Fernando Lamas Movies
Billy Crystal notwithstanding, Argentine actor Fernando Lamas did not spend his entire career saying "You...look...MAHHHHvelous". A well-established film star in his native Buenos Aires, Lamas was brought to Hollywood in 1950 with an MGM contract. He went on to play several variations on the standard "Latin Lover" type, with occasional opportunities to display his well-trained singing voice. Beginning with the 1961 Spanish film The Magic Fountain, Lamas entered a whole new phase of his career as a director. In this respect, he was busiest on television, directing episodes of such series as Mannix, Alias Smith and Jones, Gavilan, and Falcon Crest. This last-named series starred Lorenzo Lamas, the son of Fernando and his third wife Arlene Dahl. At the time of his death, Fernando Lamas was married to wife number four, aquatic film star Esther Williams. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Lyedecker (Jim Brown) is the Arizona lawman who travels to Mexico in search of Yaqui Joe (Burt Reynolds). Joe has made an illegal withdrawal of $6,000 from the band in Phoenix to help finance his tribes's uprising against the Mexican government. Sarita (Raquel Welch) is the local woman who is friendly towards the Indian leaders. Both men are tracked by General Verdugo (Fernando Lamas), the career-minded military man who realizes a victory could boost his station in high-society and politics. Also on hand is the American railroad agent Grimes (Dan O'Herlihy). The battle ensues between the Indians and the government troops as Lyedecker and Joe form a temporary alliance to survive. They are captured by the troops, but the Indians instead of the calvary come to the rescue in this routine western taken from a novel by Robert MacLeod. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jim Brown, Raquel Welch, (more)
- 1969
The fans of television shows The Virginian and Laredo will delight to the combined casts of the two popular series for Backtrack. Ramrod (James Drury) and Trampas (Doug McClure) are shown meeting for the first time as they go to work on the Shilo Ranch. Reese (Neville Brand) Chad (Peter Brown) and Riley (William Smith) are the Texas Rangers who meet Trampas when he travels to Mexico. Ramrod sends Trampas South of the border to pick up a prized bull. Trampas and the Rangers come across a railroad train where the only survivor of a brutal robbery is a baby. Captain Estrada (Fernando Lamas) and his spitfire mistress Madame Dolores (Ida Lupino) are the villains who give the good guys a bad time. Royal Dano, William Smith and Rhonda Fleming also appear. Chad tries to talk the evil Estrada into letting Trampas and the captured Rangers out of jail, promising further help for the scheming Mexican in this action-packed routine western saga. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Neville Brand, Doug McClure, (more)
- 1977
Kamden (John Larch), the former head of an elite WWII French underground unit comes to the Townsend agency for protection. It seems that several of Kamden's comrades in arms have been assassinated by a man called Jericho (Ricardo Montalban). Sabrina (Kate Jackson) poses as Kamden's current girlfriend to prevent another murder and to flush Jericho out of his hiding place. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Farrah Fawcett-Majors, Kate Jackson, (more)
- 1965
Saunders (Vic Morrow) and the squad are ordered to destroy the machinery in a French quarry in order to keep it out of German hands. Witnessing the destruction of his precious tractors, quarry owner Paul Vertain (Fernando Lamas) threatens dire consequences to the Americans. Before long, Saunders' men are being besieged by an unseen sniper--none other than the crazed Vertrain. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Assigned to a reconnaisance mission, Hanley (Rick Jason) is aided by veteran Resistance fighter Leon Poulon (Fernando Lama), who agrees to cooperate only if the squad takes his younger brother Marcel (Sal Mineo) along. Though Marcel has an all-consuming fear of death, Leon pretends not to notice, certain that the boy will perform heroically when the going really gets tough. But Leon's good intentions may prove fatal when he and Marcel are captured for interrogation by a cruel SS officer (played in deadly earnest by The Mary Tyler Moore Show's future "Ted Baxter"!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Daisy Kenyon stars Joan Crawford as the eponymous heroine, a Manhattan commercial artist. Daisy is torn between two men: a handsome, married attorney (Dana Andrews) and an unmarried Henry Fonda. Deciding to do the "right thing", Daisy marries Fonda, but carries a torch for the dashing Andrews. When the lawyer divorces his wife, he calls upon Daisy and tries to win her back. She is very nearly won over, but her husband isn't about to give up so easily. Both men argue over Daisy, who is so distraught by the experience that she nearly has a fatal automobile accident. In the end, Daisy realizes that she truly loves Fonda, and gives Andrews his walking papers. Daisy Kenyon is given a contemporary slant with a subplot about child abuse (in a Joan Crawford film!); and, in one scene set at New York's Stork Club, several celebrities (Walter Winchell, Leonard Lyons, John Garfield) make unbilled cameo appearances. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Crawford, Art Baker, (more)
- 1953
Esther Williams stars in this button-cute musical about a health-conscious family of swimmers who fall in with con man Windy Weebe (Jack Carson). The Higgins family decides to swim the English Channel in order to raise money to purchase a prize bull for their Arkansas farm. As she practices for the English Channel swim, Katie Higgins (Esther Williams) gets lost in the fog and is rescued by wealthy wine merchant Andre Lanet (Fernando Lamas), and she falls for him hard. The film is distinguished by a climactic English Channel swim and an animated underwater cartoon sequence with Williams and animated MGM contract players Tom and Jerry reprising the Arthur Schwartz and Johnny Mercer tune "In My Wildest Dreams." ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Esther Williams, Fernando Lamas, (more)
- 1966
In this western, the town of Glory prepares to stage its annual Founder's Day showdown on Main Street. The guest gunslingers this year are two notorious gunmen. Unfortunately, the festivities are halted when a drifter rides to town claiming that he has killed one of the gunmen. The town fathers then persuade him to take the deceased's place and his name. Just before the battle, the drifter takes of to a different town where he meets another stranger, the other gunman though the drifter doesn't know it. They become friends and agree that Glory is too lawless for its own good. They vow to clean it up. When they get there, they learn that they were supposed to fight each other. They decide to fake the whole thing. Later they run the wicked men behind the gruesome tradition right out of town and peace ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lex Barker, Pierre Brice, (more)
- 1954
In this adventure, four explorers search for a vast treasure in the Amazon jungle. One of the explorers is a woman who got involved after she traveled from California to marry her fiance whom she hasn't seen in two years. Another man tries to convince her that her fiance has become an alcoholic idealist obsessed with finding gold in the jungle. Another takes her into the jungle to find her love. En route he falls in love with her. Later they learn that her fiance has been killed by the Jivaro headhunters. The other man, who went in before them is also attacked, but the woman's guide saves his life. This film did not use stock footage. Much of it was actually filmed in the jungle to provide the backgrounds. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fernando Lamas, Rhonda Fleming, (more)
- 1967
In this actioner, a group of islanders begin claiming ownership of a load of nitroglycerin that has washed up on their beach. The chemical's owner, anxious for its return, threatens to blow up the island. Unbeknownst to him, an island hero sneaks off the island and head to nearby Hong Kong where he asks an American for help. He agrees and enlists the aid of two martial artists to overcome the evil owner of the explosive. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Palance, Fernando Lamas, (more)
- 1969
Man of the People was first telecast as an episode of the weekly, 90-minute TV adventure series Name of the Game. Series regulars Gene Barry, Robert Stack and Tony Franciosa relinquish the spotlight to guest star Vera Miles, who plays journalist Hilary Vanderman. Jilted by "populist" tycoon Cesar Rodriguez (Fernando Lamas), Hilary thirsts for revenge. She plans to publish a series of articles exposing the popular Rodriguez as a fraud, using his Mexican heritage to hornswoggle his own people. Robert Alda, Jackie Coogan and James Gregory costar, while Gary "Radar" Burghoff pops up in a microscopic supporting role. Man of the People originally aired March 6, 1970. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1970
A microfilmed list of undercover narcotics agents has been stolen and divided into two halves, with each half in the possession of a different drug kingpin. Though bitter enemies, Ramon (Fernando Lamas) and Arturo Sandoval (Percy Rodriguez) are poised to forget their differences so that the microfilm can be reassembled. To prevent this truce and recover the film, the IMF cooks up an elaborate ruse involving a stamp collection, a cache of rare coins, and a specially trained terrier named Chico. Originally telecast on January 25, 1970, "Chico" was written by Ken Pettus. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Graves, Leonard Nimoy, (more)
- 1968
Unable to recover valuable documents concerning America's missile system, the IMF must resort to a contingency plan. In order to convince enemy agents that the documents are worthless, Phelps and his cohorts work hand in glove with Susan Buchanan (Lee Grant), the wife of an American diplomat. Mrs. Buchanan's mission: To lure playboy-spy Roger Toland (Fernando Lamas) into a highly compromising situation. Originally broadcast on December 1, 1968, "The Diplomat" was written by Jerry Ludwig. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Graves, Barbara Bain, (more)
While bound for London from New York, the occupants of a 747 are terrorized by a mad bomber. The jet's pilot (Robert Stack) and several brave passengers must thwart the plot. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- 1977
The fourth of the feature-length Quincy, M.E. episodes produced for the NBC Sunday Mystery Movie anthology takes place on the Fourth of July, as medical examiner Quincy (Jack Klugman) is relaxing on the beach with the girlfriend Lee (Lynette Mettey). Quincy's idyll is cut short when a seriously injured swimmer washes onto the shore. During the subsequent lab examination, Quincy discovers that the swimmer had been poisoned by a fish--one that is usually found thousands of miles away, in warmer waters. Convinced that the swimmer was the victim of foul play, Quincy launches an investigation which leads him to a multimillion-dollar jewel robbery and a conspiracy spreading across two different countries. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1951
Rich, Young and Pretty succinctly describes Jane Powell, the heroine of this frothy MGM musical. Vacationing in Paris with her father, Jim Stauton Rogers (Wendell Corey) -- a cattle baron-turned-politician, Elizabeth Rogers (Powell) falls in love with handsome Andre Milan (Vic Damone, in his film debut). She also learns to her surprise that her Gallic mother, Marie (Danielle Darrieux), is not dead as she's been led to believe, but very much alive and very much involved with suave South American Paul Sarnac (Fernando Lamas). The plot is merely there to provide breathing space for the film's ten -- count 'em, ten -- musical numbers. If Rich, Young and Pretty resembles a Deanna Durbin picture at times, it may because it was produced by Durbin's discoverer, Joseph Pasternak. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Powell, Danielle Darrieux, (more)
- 1954
1954's Rose Marie is the third film version of the 1924 Otto Harbach-Oscar Hammerstein-Rudolph Frinl operetta of the same name. Though not a completely faithful adaptation, this version is closer to the original than the (admittedly enjoyable) Nelson Eddy-Jeanette MacDonald version of 1936. Ann Blyth stars as Rose Marie Lemaitre, a hoydenish French-Canadian lass who is "tamed" by cheerful mountie Mike Malone (Howard Keel). At first, Mike is only interested in using Rose Marie to capture her sweetheart, renegade trapper Duval (Fernando Lamas), but eventually he falls in love with her, and she with him. Counterpointing the romantic main plot are the comic antics of Bert Lahr, who elucidates his sorry lot in life with the song "I'm the Mountie Who Never Gets His Man." The original Rudy Friml score is well in evidence, along with several new Friml compositions and a few extra tunes penned by Georgie Stoll and Herbert Baker. There's also a remarkable "Indian sacrifice" production number spotlighting a young Rita Moreno. Original Cinemascope prints of Rose Marie included a nine-minute prologue, wherein conductor Alfred Wallenstein led the MGM orchestra in a rendition of "Poet and Peasant Overture" (this was evidently inspired by the similar symphonic prologue which opened 20th Century Fox's How to Marry a Millionaire). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Blyth, Howard Keel, (more)
- 1979
Lee Cantrell (Joe Penny) is a half-Asian, half-Anglo assistant district attorney in San Francisco. By day he helps to prosecute criminals through the justice system, but at night he straps on his samurai sword and does battle with the underworld in his own way. His main enemy is a power-crazed businessman who has built an "earthquake machine" with which he intends to destroy San Francisco. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide
- 1953
Filmed in 3-D, Sangaree is a satisfactory swashbuckler adapted from a novel by Frank G. Slaughter. Fernando Lamas portrays the son of an 18th century slave whose fortunes take a radical turn when he inherits a huge cotton plantation in the American colonies. Arlene Dahl (later Mrs. Fernando Lamas) is the haughty aristocrat whom the rough-hewn Lamas tames, while Francis L. Sullivan is a pirate chieftain who plans to sack Lamas' property. Best unintentional laugh: Two different villains, in two separate scenes, say "I've waited this long...I can wait a little longer." Sangaree enjoyed its widest distribution when released "flat," thereby rendering pointless the various 3-D stunt effects. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fernando Lamas, Arlene Dahl, (more)
- 1943
Stella is based on the popular novel by Cesar Duyan. Argentine film favorite Zully Moreno plays the orphaned daughter of a famed explorer, who goes to work as the secretary of her wealthy uncle (Florinda Ferrario). She soon becomes aware that her cousins have been depleting her uncle's financial resources, but she can do nothing to prevent it. If she blows the whistle on the cousins, she'll lose her job, which is the only source of revenue for herself and her crippled younger sister (Stella Rio). How she handles this dilemma and finds lasting happiness and contentment is elucidated in the final two reels. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Zully Moreno, Florinda Ferrario, (more)
- 1950
Filmed in Argentina, Republic's The Avengers stars John Carroll as a handsome adventurer known as Don Careless. Our Hero hopes to save heroine Maria Moreno (Adele Mara) from a forced marriage to a ruthless revolutionary (Roberto Airaldi). Both Carroll and supporting actor Vincente Padula play dual roles, for reasons that the film makes clear (even though the official studio resumé does not). Billed tenth, Fernando Lamas is given "and introducing" billing in the credits, and never mind that he'd been in films since 1942. The Avengers is based on a novel by Rex Beach. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Carroll, Adele Mara, (more)
