Harry Harris Movies

The third of western hero James Warren's trio of RKO Radio vehicles, Code of the West was like its predecessors based on a story by Zane Grey. Warren plays Bob Wade, a settler on the Arizona Strip, circa 1880. Representing his fellow settlers, Wade stands up to gambling boss Carter (Raymond Burr), who knows that the railroad intends to extend through Arizona and plans to drive the homesteaders out of the territory. Likewise defying the crooked Carter is Wade's Mexican-Irish sidekick, Chito Rafferty (John Laurentz). Code of the West was previously filmed in 1925 and 1934 (the latter version, titled Home on the Range, starred Randolph Scott). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Frank Sinatra stars as legendary nightclub comic Joe E. Lewis in this dramatic screen biography. In the 1920s, Lewis was a popular singer in Chicago who could fill any nightclub he chose to play. This doesn't go unnoticed by the mobsters who control many of the city's venues; when they ask Lewis to leave his steady gig and come work for them, he politely but firmly refuses. This does not make Al Capone and his men happy, and they respond by brutally attacking Lewis, cutting his throat and damaging his vocal cords so severely that he can never sing again. Lewis sinks into a deep depression and develops a highly caustic sense of humor, but his friend Austin Mack (Eddie Albert) suggests that he could put his sharp wit to work as a comedian. With little to lose, Lewis tries his hand at comedy, and with the encouragement of famous entertainer Sophie Tucker, Lewis once again rises to stardom as his salty material makes him the talk of late-night spots and burlesque houses everywhere. Along the way, he becomes involved with chorus girl Martha Stewart (Mitzi Gaynor) and wealthy socialite Letty Page (Jeanne Crain); while he marries Martha, he's not able to get Letty out of his thoughts for long. Lewis' romantic conflicts and the pressures of success fan the flames of his already potent taste for alcohol, and soon Lewis becomes a bitter drunk whose addiction to the bottle threatens to send his career (and his life) back into the gutter. The classic Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen number "All the Way" was introduced in The Joker Is Wild, and it won a 1957 Academy Award for Best Song; the film was later re-released as All the Way. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Dana Andrews is ad-man Clint Lorimer in this uneven drama, the last feature film by director Bruce Humberstone, released several years after it was completed. Clint is fired from his job working for a big ad agency, and he is determined to prove himself better than his former bosses. He has two romantic liaisons, one with Peggy Shannon (Jeanne Crain) and another with Anne Temaine (Eleanor Parker). Anne works as the advertising agent for a milk company run by a weirdo exec (Eddie Albert) who plays with toy airplanes in his office, but as time passes he becomes Machiavellian and ego-maniacal. Anne herself changes from a frump to a tough and glossy businesswoman, perhaps making Clint's choice of a future bride easier. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, 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

Cowboy Johnny Dolan (Pat Conway) helps Jason McCord fend off three hoodlums in a barroom brawl. However, it turns out that Johnny did not rescue Jason out of the goodness of his heart: He is bounty hunter, and he intends to collect the $5000 bounty that has been placed on McCord's head. The villain of the piece is played by Michael Ansara, formerly the star of the 1959 TV western Law of the Plainsman--a spinoff from another western series, The Rifleman, which of course starred Branded's Chuck Connors. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Briggs is forced to play along with powerful mobster boss Frank Egan (William Smithers when the daughter of Briggs' friend Joe Mantell is kidnapped. In order to secure the girl's release, Briggs and the IMF must themselves kidnap the key witness against Egan in an upcoming Grand Jury investigation. This pulse-pounding Mission: Impossible episode was a radical--and effective--departure from the series' usual format. Originally telecast November 5 1966, "The Ransom" was written by William Read Woodfield and Allan Balter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Pompous Dr. Smith (Jonathan Harris) is delighted to be selected as king of the planet Andronica. He will of course, be less than delighted when he discovers that he has been chosen not because of his superiority, but because he is the least essential member of the Robinson party. And imagine his surprise when he learns that the Andronicans intend to sacrifice him to their local gods. Kevin Hagen, later a semi-regular on Irwin Allen's Land of the Giants, appears as the Andronican Master. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Michael Rennie returns as The Keeper in this conclusion of a two-part story. Thanks to Dr. Smith (Jonathan Harris, the Keeper's menagerie of space monstrosities is running wild on the Robinsons' planet. Only the Keeper can recapture these hideous creatures and return them to his intergalactic zoo--but he will do so only on condition that the Robinsons allow him to add Will (Billy Mumy) and Penny (Angela Cartwright) to his collection. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Patricia Medina guest stars as Dr. Karen Miller, who has become an outcast on the frontier by virtue of her profession and her foreign birthplace. During a diptheria epidemic, Dr. Miller numbers among her patients another "outcast", namely ex-Army officer Jason McCord (Chuck Connors). As Jason struggles to recover from his illness, he decides to help Dr. Miller gain acceptance from the hostile settlers by acting as guinea pig for a new, untested serum. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Myko (Mike Kellin), the manager of an intergalactic gladiator show, arranges a boxing match between Dr. Smith (Jonathan Harris) and the midget Geoo (Harry Monty). Believing that he'll receive a huge sum of money and a trip back home if he wins, Smith accepts the challenge--little knowing that the match is actually part of a wide-ranging scheme to conquer the earth. It falls to John Robinson (Guy Williams) to take Smith's place in the ring when it becomes obvious that the outcome of the bout has been "fixed" and that the Robinsons are slated for destruction. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide