Bill Walker Movies

Behind every great woman, there's a man who isn't so sure he's happy to be there -- or at least that's the state of affairs in this gender-switch comedy. Leslie McCloud (Polly Bergen) makes history when she becomes the first woman elected to the office of President of the United States. However, while Leslie's achievement is a great step forward for women, her husband Thad McCloud is less enthusiastic about his own role in closing the gender gap. Thad soon finds his daily schedule is filled with meeting women from garden clubs, his official quarters are still filled with pink and frilly furniture from the previous resident, and Leslie's extremely busy schedule is putting a severe crimp in their love life. While Thad stews over his lowly status as a male "First Lady," Leslie is attempting to avoid an international incident by negotiating with Latin dictator Valdez (Eli Walach), who develops a less-than-diplomatic interest in the Leader of the Free World. Kisses For My President also features Arlene Dahl, Edward Andrews, and Ana Capri. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A pair of outlaws find both love and danger on the road in this period crime drama. John Ashley (pop singer-turned-actor Fabian Forte) grew up in a small town in the swamps of Florida, and carried a torch for his childhood sweetheart, Laura (Karen Black). However, in the '20s there wasn't much work to be had, and John turned to poaching to make money for Laura and himself. When John accidentally killed a man, he found himself facing a long stretch in prison, but with the help of his brother he escaped, and John and Laura hit the road, making a living robbing bands and bootlegging liquor until they became minor celebrities for their criminal exploits. The sole directorial credit for Luke Moberly, Little Laura & Big John was inspired by the real-life story of John Ashley, a Florida-based criminal who earned a certain fame in the Deep South during the depression. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Given to violent, unpredictable behavior, composer Richard Morton (Gary Merrill) is an accident waiting to happen. Attempting to drown his problems in drink, Morton awakens with a monumental hangover -- and the nagging belief that he has murdered a woman. Did this, in fact, happen? And was the victim his wealthy, quarrelsome wife (June Vincent), his former mistress (Hildegarde Neff) or the movie star (Linda Darnell) with whom he has been carrying on a casual romance? As he attempts to contact the three women, Morton flashes back to his experiences with each one. The ending is pure Hitchcock, even though the director of the moment was future Saint helmsman Roy Baker. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A pioneering film about racial tensions, No Way Out stars Richard Widmark as a criminal named Ray Biddle, who despises African-Americans. Sidney Poitier (in his screen debut) is the black doctor, Luther Brooks, assigned to take care of the wounded Ray. Dr. Brooks, hired by the police hospital as part of an overall program to integrate the staff, keeps his temper in check as Ray spouts his racist invective. When Ray's brother, also wounded, dies in the hospital, the blustering bigot holds Dr. Brooks responsible and sends word to his gang to wreak vengeance on the city's black community. But the blacks turn the tables on the whites and fight them off. Ray then breaks out of the hospital with Dr. Brooks as hostage. His plans to kill the doctor are thwarted by Ray's girlfriend (Linda Darnell), who finally becomes fed up with his blind hatred. No Way Out was considered potent stuff in 1950; it was still regarded as a hot potato in 1962, when NBC dropped plans to telecast the film on "Saturday Night at the Movies." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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, Rovi

Conceived as a Gone With the Wind for the CinemaScope generation, Raintree County wasn't quite as successful as its role model, but it still proved a moneyspinner for MGM. Elizabeth Taylor stars as a spoiled Southern belle who falls in love with pacifistic Indiana youth Montgomery Clift. Though Clift is engaged to Eva Marie Saint, what Taylor wants, Taylor gets, and she isn't above using the dirtiest of deceptions to win Clift's affections. When the Civil War break out, Clift, a staunch abolitionist, joins the Union, much to the dismay of true-to-Dixie Taylor. While Clift is off fighting the war, Taylor descends into a depression that deepens into insanity. At war's end, Clift tries to come to terms with Taylor's lunacy for the sake of their child. But the strain proves too much for both of them, leading to an operatic climax which curiously segues into a happy ending (happy for some of the characters, anyway). If Montgomery Clift's performance--and appearance--seems to fluctuate wildly throughout the film, it is because he was involved in a serious auto accident during shooting, one that left both physical and emotional scars from which he never completely recovered. The 187-minute Raintree Country (reduced to 168 minutes after its initial roadshow engagements) was adapted by Millard Kaufman from the best-selling novel by Ross Lockridge, Jr. (whose own life story was infinitely more tragic than anything in his book). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Audie Murphy heads the cast of the better-than-usual oater Ride a Crooked Trail. It all begins when gunslinger Joe Maybe (Murphy) is mistaken for a famed U.S. marshal. This wouldn't be so bad, except for the fact that Joe has already drawn up plans to rob the town's bank with his cohort Sam Teeler (Henry Silva). The dilemma deepens when Joe falls in love with Teeler's ex-girlfriend, Tessa Milotte (Gia Scala), and begins entertaining notions of reforming. A youthful Walter Matthau steals the show as boozy, braggadocio Judge Kyle. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this musical comedy, an enterprising young husband decides to help out his wife by staging a benefit with Country and Western singers when the Italian opera company she had scheduled suddenly cancels. Mayhem ensues when two bunglers get confused and show up dressed in Italian costumes. Songs include: "Young Love," "Don't Let Me Cross Over," "Hello Walls," "Columbus Stockade Blues," "John Henry," "Born to Lose," "Honky Tonk Angels," "Abilene," "Ain't that a Shame," and "Careless Love." ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Cicely Tyson ages from 19 to 110 in the role of Jane Pittman, a fictional African-American woman whose life began in slavery and ended at the inception of the Civil Rights Movement. Northern journalist Quentin Lerner (Michael Murphy) travels to the racially polarized south of 1962 to interview Ms. Pittman for a potential book. Her life unfolds in flashbacks, many painful and unpleasant, but just as many are uplifting and hopeful. Based on the novel by Ernest J. Gaines and filmed on location in Baton Rouge, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman won nine Emmy Awards, including Best Actress (Tyson), Director (John Korty), and Screenplay (Tracy Keenan Wynn). The film premiered January 31, 1974, on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Robert Aldrich's screen adaptation of Clifford Odets' stage play reflects the quandary of the writer's later career; the golden boy of the Group Theater in the '30s, when his plays were the toast of Broadway, his talent seemed to wither after a number of years in the screenwriting trenches, and a revulsion for what he saw as hackwork combined with his capitulation to HUAC to blight his final decade. Jack Palance stars as Charlie Castle, a major film star who has refused to sign a long-term contract for big money with a studio run by the tyrannical Stanley Hoff (Rod Steiger). This has led to the return of his wife, Marion (Ida Lupino), who had left him due to his womanizing and a willingness to kowtow to Hoff in doing bad movies only for the money. After his agent, Nat Danziger (Everett Sloane), tries unsuccessfully to get him to reconsider, Hoff himself badgers Charlie, insisting on the absolute necessity of his signing. When the star continues to resist, Hoff threatens to blackmail him with an ugly incident from his past. ~ Michael Costello, Rovi

Loosely based on former policeman Joseph Wambaugh's humorous novel, The Choirboys determinedly explores the stunted interior lives of a large crew of callous, bigoted L.A. policemen. These men get together to lend one another emotional support. However, the means they choose for this do not enhance their sensitivity or their judgement. When one of them has a really bad day, he asks his buddies to come to "choir practice," and they get together for alcoholic benders of fairly epic proportions. When one of them accidentally shoots a homosexual teen cruising a city park, everyone (including higher-ups) gets called on to help with the cover-up. The Choirboys, which was a critical and box-office failure, had an impressive cast list, including such well-known performers as Blair Brown, James Woods, Randy Quaid, Lou Gossett Jr., Perry King and Charles Durning. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

The Untamed West is the reissue title of the Pine-Thomas production The Far Horizons. This romanticized retelling of the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1803-06 stars Fred MacMurray as Meriwether Lewis and Charlton Heston as Bill Clark. The film doesn't delve much into the real-life animosity between the two, though it's clear that there's little love lost between the cerebral Lewis and the two-fisted Clark. Aiding the men in their expedition is Indian maiden Sacajawea, played with fist-in-the-air defiance by Donna Reed. Since interracial romances were still largely taboo in American films of the early 1950s, Sacajawea can only pine and sigh as Lewis and Clark square off over the affections of white-woman Julia Hancock (Barbara Hale). This Technicolor-and-Vistavision film works best as an outdoor adventure; its dramatic scenes tend to bog down in an excess of verbiage. The Far Horizons was based on Sacajawea of the Shoshones, a novel by Della Gould Edmonds. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi