William Walker Movies

James Coburn stars as super-spy Derek Flint in this action comedy which takes the tongue-in-cheek wit of the James Bond series and shifts it into high gear. Flint is an ultra-sophisticated operative of international intelligence agency Z.O.W.I.E. He's a master of martial arts, electronic gadgetry (his cigarette lighter can perform 83 special functions), languages both human and animal (he can communicate with dolphins in a pinch), and even gives ballet lessons to the dancers of the Bolshoi. So when his fellow agents begin dropping like flies, Z.O.W.I.E. assigns Flint the task of finding out who the killers happen to be. Eventually, Flint discovers that the killings are all part of the wicked machinations of G.A.L.A.X.Y., a cadre of world-wide villainy that plans to take over the world through weather control. Our Man Flint also stars Lee J. Cobb, Gila Golan, and Edward Mulhare. A sequel, In Like Flint, followed two years later, and in 1976, the character was revived for a TV movie, Our Man Flint: Dead on Target, with Ray Danton taking over the role of Derek Flint. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this children's movie, an adorable newsboy, his dog, and his friend the hobo accidently stumble across a briefcase containing $100,000. It belongs to a desperate thief who definitely wants it back. The honest child, not knowing the loot is stolen, looks for its owner. Fortunately the police save the day. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

While often regarded as one of America's greatest novelists, William Faulkner produced work that did not always translate well to the screen; it's ironically appropriate that this movie, based on several of Faulkner's short stories, is often regarded as one of the best films based on his work, though not especially accurate to the original source material. Ben Quick (Paul Newman), a sullen but self-confident drifter, arrives in a small Mississippi town where his father had a bad reputation as a firebug. Will Varner (Orson Welles), the town's patriarch, still holds a grudge against Quick's dad, and when the young man decides to stay in town and sharecrop on Varner's land, Will goes out of his way to make his life difficult. However, Will develops a grudging respect for Quick's guts and determination, and he wishes that his weak-willed son Jody (Anthony Franciosa) could be more like him; Jody's wife Eula (Lee Remick) happens to agree. In time, Will gets the idea that Quick might be a good match for his daughter Clara (Joanne Woodward) and a better choice to take over his business dealings than Jody. However, neither Clara nor Quick care to be told what to do, and besides, Clara already has a beau -- though Alan Stewart (Richard Anderson) is even more of a milquetoast than Jody and is led by the nose by his mother (Mabel Albertson). However, sparks begin to fly between Clara and Quick, and when Jody fears he may lose his place as heir of Will's estate, he takes drastic action, trapping his father in a barn, setting it on fire, and planting evidence that would suggest that the blaze was Quick's doing. The Long, Hot Summer was the first film that Newman and Woodward made together, and they got married the same year. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Screenwriter Philip Dunne doubled as director on the elaborate filmed biography Prince of Players. Richard Burton stars as the eminent American tragedian Edwin Booth, whose life and career is thrown into turmoil after his younger brother John Wilkes Booth (John Derek) assassinates Abraham Lincoln. The film begins as the younger Edwin assists his alcoholic, ailing father Junius Brutus Booth (Raymond Massey) during a tour of the American hinterlands. When Junius dies just before a performance, Edwin goes on in his stead, thereby launching his own starring career. In danger of becoming as much of a drunk and carouser as his father, Edwin eventually pulls himself together, but his brother's act of violence turns the audience against the name of Booth. Almost booed offstage during a performance of Hamlet, Edwin stands his ground, finally earning the respect of his rowdy audience. Not exactly packed with fast action, Prince of Players will appeal most to lovers of theater in general and Shakespeare in particular. Highlight: Richard Burton and Eva LeGalleine performing the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet in the courtyard of a brothel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Filmed in 3-D, Sangaree is a satisfactory swashbuckler adapted from a novel by Frank G. Slaughter. Fernando Lamas portrays the son of an 18th century slave whose fortunes take a radical turn when he inherits a huge cotton plantation in the American colonies. Arlene Dahl (later Mrs. Fernando Lamas) is the haughty aristocrat whom the rough-hewn Lamas tames, while Francis L. Sullivan is a pirate chieftain who plans to sack Lamas' property. Best unintentional laugh: Two different villains, in two separate scenes, say "I've waited this long...I can wait a little longer." Sangaree enjoyed its widest distribution when released "flat," thereby rendering pointless the various 3-D stunt effects. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The President's Lady is an historical drama starring Charlton Heston as Andrew Jackson and Susan Hayward as his wife Rachel, Jackson marries Rachel after she divorces her unfaithful first husband (Whitfield Connor), with scandal resulting when the ex-husband refuses to finalize the divorce. Jackson climbs up the military and political ladder, but Rachel is never socially acceptable due to her "tainted" past. Nonetheless, Jackson stands staunchly beside his wife, even fighting a duel for her honor. On the eve of Jackson's presidential election, Rachel dies, but "Ol' Hickory" takes comfort in recalling a marriage that remained happy against all odds. The best sequence in The President's Lady is a comic vignette which explodes the legend of the "pipe-smoking" Rachel Jackson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The upbeat title belies the film's often melancholy subject matter. Based on a novel by Ferdinand Reyher, Nellie stars David Wayne as a small town barber in the early 20th century. Wayne's bored wife (Jean Peters) leaves him for a city slicker (Hugh Marlowe), whereupon both are killed in a train accident. Wayne does his best to raise his two children alone, but the oldest son (Tommy Morton) becomes a criminal and is shot down in a Chicago gang war (a startlingly graphic sequence for a 1952 film). Wayne's life seems to be one disaster after another, but he perseveres, and upon his town's 50th anniversary he is honored as a pillar of his community. Somehow all of the previous tragedies are compensated for by the presence of Wayne's doting granddaughter Nellie (Helene Stanley). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Follow the Sun is the filmed biography of golf champion Ben Hogan. Glenn Ford, no mean duffer himself, stars as Hogan, here depicted as a single-purposed individual to whom golf is everything. Anne Baxter co-stars as Hogan's supportive wife Valerie, who sticks with him through thick and thin. On the brink of his greatest success, Hogan is seriously injured in an auto accident. His recovery and return to the links provides the dramatic momentum of the film's final reels. Co-starring as themselves in Follow the Suns are such golfing legends as Sam Snead, Jimmy Demaret, and Dr. Cary Middlecoff. An uncredited Harold Blake appears as Ben Hogan at the age of 14. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bright Leaf, a sprawling saga of the tobacco industry in North Carolina, began as a novel by Foster Fitzsimmons, a native Carolinian who for many years taught at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill's theatre department. The film version of Bright Leaf has been simplified and reshaped to serve as a traditional Gary Cooper vehicle. Cooper stars as tenant farmer Brant Royle, who after being driven from his home town by autocratic tobacco tycoon Major Singleton (Donald Crisp) returns in triumph with a revolutionary cigarette-making machine. Royle's streamlined techniques soon drive Singleton out of business. Margaret Singleton (Patricia Neal), Royle's old flame, agrees to marry him to save her father from ruin--whereupon the Major commits suicide. The vengeful Margaret then does everything she can to destroy Royle. The question remaining: can Brant Royle save himself and find ultimate happiness with his true love, Sonia Kovac (Lauren Bacall)? Also appearing in Bright Leaf are Jack Carson as Royle's flamboyant business partner Chris Malley and Jeff Corey as John Barton, the inventor of the "miracle" cigarette-making apparatus. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide