84% (2)  The Comancheros  107 min,  Approved,  [Action, Adventure, Romance, Western]  [Michael Curtiz, John Wayne]  [29 Nov 1961]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 69%,   Rotten Tomatoes: 100%,   External Reviews
Awards:  2 wins & 3 nominations.
Actors:  Ina Balin, John Wayne, Nehemiah Persoff, Stuart Whitman
Writer:  James Edward Grant (screenplay), Clair Huffaker (screenplay), Paul Wellman (novel)
External Links:  Wikipedia  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  English    Country:  USA
Plot:  Texas Ranger Jake Cutter arrests gambler Paul Regret, but soon finds himself teamed with his prisoner in an undercover effort to defeat a band of renegade arms merchants and thieves known as Comancheros.
Rotten Tomatoes:   Based on a novel by Paul I. Wellman, The Comancheros stars John Wayne and Stuart Whitman as a Texas Ranger and roguish gambler, respectively. Reluctantly joining forces, Wayne and Whitman try to round up the "comancheros" -- renegade whites who've aligned with the Indians in smuggling guns and whisky. Ina Balin plays the daughter of comanchero chieftain Nehemiah Persoff, who rescues Stu and the Duke when they're captured by the renegades. After the anticipated climactic battle, Wayne allows Whitman and Balin -- fugitives from justice both--to ride into the sunset together. The last film directed by the estimable Michael Curtiz, The Comancheros is fine testosterone-laden entertainment. Keep an eye out for veteran western stars Bob Steele and Guinn "Big Boy" Williams in uncredited supporting roles. More than a few elements from The Comancheros would find their way into Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch, albeit without the happy ending.
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68% (2)  The Patsy  101 min,  [Comedy]  [Jerry Lewis]  [18 Sep 1964]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 63%,   Rotten Tomatoes: 73%,   External Reviews
Actors:  Everett Sloane, Ina Balin, Jerry Lewis, Phil Harris
Writer:  Jerry Lewis, Bill Richmond
External Links:  Wikipedia  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  English    Country:  USA
Plot:  When a star comedian dies, his comedy team, decides to train a nobody to fill the shoes of the Star in a big TV show (a Patsy). But the man they choose, bellboy Stanley Belt, cant do anything right. The big TV show is getting closer, and Stanley gets worse all the time.
Rotten Tomatoes:   Jerry Lewis plays a dim-bulbed bellhop who, after an extraordinary series of events, finds himself being groomed to step into the comical shoes of one of the country's best young comedians.
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51% (2)  The Greatest Story Ever Told  225 min,  G,  [Biography, Drama, History]  [George Stevens, David Lean, Jean Negulesco]  [09 Apr 1965]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 66%,   Rotten Tomatoes: 37%,   External Reviews
Awards:  Nominated for 5 Oscars. Another 1 win & 1 nomination.
Actors:  Carroll Baker, Charlton Heston, Dorothy McGuire, Ina Balin, Max von Sydow, Michael Anderson Jr.
Writer:  Fulton Oursler (book), Henry Denker (source writings), James Lee Barrett (screenplay), George Stevens (screenplay)
External Links:  Wikipedia  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  English    Country:  USA
Plot:  "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me?" It is towards this climactic crossroads that the story of Jesus of Nazareth leads, and to which, at the final moment, it again looks back in triumphant retrospect. It is the anguishing crossroads where the eternal questions of faith and doubt become resolved.
Rotten Tomatoes:   Filmmaker George Stevens chose Monument Valley, Utah for his exterior sequences in The Greatest Story Ever Told, this ($20 million) adaptation of Fulton Oursler's best-selling book. The "Greatest Story" is, of course, the life of Jesus Christ, played herein by Max Von Sydow. The large supporting cast includes Dorothy McGuire as Mary, Claude Rains as Herod the Great, Jose Ferrer as Herod Antipas, Charlton Heston as John the Baptist, Donald Pleasence as Satan (identified only as "The Dark Hermit"), David McCallum as Judas Iscariot, Sidney Poitier as Simon of Cyrene, Telly Savalas as Pontius Pilate and Martin Landau as Caiaphas. Even Robert Blake as Simon the Zealot, Jamie Farr as Thaddaeus, and motorcyle-flick veteran Richard Bakalyan as Dismas, the repentant thief, are well-suited to their roles. Originally roadshown at 260 minutes, Greatest Story Ever Told was later available in a 195-minute version.
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50% (2)  From the Terrace  149 min,  Passed,  [Drama, Romance]  [Mark Robson]  [09 Sep 1960]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 67%,   Rotten Tomatoes: 33%,   External Reviews
Awards:  Won 1 Golden Globe. Another 2 nominations.
Actors:  Ina Balin, Joanne Woodward, Myrna Loy, Paul Newman
Writer:  John O'Hara (novel), Ernest Lehman (screenplay)
External Links:  Wikipedia  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  English    Country:  USA
Plot:  Alfred Eaton, an ambitious young executive, climbs to the top of New York's financial world as his marriage crumbles. At the brink of attaining his career goals, he is forced to choose between business success, married to the beautiful, but unfaithful Mary and starting over with his true love, the much younger Natalie.
Rotten Tomatoes:   This adaptation of John O'Hara's From the Terrace stars Paul Newman as Alfred Eaton, an unhappily married financial adviser, while his real-life wife, Joanne Woodward, portrays Mary St. John, his promiscuous screen spouse. Mary's libertine behavior is a by-product of her husband's inability to express love and affection, a trait he has inherited from his cold-blooded father. Mark Robson directs and Myrna Loy heads up a large supporting cast as Newman's alcoholic mother. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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65% (1)  The Young Doctors  100 min,  [Drama]  [Phil Karlson]  [01 Dec 1961]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 65%,   External Reviews
Awards:  1 win.
Actors:  Ben Gazzara, Dick Clark, Fredric March, Ina Balin
Writer:  Arthur Hailey (novel), Joseph Hayes
External Links:  Wikipedia  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  English    Country:  USA
Plot:  Two pathologists -- a veteran department head (Fredric March) whose perspective has been shaped by years of red tape and day-to-day frustrations, and his new assistant (Ben Gazarra), a young, somewhat aggressive man who is more up-to-date but who lacks his colleague's personal touch -- clash in a small hospital's lab. The gulf between their approaches is dramatically illustrated by two critical cases that both are intimately involved in.
Rotten Tomatoes:   The Young Doctors presaged the many medical dramas that would become series hits on American television from the 1960s onward. The cast of physicians in this tale about the relationship between two doctors even includes one female physician. Ben Gazzara is Dr. David Coleman, a new medic who has high ideals and enthusiasm to match. His mentor is Dr. Joseph Pearson (Fredric March), who is head of their department and has been around enough to know what daily problems, including bureaucratic overload, can do to a doctor's outlook. The push-and-pull exchange between the two men fuels the story, which features two important cases that challenge them. Actor George Segal debuts in this film as one of the doctors.
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