Keenan Wynn Movies

Although the main character, Tony Manetta (Frank Sinatra), in this light comedy tends to tip the scales towards being unbelievably unrealistic, the story is pulled off because everyone else is convincing. Tony is a widower in need of a financial bailout for himself and his son, so he asks for help from his brother Mario (Edward G. Robinson), a wealthy New Yorker. Tony owns a small hotel in Miami Beach but his impractical ways have made it a losing proposition. After Mario and his wife (Thelma Ritter) arrive in Miami, thinking of taking custody of Tony's son, they suddenly decide to try to match Tony up with the widowed Mrs. Rogers -- maybe that will teach him some responsibility. This was one of the last movies directed by Frank Capra. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This baroque nightmare of a south-of-the-border mystery is considered to be one of the great movies of Orson Welles, who both directed and starred in it. On honeymoon with his new bride, Susan (Janet Leigh), Mexican-born policeman Mike Vargas (Charlton Heston) agrees to investigate a bomb explosion. In so doing, he incurs the wrath of local police chief Hank Quinlan (Welles), a corrupt, bullying behemoth with a perfect arrest record. Vargas suspects that Quinlan has planted evidence to win his past convictions, and he isn't about to let the suspect in the current case be railroaded. Quinlan, whose obsession with his own brand of justice is motivated by the long-ago murder of his wife, is equally determined to get Vargas out of his hair, and he makes a deal with local crime boss Uncle Joe Grandi (Akim Tamiroff) to frame Susan on a drug rap, leading to one of the movie's many truly harrowing sequences. Touch of Evil dissects the nature of good and evil in a hallucinatory, nightmarish ambience, helped by the shadow-laden cinematography of Russell Metty and by the cast, which, along with Tamiroff and Welles includes Charlton Heston as a Mexican; Marlene Dietrich, in a brunette wig, as a brittle madam who delivers the movie's unforgettable closing words; Mercedes McCambridge as a junkie; and Dennis Weaver as a tremulous motel clerk. Touch of Evil has been released with four different running times -- 95 minutes for the 1958 original, which was taken away from Welles and brutally cut by the studio; 108 minutes and 114 minutes in later versions; and 111 minutes in the 1998 restoration. Based on a 58-page memo written by Welles after he was barred from the editing room during the film's original post-production, this restoration, among numerous other changes, removed the opening titles and Henry Mancini's music from the opening crane shot, which in either version ranks as one of the most remarkably extended long takes in movie history. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Every so often, the prestigious 1950s CBS anthology Playhouse 90 would digress from its "live" format and offer a sumptuously produced film presentation. One of these was the suspenseful 1958 offering No Time at All, a fascinating precursor to the Airport films of the 1970s. On a routine night flight from Miami to New York, an airliner loaded with passengers is suddenly plunged into darkness due to an electrical failure. Losing contact with the plane, the ground crew in New York worries that all on board may be lost--especially since the weather has turned ugly. In a brilliant dramatic device, the viewer never sees the plane in flight nor its passengers and crew: Instead, the play stays on solid land, concentrating on the reactions of the friends and families of those on board. This Playhouse 90 entry boasts perhaps the most impressive cast ever assembled for the series, among them dramatic actors Bill Lundigan, Jane Greer, Betsy Palmer, Sylvia Sidney and Keenan Wynn; comedians Buster Keaton, Chico Marx (with a Jewish accent), and Harry Einstein (aka "Parkyakarkus", and the father of contemporary comic actors Bob Einstein and Albert Brooks); and musical-comedy favorites Jack Haley (in a rare unsympathetic role) and Cliff Edwards (the voice of Jiminy Cricket in the 1940 cartoon feature Pinocchio). Also seen in the supporting cast is an up-and-coming young player named Charles Bronson, here cast as a sentimental boxer; and "Floyd the Barber" himself, Howard McNear--who, indirectly, is the hero of the piece. Long considered a "lost" film, No Time at All was made available on the home-video market in the early years of the 21st century, complete with the original commercials and a preview of the next week's Playhouse 90. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Roald Dahl's classic short story A Dip in the Pool has been dramatized numerous times on both radio and TV, though never more memorably than in this episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. While taking an ocean voyage, chronic gambler William Botibol (Keenan Wynn) bets every penny to his name on a shipboard contest, predicated on the number of miles the ship will travel each day. When it appears as though he will lose his wager, Botibol hatches a desperate scheme: he will jump into the ocean, forcing the captain to turn the ship around and save him, thereby remaining within the "proper" mileage. But first, Botibol needs to find a friendly stranger who will witness his overboard leap and immediately report it to the captain. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a play by Evan Wylie and Jack Ruge, Joe Butterfly also bears the influence of Teahouse of the August Moon. The title character, played by Burgess Meredith, is a wily Japanese wheeler-dealer who offers his services as interpreter to the American GIs occupying postwar Tokyo (where the film was lensed). But Joe's "services" go above and beyond the call of duty, not to mention military protocol. To make certain that the local Army newspaper will continue to meet its deadlines as more and more soldiers march into Japan, Joe sets up the paper's staff in a luxurious private home. Top-billed Audie Murphy plays an army photographer who can't seem to adjust himself to military life, while Kieko Shima portrays Murphy's Japanese sweetheart. While Joe Butterfly is well cast and smartly directed, star Burgess Meredith always felt that the film could have been better had the Universal-International production staff had more faith in the project. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Coproduced by actress Jane Russell and her husband Robert Waterfield, The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown represented Russell's final starring film of the 1950s--and her last movie appearance until 1964. Decked out in an unbecoming blonde wig, Jane is cast as Hollywood starlet Laurel Stevens. On the eve of her latest picture,"The Kidnapped Bride", Laurel is kidnapped for real by Runyonesque crooks Mike (Ralph Meeker) and Dandy (Keenan Wynn"). She assumes it's a publicity stunt staged by her studio, but soon figures out what's what. When the kidnappers fall for Laurel and decide to set her free, she insists that they go through with their ransom demands, lest she be accused of faking the abduction for publicity purposes. Based on a much funnier novel by Sylvia Tate, The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown was an enormous flop which not even the combined comic expertise of supporting players Fred Clark, Una Merkel and Benay Venuta could salvage. Thanks to constant TV showings in the 1960s, however, the film finally posted a profit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Harlan "Mountain" McClintock (Jack Palance) has been a professional boxer for 14 years. He's been in the ring for over 110 bouts and was once ranked number five among the world's heavyweight fighters, but age and the physical punishment of his sport have taken their toll. Now McClintock is growing too old to fight but he lacks the money to retire gracefully, as his manager Maish (Keenan Wynn) suggests he start fighting crooked or switch to professional wrestling. Ed Wynn co-stars as McClintock's corner man, and Kim Hunter plays a sweet but naïve social worker. Requiem for a Heavyweight was a television drama written by Rod Serling and originally broadcast in 1956; the story was later remade as a feature film starring Anthony Quinn. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This meticulous and unusually long cinemadaptation of Sloan Wilson's best-selling novel The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit stars Gregory Peck as an ex-army officer, pursuing a living as a TV writer in the postwar years. Hired by a major broadcasting network, Peck is assigned to write speeches for the network's president (Fredric March). Peck comes to realize that the president's success has come at the expense of personal happiness, and this leads Peck to ruminate on his own life. Extended flashbacks reveal that Peck had experienced a torrid wartime romance with Italian girl Marisa Pavan, a union that produced a child. Peck is torn between his responsibility to his illegitimate son and his current obligations towards his wife (Jennifer Jones), his children, and his employer. Among the many life-altering decisions made by Peck before the fade-out is his determination to seek out a job that will allow him to spend more time with his family, even if it means a severe cut in salary. The superb hand-picked supporting cast of The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit includes Ann Harding as March's wife, Keenan Wynn as the man who informs Peck that he'd fathered an Italian child, Henry Daniell as a detached executive, and an unbilled DeForrest Kelley as an army medic (who gets to say "He's dead, captain"!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

During her brief stay at MGM, starlet Jarma Lewis received starring roles in two programmers. One of these was The Marauders, in which she appeared with Dan Duryea, Keenan Wynn and Jeff Richards. The bulk of the film's drama is handled by Richards, cast as a homesteader who refuses to move despite the threats of land baron Harry Shannon. After Shannon's death, the persecution of Richards is supervised by Dan Duryea, an unhinged frustrated soldier who fancies himself a second Napoleon. The looney Duryea manages to kill James Anderson, weak-willed husband of Jarma Lewis, with the help of hired gun Keenan Wynn. But Richards stands his ground, winning Jarma in the process. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Glass Slipper is a charming retelling of the Cinderella story, eminently suitable for both kids and adults. Leslie Caron plays Ella, the plain-Jane stepsister of beautiful but mean-spirited Birdena (Amanda Blake) and Serafina (Lisa Daniels). While stepmother Widow Sonder (Elsa Lanchester) arranges wealthy marriages for her natural daughters, poor Ella hasn't got a chance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It is all but impossible to dislike this ultra-cheap "Cold War paranoia" melodrama. Virtually the entire picture takes place on a single set, representing a rundown roadside diner. Lee Marvin plays the aptly named Slob, a lecherous short-order cook who lusts after shapely waitress Kotty (Terry Moore). Also interested in Kotty is a scientist known only as The Professor (Frank Lovejoy), who spends the better part of his free time at the diner's counter. It turns out that the Professor is a traitor, exchanging top-secret information with Slob, who's actually a commie agent. Only the Professor isn't a traitor, see, he's really . . . But why spoil the film for the uninitiated? For the record, Keenan Wynn and Whit Bissell are also in Shack Out on 101. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Leave it to MGM to turn the Korean War into a splashy, big-budget, all-star extravaganza. Men of the Fighting Lady is set on the US aircraft career of the same name. Van Johnson stars as Lt. Howard Thayer, while other MGM stalwarts in the cast include Walter Pidgeon, Kennan Wynn and Louis Calhern. The film's highlight is the famous fact-based scene wherein Lt. Thayer "talks in" blinded pilot Kenneth Schechter (Dewey Martin), assuring a safe landing for the incapacitated flyer. As a novelty, no concessions are made to the "love stuff" addicts in the audience: there is no contrived romantic subplot in the film, nor are there any women in the cast. Men of the Fighting Lady was based on two literary works: "The Case of the Blinded Pilot" by Cmdr. Harry A. Burns, and "The Forgotten Heroes of Korea" by James A. Michener (who is impersonated in the film by Louis Calhern). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide