Robert J. Wilke Movies

Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai (1954) is westernized as The Magnificent Seven. Yul Brynner plays Chris, a mercenary hired to protect a Mexican farming village from its annual invasion by bandit Calvera (Eli Wallach). As Elmer Bernstein's unforgettable theme music (later immortalized as the "Marlboro Man" leitmotif) blasts away in the background, Chris rounds up six fellow soldiers of fortune to help him form a united front against the bandits. The remaining "magnificent six" are played by Charles Bronson, Steve McQueen, Horst Buchholz, Robert Vaughn, James Coburn, and (the one that everybody forgets) Brad Dexter. Though jam-packed with action, William Roberts's screenplay pauses long enough to flesh out each of its characters, allowing the audience to pick their own favorites. The Magnificent Seven was followed by three sequels, not to mention dozens of imitations. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Spartacus (Kirk Douglas) is a rebellious slave purchased by Lentulus Batiatus (Peter Ustinov), owner of a school for gladiators. For the entertainment of corrupt Roman senator Marcus Licinius Crassus (Laurence Olivier), Batiatus' gladiators are to stage a fight to the death. On the night before the event, the enslaved trainees are "rewarded" with female companionship. Spartacus' companion for the evening is Varinia (Jean Simmons), a slave from Brittania. When Spartacus later learns that Varinia has been sold to Crassus, he leads 78 fellow gladiators in revolt. Word of the rebellion spreads like wildfire, and soon Spartacus' army numbers in the hundreds. Escaping to join his cause is Varinia, who has fallen in love with Spartacus, and another of Crassus' house slaves, the sensitive Antoninus (Tony Curtis). The revolt becomes the principal cog in the wheel of a political struggle between Crassus and a more temperate senator named Gracchus (Charles Laughton). Anthony Mann was the original director of Spartacus, eventually replaced by Stanley Kubrick, who'd previously guided Douglas through Paths of Glory. The film received 4 Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor for Ustinov. A crucial scene between Olivier and Curtis, removed from the 1967 reissue because of its subtle homosexual implications, was restored in 1991, with a newly recorded soundtrack featuring Curtis as his younger self and Anthony Hopkins standing in for the deceased Olivier. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An Indian chief (Anthony Caruso) whose son has been sentenced to be executed by the Army seeks out the help of Paladin (Richard Boone). The chief does not want his son released, but merely to make certain that the boy is afforded the proper tribal burial rites. Upon reaching the Army outpost, Paladin fully intends to carry out his assignment, only to be sidetracked by his growing suspicion that the chief's son has been framed for murder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Only one of three films directed by screenwriter Charles Lederer, known for movies as disparate as The Thing (1951) and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), this crime comedy-drama-musical obviously defies categorization. Mixing James Cagney as a gangster out to control a big union, with musical numbers and cute songs is about like mixing onions and vanilla pudding. Jake MacIllaney (Cagney) wants to be elected president of Longshoreman's union 26 and, being a top mob boss, is used to getting his way. He is not past almost any stunt or method of coercion to get votes. Dan Cabot (Roger Smith) is Jake's lawyer, and after Jake meets Cabot's wife Linda (Shirley Jones), he sets his sights on conquering her affections. Disregard the husband, he can be taken care of. Setting this to music introduces some entertaining songs (I'm Sorry -- I Want a Ferrari) but the seriousness of the mobster's immorality and power is hard to reconcile with a perky tune about not stealing the small stuff. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Hired for what he thinks will be a straightforward manhunt assignment, Paladin (Richard Boone) finds himself caught in the middle of a deadly feud between two brothers, Tony and Walt DeVries (James Drury, Robert J. Wilke). Walt is bitter because Tony has married his girlfriend Elizabeth (Madlyn Rhue), and he has ostensibly threatened to murder the couple. The dilemma: Not only is Walt DeVries an old friend of Paladin, but Tony DeVries once saved Paladin's life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Of the many TV miniseries produced by Walt Disney for his various weekly anthologies of the '50s and '60s, only Tales of Texas John Slaughter came close to matching the "Davy Crockett" programs in popularity and longevity. Based on fact, the 17-episode saga of Texas Ranger-turned-rancher John Slaughter began with this 1958 episode, as Slaughter (played by future bestselling novelist Tom Tryon) rides into the Texas community of Friotown in 1870. Almost immediately, Slaughter is forced to kill two men in self-defense, whereupon he learns that the men had attacked him because they thought he was Texas Ranger Ben Jenkins (Harry Carey Jr.). Offered an opportunity to join the Rangers himself, Slaughter turns Jenkins down, preffering instead to set up a cattle ranch. Unfortunately, the murderous activities of outlaw boss Frank Davis (Robert Middleton) force Slaughter to forsake his peaceloving ways and slap on his shootin' irons. Originally telecast as part of the Walt Disney Presents anthology, this episode and the subsequent "Ambush at Laredo" were in 1960 edited together and released theatrically overseas as the "feature film" Texas John Slaughter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Future Virginian star James Drury and Paul Fix are among the guest players in this, the fourth installment of The Rifleman television series. This time Lucas McCain (Chuck Connors) takes on a broken-down, alcoholic lawman, Micah Torrance (Fix), who's hired to help build a corral. But the arrival of illiterate troublemakers Flory (Robert J. Wilke) and Andrew Sheltin (Warren Oates) spells trouble, both for Lucas and Mark (Johnny Crawford) and the town of North Fork, New Mexico. But who is the smooth-talking Lloyd Carpenter (Drury) and why is he traveling with the uncouth Shelton boys? This episode was the first to be directed by the series' creator and head writer, Sam Peckinpah. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In this second episode of Walt Disney's six-part miniseries The Saga of Andy Burnett, easterner Andy (Jerome Courtland) and his trapper pal Joe Crane (Jeff York) have joined a group called the Mountain Men in their journey the west. In order to survive the rough terrain ahead, Andy trains himself to act, hunt and think like an Indian. But the trip may be over before it has begun: Bill Sublette (Anthony Caruso), head man of a rival group of mountaineers, has bribed the local blacksmith not to sell supplies to Andy and his pals. "Andy's First Chore" originally aired on the Disneyland anthology series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Night Passage is so similar in spirit to the successful collaborations between star James Stewart and director Anthony Mann that it comes as a surprise that this film is directed by James Nielson. Stewart plays Grant McLaine, ex-railroad employee and the level-headed brother of firebrand gunslinger The Utica Kid (Audie Murphy). When Grant is entrusted to guard a train delivering $10,000, The Kid's gang holds up the train and steals the money. Grant takes off to hunt his felonious brother down and attempts to convince him to go straight. Unfortunately, The Kid refuses, and the brothers face off in a showdown. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Two years into Gunsmoke, James Arness took time out of his busy schedule to star in the medium-budget western Arizona Mission. Trading in his white hat for a black one, Arness plays a bandit. He and partners Robert J. Wilke and Don Megowan pull off a robbery; the partners then vamoose with the loot, leaving Big Jim empty-handed and seriously wounded. He is also betrayed by his lady friend Angie Dickinson. When Arness finally catches up with his former chums, he decides to "psych" them out rather than fill them full of lead right off the bat. Written by future director Burt Kennedy, who'd penned many a "Mexican standoff" picture for Randolph Scott and Budd Boetticher, Arizona Mission represented the first big-screen directorial effort for Andrew McLaglen. The film was originally released as Gun the Man Down. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Perhaps the definitive Douglas Sirk production, Written on the Wind is based on the novel by Robert Wilder. The story revolves around the Hadleys, a wealthy but thoroughly debauched family of Texas oil millionaires. Robert Stack is self-destructive alcoholic Kyle Hadley, while Dorothy Malone won an Oscar for her equally vivid potrayal of Kyle's nymphomaniac sister Marylee. Kyle manages to win beautiful, level-headed advertising executive Lucy Moore (Lauren Bacall) away from his best friend, virile Hadley Oil geologist Mitch Wayne (Rock Hudson), but Lucy soon comes to regret her decision to marry into the hell-on-earth Hadley family. When Lucy becomes pregnant, Kyle assumes that Mitch is the father, leading to a maelstrom of fever-pitch emotionalism and stark tragedy. Before he quite knows what is happening, Mitch is on trial for murder; the one person who can clear him is the craven Marylee, who demands Mitch's sexual favors as the price for her testimony. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The breathtakingly beautiful Technicolor cinematography of Irving Glassberg is but one of the many small pleasures of the big-budget western Backlash. Set in post-Civil War Arizona, the film stars Richard Widmark as Jim Slater, who hopes to prove that his down-and-out father (John McIntire) was not involved in a gold robbery. To prove this, Slater has to find the money, which is also the goal of Karyl Orton (Donna Reed), the supposed widow of one of the thieves. Eventually, Slater discovers that his father is every bit as rotten as the law claims he is, though he can take some comfort in the fact that Karyl is now in love with him. As in his earlier Bad Day at Black Rock, Backlash director John Sturges is more concerned with building tension than with overt displays of wanton violence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this western, an adventurous gambler goes on the lam when he is falsely accused of a riverboat killing. He hides out for three years before returning to prove his innocence, and to find the girl he loves. Unfortunately, the girl is involved with a gambler, the ringleader of the gang responsible for the killing. The fugitive, assisted by a comic sidekick, soon brings them all to justice, and reclaims his lady love. Songs include: "Give Me Your Love," "Happy Go Lucky," and "The Gypsy with the Fire in His Shoes." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide