Burt Kennedy Movies
Born into a show business family, Burt Kennedy was but a tot when he joined his parents' vaudeville dancing troupe. After serving with distinction as a Naval Officer in World War II, Kennedy turned to writing for radio. His particular specialty was western shows, particularly westerns with a sturdy inner lining of comedy and satire. He curbed his comic tendencies in the 1950s when he became a principal scripter for the terse, rugged Budd Boetticher-directed Randolph Scott westerns. Graduating to directing himself with 1961's The Canadians, Kennedy spent several years in series television, again working primarily in westerns. He returned to theatrical features as writer/director of the 1964 Buddy Ebsen vehicle Mail Order Bride, then scored a box-office hit with his tongue-in-cheek rodeo saga The Rounders (1965). While auterists prefer the violent allegory of Kennedy's Welcome to Hard Times (1967), the director enjoyed more financial success with his comedy westerns Support Your Local Sheriff (1968) and Support Your Local Gunfighter (1970). As westerns gradually went out of fashion in Hollywood, Kennedy shifted his base of operations to television. While he still contributed to the big screen from time to time (as director of Suburban Commando and co-writer of Clint Eastwood's White Hunter, Black Heart, among other projects), Burt Kennedy has been most prolific in the last two decades on the small screen, directing such made-for-TVers as Shootout in a One Dog Town (1974), Sidekicks (1974), Kate Bliss and the Ticker Tape Kid (1978), Down the Long Hills (1987),The Alamo: 13 Days of Glory (1987), Where the Hell's That Gold (1988), and both of the Wild Wild West "reunion" films of the early 1980s. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
A vehicle for popular wrestling celebrity Hulk Hogan, Suburban Commando is an inoffensive science-fiction fantasy. Hogan plays Shep Ramsey, a well-sculpted if somewhat dimwitted intergalactic hero. On vacation from fighting crime on other planets, he has a fight with an alien enemy and his spaceship is damaged. He seeks refuge on Earth until his ship can be revived. Trying to look inconspicuous as an ordinary human being without special powers, he is befriended by a suburban family headed by Charlie Wilcox (Christopher Lloyd) and his wife Jenny (Shelley Duvall). Ramsey's stay isn't peaceful because he has such a keen sense of justice, which he dishes out to muggers, reckless drivers, and even smart-aleck paper carriers. In the end, he has to defend the family against his bold nemesis. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi
- Starring:
- Hulk Hogan, Christopher Lloyd, (more)
Something of a sleeper in its 1990 release, White Hunter, Black Heart is one of Clint Eastwood's most engaging films. It is based on Peter Vietel's novel about the location shoot of John Huston's immortal The African Queen. But the focus is never on Bogie and Hepburn. Egomaniacal director John Wilson (Eastwood) is far more interested in killing an elephant than in making a movie. His old friend and scriptwriter Pete Verrill (Jeff Fahey) and his producer, Paul Landers (George Dzundza), are on hand to try and talk him down from this pursuit. Eastwood's verbose, outlandish performance will be particularly remarkable to fans who tend to think of him as the soft-spoken tough guy. ~ John Voorhees, Rovi
- Starring:
- Clint Eastwood, Jeff Fahey, (more)
Nearly three decades after climbing the top-ten charts with his ballad "Big Bad John", Jimmy Dean stars in a film version of the song. Dean doesn't play the title character, though; that honor goes to ex-footballer Doug English. After killing a man who needed killing, Big Bad John loses himself by going to work in a treacherous Colorado coal mine. A whole slew of plot complications later, the film finally gets around to the gist of the song, with Big Bad John saving the lives of his fellow miners at the price of his own. For the record, Dean plays a sheriff who reluctantly pursues the fugitive John all over the country. Also in the cast is Ned Beatty, playing an abusive father to end all abusive fathers, and Jack Elam and Bob Hopkins, doing their usual. Big Bad John was directed by Burt Kennedy, an old hand at backwoods melodramas. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1988
Dynamite & Gold is the videocassette title of the made-for-TV western comedy Where the Hell's That Gold? Willie Nelson plays a bank robber, Delta Burke his "moll" and Jack Elam and all-around gol-durned sidewinder. The three stars scrounge for a hidden fortune in stolen gold, fending off other outlaw gangs and Mexican revolutionaries (among them famed Latino actor/director Alfonso Arau). The story's high point, a wild train ride, takes place somewhere in mid-film. Where the Hell's That Gold was written and directed by western stalwart Burt Kennedy; it originally aired November 13, 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1988
- PG
The made-for-TV Once Upon a Texas Train offers us the once-in-a-lifetime teaming of Richard Widmark, Willie Nelson and Angie Dickinson. Nelson plays a veteran outlaw who robs a bank less than 6 hours after being paroled from jail. He uses the money to reunite his old gang, then sets about to repeat the train robbery that had gotten him arrested 20 years earlier. This time, however, Nelson is himself targetted for theft by a young, hungrier band of desperadoes. Widmark plays the lawman who caught Nelson before and intends to do so again. Written and directed by the reliable Burt Kennedy, Once Upon a Texas Train premiered January 3, 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1987
- PG
Appleton Porter (Donald Sutherland) is an inept international secret agent sent by the U.S. to the island of Ibiza in this uneven spy comedy. His mission is to secure the secret recipe for a truth serum to use on enemy agents. Appleton miraculously avoids being killed on several occasions as suspicions point to various hotel guests. Hotel owner Mona Smith (Lucy Gutteridge), Harry Lewis (Ned Beatty), and Mrs. Arkwright (Ruth Gordon) soon make addle-brained Appleton feel that someone, if not everyone, is up to no good. The movie was shot in 1984 and shelved for three years --- explaining the presence of Gordon, who died the following August. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Donald Sutherland, Ned Beatty, (more)
- 1987
The valor and anguish of the Alamo is resurrected in this '80s effort that features a considerably accomplished cast. Brian Keith plays Davy Crockett and James Arness is Jim Bowie who, although at odds at times with his leader Colonel William Travis (Alec Baldwin), is able to focus upon the battle against the Mexican soldiers. Highlights of this film are the battle action scenes. ~ Rovi
- 1986
Barry Bostwick is top-billed in the made-for-TV western Down the Long Hills, but the largest role in the film goes to Thomas Wilson Brown, playing Bostwick's teenaged son. Travelling westward by wagon train, Brown and fellow teen Lisa McFarlane find themselves the sole survivors of an Indian massacre. The two youngsters head into the wilds of Utah in the company of a magnificent red stallion. The situation is hardly idyllic: Brown and McFarlane must not only elude a pair of rustlers (Bo Hopkins and Michael Wren) who covet the horse, but also must steer clear of a huge, rampaging grizzly bear. In honor of contractual commitments, this film was originally telecast on the Disney Channel cable service under the title Louis L'Amour's Down the Long Hills. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1982
Magnum (Tom Selleck) is assigned as bodyguard to Carrie Reardon (Kim Richards), a young rising tennis star whose arrogance far outweighs her talent. One of Carrie's many enemies has been making death threats, and seems eager and willing to carry them out as soon as possible. Making the job particularly difficult is that the chief suspect is Carrie's main competitor, tennis pro Ginger Leah Grant (Elaine Giftos)--who happens to be Magnum's former girlfriend. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1980
The second of two attempts to revive the 1960s TV series The Wild, Wild West (the first was Wild Wild West Revisited), More Wild, Wild West was telecast October 7, 1980. Robert Conrad is back as 19th- century secret-agent James West, while Ross Martin returns to the role of "man of many faces" Artemus Gordon. The principal heavy, played with tongue firmly in cheek by Jonathan Winters, is a mad scientist who plans to create an army of invisible supermen. Victor Buono, who was special guest villain on the very first Wild Wild West episode in 1965, plays a supporting role; carried over from Wild Wild West revisited are Harry Morgan and Rene Auberjonois. Several networks evinced interest in More Wild, Wild West, but Ross Martin's death in 1981 ended all plans for a weekly series. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert Conrad, Ross Martin, (more)
- 1979
- R
Not only does star Rod Steiger bypass The Honor Guard on his resume; it is also ignored by virtually every chronicler of Steiger's career. Why? Wouldn't you want to see a low-budget Canadian film wherein ex-marine Steiger, unhinged by the death of his son in Vietnam, terrorizes a young couple (David Huffman, Robin Mattson)? Most American viewers didn't catch up with this turkey until it was telecast on the Showtime Cable service in the summer of 1983. Originally titled Wolf Lake, The Honor Guard is rated R for its violence and sex content. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Rod Steiger, David Huffman, (more)
Two Montana saddletramps head for bustling Music City and open up a detective agency in this comical adventure that was originally the pilot of a television series. Not only do the two have to accustom themselves to strange big-city ways, they have to learn to become less inept at the gumshoe game as they try to expose extortionists and return a missing singer. Singers Barbara Mandrell and Roy Acuff make cameo appearances. On video the film is titled Ramblin' Man. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Roy Acuff, Claude Akins, (more)
- 1979
In the made-for-television film Wild, Wild West Revisited, the classic comedy/espionage/western television series is brought up to date with a story featuring government agents Jim West and Artemus Gordon leaving retirement to battle Miguelito Loveless, who is planning to conquer the earth by cloning world leaders. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert Conrad, Ross Martin, (more)
- 1978
Right after wrapping up her role as Emily on The Bob Newhart Show, Suzanne Pleshette began her reign as "queen of the TV pilot films" with Kate Bliss and the Ticker Tape Kid. Kate Bliss (Pleshette) is a private investigator in the 19th-century West, setting up her shingle in a tough frontier town. The Ticker Tape Kid (Don Meredith) is a onetime stockbroker who has become a Robin Hood-type outlaw. Kate is hired to protect a prissy British land baron (Tony Randall) from the Kid, but soon her loyalties begin to waver. Kate Bliss and the Ticker Tape Kid didn't make it as a series, but allowed Suzanne Pleshette a refreshing change of pace from her usual urban roles. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
One of four miniseries comprising NBC's Best Sellers anthology, The Rhinemann Exchange was adapted from the Robert Ludlum novel of the same name. Stephen Collins stars as American intelligence officer David Spaulding, who under cover of his musician father's concert tours embarks upon a number of fact-finding missions in Europe just before WW2. Once hostilities break out, Spaulding relocates to Aergentina, there to exchange industrial diamonds for a secret gyroscope needed for the American war effort. Naturally, the Nazis are equally interested in those diamonds, putting Spaulding in any number of perilous predicaments. Lauren Hutton costars as Leslie Hawkewood, one of those ravishing "mystery women" so common to espionage fiction. Originally running 5 hours and telecast in three segments on March 10, 17, and 24, 1977, The Rhinemann Exchange was later rebroadcast as a four-hour, two-part "TV movie." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Stephen Collins, Lauren Hutton, (more)
- 1976
- R
Stacy Keach plays Lou Ford, a deputy sheriff whose brutal childhood experiences have left him emotionally warped. Ford is prized by his community for his no-mercy treatment of criminals. But the danger that he will snap and begin killing indiscriminately is ever-present. Based on the novel by Jim Thompson, in this adaptation Ford's psychotic breaks are signalled by lightning flashes. Director Burt Kennedy handles his material in the manner of his earlier Welcome to Hard Times: nothing is quite of this earth, and everything is painted in broad, violent morality-play strokes. Despite Kennedy's predilection for "cutting in the camera" (that is, filming each scene with only one or two different camera angles, so that his directorial vision will survive the editing room), Killer Inside Me gives evidence of having been severely tampered with in the post-production process. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Stacy Keach, Susan Tyrrell, (more)
- 1976
- G
The Littlest Horse Thieves is a Walt Disney Production. Set in early 20th-century England, the film concerns three Yorkshire children who take pity on the ponies that are used as beasts of burden in the coal mines. The kids "liberate" the ponies with the help of a sympathetic groom. This action arouses so much public sympathy that the miners threaten to strike if the ponies are returned to their living deaths in the pits. A plot-solving last minute rescue segues into a joyous celebration, stage-managed by twinkly old Lord Harrogate (played by the indispensable Alastair Sim). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Alastair Sim, Peter Barkworth, (more)
This made-for-TV rural horror film from director Burt Kennedy benefits from a fine cast and a tense Clyde Ware screenplay. Samantha Eggar and Stacy Keach play motorists held prisoner by a family of seven sweet-faced young orphans and their savage guard dogs. The children only want a mother and father but are willing to kill anyone who rejects them. Jon Savage co-stars with Robby Benson, who sang the theme song. All the Kind Strangers was initially telecast November 12, 1974. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
- 1974
The made-for-TV Shootout in a One-Dog Town is a rare foray into straight-faced adventure by "comedy western" specialist Burt Kennedy. Richard Crenna stars as a banker in a heat-parched Southwestern town. Richard Egan and his gang mosey into town with the barely concealed intention of relieving the bank of $200,000. With everyone else in town shaking in their cracked boots, Crenna decides to thwart the robbery on his own. Filmed in Durango, Mexico, Shootout in a One-Dog Town was written by Larry Cohen, better known for such horror exercises as It's Alive and Q. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1974
This comedy western is the failed pilot for a TV series based on the 1971 feature film Skin Game. Like the original, this tells the story of two bungling con artists, one white the other black, who ride around trying to collect an outlaw bounty and outsmart slave traders. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
The action never stops in this western, which has a surprise ending. Ann-Margret stars as Mrs. Lowe, a widow who wishes to recover some gold stolen by her husband and hidden away. She says she wants to return it to the bank it was stolen from and clear her family name. In order to do this, she persuades Lane (John Wayne) to ride into Mexico with her and recover the loot. Once they cross the border, they discover two very different pursuers: a large group of bandidos, and a lone horseman who seems to know their every move (Ricardo Montalban). ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Ann-Margret, (more)
This Western action/comedy is told in the same tongue-in-cheek manner as its predecessor, Support Your Local Sheriff. Goldie (Marie Windsor), a madam, is a formidable woman, and Latigo Smith (James Garner) knows perfectly well that his disreputable ways will be trimmed considerably should she succeed in marrying him. Instead, he escapes from her and winds up in the town of Purgatory. The town's inhabitants have been expecting the arrival of Swifty Morgan (Chuck Connors), the famous gunfighter. All things being equal, Latigo is happy to be mistaken for Morgan's sidekick, while Jug May (Jack Elam) impersonates Morgan himself. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- James Garner, Suzanne Pleshette, (more)
- 1971
- PG
A captain convicted of deserting his cavalry (Bekim Fehmiu) is released to lead a band of deputized renegades. Together, the force must defeat a band of Apache braves. The film was released to video as Ride to Glory. ~ John Bush, Rovi
It's hard to discern the filmmakers' true point of view on Hannie Caulder. On one hand, you've got the heavily somber story of Raquel Welch's efforts to exact vengeance on the men who raped her and killed her husband. On the other hand, you've got the leisurely-paced, lightly amusing sequences in which saddle-tramp Robert Culp tries to teach Welch how to be a gunslinger in her own right. And on the third hand (and who's got one of those?), you are offered the goofy Three-Stooges-like antics of the principle villains: Ernest Borgnine, Strother Martin and Jack Elam. This British-financed western features one-time sexpot Diana Dors as a zoftic madam and an uncredited Stephen Boyd as an ineffectual preacher. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Raquel Welch, Robert Culp, (more)
- 1970
- PG13
Frank Sinatra stars in this bawdy western satire as Dingus Magee, a would-be outlaw who robs Hoke Birdsill (George Kennedy) while Hoke is en route to Yerkey's Hole, New Mexico. Hoke reports the theft to Belle Knops (Anne Jackson), the mayor of Yerkey's Hole and proprietor of the town's biggest business, a brothel favored by the enlisted men at the nearby Army fort. Belle appoints Hoke as the new deputy, and he tracks down Magee as he's enjoying a roll in the bushes with Anna (Michele Carey), a very friendly Indian maid. Hoke brings in Magee, but Anna then helps him escape; Belle uses Magee's unscheduled release to convince the commanding officers at the Army base that an Indian uprising is imminent, and that their planned relocation to Little Big Horn (where they hope to arrive before Gen. Custer and his troops) might be a bit premature (not to mention bad for her business). Soon Hoke is after Magee for robbing a stage and stealing the strongbox (which, of course, he can't open), the Indians are after Magee for running off with Anna, a sexually repressed schoolmarm named Prudence (Lois Nettleton) is after Magee after he awakens the woman within her, and John Wesley Hardin (Jack Elam) is after Magee, well, just because. "Catch-22" author Joseph Heller co-wrote the screenplay. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Frank Sinatra, George Kennedy, (more)
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