Robert Parrish Movies

A pleasant and sometimes off-the-wall journey through Southern culture, in a local manifestation, is offered in Mississippi Blues by the French co-director Bertrand Tavernier (with American Robert Parrish). A broad spectrum of politics, gospel and blues, literature (native son William Faulkner), religion, and social customs perceived from a foreigner's viewpoint is presented and discussed with interest and warmth in this documentary on the multifaceted South. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Set in the City of Light, this crime melodrama chronicles the attempts of a US drug agent to stop a major drug-lord. Though the agent realizes his three predecessors have been assassinated, and that the French government doesn't necessarily approve of the Yank's harassment of a French citizen, he is determined to succeed. Then a Parisian cop quietly suggests that Anthony Quinn himself hire an assassin to kill the drug lord. He thinks about it long and hard, before agreeing to it. Later he is shocked to learn that the assassin is an old war buddy. The hit man then works overtime to cozy up to the criminal and earn his trust. While he is doing that, the agent learns that events have changed and he must capture the drug lord alive. Unfortunately, he must first find a way to call off the professional killer before it is too late. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A previously unknown planet is discovered within our solar system, orbiting on the far side of the sun exactly opposite the position of the Earth, and at precisely the same speed. The European space agency Eurosec, headed by Jason Webb (Patrick Wymark), whose solar probe made the discovery, decides to send a manned mission to investigate, teaming America's top astronaut Glenn Ross (Roy Thinnes) and British astro-physicist John Kane (Ian Hendry). Their voyage aboard the space vehicle Phoenix is supposed to take six weeks, but when the ship returns to orbit in only three weeks -- ending in a crash of their landing vehicle that kills Kane -- Eurosec can only conclude that Ross has engaged in some sort of sabotage. The astronaut is at a loss as to how they could have done a round-trip in just three weeks, until he makes a startling discovery -- that everything that he sees, from the layout of rooms and buildings to all of the writing around him, is reversed, left to right and right to left. It takes Ross, amid his confusion, to arrive at the only possible conclusion -- that he and Kane did, indeed, journey to the new planet, and that world is a duplicate of Earth (and visa versa) down to the last molecule, a perfect mirror-image; and that world dispatched its own mission, with its own Ross and Kane. He and Webb, and Eurosec, scarcely have time to absorb the implications of this discovery -- if true -- as they prepare for a return flight for Ross, despite enormous risks and some potentially very dangerous unknowns in getting him back to the Phoenix. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Peter Sellers stars, as the tagline states, "as that cunning matador who flees from the bulls so that he may chase the chicks!" Juan Bautista (Peter Sellers) is an inept matador who wants to be a singer. Francisco Carbonell (Adolfo Celi), the owner of a local Barcelona night spot, offers Juan a singing contract for a week --the only stipulation being that he has three days to seduce Olimpia Segura (Britt Ekland), the "most desirable woman in Barcelona." The bumbling matador tries a series of half-baked lovemaking techniques that, amazingly, get Olimpia to come around. But when Olimpia discovers that Juan wanted to seduce her merely to get a singing job, Juan finds that avoiding charging bulls is a much safer vocation than dealing with an irate Olimpia. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

This war-drama centers more on the effects of battle on civilians than it does on the bravery of the fighters as it tells the story of a courageous squadron of Yankee soldiers endeavoring to protect and bring to safety a village full of French civilians whom they saved from German captors following the Allied invasion of Normandy. During the battle to free them, the soldiers also capture a German officer. They then begin heading toward the beach with the civilians so they can go to England. Unfortunately, the beachmaster does not know they are coming and regretfully sends them back. Twice more the squadron and the civilians go back to the beach, but they are still not allowed to go. Things get even worse when the Germans begin bombing the remains of their town and they are forced to find some place to hide until help arrives. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

First telecast May 6, 1960, A Stop at Willoughby was scripter Rod Serling's favorite of the first-season Twilight Zone episodes. Plagued by a pushy boss (Howard I. Smith) and a vitriolic wife (Patricia Donahue), ulcerated businessman Gart Williams (James Daly) briefly dozes off while taking the commuter train home. When he awakens, the train has changed to a 19th century model -- as has the conductor, who invites Williams to get off at the peaceful, picture-postcard town of Willoughby. Watch for future Archie Bunker's Place regular Jason Wingreen in a small role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ed Wynn guest stars as Lew Bookman, an aging and not altogether successful sidewalk salesman. When Mr. Death (Murray Hamilton) shows up to "collect" Lew, the latter refuses to go. This leaves Mr. Death no other choice but to claim an alternate soul in Lew's place -- a little girl named Maggie (Dana Dillaway). Adapted from a script he'd written during his days in Cincinnati television, Rod Serling's "One for the Angels" made its Twilight Zone bow on October 9, 1959. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Rod Serling's first original screenplay for the Big Screen was the psychological western Saddle the Wind. In one of his best performances, Robert Taylor plays Steve Sinclair, a world-weary gunslinger. Hoping to become a rancher, Sinclair is given a plot of land by patriarchal Dr. Deneen (Donald Crisp), on the proviso that Steve tries to curb the violent tendencies of his younger brother Tony (John Cassavetes). Unfortunately, Tony is not so easily controlled; he not only seethes with sibling rivalry, but also takes near-orgasmic delight in his gunslinging skills. Determined to prove to Steve and to his saloon-girl paramour Joan Blake (Julie London) that his shooting prowess somehow makes him a superior being, Tony brings tragedy to all concerned. Elmer Bernstein's overemphatic musical score is ideally suited to the larger-than-life histrionics of Saddle the Wind. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An unusually matronly Jane Wyman plays the title character in Lucy Gallant. Adapted from a novel by Margaret Cousins, the story concerns the efforts by Lucy Gallant to make the wide-open spaces of Texas a mecca for High Fashion. Jilted at the altar, Lucy retreats to a booming oil town, where she courageously opens up a gown shop. Rancher Casey Cole (Charlton Heston) is disdainful of "working women", but he never hides the fact that he's madly in love with Lucy. As the film progresses, Lucy nearly loses her business due to financial reverses, but Casey secretly pumps money into her operation, all the while declaring publicly that she's doomed to failure. Lucy's gowns were actually designed by Edith Head, who makes an appearance towards the end of the film, as does the then-governor of Texas, Allan Shivers. Lucy Gallant was the last of the incredibly successful Pine-Thomas productions for Paramount Pictures; there might have been more had not William H. Pine died shortly after completing the film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An H.E. Bates novel was the source for this psychological wartime drama set in Burma. Canadian pilot Gregory Peck and two comrades-in-arms crash in the Burmese wilds. The three men are forced to hack and crawl their way to safety, surrounded on all sides by the Japanese. Peck's subordinates don't completely trust their leader, and not without reason: Peck's nerves have been at the breaking point for months, and this experience may send him around the bend. But the ordeal strengthens Peck's psyche. Despite its American star, director and distributor (United Artists), The Purple Plain is a British production; thanks to its top-drawer production values and evocative color photography by Geoffrey Unsworth, the film brought in customers on both sides of the big pond. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Assignment - Paris is based on a serialized Saturday Evening Post yarn by Paul and Pauline Gallico. The film stars Dana Andrews as reporter Jimmy Race, assigned to the Paris bureau of the New York Herald Tribune. Race makes the acquaintance of French journalist Jeanne Moray (Marta Toren), who is forced to suppress a white-hot news story about an impending Iron Curtain political conspiracy because she lacks proof. At great risk to himself, Race heads to Budapest to ferret out the facts, sometimes right under the noses of the communist "damage control" experts. George Sanders co-stars as editor Rick Strang, who dispatches Race on his fact-finding mission--partly because of his dedication to truth, and partly because he has designs on the gorgeous Jeanne himself. One of the more palatable anti-Red tracts of its era, Assignment - Paris makes excellent use of authentic Parisian and Hungarian locations. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Joel McCrea plays 19th-century miner Rick Nelson in The San Francisco Story. The year is 1856, and Frisco is a wide-open town. To stem the activities of crooks and con artists, newspaper editor Jim Martin (Onslow Stevens) organizes a group of peace-keeping vigilantes. Nelson, an old friend of Martin's, arrives in the Golden Gate city to help out. The villain of the piece is political boss Andrew Cain (Sidney Blackmer), who regards San Francisco as his own personal fiefdom. When not battling Cain's bought-off flunkies and hulking henchman, Nelson dallies with Cain's erstwhile girlfriend Adelaide McCall (Yvonne DeCarlo). Not so much a western as a historical actioner, The San Francisco Story is tip-top entertainment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Broderick Crawford plays Johnny Damico, a detective who suddenly finds himself up to his neck in trouble and his career on the line. Going home in the rain one night, he finds himself just a few feet from a shooting on a dark street, where the gunman claims to be a detective from another precinct, flashing a real badge -- and then slipping away. Damico discovers that the victim of the shooting was a witness who was to have appeared before a grand jury investigating waterfront crime, and that the same man who shot him also murdered the chief investigator on the case just a few hours earlier (which is where the badge came from). Damico could lose his job, but instead he's given the chance to redeem himself -- he's sent undercover and given a new identity as New Orleans tough-guy Tim Flynn, who insinuates himself onto the New York waterfront when he arrives on ship. He manages to hook up with union thug Joe Castro (Ernest Borgnine) and his strong-arm man Gunner (Neville Brand), who try to frame him for a murder that also gets a potential stoolie out of the way and that hooks Damico up with crooked police sergeant Bennion. After following one blind alley involving a federal agent (Richard Kiley) working as a longshoreman, Damico manages to get an intro to Blackie Clegg (Matt Crowley), the man working behind Castro, Gunner, et al, who's as cool and slippery as they come and as sadistic as he is vengeful. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide