Steve Mitchell Movies

Invited to be the guest of honor at a military academy, Leatherneck discovers that the institution is under the command of Cobra. Worse still, the head of the academy is a fugitive criminal named McCann -- who, as a raw Marine grunt, had been trained by Leatherneck at Parris Island. Seeking revenge for being booted from the service, Leatherneck is determined to use his own military strategy to destroy his former mentor. Written by Steve Mitchell and Barbara Petty, "The Rotten Egg" originally aired in America on October 7, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A fierce battle between the Cobras and the Joes has devastating consequences on a family of innocent bystanders. Though his loved ones are safe, Charles Fairmont is enraged over the destruction of his home. Invading the Joes' base in search of revenge, Fairmont finds an unexpected ally in the form of Lady Jaye, who feels personally responsible for the man's plight. Written by Steve Mitchell and Barbara Petty, "Eye for an Eye" made its American TV debut on November 8, 1985. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Directed by Robert Duvall -- though not his directorial debut, as has sometimes been reported -- Angelo My Love is a semidocumentary study of gypsy life in New York. Real-life gypsy lad Angelo Evans engagingly plays himself: a charming street hustler and con artist. The son of a fortune teller, Angelo is the one truly blessed with a "sixth sense"-about himself, his family and his future. Personally financed by Duvall (whose brothers appear in one delightful sequence), Angelo My Love is a mesmerizing glimpse at a lifestyle often misunderstood and misrepresented by the American mainstream. Be warned, however: the people depicted herein don't mince their words, which is why the film bears an R rating. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Officers Jim Reed (Kent McCord) and Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) spend most of this episode endeavoring to track down and clean up a particularly nasty stolen-car ring. Elsewhere, the two cops are summoned to a liquor store that has been robbed. And finally, there's a rescue mission in store for Jim and Pete's, as they attempt to extricate a youngster who has gotten himself trapped in a refrigerator. Featured in the supporting cast as Tex is versatile voiceover artist Walker Edmiston, best remembered by fans of Sid and Marty Krofft as the intellectual space alien Enik in Land of the Lost. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This episode runs the gamut from comedy to tragedy for LAPD mobile officers Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) and Jim Reed (Kent McCord). On the lighter side, the two cops break up a loud and nasty argument between a pair of "peace and love" cultists. Thing take a grimmer turn when the officers answer a call for help from a hysterical babysitter, and arrive on the scene of a calamitous swimming-pool accident. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Henry Hathaway's film is based on a character from Harold Robbins' The Carpetbaggers, who, in turn, based it on cowboy actor Ken Maynard. Set in the West of the 1890s, the film opens with the torture and murder of the parents of Max Sand (Steve McQueen) by a trio of gunslingers seemingly motivated by their hostility toward the mixed nature of the marriage, since the wife is a Native American. Swearing revenge, the young cowhand enlists the help of itinerant gunsmith Jonas Cord Brian Keith, who teaches him how to shoot while counseling against revenge. Nonetheless, Sand doggedly scours one town after the other before finally running up against one of the murderers, Jesse Coe (Martin Landau). He finally kills Coe in a vicious knife fight, but is severely wounded himself and has to be nursed back to health by Neesa (Janet Margolin), a young Kiowa woman. He next heads for Louisiana where another of the murderous trio, Bill Bowdre (Arthur Kennedy), is serving a prison sentence in a remote swamp. In order to get close to the man, Sand stages a robbery, and is soon among the prison inmates. This was the only film on which McQueen worked with Landau, the only other person admitted to the Actor's Studio out of thousands of applicants in 1957. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide

This conventional wartime drama is comprised of an inexplicable mix of moods and genres as a U.S. submarine in World War II heads out to the island of Bikini in the South Pacific to destroy the remains of a sunken sister ship. The ruined ship has some delicate radar equipment on board that cannot fall into enemy hands. Meanwhile, the Japanese naval command is sending out its ships as control over the Pacific is at issue. This builds up into a major sea-going confrontation as the forces on each side are strengthened and expanded. Incongruously mixed in with the growing tension is a love story between Lt. Morgan Hayes (Tab Hunter) and the voluptuous Reiko (Eva Six). Frankie Avalon, as one of the seamen, sings a few songs, and others contributing to the action are Jim Backus as a chief bosun's mate, and Gary Crosby as another seaman. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Flamboyant mob chief Eddie Candell (Ron Randell), who was framed for murder by jealous associate Andy Damon (Anthony Caruso), makes a break while on his way to the death house. Fleeing across the desert, he suddenly finds himself on an atomic testing range, just as an experimental bomb goes off. Instead of being killed instantly, Eddie is bombarded by radiation from Cobalt Isotope X, a newly discovered element that leaves him alive but transformed -- reacting to the radiation and the steel of the handcuffs on his wrists, his body takes on the hardness of steel and can absorb the metal on contact, including any bullets that might be fired at him. In addition to making him all but indestructible, the mutation gives Eddie the strength of ten men, which he uses to tear his way through the ranks of his former associates, terrorizing the woman (Debra Paget) who betrayed him and crushing the life out of anyone who gets in his way as he tries to get to Damon. However, his psyche has been affected as well; he was already consumed by a desire for revenge, but he slowly loses any ability to perceive pleasure or compassion as he slowly transforms into a kind of living metal and the body count around him rises. Only Carla Angelo (Elaine Stewart), his girlfriend and also a genuinely "nice" girl, can reach him, and she must decide whether to help to try and save him or to destroy him. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Directed by series star George Reeves, this wild-and-woolly spoof of old time movie serials begins when a mysterious masked man (Michael Fox) shows up at the "Daily Planet" to inform Clark (Reeves), Lois (Noel Neill), Jimmy (Jack Larson) and Perry White (John Hamilton) that their days are numbered. The masked figure turns out to be a criminal who has a vendetta against the "Planet" staff, and who has adopted a disguise to whet their curiosity and lure them into an elaborate trap. As the episode hurtles to its climax, Clark is about to be immersed in a vat of boiling acid, Perry has been strapped to a whirring buzz-saw, Jimmy is locked in a car without brakes that is careening down a treacherous mountain road, and Lois is tied to the railroad tracks as a speeding locomotive bears down upon her! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cliff Brandon (Victor Mature) is a US pilot serving in China in 1943, flying supplies to Allied soldiers in Burma. He's the best at what he does in the air, but he's also emotionally cut off from everyone around him, disillusioned by the loss of men in his command during nearly two years of war. When he's not in the air on a mission, or riding his new men (including Stuart Whitman, Tige Andrews and Johnny Desmond) to learn their jobs as fast as they can so they can survive, he's usually either passed out drunk or getting there on the ground. One night, while staggering out of his usual watering hole, he chances to meet an elderly Chinese man and, after a barely understood conversation, hands him a pile of money. When Cliff awakens the next day, he discovers that he's bought three months of housekeeping service from the man's daughter, Shu-Jen (Li Li Hua). At first he's at a loss over what to do about her -- he would gladly send her back to her father, until he learns from local missionary Father Cairns (Ward Bond) that Shu-Jen (whose name means "precious jewel") is the sole supporter of her family; and that if he sends her back, they'll return his money as a matter of honor, and have to sell her services as a housekeeper again; and that the next time that may be to someone who is a lot less honorable than Cliff, and could destroy the rest of the girl's life. So they're stuck with each other, and in the course of three months together Cliff discovers through Shu-Jen a joyous side to life that he'd forgotten -- his men even notice that he smiles occasionally, and he actually seems like a human being, enough so that Cliff soon wants more out of life than just day-to-day survival; he wants a life with Shu-Jen. And despite her initial misgivings, they decide to marry. But duty constantly beckons to Cliff, especially when he's moved to a forward base to support a new Allied offensive -- he isn't there for the birth of their child, but he is able to bring them both to him, only to find that the war is now on both their doorsteps. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

In this thriller, a middle-aged husband is insanely jealous of his trophy wife, a showgirl. The young bride soon becomes romantically involved with one of her husband's employees. Together they conspire to kill the old goat. The treacherous wife then leaves her late husband's estate to his twin brother, an ex-con recently released from prison. In an interesting plot twist, it is discovered that the lovers actually murdered the twin brother, not the husband. The husband then begins exacting his revenge. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The Killing was director Stanley Kubrick's first major film effort -- though, like Kubrick's earlier films, it was economically produced with an inexpensive cast. In a variation of his Asphalt Jungle role, Sterling Hayden plays veteran criminal Johnny Clay, planning one last big heist before settling down to a respectable marriage with Fay (Colleen Gray). Teaming with several cohorts, Johnny masterminds a racetrack robbery. The basic flaw is that all the crooks involved are losers and small-timers who find themselves in way over their heads despite their supposed cleverness. None of the participants is more pathetic than George Peatty (Elisha Cook Jr.), who is goaded into the robbery by his covetous and far-from-faithful wife (Marie Windsor). As in a Greek tragedy, Johnny's best-laid schemes go awry. Prominently featured in the cast of The Killing are offbeat character actors Tim Carey and Joe Turkel, who'd show up with equally showy roles in future Kubrick productions. The Killing is based on the novel Clean Break by Lionel White. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ben Stride (Randolph Scott, in a role originally slated for John Wayne) trudges stoically through the West, hunting down the seven men responsible for the murder of his wife in a Wells Fargo station holdup. As the film opens, we see him dispatching two of the miscreants during a driving rainstorm. Though the victims are deserving of their fate, the script is careful to detail the moral deterioration of Scott, who'd quit his sheriff's job to go on this unauthorized death hunt. Also turning up is Bill Master (Lee Marvin), not one of the bandits per se but actually a villain from Stride's past who happens upon the situation and sees a chance to make off with some loot. This film marked one of the few Randolph Scott/Budd Boetticher collaborations not released by Columbia Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide