Richard Egan Movies

A woman's desire to rise above her drab lower middle-class life take her down the road to destruction in this gripping crime melodrama. The story opens as she cowers insider her old home, fearing the inevitable arrival of the murderous gangsters pursuing her. Her tragic tale unfolds via flashback. It all began when she became frustrated by her humble life in a squalid factory town. She was married to a laborer and lived with her parents. Soon after her child accidentally dies, the distraught woman abandons her old life to take a job where she meets an exceptional, but dull as dishwater accountant. He is a bit spineless and so allows the woman to convince him to get involved with a powerful gangster. Though she had promised to marry the accountant, she reneges and becomes the illicit moll of the married gangster. Wanting her to be a bit more elegant so he can pass her off as a Texas heiress to his west-coast rival, the gangster hires an impoverished socialite to teach her social graces. Soon she appears as an elegant, cultured woman. Still, despite her sophisticated exterior, she is conniving and ruthless inside and tries to double-cross both her new lover and his rival. Eventually the two crime lords meet in a bloody confrontation that leaves one mobster dead. Her lover is about to shoot her but the accountant (who still loves her) intervenes and she escapes back to her home town. She waits there through the night and the next morning goes outside and finds her gangster lover waiting to get his revenge. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A married team of diamond smugglers enter New York to fence their purloined gems unaware that the wife is carrying the highly contagious, deadly smallpox virus. The crooks ensconce themselves in a hotel without realizing that the wife's every move is being monitored by a Treasury agent. The husband directs her to stay put while he goes off on business. Actually he is going out to tryst with his conniving sister-in-law. Back in the room, the wife feels ill and so creeps out to see a doctor. The T-man loses her trail. The doctor doesn't recognize the dread disease until much later and so the woman is free to travel about leaving a trail of death behind her. Once again she is followed, but the agents have a hard time keeping up with her. Eventually she finds her husband and learns the truth. Not only has he been unfaithful, he and her sister are planning to abscond with the jewels. A struggle between man and wife ensues culminating in the husband's death. Afterward the woman goes to authorities and before succumbing to the disease, provides them with a badly needed list of those she contacted. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Filmmaker Andrew Stone was always a staunch believer in realism at all costs. Thus it was that much of Highway 301 was lensed on a genuine (and very busy) interstate highway. Based on fact, the film recounts the bloody exploits of the notorious "Tri-State Gang," which preyed upon truck drivers. Gang leader George Legenza (Steve Cochran) will kill anyone who stands in his way--even his own henchmen. Before meeting his well-deserved demise, Legenza leads the authorities on a not-so-merry chase through Virginia, North Carolina and Maryland. A few welcome comic moments are provided by Virginia Grey, playing the soap-opera-fan wife of one of the gang members. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The aggressively Irish Maureen O'Hara and the staunchly American Jeff Chandler are cast as Arabian Nights types in Flame of Araby. Chandler plays Tamerlaine, a Bedouin chief who is engaged in a hunt for a legendary black stallion. Also coveting the prize steed is Tunisian princess Tanya (O'Hara), who wants to capture the horse to race in competition against her hated brothers Borka (Lon Chaney) and Hakim (Buddy Baer). After reels and reels of deadly rivalry, Tamerlaine decides to join forces with Tanya to trap the stallion--and in the process, the two fall in love. Listed as associate producer of Flame of Araby is Ross Hunter, whose later cinematic efforts would eschew desert-sands escapism in favor of lush soap operas and frothy sex comedies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Economically utilizing the Universal Studio itself as a "set," Hollywood Story is a murder mystery centered in the film capital. The story concerns a long-unsolved homicide case involving several silent-film stars (an echo of the William Desmond Taylor scandal of 1922). Producer Richard Conte decides to make a movie based on the case, and to this end rounds up its surviving participants, including a once-great star/director (Henry Hull) reduced to bit parts. The denouement holds no surprises for mystery fans, but is effectively staged by director William Castle. Hollywood Story is given the aura of verisimilitude by the presence of several silent-movie celebrities (including William Farnum and Francis X. Bushman) as "themselves." Also appearing in an unheralded bit part is Elmo Lincoln, moviedom's first "Tarzan." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Arthur Kennedy stars as a blinded war veteran struggling to adjust to his affliction in peacetime. He must overcome his pugnacious attitude towards any problem he can't think his way out of--and he must learn to temper his inbred racial prejudices. Peggy Dow plays the woman who loves Kennedy enough to be cruel to him during his bouts of self-pity. Refusing to lapse into sentimentality, Bright Victory, based on the novel by Bayard Kendrick, is one of the best of the "against all odds" films of the 1950s. Arthur Kennedy's performance won him the New York Critics' Circle award, but not the Oscar he so richly deserved. Trivia note: new Universal contractee Rock Hudson receives 18th billing for his bit role as a soldier in this film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gene Kelly tackles a rare non-singing or dancing role in this post-war drama. Kelly plays Capt. Jeff Eliot, whose life was saved during World War II when a German family rescued him after his plane was shot down over Munich. In 1948, Eliot travels to Germany to thank the Lehrt Family for their kindness, only to discover that they were killed during an air raid by U.S. forces near the end of the war. The only survivor was the family's oldest daughter, Wilhelmina (Pier Angeli), who works as a barmaid in a sleazy nightclub and has developed a bitter hatred of Americans. Eliot develops an infatuation for this tragic woman and spends enough time at the club to become familiar with Heisemann (Claus Clausen), a comic at the club who has a dark secret life. Heisemann is also a gold smuggler who is part of an underground Nazi movement that hopes to overthrow the post-war government and re-launch the Third Reich. When Eliot tells his superiors what he's discovered, he's ordered to continue his romance with Wilhelmina as a cover while he learns more about Heisemann's smuggling operations. The Devil Makes Three was one of several films MGM made in Europe to take advantage of frozen funds that the main office in Hollywood could not transport in cash but could use to finance production; another film produced under this scheme was one of Kelly's pet projects, the performance film Invitation to the Dance. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Robert Newton exhibits absolutely no shame in his portrayal of the title character in Blackbeard the Pirate. If you thought that Newton's "Arr, matey"s got out of hand in Treasure Island, wait til you see this one. The plot concerns the efforts of the British admirality to bring Blackbeard to justice. To that end, officer Keith Andes allows himself to be abducted by the pirate's minions. Also captured by Blackbeard is luscious Linda Darnell, the adopted daughter of Andes' superior Torin Thatcher. When it turns out that everyone is being double-crossed by the insidious Thatcher, all Technicolor hell breaks loose. William Bendix costars as Blackbeard's chief henchman, appearing to be a model of subtlety when compared to his costar. Future "Beverly Hillbilly" Irene Ryan has some nice moments as Linda Darnell's lady-in-waiting. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Glory Brigade is a standard Korean War combat drama with a few interesting plot wrinkles. Victor Mature stars as Lt. Sam Prior, an American of Greek extraction. While trying to cross a bridge into Red territory, Prior loses most of his men, a fact he attributes to the seeming cowardice of the Greek UN troops. Eventually he realizes that his assumptions about the Greeks were mistaken, and further proof of their courage is offered during a later confrontation with the North Koreans. Alexander Scourby co-stars as Lt. Nikias, CO of the Greek detachment, while Lee Marvin enjoys one of his best early roles as Prior's corporal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though Wicked Woman may look like one of those heavy-breathing Hugo Haas-directed melodramas, the film was in fact directed by screenwriter Russell Rouse. The title character, played by Beverly Michaels, is a trashy blonde who swivels into a small California town. Here she weaves her seductive web around a bar owner (Richard Egan), who leaves his alcoholic wife (Evelyn Scott) behind. The two lovers scheme to sell the bar for a profit and dash off to Mexico, but their scheme is foiled by their own perfidy. Wicked Woman represents perhaps the best-ever screen performance of ubiquitous, squeaky-voiced character actor Percy Helton, who deservedly ends up as the recipient of one of the most spectacular slaps in the face in movie history. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Demetrius and the Gladiators was the sequel to The Robe, and though they were released several months apart, the films were shot at the same time. Based on characters originally conceived by Lloyd C. Douglas, the film stars Victor Mature as the title character, an ex-slave who embraced Christianity after being present at the Crucifixion. Thrown in jail for defending an elderly merchant from a sadistic Roman legionnaire, Demetrius is forced to attend gladiator school and fight in the arena for the amusement of the mad, debauched emperor Caligula (Jay Robinson, likewise repeating his performance in The Robe). The well-proportioned Demetrius attracts the attention of Messalina (Susan Hayward), the nymphomaniac wife of Caligula's would-be successor Claudius (Barry Jones). Briefly losing faith in Christ, Demetrius is saved from himself by the apostle Peter (Michael Rennie). Because of contractual complications, Demetrius and the Gladiators was released to television seven years before The Robe. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This Kiplingesque adventure yarn stars Richard Egan as a captain in the British lancers. Together with his regiment, Egan is assigned to put down an Arab rebellion in Afghanistan, stirred up by rival tribal leaders Raymond Burr and Donald Randolph. When not defending the British Empire from collapsing, Egan vies with fellow officer Patric Knowles for the hand of lovely Dawn Addams. The story comes to a head when Egan pretends to join the rebels, the better to defeat them from within. The rampant jingoism of Khyber Patrol may be a bit hard to swallow; it's best to assess the film on its considerable merits as an outdoor actioner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide