Rod Cameron Movies

Allied Artists' Gun Hawk puts Rory Calhoun through his usual paces as an aging gunman. Calhoun has pretty much retired from shoot outs, and now runs a small town populated by outlaws. He befriends hotheaded fast gun Rod Lauren, who behaves as impulsively as Calhoun had in his earlier days. When the outlaws turn on Calhoun and shoot him down, the mortally wounded gunslinger tries to goad Lauren into a fight so that he can die with a modicum of dignity. Producer Richard Bernstein co-wrote the screenplay of Gun Hawk from his own story. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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, Rovi

Crime is committed wherever 2 expert criminals go. ~ Rovi

One of the most schizophrenic films ever to come out of the Paramount "B" mill, The Monster and the Girl starts out as a white-slavery melodrama and ends up as a horror picture! Emerging from the fog, heroine Susan Webster (Ellen Drew) tells her woeful tale to the audience. A young innocent from The Sticks, Susan arrives in New York to seek work as an actress, but instead is tricked into a sham marriage with Larry Reed (Robert Paige). Awakening "the morning after", Susan is informed that her missing husband is not her husband, and that, as a fallen woman, there is only one avenue of livelihood open to her-as one of the "paid hostesses" in the stable of gangster Bruhl (Joseph Calleia). Learning of his sister's plight, church organist Scot Webster (Philip Reed) shows up in town to set things right, only to be framed for murder by Bruhl and his mob. After his execution, Scot's body is appropriated by mad scientist Dr. Parry (George Zucco), who hopes to transplant the dead man's brain into the body of a gorilla. Driven by impulses it can't resist, the big ape escapes from his cage to kill off all those responsible for Susan's ruin and Scot's death. Undeniably fascinating, The Monster and the Girl is also undeniably silly at times, especially in the opening scenes, in which the censor-plagued screenwriters work overtime not to overtly state that Susan Daniels has been forced into prostitution. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

When Zoë Akins' play The Old Maid (based on a novel by Edith Wharton) won the 1934-1935 Pulitzer Prize, the selection was roundly condemned by critics, who felt that Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour was more deserving, but had lost because of its lesbian theme. Certainly, Akins' story of the relationship between two Southern cousins in the years between 1833 and 1854 is nothing spectacular. Delia Lovell marries James Ralston, leaving her old beau Clem Spender out in the cold. Delia's cousin Charlotte comforts Clem by spending the night with him. Charlotte becomes pregnant, secretly farming out her daughter, Tina, to another family. The years pass; Charlotte sets up a day nursery so that she may remain close to her daughter (still in the dark as to the true identity of her mother). Meanwhile, Charlotte has become engaged to Ralston's brother Joseph. The troublesome Delia, who discovers her cousin's secret, contrives to prevent Charlotte from marrying Joseph, then arranges to have Charlotte raise Tina as her niece rather than her daughter. More years pass; Tina regards Delia as her mama and Charlotte as just an "old maid." At Tina's wedding, Charlotte almost reveals the truth to her daughter, but.....It's all slick romance-magazine stuff, and hardly worthy of the Pulitzer. On the other hand, the film version of The Old Maid, starring Bette Davis as Charlotte and Miriam Hopkins as Delia, is a classic of its kind, and one of Davis' best vehicles. The story is given additional substance by moving the early scenes up to the time of the Civil War, making Clem Spender (George Brent) less of a cad by killing him off at Vicksburg, thus rendering it impossible for Clem to make an honest woman of Charlotte. From the vantage point of the 1990s, when film stars find it difficult to turn out more than one picture a year, it is incredible that The Old Maid was but one of four first-rate Bette Davis films to be released in 1939; the others were Dark Victory, Juarez, and The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

First filmed in 1916, Peter B. Kyne's novel Parson of Panamint provided an excellent showcase for Charles Ruggles in this 1941 remake. As he looks over the dusty, deserted remains of the western "boom town" of Panamint, grizzled old prospector Chuckawalla Bill Redfield (Ruggles) recalls the town's glory days. Looming large in Chuckawalla's reminiscences is the day that young and apparently mild-mannerd minister Philip Pharo (Phillip Terry) rode into town. In his own gentle but forceful fashion, Pharo managed to bring the town's lawless element into line, mollify the local bluenoses, and win the heart of likeable dance-hall girl Mary Mallory (Ellen Drew). The highlight of a film is a tense murder trial, brought about by the killing of gambling boss and all-around villain Bob Deming (Joseph Schildkraut). Almost as easy-going as its protagonist, Parson of Panamint is a most unusual western; if it doesn't completely come off, at least it deserves an E for Effort. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This mistaken-identity concoction takes place on a college campus--a familiar locale for Paramount B-pictures. Wayne Morris plays the dual role of scholarly Jimmy Jones and his athlete brother Bill. Jimmy is in line for a professorship, while Bill can hardly qualify for grade school. The fun begins when Bill ends up with an athletic scholarship intended for his brother, obliging both men to trade identities. Everyone is confused, none more so than cute co-ed Kay Merrill (Virginia Dale), who is actively courted by both brothers. The stereotypical supporting cast includes Alan Mowbray as a stuffy pedant, William Frawley as a dyspeptic coach, and Jerome Cowan as a point-shaving gambler. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Jim's former girlfriend Karen Stiles (Susan Strasberg) sweet-talks the detective into delivering a briefcase full of escrow papers to a real estate office. Only when it is too late does Jim (James Garner) discover that he has been conned into transporting $100,000 worth of counterfeit money. And that's not all: Karen may also be involved in a diamond-fencing operation. The stakes are suddenly raised when Karen is kidnapped by her confederates--but who, exactly, is double-crossing whom? This is the final episode of The Rockford Files' second season. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This Republic "special" stars Rod Cameron as deep-sea diver Gunner McNeil. When his partner (James Brown) drowns under mysterious circumstances, McNeil investigates, all the while carrying out a salvage assignment for the lovely Suntan Radford (Adele Mara). The titular Sea Hornet is a vessel which was sunk during wartime while carrying a fortune in gold. Someone is willing to commit murder to claim the treasure for his (or her) own: is it Suntan, or second lead Ginger (Adrian Booth), or the disreputable-looking Johnny Radford (Richard Jaeckel), or even Gunner's first made Swede (Chill Wills)? Sea Hornet is capped by a thrill-packed action finale, in the fine tradition of Republic studios. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

William Holden and Bonita Granville, heavily if not convincingly decked out in "old age" makeup, recall on their 35th wedding anniversary how they first met in 1904. Holden was a brash college freshman, while Bonita was the daughter of a local judge (Vaughn Glaser). Since Holden couldn't stay out of trouble, the judge prohibited him from visiting his daughter, but the boy opposed the edict and ended up being arrested--with Bonita managing to have herself thrown in jail as well. The anecdotal storyline comes to a comically ironic conclusion when the ageing Holden complains that he can't control his own headstrong son. Based on the "Siwash" stories by George Fitch, Those Were the Days gets by on its nostalgic appeal, but cannot be considered one of William Holden's more significant pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this musical comedy set during WW II, a circus aerialist desires to be closer to her lover, a soldier. When she finds herself chased by gangsters, the woman dresses up as a man and joins the military. Mayhem ensues as she tries to undergo training and keep her sex a secret. The secret is revealed at the end, when the camp puts on a show and the gangsters suddenly appear. Luckily the police arrive at the same time and justice prevails. Songs include: "In the Army," "Need I Speak," "Jitterbug's Lullaby," "Spangles on My Tights," "Wacky for Khaki" (Frank Loesser, Harold Spina), "Swing in Line" (Loesser, Joseph J. Lilley), "Love in Bloom" (Ralph Rainger, Leo Robin), and "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" (Dorothy Fields, Jimmy McHugh). ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The winner of four Oscar nominations, Wake Island was one of the first major Hollywood films to deal with America's forced participation in World War II. The first two reels takes place in the weeks prior to Pearl Harbor, as Wake Island military commander Brian Donlevy carries on a friendly rivalry with Seabee supervisor Albert Dekker. Once the US is in the shooting war, all previous differences are forgotten and the Wake Island personnel begin pulling together. Despite being heavily outnumbered during the subsequent Japanese attack on Wake, the Americans put up a valiant fight, at great cost to the Imperial Forces. In a scene calculated to evoke long, loud cheers from the audience, Donlevy, weary and battle-stained, relays to the American mainland the legendary (if offensive) challenge "Send us more Japs!" As in the like-vintage Bataan, the military defeat of the Americans is treated-and justifiably so--as a moral victory. Utilizing some of the top male talents in Paramount's contract pool-Donlevy, Dekker Robert Preston, MacDonald Carey, William Bendix--Wake Island remains an excellent example of propaganda-as-entertainment ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi