Peter Whitney Movies

After the intense bloodshed of The Wild Bunch (1969), this comic western fable took the opposite approach to director Sam Peckinpah's continuing examination of the end of the West. Left for dead by a couple of lizard-slaughtering desperados in the middle of the desert, prospector Cable Hogue (Jason Robards) is saved by his unexpected discovery of water "where there wasn't any." Hogue turns the water hole, felicitously located near a stagecoach route, into a thriving business, creating a rest stop for a never-ending series of parched travelers. On his occasional trips to the closest town, he meets chipper prostitute Hildy (Stella Stevens), who joins him in his oasis, completing Hogue's little paradise. But even though Hogue may be able to succeed and avenge himself against his original attackers, there is one thing that he cannot stop: progress. Completed before The Wild Bunch was released, and replete with comical and even musical interludes, Peckinpah's gently picaresque telling of Hogue's rise and fall stands in distinct contrast to the visual violence of its predecessor. The underlying message about the cost of modernity, however, equals The Wild Bunch in seriousness. The callous randomness of Hogue's fate is as shocking as the Bunch's final blaze of glory; as in Robert Altman's McCabe and Mrs. Miller from the same period, a tool of "civilization" provokes a most uncivilized end for an Old West dreamer. Although the film was as light-hearted in approach as the 1969 smash hit revisionist western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Warner Bros. mishandled the release and it did barely any business; Peckinpah returned to his trademark gore in his next film, the controversial Straw Dogs (1971). Still, The Ballad of Cable Hogue is less an anomaly for a master of violence than an ironically charming chapter in Peckinpah's career-long elegy to the western. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

Chubasco (Christopher Jones) is a wayward youth who is given a choice by the presiding judge. His choices are go to jail or take an honest job on a fishing boat. He chooses to set sail, leaving behind his girl Bunny (Susan Strasberg) and her father Sebastian (Richard Egan), who obviously has it out for the wayward teen. He works on a tuna boat, learning to break free of a life of crime. He also meets a bordello madame named Angela (Ann Sothern) who may or may not be his mother. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

The winner of the 1967 Oscar for Best Picture (as well as four other Oscars), In the Heat of the Night is set in a small Mississippi town where an unusual murder has been committed. Rod Steiger plays sheriff Bill Gillespie, a good lawman despite his racial prejudices. When Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier), a well-dressed northern African-American, comes to town, Gillespie instinctively puts him under arrest as a murder suspect. Tibbs reveals himself to be a Philadelphia police detective; after he and Gillespie come to a grudging understanding of one another, Tibbs offers to help in Gillespie's investigation. As the case progresses, both Gillespie and Tibbs betray a tendency to jump to culture-dictated conclusions. Still, the case is solved thanks to the informal teamwork of the two law officers. Based on the novel by John Ball, In the Heat of the Night inspired two sequels, both starring Poiter as Virgil Tibbs. In 1987, a TV series version of In the Heat of the Night appeared, with Carroll O'Connor as Gillespie and Howard Rollins as Tibbs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Frank Puglia reprises his 1944 role as Prince Cassim for this remake of the Arabian Nights adventure. Ali Baba (Peter Mann) battles against the Mongol invaders and fights for the woman he loves. Footage from the 1944 feature is used to tie the stories together. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Upon learning that Jed Clampett is seeking a proper husband for his daughter, Elly May, lazy Lafe Crick (Peter Whitney) makes yet another bid for a chunk of the Clampett millions. No, Lafe doesn't want to wed Elly, but he does offer a candidate for the job -- his own son, Dub (Conlan Carter), who is every bit as shiftless as his old man. Also in the cast is former child actor Bobs Watson as bank clerk Fred Penrod, who has likewise set his cap for Elly. "Son of Lafe Returns" originally aired on February 19, 1964. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the conclusion of a two-part story arc, the Clampetts are still stuck with their freeloading house guest, fellow mountaineer Lafe Crick (Peter Whitney). Though most of the family is too polite to ask Lafe to leave, Granny is outspoken in her contempt for the lazy layabout. Finally, she declares an ultimatum: Unless Lafe gets a job, out he goes. Originally telecast on January 22, 1964, "Lafe Lingers On" was the eighth highest-rated episode of The Beverly Hillbillies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Having been repeatedly denied parole, imprisoned bootlegger Al Remp (J.D. Cannon) faces another setback when he is shunted off to Solitary. Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) figures that this is the right psychological moment to approach Remp with a deal. In exchange for a reduced sentence, Remp is to act as Ness' "undercover man" in the gang run by bootleg boss Fat Augie Strom (Peter Whitney). Remp does his job so well that before long he is Strom's right-hand man. Unfortunately, Remp has forgotten all about his arrangement with Ness...a lapse of judgment that will cost him dearly. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hanley (Rick Jason) places his confidence in a Free French guide named Massine (Peter Whitney) when the platoon is assigned to a dangerous mission behind enemy lines. But Massine with fulfill his end of the job on one condition: that he and his fellow Underground members are allowed to raid a Nazi ammunition depot. It is a praiseworthy goal--and it is also strictly against Hanley's orders. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This long, 135-minute feature is divided into four different segments, three highlighting fairy tales and the first introducing the two Brothers Grimm. Wilhelm (Laurence Harvey) is the dreamer, and Jacob (Karl Boehm) is the practical one, and between them, some marvelous fairy tales develop. Seguing into the first tale about the "Dancing Princess," co-directors Henry Levin and George Pal -- also the producer -- allow their special-effects artists full rein. In-between dancing, the princess (Yvette Mimieux) falls in love with a charming woodsman (Russ Tamblyn). In the second story about the "Cobbler and the Elves," a Christmas miracle of dedicated labor helps the cobbler out when he most needs it. In the last story, a fire-breathing dragon threatens the kingdom until a lowly servant (Buddy Hackett) saves the day. One of the highlights of this production are the Puppetoons, and another is Cinerama -- three projectors working to create a three-paneled (sometimes visibly so), wide-screen panorama. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Steven Hill guest stars in this episode as flamboyant mobster Jack "Legs" Diamond. The Mob doesn't like the publicity stirred up by Diamond's many extramarital affairs, so they order him out of town for a spell while they orchestrate a scheme to smuggle $5 million worth of narcotics into the country. But Legs get wind of the plan and hijacks the valuable cargo, demanding a piece of the action from his disgruntled fellow hoods. Ultimately, Legs double-crosses himself by continuing to flaunt his affair with Follies dancer Dawn Dolan (Suzanne Storrs) in front of his embittered wife Alice (Norma Crane). Crime historians will have no trouble identifying the characters played by Oscar Beregi and Peter Whitney as thinly disguised versions of real-life scofflaws Arnold Rothstein and Big Bill Dwyer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In several Have Gun, Will Travel episodes, gunslinger Paladin (Richard Boone) crosses the paths of actual historical figures. This episode represents the one-and-only time that Paladin confronts a fictional character from classic literature--namely, Phileas Fogg (Patric Knowles), the unflappable globetrotting protagonist of Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days. During the American leg of his world-girdling odyssey, Fogg hires Paladin to safely guide himself, his valet Passepartout (Jon Silo) and his beautiful travelling companion Princess Aouda (Arlene McQuade) to the town of Reno, Nevada. Unfortunately, Paladin's assignment nearly ends before it begins when the tiny party arrives on the shore of a particularly treacherous river. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

If Bart Maverick (Jack Kelly) had ever bothered to discuss the matter with his brother Bret, he'd have known to steer clear of the lovely but larcenous Samantha Crawford (Diane Brewster in her second series appearance). Unfortunately for Bart, he has never met Samantha, and thus he completely swallows her claim that she is a government secret agent, determined to recover treasury plates used for counterfeit money from a phony spy. The climactic courtroom sequence features one of the final appearances by veteran character actor Thurston Hall. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide