crack himself at one moment. Meanwhile, the men who fly with Dooley push themselves and their machines past their endurance limits searching the arctic wastes for the downed plane. Island in the Sky -- based on the book by Ernest K. Gann (perhaps the best aviation novel ever written), which was, in turn, based on a true incident that happened during the war -- is one of the most startling movies in Wayne's output. He doesn't even look like the "star" John Wayne, but like a real pilot, and the cast, made up of familiar faces, all look like the real article; indeed, this movie should have been in the running for Academy Awards for costuming and makeup, just for making these familiar performers, such as Lloyd Nolan (in maybe his best performance) and Andy Devine (ditto), look like real pilots and ordinary men, rather than familiar actors. You end up feeling like you're watching a documentary, and the effect is bracing and unsettling, and dramatically unparalleled in Wayne's entire output. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Audie Murphy is suitably cast as cavalry lieutenant Jed Sayre in Universal's Column South. Stationed in Navajo country, Sayre has a pretty good understanding of, and rapport with, the local Indians, but his new CO Lee Whitlock (Robert Sterling) is of the "only good Indian is a dead Indian" school of thought. Eventually Sayre is able to make Whitlock see the light -- and, as a bonus, he gets to romance Whitlock's sister Marcy (Joan Evans). Further complications arise when Confederate General Storey (Ray Collins) hatches an underhanded scheme -- one that will potentially cost many innocent lives -- to force the cavalry troops to join the Southern cause when the Civil War commences. Of interest to modern viewers is the presence of Dennis Weaver, here cast as Navajo chief Menguito. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide