86% (2) Old Yeller 83 min, Approved, [Adventure, Drama, Family, Western] [Robert Stevenson] [22 Nov 1958]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 73%, Rotten Tomatoes: 100%, External Reviews
Awards: 1 win.
Actors: Chuck Connors, Dorothy McGuire, Fess Parker, Jeff York, Tommy Kirk
Writer: Fred Gipson (screenplay), William Tunberg (screenplay), Fred Gipson (book)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Young Travis Coates is left to take care of the family ranch with his mother and younger brother while his father goes off on a cattle drive in the 1860's. When a yellow mongrel comes for an uninvited stay with the family, Travis reluctantly adopts the dog. After a series of scrapes involving raccoons, snakes, bears, and all manner of animals, Travis grows to love and respect Old Yeller, who comes to have a profound effect on the boy's life.
Rotten Tomatoes: While his father is away on a cattle drive, 15-year-old Tommy Kirk manages the family farm. Kirk is irritated when younger brother Moochie Corcoran adopts a frisky stray dog. But soon Kirk is as fond of the dog as everyone else in the family.
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76% (2) Hell Is for Heroes 90 min, Approved, [Drama, War] [Don Siegel] [26 Jun 1962]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 70%, Rotten Tomatoes: 83%, External Reviews
Actors: Bobby Darin, Fess Parker, Harry Guardino, Steve McQueen
Writer: Robert Pirosh (screenplay), Richard Carr (screenplay), Robert Pirosh (story)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English, Polish, German Country: USA
Plot: World War II drama where the action centers around a single maneuver by a squad of GIs in retaliation against the force of the German Siegfried line. Reese joins a group of weary GIs unexpectedly ordered back into the line when on their way to a rest area. While most of the men withdraw from their positions facing a German pillbox at the far side of a mine-field, half a dozen men are left to protect a wide front. By various ruses, they manage to convince the Germans that a large force is still holding the position. Then Reese leads two of the men in an unauthorized and unsuccessful attack on the pillbox, in which the other two are killed; and when the main platoon returns, he is threatened with court-martial. Rather that face the disgrace, and in an attempt to show he was right, he makes a one-man attack on the pillbox.
Rotten Tomatoes: Don Siegel's only war film and unfortunately his only teaming with Steve McQueen, an actor whose rebellious persona jibed well with the director's vision, it puts the star in the familiar role of antihero. His character, Reese, is an embittered G.I. who has just been sent back to join his war-weary unit holding down a position opposite a pillbox on the Siegfried Line in Belgium. Recently demoted back to private from staff sergeant for drinking, he chafes under all authority, and is a pariah to fellow grunts, despite their awareness of his extraordinary courage in battle. A natural leader, he persuades his sergeant (Harry Guardino) to implement a plan he's formulated to keep the Germans at bay by making them believe that the small outfit is larger than it is. While this is temporarily effective, Reese knows that it's only a matter of time before the enemy discovers the truth, and takes it on his own authority to lead an attack on the well-defended pillbox, although his unit has been assigned only to hold their ground.
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71% (1) The Great Locomotive Chase 85 min, Approved, [Action, Adventure, Family, War, Western] [Francis D. Lyon] [05 Oct 1956]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 71%, External Reviews
Awards: 1 nomination.
Actors: Fess Parker, Jeff York, Jeffrey Hunter, John Lupton
Writer: Lawrence Edward Watkin
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: This is based on a true story. During the Civil War, a Union spy, Andrews, is asked to lead a band of Union soldiers into the South so that they could destroy the railway system. However, things don't go as planned when the conductor of the train that they stole is on to them and is doing everything he can to stop them.
Rotten Tomatoes: In this Walt Disney film, also released under the title Andrew's Raiders,+James J. Andrews (Fess Parker) leads a band of Union spies into Confederate territory in order to capture an enemy locomotive during the Civil War. Things don't work out exactly as planned, however, leading Andrews and his gang on an action-filled journey.
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71% (1) Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier 93 min, Approved, [Adventure, Drama, Family, Western] [Norman Foster] [25 May 1955]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 71%, External Reviews
Actors: Basil Ruysdael, Buddy Ebsen, Fess Parker, Hans Conried
Writer: Thomas W. Blackburn
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English, Spanish Country: USA
Plot: Legends (and myths) from the life of famed American frontiersman Davey Crockett are depicted in this feature film edited from television episodes. Crockett and his friend George Russell fight in the Creek Indian War. Then Crockett is elected to Congress and brings his rough-hewn ways to the House of Representatives. Finally, Crockett and Russell journey to Texas and partake in the last stand at the Alamo.
Rotten Tomatoes: Cashing in on the surprise success of his 1954 Davy Crockett TV miniseries (first presented on the weekly anthology Disneyland), Walt Disney assembled the three hour-long "Crockett" episodes into a 93 minute theatrical feature. While the re-editing process has created a few noticeable continuity gaps, the results are by and large satisfying: certainly audiences in 1955 were satisfied, if box office returns are any indication (and, of course, they are). Fess Parker plays Davy Crockett, Tennessee-born frontiersman, while Buddy Ebsen (Disney's original choice for Crockett) co-stars as Davy's sidekick George Russell. The film is divided into three long episodes, each separated by a title card. Part one shows Crockett the Indian fighter (politically correct? Of course not!); part two finds Davy winning a seat in the Nashville legislature, where his heroism is rather cynically exploited by presidential candidate Andrew Jackson (Basil Ruysdael); and part three concludes at the Alamo, with a discreet cutaway just before Davy meets his doom at the hands of Mexican general Santa Anna. Also appearing in this jerry-built film are Hans Conried as Thimblerig and Helene Stanley as Davy's wife Polly. And who could forget "The Ballad of Davy Crockett"--not to mention those neato coonskin caps? Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier was followed in 1956 by a "prequel" (likewise cobbled together from three Disneyland episodes), Davy Crockett and the River Pirates.
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67% (1) The Hangman 87 min, [Western] [Michael Curtiz] [17 Jun 1959]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 67%, External Reviews
Actors: Fess Parker, Jack Lord, Robert Taylor, Tina Louise
Writer: Dudley Nichols, Luke Short (story)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: A marshal nicknamed "The Hangman" because of his track record in hunting down and capturing wanted criminals traces a robbery suspect to a small town. However, the man is known and liked in the town, and the citizens band together to try to help him avoid capture.
Rotten Tomatoes: U.S. Marshall Bovard (Robert Taylor) sets out to capture a fugitive, Johnny Bishop (Jack Lord). Johnny has taken up residence in a new town and has become a solid citizen, supported by the people including the sheriff (Fess Parker). The marshall must wrestle with his conscious as he decides whether to capture the fugitive or not.
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66% (1) The Light in the Forest 83 min, UNRATED, [Adventure, Drama, Family, Romance, Western] [Herschel Daugherty] [08 Jul 1958]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 66%, External Reviews
Actors: Fess Parker, James MacArthur, Joanne Dru, Wendell Corey
Writer: Conrad Richter (novel), Lawrence Edward Watkin
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: In 1764, the British come to an agreement with the native Delaware tribes in order to bring peace to the region. The Delaware tribes agree to stop their attacks on the white settlers and to relinquish all their white captives to the British. In return, the British promise to stop white settlers from settling on Delaware lands across the Ohio River and to cease slaughtering the natives. British Army scout Del Hardy, who once lived among the natives, serves as negotiator and translator for the British colonel Henry Bouquet. During the exchange phase, the Delaware tribes surrender their white captives to the British forces. Among the whites returning to civilization is Chief Cuyloga's adopted son, True Son, formerly known as Johnny Butler. With a heavy heart, Chief Cuyloga parts with his son and asks him to obey his white family once Johnny becomes a white man again. Despite his promise to obey his white parents and to integrate again into the white settler society, Johnny Butler has serious problems shedding his Delaware upbringing, mentality and behavior off. But firm guidance from scout Del Hardy and a loving heart from white settler girl Shenandoe seem to slowly win Johnny Butler back to his white origins.
Rotten Tomatoes: Those who learned to dislike Conrad Richter's novel The Light in the Forest when it was required reading in high school will be pleasantly surprised by this Disney adaptation. In his second film appearance, James MacArthur plays Johnny Butler, a white youth who was captured by the Delaware Indians in infancy. In 1764, a peace treaty is signed between the Delaware and the British, requiring that all white captives be returned to their families. But 18-year-old Johnny, now known as True Son and now thoroughly assimilated into the tribe, violently resists being torn away from the only life he has ever known. Kindly Indian scout Del Hardy (Fess Parker) tries to help Johnny through his transitional period; the same cannot be said by Johnny's Indian-hating Uncle Wilse (Wendell Corey), who vows to kill every Delaware he meets. Only by defeating Wilse-and, by extention, his own inner demons-will Johnny ever be able to readjust to the white lifestyle without totally turning his back on his adoptive Indian family. Carol Lynley makes her screen debut as Shendandoe, Johnny's white sweetheart; likewise making his entree into films is TV director Herschel Daugherty. Partially filmed on location in Tennessee, Light in the Forest benefited from the expertise of technical advisor Iron Eyes Cody.
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60% (1) Westward Ho, the Wagons! 90 min, Approved, [Family, Western] [William Beaudine] [20 Dec 1956]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 60%, External Reviews
Actors: David Stollery, Fess Parker, Jeff York, Kathleen Crowley
Writer: Thomas W. Blackburn (screenplay), Mary Jane Carr (novel)
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Wagon master James Stephen leads a wagon train of settlers, including his wife and children, across the vast plains. Prominent among the settlers is Doc Grayson, who though not really a doctor provides what medical care he can to the travelers. The wagon train is beset by Pawnees, determined to make off with the horses. A later encounter with presumably friendly Sioux takes a dark turn when the son of the chief appears to be dying, and only Doc Grayson can help.
Rotten Tomatoes: Wagon master James Stephen leads a wagon train of settlers, including his wife and children, across the vast plains. Prominent among the settlers is Doc Grayson, who though not really a doctor provides what medical care he can to the travelers. The wagon train is beset by Pawnees, determined to make off with the horses. A later encounter with presumably friendly Sioux takes a dark turn when the son of the chief appears to be dying, and only Doc Grayson can help.
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