Joseph Sirola

An adaptation of Fulton Oursler's best-selling book the "Greatest Story" follows the life of Jesus Christ, played by Max Von Sydow. The large supporting cast includes Dorothy McGuire as Mary, Claude Rains as Herod the Great, Jose Ferrer as Herod Antipas, Charlton Heston as John the Baptist, Donald Pleasence as Satan, David McCallum as Judas Iscariot, Sidney Poitier as Simon of Cyrene, Telly Savalas as Pontius Pilate and Martin Landau as Caiaphas. Even Robert Blake as Simon the Zealot, Jamie Farr as Thaddaeus, and motorcyle-flick veteran Richard Bakalyan as Dismas, the repentant thief, are well-suited to their roles.

Jed Cooper (Clint Eastwood), an ex-lawman turned rancher, is moving a small herd of cattle when a group of nine men on horseback, led by Captain Wilson (Ed Begley Sr.), ride up and accuse him of having stolen the cattle and killed their owner. They refuse to believe his account, stringing him up by the neck and leaving him for dead. Lucky for him, they don't do the job right, and as Cooper dangles there, barely alive, Deputy U.S. Marshal Bliss (Ben Johnson) spots him and cuts him down. After surviving the next few days in Bliss' tumbleweed wagon with the other prisoners, he is cleared of all accusations and released by Judge Fenton (Pat Hingle). Although Cooper witnesses the hanging of the man who really murdered the owner of the cattle and took Cooper's money, he still wants revenge on the nine men who tried to hang him. Fenton insists that he leave the bringing of them to justice to his deputy marshals. Cooper and Fenton, realizing that they need each other, strike an uneasy bargain, Cooper agrees to wear a badge and bring in the men he's looking for to be tried. This task proves easier said than done as Cooper experiences a number of difficulties in capturing all nine members and bringing them to justice. In the course of his quest, Cooper also makes the acquaintance of a young woman Rachel (Inger Stevens), with her own search for justice. The two of them are drawn together, no more so than when Wilson and two of the others try to gun Cooper down in cold blood. The final confrontation between Cooper and Wilson escalates in violence to its savage, irony-laced conclusion.

Throughout the West, one name means action: Chuka! Rod Taylor straps on his six-gun in this heroic, hard-hitting western about Chuka, a man of war who's seen enough fighting to know he must keep the brushfires of hatred and violence from erupting again. Acclaimed actors Ernest Borgnine, John Mills, James Whitmore and Louis Hayward join Taylor in this taut tale that emphasizes strong characterizations and meaningful action. Tension builds for soldiers guarding a besieged prairie fort against Indian attacks. Their nerves are frayed and their spirits are dying. But there's a glimmer of hope: the lone gunfighter who's come to help them is the man called Chuka!

While Indians besiege a U.S. Army fort in 1876, residents of the fort a gunfighter, a stagecoach driver, two Mexican women, and a motley company of soldiers try to come to terms with their pasts.