Earl Holliman

A war correspondent witnesses errors made at Allied Command after he and a unit of US Army Rangers land unopposed at Anzio, Italy, but later become trapped behind German lines during one of the bloodiest battles of WWII. Allied forces land at Anzio unopposed, but instead of moving inland and north to Rome, their commanding officer decides to dig in. A battle-hardened war correspondent borrows a jeep and driver and drives to Rome and back encountering no significant German forces. The report on the absence of the enemy is discounted as the general is concerned about having the strength to hold Anzio and support the offensive. By the time it is finally decided to make a move the Germans have arrived in strength. A US Ranger assault on Cisterna is ambushed with most of the forces killed or captured. A small group of survivors, including the war correspondent, struggle to make their way back to Anzio and report on the German defenses. —Jeremy Perkins {J-26} The Allies land in Anzio, Italy--just south of Rome--in January 1944. Two battalions of US Rangers attempt to move inland to Cisterna and are ambushed. A small handful of survivors, including a war correspondent, struggles to return to Anzio. —Prairiekid

Ranch owner Katie Elder's four sons determine to avenge the murder of their father and the swindling of their mother. The Elder boys return to Clearwater, Texas for their Mother's funeral. John, the eldest, is a well-known gunfighter and trouble follows him wherever he goes. The boys try to get their ranch back from the town's gunsmith who won it from their father in a card game, after which he was murdered. Troubles come, however, just because they carry the Elder name. —anonymous

The weirdest alien of the galaxy pays a visit to Earth... Jerry Lewis is Kreton, a childish alien who, against his teacher's will leaves his planet to visit the Earth, and lands in the backyard of a famous television journalist who doesn't believe in U.F.O's and aliens. Wanting to study humans but not able to fully understand them, Kreton makes a mess out of it, generating a lot of comic situations. —Alessio Quirino

In a remote Californian desert town, a lawyer arranges for a wanted mobster to skip the country via a small airstrip but the local sheriff and his deputy could pose a problem. Lawyer Ralph Anderson arrives in Tula, an amazingly remote town in the desert, as a reluctant emissary of mob chief Victor Massonetti, who wants the airstrip clear for his unofficial exit from the country. Ralph's arrival has a profound effect on his estranged father, the Sheriff; his brother Tip, an alcoholic Deputy; and his ex-sweetheart Linda, now married to Tip. Tension builds as a small army of gangsters takes over the town. Then the situation abruptly changes. —Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>

An attractive American Indian woman and her young son are in a wagon, passing through a secluded, wooded area. They nervously pass by two dismounted, shiftless cowboys who are killing time by guzzling whiskey. The woman glances apprehensively over her shoulder as the two men mount up and follow along. As the men draw even with the buggy, they begin harassing the woman, asking her to stop and have a drink with them. She picks up a buggy whip and lashes one of the cowboys, Rick Belden (Earl Holliman), across the face, then whips her horse into a dead run. With the drunken cowboys in hot pursuit, the speeding wagon careens over onto its side and throws the woman and boy out. The woman frantically orders the boy to flee as the leering cowboys strip off her clothes and assault her. The boy takes one of the cowboys' horses and escapes. He gallops into the nearby town where his dad, Marshal Matt Morgan (Kirk Douglas) is busy entertaining some local urchins with tall tales from the "old days." Morgan rushes out into the street to meet the distraught boy, who can't verbalize what just took place. Morgan mounts up on the horse with his son and races back in the direction of the overturned wagon. Morgan discovers the nude body of his wife, who has been raped and murdered. He tearfully recovers her body and returns to the waiting horse, when he notices that the animal carries a beautiful silver-trimmed saddle emblazoned with the initials "CB." Morgan recognizes the initials. Later that same day, Rick Belden is drinking whiskey at a saloon in the town of Gun Hill. One of the saloon girls notices the deep cut on his face from the whiplash he received earlier. She teases him, saying that it does her good to see him getting scratched for a change. Belden slaps her to the floor and drunkenly confronts the startled saloon patrons who object to his behavior. Before anything worse can take place, a ranch hand named Beero (Brad Dexter) enters the saloon and tells young Belden that his father wants to see him immediately. It seems that the hotheaded Rick took something of his father's without permission. The men return to the Belden ranch where Rick is confronted about the missing saddle by his father, Craig Belden (Anthony Quinn). Rick lies and claims that their horses were stolen along with the valuable saddle. When his father notices the deep laceration on his son's face, he beams proudly and makes light of it. Beero sarcastically remarks that Rick would do better to fight with men. An offended Craig Belden goads his weakling son into fighting Beero and defending the Belden family name. Rick tries to beg off, but Craig insists. Beero easily fends off the hapless Rick, knocking him to the floor twice before Craig stops the fight. Craig Belden is revealed to be a tough, self-made and ruthless patriarch whose blind tolerance of his son's outrageous behavior has already ruined the boy. Having identified the fancy saddle, Marshal Morgan explains to his deceased wife's Indian father that he and Craig Belden are old friends. The old man wants revenge, and Morgan vows to get it. He then boards the train to Gun Hill to return the saddle and ask Belden which of his men were involved in his wife's murder. On the train, he meets a woman named Linda (Carolyn Jones). She recognizes the saddle and warns him about Craig Belden and his powerful influence in Gun Hill. When the train arrives, Beero is waiting to take Linda straight to Belden's ranch. She declines and checks into a hotel instead. When Morgan steps off the train with the saddle, Beero confronts him. Morgan tells him to let Belden know he is coming. Morgan hires a rig and starts out for the Belden ranch. Beero has already ridden ahead and warned Belden that someone is on the way with his saddle. An enraged Belden arrives at the ranch house and is shocked to encounter his old friend Matt Morgan. They drink to old times and Belden discloses that although he has become prosperous, he lost his wife nine years ago. Now it is just him and his son. Morgan inquires how the saddle had gotten lost and Belden tells him that his son Rick and a friend named Lee Smithers (Brian Hutton) had passed through Pawley (Marshal Morgan's town) a few days ago. He explains that they were drinking in a saloon on Sunday when someone stole their horses and saddles. Morgan tells him that his wife was murdered that same day, and that one of the murderers was using Belden's silver saddle. Belden offers to help in any way he can and asks Morgan how we will be able to identify the killers. Morgan explains that his nine-year-old son had been present that day, and that he had witnessed his mother lashing one of the men's cheek open to the bone. A sudden look of recognition crosses Belden's face, and Morgan sees it. He accuses Belden's son of the crime, explaining that neither of the town's saloons are open on Sunday, making Rick Belden a liar. Belden nervously tries to deny his son's involvement and warns Morgan to leave Rick alone and get out of town at once. Morgan replies that he will be on the last train out of Gun Hill at 9 PM, but that Rick and his friend will be going with him to stand trial. Back in town, Morgan gets no cooperation from the citizens of Gun Hill. They are terrified of Craig Belden, who owns half the town. The corrupt sheriff makes it clear that he won't help. Belden confronts his son and Lee, telling them just who it was that they killed. They claim that the death of Morgan's wife was an accident, and then dismiss her as "just an Indian squaw." Belden angrily banishes Lee from his ranch and warns Rick that Matt Morgan is no one to trifle with. Rick protests that he isn't afraid and rashly insists on going into town. Craig Belden insists that he take Beero and another man along. Morgan searches the town for Rick, but runs into immediate resistance. One of three men seated in front of a saloon remarks that he wouldn't arrest any man for killing an Indian; they would pay him a bounty instead. Morgan knocks him out with a forearm to the jaw. The other two men decline to test him. In the saloon, a friendly bartender warns him to leave Rick alone. The only person willing to help Morgan is former saloon girl (and Craig Belden's erstwhile mistress) Linda. She advises Morgan to look for Rick in the saloon across the street. Morgan stealthily climbs up the side of the building and sneaks in the window of an upstairs bedroom, where a startled saloon girl is sleeping. Simultaneously, Rick interrupts his card game and heads upstairs to pay a visit to the girl. Morgan gets the jump on him and knocks him out cold with the butt of his gun. He heaves Rick across his shoulder and starts down the stairs, gun drawn. Two saloon employees go for their shotguns before Morgan shoots them down. He orders Rick's cardplaying friends into a store room, but one of them ducks behind a table to fight back. Morgan fires through the table and wounds him, then locks everyone up in the store room. Out on the street, he runs into the corrupt sheriff, who doesn't challenge him but tells him he will never get away with it. Morgan goes into a hotel and forcibly coerces the reluctant manager into giving him a room. He handcuffs Rick to the bed and settles in to wait on the 9 o'clock train. Belden soon arrives with twenty men and tries to reason with Morgan. When it becomes obvious that Morgan is serious about putting Rick on the train, Belden orders his men to open fire through the windows of Morgan's hotel room. Shots rain in from the surrounding rooftops, but Morgan returns fire and kills two of Belden's men. He also shoves the bed holding Rick in front of one window, limiting Belden's options. Belden is afraid to rush the room and possibly wound his son. Belden enters the saloon and confronts Linda about not returning to his ranch. It is revealed that she has been away at a hospital recovering from a beating administered by Craig Belden. She complains that Rick constantly makes up lies about her, fueling Craig's jealousy. She asks Belden if he is finally willing to marry her, but he admits that Rick is the obstacle. She knows that Belden will always choose his son over her. On a saloon bet, Linda walks over to her hotel and goes up to the room where Morgan is holding Rick. He admits her to the room and quietly asks for her help. He needs a shotgun to make good on his escape plan. Undecided about helping him, Linda returns to the saloon and encounters a drunken Lee Smithers, who callously admits to raping and killing Morgan's wife. Linda throws her drink in his face and storms out. She notices a shotgun behind the bar. As dusk falls, Belden decides on a desperate move. He tells Morgan he is coming up to talk, man to man. Morgan agrees, but the unarmed Belden arranges for two of his gunmen to trail him up the stairs. While Morgan is distracted by his conversation with Belden, the two men creep down the hallway. One of them makes a noise and Morgan reacts just in the nick of time, shooting one of them and driving the other back down the stairs. Belden throws something at Morgan but misses. An angry Morgan drives him from the room. In the meantime, Linda slips behind the saloon bar and retrieves the shotgun, hiding it under her shawl. She takes it to Morgan, knowing she will pay a steep price. As Morgan calculates a way to get Rick to the train platform, Lee Smithers sets fire to the rear of the hotel, hoping to drive Morgan into the open. Morgan is forced to unshackle Rick from the bed, and a fierce struggle over the shotgun ensues. Morgan wins the battle, and as the hotel burns down Morgan handcuffs himself to Rick and descends the stairs with the sawed-off, double-barrelled shotgun pressed under Rick's chin. Belden and his men are stymied. Morgan warns that if one shot is fired he will decapitate Rick with the shotgun. Morgan and Rick mount a buckboard and start slowly toward the train platform. Belden, his gunmen, and Lee Smithers trail the wagon slowly down the street, waiting for an opening. Just as the train pulls in, Morgan shrewdly eases the wagon across the tracks in front of the train, separating himself and his prisoner from the rest of the crowd. Only Smithers is on the same side of the tracks as Morgan and Rick. Running out of time, Smithers makes his move. He taunts Morgan, daring the lawman to draw against him. Smithers finally pulls his gun and fires at Morgan, striking Rick Belden instead. Morgan lowers the shotgun and discharges a full load of buckshot into Smithers just before Rick falls from the wagon, mortally wounded. Still bound to his prisoner, Morgan falls with him. He unlocks the handcuffs and wearily walks away to board the train. Craig Belden runs around the train to discover his dead son on the ground. He grieves over him for a few moments before angrily calling out to Matt Morgan. Morgan tells Belden that it is over. There is nothing more to fight about. But Belden demands satisfaction. The two men square off, but Morgan stipulates that he won't draw first. Belden obliges, pulling his revolver before Morgan guns him down. As Belden dies, he asks Morgan for the name of his young son, Petey. With his last breath, he admonishes Morgan to "raise him right." The train pulls out with Morgan on board as Linda grieves over the fallen Craig Belden.

Lawman Wyatt Earp and outlaw Doc Holliday form an unlikely alliance which culminates in their participation in the legendary Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. After a long career as a lawman that made him a legend, Wyatt Earp (Burt Lancaster) decides to quit and join his brothers in Tombstone, Arizona. There, he would see them in a feud with the Clantons, a local clan of thugs and cattle thieves. When the showdown becomes inevitable, the help will come from Doc Holliday (Kirk Douglas), a terminally-ill gambler who happens to be another Wild West legend. —Dragan Antulov <dragan.antulov@altbbs.fido.hr>

During the Depression, a con-man promises rain to a desperate drought-ridden Kansas town and marriage to a local desperate spinster. Lizzie Curry is on the verge of becoming a hopeless old maid. Her wit and intelligence and skills as a homemaker can't make up for the fact that she's just plain plain. Even the town sheriff, File, for whom she harbors a secret yen, won't take a chance --- until the town suffers a drought and into the lives of Lizzie and her brothers and father comes one Bill Starbuck - profession: Rainmaker. —A.L.Beneteau <albl@inforamp.net> This is the story of a family...and the daughter specifically who both feel hopeless about two things. The family is concerned about the drought that is effecting the family farm, and about the future of their sister Lizzie. Since she hasn't met a man at her stage of life...the family and she thinks it's because she's too "plain" looking. Until a stranger comes along an convinces both that there is hope. —Ray Betterbid During the Great Depression, Lizzie Curry is the sole female in a household of males on the Curry ranch in rural Three Point, the males being her widowed father H.C. and brothers Noah and Jim. Considered plain, Lizzie is close to being classified a spinster, something she doesn't like, she wanting to be loved for herself and not wanting to act flirty i.e. helpless or silly, to attract a man, or to be paraded as desperate for a husband. H.C. and Jim in particular will push her into situations to be with eligible men, inexperienced Jim who himself is susceptible to ploys of such flirty girls as Snookie Maguire. Of the men in town, they all believe that recently arrived Deputy Sheriff File has the most potential as a mate for Lizzie, he who tells people he that he is widowed, while in reality his wife left him for another man, arguably the reason for he being relationship-shy. The lives of the entire family are turned upside down with the arrival into town of Bill Starbuck, a proverbial snake oil salesman who they are unaware is on File's radar as the con man heading their way. What Starbuck is selling to the Currys is rain in the current drought decimating their cattle stock. For $100 up front, he guarantees rain within twenty-four hours. While H.C., with naive Jim by his side, is willing to pay the money seeing the amount as what he may routinely lose on a gambling night anyway, Noah but Lizzie in particular can see Starbuck as the charlatan that he is. But Lizzie may have a different view of this stranger when he convinces her that she is indeed beautiful. —Huggo

U.S. Navy Lieutenant Harry Brubaker (William Holden) is a pilot who previously fought during World War II, went back to his civilian job as an attorney, and is now a recalled naval reservist further engaged in the Korean War flying F9F Panthers in the Korean War from carriers. He is returning from a mission where his jet sustained battle damage and he has to ditch it into the bone chilling cold of the Sea of Japan. Brubaker is about to freeze to death when a Navy rescue helicopter a Sikorsky HO3S-1 appears. The rescue helicopter that saves Brubaker is flown by an enlisted Naval Aviation Pilot (NAP), the eccentric green top hat-and-scarf wearing Chief Petty Officer Mike Forney (Mickey Rooney), with Forney's crewman AD2 Nestor Gamidge (Earl Holliman) jumping into the freezing water to hook Brubaker to the rescue harness. Forney had often been in trouble for brawling and sporting a non-regulation green top hat and scarf while flying his helicopter as encouragement to downed pilots in the water. Back aboard his ship, the aircraft carrier USS Savo Island Brubaker is called to the quarters of Rear Admiral Tarrant, the Carrier Task Force 77 commander, who has taken an interest in Brubaker. Rear Admiral Tarrant (Fredric March) lost his own son at the Battle of Midway during World War II and Brubaker's manner and bearing brings back memories of his lost son. Brubaker complains about the unfairness of his recall when most actively flying/actively drilling Naval Reserve pilots weren't recalled (Brubaker hadn't been flying in the Reserve), America is not actually "at war", and most Americans have no involvement. Tarrant advises that, "All through history, men have had to fight the wrong war in the wrong place, but that's the one they're stuck with." The admiral finds the pilot is tired of war and just wants to return to civilian life to be with his family and the legal career he left behind. Nevertheless, they both agree to the necessity of seeing this conflict through to its conclusion. A new mission is set. The target is a group of bridges used by Communist forces. Commander Wayne Lee (Charles McGraw), the Commander of the Carrier Air Group ("CAG"), is dedicated to his men, but Tarrant would rather see him dedicated to his mission. Lee had come to Tarrant with a complaint over the carrier captain's overuse of engines on tied-down aircraft during docking. However, when reminded that the captain would be writing his performance review, Lee backs down -- a weakness which prompts Tarrant to decide not to recommend Lee for promotion. The Savo Island returns to port in Japan. Brubaker is told that his wife Nancy (Grace Kelly) and children have arrived in Tokyo on an unexpected visit, and he is given a three-day pass during a port visit. Their reunion is interrupted when Nestor shows up at their hotel asking Brubaker's help in bailing Forney out of the guardhouse after a brawl with another sailor. Nancy, anxious to have her husband back home, is terrified to discover the signs of a man ready to crack from combat fatigue. Nancy is deep into thoughts of being left as a widow. Tarrant tries to support her, although he, too, remembers how his own daughter-in-law had almost turned insane after losing her husband, Tarrant's son. Back on a carrier off Korea, Brubaker flies as wing-man for Commander Lee, the carrier air group commander known as "CAG" (from his position as Commander, Air Group in the carrier), on a dangerous reconnaissance to photograph the bridges. Back to the carrier, Lee presents to his pilots the air photos taken from a low pass over Toko-Ri. The flak is extremely dense, and the pilots have to fly very low into the banks of the river while receiving fire from all sides. Brubaker gets sick after this briefing and believes his days are numbered. He is ready to write a letter to Nancy predicting his own death. Forney crosses the captain of Savo Island once too often, and then he is exiled to a helicopter scow. As he is leaving the ship, he notices Brubaker's distress and relates a "cure" for bad nerves that have worked for him, standing on the bow of the ship and facing the waves. Brubaker follows his advice and finds renewed strength within himself. Lee tries to boost the pilot's morale by asking him to stay behind if he feels he cannot accomplish his mission. Brubaker vows to do his duty. The initial attack is on a series of bridges. Lee organizes two formations, the second one to be led by Brubaker. The results from the first attack are incomplete, so he orders the second group led by Brubaker to attack. Brubaker's team dashes in low and completes the destruction of the last bridge. In the attack on the bridges, the antiaircraft fire is intense, but the jets destroy the bridges without a loss. Lee then directs the air group to attack a secondary target, an ammunition dump. As Brubaker completes the run, his fighter aircraft receives a hit that creates a fuel leak. Lee escorts Brubaker, guiding him back to the carrier, but the fuel loss will not allow Brubaker to overcome the last hill before the sea. He belly-lands onto a relatively flat area. The rescue helicopter and his faithful friends Mike and Nestor land close by to pick him up, but North Korean ground troops arrive and machine gun the helicopter, killing Nestor and eliminating any chance of flying out of danger. They try to hold off the enemy with pistols and Forney's and Gamidge's M1 carbines until they can be rescued, but both are killed by the North Korean and Red Chinese soldiers. After getting confirmation from the U.S. Army that the three Americans are killed, Admiral Tarrant is shattered by the news and demands an explanation from Commander Lee of why he attacked the second target. Lee retorts that despite the losses, the mission was a success. Tarrant sorrowfully must accept that Lee has "matured", recommending him for promotion. The film ends with Tarrant alone, wondering where Brubaker and all the others under his command could have found the bravery to do what is asked from them.