Jean Willes Movies

An excellent cast, featuring Gene Hackman, Ben Johnson, and James Coburn, highlights this entertaining Western that came and went at the box office, barely noticed by audiences. That doesn't stop the exciting story from capturing the viewer's attention as a disparate group of riders assembles to participate in a marathon 700-mile horse race across the American West at the turn of the century. The standard mutual feelings of distrust give way to respect and grudging admiration as each rider is put to the test. Stunning cinematography and locations, plus a gripping pace set by director Richard Brooks, set this Western apart at a time when the genre was in decline. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi

James Stewart and Henry Fonda star in this light-hearted western comedy, directed by Gene Kelly. In 1870 Texas, John O' Hanlan (James Stewart), an itinerant cowboy, receives a letter notifying him that he has inherited a business establishment called the Cheyenne Social Club in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Thinking that he can finally settle down from his hard life on the trail and become a man of property, he travels with his friend Harley O'Sullivan (Henry Fonda) to Cheyenne to claim his property. Once there, he finds the Cheyenne Social Club to be a brothel, run by the attractive Madame Jenny (Shirley Jones). John is appalled, and while Harley is sampling the business's wares, John is planning to close the place down and turn it into a boardinghouse. But when the citizens of Cheyenne get wind of John's plan, they try to convince him to keep the whorehouse the way it is. However, all of this talk is tabled when John finds out that Jenny has been beaten by the disreputable Corey Bannister (Robert J. Wilke). John challenges him to a gunfight and kills him. Suddenly, John and Harley discover that they have the whole Bannister clan after them, and now they have to defend both themselves and the gals at the Cheyenne Social Club. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Poor Ben Cartwright is unable to get any peace and quiet on the Ponderosa, thanks to his uncommonly noisy offspring and their friends. In desperate need of a few hours' sleep, he checks into the Virginia City hotel. Not unexpectedly, comic chaos ensues, much of it caused by a bickering husband and wife (Abigail Shelton, Robert Ridgely) and a man-chasing widow (Jean Willes. Scriptwriters Frank Cleaver and Jeffrey Fleece were responsible for this non-stop laugh riot. "A Good Night's Rest" originally aired on April 11, 1965. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Spring is here, and "Doctor" Granny hopes to administer her special tonic (read: moonshine) to her friends and neighbors. Among the recipients of Granny's master brew is the Clampetts' Beverly Hills neighbor, jet-setting Maria von Holstein (Jean Willes). Once she tastes the tonic, Maria is "hooked" -- and so, hopefully, are the viewers of this half-hour laughfest. "Another Neighbor" made its initial network appearance on April 1, 1964. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Captain Wallace Binghamton (Joe FLynn), St. Comdr. Quinton McHale (Ernest Borgnine) and Ensign Charles Parker (Tim Conway) brought their wacky antics to the big screen for this feature, spawned from the popular '60 television program of the same name. McHale and his crew get involved in a betting scam aboard their PT boat. Soon, they find themselves owning money to a group of Marines. In order to pay off their debts, they plan a sure-fire way of making money--involving the transportation of a disguised racehorse on board their boat. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi

Victor Jory stars as veteran police officer Paul Reardon, who vows to avenge the murder of his rookie-cop son, Philip (Peter Brown). Although ordered by the higher-ups to lay off, Paul is determined to bring drug kingpin Herbie Lane (Lawrence Tierney), the man responsible for Peter's death in a shoot-out, to justice. In fact, Paul will go to any length to settle accounts with Herbie -- even if his efforts kill both men. This 300th episode of Alfred Hitchcock's popular TV anthology is also the final episode of the series' eighth season. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This Stephen Sondheim/Jules Styne/Arthur Laurents musical comedy Gypsy had been a Broadway smash with Ethel Merman in the lead. Based on the autobiography of striptease artist Gypsy Rose Lee, it centers on the antics of Mama Rose (here played by Rosalind Russell), the Stage Mother from Hell who prods and pushes her daughters June and Louise into a vaudeville career. Rose pins most of her hopes for fame on older daughter June (billed as "Dainty June"), while little Louise reluctantly goes along for the ride. Karl Malden plays the girls' agent, who falls in love with Rose but is ultimately turned off by her ruthless ambition. When June escapes the act to get married, Rose puts the unwilling Louise in the star spot, but vaudeville is dying and soon the only booking they can get is in a cheap burlesque house. The strippers take Louise under their wing and advise her that "You've gotta have a gimmick" to survive on the bump-and-grind circuit. The nervous Louise rises to stardom as stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, whose "gimmick" is to adopt a self-mocking attitude and to put on pseudo-sophisticated airs. Rose resents Gypsy's rise to the top, but a bravura eight-minute musical soliloquy reveals that Rose had forced her daughters on the stage because she wanted to live out her own dreams of stardom. Louise--aka Gypsy--is played by Diane Pace as a girl and by Natalie Wood as an adult; June (better known as June Havoc) is portrayal by Suzanne Cupito (later billed as Morgan Brittany) as a little girl and Ann Jillian as an adolescent. Most of the best songs, including "Let Me Entertain You," "Small World," and "Everything's Coming Up Roses," remain intact from the original Broadway production. Gypsy was remade for television in 1993, with Bette Midler as Rose. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Originally titled "Nobody Here but Us Martians," this darkly comic Twilight Zone episode was a rewrite of (and vast improvement upon) an unfilmed Rod Serling script from 1958, "The Night of the Big Rain." Having spotted what they think is a UFO, two highway patrolmen converge upon a roadside diner, where an interesting cross-section of humanity has gathered. The patrolmen plant the suggestion that one of the patrons is actually a "spy" from another planet, a suggestion scoffed at by such likely suspects as taciturn Mr. Ross (John Hoyt) and scraggly vagabond Avery (Jack Elam). The check-checkmate ending is one of the series' most memorable, thanks to the skillful underplaying of Barney Phillips as the diner's sarcastic counterman. "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?" first aired May 26, 1961. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

During a Los Angeles Christmas, a group of 82nd Airborne vets assembles under the leadership of gamblin' man Danny Ocean (Frank Sinatra) to rip off five Las Vegas casinos just after the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day. Playboy Jimmy Foster (Peter Lawford) joins in the scheme because he's sick of needing his oft-married mother's money, especially now that she's about to wed Duke Santos (Cesar Romero), a self-made man with all sorts of underworld ties. After he receives the news that he could die at any time, newly released convict Anthony Bergdorf (Richard Conte) reluctantly agrees to participate so he can leave some money to his estranged wife and young son. Ocean's own wife, Beatrice (Angie Dickinson), doesn't think much of her husband's promise of a big score to come, but her quiet protests don't dissuade him. With Las Vegas garbage man and fellow vet Josh Howard (Sammy Davis Jr.) and several casino employees among their number, the titular band of thieves have just a few days to get ready for their caper. When Duke Santos, Jimmy's mother, and one of Ocean's discarded paramours all show up in Sin City at the same time as the veterans, the crew's perfect plans face some serious hurdles. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

A navy jet piloted by Captain Dale Heath (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) and carrying an enlisted man (Troy Donahue) has already taken off when Heath realizes that both his radio and his navigation equipment have malfunctioned. They might be on the right course, but he can't tell if they're at the right altitude -- 500 feet too high or too low would put him in the path of a plane headed in the opposite direction -- and he can't get through to ground control to get a fix. Heath is quietly terrified at the prospect of what may happen, not just for the obvious reason but also because he's experienced this situation once before and saved himself at the cost of the other plane and its crew. Meanwhile, flying in the opposite direction on the same course is a DC-7 commercial airliner flown by Dick Barnett (Dana Andrews), a veteran pilot, and carrying a full load of passengers, each with their own worries. Much of the first 85 minutes of this thriller is devoted to the passengers and crew of the airliner struggling with their personal problems, told in extensive flashbacks. Both Barnett and Heath have their personal trials, the latter including an unhappy marriage to a faithless wife (Rhonda Fleming); Barnett's troubles are more complicated, and concern long-time problems with his co-pilot, Mike Rule (John Kerr), whose own personal conflicts involve his artist father, his own conflicting love of flying and art, and his relationship with head stewardess Anne Francis (who never looked better than she does in this movie). The extensive flashbacks will push the patience of modern audiences almost to the breaking point, but they do pay off -- and except for the archaic late 1950s slang (which, ironically, was intended to make the movie seem up-to-date) that litters the dialogue, and a silly subplot involving a Broadway method actor on his way to Hollywood, the material is worth watching, despite the soap-opera-ish elements, as the suspense gets ratcheted up gradually. The movie piles on hints and clues (some of them false) about the impending danger that turn the last 20 minutes or so into a neat cinematic thrill-ride for its time. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Having planned to marry heiress Helen Harvey (played by future Happy Days costar Marion Ross) only for her money, Stacey Chandler (John Bryant) has fallen genuinely in love with her. Thus, Stacey is none too happy when his ex-girlfriend Irene (Jean Willes), a crooked private detective, shows up to demand a cut of Helen's inheritance to keep her mouth shut. Inevitably, Irene is murdered--but it is Helen rather than Stacey her is charged with the crime. Of course, Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) is convinced that Helen is innocent, and intends to prove it. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Sue Ellen Terry is shot and killed while disembarking from a stagecoach. The town drunk claims that the shot was fired by Adam Cartwright, who'd been paying court to Sue Ellen despite her questionable reputation. Though Adam protests his innocence, the men of Virginia City -- many of whom had enjoyed the favors of the dead woman -- turn against him. Fay Spain and Buddy Ebsen are featured in this episode, which was first broadcast on December 12, 1959. "The Sisters" was written by Carey Wilbur. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Director Delbert Mann and screenwriter Irwin Shaw adapt Eugene O'Neill's 20th-century version of a Greek tragedy to the screen with a bit more discretion than need be. The story takes place in the New England of the 1840s. Emotionally cool but passionately hot farmer Burl Ives the smoldering Sophia Loren as his third wife. Anthony Perkins arrives to ignite this powder keg of pent-up lust, with Perkins and Loren engaging in a semi-incestuous love affair. When Loren becomes pregnant, Ives thinks the child is his own and the heat it turned up considerably. And with Eugene O'Neill aping Greek tragedy, could infanticide be far behind? ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi