Dick Jones Movies

Actor David Hemmings made one of his periodic forays into directing with the lightning-paced Race For the Yankee Zephyr. The film pits deer hunters against a group of unscrupulous businessmen. Their mutual goal is a reserve of gold, hidden somewhere in the Australian wilds. Ken Wahl and Leslie Ann Warren are the Hollywood-bred "box office insurance" in this Australian/New Zealand coproduction. Race for the Yankee Zephyr was first shown in America via pay-cable, where it carried no rating but was preceded with a warning vis-a-vis violence and strong language. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The nasty lives of a greedy family provide the basis of this rather lurid crime drama. It all begins when Norm and Della find out that Norm's brother Jim's ranch is sitting atop an untapped oil reserve. To get it, the two conspire to convince Jim that he is insane. Evil Della then betrays Norm by making Jim believe that Norm is the nutty one. Together, Jim and Della have Norm committed. Unfortunately, he escapes and returns to the ranch and things only get worse from there. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This over-the-top '50s juvenile delinquency melodrama has developed a cult following for its rabid anti-marijuana message and a thoroughly enjoyable performance by teen-pic icon Dick Bakalyan as one of the teenagers gone bad. A reform-school graduate turns some long-in-the-tooth high schoolers onto the loco weed; before long, they're hopelessly addicted, with crime, insanity, and death the inevitable results. The Cool and the Crazy was shot on location in Kansas City, where Dick Bakalyan actually spent a few hours in jail when local cops thought he was a for-real bad guy and not just acting. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

American POWs struggle to escape from a North Korean camp. While this is basically a remake of Stalag 17, it does feature interesting scenes of a North Korean brainwashing. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Gene Autry goes undercover once again in this rather pedestrian western from Columbia Pictures. Suspecting jailed youth Dave Weldon (Dick Jones) of complicity in an army payroll heist, special investigator Autry has himself jailed. He quickly discovers that there is more to the case than meets the eye and helps Dave escape and rejoin his father's medicine show, which also includes Dave's sister Connie (Gail Davis) and the singing Cass Country Boys. Meanwhile, nasty Mike McClure (Henry Rowlands and his crew are also after the stolen money and to save young Dave's life, Gene convinces him to turn the loot over to Marshal Taplan (Gordon Jones). Among other selections, Autry and the Cass County Boys perform yet another version of Gene's signature tune, "Back in the Saddle Again". ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Fort Worth stars Randolph Scott as gunfighter-turned-newspaperman Ned Britt. Setting up shop in the eponymous Texas town, Britt tries to expose the crooked machinations of cattle baron Gabe Clevinger (Ray Teal). This brings him into conflict with his old friend Blair Lunsfold (David Brian), who has cast his lot with Clevinger. Further complicating matters is Lunsford's fiancee Flora Talbot (Phyllis Thaxter), who falls in love with Britt. As tensions threaten to erupt into all-out bloodshed--especially when Clevinger deploys brute force to prevent the arrival of the railroad--Ned Britt is forced to rethink his newfound philosophy that the pen is mightier than the sword. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Rocky Mountain was planned as a big budget western, but Warner Bros. pared down both its budget and its length to "programmer" dimensions. Errol Flynn plays a Confederate officer trying to recruit troops in California. Unfortunately the only folks interested in the Southern cause are bandits and drifters, so Flynn has to watch his back. The fiancee (Patrice Wymore) of a Union Army officer (Scott Forbes) is rescued from an Indian attack by Flynn's men, but they are reluctant to release her lest she tip off their whereabouts. A Yankee patrol headed by the girl's fiance is captured by Flynn, but he eventually allows the Yanks and the girl safe passage in order to save them from an Indian massacre. Rocky Mountain was no great advance in cinematic art, but it did serve to introduce Errol Flynn to Patrice Wymore, who became his third (and last) wife. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

From director Allan Dwan, Sands of Iwo Jima is a drama set during the Second World War and follows John Stryker (John Wayne), a relentlessly tough Marine sergeant as he trains a squad of naïve, rebellious recruits at a New Zealand military station in 1943. Recently left by his wife, Stryker has become exceedingly bitter and tough, leading his contemporaries to question his behavior and his men to dislike him for his harsh training methods. The wisdom of Stryker's ways, however, is demonstrated when they fight in the legendary battle of Iwo Jima. Using footage of real WWII battles, the Sands of Iwo Jima features John Wayne's first Academy Award-nominated performance, though Broderick Crawford ultimately won the 1950 Best Actor prize. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

Angel on the Amazon gives the viewer a pretty good notion of what Lost Horizon or She might have looked like had they been produced by Republic Pictures. Vera Ralston stars as huntress Christine Ridgeway, who embarks on one of her many hunting expeditions in the company of her husband Anthony Brian Aherne. While deep in the jungles of the Amazon, the Ridgeways and their party come across the wreckage of a plane. Among the survivors are pilot Jim Warburton George Brent and Dr. Karen Lawrence Constance Bennett. Warburton is impressed by the fact that, though apparently well on in years, Christine has retained her youthful appearance. Dr. Lawrence eventually discovers the secret of Christine's eternal beauty, which by film's end has atrophied considerably. The rambling screenplay whisks the viewer from Brazil to the Riviera to Pasadena, all courtesy of the Republic back lot. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Dismissed by critics as corny and obvious in 1944, this overlong but sincere biopic looks pretty good when seen today, cliches notwithstanding. Fredric March, 47 at the time, convincingly plays American author Sam Clemens, aka Mark Twain, from his early 20s to his death at 75. In typical movie-biography fashion, every single incident that happens in Twain's life is an INSPIRATION: he hears the depth-indication call "Mark Twain" while working on a riverboat and his face lights up; he engages in a jumping-frog contest against Bret Harte (John Carradine) and comes up with his first popular published story; and so on. Alexis Smith is better than usual in the role of Twain's wife Olivia Langdon, even keeping a straight face while Twain courts her in Fluent Quotation ("Everybody talks about the weather but nobody ever does anything about it", he says during a Hollywood-romance cloudburst). Though the script barely touches upon the dark side of Twain's nature, we are not spared his financial reverses (brought about by bad investments and his struggle to publish Ulysses S. Grant's memoirs. The closing sequence, with Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn beckoning the spirit of Mark Twain to heaven as Halley's Comet fills the skies, may seem laughable on paper, but works quite well on film; even director Irving Rapper expressed amazement at the effectiveness of this scene! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

On the day of his death in 1943, the spirit of Henry Van Cleave (Don Ameche) obligingly heads for the place where so many people had previously told him to go. The immaculately dressed septuagenarian arrives at the outer offices of Hades, where he is greeted by His Excellency (Laird Cregar), the most courteous and gentlemanly Satan in screen history. His Excellency doubts that Van Cleave has sinned enough to qualify for entrance into Hades, but Henry insists that he's led the most wicked of lives, and proceeds to tell his story. Each milestone of Henry's life, it seems, has occurred on one of his birthdays. Upon reaching 15, Henry (played as a teenager by Dickie Moore) naively permits himself to get drunk with and be seduced by his family's French maid (Signe Hasso). At 21, Henry elopes with lovely Martha Strabel (Gene Tierney) stealing her away from her stuffy fiance Albert Van Cleve (Allyn Joslyn), Henry's cousin. At 31, Henry nearly loses Martha when, weary of his harmless extracurricular flirtations, she goes home to her boorish parents (Eugene Pallette and Marjorie Main). Henry's grandpa (Charles Coburn) orders the errant husband not to let so wonderful a girl as Martha get away from him. Henry once more declares his love to Martha, and she can't help but be touched by his boyish sincerity. Twenty years later, Henry, now a faithful and proper husband and father, attempts to charm a beautiful musical-comedy entertainer (Helen Walker) so that she'll forsake his young and impressionable son. But Henry's gay-90s romantic approach is out of touch with the Roaring 20s, and he ends up paying the entertainer a tidy sum to rescue his son--a fact that amuses Henry's understanding wife Martha, who now knows that her husband is hers and hers alone. Ten more years pass: Henry dances a last waltz with Martha, whose loving smile hides the fact that she knows she hasn't much longer to live. Five years later, it is "foxy grandpa" Henry who must be kept in check by his conservative son Jack (Michael Ames). Finally, it is 1943: as he quietly drinks in the loveliness of his night nurse (Doris Merrick), the bedridden Henry contentedly breathes his last. His story told, Henry once again asks to be permitted to enter Hades. But His Excellency, realizing that the only "sin" Henry has truly committed is attempting to live life to the fullest, quietly replies "If you'll forgive me, Mr. Van Cleave, we just don't want your kind down here." While he allows that Henry may have some trouble getting past the Pearly Gates, the wait will be worth it, since his loving wife Martha will be waiting for him. His Excellency cordially escorts Henry to the elevator, giving the operator a one-word instruction: "Up." A charming delight from first frame to last, Heaven Can Wait is another winner from director Ernst Lubitsch, and his first in Technicolor. Samson Raphaelson's screenplay was based on Birthdays, a play by Laslo Bus-Fekete. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A woman's attempt to disguise herself as an underage girl mushrooms into a series of humorous deceptions in this romantic comedy. Ginger Rogers stars as Susan Applegate, a young woman living in New York who, nearly broke and sick of the city, decides to head home to Iowa. Lacking the money for a regular ticket, she pretends to be an unusually tall 11-year old girl named Sue-Sue in order to pay half-price. The train conductors catch on to her scheme, however, forcing her to take refuge in the car of Major Philip Kirby (Ray Milland). The kindly major virtually adopts the "lost little girl," and circumstances force Susan to play along and accompany him to the local military academy. There the fun begins, as she struggles to deal with the unwelcome romantic attentions of countless young cadets and her own increasing attraction to the engaged Major Kirby. The Major and the Minor was the first Hollywood feature helmed by the legendary Billy Wilder. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi