PRE-United: From "Rivers" to the "Island."

Longtime readers here know of my basically lifelong love of Eleanor Parker. She was one of the movie stars who led me into the once-unknown-to-me realm of "classic movies" (i.e. - anything made before I was a teen!) I made it a goal to see everything she did and, thanks to old cable channels like TNT and AMC, etc... I came very close. The first time I saw Many Rivers to Cross (1955) was in the early-1990s and I didn't care much for it. I don't think I was ready for the glamorous Baroness Schraeder to be cavorting around in buckskin. On a whim, I checked it out last night and found it more accessible.  

The stars, Robert Taylor and Eleanor Parker, had been paired in 1952's Above and Beyond. It was financially successful and was Oscar-nominated for Best Original Story and Score.

They were re-teamed in 1954 for Valley of the Kings, made at a time when Hollywood was catering to an Egypt-crazed public. Although it was filmed partly on location, it often felt studio bound and didn't make all of its cost back. Nonetheless, Taylor and Parker had developed chemistry and, at least on Parker's part, a strong affection. 

Thus, MGM went to the well one more time with this 1955 release. As I say, I had no use for it the first time I viewed it, but that was so long ago, with the Cinemascope picture cropped and blurry. So I gave it a go once more. One thing that struck me this time was noting how many names I now recognize in the supporting cast, some of who went on to success with television.

An early scene examines the relationship between young Darryl Hickman (older brother of Dwayne) and Betty Lynn. Lynn later became known for playing Deputy Barney Fife's girlfriend Thelma Lou on The Andy Griffith Show. 

Set in late-1700s Kentucky, the principle story line involves lone-wolf trapper Taylor running into trouble in the wilderness with some Indians and being rescued by tomboy Parker. In time, she'll create as much or more trouble for him than the natives who just tried to kill him!

She takes him home to rest up with her sizeable family; her parents and her four brothers. 

One brother is played by Russell Johnson while her Scottish father is enacted by Voctor McLaglen. 

The eldest brother is played by John Hudson (WHO?!), an actor who enjoyed a reasonably long career spent mostly under the radar. 

The other two brothers are played by young Russ Tamblyn and Jeff Richards. 

These two had just portrayed close siblings in the 1954 musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. So this was something of a reunion for them. 

Parker's mother was played by stage actress and longtime movie character performer Josephine Hutchinson. 

Things take an interesting turn when Parker's brother Tamblyn is brought home one evening with a split lip by a local man who has his eye on her. 

The brawny, unrefined would-be fiancee is played by Alan Hale Jr. Why is that interesting? 

Because Russell Johnson (top-left) and Hale would find themselves placed together nine years later in roles that would utterly define their careers. 

Yes, it's Skipper and The Professor, working alongside one another in the same film nearly a decade prior to Gilligan's Island. 

These seven castaways (I LOVE this portrait of them, by the way) would hit the network airwaves in 1964 and, thanks to reruns, never leave them again. The indelible roles made it difficult for viewers to ever see them as anything other than the parts they played on the broadly comic show. 

Johnson is given a couple of closeups during a shooting competition.

Hale, despite a featured (and colorful) role never warrants such treatment. He's mostly seen in profile and in medium or group shots. 

At one point, he and Taylor square off and you can see the body language emerging which would later become stock in trade for Skipper. 

This skirmish becomes a public brawl. 

At far-right you can see Johnson egging the two men on. 

They don't really share dialogue together, but they are occasionally in the same shots with one another. Little did they know that within a decade they would be sharing countless hours on set together. 

Another soon-to-be TV icon shows up late in the proceedings and that is towering James Arness, who became a household name playing Marshal Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke. 

I can imagine all sorts of pearl-clutching amongst today's audiences if they should happen upon this film for a variety of reasons. There's Parker desperately wanting/needing a man. 

The two of them (in a wild and woolly climax) basically prove to each other how worthy they are by showing who is best at doing away with Indians!

If you can think of these as elements of the time and "teachable moments," then you may take to the rollicking romance more easily. (It took the comments of another viewer to make me realize that it's something of a pioneer western rip-off of The Quiet Man!)

The two did have strong chemistry and though Taylor was with Ursula Thiess the entire time he and Parker worked on their three movies. In fact, he and Thiess were together on their honeymoon during the location shooting of Many Rivers.  

Whatever the case might be between them, I don't think it took much for Parker to enact longing towards her costar. And there were sly little bits along the way, such as having her churn butter rhythmically while looking him up and down as he chats with her father. Oh, and if you think I have glossed over that shirtless artwork of Taylor in one of the promotional cards above, I didn't!

Early in the movie, in what had to be some chilly waters, Taylor is taking a bath when he realizes he's not alone...!

He asks her how long she's been up there watching and she happily replies, in a phrase that can be considered a double entendre, "Long enough!'

Taylor, who was surely wearing some flesh-toned briefs, keeps the water swirling in front of him to ensure we can never see too much. 

Somehow it struck me funny and made me recall the infamous opening that was crafted for 1977's The Richard Pryor Show. 

See what I mean, Vern?

Till Next Time!

Tub Time: A Little "Glove" Love

Where have I been...? I don't mean where have I been when I take long stretches without posting. I mean, where in the hell have I been that it is 2026 before I have laid my hands on The Glove (1979?!)  It seems to contain so many elements that appeal to me as a rule. Pre-1990: check. Potentially gritty subject matter: check. Attractive leading man: check. Cast of name-brand actors: check! Yet it was days ago when I finally took it in. Is it good? Uh, no. Was it intriguing? To a point. 

Things are a bit askew from the start with regards to the poster. A reasonably slender figure with a Caucasian left hand is depicted. Yet the title object is worn by the hulking 6'5" football star turn actor Rosey Grier, who was not white. He plays an ex-con out for vengeance against some prison guards who abused him with a five-pound riot glove when he was incarcerated.  

Handsome 1950s movie idol John Saxon is a down on his luck bounty hunter in danger of losing visitation rights with his daughter if he can't come up with back child support. 

Around 43 by this time, he was still in great shape and, while he wasn't overly generous in sharing his beefcake, he has several open-shirt scenes. 

He's supported by a small gallery of veteran performers who have basically cameo parts on which they likely worked one or perhaps two days. There is 1940s hunk Aldo Ray as a victim.  

Keenan Wynn appears as a bail bondsman who metes out cases for Saxon to work on, giving him a percentage of the rewards for each instance. 

1930s & '40s star Joan Blondell (in the last film role she ever played) has a scene as an employee who made off with a wad of cash after struggling to make ends meet on her meager pay.

Nightclub comic turned actor Jack Carter plays a wealthy gambler and shady con man. 

Costarring as a potential love interest for Saxon is Joanna Cassidy. 

Busy character actor Michael Pataki plays a New York bounty hunter and rival of Saxon's. 

Though not a "name" actor, Howard Honig shows up as an associate of Saxon's. He will be recognizable to fans of the movie Airplane! (1980) and its sequel as a man whose wife come down with one unforgettable case of food poisoning.  

Then there's Grier (seen here with a light brown-bag lunch) who is wanted so badly that there is a $20,000 bounty on him! Naturally, Saxon wants to be sure that he's the one who nabs him and collects the reward.  

Here in a moment of semi-undress, we see Saxon conferring with Pataki over the prey. 

I just have to say that, while it was common back in the day, you just wouldn't see a movie now in which two guys come into a house where one of them lives and one of them untucks and unbuttons his shirt simply to get comfy!

In a rare moment of revelation, Saxon is briefly seen toweling his hair after a shower without his customary "comb-over." Saxon was cursed to be a leading man at a time when close-cropped hair was OUT and it was unthinkable for anyone outside Yul Brynner or Telly Savalas to be bald. Now it's basically a non-issue, especially in the action genre, but in the 1970s people did everything they could to appear to have plenty of hair. 

Anyway, he's quick to remedy the situation at the first possible moment. 

This is a Tub Time post and so we'll be focusing on that. This sequence involves a tub, but isn't the one I'm going to go into as much. One of the prison guards heads into his bathroom...

...and starts running water for a bath. Now, anyone I know would consider getting out of all those clothes as the tub is filling. 

But our guy plops down on the toilet seat and proceeds to leaf through a girly magazine and an adult newspaper. 

Trouble is... he's not alone in there!

The man gets the shit kicked out of him by "the glove" and winds up in the tub. 

Where he'll remain...

Before Saxon takes on the $20K case of the gloved one, he has a couple of other, smaller instances of jumped bail to contend with. One involves a man who's been bouncing checks. 

He might have known from the lawn decor what he was in for...

Peering through a back window, he spies a man soaking in a hot tub while playing the skin flute...

Longtime character actor Logan Clarke is billed as "Young Man" (Instead of "Young Man with a Horn" it's "Young Man with a Flute?")

Saxon makes his approach and Clarke seems pleased enough to see him coming.

As Mae West might have said, "Is that a flute in your hand or are ya just happy to see me?"

At first, Clarke has no clue who Saxon is or what he wants. 

But when he pulls out his cuffs, and they aren't for the purpose which might have crossed Clarke's mind, he isn't as happy. 

Saxon lurches forward...

...and Clarke rears back. 

And from here things get frenetic quickly. 

Clarke hops up and out of the tub. (Can I just tell you that I felt all along that he was going to be naked and it was a bit of a shock to find that he had these briefs on?)  

The two engage in a scuffle which, hilarious as it may be, is a little more rowdy than these caps might indicate. 

After some back and forth, Saxon up and tosses Clarke into the pool.

If you've ever seen a movie, you know that pool water always renders any adversary temporarily immobile, so things seem to be under control now. 

Only, surprise! Emerging from the house is burly Nicholas Worth. 

It turns out HE is the man that Saxon is after, not the flutist! In a rage, he takes a swing at Saxon. 

Having had a punch land upside his head, he has to take a beat to shake it off. 

A relieved Clarke now cheers his friend on from the sidelines. 

Worth is a far bigger target to take down than the first man. Still, Saxon seems to toss him all about the backyard. 

At various nanoseconds during this conflict, we can see that under his robe, Worth is wearing a skimpy li'l pair of white briefs. (Maybe I've been doing it wrong, but in a private backyard oasis like this, I'd not be bothering with such things. But, in the end, this is a movie and there have to be some standards. I guess...)

Eventually Saxon is being tag-teamed by the duo, and turns to a long-handled pool skimmer for use as a weapon. 

Clarke takes a stab to the breadbasket. 

Eventually, he careens back into the hot tub from whence he came. 

Worth, still in the game, winds up with the skimmer shoved over his head. 

And like an animal on a leash is hurled into the swimming pool. 

Horrifield Clarke looks on...

...as his hefty partner is finally incapacitated.

Keeping things tongue in cheek, Clarke is seen resigning himself to Worth's capture...

...before comedically sinking back into the tub. 

Later, out in the street, the now-dry lovers have a few moments of farewell as a few nosy broads from the neighborhood look on. 

Move along, girls... nothing for you here!

If Worth seems at all familiar to you, it may be because during his long career as a brute and a weirdo in many projects...

including his turn as a crazed psychotic killer in Don't Answer the Phone! (1980)

The story for The Glove was created by actor Ross Hagen (of many exploitation films and the TV series Daktari), who also made his directorial debut with it. He went on to direct seven more times and produced and/or acted in more films with gritty subject matter. 

Those of you who are a certain age doubtlessly recall seeing this movie on VHS down at the "now-defunct" video stores. I know I did, countless times, but I never did rent it. 

This movie came up for me as a recommendation on Tubi, which is where I watched it. But the video quality was remarkably bad, especially on my big ol' 70 inch-er.   

The blur took away much of the details which could be seen better in the original print. 

Thankfully, a far better rendition of the movie is available on YT. Here is the link if you want to check it out. 

The End!