John Russell Movies
Two things American actor John Russell was not: he was not cinematographer John L. Russell, nor was he the Johnny Russell who appears as Shirley Temple's brother in 20th Century-Fox's The Blue Bird (1940). He was however, a contract juvenile at Fox from 1937 through 1941. Interrupting his career for war service, Russell emerged from his tour of duty as a highly decorated marine. Busy in postwar films and TV as a secondary lead and utility villain, Russell was given costar billing with Chick Chandler in the 1955 syndicated TV adventure series Soldiers of Fortune. Four years later, Russell (now sporting a mustache) was cast as Marshal Dan Troop on the Warner Bros. weekly western series Lawman. This assignment lasted three years, after which Russell became a journeyman actor again. John Russell was well served with character parts in 1984's Honkytonk Man and 1985's Pale Rider, both directed by and starring another ex-TV-cowboy, Clint Eastwood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A frustrated writer helps save a woman being railroaded by the law -- or is she? -- in this comic mystery with romantic overtones. Phil Blackwood (Tom Selleck) is a best-selling mystery novelist who has run into a bad case of writer's block. Hoping to find inspiration for his next book, Phil goes to the city courthouse and witnesses the arraignment of Nina Ionescu (Paulina Porizkova), a beautiful Romanian immigrant who is accused of killing a man with a pair of scissors. For Phil, it's love at first sight, and after sneaking into jail disguised as a priest, he makes her an offer. Phil offers to let her stay at his house, and he provides her with an alibi -- she can claim that she couldn't have committed the crime, because she was with him at the time of the attack. Nina agrees, but after Phil encounters a handful of dangerous foreign agents, Nina's acrobatic parents, and a highly suspicious district attorney, he begins to wonder if Nina might have committed the murder after all. Her Alibi also features William Daniels as Sam, and James Farentino as Frank Polito; the song "Falling In Love" was written and recorded for the film by Randy Newman. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Selleck, Paulina Porizkova, (more)
- 1988
- R
Singer and former Miss America Vanessa L. Williams makes her screen debut in this crime-action film. Mike Braxton (Sam Jones) is a policeman in St. Louis, Missouri. He responds to an urgent summons from his brother Tony (Nick Cassavetes), a cop in Los Angeles. Mike gets to L.A. and finds that his brother's been murdered. He learns that Tony was investigating the arms-smuggling operation of Simon Stone (John Russell). Mike forms an alliance with Stone's lawyer (Williams), who's learned such disturbing things about him that she's willing to violate client-lawyer confidentiality. The pair work together to bring the arms dealer to justice. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sam Jones, John Russell, (more)
- 1987
When young Chuck Murdock (Joshua Zuehlke) visits a nuclear missile site, he learns that one bomb would destroy the earth in less time than it would take a piece of silverware to drop from his hand to the floor. This information sends the sensitive boy into existential angst. Wondering why anybody should do anything when the world can be destroyed so quickly, and hoping to raise consciousness about nuclear weapons, Chuck quits his Little League team. He gains a little bit of local press. One of those stories is read by NBA star "Amazing Grace" Smith (Alex English), who is so moved by the boy's story that he too quits playing his sport. This produces a great deal of national press, as well as a handful of stars from other sports that decide to join the ranks of Amazing Grace and Chuck. Some powers that be in the sports world, as well as the government, do not look kindly upon these "strikes" and set about to end the movement. Amazing Grace and Chuck came near the end of a cycle of nuclear anxiety films that included Testament, The Day After, and Threads. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jamie Lee Curtis, Alex English, (more)
- 1986
- R
Although the title would indicate that female college students are the targets, this is an equal-opportunity slasher film, as both sexes are victims of gruesome murders. From her hospital bed, Beth (Angela O'Neill) is the lone survivor of the butchery in a sorority house that was home to her family 13 years earlier. Her brother has killed the entire family, with Beth the only one who escaped death. The repressed memories, along with her most recent weekend nightmare, are retold through a series of flashbacks and horrible hallucinations. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Angela O'Neill, Wendy Martel, (more)
A mysterious and possibly otherworldly stranger comes to the rescue of a frontier town in this Western, which was strongly influenced by the George Stevens classic, Shane. The peace of a small mining community is shattered when Coy LaHood (Richard Dysart), the ruthless proprietor of a powerful strip-mining company, arrives in town with his son Josh (Christopher Penn) and a posse of hired guns to drive out the townspeople and take control of the territory. Megan (Sydney Penny), a young girl whose pet was killed in the melee, prays to God for someone to defend the village from the marauders; soon, the Preacher (Clint Eastwood) arrives on a pale horse, and joins forces with Hull Barrett (Michael Moriarty), the unofficial leader of the miners and one of the few who attempts to defend himself, to take a stand against LaHood and his men. As the Preacher and Barrett try to organize the miners to fight the invaders, both Megan and her mother Sarah (Carrie Snodgrass) find they're drawn to the Preacher, who keeps to himself and seems to have more than his share of secrets. Pale Rider was also directed by leading man Clint Eastwood; it was his first Western as both director and star since the acclaimed The Outlaw Josey Wales. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clint Eastwood, Michael Moriarty, (more)
- 1983
Phar Lap, the legendary New Zealand-bred racing horse, is as well-known today for his mysterious death as for his fabulous accomplishments in life. Beginning at the end, the film flashes back to the day that Phar Lap, despite his lack of pedigree, is purchased on impulse by trainer Harry Telford (Martin Vaughan). Phar Lap loses his first races, but Telford's faith in the animal is unshakable. Suddenly the horse becomes a winner, thanks to the love and diligence of stableboy Tommy Woodcock (Tom Burlinson). American-promoter Dave Davis (Ron Leibman) arranges for Phar Lap to be entered in several top races, where his "long shot" status results in heavy losses for the professional gamblers. Just after winning an important race in Mexico, Phar Lap collapse and dies; though the film never comes out and says as much, it is assumed that the horse was "murdered" by the gambling interests. The film is based on a book by Michael Wilkinson. The real-life Tommy Woodcock appears in the film as an elderly trainer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Burlinson, Martin Vaughan, (more)
Clint Eastwood put his tough-guy image on hold for this personal project, which follows a musician taking one final chance at the big time. Red Stovall (Eastwood) is a would-be country singer who has been bouncing around the margins of the music business for years. With nowhere in particular to go, Red arrives at the failing Oklahoma farm of his sister for an extended visit, where her son Whit (Kyle Eastwood) quickly bonds with his uncle. However, it's obvious that Red is in very poor health, drinking heavily and breathing with difficulty, and when Red is invited to audition for the Grand Old Opry in Nashville, Whit tags along for the road trip to keep an eye on his ailing uncle. En route, Red and Whit are joined by Whit's grandfather (John McIntire) and another hopeful vocalist, Marlene (Alexa Kenin), who like Red is chasing her own dreams of stardom on the Opry. Clint Eastwood performed his own vocals and guitar work for Honkytonk Man, and a number of Nashville legends appear in cameo roles, including Marty Robbins, Porter Wagoner, Ray Price, Merle Travis, and Johnny Gimble. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clint Eastwood, Kyle Eastwood, (more)
- 1981
- R
G-men do their darnedest to play "Candid Camera" and capture bribe takers on film in this dumbell comedy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom McCarthy, Maxine Greene, (more)
Peter Medak's The Changeling is among a handful of films, including The Haunting (1963), Ghost Story (1981), and Lady in White (1988), that have successfully recreated the intimate, drawing-room atmosphere of supernatural horror fiction. After his wife and daughter are killed in a snowbound car accident, classical composer John Russell (George C. Scott) relocates from New York to Seattle to teach at his alma mater. Looking for a quiet place to rest and continue writing music, he is referred Claire Norman (Trish Van Devere) at the Seattle Historical Preservation Society. Claire shows John a large, sparsely furnished estate in the outlying countryside. He takes the house, appreciating its remoteness and the solitude it might afford, and diverts himself by renovating and settling in. He even starts to compose, putting aside his older work in favor of a new, sentimental piece for the piano. It is not long, however, before he begins having nightmares about the accident that killed his wife and daughter. Possibly because of this trauma, he is open to communications from the house's ghostly occupants. Pursuing a loud, repetitive pounding noise in an upper room, he stumbles on the apparition of a young boy drowning in a tub. Working together with Claire, John discovers frightening parallels between this vision and buried events from the house's past. Horror writer M.R. James once said that his goal as a writer was to make the reader feel "pleasantly uncomfortable." Those looking for a similar experience in movies will appreciate The Changeling as a gem in the horror genre. ~ Anthony Reed, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George C. Scott, Trish VanDevere, (more)
Clint Eastwood's fifth film as a director and eighth Western as a star (ninth if you count Paint Your Wagon), The Outlaw Josey Wales chronicles the hero's violent journey westward after the Civil War. With fresh memoris of his family's slaughter by Red Leg soldier Terrill (Bill McKinney), Confederate Josey Wales (Eastwood) refuses to join his captain Fletcher (John Vernon) and the rest of his comrades in surrender to a U.S. Army regiment. Deemed a dangerous outlaw after a bloody one-man battle with that regiment, Josey is pursued by U.S. cavalry soldiers led by the unwilling Fletcher and the murderous Terrill, as well as by bounty hunters who eventually learn how coolly lethal Wales can be. Despite his desire to remain a lone fugitive, Josey soon has a crew of travelling companions that includes Cherokee Lone Watie (Chief Dan George) and the pretty Laura Lee (Sondra Locke) and her vigorous Grandma Sarah (Paula Trueman), settlers on their way to a ranch near ghost town Santa Rio. The few Santa Rio residents welcome the group, but their peace and Josey's burgeoning romance with Laura Lee are soon interrupted by Terrill's arrival. A skillfully violent man of few, well-chosen words, Josey Wales resembles Eastwood's previous Western heroes in Sergio Leone's trilogy, A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966). However, the emphasis on friends and family served notice that, in the words of one critic, "the Man With No Name doesn't live here anymore." Indeed, Josey Wales would be Eastwood's last western before 1985's Pale Rider. Although it did not garner similar critical praise when it was released, Eastwood considers The Outlaw Josey Wales to be the equal of the Oscar-winning Unforgiven (1992). ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clint Eastwood, Chief Dan George, (more)
A gangster becomes enraged when a young man prevents his wife from killing herself and then proceeds to run off with her. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1975
- PG
This western chronicles the struggle of a post-Civil War mountain family to prove that they did not betray the Confederate side during the conflict. The film contains the last film appearance of Walter Brennan. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1975
- R
In this horror film, black African Christians confront the traditional religion of their peers when a Yoruban priest is drowned after attempting to stop the Christian baptism of a young girl and her mother. Trouble ensues when the priest comes back to life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lawrence Cook, Marlene Clark, (more)
- 1973
The doctors at Rampart set their sights on a diabetic patient who, intentionally or otherwise, repeatedly forgets to take his insulin shots. Another crisis situation arises from a frantic phone call from an anonymous woman who claims to have overdosed on drugs. Elsewhere, the team attempts to rescue some valuable horses from a burning stable; a hostage in a bank robbery is given medical treatment literally "under the gun"; and fireman Chet Kelly (Tim Donnelly) tries his hand at guitar playing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
- PG
The scene a remote South Sea island. A minor skirmish between rival soldiers snowballs into a potential catastrophe. A standoff between "us" and "them" threatens to heat up the cold war to the boiling point. There's plenty of preliminary bloodletting before the final high-noon showdown. Mark Lenard, John Russell, Linda Avery and Keye Luke star. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
Blood Legacy was also released as Legacy of Blood (as was a like-titled, though dissimilar, 1978 film). Looking older than dirt, John Carradine plays a crotchety millionaire who wills his fortune to his estranged children. There is, of course, a proviso. The kids, all grown up and none too savory, must spend a week in Carradine's estate. Naturally, this leads to a lot of petty spitefulness...which in turn leads to murder. Jeff Morrow and Faith Domergue, who in happier times co-starred in This Island Earth, show up as two of the heirs, as do 1950s favorites Merry Anders and Dick Davalos (James Dean's brother in East of Eden). Rudolfo Acosta is top-billed as a local sheriff who must contend with seven days' worth of carnage. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
First telecast January 5, 1971, Alias Smith and Jones was the pilot for the popular TV series of the same name. This genial rip-off of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid stars Pete Duel as Hannibal Heyes and Ben Murphy as Kid Curry, two notorious Western bandits who have become folk heroes because of their refusal to kill anyone. Heyes and Curry would like to go straight; the governor offers them that opportunity, provided they can stay out of trouble for one year. Assuming the aliases of Joshua Smith and Thaddeus Jones, Heyes and Curry begin their "retribution" process as tellers in a very tempting, very unguarded bank. Perennial guest star Susan Saint James provides the feminine angle in this tongue-and-cheek effort. Alias Smith and Jones ran until January 1973, by which time Roger Davis had replaced Pete Duel, who committed suicide on the last day of 1971. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1970
- R
In this limp western melodrama, when Mexican bandit Hector Cordoba (Raf Vallone) attacks a U.S. Army fort a few miles from the Mexican border, General John Pershing (John Russell) orders Captain Rod Douglas (George Peppard) to organize a group of soldiers to cross the border into Mexico to capture Cordoba and to bring him back to the U.S. for trial. When Douglas's band cross into Mexico, Douglas meets Leonora (Giovanna Ralli), a beautiful Mexican woman raped by Cordoba, who agrees to lead the Americans to Cordoba's stronghold. But Leonora is not entirely trustworthy, and when the Americans reach the fort, Cordoba takes them prisoners. Now, the Americans must escape from Cordoba's clutches and make it back to the other side of the border. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Peppard, Giovanna Ralli, (more)
- 1968
Chaddock (Barry Sullivan) is the straight-shooting marshall of Gloryhole, Montana. Wealthy rancher Rep Marlowe (Wendell Corey) practically owns the town by way of his gambling saloons, shady land deals and hired guns who intimidate the law-abiding citizens. Sheriff Tangley (Lon Chaney Jr.) calls on Chaddock when Marlowe holds the town hostage by damming the river and cutting off the water supply. Barbara Hale plays Sarah Cody, whose young son is killed by gunfire in the ensuing melee. The saloon girl Nora (Joan Caulfield) is a former schoolteacher forced into her tawdry occupation by the menacing Marlowe in this routine western film. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barry Sullivan, Joan Caulfield, (more)
- 1968
James Lake (Raymond St. Jacques) is an escaped black convict imprisoned for a murder he didn't commit. Leslie Whitlock (Kevin McCarthy) offers James money to kill his wife, Ellen (Dana Wynter). He declines and tries to look up his old flame Lily (Barbara McNair), but discovers his own brother is now married to the sultry nightclub singer. James returns to Leslie, and the trio travel towards a mountain retreat. James and Ellen escape and try to find the murderer who had framed James years before. He experiences prejudices from police and civilian alike before the trail leads to the dead girl's stepfather. Due to the constant sexual and racial overtones this film is considered an exploitation feature. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dana Wynter, Raymond St. Jacques, (more)
- 1968
Cars are crashing everywhere in this action film that tells the story of Nero Sagittarius, a mobster, and his partner Cateye Meares are determined break into the Southern stock-car circuit. Their entry is opposed by Steve Cullen as it was Meares who killed his brother. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1967
An insane, renegade cavalryman leads his vicious band of outlaws into a series of brutal raids against settlers and local Indians in this western. Fortunately, a former gunslinger and a brave Indian agent ride up to save the imperiled pioneers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Ireland, Virginia Mayo, (more)
- 1967
U.S. Marshal Gid McCool (George Montgomery) leads a wagon train of convicted felons to Huntsville prison in this routine western. The only female among the crooks is the dancehall girl Laura Mannon (Yvonne De Carlo), McCool's former flame. When McCool cannot be swayed from completing his lawful duty, Laura tries to endear herself to shotgun rider Mike Reno (Tab Hunter) in hopes he will set her free. The party is shadowed by some outlaws led by Aaron (John Russell), the brother of one of the condemned murderers, in hopes he can free his doomed sibling. Mike's efforts land him in chains, but McCool releases him to fight when the outlaws attack. The hero McCool comes through with only a slight scratch while his adversaries are all beaten to a bloody pulp. Silent movie star Francis X. Bushman was to have appeared in this film, but died in August 1966. His part was taken over by Donald "Red" Barry. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Montgomery, Yvonne De Carlo, (more)
- 1966
Jim Walker Rory Calhoun is a hero who fights Indians and crooks who plan a series of stagecoach robberies in this routine western. He defends the honor of a woman (Corinne Calvet) wrongly accused of having a bad reputation. Johnny Mack Brown plays the local Sheriff Ben Hall, with Lon Chaney, Jr. as the friendly stagecoach driver Charlie Russell. Watch for DeForest Kelley in a pre-Star Trek role as a crazed gunman. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rory Calhoun, Corinne Calvet, (more)
