Johnny Crawford Movies

No less than Sam Peckinpah was the writer of The Rifleman's deubt episode, in which widower Lucas McCain (Chuck Connors) and his son Mark (Johnny Crawford) arrive in North Fork in hopes of owning and maintaining their own ranch. Though essentially a man of peace, Lucas is forced to show off his astonishing skill with a rifle to win a turkey shoot in order to afford the down payment on the ranch--and in so doing he earns the disdain of the first in a long line of blackhearted villains who will learn the hard way that Mr. McCain is not a man to be trifled with (Incidentally, that callow bully who picks on the McCain in an early scene is Dennis Hopper! In later episodes, a pre-Bonanza Michael Landon plays a wounded bank robber who forces Lucas to hide him from the law; Paul Fix makes his first series appearance as Micah Torrence, here presented as a once-famous lawman turned drunken bum (though he'd pull himself together suffiently to become North Fork's marshal soon enough!); an insane judge (George Macready) plots to kill Mark after his own son is turned over to the local hangman by Lucas; Claude Akins appears a bank guard with some unfortunate "friends"; a filthy-rich and despicably cruel Frenchman (played by the doggedly non-French Akim Tamiroff) will stop at nothing to gain control of the McCain ranch; future Man From UNCLE Robert Vaughn is seen as a rule-bound apprentice marshal whose poor eyesight may prove to be his undoing; Vaughn's future Magnificent Seven costar James Coburn shows up as a crooked ranch foreman; spaghetti-western headliner Lee Van Cleef is menace personified as an ex-convict who comes to North Fork a-gunnin' for Marshal Torrance and John Carradine chews the scenery as a portrait photographer who was once the sadistic overseer of a Civil War prison camp (this episode is one of the few westerns to use a photo as a key piece of evidence in a murder trial!). Auterists should note that one of the first season's best episodes, "Shivaree", was directed by the underrated and brilliant Joseph H. Lewis (Terror in a Texas Town). And TV trivia buffs will like the episode titled The Indian, which serves as the pilot for the weekly western series Law of the Plainsman, starring Michael Ansara as Native American federal marshal Sam Buckhart. Originally telecast on Wednesday at 9 PM EST, Season One of The Rifleman easily outrated its rival network series The George Burns Show and The Arthur Godfrey Show, end up as America's fourth highest-rated series (and ABC's number one attraction!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hoping to halt the ratings decline suffered by the ABC western series The Rifleman towards the end of its second season, the series' producers made a handful of significant changes during Season Three. For one thing, the show was moved from its family 9PM Tuesday timeslot to 8:30 PM on the same night, thus avoiding the one-two punch of competing series Dobie Gillis and Alfred Hitchcock Presents (it was now seen opposite the second half of the hour-long NBC oater Laramie and the now-all-rerun Father Knows Best. Next, the incessant preachifying and moralizing of series protagonist Lucas McCain (Chuck Conners) was pared down to its barest minimum, usually reserving Lucas' words of wisdom to his son Mark (Johnny Crawford) to the closing scene of each episode, after 22 minutes' worth of solid action and adventure. Finally, a dash of feminine interest was added to the stew in the shapely form of Millie Scott (Joan Taylor), the feisty but gorgeous new storekeeper in North Fork ("Miss Milly" was first seen in the episode bearing that name, which originally aired November 15, 1960). Although Millie and Lucas get off on the wrong foot, the two later become close (but not too close) friends--and besides, what western series could do without the occasional "damsel in distress" plotline? Demonstrating the newer, "tougher" Lucas McCain, the season opener "Trail of Hate" finds the normally pacifist Lucas seeking revenge when his son Mark is victimized by bank robbers. Other highlights this season include "Seven", in which a gang of condemned murderers hold North Fork in thrall;"The Pitchman", with future Hawaii 5-0 producer Bob Sweeney as a glib lightning rod salesman; Richard Whorf, soon to direct dozens of episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies, plays a drunken artist who redeems himself when he sketches the image of a killer in "The Illustrator"; Buddy Hackett", cast as a villain (!) in one of the first-season episodes, returns as a dimwitted janitor who inadvertently becomes a "fast draw" in "The Clarence Bibs Story"; and the great Agnes Moorehead plays the title role in "Miss Birdie", the story of a peppery old spinster who gets it in her head to capture a notorious outlaw. Season Three is also distinguished by the series' first two-part episode "The Wyoming Story", in which Lucas goes undercover for the government to break up a gang of illegal arms dealers. Not long afterward, we are treated to the series' 100th episode, "Dark Day in North Fork", a harrowing story wherein a blinded Lucas faces a showdown with an old enemy. Finally, the episode "Assault" boasts the directorial talents of Ida Lupino, who'd honed her TV western skills on such classic series as Have Gun, Will Travel. And still later, the episode "The Queue" makes a courageous stand against blind racial prejudice. Unfortunately, the aforementioned "improvements" upon The Rifleman failed to do the trick ratingswise,with the series plummeting to 27th place--which, in all fairness, was largely due to the overall flagging of interest in TV westerns. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The fifth and final season of the ABC western The Rifleman opens with one of its best-ever episodes, the two-part "Waste", directed by cult favorite Joseph H. Lewis (Terror in a Texas Town) and written by actor Robert Culp (I Spy), in which rancher Lucas McCain (Chuck Connors) and his son Mark (Johnny Crawford) conduct a desperate search for their friend Marshal Torrance (Paul Fix) in a hellish Mexican ghost town. The next episode introduces Patricia Blair in the role of Lou Mallory, an attractive red-headed sharpster who quickly gains control of the North Fork hotel and merrily begins buying up all the neighboring property--only to be stopped short by Lucas, who won't sell at any price. Lou Mallory was a replacement for the previous season's resident female lead Millie Scott (Joan Taylor), a more demure (and frankly less interesting) character. It was Ms. Blair's bravura work on The Rifleman that would land her the much longer gig as the wife of frontiersman Fess Parker in the NBC series Daniel Boone. In other episodes, Edward Platt, the future "chief" on Get Smart, plays a senator whom a gang of desperadoes target as the first man to be assassinated by Gatling gun; Sammy Davis Jr., who'd scored a hit in a guest-star stint the previous season, returns in a different role as a "fast gun" who turns out to be all brag, no fact; future film director Paul Mazursky appears as a rustler who adopts a Halloween disguise to pull off his perfidy; and in a tense episode undoubtedly inspired by the classic Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "Poison", it is up to young Mark to save his father from a deadly snake. The series' final episode, "Old Tony", shows how far The Rifleman has come since its first episode in 1958; Mark McCain, only 12 years old when the series started, is now squiring a toothsome young lady named Laurie, played by Karen Sue Trent. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this religious movie, a married pair of television writers begin researching a script on restless teenagers and end up as born-again Christians. Meanwhile their own adolescent son runs away with a pregnant teen who is looking for the child's father. When she cannot, she tries to kill herself. Later, the son goes to a Billy Graham crusade with his dad, and he too is saved. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This episode reunites Branded star Chuck Connors with Johnny Crawford, who from 1958 through 1963 had played Connors' son on the popular western series The Rifleman. With all of the menfolk out prospecting for silver, the town of Jefferson City has been left unguarded, save for callow young deputy sheriff Clay Holden (Crawford), a few old people and children, and a one-legged bartender (Richard Arlen). Enter a group of outlaws who kidnap Clay's young wife Karin (Charla Doherty) and order him to stay out of their way while they rob the town's bank. Riding into this tense situation, so-called coward Jason McCord (Connors) must teach young Holden the true meaning--and proper application--of courage under fire. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When hillbilly Jessica (Larue Hall) becomes pregnant with her half brother's baby, the boy is chased of by Hall's father only to return later to take Hall away from the horrible situation. ~ All Movie Guide

An inner-city point man is on the run from both the cops and the crooks in this streetwise blaxpolitation drama. T (Robert Hooks) is a combination pool shark, private detective, and all-purpose ghetto fixer who operates out of a billiards parlor in South Central Los Angeles. T has done well for himself -- he drives a fancy new car, wears expensive suits, and lives in an upscale apartment -- but he also looks out for folks on the block, and knows how to tell the good guys from the bad guys on either side of the law. T is approached by Chalky (Paul Winfield) and his partner, Pete (Ralph Waite), who run a floating dice game in the neighborhood. Chalky tells T they've been ripped off by a band of thieves several nights running, and they want him to find out who the masked stick-up men are. T is willing to do the job for the right price, but it turns out Chalky and Pete are trying to take down rival crime kingpin Big (Julius Harris), and when one of Big's underlings turns up dead, T is blamed for the crime by both Big and corrupt police captain Joe Marx (Bill Smithers). Trouble Man also stars Paula Kelly's as T's love interest, and features an original score by Marvin Gaye. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this Canadian drama, set on the coast of British Columbia, a university student visits his brother George who has been paying for the younger man's education. The brother is now hoping that George will give him a job too. Unfortunately, George has no openings. Instead, the younger brother hooks up with an Indian fisherman. Trouble ensues as big brother hates Indians. Bar-room mayhem ensues culminating with George killing his younger brother's friend. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

About ten minutes into The Shootist, Doctor Hostetler (James Stewart) tells aging Western gunfighter John Bernard Books (John Wayne), "You have a cancer." Knowing that his death will be painful and lingering, Books is determined to be shot in the line of "duty." In his remaining two months, Books settles scores with old enemies, including gambler Pulford (Hugh O'Brian) and Marshall Thibido (Harry Morgan) and reaches out to new friends, including a feisty widow (Lauren Bacall) and her hero-worshipping son (Ron Howard). Throughout the film, Books' imminent demise is compared with the decline of the West, as represented by the automobiles and streetcars that have begun to blight the main street of Books' hometown. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Exploitation film vixen Claudia Jennings stars with Jocelyn Jones in this all-trash rip-off of Bonnie and Clyde with Jennings and Morgan playing a pair of sexy bank robbers who blast their way into countryside banks with a carload of fresh dynamite. The story literally begins with a bang as Candy Morgan (Claudia Jennings) dynamites her way out of jail and proceeds to blow up a bank where Ellie-Jo Turner (Jocelyn Jones) has just lost her job. Candy and Ellie-Jo team up and go on a bank-robbing crime spree. When Ellie-Jo is detained for shoplifting, the outlaw girls take Slim (Johnny Crawford) as a hostage. Slim and Ellie-Jo become lovers and Slim joins the merry band, playing the role of hostage during the gals' bank robberies. However, the law is slowly closing in on them. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Known to superstitious actors the world over as "The Scottish Play," MacBeth is widely considered one of Shakespeare's masterpieces. This particular rendition of the tale of a power-hungry Scottish general and his loyal, cold-hearted wife differs from others in that the actors eschew the traditional affected accents of Shakespearean performers. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide