Robert Gist Movies
- 1969
To get the evidence necessary to destroy mob kingpin Constantine Victor (Val Avery), the IMF preys upon Johnny Costa (James Patterson), Victor's most trusted henchmen. Knowing that Costa would never rat out his boss under normal circumstances, the IMF agents stage a complex scam to convince Costa that he is being framed for Victor's own financial double-dipping. Highlighting this episode is the use of a newly developed miniature "Snorkel" TV camera, long before this equipment became commonplace. First seen on January 26, 1969, "The System" was written by Robert Hamner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Graves, Barbara Bain, (more)
- 1967
One of the Enterprise's shuttlecraft crashes on a dangerous planet, threatening the lives of several of the crew members, in this episode of the popular science fiction series. The shuttle Galileo, under Mr. Spock's command, falls victim to an unexpected disaster, stranding its crew of seven in an inhospitable environment. While Captain Kirk, still aboard the Enterprise, wishes to organize a rescue mission, he is under strict orders to proceed with the starship's mission, delivering medication to a suffering planet. As time runs out, the captain must choose between the lives of countless civilians and those of seven of his most trusted crew members. Meanwhile, on the planet's surface, Spock and the others must fight for their lives against both the elements and the approach of hostile native life forms, while seeking some way to return to the Enterprise. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- 1966
An American Dream is adapted from the Norman Mailer novel of the same name. Stuart Whitman plays an acerbic TV talk show host who kills his wife Eleanor Parker during an argument. Whitman exerts his influence to cover up his crime, and the official verdict is suicide. But Whitman has not reckoned with the "Hell hath no fury" intensity of his cast-aside mistress Janet Leigh. When An American Dream bombed at the box office, the desperate distributors re-titled the film See You in Hell, Darling. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stuart Whitman, Janet Leigh, (more)
- 1966
Glenn Madison (Steven Hill), a war hero with political ambitions, is rescued from a plane crash by Richard Kimble (David Janssen). Normally, this would make Kimble a hero, but both he and Madison are anxious to keep the rescue a secret from the public--Kimble because he is a fugitive from justice, and Madison because his travelling companion was his mistress Pat Haynes (Jessica Walter). But Madison's vengeful wife Claire (Nancy Wickwire) doesn't intend to let her husband, or Kimble, off the hook so easily. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1963
Written by John Furia, Jr., this hilarious 60-minute Twilight Zone entry stars Howard Morris as nebbishy George P. Hanley, who, while seeking out a birthday present for his secretary Ann (Patricia Barry), purchases a battered old oil lamp. Sure enough, the lamp contains a Genie (played with withering sarcasm by Jack Albertson), who grants George the standard three wishes. Unable to decide what to wish for, George mulls over several possibilities, including one scenario that finds him serving as President of the U.S. His indecision results in a variety of comic complications, capped by an outrageous denoument. A scattershot satire of early 1960s pop culture and politics, "I Dream of Genie" was originally telecast March 21, 1963. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Howard Morris, Patricia Barry, (more)
- 1963
In his final Untouchables guest appearance, Jack Klugman is cast as Sollie Girsh, a distributor of illegal liquor who has figured out a clever scheme to keep operating right under the noses of the Feds. Using remarkable methods of persuasion, the deceptively mild-mannered Girsh has induced over 500 otherwise honest merchants and storekeepers to retail his whiskey, convincing every one of them that he is only looking out for their welfare. It takes some doing, but Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) finally persuades grocer Charley Tarasovich (George Voskovec), whose son has been killed in a drunk-driving accident, to work undercover in a sting operation to destroy Girsh's criminal network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Nathan Juran, director of The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, tries to make the magic happen again on a much more attenuated budget in Jack the Giant Killer. Torin Thatcher, another Sinbad alumnus, plays a wicked wizard who kidnaps toothsome-princess Judi Meredith. Kerwin Mathews, still another veteran of Sinbad, plays Jack, who rescues Meredith and promises to escort her to safety. Stop-motion animator Jim Danforth creates several fire-breathing perils along the same lines as Ray Harryhausen's special effects in Sinbad; happily, Danforth emulates the Harryhausen style without stooping to imitation. Prominent among the supporting actors is Don Beddoe as an impish genie. In the recently reissued prints of Jack the Giant Killer, most of the original voices have been dubbed over, and incongruous musical numbers added. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kerwin Mathews, Judi Meredith, (more)
- 1962
Veteran Hollywood song-and-dance man Dan Dailey essays one of his most unusual roles as Karate expert Dexter Lloyd Bayliss. Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) is suspicious when Bayliss, who is known to be "tight" with the mob, sets up a martial-arts classroom for teenage kids. As it turns out, Bayliss is teaching these impressionable youngsters how to become professional assassins for the Underworld...and he's very, very good at his job. This is the only episode of The Untouchables to be written by a woman $Kitty Buhler). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1962
The U.S. State Department hires Paladin (Richard Boone) to prevent an invasion and hostile takeover of Canada. Fomenting the invasion plans is flamboyant Irish activist Gavin O'Shea (Robert Gist), who is travelling around the West Coast enlisting impressionable Irish-Americans in his "rebel" army. Paladin's only hope for stopping the insurrection is to stop O'Shea--a man who has already left a sizeable trail of battered bodies in his wake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
Slated to be hanged for murder, Texas teenagers Bobby Olson (Andrew Prine) and James Horton (Jerry Summers) manage to escape. After an unexpected confrontation with Olson in the desert, Paladin (Richard Boone) offers to help Sheriff Backwater (Robert Gist) bring the two young fugitives in. What Paladin hadn't counted on is the fact that he will also have to protect Olson and Horton from the vengeance of their victim's brother, a notorious gunfighter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
Theft is the pivotal element of this drama which was based on a Brink's robbery. A gang of thieves decide to pull a major heist. They carefully prepare, including a trip inside to pinpoint the alarms and guards while making key impressions. The actual robbery is shown as is the chaos which follows. Soon, the criminals are fighting over how long to wait before using the cash and stealing from one another in an attempt to get more than their share. Still, it takes nearly three years before the crime is solved. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jay Barney, J. Pat O'Malley, (more)
- 1960
Two-fisted Irish salesman Ike Brennan (Robert Gist) comes to Paladin (Richard Boone) to help save the life of Brennan's wife, currently held hostage by Indians. Paladin agrees to help Brennan deliver a wagonload of trade goods--food, blankets, etc.--to use as ransom. What the gunslinger doesn't know is that the shipment also includes a Gaitlin gun (an early form of machine gun), which the Indians plan to use in a fullscale war against the Cavalry. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1960
In the conclusion of a two-part story, Capone's second-in-command Frank Nitti (Bruce Gordon) steps up his heretofore unsuccessful efforts to eliminate Anton Cermak (Robert Middleton), the incorruptable mayor of Chicago. Scheduled to appear at a public event in Miami with president-elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Cermak would seem to be a sitting duck for Nitti's torpedoes, but Elliot Ness and the Untouchables aren't about to let that happen. Meanwhile, a deranged anarchist named Giuseppe Zangara (Joe Mantell) may well succeed where Nitti has failed--assuming that Cermak is Zangara's intended target. Though historically inaccurate in many respects, this episode paints a vibrant picture of the euphoria surrounding the election of the first anti-Prohibition president in 14 years. Parts One and Two of "The Unhired Assassin" were later combined and released theatrically as the feature film Guns of Zangara. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Rear Admiral Matt Sherman (Cary Grant) visits the submarine Sea Tiger on the morning of its decommissioning and reminisces about his time as the first commander of the boat, in 1941. Three days after Pearl Harbor, the sub is damaged during an enemy air raid in the Philippines; rather than abandoning her, Sherman and his chiefs refloat the boat. He's forced to accept the services of Lt. (jg) Nick Holden (Tony Curtis), who has no sea experience. Sherman appoints Holden -- a born conniver, deal-maker, and scrounger (his motto: "In confusion, there is profit") -- as supply officer, and through a series of burglaries and petty thefts he gets the Sea Tiger seaworthy again. Up to this point, the movie is an increasingly amusing service comedy, akin to the lighter moments of Mr. Roberts, running on Grant's wry exasperation and Curtis's cool arrogance, coupled with Arthur O'Connell's periodic sardonic yet optimistic jabs at their situation and Gavin MacLeod's fidgety nervousness. The Sea Tiger puts to sea ahead of the Japanese with a quintet of stranded army nurses aboard. The film shifts to a new level of humor as the officers and crew try to cope with living in close quarters with five attractive women in their midst. Grant gives a very witty performance as a man who is both exasperated by the situation he is in, having to adjust his masculinity to keep it from clashing with the feminine sensibilities of his guests, and also trying to control the mating urges of his men, starting with Holden, who can't stay away from Lt. Duran (Dina Merrill). Complicating matters more is Grant's awareness that the Sea Tiger is a "virgin" -- she has never engaged the enemy, but when they finally do, the accident-prone Lt. Crandall (Joan O'Brien) causes their torpedo to miss a tanker and sink a truck (probably the funniest sight gag in the movie). The boat also gets an accidental coat of pink paint when their supply of red and white runs low, and ends up carrying several Filipino families -- including two pregnant women. Since neither the Japanese nor the Americans officially has a pink submarine, the Sea Tiger ends uphunted by both sides and come under attack by an American destroyer. That's where the women's presence becomes a godsend. The movie ends 18 years later, with Holden a serious career navy man and responsible father, married to Duran, and Grant married to Crandall, who is as accident prone as ever. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cary Grant, Tony Curtis, (more)
- 1959
In Carson City, Paladin (Richard Boone) finds a kindred spirit in the form of an elderly, cultured gentleman named Ainslee (John Abbott). Like Paladin, Ainslee has been forced by circumstances to become a gunfighter, and now must face down every young punk in the west who is trying to make a name for himself. Hoping to retire with his reputation and honor intact, Ainslee prevails upon Paladin to shoot him in the hand during a gunfight--with the thorough understanding that the fight will be fair, and that Paladin will be risking his own life in the process. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
If Warner Bros.' pageantlike The FBI Story resembles an episode of Jack Webb's Dragnet at times, it's probably because the screenplay was by veteran Dragnet scrivener Richard L. Breen. The film meticulously details the history of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, from its formation in 1924 to the present day (1959, that is). The story is told through the eyes of FBI agent Chip Hardesty (James Stewart), who narrates the film. We see the FBI tackling such villains as the Ku Klux Klan, the mob, the Nazis and the communists. Subplots include the struggle by the federal agents to be given permission to carry firearms, a plight driven home when Hardesty's best friend (Murray Hamilton) is killed by gun-toting Baby Face Nelson (William Phipps). Offsetting moments like these are scenes of Hardesty's home life with his wife Lucy (Vera Miles), who at first opposed her husband's joining the bureau but who later becomesJ. Edgar Hoover's biggest fan. Excessively sentimental at times (it seems that the Hardesty family can never hold a party without receiving a terse telegram announcing yet another personal tragedy) and saddled with a rambling, stop-and-start continuity, the overall success of The FBI Story hinges upon its individual episodes, including a wowser of a pre-credits sequence involving matricidal mad bomber John Graham (Nick Adams). Since the film was made at a time when the FBI was considered to be of spotless reputation, don't expect to see any scenes of the bureau wiretapping civil rights leaders--or, for that matter, J. Edgar Hoover prancing around in drag. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Stewart, Vera Miles, (more)
- 1959
Rod Steiger is the screen's first "method mobster" in the title role of Al Capone. The film traces Big Al's progress from a torpedo in the hire of Chicago gangster Johnny Torrio (Nehemiah Persoff) to Capone's takeover of the Windy City's bootlegging operations, and his ultimate downfall at the hands of the IRS. Rod Steiger delivers every line with maniacal gusto, as though it will be his last; sometimes he sounds like Frank Gorshin doing a Rod Steiger impression, but for the most part it is a dynamite performance. Featured in the cast are Murvyn Vye as Bugs Moran, Joe De Santis as Big Jim Colosimo, Lewis Charles as Hymie Weiss, Robert Gist as O'Banion, and James Gregory and Martin Balsam as composite characters, respectively based on honest Chicago cop John Siege and duplicitous newspaper reporter Jake Lingle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rod Steiger, Fay Spain, (more)
- 1958
In Nevada, Paladin (Richard Boone) is hired to guard Tom Nelson (James Franciscus), who is accused of killing a local sheriff. Upon learning that Nelson had previously been acquitted of another murder charge, and sensing the town's hositility against the prisoner, Paladin dedicates himself to making sure that Nelson receives a fair trial--if he lives long enough, that is. Without giving away the outcome, it can be noted that the Latin translation of this episode's title is "Habeas Corpus". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
Despite an ad campaign wherein RKO Radio congratulated itself for its "guts", this long-delayed film version of Norman Mailer's bestselling WW2 novel The Naked and the Dead still had to pull most of its punches (especially when it came to four-letter words). Aldo Ray heads the cast as sadistic sergeant Croft, who'd as soon kill one of his own men as he would the Japanese. Sensitive, moralistic Lieutenant Hearn (Cliff Robertson) tries to put a leash on Croft, but he's ordered to keep out of the situation by psychotic General Cummings (Raymond Massey), who is convinced that soldiers will fight harder the more they hate their superiors. The film wavers uncomfortably between excessive violence and excessive moralizing, with time out for a few ill-conceived slapstick setpieces (including an outsized barroom brawl) and romantic interludes with such zaftig beauties as stripteaser Lili (Lili St. Cyr) and good-time girl Mildred (Barbara Nichols). In one of his first film appearances, comedian Joey Bishop plays Pvt. Roth, whose reaction to Sgt. Croft's relentless anti-semitism culminates in a spectacular death scene. Distribution of The Naked and the Dead was taken over from the failing RKO Radio operation by Warner Bros., who also changed the name of the film's widescreen process from SuperScope to WarnerScope. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aldo Ray, Cliff Robertson, (more)
- 1958
Legend of the Sea Wolf is the alternate title of two separate film versions of Jack London's allegorical The Sea Wolf. The first of the two, released in 1958, was originally titled Wolf Larsen. Barry Sullivan stars as the brutal captain of a scavenger ship, who rides his men mercilessly and bristles at the slightest hint of weakness. Despite his cruelties, Sullivan fancies himself an intellectual, and welcomes the opportunity to spar both mentally and physically with bookish shipwreck victim Peter Graves. Ultimately, the ship's crew stages a mutiny. Having gone suddenly blind, Sullivan forces Graves to maintain the illusion that Sullivan is still sighted, and still all-powerful. The ruse fails, and both Sullivan and Graves sink to the bottom of the sea. Very well made (especially for an Allied Artists production) and possessed of a thrilling musical score, Wolf Larsen withal runs a distant second to the definitive Sea Wolf of 1941, which starred Edward G. Robinson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barry Sullivan, Peter Graves, (more)
We don't see much of Omaha Beach in D-Day, the Sixth of June. Instead, the film concentrates on a romantic triangle involving American officer Robert Taylor, British officer Richard Todd and the lovely Dana Wynter. Taylor and Todd spend the last hours before D-Day reminiscing about Wynter. The romantic dilemma is eventually solved shortly after the invasion, when one of the men conveniently steps on a land mine. Lionel Shapiro's novel was geared more for the beach-and-bonbons crowd than war buffs, and the film follows suit. 20th Century-Fox gives a far more thorough account of D-Day itself in 1963's The Longest Day. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Taylor, Richard Todd, (more)
- 1955
Matt (James Arness) comes to the rescue of Chen (Keye Luke), a inarticulate, impoverished Chinese cook who is being taunted by a pair of lowlifes named Rabb (Robert Gist) and Braden (Devlin McCarthy). The discovery that Chen speaks perfect English when not in public is almost as surprising to Matt as the revelation that the man may have a fortune salted away in a treasure box. When, later on, Rabb and Braden humiliate Chen by cutting off his pigtail, the tradition-bound Oriental threatens to kill both men if they don't return his precious possession immediately. Only after much blood is shed does Matt discover another curious fact about the enigmatic Mr. Chen. This episode is based on the Gunsmoke radio broadcast of July 19, 1954. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
One of the most subtle and sophisticated of the musical comedies that came out of MGM's Arthur Freed Unit in the '40s and '50s, The Band Wagon stars Fred Astaire as Tony Hunter, a movie star whose career is in a downturn. Looking for a boost, Tony decides to try starring in a Broadway musical. His friends Lester and Lily Marton (Oscar Levant and Nanette Fabray) have written a show they feel would be just right for Tony, and the three team up with Jeffrey Cordova (Jack Buchanan), a self-styled "genius" director, who gets the idea to turn the play into a revised version of Faust. Cordova's more pretentious ideas don't always sit well with the Martons, and Tony isn't too happy with his leggy co-star, Gaby Gerard (Cyd Charisse), whom he's convinced is too tall (then again, she thinks he's too old). But when the show proves a disaster in out-of-town tryouts, everyone realizes they have to put aside their differences if they want a show that will be on Broadway for longer than four hours. The Band Wagon featured a rare American appearance for British musical star Jack Buchanan, who does a fine soft-shoe with Fred Astaire on "I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan." Astaire also shines in the numbers "Shine on Your Shoes" and "The Girl Hunt," a witty Mickey Spillane parody. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, (more)
Jean Simmons' fascinating interpretation of an uncharacteristic role is the main drawing card of Otto Preminger's Angel Face. The daughter of Charles Treymayne (Herbert Marshall), who remarried a wealthy woman (Barbara O'Neil), Diane Treymayne's (Simmons) angelic countenance masks an unbridled psychotic who'll let nothing stand in the way of her happiness. Diane arranges for Catherine's death, making it look like an auto accident. Coveting family chauffeur Frank Jessup (Robert Mitchum), Diane steals Frank away from his sweetheart Mary (Mona Freeman) and forces him to become her spiritual accomplice in her stepmother's murder. And when Diane finally realizes that she'll never, ever, be able to hold Frank, she... well, enough said. If Angel Face doesn't look like a typical early-1950s RKO Radio film, it may be because its director was borrowed from 20th Century-Fox, and its cinematographer (Harry Stradling) was a loan-out from Sam Goldwyn. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Mitchum, Jean Simmons, (more)
