Ted Richmond Movies

Also released as Sergeant Steiner, Breakthrough is a German war flick helmed by western specialist Andrew McLaglen. Richard Burton stars as Sgt. Steiner, a German who doesn't subscribe to the Nazi party line. When the plot to kill Hitler is hatched, Steiner is persuaded to join the conspiracy by General Hoffman (Curt Jurgens). Robert Mitchum and Rod Steiger costar as American officers peripherally involved in the storyline. Intended as a sequel to the successful Cross of Iron, Breakthrough failed to match the box-office performance of the earlier film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The autobiography of Henri Charriere, one of the few people to successfully escape from the notorious French penal colony of Devil's Island, served as the basis for Papillon. Steve McQueen plays the pugnacious Charriere (known as "Papillon," or "butterfly," because of a prominent tatoo), incarcerated--wrongly, he claims--for murdering a pimp. He saves the life of fellow convict Louis Dega (Dustin Hoffman), a counterfeiter who will later show his gratitude by helping Charriere in his many escape attempts, and by smuggling food to Charriere when the latter is put in solitary confinement. One breakout, which takes Charriere and Dega to a leper colony and then to a native encampment, is almost successful, but Charriere is betrayed (allegedly because he stopped for an act of kindness) and back the prisoners go to French Guiana. Years later, Dega is made a trustee and is content with his lot, but the ageing, white-haired Charriere cannot be held back. A tribute to the unquenchability of the human spirit, Papillon brought in an impressive $22 million at the box office. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Yul Brynner stars as the legendary Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa in this 1968 epic that was originally written by Sam Peckinpah, who hoped to direct it. But studio bosses instead hired Buzz Kulik and cut the script. Villa is commanded by General Huerta (Herbert Lom) and assisted by the sadistic Fierro (Charles Bronson). Captain Francisco Ramirez (Frank Wolff) is a counter-revolutionary leader for whom an American pilot, Lee Arnold (Robert Mitchum), is smuggling guns from Texas. While Arnold is in a small village waiting for his place to be fixed, he sees Ramirez's troops attack the village and get routed by Villa. The rebels arrest Arnold for gun-running and sentence him to face a firing squad. He works a deal to save his skin by agreeing to fly missions for the revolutionaries. While Villa's men attack a train, Arnold bombs government troops with grenades. Arnold's aerial support saves Villa when he is sent on a doomed mission by Huerta, who is vying with Villa for power. Arnold escapes to Texas and Villa is arrested for disobeying Huerta's orders. Villa eventually escapes, finds Arnold in Texas, and convinces him to fight again for the revolution, which is now targeting Huerta, who has assassinated the Mexican president and taken power. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, an even-tempered fireman with a happily tepid life, finds his peaceful world disrupted when he becomes infatuated with the woman he saved from a burning building. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This Elvis Presley vehicle is close to a lemon, even for his die-hard fans. Elvis is Mike Edwards, a pilot of a small plane who has a faithful sidekick, Danny (Gary Lockewood), and a penchant for singing. The story, such as it is, takes place in-between a total of ten different songs, the most memorable being "One Broken Heart for Sale". Mike is tough on the outside but he is willing to take up a good cause when he finds Sue Lin (Vicky Tiu) temporarily abandoned at the Seattle Worlds Fair. Aside from Sue Lin, he also finds an attractive nurse who is not abandoned but might still need attention. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Romance, treachery, intrigue and spiritual awakenings abound in the Biblical film adaptation of Solomon and Sheba. Trouble begins between two brothers when poet Solomon (Yul Brynner) is chosen to be next in line to the throne by King David of Israel. His warrior brother Adonijah (George Sanders) is livid when Solomon becomes king. While Israel prospers under Solomon, Sheba (Gina Lollobrigida) conspires with the Egyptians to topple Israel. She is ambitious and seductive and finally gets Solomon to fall in love with her. When a pagan dance ritual turns into an orgy, the people turn against Solomon when the Temple of Jehovah is struck by lightning. After the righteous Solomon has fallen from the grace of God, Sheba renounces her pagan Gods and converts to Judaism. A cast of thousands depict the raging battle between the Israelites and the Egyptians. Directed by King Vidor at the cost of five million dollars, production was delayed when the original choice for the role of Solomon (Tyrone Power) died during the making of the film. Many scenes had to be redone with his replacement, Yul Brynner. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Commercial artist James Vanning (Aldo Ray) and his friend, Dr. Edward Gurston (Frank Albertson), are on a hunting and fishing trip in Wyoming when they stop to help two men whose car has crashed. The pair, John (Brian Keith) and Red (Rudy Bond), turn out to be escaped bank robbers, on the run with 350,000 dollars in stolen cash after a clean getaway, and they don't plan on leaving any witnesses -- Gurston is shot dead by Red, using Vanning's hunting rifle, but Vanning survives by accident, knocked cold but alive. He awakens to discover the stolen money, accidentally left behind, and runs with it from the returning killers -- he gets away but loses the bag in the blizzard that hits. He manages to make it to the nearest town, but not before the doctor's body is found, with a bullet in it from Vanning's rifle. Now the prime suspect in the murder, Vanning takes it on the lam, hiding out for months -- unbeknowst to him, however, he's been under observation for most of that time by Ben Fraser (James Gregory), an investigator from the insurance company whose policy covered the bank that was robbed; and has been found by John and Red -- and all of them think that Vanning can lead them to the missing money. But John and Red are perfectly prepared to torture and even maim Vanning to get the money, and they get their chance when he lets his guard down one night to talk to Marie Gardner (Anne Bancroft), a young model he meets in a bar. He manages to get away from his captors after a fierce struggle and makes his way to her place; after convincing her that it's not the police he's running from (which is not entirely true), they take off together, with Fraser and the two hoods only a half-step behind, headed to Wyoming and the spring thaw so he can hunt for the bag and the missing money and prove his innocence. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Rails into Laramie is one of the more obscure Universal-International western programmers of the 1950s, but this is no reflection on its entertainment value. John Payne stars as "town tamer" Jefferson Harder, who intends to clean up the wide-open community of Laramie. Everyone knows that the outlaw gang headed by Jim Shanessy (Dan Duryea) is responsible for preventing the railroad from building a line into Laramie, but Shanessy always manages to intimidate the all-male juries into releasing him. He and saloon-hall gal Lou Carter (Mari Blanchard) want to keep the rails out of Laramie so that both can pursue their criminal activities unabated. But when Lou switches sides and aligns herself with Harder, it's the beginning of the end for the scurrilous Shanessy. The film's resolution is "borrowed" from the 1941 western The Lady From Cheyenne and works just as well here as it did in the earlier picture. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Francis Joins the WACS was the fifth in Universal's comedy series about a talking Army mule and his hapless human companion. Thanks to a bureaucratic snafu, ex-GI Peter Sterling (Donald O'Connor) is called into acitive duty and assigned to a WAC unit, headed by Major Simpson (Lynn Bari). It is Sterling's task to train the women to be camouflage experts, but the ladies resent his presence, assuming that Peter has been sent to discredit their unit. But with the help of Francis, the WACs manage to win the annual War Games, and to flummox misogynistic General Kaye (Chill Wills, who also provides Francis' voice). Julie Adams, then billed as Julia, provides the love interest. ZaSu Pitts also appears in Francois Joins the WACs, recreating the role she'd played in the first Francis installment back in 1949, while other uniformed females include Mamie Van Doren and Allison (Attack of the 50-Foot Woman) Hayes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Audie Murphy is suitably cast as cavalry lieutenant Jed Sayre in Universal's Column South. Stationed in Navajo country, Sayre has a pretty good understanding of, and rapport with, the local Indians, but his new CO Lee Whitlock (Robert Sterling) is of the "only good Indian is a dead Indian" school of thought. Eventually Sayre is able to make Whitlock see the light -- and, as a bonus, he gets to romance Whitlock's sister Marcy (Joan Evans). Further complications arise when Confederate General Storey (Ray Collins) hatches an underhanded scheme -- one that will potentially cost many innocent lives -- to force the cavalry troops to join the Southern cause when the Civil War commences. Of interest to modern viewers is the presence of Dennis Weaver, here cast as Navajo chief Menguito. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Walking My Baby Back Home is a bubbly musical of no significance whatsoever, but this doesn't diminish its enjoyability factor. The film wastes no time in showing off the singing and dancing skills of star Donald O'Connor, who is seen cavorting about during the opening credits. O'Connor plays war veteran Jigger Millard, who forms a band with several other musically inclined ex-GIs. Unfortunately, Jigger's music isn't what the public craves, so he's forced to join a minstrel show headed by Colonel Wallace (George Cleveland), the uncle of pretty Chris Hall (Janet Leigh). As he performs the old "down in Dixie" numbers required of him, Jigger is inspired to reorganize his band into a Dixieland aggregation, with the considerable input of black musician Smiley (Scatman Crothers). Buddy Hackett is on hand as comedy relief Blimp Edwards. A tantalizing excerpt from Walking My Baby Back Home was seen in an ironic context during a 1970s Columbo TV episode, guest-starring Janet Leigh as the murderer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Pity poor ex-GI Alvah Morrell (Tony Curtis). While on his honeymoon with perky Lee Kingshead (Piper Laurie), he comes down with a bad case of chicken pox. The moment he recovers, he's shipped overseas. And when Alvah returns home, he finds his house festooned with his wife's troublesome relatives -- and, per the film's title, there's no room for him. Complicating matters is Lee's supercilious mother (Spring Byington), who does her best to break up the marriage so that her daughter will be free to marry wealthy-but-dull Herman Strouple (Don DeFore). No Room for the Groom plays like an elongated 2-reel comedy, but the stars are attractive and Douglas Sirk's direction is subtle and inventive. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Noted Western director Budd Boetticher helmed this contemporary cowboy story. Tom Moody (John Lund) is a champion rodeo rider who sees real potential in newcomer Bart Eaton (Scott Brady). However, while Bart may have a knack for riding a bull, he's not much for loyalty, and he betrays his mentor by stealing Tom's girlfriend, Judy Bream (Joyce Holden). Tom wallows in self-pity until the death of his buddy Dan Bream (Chill Wills), a rodeo clown, forces him to rethink his life. For added realism, Boetticher incorporated genuine Western footage alongside staged sequences with his actors. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide