Jules Levy Movies
The producer of such popular television Western series as The Rifleman and The Big Valley, Jules Levy alternated frequently and seamlessly between work in television and film. Born in Los Angeles in February of 1923, Levy was raised in Beverly Hills and would later join the Army Air Force to fight in World War II. It was while serving under Ronald Reagan at Culver City's Hal Roach Studios that Levy would make the acquaintance of Arthur Gardner and Arnold Laven, and the trio would later move on to form a production company. Serving in various producer capacities from the early '40s to the mid-'70s, Levy was involved with such films as The Boys From Syracuse and the 1967 Elvis musical Clambake. Though he would produce over 30 films in the course of his career, it was Levy's involvement in The Rifleman and The Big Valley for which he would be remembered most. In late May of 2003, Jules Levy died in his Los Angeles home following an extended illness. He was 80. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide- 1982
- PG
In this often comical adventure, a retired stunt man goes to Africa to participate in a transcontinental road rally in hopes of winning a fabulous prize. Also involved is a photo-journalist for Playboy Magazine who has been assigned to accompany him. It is a dangerous 3,000 kilometer car race and some of the stunt man's rivals are desperate to win; with desperation comes danger. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Carradine, Stockard Channing, (more)
Having created the character of Gator McKlusky in 1973's White Lightning, Burt Reynolds reprises the role in the appropriately titled Gator. Once again, ex-convict McKluskey is strong-armed into helping the feds nab a dangerous criminal, who turns out to be an old high-school chum (Jerry Reed). He is aided and abetted by TV reporter Aggie Maybank (Lauren Hutton) and comedy-relief FBI agent Irving Greenfield (Jack Weston). Talk-show host Mike Douglas makes his film debut as a Jimmy Carter-style governor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Reynolds, Jack Weston, (more)
This offbeat John Wayne vehicle casts the Duke as Detective Jim Brannigan, an Irish-American detective at large in London. After the requisite culture-clash routines, it's down to business as Brannigan teams with Scotland Yard official Commander Swann (Richard Attenborough) to corral a crook who has absconded to England to avoid extradition. Judy Geeson co-stars as Jennifer Thatcher, a cute lady constable who spends most over her time fending off Brannigan's inbred chauvinism. Brannigan was co-written by Christopher Trumbo, the son of former blacklistee Dalton Trumbo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Richard Attenborough, (more)
Undoubtedly having second thoughts after turning down Dirty Harry, John Wayne showed up in 1974 in his own "maverick cop" adventure, McQ. Wayne, playing McQ, a veteran detective, turns in his badge when he's officially denied the opportunity of clearing the name of his late best friend, who has been posthumously accused of drug pushing. Investigating on his own, McQ becomes romantically involved with his friend's widow (Diana Muldaur), who unbeknownst to him is up to her neck in police corruption. Considering the usual flag-waving content of John Wayne's 1970s films, it is rather startling to discover that the real villains in McQ are a coterie of crooked cops! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Eddie Albert, (more)
When the police pick up Gator McKlusky (Burt Reynolds) for running moonshine, they agree to let him out of jail if he will help them capture the key figures in his moonshine operation. Since the suspected ring leader is the man who killed Gator's little brother, he agrees to help out the cops to get himself out of prison and get his revenge. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Reynolds, Jennifer Billingsley, (more)
While Raquel Welch was a household name and an international sex symbol through much of the 1960s'and 1970s, Hollywood didn't seem sure about what to do with her; this was one of her more unusual vehicles from this period, in which Welch plays K.C. Carr, a divorcee with two children who becomes romantically involved with Burt Henry (Kevin McCarthy). Burt is the owner of a roller derby team, the Kansas City Bombers, and convinces K.C. that a career on the rink might be just the thing for her. K.C. soon discovers that the sport is rougher than she imagined, and her teammate Jackie (Helena Kallianiotes) is convinced that K.C. is out to replace her as the Bombers' star attraction. But another member of the team, Horrible Hank Hopkins (Norman Alden), shows K.C. the ropes and stands up for her. When Hank gets traded to another team, K.C. has to learn to fend for herself against Jackie as well as Burt. Raquel Welch did all her own skating for this film; an accident while filming one of the derby sequences left her with a broken wrist that shut down production for six weeks. Legendary singer and songwriter Phil Ochs was tapped by the producers of Kansas City Bomber to write a theme song for the film; it wasn't used, though it was released as a single and appeared on the compilation CD The War is Over: The Best of Phil Ochs. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Raquel Welch, Kevin McCarthy, (more)
- 1972
- PG
The exciting world of rodeo provides the framework for this western saga that centers around a temperamental bronc rider who tries prove himself worthy of his wife, son, and his best friend's respect. He also wants to keep his freedom. Songs include: "Easy Made for Lovin," "My Special Day," "I'm a Rodeo Cowboy." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Coburn, Lois Nettleton, (more)
This infamously violent British Western stars Gene Hackman as Brandt Ruger, a wealthy rancher who goes away on a hunting trip with a group of friends. While he's gone, a thug named Frank Calder (Oliver Reed) kidnaps Melissa (Candice Bergen), Brandt's wife, under the mistaken impression that she's a schoolteacher and will be able to teach him to read. Despite being taken against her will, in time Melissa begins to develop feelings for Calder, who in his way cares for her more than her husband, who treats her like a possession. Melissa has fallen in love with Calder by the time Brandt returns. However, Brandt is enraged over the abduction of his wife, and sets out on a new hunting trip, with Calder and his men as his prey. Noted character actors G.D. Spradlin and L.Q. Jones round out the supporting cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Oliver Reed, Candice Bergen, (more)
The McKenzie Break is an unusual POW escape drama in that the would-be escapees are German prisoners, held in a Scottish camp. When a Luftwaffe pilot is murdered in the compound, British major Ian Hendrey investigates. He suspects that the killing is tied in with a complex escape plan, engineered by German commander Helmut Griem. Before the inevitable break, the prisoners form into the sort of separate factions and pressure groups that fomented the Nazi upheaval in Germany in the first place. Based on a novel by Sidney Shelley, The McKenzie Break was actually filmed in Ireland rather than Scotland. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brian Keith, Helmut Griem, (more)
- 1970
- PG
Singer Robert Goulet had already spent a season (1966-67) as a TV secret agent on Blue Light when he signed for the theatrical espionager Underground. Goulet plays an American spy who is disgraced during World War II for divulging the names of his fellow agents while under torture. To redeem himself, he joins a French resistance group called the Maquis and parachutes behind enemy lines. His mission is to kidnap a Nazi general and spirit him back to France. Arthur H. Nadel, director of Underground, is most-closely associated with the non-human endeavors of the Filmation cartoon studios. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Goulet, Daniele Gaubert, (more)
This light western comedy finds the lovely widow Laura Breckenridge (Angie Dickenson) offering a $20,000 reward for the return of some gold her late husband had stolen from the Denver mint. She seduces the virginal Sam (Burt Reynolds) into leading a team to retrieve the gold, now lying at the bottom of the Platte River. With the help of local blacksmith Jedidiah Hooker (Ossie Davis) and the inventor O.W. Bandy (Clint Walker), the trio agrees to go for the gold in order to receive the reward and restore the good name to the Breckenridge family. Meanwhile, the villains (Rick Davis and Del Reeves) trail the heroes in hopes of grabbing the gold for themselves. The good guys must break into the mint to put back the money, but they need to fool the wary watchman and superintendent (William Shallert). ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Reynolds, Clint Walker, (more)
For his third feature outing, director Sydney Pollack helmed this comedic western starring (Burt Lancaster) as fur trapper Joe Bass. While heading for the trading post for his pay after a successful hunting season, Bass runs into a band of Kiowa Indians, who offer to trade the educated slave Joseph (Ozzie Davis) for Bass's furs. Severely outnumbered, the uneducated Bass reluctantly agrees to the swap at gunpoint. Bass and Joseph then follow the Indians in hopes of retrieving the furs. Along the way, the Indians meet up with Jim Howie (Telly Savalas), who not only steals the furs from the Indians, but Joseph from Bass. From there, Jim and his mistress Kate (Shelley Winters) head for Mexico, a move that is fine with Joseph because slavery is outlawed there. But they may not make it south of the border, as the Indians have regrouped and are on their trail with plans to take back the furs. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Lancaster, Shelley Winters, (more)
Elvis Presley plays Scott Heyward, the son of a Texas oil millionaire in this thin storyline. Scott changes places with the poor but honest water-skiing instructor Tom Wilson (Will Hutchins) to find out if women love him for himself or his money. Tom goes to the posh penthouse previously occupied by Scott, and Scott takes over as the instructor. Scott's father Duster (James Gregory) blows a gasket when he finds out what his son is doing. Boat builder Sam Burton (Gary Merrill) talks Scott into driving his new boat in the big race. Elvis delivers 8 songs in one of the more lackluster vehicles of his 1960s film catalogue. A bevy of beauties, some exciting race scene, and glossy production all help this one across the finish line. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elvis Presley, Shelley Fabares, (more)
- 1965
Though written by Sam Peckinpah (he adapted the film from a novel by Hoffman Birney), the direction of The Glory Guys was entrusted to the competent but perfunctory Arnold Laven. Cavalry captain Demas Harrod (Tom Tryon) and his faithful scout Sol Rogers (Harve Presnell) are placed under the command of xenophobic general Frederick McCabe (Andrew Duggan), who hates Indians almost as much as his own men hate him. When not preparing to decimate every Native American in their path, Harrod and Rogers carry on a rivalry over the hand of pretty Lou (Senta Berger; another authentic Wild West type). The novelty of the film is that the Indians, rather than the cavalry, win the final battle. Despite a few bursts of cinematic creativity from Laven in the climactic scenes, it still would have been more interesting to see how Sam Peckinpah would have handled The Glory Guys. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Tryon, Harve Presnell, (more)
- 1962
The fifth and final season of the ABC western The Rifleman opens with one of its best-ever episodes, the two-part "Waste", directed by cult favorite Joseph H. Lewis (Terror in a Texas Town) and written by actor Robert Culp (I Spy), in which rancher Lucas McCain (Chuck Connors) and his son Mark (Johnny Crawford) conduct a desperate search for their friend Marshal Torrance (Paul Fix) in a hellish Mexican ghost town. The next episode introduces Patricia Blair in the role of Lou Mallory, an attractive red-headed sharpster who quickly gains control of the North Fork hotel and merrily begins buying up all the neighboring property--only to be stopped short by Lucas, who won't sell at any price. Lou Mallory was a replacement for the previous season's resident female lead Millie Scott (Joan Taylor), a more demure (and frankly less interesting) character. It was Ms. Blair's bravura work on The Rifleman that would land her the much longer gig as the wife of frontiersman Fess Parker in the NBC series Daniel Boone. In other episodes, Edward Platt, the future "chief" on Get Smart, plays a senator whom a gang of desperadoes target as the first man to be assassinated by Gatling gun; Sammy Davis Jr., who'd scored a hit in a guest-star stint the previous season, returns in a different role as a "fast gun" who turns out to be all brag, no fact; future film director Paul Mazursky appears as a rustler who adopts a Halloween disguise to pull off his perfidy; and in a tense episode undoubtedly inspired by the classic Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "Poison", it is up to young Mark to save his father from a deadly snake. The series' final episode, "Old Tony", shows how far The Rifleman has come since its first episode in 1958; Mark McCain, only 12 years old when the series started, is now squiring a toothsome young lady named Laurie, played by Karen Sue Trent. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chuck Connors, Johnny Crawford, (more)
- 1961
Although its ratings had steadily fallen since its all-time high in 4th place during Season One, the ABC western The Rifleman managed to be renewed for a fifth season--largely because it was still the network's seventh most-watched program. Just as he'd done at the beginning of season two, cult favorite Joseph H. Lewis held the directorial reins for the first offering of Season Four, "The Vaqueros", in which Lucas McCain (Chuck Connors) and his son Mark (Johnny Crawford) are captured by a notorious Mexican bandit, played by future Oscar winner Martin Landau. Other notable guest stars this season include John Ford stalwart Harry Carey Jr. in "The Journey Back", Kevin McCarthy of Invasion of the Body Snatchers fame as no less than Mark Twain in "The Shattered Idol", James Coburn and future "Grandma Walton" Ellen Corby in "The High Country", Lon Chaney Jr. in "Gunfire", Robert Culp in "The Man from Salinas", and the one and only Sammy Davis Jr. as a vengeful drifter in "Two Ounces of Tin." Also worth noting is the presence of director Richard Donner (he did the first of the Christopher Reeve Superman movies, among many other things), who helmed such third-season Riflemans as "Deadly Image", "The Debt", "Milly's Brother", and, best of all, "Outlaw's Shoes", in which an amnesiac Lucas McCain becomes convinced that he is a wanted felon. The good news was that The Rifleman's ratings did not drop during its fifth season. The bad news is that the ratings didn't get any higher. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chuck Connors, Johnny Crawford, (more)
- 1960
Hoping to halt the ratings decline suffered by the ABC western series The Rifleman towards the end of its second season, the series' producers made a handful of significant changes during Season Three. For one thing, the show was moved from its family 9PM Tuesday timeslot to 8:30 PM on the same night, thus avoiding the one-two punch of competing series Dobie Gillis and Alfred Hitchcock Presents (it was now seen opposite the second half of the hour-long NBC oater Laramie and the now-all-rerun Father Knows Best. Next, the incessant preachifying and moralizing of series protagonist Lucas McCain (Chuck Conners) was pared down to its barest minimum, usually reserving Lucas' words of wisdom to his son Mark (Johnny Crawford) to the closing scene of each episode, after 22 minutes' worth of solid action and adventure. Finally, a dash of feminine interest was added to the stew in the shapely form of Millie Scott (Joan Taylor), the feisty but gorgeous new storekeeper in North Fork ("Miss Milly" was first seen in the episode bearing that name, which originally aired November 15, 1960). Although Millie and Lucas get off on the wrong foot, the two later become close (but not too close) friends--and besides, what western series could do without the occasional "damsel in distress" plotline? Demonstrating the newer, "tougher" Lucas McCain, the season opener "Trail of Hate" finds the normally pacifist Lucas seeking revenge when his son Mark is victimized by bank robbers. Other highlights this season include "Seven", in which a gang of condemned murderers hold North Fork in thrall;"The Pitchman", with future Hawaii 5-0 producer Bob Sweeney as a glib lightning rod salesman; Richard Whorf, soon to direct dozens of episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies, plays a drunken artist who redeems himself when he sketches the image of a killer in "The Illustrator"; Buddy Hackett", cast as a villain (!) in one of the first-season episodes, returns as a dimwitted janitor who inadvertently becomes a "fast draw" in "The Clarence Bibs Story"; and the great Agnes Moorehead plays the title role in "Miss Birdie", the story of a peppery old spinster who gets it in her head to capture a notorious outlaw. Season Three is also distinguished by the series' first two-part episode "The Wyoming Story", in which Lucas goes undercover for the government to break up a gang of illegal arms dealers. Not long afterward, we are treated to the series' 100th episode, "Dark Day in North Fork", a harrowing story wherein a blinded Lucas faces a showdown with an old enemy. Finally, the episode "Assault" boasts the directorial talents of Ida Lupino, who'd honed her TV western skills on such classic series as Have Gun, Will Travel. And still later, the episode "The Queue" makes a courageous stand against blind racial prejudice. Unfortunately, the aforementioned "improvements" upon The Rifleman failed to do the trick ratingswise,with the series plummeting to 27th place--which, in all fairness, was largely due to the overall flagging of interest in TV westerns. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chuck Connors, Johnny Crawford, (more)
- 1959
John Carradine and Michael Landon guest star in this early episode of The Rifleman. The only one in town to own a shotgun, young Billy Mathis (Landon) becomes the obvious suspect when Hallager (Robert Bice) is shot in the back. Especially when Sheriff Torrance (Paul Fix) learns that the victim had refused young Billy to court his daughter Lucy (Sue Randall). But both the sheriff and Lucas McCain (Chuck Connors) remain unconvinced and the latter finally agrees to let traveling mind reader James Barrow McBride (Carradine) add his two cents. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Carradine
- 1959
In this episode of The Rifleman, Lucas McCain (Chuck Connors) finds himself in the odd position of having to defend an old nemesis, Oat Jackford (Bert Freed), when a hired killer (John Dehner) come gunning for him. Paul Fix co-stars in his recurrent role of Marshal Micah Torrance in this episode directed by series creator Sam Peckinpah. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Fix
- 1959
The Civil War is revisited in this taut episode of The Rifleman, which has a crippled Confederate soldier (Royal Dano) arriving at Lucas McCain's ranch at the same time as a visiting General Sheridan (Lawrence Dobkin). But the War is well over and Lucas (Chuck Connors), with Sheridan's assistance, manages to prevent further carnage. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Royal Dano
- 1959
With The Rifleman posting ABC's best ratings of the 1958-59 season, it was sure as shootin' that the popular western series would be brought back for a second season, and in the same Tuesday evening timeslot. The season opener is "The Patsy", directed by cult favorite Joseph H. Lewis, in which an outlaw band tries to take over the town of North Fork by setting up a "sucker" to bump off the town's principal protector, widowed rancher Lucas McCain (Chuck Connors). Next up, Buddy Hackett--yes, that Buddy Hackett)--appears as a tactiturn mountaineer thirsting for revenge against Lucas and Marshal Torrence (Paul Fix). 1950s film favorite Gloria DeHaven shows up in a later episode as the first of many damsels in distress requiring Luca's help. And in the superb episode "Ordeal", the bond between Lucas and his son Mark (Johnny Crawford) becomes stronger than ever as they struggle for survival under a merciless desert sun. In other season highlights, future TV and movie leading man James Franciscus is seen as the hero-worshipping son of an old bum who claims to have inherited Lucas' ranch; Sam Peckinpah makes an early foray into directing in an episode wherein a dance-hall girl hides her baby with Lucas to avoid the wrath of her unforgiving father; a pair of so-called detectives kidnap Mark and try to pass him off as the long-lost son of their wealthy client; Robert Culp of I Spy fame is seen as a young stablehand who becomes a marked man after killing a wanted gunslinger in a highly suspicious fashion; Don Grady, only a few months away from My Three Sons, is cast as an impulsive would-be murderer; and future director Paul Mazursky (Bob&Carol&Ted&Alice) plays a galoot named "Shorty" in the episode. Rated as America's fourth most popular series during its first season, The Rifleman slipped to 13th place during Season Two, a decline that its producers chalked up to the excessive preaching and sanctimonious of protagonist Lucas McCain--and the fact that there was no attractive female lead on the show. Both those problems would (hopefully) be rectified during the show's third year on the air. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chuck Connors, Johnny Crawford, (more)
- 1959
Done up to look much older than his tender years, Buddy Hackett guest stars in this unusually violent segment of The Rifleman. Hackett plays uncouth Daniel Malakie, arriving in town to bail out his three hell-raising sons. When he learns that one of the sons, Ben (Christopher Dark), mistakenly shot and killed brother Stump (John Durren), Malakie goes after the man he believes responsible. This fine episode of the superior series was helmed by future ace director Arthur Hiller. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buddy Hackett
- 1958
Created and written by Sam Peckinpah, the premiere episode of The Rifleman stars Chuck Connors and Johnny Crawford as Lucas and Mark McCain, father and 10-year-old son in search of settling down near North Fork, New Mexico. But when Lucas, a noted crack shot with a rifle, enters the local turkey shoot, he gets in the way of Jim Lewis (Leif Erickson), the local town czar, who has rigged the contest in favor of young Vernon Tippert (Dennis Hopper). All set to win the grand prize, Lucas is "persuaded" to throw the contest by Lewis, who uses little Mark as a bargaining tool. Sidney Blackmer and R.G. Armstrong also star in this fine television western, which premiered on ABC September 30, 1958. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1958
No less than Sam Peckinpah was the writer of The Rifleman's deubt episode, in which widower Lucas McCain (Chuck Connors) and his son Mark (Johnny Crawford) arrive in North Fork in hopes of owning and maintaining their own ranch. Though essentially a man of peace, Lucas is forced to show off his astonishing skill with a rifle to win a turkey shoot in order to afford the down payment on the ranch--and in so doing he earns the disdain of the first in a long line of blackhearted villains who will learn the hard way that Mr. McCain is not a man to be trifled with (Incidentally, that callow bully who picks on the McCain in an early scene is Dennis Hopper! In later episodes, a pre-Bonanza Michael Landon plays a wounded bank robber who forces Lucas to hide him from the law; Paul Fix makes his first series appearance as Micah Torrence, here presented as a once-famous lawman turned drunken bum (though he'd pull himself together suffiently to become North Fork's marshal soon enough!); an insane judge (George Macready) plots to kill Mark after his own son is turned over to the local hangman by Lucas; Claude Akins appears a bank guard with some unfortunate "friends"; a filthy-rich and despicably cruel Frenchman (played by the doggedly non-French Akim Tamiroff) will stop at nothing to gain control of the McCain ranch; future Man From UNCLE Robert Vaughn is seen as a rule-bound apprentice marshal whose poor eyesight may prove to be his undoing; Vaughn's future Magnificent Seven costar James Coburn shows up as a crooked ranch foreman; spaghetti-western headliner Lee Van Cleef is menace personified as an ex-convict who comes to North Fork a-gunnin' for Marshal Torrance and John Carradine chews the scenery as a portrait photographer who was once the sadistic overseer of a Civil War prison camp (this episode is one of the few westerns to use a photo as a key piece of evidence in a murder trial!). Auterists should note that one of the first season's best episodes, "Shivaree", was directed by the underrated and brilliant Joseph H. Lewis (Terror in a Texas Town). And TV trivia buffs will like the episode titled The Indian, which serves as the pilot for the weekly western series Law of the Plainsman, starring Michael Ansara as Native American federal marshal Sam Buckhart. Originally telecast on Wednesday at 9 PM EST, Season One of The Rifleman easily outrated its rival network series The George Burns Show and The Arthur Godfrey Show, end up as America's fourth highest-rated series (and ABC's number one attraction!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chuck Connors, Johnny Crawford, (more)
- 1958
Ready to settle into their newly purchased homestead, Lucas McCain (Chuck Connors) and his son Mark (Johnny Crawford) are interrupted by Sam Montgomery (Lee Farr) and Billy Lehi (Steve Rowlands), a couple of thugs in the employ of cattle baron Oat Jackford. The latter has been using the spread as grazing grounds for his new Hereford stock but Lucas refuses to sell out and the henchmen burn the place down. Leaving Mark behind, McCain rides out to confront Jackford (Harold J. Stone). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
