Rod Cameron Movies

Regarded by some film buffs as the best of director Leslie Selander's many westerns, Panhandle stars Rod Cameron as an ex-lawman turned gunslinger. He hopes to bury his past and homestead in Texas, but his plans change when his newspaper-reporter brother (John Champion) is killed. Reluctantly, Cameron buckles on his gun belt and heads out for retribution against crooked gambler Reed Hadley. Making his screenwriting debut, Blake Edwards (who also coproduced the film and played a small supporting role) does his best to steer free of cliches, structuring his script in the manner of the detective stories Edwards had been churning out for radio. No mere B picture, Panhandle was permitted to unspool at an "A" length of 84 minutes. To further assure audience approval, Blake Edwards rewrote the ending, in which hero Rod Cameron had originally been killed off. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Wildcatters in search of a gusher during the late 1920s provide the basis of this comedy-drama that centers on a rambunctious trio of men. When not drinking and fighting, the three are enthusiastically drilling for black gold. The trouble begins when one of the wildcatters grows dissatisfied with their lifestyle and quits so he can be with his new wife. Unfortunately for him, soon after he leaves, the other two find their gusher and become filthy rich. The impoverished quitter, is envious and begins looking for an obscure law that will force his pals to share. His wife is disgusted by his greed and takes off until he settles down. In the end, the fellow does come around and ends up helping another hopeful group of independent drillers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A young woman rides out for vengeance against the marshall who killed her notorious outlaw mother in this western sequel to 1941's Belle Starr. Once in the rough-and-tumble town where he works she learns the surprising truth. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Johnny Hart (Rod Cameron) is on the run from the law after killing one of the men who shot his partner. He passes through a town and stops at a saloon owned by singer Lorena Dumont (Yvonne de Carlo). The two seem a good, albeit tempestuous match, although Johnny has no plans to marry -- Lorena has other ideas and a shotgun wedding ensues. Blackie (Sheldon Leonard), an outlaw who is jealous of the marriage, informs Lorena of Johnny's wanted status, and he ends up getting caught by the law after their wedding night. He serves six years and returns to find that he and Lorena don't get along any better than they did before, and that he's also the father of a five-year-old girl (Beverly Simmons). Also lurking about is Blackie, whom he recognizes as one of the men who killed his partner, and Blackie wants Johnny out of the way so he can marry Lorena. Johnny and Lorena fight over custody of their daughter and Blackie nearly gets them each killed at one point or another. He kidnaps their daughter before Johnny dispatches him. He finally realizes that the only way he can win Lorena is to meet her cup for cup and blow for blow, until she understands that he loves her. The film, a sort of Western Taming of the Shrew, ends on a note of romance and reconciliation. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

This campy little drama launched the career of B-girl Yvonne De Carlo. It is set during the Franco-Prussian war and chronicles the exploits of Salome, a beautiful Viennese dancer who falls for an American reporter and for him gets involved in cloak-and-dagger activities involving the Bismarck, before returning to Arizona with him. There, she uses her talent and abundant charms to inspire the lawless residents of his hometown to reform. They in turn, name the town after her. She then goes to San Francisco where she seduces and marries a wealthy Russian who builds her an opera house and gives her the happy life she had always craved. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Shortly before Universal Pictures disbanded its "B" unit, the studio inaugurated an energetic western series starring Rod Cameron. In Beyond the Pecos, Cameron plays a rancher at odds with longtime rival Eddie Dew (himself a "B" sagebrush star at other studios). The two brawny men in Stetsons battle over rights of oil land that borders both their properties. When they tire of squabbling over money, Cameron and Dew fight over the attentions of pretty Jennifer Holt (daughter of Jack Holt). Director Lambert Hillyer handles Beyond the Pecos with his customary speed and efficiency. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The usual modus operandi for Hollywood "through the years" sagas was to gradually age its young actors in the course of the film. In Mrs. Parkington, 35-year-old Greer Garson appears in old-lady makeup for virtually the entire 124-minute running time, even though this filmization of Louis Bromfield's best-selling novel covers the years 1875 through 1938. Eightyish widow Mrs. Susie Parkington (Garson) gathers together all of her grown children in an effort to bail out son-in-law Amory Stilham (Edward Arnold), who's gotten in Dutch through crooked financial deals. As the children and grandchildren bicker over the "impossibility" of giving up any part of their inheritance, Mrs. Parkington's mind wanders back to her marriage to wealthy mine owner Maj. Augustus Parkington (Walter Pidgeon) and her own efforts, as an unlearned Nevada serving girl, to fit into proper Manhattan society. Augustus' ex-love Aspasia Conti (Agnes Moorehead, in a surprisingly sexy role) is engaged to teach Susie the in and outs of which fork to use and how low to curtsy. Shut out by the "400," Susie is avenged by her husband, who wheels and deals to ruin the snobs financially. Later on, he assuages his anger by conducting several extramarital affairs, before perishing in one of those convenient movie auto accidents. Just how all these incidents strengthen Mrs. Parkington's resolve to rescue her wastrel son-in-law is a mystery that even two viewings of this overlong soap opera may not solve. Incidentally, Greer Garson isn't the only one who is prematurely aged in Mrs. Parkington; keep an eye out for 27-year-old Hans Conried, convincingly playing a doddering musician. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this western, set in Texas, the brave heroes Rod, Fuzzy, and their good-guy gang attempt to keep a band of ruthless outlaws who are trying to take over the reins of a stage coach line. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A typical war time Republic Pictures serial, G-Men vs. the Black Dragon featured the combined efforts of three allied operatives -- Rex Bennett of the USA (Rod Cameron), Vivian Marsh of the British Secret Service (Constance Worth, an Australian) and Chang Sing (Roland Got) of the Chinese counter-espionage division -- who battle the Japanese Black Dragon Society. Headed by the maniacal Oyama Harushi (Nino Pipitone, Sr.), the notorious society conducted a campaign of terror and sabotage against America until stopped by the united heroes in the 15th and final chapter, "Democracy in Action." That the Japanese master spy was played by an Italian-American was only par for the course. Much of the footage from this serial -- including a spectacular exploding submarine -- was re-used many times over, notably in the 1951 serial Flying Disc Man from Mars. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Accepted in 1943 as standard wartime propaganda, Gung Ho can be seen today as an outrageous exercise in raging machismo. Randolph Scott plays Thorwald, a marine colonel assigned to assemble a crack squadron of fearless jungle fighters for the all-important raid on Japanese-held Makim Island (which in real life was recaptured only a few weeks before the film's release). Thorwald seems determine to select the dregs of the earth for this mission: most of his squadron is comprised of misfits, barroom brawlers, borderline psychos and outright murderers. It is suggested that these sociopaths are the only men truly qualified for the mission at hand, and by film's end the squadron members-living and dead-are lauded as true-blue patriots. Once one gets past the questionable premise, Gung Ho is a fairly exciting WWII melodrama, with a particularly thrilling climax. The film is currently available in its original form and in a computer-colorized version. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

For reasons unknown, Paramount Pictures decided to dust off the 1926 George S. Kaufman-Herman Mankiewicz stage comedy The Good Fellows for its 1942-43 release schedule. Cecil Kellaway plays Jim Hilton, a small-town family man who neglects his wife and kids, preferring the company of his lodge brothers. He spends so much time with and money on "The Good Fellows" that he's soon hopelessly in debt. An unexpected third-act financial windfall saves the day, but Hilton shows few signs of mending his ways by fadeout time. The film might have seemed fresher had not the premise been done to death in the previous decade by Laurel & Hardy, Charley Chase and other 2-reel comedians. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

No relation to the 1950 Frank Capra film of the same name, the 1943 Technicolor musical Riding High is a by-the-numbers vehicle for Dorothy Lamour and Dick Powell. Lamour stars as Ann Castle, a former burlesque queen who heads westward to claim her father's silver mine. Powell plays mining engineer Steve Baird, who like Ann has a vested interest in the worked-out mine. With the help of genial counterfeiter Mortimer J. Slocum (Victor Moore), Steve and Ann are able to peddle mining stock, thus saving her from bankruptcy. The stockholders are in a lynching mood when it appears that they've been flim-flammed, but a last minute "miracle" saves the day. Featured in the cast are Paramount stalwarts Cass Daley and Gil Lamb, the former doing her quasi-Martha Raye act and the latter swallowing his harmonica for the millionth time. Production values are excellent and the songs are exuberantly performed; it's only in its hackneyed plot that Riding High slows to a clip-clop. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Like several other Harry Sherman Productions of the 1942-43 season, The Kansan was originally slated for a Paramount release, then redirected to United Artists. Richard Dix and Jane Wyatt, stars of the previous Sherman effort Buckskin Frontier, are reunited herein as western lawman John Bonniwell and rancher's daughter Eleanor Sager. After chasing the James Gang out of town, Bonniwell is appointed marshal by local bigwig Steve Barat (Albert Dekker). It turns out, however, that Barat is a crook with delusions of grandeur, hoping to use Bonniwell as a glorified henchman in his rise to power. Meanwhile, an unorthodox romantic triangle develops between Bonniwell, Eleanor as Barat's brother Jeff (Victor Jory). A powerhouse cast makes this modestly-budgeted western seem more expensive than it really was. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide