Guy Wilkerson Movies

Lorne Greene plays a dual role, as Ponderosa patriarch Ben Cartwright and Ben's con-man lookalike Bradley Meredith. The fun begins when Meredith, posing as Ben, makes a major land sale to the railroad-a deal that the real Ben had previously turned down flat. Also in the cast are Alan Oppenheimer as Wentworth, Linda Gaye Scott as Dixie and Charles Dierkop as Nicholson. Written by Stanley Roberts, "A Deck of Aces" first aired on January 31, 1971. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Although Salty Hubbard (Arthur Hunnicutt) is Sunville's biggest liar, everyone in town believes Salty's claim that stranger Hoss Cartwright is really notorious outlaw Big Jack (Mike Mazurki). To stay alive, Hoss is forced to fake his own death, funeral and all. Meanwhile, the real Big Jack prepares to take full advantage of "Good Tuesday", a local bank holiday. In the episode's comic highlight, Hoss suddenly rises from the dead as the nonplussed Preacher (John Carradine) and the other mourners look on in bug-eyed terror. Others in the cast include Ivor Francis as the Banker and Milton Parsons as (what else?) the Undertaker. First shown on December 7, 1969, "Dead Wrong" was written and directed by Bonanza star Michael Landon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The 100th episode of Petticoat Junction finds Uncle Joe (Edgar Buchanan) in the town of Pixley, ostensibly looking for a job but actually loafing about as usual. However, Joe does manage to increase his "riches"--or so he thinks--when the Bradley's dog digs up a tin can full of money. Future Vega$ costar Phyllis Davis shows up, appropriately enough, as a scantily clad showgirl. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Uncle Joe (Edgar Buchanan) comes up with a typically wild scheme to drum up business for cropduster Steve Elliott (Mike Minor). Planting fake insects throughout Hooterville Valley, Joe tries to frighten the locals into hiring Steve. Trouble is, you can't kill fake insects--but you CAN contemplate murder when considering the duplicitous Joe Carson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One of a steady stream of eccentric visitors to Hooterville interferes with Oliver (Eddie Albert)'s Herculean efforts to work his farm. More trouble ensues when rumors spread that Lisa (Eva Gabor) has left Oliver and returned to New York (actually, she's only gone on a shopping excursion). And will Oliver's imperious mother (Eleanor Audley) ever shut up and mind her own business? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In one of Petticoat Junction's rare fantasy episodes, the Bradley girls' beloved dog (played by future Benji star Higgins) is accused of being a chicken killer by sadistic dogcatcher Hinky Mittenfloss (brilliantly played by the inimitable, squeaky-voiced Percy Helton). Thrown into a dog pound that more closely resembles a miniature Alcatraz, the pooch awaits his fate while Betty Jo (Linda Kaye) pleads for his life in a surrealistic courtroom. This episode was cowritten by Al Schwartz, the brother of Gilligan's Island and Brady Bunch creator Sherwood Schwartz. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Working as a masseur in a health club, fugtive Richard Kimble (David Janssen)--alias "Al Dexter"--is recognized by Sheriff Bray (Carroll O'Connor), who intends to use Kimble to advance his own political ambitions. At the same time, coworker Steve Edson (Ed Nelson), who has just been acquitted on a murder charge, offers to help Kimble escape--but there's a curious price tag attached. This is the famous episode in which Kimble itemizes his "rules of escaping detection". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiographical novel was translated to film in 1962 by Horton Foote and the producer/director team of Robert Mulligan and Alan J. Pakula. Set a small Alabama town in the 1930s, the story focuses on scrupulously honest, highly respected lawyer Atticus Finch, magnificently embodied by Gregory Peck. Finch puts his career on the line when he agrees to represent Tom Robinson (Brock Peters), a black man accused of rape. The trial and the events surrounding it are seen through the eyes of Finch's six-year-old daughter Scout (Mary Badham). While Robinson's trial gives the film its momentum, there are plenty of anecdotal occurrences before and after the court date: Scout's ever-strengthening bond with older brother Jem (Philip Alford), her friendship with precocious young Dill Harris (a character based on Lee's childhood chum Truman Capote and played by John Megna), her father's no-nonsense reactions to such life-and-death crises as a rampaging mad dog, and especially Scout's reactions to, and relationship with, Boo Radley (Robert Duvall in his movie debut), the reclusive "village idiot" who turns out to be her salvation when she is attacked by a venomous bigot. To Kill a Mockingbird won Academy Awards for Best Actor (Peck), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Art Direction. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Although Jack Kelly was the sole star of Maverick as the tongue-in-cheek western series entered its fifth and final season, he continued to share on-screen billing with James Garner--who, despite having left the series at the end of Season Three, was still being represented by reruns of his best episodes. Only thirteen new episodes were shot for Season Five, all starring Kelly as frontier gambler Bart Maverick. In the opener, Bart is cheated out of $5000 by suave con artist Pearly Gates (Mike Road). Likewise swindled by Gates is his partner in crime Marla (Kathleen Crowley), who's out for blood after Pearly jilts her at the altar. Thus, Marla teams with Bart to track Pearly down and make him pay for his sins...presuming, of course, that he won't able to sweet-talk his way out of his predicament, as he has done on so many previous occasions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama, a man serves five years in the state pen for armed robbery. Upon his release, the man is anxious to retrieve the $260,000 in loot he hid before he went to jail. Unfortunately, he is still pursued by both the police and his former gang mates. He ends up severely beaten, robbed, and ultimately cheated by his own lover. Despite these set-backs, the fellow remains content because he now has the love of his former partner's widow. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

John Gant (Audie Murphy) rides into the town of Lordsburg and quietly checks into the hotel. He doesn't say much, nor does he need to -- his mere presence does the talking. Gant is a killer, a hired assassin, a gunman with 23 dead men to his credit, but he is not a murderer or a criminal; all of his killings have been legal, a result of self-defense when the men he was after drew on him. When he comes to a town, someone dies as surely as if he were the angel of death -- he even tells the town doctor in Lordsburg (Charles Drake) that he's in "a similar line of work," and ends up playing chess with him. Who has he come to "see" in Lordsburg? No one is sure, but as the sheriff (Willis Bouchey) tells his deputy, it will be mighty interesting watching the leading citizens over the next few days. Sure enough, the town banker (Whit Bissell) locks himself in his office with a gun, his business partner starts packing iron for the first time in his life, the man they cheated in their dealings is also going armed; and one guilty cuckold (Warren Stevens) is positive his ex-rival has paid Gant. Less than 12 hours after that, there's no law left in Lordsburg, every dirty little secret in every man's past starts bubbling to the surface, and gunplay has broken out in the streets between the men who think their respective rivals have brought Gant to town. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Will Rogers Jr. follows in the cinematic footsteps of his famous father in the evenly-paced western Wild Heritage. Rogers is cast as a frontier judge, given to his own special, down-to-earth brand of jurisprudence. In truth, however, Will Jr's role is a subordinate one; most of the film's running time concerns two families heading westward by covered wagon. When rustlers attack, it is the sons of the respective families who emerge as the heroes. One of the "good guys" is portrayed by Rod McKuen, long before he became Poet Laureate of the flower-child generation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the midst of his campaign to bring statehood to his territory, Judge Somervell (John Litel) loses a suitcase which contains some rather volatile documents. The Judge is convinced that Bart Maverick (Jack Kelly) stole the suitcase--and so, apparently, is everyone else in the territory, including an enigmatic young woman named Janet (Bethel Leslie) and a quartet of homicidal thugs. After being kidnapped, beaten and accused of murder, Bart begins to realize that he'd better locate the missing papers in a real hurry...and also find out why they're so valuable. Veteran serial villain Roy Barcroft appears as a mercurial US Marshal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide