William J. Hole, Jr. Movies
- 1976
- PG
After wife Beatrice (Pearl Bailey) runs off to Mexico, a despondent Ben Chambers (Redd Foxx) travels to California to visit his son, Norman (Michael Warren). To Ben's dismay, Norman admits that he's gay -- and that his lover is a white man. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Redd Foxx, Pearl Bailey, (more)
A mystery woman leads an ordinary man down an evil path in this intriguing horror story. Rick Turner (Robert Alda) is a man haunted by a recurring dream in which a beautiful woman in a flowing white gown dances for him. The dream is robbing Rick of his sleep and driving a wedge between him and his fiancée Donna (Ariadna Welter), so he's startled when one day he passes a shop window and sees a doll that looks just like the woman in his dreams. The owner of the shop, Frank Lamont (Neil Hamilton), informs Rick that the doll was custom-made for a client, and Rick arranges to deliver it to her himself. Rick arrives at the luxurious apartment of Bianca (Linda Christian) to discover she is the very image of the woman in his dream, and she appears to know him already. Rick learns that both Bianca and Frank are members of a mysterious satanic cult that uses the dolls as part of their ceremonies; Rick becomes a regular visitor to their meetings and becomes deeply involved with Bianca after Donna is suddenly bedridden. But does Bianca have a plan for Rick that he doesn't yet suspect? The Devil's Hand was also released under the title Live To Love. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1961
Unless viewers are especially fascinated by the outré dance craze of the early '60s known as the "twist," there is nothing exceptionally compelling about this music-filled drama, except maybe Louis Prima and his non-dancing performances. The thin storyline is centered on the nightclub belong to Prima's character, Louis Evans. Evans is about to lose his place because the upstairs tenants in the building -- a group of shady characters -- want all that twisting downstairs to go away. June Wilkinson is Louis' girlfriend Jenny. She and just about everyone else in the cast twist through the 76-minute running time. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis Prima, June Wilkinson, (more)
- 1959
This undistinguished teen melodrama features Brett Halsey as Nick, a lowlife who is hiding out from the law because he killed a man in a mugging. He escapes to another town and starts working as a mechanic in an auto repair shop. Not one to keep a low profile for long, Nick alienates just about everyone by beating out the competition in sports-car races, beating his own drum as loudly as he can, and just plain beating up on other men. He complements those activities by hitting on any attractive female, regardless of her status. Both Nick and the viewers are clearly being set up for his ultimate just desserts. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brett Halsey, Yvonne Lime, (more)
- 1959
This goofy cult classic incorporates the most entertaining elements of AIP's drive-in favorites from the '50s and '60s by taking hot-rodding teen gangs and plunking them down in a haunted-house horror scenario, with a sizable splash of beach blanket antics, pajama parties, and plenty of good old Rock & Roll... not to mention some of the lamest attempts at "hip" comic shtick ever committed to film. The story is incidental, but it allows ample opportunity to showcase the aforementioned ingredients, along with appearances by B-movie veteran Russ Bender, AIP musical fave Jimmie Madden, and future real-life hot-rodder "TV" Tommy Ivo. There's even an appearance from the tennis-shoe-sporting She Creature from the film of the same name... but apparently it's a "He Creature" this time, since the filmmakers have removed the monster's humongous armor-plated breasts. Also known as The Haunted Hot-Rod. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jody Fair, Martin Braddock, (more)
- 1959
Set in a small Arizona town in the 1870s, Four Fast Guns is a subpar Western about Sabin (James Craig), a man who takes on an unlikely tyrant in an effort to restore normal life to the townspeople. Sabin himself has been falsely accused of murder, though misconduct runs in the family -- his brother Johnny (Brett Halsey) is an outlaw. An invalid runs the local saloon and has parleyed his physical infirmity into an excuse to get away with a brutal hold over the town. Sabin challenges his authority, so the saloon-keeper sends one hired gun after another to kill him off. No one succeeds, but then the fourth gunman shows up -- Sabin's outlaw brother -- and the two siblings are forced into a fatal confrontation. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Craig, Martha Vickers, (more)
- 1957
Drugs are the focus of the exploitation film set in the Los Angeles harbor. The plot centers around a villain's evil scheme to raid a ship and abscond with surplus war drugs. To help him get backers for the heist, he begins showing criminals a slide show depicting his scheme. A young woman accompanies one of the leader's gang members as he takes the slide show to various gangsters. The woman falls in love with an ambulance driver and gets him involved in the scheme. During the actual caper, the mastermind is killed, the drugs are safe, and the driver and the woman walk away from the whole thing unscathed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Russell, June Blair, (more)
