Bob Haymes Movies
American actor Bob Haymes appeared in about 20 films during the '30s and '40s. The brother of popular singer/actor Dick Haymes, Bob started out singing in a big band and then turned to acting. Occasionally, Haymes used the stage name Robert Stanton. He made his film debut in the 1930s and appeared in about 20 films through the 1940s. Haymes also sang on a radio show and waxed a few records. He eventually became a television and radio host in New York and then began coordinating corporate media presentations. Haymes was also a sometime songwriter with his best known tune being "That's All." Haymes worked as the national TV director for the Nixon Presidential campaign in 1968. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
A quadriplegic former athlete finds his darkest urges being acted out by an animal familiar in this psychological horror film. When Allan Mann (Jason Beghe) loses the use of his legs and arms in an accident, he becomes bitter -- no surprise given that his girlfriend dumps him for his surgeon, his new nurse (Christine Forrest) is a shrew, and his smothering mother (Joyce Van Patten) keeps threatening to move in and take care of him. Enter Kate McNeil (Melanie Parker), a scientist who is working to provide handicapped people with highly trained animal helpers. Soon Allan is bonding with Ella, an adorable Capuchin monkey, who, unbeknownst to him, has been injected with human brain tissue by drug-addicted scientist Geoffrey Fisher (John Pankow). At first Allan loves little Ella, but the monkey seems to grow jealous as Allan slowly develops a romance with the beautiful Kate. Meanwhile, Allan begins having strange dreams in which he experiences the world from a monkey's-eye point of view. These visions culminate in a fiery nightmare -- the same night Allan's ex-girlfriend and her new lover die in a house fire. Realizing the growing link between his own inner demons and the violence occurring around him, Allan tries to sever the connection with Ella. But the limitations of even his high-tech wheelchair give the psychic primate the upper hand. Written and directed by horror veteran George Romero, Monkey Shines re-teams the filmmaker with his frequent collaborator, Christine Forrest. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Beghe, John Pankow, (more)
- 1968
The Money Jungle is an innovative mystery concerning some greedy oil companies in competition to secure off-shore drilling rights. Detective Blake Heller (John Ericson) is the hard drinking sleuth hired by the oil companies to try and keep the proceedings above board. He contends with a group that opposes the proposal and later finds there are elements against him in the very organization that hired him. Blake goes to local police lieutenant Dow Reeves (Nehemiah Persoff) when geologists start dropping like flies after being gunned down. Comedian Don Rickles stars in the straight role of crooked oilman Harry Darkwater in this offbeat detective story. Lola Albright croons two songs in her role as a gold-digging nightclub singer who turns out to be the ex-wife of one of the oil barons and owns lots of stock in the company. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Ericson, Lola Albright, (more)
- 1945
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The last of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello's three MGM features, Abbott & Costello in Hollywood is a loose remake of Buster Keaton's Free and Easy. Bud and Lou play a pair of Tinseltown barbers who dream of becoming high-priced showbiz agents. Their first clients are Frances Rafferty and Robert Stanton, whose careers may be over before they begin when A&C manage to antagonize powerful producer Donald MacBride and stuck-up film star Carleton Young. The plot serves only as a clothesline upon which to hang several sidesplitting comedy routines: Abbott teaching Costello how to give a shave, Lou vainly trying to get a good night's sleep, a "stunt man" bit involving the tremulous Costello and hulking Mike Mazurki, and a wild roller-coaster finale. MGM contractees Lucille Ball, Jackie "Butch" Jenkins, Preston S. Foster and Robert Z. Leonard make guest appearances. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, (more)
- 1944
Arthur Lake takes a break from his Dagwood Bumstead duties in the "Blondie" series to star as furloughed sailor Marble Head Tomkins in Columbia's Sailor's Holiday. The plot is the old one about an engagement being broken because both male and female have fallen in love with someone else. In this instance, two engaged couples are thus rent asunder, though everything turns out OK by the final reel. Though top billed, Arthur Lake is essentially the comedy relief. He was added to the cast as "name insurance", permitting Columbia to introduce several of their newest contractees-including a young Broadway refugee named Shelley Winters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1944
Female musicians Sally Richards (Jane Frazee) and Sue Ford (Judy Clark) are Beautiful but Broke in this frantic Columbia musical comedy. Sally and Sue's violinist pal Dottie Duncan (Joan Davis) is equally broke, though not quite as beautiful. The three girls try pass themselves off as an all-girl orchestra, with the help of fast-buck theatrical agent Waldo Main (John Eldredge). Vamping for time until they can gather up a few more musicians, the girls don several disguises to fool a potential client, nightclub owner Putnam (John Dilson). Once this crisis is passed, the orchestra finds itself stranded in the middle of nowhere. The finale borrows a page from Buster Keaton when Sally, Sue and Dottie take refuge in a deserted house slated for Army target practice. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Davis, John Hubbard, (more)
- 1944
The year is 1942: Mr. Winkle (Edward G. Robinson), a mild-mannered bank clerk, decides to quit his job and open a fix-it shop in his garage. Winkle's wife Amy (Ruth Warrick) disapproves of this, and orders her husband to move into his little shop. Tired of being browbeaten, Winkle is delighted when his draft notice shows up. Fitted for a uniform, Winkle has the wind taken out of his sails in basic training, but soon finds that army life agrees with him; when given a chance to go home when the draft age is lowered to 38, he refuses to do so. Transferred to the South Pacific, Winkle instinctively performs a conspicuous act of bravery. He returns home a much-decorated hero, but he's too shy to partake in the ceremonies in his honor, opting instead to return to his shop, and to his now-loving wife Amy. A tailor-made Edward G. Robinson vehicle, Mr. Winkle Goes to War was adapted by Waldo Salt, George Corey and Louis Solomon from a novel by Theodore Pratt. Watch for Robert Mitchum, Hugh Beaumont and Miss Jeff Donnell in unbilled bits. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward G. Robinson, Ruth Warrick, (more)
- 1943
Singer Bob Haymes (not Dick Haymes, as has sometimes been reported) heads the cast of Columbia's Swing Out the Blues. The film is partly a parody of The Goodwill Court, a popular radio problem hosted by advice-dispenser "Mr. Anthony". The host of a "What's your problem?" radio hour tries to smooth the romantic path of singer Rich Cleveland (Haymes) and his socialite wife Penelope (Lynn Merrick). The fly in the ointment is Dena Marshall (Janis Carter), who has set her sights on the handsome Rich. Much of the film's humor is dispensed by the Vagabonds, a zany singing group that comes across as a combination of the Yacht Club Boys and the Ritz Brothers. If the fellow playing "Larry Stringfellow" sounds familiar, he should: Arthur Q. Bryan was also the voice of Elmer Fudd in the Warner Bros. cartoons. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Haymes, Lynn Merrick, (more)
- 1943
In this musical, a San Francisco musician encounters the son of an pal. The young man has a real dilemma and asks the advice of the older man. He has been inducted in the Army and is to be shipped off to fight WW II. He is also engaged to be married, but doesn't want to go through with it as he could be killed in battle. The musician the tells him the tale of a WW I veteran who turns out to be the young soldier's father. The soldier gets the point and decides to get married after all. Songs include: "It Had to Be You", "More Than Anyone Else in the World", "This Old Hat of Mine", "Cuddle Up a Little Closer", "I'm Just Wild about Harry", "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans", "On the Sunny Side of the Street", "St. Louis Blues", "Pretty Baby", and "Am I Blue?" ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ted Lewis, Michael Duane, (more)
- 1943
The Two Senoritas from Chicago are Gloria (Jinx Falkenburg) and Maria (Ann Savage). When their goofy pal Daisy Baker (Joan Davis) passes off a discarded Portuguese play manuscript as her own, producer Rupert Shannon (Emory Parnell) agrees to bankroll the production. With stars in their eyes, Gloria and Maria pretend to be a pair of Portuguese musical comedy stars, thereby winning parts in the new production. The fun begins when the play's original authors sell the same manuscript to a rival producer. The story's for the birds, but Two Senoritas from Chicago is at the very least decorative, with stars Jinx Falkenburg (later a popular TV talk host) and Ann Savage attractively garbed in what one observer has described as Carmen Miranda's leftovers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Davis, Jinx Falkenburg, (more)
