Edward Byrnes Movies

In this gentle, non-melodramatic drama, an elderly, wealthy widow will not leave her apartment even after her building is slated to be converted into a dormitory by the university that purchased it. She refuses to leave because she is convinced that her son, who disappeared 27 years before after being expelled from the college, will comeback. The university lets her stay and she becomes the house "Nana" for the students that live there. When an ex-Marine moves in, the woman is sure that he is her grandson as he has the same name as her son. She begins helping the young man with his personal and academic life. Just before his father is to arrive for a visit, the woman dies. She never knows that the boy is not her grandson. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Anthony Perkins stars as troubled baseball great Jimmy Piersall in Fear Strikes Out. Based on Piersall's shattering tell-all autobiography, the film traces Jimmy's ascent from the sandlots of Waterbury, CT, to the Boston Red Sox, with his domineering father (Karl Malden) pushing the boy beyond all reasonable limits. Unable to withstand the pressure, Piersall suffers a nervous breakdown and is confined to a mental institution. Through a long period of therapy, Jimmy realizes that he has excelled in baseball not for his own gratification but to please his father. This film was preceded by a 1956 TV version starring Tab Hunter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

James Garner stars as WWII hero Major William Darby in this characteristically gusty William Wellman combat film. Darby organizes a highly-trained group of rangers, to be deployed in behind-the-lines activities in Italy and Northern Africa. The first portion of the film details the training, with time out for a few comic and romantic interludes; the second part shows Darby's Rangers in full, ferocious action. In addition to Garner, Warner Bros. used Darby's Rangers to spotlight another of its TV stars, Edd "Kookie" Byrnes; Bill Wellman Jr. also shows up in the supporting role of Eli Clatworthy. The film was adapted from the book by Major James Altieri. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Marjorie Morgenstern (Natalie Wood) is an 18-year-old, middle-class, Jewish girl from New York who wants nothing more than to be an actress, despite the hopes and wishes of her parents (Everett Sloane and Claire Trevor) that she graduate from college, marry, and settle down to have a family. At the urging of her more worldly friend Marsha Zelenko (Carolyn Jones), she takes a job at an upstate camp, and, one night when sneaking onto the grounds of a neighboring resort, meets and falls wildly in love with the entertainment director, Noel Airman (Gene Kelly). A Lothario with a gift of song as well as dance, Airman romances Marjorie and tries to teach her something of theater, suggesting that she change her name to Marjorie Morningstar, which she does. He intends to enjoy her company for the summer, until her aging uncle Samson (Ed Wynn), who is also working at the resort, tells him of the family's concerns for the girl. Noel and Marjorie end up linked romantically, despite their best efforts to stay away from each other. Marjorie gives up a potential romance with a slightly older, successful doctor (Martin Balsam) and resists the honest entreaties of Airman's assistant, Wally Wronken (Martin Milner), and tries to get Airman to straighten up and fly right; she can't get her own acting career off the ground, but she owns Airman's heart. Instead of biding his time at writing a musical that he's been working at for four years, and spending his summers working in the Catskills, Noel tries to work in the advertising world -- he also finds himself just as troubled by the stable family life and religious life that Marjorie comes from as he is attracted to her personally. He is also bitterly disturbed by the fact that his one-time assistant Wally Wronken is now a successful Broadway playwright, the darling of critics and audiences, with backers eager to sign checks to produce his work. Unable to pursue a life in business, or remain faithful to Marjorie, he reaches a crisis point from which only she can rescue him -- together they try to build a life and he tries to finish his long-gestating masterpiece, which proves a disaster when it gets to Broadway. Noel abandons Marjorie, and when she goes to find him, Wally warns her off, explaining that Noel has to return to a place where he can feel successful, like the Catskills resort where they met, where he can be the big fish in the tiny pond. Her marriage over and her girlish ideals behind her, she sees Noel back in his element, wowing young acting students with his skills, and finally turns to the one man who has loved her for precisely who she is all along, Wally. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Lt. (jg) Ken Braden (James Garner) is a US Navy frogman and underwater demolitions expert who is assigned to a vital mission, and to a submarine captained by Commander Stevenson Edmond O'Brien. But Stevenson is a CO who may have seen too many men die -- the two immediately come into conflict over Braden's presence on the boat and his mission, a top secret foray into Japanese waters that jeopardizes the boat. The captain, in his strict adherence to regulations, makes it as difficult as possible for Braden to carry out his assignment, and Braden doesn't make matters easier between them by speaking his mind. And the crew's low morale only makes matters worse as the voyage progresses and the dangers around them mount. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Bart (Jack Kelly) is framed for crimes he didn't commit by sadistic sheriff Horace Hadley (Edgar Buchanan) and his equally odious deputy Jones (played by future Oscar winner George Kennedy). The two crooked lawmen specialize in hunting down and murdering innocent men, then claiming that their victims are outlaws in order to collect the reward. In his efforts to expose Hadley and Jones' racket, Bart turns bounty hunter and solicits the aid of several familiar Warner Bros. TV-series stars--who prove to be no help whatsoever. Appearing in cameo roles are Clint Walker from Cheyenne, Will Hutchins from Sugarfoot, John Russell and Peter Brown from Lawman, and Edd "Kookie" Byrnes from 77 Sunset Strip (a title given a cute "westernization" in the context of the story). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Career criminal Paul Perry (Edd Byrnes) has earned a measure of fame for his daring escapes from various jails and prisons. But it looks like Perry's luck has run out when he sentenced to serve a 15-year sentence in a maximum-security prison farm, where head guard Captain Tollman (Stephen McNally) is determined to keep Perry behind bars for keeps. Undaunted, Perry hatches a "foolproof" escape plan with an unlikely accomplice: an old "lifer" named Doc (Robert Keith), who works in the prison infirmary...and also prepares the coffin whenever an inmate dies. This literally claustrophobic episode was written by John Resko, a former death-row inmate who managed to parlay his last-minute reprieve into a lengthy literary career upon his release from Sing Sing in 1949. "Final Escape" was remade as an episode for the 1985 revival of Alfred Hitchcock Presents -- with actress Season Hubley in the Edd Byrnes role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gilbert Roland and Edd "Kookie" Byrnes star in this spaghetti western. Bounty hunter George Hilton is dispatched to track down a wily criminal. Hilton decides to wait until the crook leads him to a fortune in buried gold; at that point, the so-called hero intends to stake his own claim. Naturally, not everything works out as planned. Go Kill & Come Back features a Francesco De Masi musical score. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When Confederate Army regulars take to robbery and murder, a bounty hunter masquerades as a Southern sympathizer to join the renegades. Led by Colonel Blake (Guy Madison), the group terrorizes the border between Texas and Mexico, striking fear into the hearts of people in both countries. Stuart (Ed Byrnes) risks his life by joining up with the gang in order to bring the killers to justice and collect on the reward money in this violent spaghetti western ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

One Life to Life regular Denise Alexander briefly left her day job to star in the late-night videotaped spine tingler A Gift of Terror. Denise plays a woman given to strange, foreboding visions of death. As her friends begin dropping like flies, the girl realizes that the gift of prophecy is no gift at all. This point is driven home (several times, in fact) when Denise begins conjuring up premonitions of her own demise. Gift of Terror was a 1973 entry in the ABC anthology Wide World Mystery. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Stardust was the sequel to That'll be the Day, a 1973 film à clef about the rise of a Beatles-like rock group. Real-life rock star David Essex plays singer Jim Maclaine (read: John Lennon), whose sudden rise to fame has enriched him beyond his wildest dreams. His perspective and sense of values skewered by sex, drugs, and booze, Maclaine becomes little more than a singing cipher, outwardly successful but hollow inside. Ironically, Keith Moon of the Who, whose own life paralleled the fictional Maclaine's in many ways, appears in a supporting role. Dave Edmunds, who appears in as Alex, co-wrote the film's pulsating musical score with Lord David Puttnam (the film's producer). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Where the Action Is stars Edd Byrnes as a high-stakes gambler who gets wind of a big game in a faraway resort. Once he's arrived, Byrnes discovers that the stakes are the highest ever--his own life. Swedish actress Ingrid Pitt is on hand as the enigmatic leading lady. Where the Action Is was videotaped in England and Europe with a cast of TV regulars from both sides of the Channel. This 75-minute suspenser was first telecast in the US on the ABC late-night anthology Wide World Mystery. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide