Buzz Kulik Movies
Following wartime service, Buzz Kulik cut his directorial teeth on industrial films produced by a Manhattan-based ad agency. During the 1950s and 1960s, Kulik directed hundreds of TV productions, working on such prestige series as Playhouse 90 and The Defenders. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Kulik retained few fond memories of "live" television, summing up his more horrendous experiences in an amusing 1962 TV Guide article titled "Don't Give Me the Good Old Days!". He was proudest of his filmed work, especially his handful of Twilight Zone episodes and his immensely popular 1970 TV movie Brian's Song. Buzz Kulik's theatrical films have not, as a whole, maintained the high standards of his TV output, though his 1967 film Warning Shot is a worth-seeing cop melodrama. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1960
The past and present collide with poignant results in this handsomely mounted Twilight Zone episode. Brian Aherne stars as aging Broadway matinee idol Booth Templeton, who is unable to give his full attention to his latest play because of his obsession with the past in general and his late wife Laura (Pippa Scott) in particular. Miraculously, Templeton is transported back to the 1920s for a reunion with his beloved Laura, which proves to be an eye-opener in more ways than one. Future film director Sydney Pollack is cast here as an abrasive stage director named Willis, a character whom scriptwriter E. Jack Neuman and director Buzz Kulik patterned after pioneer live-TV producer Fred Coe. "The Trouble with Templeton" was first telecast on December 9, 1960. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brian Aherne, Pippa Scott, (more)
- 1960
Have Gun, Will Travel opens its fourth season with an ethnic slant, a particular specialty of scriptwriter Shimon Wincelberg. Martin Gabel is seen as Russian-Jewish immigrant Nathan Shotness, who after witnessing a murder is pressured to keep quiet by a tough town boss. Nathan's daughter Rivka (Roxanne Berard) asks Paladin (Richard Boone) to provide protection for her father until the murder trial. The situation worsens when Rivka is kidnapped by the killer, a particularly vicious customer named Smollet (played by Robert Blake at his pre-stardom nastiest!). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1960
As had been the case with the first season's inaugural episode "Where Is Everybody?", the second season of Twilight Zone opened with a "solo" drama, wherein the protagonist finds himself alone in a bizarre situation, with no memory of how he got there. In "King Nine Will Not Return," Robert Cummings stars as Army Air Force captain James Embry, who awakens to find himself stumbling through the desert, near the wreckage of a WWII bomber. Laboriously putting the pieces together, Embry desperately searches for his fellow crew members, who seemingly appear and disappear right before his eyes. Inspired by the recent disovery of the wreckage of the American bomber Lady Be Good in the Libyan Desert, "King Nine Will Not Return" was written by Rod Serling and first aired September 30, 1960. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Cummings, Paul Lambert, (more)
- 1959
Wealthy widow Matilda Benson (Kathryn Givney) rules over her children like a dowager empress, threatening to cut them out of her will for the slightest infraction. Even so, the children can't help but get involved with crooked gambler Danny Barker (Robert Strauss), who ends up murdered after threatening to bring scandal upon the Benson family. It is Sylvia Benson (Patricia Cutts) whom the police arrest for the crime, and it is Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) who rushes to Sylvia's defense. This episode is based on a 1937 novel by Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner, which was previously adapted as the 1940 theatrical film Granny Get Your Gun--with Perry Mason written out of the story! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
In Carson City, Paladin (Richard Boone) finds a kindred spirit in the form of an elderly, cultured gentleman named Ainslee (John Abbott). Like Paladin, Ainslee has been forced by circumstances to become a gunfighter, and now must face down every young punk in the west who is trying to make a name for himself. Hoping to retire with his reputation and honor intact, Ainslee prevails upon Paladin to shoot him in the hand during a gunfight--with the thorough understanding that the fight will be fair, and that Paladin will be risking his own life in the process. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
In Laredo, Texas, Paladin (Richard Boone) forms a fast friendship with Sam Tuttle (Gene Lyons), a notoriously unbeatable gunfighter. Not long afterward, Paladin kills a man named Kovac (Alan Dexter), who happens to be Tuttle's host. Now, despite their fondness and respect for one another, Paladin and Tuttle may well be forced into a showdown--and both men know all too well that only one will emerge alive. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
Filmed for the first season of Have Gun--Will Travel, this episode ultimately served as the opener for Season Two (though some sources list its original air date as September 27, 1958). Hired to capture fugitive Jimmy Dawes (David Whorf) and bring him to trial in Kansas City, Paladin (Richard Boone) is forced to kill the boy in self-defense. Riding into Jimmy's home town of Promise, Paladin finds that everyone thinks he is a murderer, including Sheriff Truett (Joseph Calleia)--and that no one would mind too much if the gunslinger was himself killed by Jimmy's vengeful brothers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
The Hargrove Finance Company has been robbed and Frank Anderson (James Anderson) lies dead. Identified by witnesses as one of the robbers, old Pop Renzi (Eduardo Ciannelli) is accused of murder. At the behest of Renzi's little grandson Nicky (Bobby Clark), Perry (Raymond Burr) agrees to handle Pop's defense--which proves a formidable task indeed, thanks to the obstreperous attitude of the dead man's sexy widow Iris (Nita Talbot). Veteran movie "gunsel" Elisha Cook Jr. appears in this episode, which was directed by the prolific Buzz Kulik. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
Versatile character actors Harry Morgan and Harry Bartell don old-age makeup to play a pair of grizzled, garrolous gold miners. Having only recently struck it rich, Fred Braus (Morgan) and Nick Talbot (Bartell) become so argumentative over who owns what that it seems as though each man wants to murder the other. When Paladin (Richard Boone) enters the scene, he finds that there is an unknown third party who intends to bump both miners off and claim the gold for himself (or is it herself?) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
