Rick Traeger Movies
An orphan grows up to become an Old West legend as the story of the Lone Ranger comes to the big screen in this western saga featuring Christopher Lloyd and Jason Robards. Orphaned as a young boy, John Reid struck up a lifelong friendship with a loyal Indian boy named Tonto. Years later, Reid has become a lawyer and returned to the west in order to ensure that vicious murderers such as the Cavendish gang are brought to justice. Having previously murdered Reid's parents, the Cavendish gang proves that they still rule this lawless land when they launch an ambush that leaves the lawyer serious wounded and his Texas Ranger brother dead. Nursed back to health by his old friend Tonto, Reid dons a mask and sets out to pursue justice anonymously atop his faithful horse Silver. His timing couldn't be better, either, because the Cavendish gang is about to carry out their most ambitious misdeed to date by kidnapping President Ulysses S. Grant (Robards). Upon learning that the president has been abducted by the most violent gang in the Wild West, the Lone Ranger sets out to settle an old score while rescuing the man who will steer the fate of a nation. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Klinton Spilsbury, Michael Horse, (more)
- 1977
Five terrorists hijack a plane with eighteen passengers, forcing the vessel to land on an LAX runway. During the negotiations between the police and the terrorists, medical examiner Quincy (Jack Klugman) is summoned onto the plane to pick up the body of a passenger who died during the flight. Quincy quickly determines that the man succumbed to a contagious disease--and now he must convince the hijackers to cooperate in his efforts to prevent a medical disaster of doomsday dimensions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Bedknobs and Broomsticks was produced several years after Walt Disney's death and released in the fall of 1971. As it turned out, Bedknobs was frequently compared to Mary Poppins -- probably thanks to several striking similarities between the two productions, notably the presence in the cast of David Tomlinson, the use of Cockney children as central characters, and the inclusion of sequences that combine animation and live-action. Set in wartime England, Bedknobs stars Angela Lansbury as Eglantine Price, a would-be witch who hopes to use her newly acquired conjuring powers to forestall a Nazi invasion. Saddled with three surly kids who've been evacuated from London, Lansbury wins over her charges by performing various and sundry feats of magic. And, yes, she manages to foil a few Germans along the way. The film's most famous episode is an elaborate undersea fantasy, which combines animation with live-action on a gargantuan scale, dwarfing all previous Disney sequences along these lines. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Angela Lansbury, David Tomlinson, (more)
- 1968
National Intelligence Agent Dan Street (Richard Egan) is on the trail of some stolen laser rubies. It is assumed the agents will come after the raygun itself for their evil purposes. Count Romano (Michael Ansara) is the swimsuit-import mogul who tries to keep his head from going under while working for the enemy agents. The key to the mystery lies with Dutch (John Ericson), a Korean War veteran who fell into the hands of the brainwashing communists. Patricia Owens is Dan's love interest in this plodding suspense film. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Egan, Patricia Owens, (more)
- 1967
The Luftwaffe hatches a scheme to bomb London with captured RAF airplanes and phony British pilots. When the planes are brought into Stalag 13 for safekeeping, Hogan hatches a scheme to destroy them before they can take flight. Stewart Moss appears as POW Olsen, assuming the responsibilities normally handled by Newkirk (Richard Dawson is absent from this episode). Written by Laurence Marks, "Some of Their Planes Are Missing" originally aired on September 16, 1967. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Crane, Werner Klemperer, (more)
- 1967
The Man from UNCLE comes to the big screen in this spy thriller comprised of episodes from the popular television series. The story centers around the attempts of evil THRUSH operatives who endeavor to abduct a professor who has developed a formula for turning salt water into gold. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1966
Written by William Read Woodfield and Allan Balter, "The Carriers" features George Takei as IMF agent Roger Lee and Arthur Hill as enemy agent Janos Passik. An expert on infiltration, Passik has set up a training school for spies in an Iron Curtain replica of a "typical" American town. It is all part of a master scheme to spread a deadly plague virus in the United States. Briggs must rely upon Lee's knowledge of chemicals, and the usual special talents of the IMF "regulars", to nip Passik's plan in the bud. "The Carriers" was first broadcast on November 19, 1966. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steven Hill, Barbara Bain, (more)
- 1966
Hogan discovers that a huge shipment of confiscated French gold has been stored in a bank near Stalag 17. In order to appropriate the bullion for the Allies, Hogan convinces Klink that the gold would be "safer" within the walls of the camp. The rest of Hogan's scheme is contingent upon those conveniently loose bricks around Klink's quarters. Written by Laurence Marks and directed by comic actor Howard Morris, "The Gold Rush" originally aired on January 14, 1966. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Crane, Werner Klemperer, (more)
Bernhard Wicki directed this hard-hitting World War II espionage drama. Marlon Brando plays Robert Crain, a German deserter who is coerced by British Intelligence officer Colonel Statter (Trevor Howard) to impersonate a Gestapo officer in order to get aboard a German blockade runner that is conveying a valuable rubber cargo from the Orient. Crain's assignment is to save the rubber by finding a way to deactivate the explosives that the ship's captain would use to destroy the ship if captured by the enemy. Crain finds his way aboard the ship, but the ship's commander Captain Mueller (Yul Brynner), skeptical of the Nazis, refuses to let Crain out of his sight. When survivors of a sunken vessel board the ship, and Crain realizes that his identity may be exposed by two rescued German submarine officers, he incites Mueller's officers and the new arrivals to mutiny before his true identity is revealed. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marlon Brando, Yul Brynner, (more)
- 1964
In a bombed-out French farmhouse, Hanley (Rick Jason) is savagely attacked by a wild girl named Annette (Anjanette Comer). Managing to subdue his attacker, Hanley finds out that Annette is mute and near-catatonic, possibly as the result of a terrible shock. When it develops that Annette may know where the nearby German forces are positioned, Hanley must break down the girl's wall of silence--and hopefully, discover why she has retreated from the "real world." Future Mary Tyler Moore regular Ted Knight is seen as a German sergeant. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1963
Sgt. Saunders (Vic Morrow) is obliged to help two fellow Americans, Cpl. Kanger (James Coburn) and Lt. Comstock (Dan Stafford), as they deliver a captured German officer to the authorities for questioning. What Saunders doesn't know (but the audience does!) is that both Kanger and Comstock are German spies posing as Americans, determined to halt the Allied advance or die trying. This episode marks the TV dramatic debut of boxing champ Rocky Marciano, in the small role of a friendly GI. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1962
This was the last film by director Stuart Heisler, and in his uneven output it was not one of the most memorable. The evil dictator (Richard Basehart) is shown to be very much involved with his love life, as though impotency and a severe Oedipal complex alone could account for his dominion over Germany and the insanity that led into World War II. Other characters in the top echelons make their way into and out of the story, including Heinrich Himmler (Rick Traeger), Joseph Goebbels (Martin Kosleck), and of course, Eva Braun (Marla Emo). Any viewers looking for an explanation of how the madness within Hitler related to his rise to power and his downfall, will best look elsewhere. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Basehart, Cordula Trantow, (more)
