Steve Terrell Movies

Old Martin Latimer is found dead in his home, a bullet hole in his chest. At first, it looks like a case of suicide, wherein the victim had rigged a Winchester rifle to go off with the tug of a string. But young Officer Harkness (played by a pre-"Davy Crockett" Fess Parker) suspects that Latimer was murdered--and with the help of some unexpected evidence courtesy of a "Lonely Hearts" photograph, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) track down the killer. This episode is based on the Dragnet) radio broadcast of August 16, 1951. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

1956's Tea and Sympathy is a diluted filmization of Robert Anderson's Broadway play. The original production was considered quite daring in its attitudes towards homosexuality (both actual and alleged) and marital infidelity; the film softpedals these elements, as much by adding to the text as by subtracting from it. John Kerr plays a sensitive college student who prefers the arts to sports; as such, he is ridiculed as a "sissy" by his classmates and hounded mercilessly by his macho-obsessed father Edward Andrews. Only student Darryl Hickman treats Kerr with any decency, perceiving that being different is not the same as being effeminate. Deborah Kerr, the wife of testosterone-driven housemaster Leif Erickson, likewise does her best to understand rather than condemn John for his "strangeness." Desperate to prove his manhood, John is about to visit town trollop Norma Crane. Though nothing really happens, the girl cries "rape!" Both John's father and Deborah's husband adopt a thick-eared "Boys will be boys" attitude, which only exacerbates John's insecurities. Feeling pity for John and at the same time resenting her own husband's boorishness, Deborah offers her own body to the mixed-up boy. "When you speak of this in future years...and you will...be kind." With this classic closing line, the original stage production of Tea and Sympathy came to an end. Fearing censorship interference, MGM insisted upon a stupid epilogue, indicating that Deborah Kerr deeply regretted her "wrong" behavior. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Another American-International opus which managed to attain top bookings on the strength of an exploitational titles, Runaway Daughters concentrates on the misadventures of a trio of teenaged girls. Audrey Barton (Marla English) wants something more out of life than her parents' money can buy; Dixie (Mary Ellen Kaye) wants to escape the tyranny of her misogynistic father; and Angela Forrest (Gloria Castillo) is a child of divorce, left to fend for herself in a hostile world. Not surprisingly, our three heroines end up in a heap of trouble in their pursuit of happiness; also not surprisingly, the film promises far more than it delivers. Of interest is the presence in the cast of 1930s film star Anna Sten. Runaway Daughters was originally released on a double bill with A-I's Shake, Rattle and Rock; it was remade for cable TV in 1994, as part of Showtime's "Rebel Highway" series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Riding into the Wyoming town of Bender, Paladin (Richard Boone) is hired by accused murderer Bart Holgate (Harold J. Stone). Though willing to answer for his crimes, Holgate is terrified that he will be lynched before he ever reaches the courtroom, thus he agrees to pay Paladin to keep him alive until his trial. But Amy Bender (a pre-Police Woman Angie Dickinson), the sister of Holgate's victim, is determined to mete out her own brand of justice, Paladin or no Paladin! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Disapproving of his son Grove's romance with Japanese girl Mitsuo (Nobu McCarthy), wealthy Hudson Nichols (Ralph Dumke) hires a private detective to frame Mitsuo for the theft of his wife's valuable pearls. He tells the mortified girl that he won't press charges if she will give up Grove (Steve Terrell). Surprisingly, it is not Nichols who turns up murdered, but instead Mitsuo's uncle (Rollin Mariyama), who orginally strung the pearls and whose death has been arranged to look like hara-kiri. Whatever the case, Mitsuo is arrested and Perry (Raymond Burr) agrees to handle her defense. Future Star Trek costar George Takei appears in a supporting role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It's Shakespeare in the sagebrush in this Maverick-ized version of "Romeo and Juliet." This time, the blood feud is between the Montgomerys and the Carterets, and the "star-cross'd" lovers are Sonny Montgomery (Steve Terrell) and Julie Carteret (Carole Wells). When he tries to help the sweethearts elope, Bret (James Garner) is captured by the Carteret clan. To save his neck, Bret suggests that the two families resolve their differences in a winner-take-all poker game. What he hasn't counted on is that the man chosen to play cards on behalf of the Montgomerys is his own brother Bart (Jack Kelly). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gunslinger Joe Delk (Harold J. Stone) has managed to avoid arrest by forcing his victims to draw first, then killing them in "self defense." When Delk shoots down the Baxter boys, who didn't have an enemy in the world, the people of Dodge City demand that Marshal Matt Dillon (James Arness) do something. Since he cannot legally arrest Delk, Matt figures out a way to expose the swaggering gunman as a coward--without even lifting his own six-shooter. This episode is based on the Gunsmoke radio broadcast of February 26, 1956. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide