Ray Danton Movies

John Henry was the hero of a popular ballad sung back during the times of the Industrial Revolution. Danny Glover stars as Henry. The rest of the cast includes Tom Hulce, Lou Rawls, Lynn Whitfield and Barry Corbin. As the story goes, John Henry supposedly crushed more rock than a steam drill. Some believe that this story was factually based on the railroad work that was done during the late 19th century in the Allegheny Mountains in West Virginia. In addition to his need to compete with machines, it is felt by many that John Henry also had to struggle against the wealthy white men who were eager to replace workers with their machines. ~ Elizabeth Smith, All Movie Guide

Susan Hayward pulls out all the stops, and then some, in this cinemadaptation of singer Lillian Roth's autobiography I'll Cry Tomorrow. In as harshly realistic a manner as possible in the still censor-dominated Hollywood of 1955, the film recounts Roth's rise to fame, her precipitous fall and her tearful comeback. The fact that Roth loves not wisely but too well is only part of the problem (only two of her eight husbands are portrayed in the film); contributing factors to her self-destruction also included her witchlike "stage mother" (Jo Van Fleet) and the pressures of fame and fortune. The principal reason for Roth's fall from the height of fame to the depths of squalor and despair is booze -- at least until she begins to pull herself together with the help of Alcoholics-Anonymous representative Burt McGuire (Eddie Albert). The story concludes with a testimonial staged in Roth's honor on the TV series This is Your Life (the original of which still exists in kinescope form). Having been personally coached by the real Lillian Roth, Susan Hayward does an excellent job of copying the singer's unique style. Though Hayward did not win an Oscar for her performance, she did cop the "Best Actress" prize at the Cannes Film Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Spoilers is the fourth and (very likely) last film version of Rex Beach's rugged Alaskan adventure yarn. Set during the Gold Rush of '98, the film stars Jeff Chandler as mine owner Roy Glennister, cheated out of his claim by gold commissioner Alex McNamara (Rory Calhoun). Though Glennister protests, the crooked McNamara has the law on his side. Saloonkeeper Cherry Malotte (Ann Baxter) constantly shifts her allegiance between Glennister and McNamara, though eventually she chooses the "right" side. Like all previous versions of The Spoilers, this one ends with a knock-down, drag-out fight between Glennister and McNamara--not as realistic, perhaps, as the famous bout between William Farnum and Tom Santschi in the original 1914 adaptation of The Spoilers, but a heck of a lot more exciting. Raymond Walburn makes his final film appearance as town inebriate Mr. Skinner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this dark drama, a schizophrenic is forced out of his hospital due to overcrowding, and his doctors tell him to avoid stressful situations. He goes to a beachside motel and likes both the area and the owner's daughter. Her father discovers that he is a mental patient and threatens to have him recommitted unless he leaves his daughter alone. The schizophrenic snaps momentarily, killing him, and he and the daughter flee down the beach. He tries to kill her by pushing her into the water, but comes to his senses and rescues her. He ends up turning himself in. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide

In his third starring feature, Onionhead, Andy Griffith plays a character somewhere inbetween the bucolic ingenuousness of Will Stockdale in No Time for Sergeants and the hotheaded truculence of Lonesome Rhodes in A Face in the Crowd. Griffith is cast as Al Woods, a college student majoring in girls and parties. When his grades drop and his relationship with girlfiend Jo Hill (Erin O'Brien) sours, Al joins the Coast Guard as assistant cook on the SS Periwinkle, fully expecting to sit out WW2 in peace and quiet. Instead, he runs afoul of navy protocol in general and mess officer Red Wildoe (Walter Matthau) in particular. In or out of trouble, Al remains a stubborn individualist, and it is this quality that attracts him to Wildoe's erstwhile fiancee Stella (Felica Farr). Strong support is provided by Roscoe Karns as Al Woods' crusty father, James Gregory as the skipper of thePeriwinkle, and Joey Bishop is the inevitable Brooklynite. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A soldier is expected to never question the actions of his commanding officer, but when a Marine sees his CO breaking the law, he finds himself facing a difficult dilemma in this provocative war drama. The trouble begins when the officer kills another soldier during a battle. The Marine who witnesses it wants to report it, but fears that the other superior officers will not believe him. As the battles rage on, the officer and the Marine are frequently paired; the tension between the two mounts. Things get really sticky when the CO marries the Marine's sister and the Marine falls for the slain man's widow. Just before the Marine files formal charges, the CO ends up dying in battle. It seems to be a heroic death. As the story ends, a general, preparing to award the officer a posthumous Medal of Honor, asks the Marine about him. The Marine cryptically quips, "Nobody knows anybody...." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Mickey Rooney plays labor racketeer Little Joe Braun in this fast-paced and surprisingly violent drama about one man's determination to clean up his union. Bill Gibson (Steve Cochran) is Little Joe's nemesis and is one of the men who can testify that he saw the labor boss in an incriminating conversation with a known criminal -- something that Little Joe denied under oath. Knowing that Cochran and one other witness can bring him down, the crooked labor boss starts on a campaign of terror. One of Bill's friends is set on fire, someone else is thrown into a cement mixer (in the opening scenes), and finally, Little Joe kidnaps Bill's son Timmy (Jay North). The odds at this point, seem very much in the labor boss' favor. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This effective gangster film on the notorious New York mobster Jack "Legs" Diamond is interspersed with moments of comic relief and was released just a few months after The Purple Gang shot their way across the silver screens in the U.S. Ironically, that gang and Diamond met their ends in the same year, 1931, and their rise was largely due to Prohibition. "Legsie" (Ray Danton) gets his name because he was a dancer, but he gets his reputation because he double-crosses anyone. He is a psychopath who works his way up the body count to the top of his own network of rackets. Along the way he meets and marries his wife Alice Schiffer (Karen Steele) and survives three attempts on his life that send him to the hospital each time. His reputation for "invulnerability," the inability of the police to touch him, gangsters who kill each other off, the racketeering with union bosses, and the hijacking of liquor shipments are all elements found in this film and The Purple Gang as well. Watch for a young Dyan Cannon in a bit part as Dixie, back when her first name was spelled like everyone else spells Diane. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This is the second Maverick episode to be based on a story by Robert Louis Stevenson (the first, "The Wrecker", was seen during the series' inaugural season). Bart Maverick (Jack Kelly) finds himself the unwelcome guest of Mexican aristocrat Don Felipe when his "host"'s hacienda is surrounded by guerilla forces, determined to overthrow the Mexican government. Making things particularly dicey is th fact that the leader of the guerillas, Don Manuel (Joe De Santis), is the father of Don Felipe's fiancee Soledad (Lisa Gaye)--whose own loyalties are highly in doubt. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This is an interesting biography of the actor known for his gangster roles in films, and though Ray Danton plays the part of George Raft without looking like him in the least, he is still convincing in his mannerisms. Without getting into any in-depth plumbing of the actor's life, the story begins with the young Raft making his way in New York as a dancer and rubbing shoulders with underworld figures. Then he goes to Hollywood where he eventually finds fame in the film Scarface and gets typecast as a gangster. Tiring of this persona but unable to do very much about it, Raft's career starts to decline for quite a awhile before his success in Some Like It Hot. Along the way, his relationships with five different women are pictured in the briefest fashion. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This standard love story adapted by Leonard Spigelgass from his stage play was acclaimed when it was released for probing into the nature of prejudice. Rosalind Russell plays Mrs. Jacoby, a Jewish widow living in Brooklyn whose daughter Alice (Madlyn Rhue) is married to Jerome (Ray Danton), a U.S. diplomat newly assigned to Japan. Because of Jerome's new post, Mrs. Jacoby decides to visit the land of the rising sun, and once there, she meets Koichi Asano (Alec Guinness). Asano is a suave, sophisticated, and wealthy man with an aesthetically impressive Tokyo home. After the two meet, love starts to blossom. This was one of the rare '60s films geared to the older set but it is significant that even during this period Hollywood still chose to cast a white actor (albeit Alec Guinness!) in the role of Asano. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The Longest Day is a mammoth, all-star re-creation of the D-Day invasion, personally orchestrated by Darryl F. Zanuck. Whenever possible, the original locations were utilized, and an all-star international cast impersonates the people involved, from high-ranking officials to ordinary GIs. Each actor speaks in his or her native language with subtitles translating for the benefit of the audience (alternate "takes" were made of each scene with the foreign actors speaking English, but these were seen only during the first network telecast of the film in 1972). The stars are listed alphabetically, with the exception of John Wayne, who as Lt. Colonel Vandervoort gets separate billing. Others in the huge cast include Eddie Albert, Jean-Louis Barrault, Richard Burton, Red Buttons, Sean Connery, Henry Fonda, Gert Frobe, Curt Jurgens, Peter Lawford, Robert Mitchum, Kenneth More, Edmond O'Brien, Robert Ryan, Jean Servais, Rod Steiger and Robert Wagner. Paul Anka, who wrote the film's title song, shows up as an Army private. Scenes include the Allies parachuting into Ste. Mere Englise, where the paratroopers were mowed down by German bullets; a real-life sequence wherein the German and Allied troops unwittingly march side by side in the dark of night; and a spectacular three-minute overhead shot of the troops fighting and dying in the streets of Quistreham. The last major black-and-white road-show attraction, The Longest Day made millions, enough to recoup some of the cost of 20th Century Fox's concurrently produced Cleopatra. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this island adventure, British explorers attempt to take over the island of a courageous native prince who manages to wrest control of his people away from the ruthless invaders. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide