Ray Danton Movies

In this espionage adventure, the "Super Dragon," a notorious secret agent, is assigned by the CIA to stop a Venezuelan drug lord from spiking U.S. gum and candy with a powerful hallucinogenic drug in order to take over the United States. The evil czar had already tested it in a Michigan college town and found it works, rendering its victims helpless. Now the Dragon must stop him before he spreads the stuff all over. The Dragon must also find the antidote for those already drugged. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this adventure, a recently returned leader is attacked by a tyrant's son on the day he celebrates his first year in power. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this adventure, a prince fights to get back his stolen throne. ~ Sandra Brennan, 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 routine political drama by Vincent Sherman, a murder trial is converted into one piece in the complex interaction between three candidates for governor. Judge Hoffman (Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.) is a solid, anchoring presence in his courtroom, qualities which should stand him in good stead when election day arrives. Senator Simon (Don Ameche) has all the scruples of a hungry ferret and tries to bribe the judge to take on a position in the federal judicial system in lieu of his candidacy. The District Attorney, Dan Callahan also has an ethics-free approach to politics and is not likely to change. Complicating matters is the fact that the Senator's wife Cathy (Angie Dickinson) was once in love with Judge Hoffman. By the time these protagonists get through dealing with the race for governor and each other's scruples -- or lack of them -- circumstances have drastically changed the picture. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Prolific director Joseph Pevney is better known for his next venture -- the Star Trek television series -- than this conventional docudrama on mobster "Dutch" Schultz (played by Vic Morrow). Rather than take the focus of 1997's Hoodlum, in which Schultz's attempt to move into Harlem is thwarted, the events leading to the demise of the nearly illiterate, Bronx-born, "king of beer" are stressed. His affair with Iris Murphy (Leslie Parrish) also gets front-and-center treatment when Iris leaves her policeman husband to hook up with Schultz, only to degenerate into alcoholism. To the credit of the director, the repugnant Schultz (whose real name was Arthur Flegenheimer) is not romanticized, even though the legend of his "buried treasure" and the literary non-sequitur of his famous, 1935 deathbed ramblings would tend to lure anyone into digressions. ~ 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

Set within the popular bohemian coffee houses of the late '50s where beatniks gathered to recite poetry and perform, this sensationalistic detective drama centers upon the attempts of an insensitive police detective to catch an arrogant serial rapist, a rich young man who believes himself mentally superior and therefore beyond the law. His favorite victims are married women. When he learns that the detective is after him, the rapist targets the cop's wife. Later the poor wife discovers she's pregnant and cannot be sure who fathered her child. The film is alternatively titled This Rebel Age. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Based on a book by Clay Fisher, this 1959 western has a cast loaded with television stars of the era. Clint Walker of TV's Cheyenne appears as the title character, a trapper who befriends the American Indian tribes in his hunting territory in 1867. When the U.S. cavalry is attacked by Kelly's Sioux friends, Kelly is caught between his friendships and loyalty to his country. The troops are slaughtered by the Sioux. Kelly moves in to rescue Wahleeah (Andra Martin), an Apache Indian girl who is being held prisoner by the Sioux because she refuses to marry their chief. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

Too Much, Too Soon was adapted from the warts-and-all autobiography of actress Diana Barrymore, the troubled daughter of "great profile" John Barrymore. As played by Dorothy Malone, Diana is a basically decent young lady who suffers mightily from lack of parental love. Her famous father, played with boozy bravado by Errol Flynn, is the soul of graciousness and affection when sober, but a human monster when drunk -- which is often. Her poetess mother, Michael Strange (Neva Patterson), is too preoccupied by her bitterness against Barrymore to pay much attention to Diana. Striking out on her own as an actress, Diana vainly seeks personal happiness with several husbands: actor Vincent Bryant (actually Bramwell Fletcher), played by Efrem Zimbalist Jr.; jealous, possessive tennis player John Howard (Ray Danton); and another actor, alcoholic Robert Wilcox (Ed Kemmer). Unable to find satisfaction in her work or her private life, Diana follows family "tradition" by turning to liquor; this leads to extended sanitarium stays and innumerable suicide attempts. It is suggested at the end of the film that she is on the road to recovery, thanks in part to her biographer Gerold Frank (Robert Ellenstein); the sad truth is that two years after the release of Too Much, Too Soon, Diana Barrymore killed herself at the age of 39. This filmed version of Diana's tragic life seldom rises above soap-opera level, save for Errol Flynn's knowing performance of his old friend and drinking companion John Barrymore. ~ 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 this adventure, a man a man is paroled from prison and made to join the army so he can break up an international counterfeiting operation involving an ex- army buddy. they use him to woo the friend's lover and pump her for information. He finds her to be a dry well, but the importing firm she works for is a different story. In the end, the fellow breaks up the gang, wins the heart of the girl, and get back together with his father, a Treasury agent. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide