87% (2) 99 River Street 83 min, Not Rated, [Action, Crime, Drama, Film-Noir, Thriller] [Phil Karlson] [11 Sep 1953]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 74%, Rotten Tomatoes: 100%, External Reviews
Actors: Brad Dexter, Evelyn Keyes, Frank Faylen, John Payne
Writer: Robert Smith (screenplay), George Zuckerman (story)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Having lost his heavyweight championship match, boxer Ernie Driscoll now drives a taxi for a living and earns the scorn of his nagging wife, Pauline, who blames him for her lack of social status. Involved with jewel thief Victor Rawlins, Pauline is murdered by him when she impedes his ability to fence the jewels. Blamed for his wife's murder, Ernie must track down Rawlins before he leaves the country.
Rotten Tomatoes: Ernie Driscoll (John Payne) is an ex-fighter who came within seconds of winning the world championship. He's now forced to eke out a living driving a cab. A basically decent guy, he has lots of people who care about him, including Linda James (Evelyn Keyes), a slightly ditsy actress friend -- but Ernie also has a short fuse, especially where his wife Pauline (Peggie Castle) is concerned. His rage boils over when he spots her kissing another man, but her unfaithfulness turns out to be the least of his worries. The man she's seeing, Vic Rawlins (Brad Dexter), is a career criminal with both the police and his former partners after him, and he sees Ernie as the perfect fall-guy. The law and Rawlins' criminal associates are soon closing in on Ernie, while he tries desperately -- with Linda's help -- to buy the time he needs to unravel this nightmare.
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85% (2) Riot in Cell Block 11 80 min, [Crime, Drama, Film-Noir] [Don Siegel] [28 Feb 1954]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 70%, Rotten Tomatoes: 100%, External Reviews
Awards: Nominated for 2 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 1 nomination.
Actors: Emile Meyer, Frank Faylen, Leo Gordon, Neville Brand
Writer: Richard Collins (story), Richard Collins (screenplay)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Producer Walter Wanger, who had just been released from a prison term after shooting a man he believed was having an affair with his wife, wanted to make a film about the appalling conditions he saw while he was incarcerated. He got together with director Don Siegel and they came up with this film, in which several prison inmates, to protest brutal guards, substandard food, overcrowding and barely livable conditions, stage an uprising, in which most of the inmates join, and take several guards hostage. Negotiations between the inmates and prison officials are stymied, however, by politicians interfering with the prison administration, and by dissension and infighting in the inmates' own ranks.
Rotten Tomatoes: In this prison film, Neville Brand plays a "lifer" who leads his fellow prisoners in revolt. Surprisingly, they don't want to escape -- they just want better living conditions. The parallels between this fictional story and the much-later convict uprising at Attica is underlined when Brand begins manipulating the media.
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68% (1) Hangman's Knot 81 min, APPROVED, [Romance, Western] [Roy Huggins] [15 Nov 1952]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 68%, External Reviews
Actors: Claude Jarman Jr., Donna Reed, Frank Faylen, Randolph Scott
Writer: Roy Huggins
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: In 1865, a troop of Confederate soldiers led by Major Matt Stewart attack the wagon of gold escorted by Union cavalry and the soldiers are killed. The only wounded survivor tells that the war ended one month ago, and the group decides to take the gold and meet their liaison that knew that the war ended but did not inform the troop. The harsh Rolph Bainter kills the greedy man and the soldiers flee in his wagon driven by Major Stewart. When they meet a posse chasing them, Stewart gives wrong information to misguide the group; however, they have an accident with the wagon and lose the horses. They decide to stop a stagecoach and force the driver to transport them, but the posse returns and they are trapped in the station with the passenger. They realize that the men are not deputies and have no intention to bring them to justice but take the stolen gold.
Rotten Tomatoes: In this film, Randolph Scott is the commander of a Confederate raiding party. They rob a Yankee gold shipment and are told by a dying Union soldier that the war ended a month ago. Knowing that they will now be forced to face criminal charges, they hide out.
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65% (1) Race Street 79 min, [Crime, Drama, Film-Noir] [Edwin L. Marin] [11 Sep 1948]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 65%, External Reviews
Actors: Frank Faylen, George Raft, Marilyn Maxwell, William Bendix
Writer: Maurice Davis (story), Martin Rackin
External Links: Wikipedia IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Nice-guy bookie Dan Gannin plans to quit the racket; he's opening a new night club with his torch-singing sister as main attraction. But Dan's best friend Hal runs afoul of "protection" crooks, and Dan goes after them like a one-man police force despite the admonishments of Lt. Barney Runson. But there's one thing Dan didn't bargain on...
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64% (1) The McConnell Story 106 min, [Drama, War] [Gordon Douglas] [02 Dec 1955]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 64%, External Reviews
Actors: Alan Ladd, Frank Faylen, James Whitmore, June Allyson
Writer: Ted Sherdeman (screenplay), Sam Rolfe (screenplay), Ted Sherdeman (story)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Mac's plans to settle down and raise a family are upset by the Korean War. He goes as a fighter pilot and returns a hero, the first triple ace of the war. His neighbors have built a home for Mac and his devoted wife and their three children. Now he has an offer to test pilot new Sabre Jets. His wife is uneasy but knows she cannot ground her man.
Rotten Tomatoes: Alan Ladd plays real-life air force hero Captain Joseph McConnell Jr. in this inspirational biopic, while June Allyson does her usual as McConnell's anxious, waiting-nervously-at-home wife. Assigned to the medical corps during WWII, McConnell takes private flying lessons so that he'll qualify for pilot duty. After serving with distinction in the war, McConnell becomes a pioneer in the testing of jet aircraft. The film ends when McConnell dies while testing a new Sabre Jet. If June Allyson seems genuinely broken up upon learning of her screen husband's death, it may be because the real Captain Joseph McConnell died only a few weeks before filming started on The McConnell Story, necessitating a hurriedly rescripted ending.
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63% (1) The Nevadan 81 min, APPROVED, [Western] [Gordon Douglas] [11 Jan 1950]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 63%, External Reviews
Actors: Dorothy Malone, Forrest Tucker, Frank Faylen, Randolph Scott
Writer: George W. George (story), George F. Slavin (story), George W. George (screenplay), George F. Slavin (screenplay), Rowland Brown (additional dialogue)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: A mysterious stranger crosses paths with an outlaw bank robber and a greedy rancher.
Rotten Tomatoes: Those westerns produced by the team of star Randolph Scott and producer Harry Joe Brown tended to be several notches above the norm, and The Nevadan is no exception. Scott is cast as U.S. marshal Andrew Barkeley, who goes undercover in a federal pen to get a line on $250,000 in stolen money. Barkeley arranges for chief suspect Tom Tanner (Forrest Tucker) to escape from jail, the better to trail Tanner to the hiding place for the loot. If it were that easy, of course, the film would be over in 15 minutes. Complicating matters is avaricious rancher Edward Galt (George Macready), who also covets the stolen cash. Dorothy Malone adds "heart interest" as Galt's daughter. The chase and fistfight scenes are well-integrated into the suspenseful screenplay. The director was Gordon Douglas, an efficient craftsman who nonetheless wasn't nearly as skilled as Randy Scott's future collaborator Budd Boetticher.
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59% (1) 7th Cavalry 75 min, APPROVED, [Western] [Joseph H. Lewis] [01 Dec 1956]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 59%, External Reviews
Actors: Barbara Hale, Frank Faylen, Jay C. Flippen, Randolph Scott
Writer: Peter Packer (screenplay), Glendon Swarthout (based on a story by)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Returning to Fort Lincoln, Captain Benson learns of Custer's defeat at the Little Big Horn. At the inquiry as Custer's Officers blame Custer for the defeat, Benson tries to defend him. But Benson was suspiciously absent at the time of the battle and is now despised by the troops. So when an order to retrieve the bodies from the battlefield arrives, Benson volunteers for the dangerous mission of returning back into Indian territory.
Rotten Tomatoes: Though the film's title may suggest otherwise, Seventh Cavalry takes place after Custer's Last Stand. Randolph Scott stars as Cavalry officer Tom Benson, who is branded a coward after supposedly deserting at the Little Big Horn. Benson hopes to redeem himself by personally leading a burial detail to the battlefield, despite the fact that the Indians haven't exactly left the premises. The excitement level in the closing reels more than justifies the slow, steady buildup to the finale. Innovative direction by the reliable Joseph H. Lewis enlivens this verbose western. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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