Leo Gordon

A marshal goes up against a crooked gambler and his henchmen who control a western town, but meets resistance from the local townspeople when he asks for their help.

Jim Cole, his wife Angela, their children Charlie and Gypsy, niece Meg, and friend Sam Potts arrive in a small Wyoming town. Jim inherited a ranch and quit his job as a lawman to become a rancher. In town, banker Mr. Benson mentions a $675 mortgage on the property. Jim hesitates to take the land title, since it would take nearly all their savings, but eventually relents. Rancher Jed Curry initially owned the property but lost it to Jim's late uncle in a card game and wants it back. In the countryside, the Coles arrive at the ranch's cottage, which is a tumbled-down shack. The next morning, Jim builds a fence. Jed tries to persuade Jim to sell the land, to no avail. Jim returns to town the next day and asks Wilhelmina Peterson, who owns the general store, if she knows where he can buy cattle to breed with his prize bull Duncan. She asks her sidekick Hank to bring Jim to Hazel Squires' place. There, Hazel says that she can sell cattle for a buck each. When she goes to a pen to check on the pigs, she finds them all missing or dead; it is the work of Satan, a grizzly bear who invades ranches and kills livestock. Many tried to kill Satan, to no avail. During the night, Satan reaches the Cole place, killing Duncan, causing Sam's mule to flee, and badly injuring the family's dog. The next morning, while the doctor stitches up the dog, Jim and Meg go to the store for coffee. However, the Curry boys are there with cohorts and start harassing Jim. A fight starts, with the Curry sons driven out. Jed later chastises his sons, telling them not to antagonize Jim if they are to get his ranch. Needing a replacement bull but with no money to buy one, Jim gets a loan from the bank, giving Benson various possessions as collateral. He goes to the Squires ranch to purchase the bull and cattle for breeding. After learning of the loan, Jed warns Benson not to do it again and reminds him that he, as the bank's major stockholder, has the authority to do this. While working on the farm, the Coles and Sam see the mule appear. However, it is badly-injured, dying minutes later. Distraught, Sam and Jim vow to kill Satan. While tracking Satan through the woods, Jim and Sam are attacked, but escape by jumping off a cliff into a lake. While returning home from a dance social, the Coles find that Satan has killed most of their cattle. Again, Jim goes to Benson for a loan to buy replacement animals. However, this time, Benson refuses his request. Satan's depredations reach a crisis point, and Jed posts a $750 reward for anyone who can kill the bear. Because of this, bounty hunter Cass Dowdy appears in town with hunting dogs. Jim sent Cass to jail for two years for murder. Cass plans to hunt the bear just so Jim does not get the reward money and thus ruin him financially. Jim and Sam set a trap for Satan and doze off while waiting. Satan attacks again, driving off one of the horses and killing Sam. Dowdy's dogs are also killed by Satan. More traps are set up for Satan, to no avail. One night, Dowdy visits one of Jim's traps to sabotage it but is accidentally injured instead. The next morning, the two meet again and fight, with Jim winning and leaving Cass there. At home, Jim calms down a distraught Angela. The next morning, he finds that Charlie has gone after Satan alone. Jim follows Charlie into the woods. In the woods, Jim again runs into Dowdy, who almost kills him. However, Jim fights back and drives him away. At night, Satan attacks Charlie and chases him up a tree. Charlie jumps out of the tree and distracts Satan, while Dowdy fires at the bear to save the boy, but is fatally mauled. Jim then injures Satan and shoots him dead. After comforting a dying Dowdy, who sacrificed himself to save Charlie, Jim and Charlie return home.

In this chilling adaptation of H.P. Lovecrafts The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward, Charles Dexter Ward (Vincent Price) travels with his wife Ann (Debra Paget) to Arkham to inspect a mansion he has inherited. The original lord of the manor was his Great Grandfather Joseph Curwen, a disciple of the devil, who placed a hideous curse on the villagers as they burned him at the stake. Slowly Ward feels the spirit of his ancestor possessing him and seeking a desperate vengeance on the descendants of those who previously thwarted his plans. Accursed mutants...evil possession...will anyone escape The Haunted Palace? In the town of Arkham, in 18th century New England, Ezra Weeden (Leo Gordon) and Micah Smith (Elisha Cook Jr.) follow a young woman named Fitch at a distance. She seems to be in a trance as she walks through a cemetery to a palace door where she knocks and is ushered in by a woman named Hester. Declaring this is the home of Satan himself, Ezra and Micah go to get help. Meanwhile, Hester takes the Fitch woman to Joseph Curwan (Vincent Price), who leads her through a secret door downstairs to a platform in an ancient dungeon cellar. He chains her between two posts on the platform and then he chants in Latin. The woman finally awakes screaming at the sound of some beast growling from below. The townspeople armed with torches arrive at the palace door and knock. Curwan opens it and produces the Fitch girl alive and well, but still in a trance. She answers yes to his claims that she came of her own free will, but when asked by Weeden for her name she cannot answer. The townspeople accuse Curwan of being a warlock and tie him to a tree. He calls out their names: Ezra Weeden, Micah Smith, Benjamin West, Priam Willet (Frank Maxwell), and Gideon Leach. He declares that he will rise from the dead and that this town and they and their families will bear his curse. Then he is set on fire and burned to death. 110 years later, a man who looks identical to Curwan, his great-great-grandson Charles Dexter Ward, arrives in Arkham with his wife Ann (Debra Paget), looking for the palace that he has inherited. They are warned that the village is cursed to which Charles scoffs. They enter a tavern called the Burning Man Tavern and tell the people theyre looking for the Curwen family house. Edgar Weeden (a dead ringer for his own ancestor, as are all the other main characters) warns them it is a palace of unknown origin brought stone by stone from some European country. Mr. Willet, a doctor, gives them directions there and shows them where the palace is on the side of a cliff. After they leave, Edgar warns the townspeople that Joseph Curwan has come back to Arkham. The Wards enter the palace and note that the portrait of Joseph Curwan looks just like Charles. Charles seems momentarily possessed by it. As they explore other rooms in the house, a caretaker named Simon (Lon Chaney Jr.) greets them. The attorney had contacted him and he was preparing it for their arrival. Not wishing to stay in a town with such unfriendly people, they tell him they plan to leave at once. But he encourages them to at least spend the night, since there is no place else to go. In his home, Edgar feeds some creature that is behind his locked and barred attic door. It grabs his hand through the bars and Edgar has to use a candle to chase it off. He tells his wife that "it" knows Curwan has come back to Arkham. At the palace, the more Ward looks at the painting, the more it seems to possess him. The next morning, Charles tells his wife that he is now planning to stay, just for a few weeks to get the place ready to be sold. She doesn't like it, but agrees to remain. As Charles and Ann walk through town early on a foggy morning, they find the tavern door locked. Then a series of mutated people - a young girl with no eyes, and four other similarly blind, half-blind or otherwise deformed men slowly approach the Wards menacingly until they are surrounded. But the sound of a bell tolling in the distance causes them to disperse and walk away. Later, Dr. Willet tells them all those people were born mutated. Weeden had gathered them together to try and chase the newcomers away. He tells the story of Joseph Curwan, who came to town 150 years ago. His first wife died in childbirth so he took the most beautiful woman in town, Hester, as his mistress a woman who had been promised to Ezra Weeden. Over the years, terrible noises were heard from the castle, and young girls often disappeared at night then were returned with no memory. They concluded he was a warlock a conjurer of the dead. He was thought to have found a legendary book, the Necronomicon, which gave him formulas to summon dark gods from beyond, who had once ruled the world, and now were waiting to take it back again. He was trying to mate the gods with humans to create a new race through which the gods could gain control. The townspeople feel that the mutations were failed experiments. Willet himself can't explain the mutations and advises them to flee the village as if a madman with a knife was chasing them. That night, Charles hears the sound of voices outside but there is no one there. He goes outside to look and Simon finds him and suggests he "ask Mr. Curwan." He takes him to the portrait room. After Ward has stared at the portrait for a time, Simon addresses him as Joseph. Ward begins to speak in a different sinister tone of voice. Curwan is now possessing Ward's body, but he tells Simon he feels Ward is still fighting him and he will lose possession of him shortly. He tells Simon and another old friend Jabez to keep Ward there so that he can soon possess him completely. They present him with the Necronomicon. Ann comes downstairs hearing them talk, but when she arrives they are all gone except Ward, who is back to his normal self for now. A week passes, and Ward is still there. The townspeople discuss putting a stop to him. Meanwhile, late one night, he digs up the grave of Hester Tellinghast and he and his crew bring the body into his palace down to the secret cellar. When Ann asks where hes been, he cruelly scolds her and sends her back to her room alone. Joseph's voice calls to him declaring he will never leave him alone and that his will is too strong to fight. When Ann comes back to confront him, he tells her she must leave tomorrow. Ann goes downstairs later looking for Charles but finds Simon instead and faints. Meanwhile, Joseph is chanting in Latin for Hester to return to life, which she finally does, but she is too weak to stay alive. Joseph weakens from the effort and is taken back upstairs where Charles has no memory of what happened. He fears he is going mad, and tells Ann they must both leave in the morning. The next morning they try to leave quickly, but Simon says he must make out a receipt for the week's expenses first. Ann goes ahead to the cab, but Charles stays and falls under Joseph's spell again. Dr. Willet tells Ann about the grave robbery, and says Charles may have done it. Charles emerges from the house, acting like Joseph and blaming the others for trying to frame him and scare him away. He declares he has decided to stay. Ann tells Willet how her husband changes personalities more and more since the first night he arrived. Inside, Joseph declares that Charles is dead and he now has full control. But before he does his work, he must get his revenge against the descendants of the ones who burned him alive. At the bar, Weeden talks about the grave robbery and tries to stir the townspeople into fighting back against Ward, saying if they do nothing to save themselves they deserve whatever they get. Meanwhile, the possessed Ward unbolts the door to Weeden's locked attic, releasing the creature. Weeden returns home to be attacked by the thing, and both die when they fall into the fireplace. Ward tears the name Ezra Weeden off his revenge list. Peter Smith is appalled when Ward later attends Weeden's funeral from a distance. Night falls, and while Peter Smith is out walking alone, Ward tosses gasoline on him and sets him on fire. Micah Smith's name is removed from the list. Simon warns him to stop feasting on revenge, but Curwan insists on continuing his task. He goes to make love to Ann, but she scratches him and makes him leave. She then summons Dr. Willet for help, telling him Joseph Curwan is killing her husband. Ward arrives suddenly in mid-conversation and tells the doctor the house is affecting his wife. He pretends he is unchanged, asking the doctor to take her to Boston. She reluctantly agrees, and leaves at once with the doctor. As they pass through the town, the townspeople show Willet and Ann the burned body of Smith and declare that her husband killed him. Willet decides they must get Ward out of the palace before the townspeople kill him. Alone with Simon and Jabez, Charles succeeds in bringing Hester completely back from the dead. Ann and Willet go back to the palace but can't find Ward. Willet remembers how Ward just appeared when they were talking by the picture. They look at the nearby wall and find the secret door to the cellar. In the cellar, they find the empty coffin of Hester and the Necronomicon. Charles, Simon, Hester and Jabez confront them. Joseph tells of a project - the most important ever attempted by humans - that they were working on "a few years ago". They don't fully understand it, they just obey. Simon takes Willet away while Ann is chained to the posts. Ward chants in Latin. Jabez tell Willet they are "honoring" her. The grate below the posts is opened, and an unearthly creature begins to rise from the depths below. The townspeople charge to the palace and open the door calling for Joseph Curwan and setting the place on fire. They toss the portrait of Curwan in the fire. When they do, Ward is freed of Joseph's possession. He runs to his wife and unchains her before the creature arrives. Simeon and Jabez attack him, calling him a traitor. He pleads for Willet to take Ann to safety. The doctor gets her outside safely and then goes back for Charles. He finds him alone and collapsed in the cellar, and barely manages to get him out the front door before the flames consume the palace. Leaning against a tree, Ward tells them he is all right now, thanks to Ann and Dr. Willet and that he looks forward to repaying their kindness. But the sinister tone of his voice and the half smile on his face as he turns back around indicate that he is once again possessed by Joseph.

On the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, the Native American tribe of chief Black Eagle clashes with the Mayan tribe of king Balam. In order to flee from powerful enemies, young Mayan king Balam leads his people north across the Gulf of Mexico to the coast of what will become the United States. They build a home in the new land but come into conflict with a tribe of Native Americans led by their chief, Black Eagle, while both Balam and Black Eagle fall in love with the beautiful Mayan princess Ixchel. —Bruno Antony

Before the U.S. Civil War rebel leader Luke Darcy sees himself as leader of a new independent Republic of Kansas but the military governor sends an ex-raider to capture Darcy. Shortly before the start of the American Civil War rebel Kansas leader Luke Darcy dreams of a new independent Republic of Kansas. His vigilante group is called The Jayhawkers and their mission is to end slavery by force. However, Darcy uses The Jayhawkers for his own bid for absolute control of Kansas. Darcy's actions do not sit well with the military governor of Kansas, William Clayton, who wants Darcy captured and brought to justice. For this purpose the governor hires an ex-renegade rebel, Cam Bleeker, to join Darcy's group and capture their leader. Bleeker has a personal reason for wanting to see Darcy hanged. Darcy was responsible for Bleeker wife's death while Bleeker was in prison. —nufs68

A no-nonsense drifter leads a ragtag collective surrounded by a deadly tribe of Apaches. Logan Cates, a drifter, is traveling through Apache country. He is joined by a few civilians and a small band of soldiers at a water hole when they get pinned down by Apaches. Unable to get away, the small party is killed one by one as the food and water supply dwindles. But then the storm that Cates was waiting for comes up, and using gunpowder, he puts his escape plan into action. —Maurice VanAuken <mvanauken@a1access.net> Drifting through Apache country in Arizona, drifter Logan Cates (Rory Calhoun)takes command of an ill-assorted group, which includes Jennifer Fair (Barbara Bates) and Grant Kimbrough (John Dehner) when they are besieged by Apaches at Papago Wells. Their food, water give out and, for some, their courage. When a dust storm hits, Cates leads the survivors in a desperate attack against the Indians. —Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

An officer accused of cowardice volunteers to bring back General Custers's body after Little Big Horn. 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. —Maurice VanAuken <mvanauken@a1access.net>

Fed up with the inhumane prison living conditions, a general prison riot breaks out, leading to hostage-taking, a stand-off with the guards and eventual negotiations with the prison administration officials. Producer, Walter Wanger, who'd just done time (4 mos after shooting a man he believed was having an affair with his wife), wanted to make a film which showed the appalling conditions he saw while incarcerated. Working with Don Siegel, they wrote this film. In protest to the brutal guards, substandard food, overcrowding and poor living conditions, inmates stage an uprising, and take several guards hostage. Negotiations between the inmates and prison officials are stymied by politicians interfering with the prison administration, and by dissension and infighting amongst the inmates. —frankfob2@yahoo.com

At a remote ranch in the desert of New Mexico, homesteader Angie Lowe (Geraldine Page) and her six year-old son Johnny (Lee Aaker) come upon a stranger (John Wayne) drinking water from their river, carrying only a saddle and a rifle. The man tells them only his last name, Lane, and that he is part Apache and was exploring Indian Territory as a US Army Cavalry scout. His horse was stolen a few days earlier, and offers US Army scrip in exchange for one of her horses. Angie tells Lane that her ranch hand had quit recently and hadn't had a chance to break one of her two horses for riding, so Lane offers to break the horse himself. He also asks where her husband is, and she says he is hunting in the mountains and should be back soon. Johnny watches with fascination as Lane takes one of the horses, and saddles and rides the bucking and untamed animal with ease. Lane also offers to do a few chores around the ranch, including sharpening an axe blade and chopping firewood. Lane deduces by the neglected work around the ranch that her husband has not been at the ranch for some time, a fact she is forced to admit. When night falls and the weather grows inclement, Angie offers to put Lane up in her home on a floor bed in the corner. Angie discovers that the butt of his rifle is inscribed to "Hondo" Lane, a name she knows to belong to a criminal, and she pulls a pistol on him and fires, but there is no cartridge in the first chamber. She had left it empty so that Johnny wouldn't shoot it accidentally. Hondo returns to his Cavalry post, leaving Angie and Johnny alone at the ranch, where he meets up with his scout sidekick Buffalo Baker (Ward Bond) and reports to his commanding officer that the Chiricauhua Apache lodges in the area are banding together and attacking settlers. At the ranch, Angie and Johnny are surrounded by menacing Apaches led by Chief Vittorio (Michael Pate) and his sub-chief, Silva (Rodolfo Acosta). Angie is not nervous as she has always let them water their horses at her ranch and they had never hurt her. On this occasion, they threaten and grab Angie. Johnny emerges from the house with the loaded pistol and shoots at Silva, hitting and breaking his weapon. Vittorio is impressed by Johnny's bravery, and makes him an Apache blood brother by cutting Johhny's thumb with a knife and giving him an Apache name. Vittorio wonders where Angie's husband is, and she tells him that he will return soon. Vittorio tells her that the boy needs a father to guide him, and unless her husband returns soon, she must take an Apache husband. A night or two later in a saloon, Hondo calls a friend from his poker game, but one of the poker party objects. He and Hondo get into a fight, and Hondo beats the man up badly, driving him out the door. Buffalo Baker tells Hondo the man called himself "Ed Lowe" (Leo Gordon), and Hondo suspects he might be Angie's missing husband. Feeling guilty, he leaves the fort to return Angie's horse back to her. Seeking revenge for the bar beating, Lowe and an accomplice follow Hondo through the desert as he makes his way back to Angie's ranch. Hondo camps near a river but leaves it when he detects three Indians stalking him nearby. Lowe enters the camp and he and his friend are attacked by two Indians. The friend is killed, but Hondo shoots and kills an Apache about to kill Lowe. Lowe is briefly grateful but turns his gun on Hondo in retaliation for the bar beating. Hondo defends himself, killing Lowe. Hondo finds a photo of Johnny alongside Lowe's body, confirming that Lowe is Johnny's father and Angie's husband. Continuing towards Lowe's ranch, Hondo runs into an Apache party, who pursue Hondo through the desert. He kills several but they eventually capture him. They take Hondo to the top of a nearby mesa when Vittorio appears. They stake him out and begin to torture and prepare to kill him because he is an Army scout. An Indian shows Vittorio the picture of Johnny from Hondo's saddlebag, and Vittoria thinks Hondo is Angie's husband. He orders the Indians to untie him and declares that he must fight Silva for honor, as he is one of Angie's potential suitors. Hondo and Silva fight using knives. Silva wounds Hondo in the shoulder, but Hondo pins Silva to the ground. Hondo puts his knife to Silva's throat, but Vittoria steps forward and Hondo spares Silva's life, temporarily buying his own life in return. Vittorio takes Hondo to Angie's ranch, and when Vittoria asks if Hondo is her husband, she lies, saving Hondo. The Chief warns Hondo to raise Johnny in the Apache way and leaves them. While Hondo recuperates from his wounds, he shows her the picture of Johnny that he tells her he took from Lowe's body. She asks if he died well, and Hondo pauses before saying that he had. Over the next few weeks, Hondo and Angie grow closer. Hondo and Angie express their growing love for each other. Hondo attempts to reveal the truth of her husband's death, but is interrupted by Vittorio's sudden appearance. Vittorio tells them that the pony soldiers will soon return. He asks Hondo not to join them and to keep the Indian's location a secret. Hondo promises to do the first but not the latter, and Vittoria shows respect for Hondo's truthfulness. Angie tells him she loves him, and they cement their relationship with a kiss. The Army arrives at the ranch, commanded by an ambitious, inexperienced young Lt. McKay (Tom Irish) and accompanied by scouts Baker and Lennie (James Arness). McKay is determined to take all the settlers in the area back to the Army post to protect them and defend the territory against Apache attacks. Lennie reveals that he discovered Lowe's body and matched the horse tracks to Hondo's horse. He wants Hondo's Winchester rifle in exchange for keeping quiet about how Hondo bushwhacked Lowe. Angie overhears Lennie's demands. Hondo prepares to leave, but before he goes, he tells her the truth about her husband's death. Hondo is also intent on telling Johnny, but she persuades him not to, telling Hondo she didn't love her husband any longer and had grown tired of his womanizing and gambling. She says it would be an unkind thing to tell the boy about the true nature of his father's death and that the secret won't follow them to Hondo's ranch in California. Hondo responds to her emotional plea with an Indian word that seals a squaw-seeking ceremony, "Varlabania", which he tells her means "forever". The Army leaves to move further on into Apache territory and as promised Hondo refuses to go with them but tells them where Vittorio and his party are. The Army returns after being ambushed by the Apaches, suffering heavy casualties including wounds to Lt. McKay. Vittorio had been killed, causing the Apaches to retreat so they can regroup and select a new chief. Hondo leads the Cavalry and settlers back towards the fort, taking Angie and Johnny with them. The group is attacked by the Apaches, now led by Silva, but the group circles their wagons. They escape the encirclement twice but the Apaches continue their pursuit. Hondo loses his mount and is attacked by Silva, but Honda kills him, retrieving Lt. McKay's uniform shirt from his body. The Indians retreat again to choose a replacement chief. Lt. McKay says the General Crook will be arriving in the territory with a large force to pursue the Apache. Hondo sadly notes the end of the Apache "way of life."

At a stagecoach stop, Ben Warren (Rock Hudson) is reunited with his beautiful Southern belle fiancée Jennifer (Donna Reed). They dine with several fellow passengers, Frank Slayton (Philip Carey) and his friend Tom "Jess" Burgess (Leo Gordon). After a stagecoach holdup, Slayton's notorious outlaw gang shoot Warren and leave him for dead and head off with his fiancée. Warren follows, and although none of the townspeople he comes across are prepared to help, he manages to recruit two men who have sworn revenge on the ruthless Slayton. One is Jess Burgess (Leo Gordon), gang member who had objected to this planned kidnapping and was bound, and abandoned to die in the desert. The other is Johash (Pat Hogan), an Indian with an equally personal grudge---his sister was abducted and murdered by Slayton under identical circumstances. Johash follows Warren and Jess secretly. He catches up with the two and joins their small posse. One of the gang, Curly (Bob Herron), tells Jennifer that her Ben is alive and following them. He tries to help her escape but this fails, and they kill him for it. Warren and Jess come across Slayton's jealous Mexican girlfriend who wants to get even. Overnight, Slayton sends a note he wants to trade Jess for Jennifer. Jess thinks it's worth a try, but it turns out to be a ruse. Just as Jennifer is free and reunited with Warren, Slayton kills former partner Jess. She begs her fiancé not to pursue the gang further, but he wants revenge. Just a few miles short of the Mexican border, his gang is forced to take shelter at an old pueblo where Johash's deadly skill with a sniper rifle cuts off the gang's escape route, as three more gang members fatally discover. Warren places the only available water in an open space and challenges Slayton to come and get it. But he uses his girlfriend as a hostage, threatening to shoot her. Slayton reaches his horse and rides away alone as Johash picks off the other gang members with a rifle. Slayton runs out of ammunition, and Warren eventually wins a lengthy fistfight that begins at the top of a steep hill and slowly and dangerously progresses to ground level. After the fight, Slayton finds Ben's pistol and is about to kill him when Slayton falls over with Johash's knife in his back. Warren's experiences during the American Civil War had made him basically a pacifist. But thanks to Johash, he is able to keep his own hands basically clean; and he and fiancé Jennifer Ballard are re-united.