Keith Larsen Movies

In this wilderness adventure, a young boy is forced to accompany his parents on a west-bound wagon train. En route, his parents die, and he is left in the wilds to fend for himself. He finds salvation in an Indian girl, whom he eventually marries. As a young man, he must then decide whether to remain with her or whether to return to civilization. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Keith Larsen not only starred in Run to the High Country but also handled the production end. Top billing is afforded Larsen's son Erik, playing a boy with an ecological bent. In attempting to protect the local wildlife from hunters, Erik places his own life in jeopardy at every turn. The story is, at best, merely adequate: the main selling card of Run to the High Country is its gorgeous Utah location photography. Karen Steele and Alvin Keeswood also appear. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A coven of California witches fight back against the blackmailing efforts of a homicidal rapist masquerading as a priest in this erotic horror movie. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

We pity the poor historian who has to catalog all the films of ubiquitous leading man John Ireland. Just when such a list seems to be complete, along comes an obscurity like Caxambu. Lensed on location in the Amazon, the film casts Ireland as a member of a diamond hijacking gang. Once they've escaped into the forest, the thieves must contend with headhunters. Audience exposure to Caxambu was largely confined to drive-ins and Late Late Shows. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Cosmos 1, an interstellar spacecraft, is heading to its home base after a long mission when it receives a distress call from its sister ship, Cosmos 3. Some of the ship's Centaurian crew -- members of a once proud race who are now subservient to humans from the fleet's home world -- have rebelled. Cosmos 3 crashes on Solarius, an unexplored planet in a young star system, leaving behind five survivors, among them the Lt. Anderson and Zenda, human/Centaurian couple. The Cosmos 1, under the command of Admiral King (Wendell Corey), makes the three month journey to Solarius at the speed of light, during which, because of the time paradoxes involved in light-speed travel, 18 years elapse on the planet. A landing party led by First Officer Scott (Keith Larson) begins searching for the wrecked ship and any survivors, and discover that this is a tropical world, beautiful and dangerous, filled with exotic birds and flowers, huge lizards and snakes, deadly insects and other animals, and crystaline pools and boiling pits. Meanwhile, Linda (Irene Tsu), a young Centaurian from Cosmos 1, gets lost in the jungle and is rescued by Tang (Robert Ito), a young man living in the primordial forests -- she discovers that he is a Centaurian and the son of Anderson and Zenda. The two are attracted to each other, even as the crew of the Cosmos 1 is trying to rescue her and keep themselves alive. A conveniently timed volcanic eruption forces the issue of how far the admiral can carry this mission. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Keith Larsen stars as the Apache Kid, an Indian scout. He is willing to cooperate with the US cavalry until his brother is killed by another Native American. The Apache Kid is permitted to seek revenge under tribal law, but white law does not recognize this ruling; as a result the Kid is branded a renegade. A fellow cavalry scout (Jim Davis) is ordered to stop the Kid, but decides instead to let him go and seek out justice in his own way. Supposedly based on fact, Apache Warrior was directed by Elmo Williams, who in 1952 was film editor for the landmark western High Noon. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The D-Day invasion of 1944 provides a backdrop for the Allied Artists actioner Screaming Eagles. Tom Tryon plays Private Mason, an ill-tempered member of the 101st Airborne Infantry division. Mason makes plenty of enemies with his negative attitude until good-guy lieutenant Pauling (Jan Merlin) straightens him out. The 101st' s main objective (once all personal travails are swept away, that is) is to capture and hold a vital bridge in Normandy. Jacqueline Beer, later one of the costars of TV's 77 Sunset Strip, provides the feminine interest as an attractive resistance fighter (were there ever any unattractive resistance fighters?) Featured in the cast are TV favorites Martin Milner and Alvy Moore and second-generation thespian Edward G. Robinson Jr. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this thriller, a mentally unstable ex-GI escapes from the mental ward and goes searching for his ex-wife who only recently divorced him. The man is not dangerous; he just wants to talk to her. Meanwhile the woman is murdered by her lover, a married man, because she is pregnant with his child. The fugitive soldier is framed for the murder. He escapes, finds the real killer and gets his revenge. Fortunately, a clever police lieutenant also figures out the murderer's identity and gets there in time to save the soldier from killing him. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Forrest Tucker stars in this yeoman Republic actioner. A short-term railroad freight line is threatened with extinction by a swifter trucking service. Keith Larsen is Tucker's business opponent, as well his rival over the affections of the beauteous Barbara Britton. When the train service evinces signs of survival, the truckers start playing dirty. Night Freight was directed by western veteran Jean Yarborough, who proved that his many years in the TV-sitcom world had not diminished his ability to stage action sequences. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Although the French Foreign Legion became increasingly anachronistic in the 1950s, films like Desert Sands helped to perpetuate the glamorous legend of this mercenary aggregation. Ralph Meeker heads the cast as a bold legionnaire who falls in love with gorgeous Arab girl Marla English. Alas, Marla is the daughter of shiek John Carradine and the sister of vengeful Keith Larsen, both of whom have vowed to kill all Legionnaires within shouting distance. Larsen eventually discovers that his real enemy is not Meeker, but the duplicitous Carradine. Director Lesley Selander staged most of the action scenes in the manner of his western films, with excellent results. One of the scriptwriters of Desert Sands was Danny Arnold, later the prime mover of TV's Barney Miller. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Arrow in the Dust is an intelligently assembled story of regeneration. Deserting cavalry trooper Bart Laish (Sterling Hayden) is forced by a series of circumstances to assume the identity of his dead commanding officer. In this guise, Laish is put in charge of a wagon train heading through Indian country. At first intending to weasel out of the responsibility, Laish eventually takes his duties seriously, and in so doing he restores his own innate courage and self-respect. Alas, he is undermined by duplicitous Tillotson (Tudor Owen), who intends to betray his fellow passengers and sell guns to the Indians. Coleen Gray costars as Christella, who comes to love the renegade Laish and helps him to rebuild his tarnished reputaton. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

War Paint stars Robert Stack as a courageous U.S. Cavalry lieutenant, assigned to deliver a peace treaty to a powerful Indian chief. Unfortunately, a band of bloodthirsty renegades have vowed to kill the officer before he completes his mission. Will our hero be able to deliver the treaty at the appointed time, thereby avoiding mass bloodshed? And will the Indian chieftain's daughter (Joan Taylor) actually survive until the last reel, even though she's fallen in love with the lieutenant? (If so, it will be a Hollywood first!) Beautifully photographed in Pathecolor, War Paint was filmed on location in Death Valley. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi