Willis Bouchey

A frontier town in the Old West springs up almost literally overnight when the rather klutzy and hotheaded Prudy Perkins discovers gold in a grave during a funeral. Her father Olly becomes mayor of the new settlement. He and the other members of the town council bemoan the twin facts that the place has become a drunken round-the-clock free-for-all, and that in order to ship out all the gold they are mining, they must pay a hefty fee to the Danbys, a family of ranchers/bandits who control the only route out of town. Most people are too busy digging to take time out to be sheriff, and those who are willing to put down their shovel quickly die. This all changes with the arrival in town of Jason McCullough, a calm and hyper-competent man from "back East" who is passing through town "on his way to Australia." While in the town saloon, he sees young Joe Danby gun a man down, essentially for fun. Needing money after discovering the town's ruinious rate of inflation, McCullough demonstrates his uncanny firearms ability to the mayor and town council, and becomes the new sheriff. He breaks up a street brawl and while at the Perkins house meets Prudy under (for her) mortifyingly embarrassing circumstances. McCullough then arrests Joe and tosses him in the town jail, which has everything a sheriff needs - except iron bars for the cell doors and windows. McCullough keeps the none-too-bright Joe "imprisoned" through the use of a chalk line, some dribbles of red paint, and applied psychology. In the process of all this, McCullough acquires a semi-willing deputy in the form of the extremely scruffy Jake, who was previously nothing more than the "town character." The arrest ignites the wrath of the patriarch of the Danby family; while the rest of the town immediately quiets down under McCullough's reign, "Pa" mounts various efforts to get Joe out of jail. None of them work and he then brings in a string of hired guns, who are equally unsuccessful. Meanwhile, Prudy spars romantically with McCullough, McCullough and Jake go on an unsuccessful search for gold, and, much to Joe's relief, bars are finally installed in the jail. The climax of the film sees Pa Danby summoning scores of his relatives to launch an all-out assault. The sheriff's first impulse is to just leave town and resume his trip to Australia, but when Prudy expresses her sincere approval of this sensible idea, he announces that it sounds cowardly and decides to stay. The rest of the townfolk announce their disapproval of his new plan, and officially vote to not help in any way. Thus the Danby mob rides in faced only by McCullough, Jake and Prudy. After a lengthy gunfight, McCullough bluffs his way to victory using hostage Joe and the cannon mounted in the center of town. As the Danbys are all marched off to jail, the cannon fires, smashing the town brothel and scattering the resident prostitutes and visting civic leaders. McCullough makes his peace with the townfolk, he and Prudy get engaged, and he carries her home. In a closing monologue, Jake directly informs the audience that they get married and McCullough goes on to become governor of the state, while he, Jake, becomes sheriff and then "one of the most beloved characters in western folklore."

In New Mexico, looking for his son's murderer, Ben Kane takes a deputy marshal's job and runs into young Billy Young who's on the lam. A peace-loving man named Ben Kane takes a job as deputy marshal of Lordsburg, in the old West. Kane is no lawman, but he accepts the badge because he has an old score to settle with the town's chief trouble-maker. Once on the job, Kane must also deal with a young sharpshooter named Billy Young and a sharp and sassy saloon dancer, Lily. —Dan Navarro <daneldorado@yahoo.com>

A corrupt marshal is pressured by his army friend into negotiating the release of white captives of the Comanches, but finds that their reintegration into society has its consequences. The US Army is under pressure from the desperate relatives of white prisoners of the Comanches to secure their rescue. A cynical and corrupt marshal, Guthrie McCabe, is persuaded by an army lieutenant to assist in the negotiations with the Comanches; however, just two captives are released, and their reintegration into white society proves highly problematic. —David Levene <D.S.Levene@durham.ac.uk> The cynical and corrupt Marshal Guthrie McCabe has a comfortable life in Tascosa, receiving percentages of deals. His lover Belle Aragon owns a saloon with a brothel and has just proposed to marry him; however, Guthrie is summoned by US Army Major Frazer, who sends a troop commanded by his friend First Lt. Jim Gary to bring him to Fort Grant. When Guthrie meets Major Frazer, he explains that the relatives of prisoners of the Comanche tribe are pressing the army to bring them back home, but the soldiers cannot trespass on Indian lands due to a treaty with the Comanche. The mercenary Guthrie demands a large amount to negotiate with Chief Quanah Parker for the freedom of the white captives. Guthrie travels with Lt. Jim Gary and they rescue the two last captives: a teenager who has been raised by the Comanche, and a young woman, Elena de la Madriaga, who has been the wife of Stone Calf, the leader of the Buffalo Shields, for five years. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Pressed into service by his superior, the immoral marshal of the 1880s Tascosa, Guthrie McCabe, resentfully accepts to negotiate and retrieve a small group of white captives taken years earlier by the Comanches' formidable chief, Quanah Parker. Accompanied by the old friend and honourable U.S. Cavalry Lieutenant, Jim Gary, McCabe who is in it for the money rather than justice, will soon find himself deep into one of the most shielded Indian territories, only to face troublesome and unanticipated complications. What happens when the prisoners refuse to be freed? —Nick Riganas

In 1863, a Union outfit is sent behind Confederate lines in Mississippi to destroy enemy railroads but a captive southern belle and the unit's doctor cause frictions within ranks. Based on the true story of Col. Benjamin H. Grierson. In the Spring of 1863, Grierson left bases in northern Mississippi, taking 1,700 troopers with him. According to Bruce Catton, Grierson "drove through central Mississippi, tearing up railroads and upsetting [Confederate General] Pemberton's troop deployments before reaching Union-held Baton Rouge."

Frank Skeffington is an old Irish-American political boss, running for re-election as mayor of a U.S. town for the last time. In a New England town, aging Frank Skeffington, descended from poor Irish immigrants, is conducting his fifth and last political campaign for Mayor - he thus far being undefeated - before he serves his last term leading into retirement from politics, he surrounded by his longtime campaign team. Despite his success rate largely from support of the Irish immigrant population in seeing one of their own doing good, Frank does have his detractors, not only the blue bloods of the town, but those that see him operating under an old boys network of doing favors for friends and every one of his actions having a self-serving political motivation. And there are others, including Frank's son, Frank Skeffington, Jr., who couldn't care less about politics, Jr. absorbed with his own fun-loving existence. A microcosm of the political division can be seen by the Caulfield household: non-political Adam Caulfield, a sportswriter for the Morning News newspaper and Frank's nephew, supports his uncle in liking him both as a man and uncle, while Adam's wife, Maeve Caulfield, has the same impression of Frank as her wealthy father, Roger Sugrue, who grew up in the same working class neighborhood as Frank and who sees Frank working on graft. Adam's boss, the Morning News Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Amos Force, has always opposed Frank, and mounts a concerted campaign for those in the anti-Frank camp to rally around his strongest opponent, political neophyte Kevin McCluskey, despite McCluskey's inexperience showing at every turn. As he can see the times changing in terms of the way political campaigns are run and covered with the onset of more electronic media such as television and radio playing a bigger part, Frank brings in Adam as an observer journalist of his campaign to witness the changing times, what Frank sees as his last hurrah before his means of operation to win elections will no longer suffice. —Huggo An aging politician tries to get re-elected one last time in the changing world of the 1950s when TV started to play a bigger part in politics. Based loosely on the career of multi-term Boston Mayor James Michael Curley, this film examines the good and evil inherent in politics and all the things that go into an election. Tracy's uphill battle to stay in office is set against the political machinery that preyed on ethnic hatred and old-time money. —Ed Lorusso

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.

An honest detective's investigation into a corrupt cop's suicide triggers a series of murders meant to keep police malfeasance from being exposed.