Russ Bender Movies

Singing stars from two very different generations appear in Live A Little, Love A Little. Elvis Presley plays Greg, a photographer who divides his time working for a skin magazine and a conservative newspaper. Rudy Valle plays Penlow, the veteran newspaper publisher. Lansdown (Don Porter) is the publisher of a girly magazine as Greg tries to work for both without the other finding out. Greg falls in love with a fashion model (Michele Carey) in this situation comedy that even die-hard Elvis fans have a hard time swallowing. By this time, Elvis planned to fulfil his remaining movie obligations and return to the stage, as his 1960s film career had failed to take on the dramatic seriousness he desperately sought. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

A small Arizona town is plagued by violence created from the tension between Anglo and Mexican-American youths. Tony (Tom Nardini) is the idealistic new kid in school who tries to alleviate long-time tensions between the rival factions. The Mexican gang is led by Paco (Zooey Hall), a hot-tempered youth with good reason to resent some of his Caucasian counterparts due to past prejudices. Bruce (David Macklin) is the leader of the white gang. Patty McCormack and Joanna Frank are the female interests who become victims of the gang struggles. Tony, formerly from San Diego, attempts to change the attitudes of the polarized and violent groups. Simms (Russ Bender) is a bigoted educator who fans the flames of hate, and Wilson (Arthur Peterson) is the school principal who is helpless to stop the violence between the two factions. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Enemy agents Sava (Edward Mulhare), Karn (Diana Hyland) and Veltran (David Frankham) pool their efforts to kidnap prominent European statesman Anton Dieter (Anton Dieter). Their plan is to exchange Dieter for a Communist agent currently in Federal custody. Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) must locate the kidnappers in order to avert an embarrassing international incident and to plug up a potentially dangerous breach in national security. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Dull, workaday life at the Navy weather station base on Gow Island is broken up -- violently -- when a transport plane from the antarctic, on a routine approach for re-fueling, sudden reports trouble and crash-lands. Most of the scientists and crew who were supposed to be aboard are missing, and the one man they do find, the pilot, is in a shock and can't speak. Then the local bird population gets disturbed, and soon people are disappearing, all while the scientists try to figure out the connection between all of these events and a corrosive residue that starts turning up. It later becomes clear that the island, now cut off from the outside world, is under assault by some kind of carnivorous species than can resist most weapons and breeds very fast. Lt. Charles Brown (Anthony Eisley), in temporary command, has to hold together his small navy crew and a coterie of scientists (Walter Sande et al) and civilians, including a nurse (Mamie Van Doren) in whom he has more than a professional interest. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

It's mayhem on the sand in this tuneful beach romp that centers on a coed and a frat boy who battle it out for possession of the same beach house. Both had scheduled parties there on the same weekend. Fortunately, the arrive at a fun compromise and music, dancing, wild parties and love ensues. Sonny and Cher make cameo appearances and sing a song. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Scuba-divers plot a bank robbery on lovely Catalina island in this caper movie. After the heist, the thieves dive into the see with their booty and swim for their getaway boat. Unfortunately while fleeing, the ring leader's chief assistant suffers a heart attack; more trouble ensues when a police bullet punctures the leader's air tank. Though he is now starving for oxygen and tired, the villain keeps going. Just as he is about to board the boat, he is sucked in to the crafts powerful propeller and dies a grisly death. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Based on eyewitness testimony, a nasty old man named Justin Briggs (John Anderson) is convicted of the murder of one Eddie Fry--who is not only very much alive, but is actually fugitive Richard Kimble (David Janssen). Now miles away from Briggs' town, Kimble could conceivably keep quiet and avoid arrest by allowing Briggs to be executed. Instead, Kimble's essential decency gets the better of him, and returns to reveal that reports of his death were highly exaggerated. Unfortunately, by this time Briggs himself has been killed while trying to escape--and his hotheaded son Roy (David Macklin) is determined to get even with Janice Cummings (Dianne Foster), whose testimony sent his dad to prison. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In 1964, as the "Boston Strangler" killings of young nurses in Boston remained unsolved, this film was rushed into release to exploit the horrifying situation. Victor Buono gives a chilling performance as Leo Kroll, a worker in a Boston hospital who has a propensity for strangling young nurses. Like Norman Bates in Psycho, Leo has an extremely unhealthy mother fixation. When Mom (Ellen Corby) suffers a heart attack and Clara (Jeanne Bates), a young and attractive nurse, is assigned to care for her, Leo's hormones start to rage. On one hand Leo is attracted to Clara, but he is also jealous of her, fearing that she has replaced him in his mother's affections. Leo proceeds to go on a killing spree, targeting young and attractive nurses. But Leo's downfall is imminent; he is a collector of kewpie dolls, and mistakenly leaves one behind at the scene of one of his murders. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Stefanie Powers guest-stars as the legendary, cantankerous Calamity Jane. Having promised not to reveal that Calamity is a "mere woman" so that she can collect an inheritance, Joe finds himself attracted to the two-fisted, straight-shootin' hoyden. He also ends up as the apex of a romantic triangle involving Calamity and her former suitor Doc Holliday (Christopher Dark), which climaxes with a showdown between Holliday and Joe. The delightful Fifi D'Orsay makes a rare TV appearance as Babette. Originally telecast on November 3, 1963, "Calamity Over the Comstock" was written by Warren Douglas. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

When people refer to Doris Day as "the world's oldest professional virgin," they generally have the 1962 comedy That Touch of Mink in mind. It isn't that Cathy Timberlake (Day) is above a bit of hanky-panky; it's just that she wants such tangibles as a marriage license and wedding ring first. Thus, when playboy businessman Philip Shayne (Cary Grant) begins actively pursuing Cathy (they "met cute" when Philip's limo splashed mud on the hapless Cathy), she won't say "I will" until he says "I do." She is of the idealistic opinion that she can bring out the best intentions in him, even when he repeatedly tips off his worst intentions by inviting her to accompany him to Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Bermuda. After not a few complications and misunderstands, Cathy finally finagles a proposal out of Philip. The film is essentially much ado about nothing, but it is so well-acted and attractively photographed that the audiences are willing to go along for the ride. The high-powered supporting cast includes Gig Young as Roger, Philip's moralistic financial advisor; Audrey Meadows as Connie, Cathy's wise-cracking roommate; Alan Hewitt as Dr. Gruber, a confused psychiatrist; John Astin as Beasley, Cathy's slimy would-be beau; Dick Sargent as a neurotic honeymooner; and an unbilled Richard Deacon as an all-around letch. Best scene: the baseball-dugout rhubarb involving New York Yankees Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, and Yogi Berra. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Ray Milland both starred in and directed the morose, minimalist sci-fier Panic in the Year Zero! (original title: Panic in Year Zero!). En route from Los Angeles to a vacation in the mountains, Harry Baldwin (Milland), his wife, Ann (Jean Hagen), and his teen-aged children, Rick (Frankie Avalon) and Karen (Mary Mitchell), are appalled to see a mushroom cloud forming over the L.A. skyline. With the highways clogged by panicking motorists, Milland and his family decide to head to the shelter of their fishing spot, there to wait until more news about the nuclear disaster is available. Everywhere they drive, however, the family is confronted by rampaging looters, heavily armed survivalists, and doped-up motorcycle punks. Attempting to remain calm and collected in the face of Armageddon, Milland ends up as violent and animalistic as everyone else. Though it avoids proselytizing for the most part, Panic in the Year Zero! does fall back on the old reliable "The Beginning" fadeout title. The most powerful aspect of the film is the "normalcy" of Milland's family: we are made to feel throughout that what happens to them could very well happen to us, and how then would we react? ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

One of Charles Beaumont's most charming Twilight Zone scripts, this episode stars the ubiqitious J. Pat O'Malley as Old Ben, the only ray of sunshine in the life of crippled eight-year-old Jenny (Susan Gordon). Out of earshot of Jenny's harridan guardian Mrs. Gann (Nancy Kulp), Old Ben confesses that he is a fugitive from a distant planet, an assertion that seems to be verified when he miraculously heals Jenny's leg. The arrival of two mysterious strangers leads to an even more startling revelation -- albeit one with happy results. Keep an eye on that photograph in the final scene. "The Fugitive" first aired March 9, 1962. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi