Down-on-his-luck repo man Rick Murphy (writer/director Eric Fleming) and his septuagenarian (Robert Culp in a poignantly comedic performance) are caught up in the kidnapping of a star baseball pitcher just before his team is to play in The World Series and a stroke of luck turns into a strike out of major league proportions. Assuming they can get a piece of the action that will set them up for life is their first mistake, but not their last, in this action-packed caper film. Also starring Shawnee Smith (Becker, Saw I-V) and Oliver Davis (Lucky Number Slevin, Rodney). watch
From a space wheel 500 miles above the Earth, commander Samuel Merritt (Walter Brooke) and his men (including Eric Fleming and Benson Fong) construct a sleek robot, then receive orders providing their new craft's destination: Mars! But once the spaceship is underway, doubts surface. Merritt questions the audacity of humankind's reach for the heavens. He calls it blasphemy and threatens to destroy the mission. Five-time Oscar. winner George Pal (The War Of The Worlds) produced this adventure rooted in the '50s understanding of space exploration... and heightened by the awareness that no matter how advanced science becomes, human weaknesses remain. watch
Question: I used to watch Rawhide as a kid, and I remember trail boss Gil Favor, my favorite guy on the show, leaving near the end and Rowdy Yates taking over. Why did that happen? Thank you, and let me just say that while you recently joked about how you ramble, I appreciate your in-depth answers.
Answer: Why, thanks, Steve — I shall not disappoint on this one. The actors left the show for the usual reasons: money and ratings. Rawhide, a CBS success after launching in January 1959, had gone through a long string of producers and had fallen in the ratings, from sixth in 1960-61 to 13th the next year, 22nd the year after that and 44th the following year, so changes were in order. Eric Fleming, who played Favor, was let go, and a young guy by the name of Clint Eastwood, who played assistant trail boss Rowdy, got a promotread more
