Gerald Drayson Adams Movies

Elvis Presley plays singer/actor Johnny Tyronne in this formulated quickie directed by Gene Nelson. While on a promotional tour of Pakistan, Johnny is drugged, kidnapped, and whisked away to a mythical Middle East country. Jay Novello plays the scheming Zacha who vows (for a price) to help Johnny in a world that is 2,000 years behind the times and sealed off from the outside world. With the help of Baba (Billy Barty), they hope to get Johnny back to the comforts of the modern world. Elvis shows off some neat karate moves, but he looks bored and resigned to the fact no one in Hollywood (or Colonel Tom Parker) will give him a serious screen role. Filmed on sets that were originally used for Kismet (1944) and Cecile B. DeMille's silent classic The Ten Commandments. As for the songs, only Mirage and Hey Little Girl are memorable. The generous Presley, perhaps feeling nostalgic, donated $50,000 to the motion picture relief fund after completing the film. On hand at the celebrity press conference were such luminaries as Frank Sinatra, Bud Abbott, and silent-screen veteran Chester Conklin. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this routine western set in 1864 in Montana, U.S. Marshal Jim McDowell (James Philbrook) is trying to safely get a treasure-trove of gold bullion out East, where it will help the Union cause in the Civil War. Standing in his way are first a band of Native Americans and then some crafty outlaws headed by double-dealing sheriff Henry Plummer (Marshal Reed). Since the sheriff has insider information, he and his band of bad guys have a special hot line to what happens next. Meanwhile, Marshal McDowell is aided and abetted by his wife Rose (Nancy Kovack), a woman who married him for her own particular reasons. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Bret (James Garner) is hired by pretty Connie Coleman to protect her ranch's cattle drive to Abilene. While our hero has his hands full with Indians and such, poor Connie sells her herd for several thousand dollars--in counterfeit money. None too pleased that all his work is for naught, Bret sets about to catch the counterfeiter and make him fork over some genuine greenbacks. And yes, that timid, somewhat chubby youngster playing Connie's brother is indeed a 23-year-old Robert Redford. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Frontier Rangers doesn't usually show up in the feature-film credits of director Jacques Tourneur for a very good reason: It really isn't a feature film at all. Rather, it is a pastiche of three episodes from the 1958 TV series Northwest Passage, stitched together as a feature and released theatrically in Europe. Produced by Adrian Samish and largely written by Gerald Drayson Adams, the series was based on the 1940 film of the same name, which in turn was inspired by the best-selling book by Kenneth Roberts. Keith Larsen stars as Major Robert Rogers, whose "Rangers" search tirelessly for an inland route that will permit boat travel through 18th century North America. Foremost among the troops is Rogers' old pal, Indian fighter Hunk Marriner, played by Buddy Ebsen. Guest stars in Frontier Rangers include Lisa Gaye and Angie Dickinson. The patchwork plotline is secondary to the unusually high (for a TV series) violence content. MGM released two additional ersatz Northwest Passage features for European consumption in 1959: Fury River and Mission of Danger. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Affair in Reno is an uneven Republic adventure from the later phases of the studio's history. Doris Singleton, usually cast as the heroine's next door neighbor or best friend (she's Caroline Appleby in the "Harpo Marx" episode on I Love Lucy), is here seen as a smart-lipped private eye. She comes to Reno on a case, and falls in love with publicity agent John Lund. But nothing dissuades her from her mission to get the goods on suspected crook John Archer. Affair in Reno doesn't have much in the way of production values, but compensates for this with an emphasis on comedy, especially whenever Doris Singleton has to pose as someone she's not. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jack Kelly makes his first appearance as Bart Maverick in this episode, in which Bart and brother Bret find themselves broke and stranded in New Orleans. Hoping to stake themselves to a big poker game being held on a steamboat called the River Princess, the Maverick boys are denied admission by the boat's owner, Andre Devereaux (Stephen Bekassy), a Creole gentleman with a long-standing hatred for Americans. When Devereaux' daughter Yvette (Laurie Carroll) is kidnapped, the Mavericks offer to go to her rescue--not out of any sense of gallantry, but because they still want to get in on that card game. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gun Brothers is a rehash of the "Cain and Abel" motif that has been popular amongst screenwriters since time immemorial. Buster Crabbe and Neville Brand star as brothers Chad and Jubal. While Chad remains on the straight-and-narrow and becomes a rancher, Jubal opts for the life of an outlaw. The siblings manage to keep peace in the family until a jealous Indian maiden (Lita Milan) tells Jubal that Chad has turned stool pigeon. Only a cathartic last-reel burst of violence convinces Jubal that his brother hasn't betrayed him to the authorities--but by then, of course, it is too late. Ann Robinson, leading lady of such early-1950s esoterica as War of the Worlds and Dragnet, costars as a saloon singer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Reviled in his lifetime as a lunatic insurrectionist, Chief Crazy Horse has in recent years emerged as a Native American hero. In this off-beat western, unusual for its time in that it sympathetically presented the Native American viewpoint, Victor Mature plays the misunderstood Sioux leader while the treaty-breaking villain General Crook is played by James Millican (who had earlier portrayed an equally unsympathetic General Custer in Warpath). The battle of the Little Big Horn is staged with less bravura but more authenticity than in 1941's They Died With Their Boots On (a wildly inaccurate pro-Custer opus). Chief Crazy Horse falters only in its verbose dialogue sequences, wherein the native tongue of the Sioux seems to be Fluent Cliche. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this unusual Western directed by Douglas Sirk, Rock Hudson stars as Taza, whose legendary father Cochise (Jeff Chandler) is on his deathbed. Taza promises his father that he will keep the tribe -- which Cochise united and ruled -- at peace. But Taza's brother wants the tribe to join with another bloodthirsty tribe, headed by Geronimo (Ian MacDonald), which is tangling with white settlers and other Indian tribes. Taza must battle his brother and try to keep his promise to his father. This film was originally shown in 3-D, and many of the battle scenes feature shots of warriors rushing headlong toward the screen. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

Mitzi Gaynor was contractually awarded with top billing in 20th Century-Fox's Three Young Texans, but the film's true star is Jeffrey Hunter. To prevent his father from being blackmailed into committing a train robbery, Johnny Colt (Hunter) pulls off the theft himself. Our hero and his lady friend (Mitzi Gaynor) intend to return the money as soon as his father is out of harm's way. Unfortunately, Colt's "friend" Tony Ballew (Keefe Brasselle) has other ideas. Running off with the money, Ballew makes the mistake of crossing the path of Apache Joe (Michael Ansara), who masterminded the robbery in the first place. Three Young Texans is another of those "thinking man's westerns" conceived in the wake of such films as The Gunfighter and High Noon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Adapted from a novel by Gerald Drayon Adams, Wings of the Hawk stars Van Heflin as Irish Gallegher, an American mining engineer working in Mexico. When his gold mine is confiscated by the local government, Gallegher aligns himself with a renegade group of insurrectionists, led by Arturo (Rodolfo Acosta). What follows is one perilous situation after another, usually involving explosions and chunks of debris flying at the camera, the better to show off the film's 3D camerawork. In addition, Gallegher finds time for a romance with firebrand lady outlaw Raquel (Julia Adams) and local senorita Elena (Abbe Lane). Lifting Wings of the Hawk above the norm is the always-inventive direction of Budd Boetticher. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Reportedly, there was no love lost between the three stars of Untamed Frontier, and perhaps it was this tension that added so much depth to this otherwise formula-bound western. Joseph Cotten plays Kirk Denbow, the straight-laced son of ruthless cattle-baron Matt Denbow (Minor Watson), while Scott Brady co-stars as Glen Denbow, Kirk's firebrand brother (shades of Duel in the Sun, which also starred Cotten). Waitress Jane Stevens (Shelley Winters) witnesses a murder committed by Glen, then is railroaded into marrying him to prevent her from testifying in court. Inevitably, Jane falls in love with Kirk, the first of several fateful steps which lead to the film's bloody denouement. The late Suzan Ball, whose screen career was so tragically brief, makes her movie debut in Untamed Frontier. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide