Terrell O. Morse Movies

In this crime drama, a Vietnam vet goes to his California hometown and discovers that two Mexicans have murdered his brother, the chief stockholder in a successful racetrack, during a robbery. The vet begins investigating and discovers that the theft was a cover-up for the killing and that another shareholder is behind it all. The vet then engineers a confession from the culprit. Unfortunately, the shareholder is then found dead. Enlisting the aid of an ex-lover, the vet resumes his investigation and soon finds the mastermind, whom he kills during a fight. Later the vet, being the only remaining shareholder, takes over the track. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A murder investigation uncovers a plot that could destroy the world as we know it in this thriller. When a scientist doing research on nuclear weapons is murdered during a hospital stay, federal investigator Dave Pomeroy (Howard Duff) is called in to find out who killed him and why. With the help of Dr. Paula Stevens (Linda Cristal), the late scientist's assistant, Pomeroy learns that the scientist fell victim to a group of communist renegades whose members include two brilliant but unstable weapons experts, August Best (Nehemiah Persoff) and Myra Pryor (Anne Jeffreys). Pomeroy discovers that Best and Pryor have constructed an atomic bomb of their own -- and that they're threatening to use it to start World War III, forcing the detective to take swift action to prevent worldwide devastation. Panic in the City also features Dennis Hopper in the small role of Goff, just a year before Easy Rider would make him a star. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This exploitation crime drama offers a fictionalized account of John Dillinger just before he became known as one of the most ruthless mobsters of the 1930s. The tale begins as Dillinger and his girlfriend try to rob her daddy's safe and get caught red-handed. Dillinger takes the fall and goes to the joint where he encounters some of America's most infamous gangsters including Pretty Boy Floyd and Baby Face Nelson. Dillinger helps them all escape and together they become some of the most fearsome criminals ever. Because he is considered Public Enemy No. 1, Dillinger decides to undergo a total face transformation. Following the operation, he kills the surgeon, who was trying to force himself on Dillinger's moll. Later, he wrongs her and this ultimately leads to tragedy for him and for her. Keep an eye out for background people dressed in 1960s clothing, quite an anomaly for a film set in the '30s. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Spun from Daniel DeFoe's tale of the titular character, this sci-fi story involves a spaceship commander, Chris Draper (Paul Mantee) in a similar situation to the original Robinson Crusoe -- but rather than being stranded on an island, our hero is on a hostile planet. Draper, Colonel Dan McReady (Adam West), and a test monkey look as if they are going to collide with a meteor. Draper and the chimp are able to eject themselves from the vessel, but McReady is not so lucky. The two survivors safely land on Mars and figure out how to breathe, drink, and eat on the inhospitable planet. After some time, Draper crosses paths with a human, Friday, who has recently escaped slavery on an alien planet. As the two find a means of communication, they become friends. They soon work together to survive the incredible odds, including an alien attack and meteorological phenomena. Filmed on location in California's Death Valley, this impressive feature owes much to cinematographer Winton C. Hoch and special effects master Lawrence W. Butler. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

In this comedy drama, two troubled college freshmen find themselves united by their mutual family woes and so decide to spend the summer together in a beachhouse belonging to the boy's mother. They are platonic friends until the girl gets in trouble during a sailing accident and is rescued by a handsome Coast Guardsman who finds the pretty lass irresistible and starts showing up regularly at the beachhouse with his friends. Wild parties ensue and great fun is had until the boy's mom suddenly appears. Seeing that her son is cohabitating with a woman, she immediately makes lurid assumptions, the result of which makes the two mixed-up kids realize that they have somehow fallen in love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this conventional drama about a killer on the loose, the usual psychological interplay of a disturbed mind and the killer's potential victims is emphasized. Jamie (Steven Marlo) is running away from a murder he just committed, apparently unable to control his homicidal urges once they arise. Ann and Benjie (Luana Patten and Tom Selden) are the young couple who pick up Jamie while they themselves are running away from the police. Their reasons are hardly criminal, they believe the police will try to stop them from getting married. As the association with Jamie continues, the young couple begin to suspect he might be even more dangerous than the police they are trying to evade. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Dave Brewster (Adam Williams) arrives to take his new job as an electronics technician at a top-secret Air Force base in California. With him are his wife Anne (Peggy Webber) and their two children, Bud (Mikel Ray) and Ken (Johnny Crawford), who are all apprehensive about this sudden transplant, as well as the spartan existence that all of the families live under. No sooner do they arrive, however, then Bud and Ken see a strange light in the sky pointing to the beach, and soon after that seem to be receiving increasingly powerful -- and detailed -- telepathic communications from an unseen source. The boys are drawn, along with the children from the other families, to a lonely cave near the beach, where an alien presence, in the form of a huge (and ever-growing) brain, has hidden itself. At first, it uses the children to try and persuade the more reasonable of the parents that their project -- a missile called The Thunderer, which will place a hydrogen bomb in orbit, capable of being used on any target in the event the United States is threatened -- is too dangerous to complete. But the parents aren't prepared to listen, either because they don't understand the danger, or because they genuinely believe in the conduct of the Cold War, as in the case of Hank Johnson (Jackie Coogan); or because they're too angry and belligerent, like Joe Gamble (Russell Johnson), who is at a dead-end in his job and has taken to alcoholism and abusing his wife (Jean Engstrom) and stepson (Johnny Washbrook). As the launch approaches and the children's entreaties are ignored, the alien takes more direct action with their help, and they soon find a potential ally in in Dr. Wahrman (Raymond Bailey), the inventor of The Thunderer, who is also the only man on the project smart enough to realize that he may not have all the answers. But the military head of the project (Richard Shannon) is stil prepared to launch The Thunderer, regardless of its inventor's doubts. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Filmed in 1954 as Gojira, this grandaddy of all Japanese giant-reptile epics was picked up for American distribution two years later, at which time several newly filmed inserts, featuring Raymond Burr as reporter Steve Martin, were rabetted into the original footage. In both the Japanese and American versions of Godzilla, the story is basically the same: a 400-foot amphibious monster, brought back to life by underwater nuclear testing, goes on a rampage in a tinker-toy Tokyo. An eccentric scientist (Takashi Shimura) does his best to destroy the beast with his heretofore discredited invention, the Oxygen Destroyer. Though Godzilla is apparently disintegrated in the climax, this didn't prevent Toho Studios from grinding out an endless series of sequels with the title character becoming less destructive and more lovable with each subsequent film. Hampered by a low budget which precluded stop-motion animation, special-effects wizard Eiji Tsuburaya was forced to rely upon an actor (Haru Nakajima) in a rubber Godzilla suit. Incidentally, the name "Gojira", a combination of "gorilla" and "kujira", is Japanese slang for "big clumsy ox" and was allegedly the nickname of one of the Toho stagehands. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

W. Lee Wilder, the prolific but markedly less talented brother of Billy Wilder, both produced and directed The Big Bluff. Handsome but unscrupulous John Bromfield comes into the life of beautiful and wealthy Martha Vickers. Knowing that she has only a year to live, Bromfield marries her, then settles back to wait for his inheritence. But then she begins showing signs of recovery, forcing the caddish Bromfield to radically alter his plans. The Big Bluff was scripted by Fred Freiberger, who later served as producer of Star Trek. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jennifer Jones offers a virtual reprise of her sultry performance in Duel in the Sun as the titular heroine of Ruby Gentry. Born into a poor-white-trash Southern family, Ruby intends to improve her lot by marrying into wealth. Her casual beau Boake Tackman (Charlton Heston) considers Ruby unfit for marriage, but prosperous businessman Jim Gentry (Karl Malden) is eager and willing to make her his wife. Gentry dies in an accident, and the consensus of opinion is that he was killed by the covetous Ruby. For some reason, this turns Boake on, and he renews his torrid romance with the widow Gentry. Ruby's crazed brother, Jewel (James Anderson), puts an end to this affair with a shotgun, provoking a violent response from Ruby and a "Lady or the Tiger" ending. Produced independently by director King Vidor and Joseph Bernhard, Ruby Gentry was released in the U.S. by 20th Century Fox. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Minister Sterling Hayden is able to tend to the needs of his flock, but can do nothing for his alcoholic wife. She kills herself, whereupon the anguished minister turns his back on his calling. He ends up a skid-row derelict and is thrown into the drunk tank. An elderly preacher (Ludwig Donath) takes it upon himself to regenerate the dissipated Hayden. He succeeds with the help of his blind daughter (Viveca Lindfors), who falls in love with the ex-minister. Journey Into Light unfortunately compromises its compelling storyline by moving at a snail's pace. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Maria Montez made her final screen appearance in the Italian-American co-production Thief of Venice. Montez is cast as Tina, an 8th-century Venetian tavern keeper, caught in the crossfire during the Italian city-state's war with Turkey. Aligning herself with naval officer Alfiere Lorenzo Contarini (Paul Christian), Tina does her best to prevent a Turkish takeover of Venice. First, however, she must neutralize the chief villain, scheming Scarpa the Inquisitor (Massimo Serato). Production values are quite impressive, even though the script (by Hollywood's Jesse Lasky Jr. and England's Michael Pertwee) is nothing special. Maria Montez died in 1951, a full year before the American release of Thief of Venice. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bells of San Fernando was advertised as a romantic adventure, but it plays more like a Western. Donald Woods plays an Irish immigrant who teams with Mexican gal Gloria Warren to combat land baron Anthony Warde. Whenever the plot lags, Warren sings. Catch the name of "Renault Duncan" in the screenplay credits of Bells of San Fernando. It's really actor Duncan Renaldo, aka "The Cisco Kid" -- which may explain why the film looks like a thinly disguised "Cisco" episode. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide