Louis Pelletier Movies
Screenwriter Louis Pelletier's greatest claim to fame was his involvement with the radio drama The FBI in War and Peace, which he co-wrote with an Army buddy he met while serving in World War II. The show ran over 500 episodes and lasted for ten years. In the realm of film, Pelletier wrote the scripts for a handful of films, as well as a number of television shows for Disney. In early 2000, Pelletier died at the age of 93. ~ All Movie Guide- 1969
One of the better Disney features of the late 1960s, Smith relies not upon humanized Volkswagens or singing bears but on the considerable talents of its cast. Glenn Ford stars as Smith, a tenacious modern-day rancher who comes to the aid of a fugitive Native American boy (Frank Ramirez). When a sadistic sheriff (Keenan Wynn), anxious to railroad the boy into jail on a trumped-up murder charge, begins stomping upon the basic civil rights of everyone within his reach, Smith vows to see that justice is done. Acting as the boy's defense counsel, Smith profoundly moves the jury with an impassioned speech about the wrongs done the American Indian in the name of "The Law." As good as Glenn Ford is (and this is one of his finest and subtlest performances), Smith is stolen by its hand-picked supporting cast, including Warren Oates as an Indian turncoat and Jay "Tonto" Silverheels in a minor role. Many of the bit parts are expertly filled by members of the Indian Actors Workshop of Hollywood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenn Ford, Nancy Olson, (more)
- 1968
- G
- Add The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit to QueueAdd The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit to top of Queue
Advertising executive Fred Bolton (Dean Jones) is under pressure from his boss Tom Dugan (Fred Clark) to come up with a new ad campaign for a wealthy client. Fred's daughter Helen (Ellen Janov) loves to ride horses, so her father buys her one to tie the equine into the profitable advertisement. Nearly a third of the film's length is devoted to a Washington D. C. horse show in which Helen participates. Morey Amsterdam, Kurt Russell, Lloyd Bochner, and Diane Baker also appear in this Disney production. Shown with the animated Winnie The Pooh, the cartoon was far more popular and memorable than The Horse In The Gray Flannel Suit, which is one of the studio's less-inspiring efforts. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dean Jones, Diane Baker, (more)
Follow Me, Boys!, Disney's paean to the Boys Scouts of America, leaves no cliché unturned: we're even offered the old reliable "kid hanging over cliff by rope" bit. Corny, sentimental and obvious though it may be, the film is a delight to watch, especially whenever Fred MacMurray dominates the screen. MacMurray plays Lem Siddons, a 1930s musician who decides to settle down in a small Midwestern town. Here he meets pretty bank teller Vida Downey (Vera Miles), who bemoans the fact that the local boys have no organized activities with which to occupy their time. Volunteering to be a scoutmaster, Lem begins a local scout troop. There are some tense moments when banker Ralph Hastings (Elliot Reid) demands that Lem's scouts vacate their headquarters, but Reid's feisty millionaire Aunt Hetty (Lillian Gish) comes to the rescue. The film's throughline is the regeneration of local "tough kid" Whitey (Kurt Russell), who, after joining the Boy Scouts, straightens out and matures into a solid citizen. The film's lachrymose climax is kept "honest" by the sincere underplaying of Fred MacMurray. Though lambasted by reviewers, Follow Me, Boys! struck a responsive chord with filmgoers, to the tune of a $5.5 million box-office take. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred MacMurray, Vera Miles, (more)
Originally trade-previewed as Those Crazy Calloways, Disney's Those Calloways is a lengthy, anecdotal film about a highly individualistic New England family. Patriarch Cam Calloway (Brian Keith) is regarded as a crank by the local villagers because of his dream to build a bird sanctuary that will protect migratory geese from hunters. Cam uses all his savings to buy a lake, where he intends to establish his sanctuary. When a wealthy sportsman offers to turn the town into a booming resort community in exchange for hunting rights, Cam opposes the plan, which briefly puts him on the outs with everyone else. Only when Cam is accidentally shot by the sportsman do the locals rally around the "crazy" Calloways so that Cam's sanctuary can come to fruition. The plot of Those Calloways can best be described as picaresque; the film is most successful in establishing mood and atmosphere, and in offering a vast array of distinctive characterizations from such pros as Brian Keith, Vera Miles, Brandon de Wilde, Walter Brennan, Ed Wynn, John Larkin, Parley Baer, John Qualen, and Paul Hartman. Look for young Linda Evans as the girl friend of the oldest Calloway boy (DeWilde) and for future Picket Fences star Tom Skerritt as the town bully. Those Calloways was based on Swiftwater, a novel by Paul Annixter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brian Keith, Vera Miles, (more)
- 1962
Big Red is one of several Disney pictures filmed in Canada during the 1960s. Orphaned Gilles Payant goes to work for wealthy Walter Pidgeon, who raises prize dogs. Pidgeon's particular favorite among his canines is Big Red, who unfortunately resists all efforts to be trained. Young Payant manages to "reach" Big Red, to such an extent that Pidgeon is worried: if the boy and dog become too close, Red will never behave anyone else. Pidgeon orders Payant to stay away from Red until after an upcoming important dog show. The boy disobeys his boss, resulting in a near-tragedy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Pidgeon, Gilles Payant, (more)
- 1961
Season Three of The Untouchables begins with a return guest-star appearance by Peter Falk, this time in the role of mob troubleshooter Nate Selko (a character reportedly based on real-life gangster Murray "The Camel" Humphries). When Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) begins bearing down on the illegal punchboard racket, the Syndicate brings Selko in from Chicago to handle the problem. Failing to buy Ness off with a $500,000 bribe, Selko manages to frame the Federal agent for murder. D.A. Asbury (Frank Wilcox) allows the Underworld to believe that Ness has been disgraced and demoted so that Elliot can put on an "embittered drunk" act, the better to lure Selko and his entire organization into a well-concealed trap. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
It is hard to believe that at one time an entire hour-long TV drama could have been fashioned out of an example of artistic ignorance, but such was the case of this 1957 presentation of the NBC anthology Lux Video Theater. Marilyn Erskine heads the cast as Alice Davis, the wife of ambitious young executive Larry Davis (Steve Dunne). Basically a simple, old-fashioned girl, Alice has trouble adjusting to the fast-lane life preferred by Larry and his friends. Larry tolerates Alice's social clumsiness until the fatal night when, at a party at the home of Larry's boss, Alice admits that she has never heard of modernist painter Pablo Picasso--a confession that nearly destroys both the Davis' marriage and Larry's career. "Who Is Picasso?" originally aired live and in color. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marilyn Erskine, Steve Dunne, (more)
