Carroll Case Movies
Director Budd Boetticher wrote the story upon which this comic Western was based. Clint Eastwood stars as Hogan, a tough cowboy who rescues a woman, Sara (Shirley Maclaine) as she's about to be attacked by a trio of rapists. Surprised to learn that his new traveling companion is a nun, Hogan agrees to escort her to a camp occupied by anti-French revolutionaries. It turns out that neither of this pair is what they claim to be: Hogan is to scout out a French military garrison for a future attack, while Sara is actually a prostitute masquerading as a nun. After Hogan spies Sara smoking cigars and drinking whiskey, he begins to figure out she's not a bride of Christ, and the two team up with the Juaristas to destroy the French fortifications. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shirley MacLaine, Clint Eastwood, (more)
Talion is the alternate title for the blood-splattered western An Eye for an Eye. You know that the filmmakers aren't kidding around when, in the very first scene, outlaw Slim Pickens puts a bullet into a squalling baby! Robert Lansing plays Talion, a homesteader who, after his ranch is burned to the ground and his wife and child are murdered, hires bounty hunter Pat Wayne to track down the killers. The men are forced to rely upon each other when Lansing's gun hand is shattered in a shoot out and Wayne is blinded during a confrontation with the outlaws. Lansing and Wayne combine into one single, unstoppable killing machine. Talion was co-scripted by Bing Russell, father of film star Kurt Russell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Lansing, Slim Pickens, (more)
The venerable John Carradine gets his first chance to play the fanged count in 20 years (the last time was House of Dracula), albeit in one of the weirdest scenarios ever committed to film. Arriving in the Wild West via stagecoach, Drac installs himself in the home of a pretty rancher (Melinda Plowman) by convincing her (through hypnosis) that he is her long-lost uncle. Unfortunately for the Count, one of her hired hands is none other than legendary outlaw Billy the Kid (Chuck Courtney), who has been trying to put his wicked ways behind him. Billy takes a shine to his boss but starts to have his suspicions about her creepy "uncle." Eventually, the reformed desperado straps on his six-guns again to do battle with the Count, ably assisted by the local sawbones who must be an acquaintance of Dr. Van Helsing, since he obviously knows such helpful arcane knowledge such as (gasp) "The Vampire Test!" A camp anti-classic from William "One-Shot" Beaudine, who shot it back-to-back with yet another Wild-West-Horror mutation, Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chuck Courtney, John Carradine, (more)
- 1965
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William "One Shot" Beaudine's companion piece to the equally nonsensical Billy the Kid vs. Dracula represents a memorable closing to the eccentric "Z"-movie auteur's amusing body of work. The hare-brained concept finds the legendary outlaw Jesse James (John Lupton) stumbling into the decrepit lair of Maria Frankenstein (Narda Onyx) -- not the daughter but the granddaughter of the infamous monster-making Baron. Maria is, of course, following in Grandpa's footsteps by creating a creature of her own, transplanting the dormant but still-intact brain of Frankenstein's original monster into the body of one of James' cohorts. The lumbering, homicidal monster -- imaginatively dubbed "Igor" -- begins terrorizing townsfolk until the inevitable showdown between living and undead gunslingers. Though not as flamboyantly awful as its predecessor (mainly due to the absence of John Carradine), this is still worth a look for trash-movie completists. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
