13 Movies Directed by Robert Aldrich

Basic Info:

Cast:

Writer:

Fullplot:

Charles Castle is a successful Hollywood actor who has opted for screen success over art. He must make critical decisions regarding his career, his marriage, his art & morality. In this screen adaptation of a Clifford Odets play, Castle is pressured by his studio boss and manipulated into a potentially murderous cover-up to protect his career. An indictment of the amoral world of 50's Hollywood and its corrosive effect upon the artist.

Basic Info:

Cast:

Writer:

Fullplot:

A frightened woman is running barefoot on a highway, trying desperately to flag a car. After several cars pass her by, the woman sees another car approaching, and to make sure either the car stops - or, she's killed, she stands in the path of an on-coming car. Private Investigator Mike Hammer is the one at the wheel, and after almost hitting the woman, he tells her to get in. The woman's name is Christina Bailey.. She is obviously on the run, being barefoot and wearing nothing but a trench coat, and the scent of fear. Whoever was after her eventually catches up with them. Christina has information they want, but dies while being questioned. The killers fake an accident by pushing Hammer's car off the road, but, he survives, waking up in hospital two weeks later. As Mike starts to investigate Christina's death, he's told by the police to stay out of it, but, the hard-nosed PI proceeds anyways. Little did he know that Christina's secret would lead to death and destruction.

Basic Info:

Cast:

Writer:

Fullplot:

During the closing days of WWII, a National Guard Infantry Company is assigned the task of setting up artillery observation posts in a strategic area. Lieutenant Costa knows that Cooney is in command only because of 'connections' he had made state-side. Costa has serious doubts concerning Cooneys' ability to lead the group. When Cooney sends Costa and his men out, and refuses to re-enforce them, Costa swears revenge.

Basic Info:

Cast:

Writer:

Fullplot:

Basic Info:

Cast:

Writer:

Fullplot:

Brendan O'Malley arrives at the Mexican home of old flame Belle Breckenridge to find her married to a drunkard getting ready for a cattle drive to Texas. Hot on O'Malley's heels is lawman Dana Stribling who has a personal reason for getting him back into his jurisdiction. Both men join Breckenridge and his wife on the drive. As they near Texas tensions mount, not least because Stribling is starting to court Belle and O'Malley is increasingly drawn by her daughter Missy.

Basic Info:

Cast:

Writer:

Fullplot:

In a tale that almost redefines sibling rivalry, faded actresses Blanche and 'Baby' Jane Hudson live together. Jane was by far the most famous when she performed with their father in vaudeville but as they got older, it was Blanche who became the finer actress, which Jane still resents. Blanche is now confined to a wheelchair - Jane ran her over with the car while drunk, even though she has no memory of it - and Jane is firmly in control. As time goes by, Jane exercises greater and greater control over her sister, intercepting her letters and ensuring that few if anyone from the outside has any contact with her. As Jane slowly loses her mind, she torments her sister going to ever greater extremes.

Basic Info:

Cast:

Writer:

Fullplot:

Sharpshooters Zack Thomas and Joe Jarrett are in a Texan stage-coach and manage to fight off Matson's robber gang, so afterward they can fight over the $100,000 cash carried by a railroad official. Both make it to Galveston, where each, including vexed Matson, meets up with respective accomplices in various dirty schemes. The money keeps changing hands and the scene shifts to a river boat, which should multiply the winnings as a casino, but the crooks and bullets follow.

Basic Info:

Cast:

Writer:

Fullplot:

Aged and wealthy Charlotte Hollis has lived alone and as a recluse in the crumbling family plantation mansion in Hollisport, Louisiana since her father Sam Hollis' death thirty-six years ago. The only people who regularly see her are her hard-as-nails but seemingly loyal housekeeper Velma Crowther, and her longtime friend and physician, Dr. Drew Bayliss. She has lived there the better part of her life except for a short stint in London thirty-seven years ago following the vicious murder of her married lover, John Mayhew, at the plantation's summer house while Sam was hosting one of his legendary grand balls in the mansion. That evening, she and John were going to run off together, that is before he was bludgeoned to death, his right hand and head which were never found. No one was ever convicted for his murder, but most people believe Charlotte did it after John changed his mind about running off with her. Not having seen her in years, they also now believe Charlotte is a crazy old woman, her mental state which turned at or before the murder. Conversely, Charlotte has hidden away as she fears people would always be glaring at her. She also believes any bad thing that has happened to her following John's murder has been initiated by John's widow, Jewel Mayhew, who Charlotte blames for orchestrating the expropriation of her property to build a bridge across the lake. Charlotte is surprised that her younger cousin, Miriam Deering, who left the area years ago never to have returned and who was once Drew's romantic interest, has accepted her invitation to stay at the mansion. While Charlotte wanted Miriam to help her overturn the expropriation with the state government in Baton Rouge, Miriam has instead come to help Charlotte pack her belongings. Miriam's visit coincides with the arrival to Hollisport of insurance investigator Harry Willis, who has always had an interest in this case in why the insurance was never claimed. Not expecting to find anything earth shattering while not wanting to upset the apple cart, he doesn't let anyone know except Sheriff Luke Standish the true nature of his visit. These visits also coincide with Charlotte's mental state seemingly going into decline, perhaps concerning having to leave her family home, but the issues which are always around John's murder. Or is someone or some people trying to drive her crazy if she is not so already? If the latter, the truth behind who killed John and why may finally come to light to those who matter.

Basic Info:

Cast:

Writer:

Fullplot:

A cargo plane goes down in a sandstorm in the Sahara with less than a dozen men on board. One of the passengers is an airplane designer who comes up with the idea of ripping off the undamaged wing and using it as the basis for an airplane they will build to escape before their food and water run out.

Basic Info:

Cast:

Writer:

Fullplot:

A Major with an attitude problem and a history of getting things done is told to interview military prisoners with death sentences or long terms for a dangerous mission; To parachute behind enemy lines and cause havoc for the German Generals at a rest house on the eve of D-Day.

Basic Info:

Cast:

Writer:

Fullplot:

A football player-turned-convict organizes a team of inmates to play against a team of prison guards. His dilemma is that the warden asks him to throw the game in return for an early release, but he is also concerned about the inmates' lack of self-esteem.

Basic Info:

Cast:

Writer:

Fullplot:

A renegade USAF general, Lawrence Dell, escapes from a military prison and takes over an ICBM silo near Montana and threatens to provoke World War 3 unless the President reveals details of a secret meeting held just after the start of the Vietnam War between Dell and the then President's most trusted advisors.

Basic Info:

Cast:

Writer:

Fullplot:

Harry manages The California Dolls, a female wrestling tag team endlessly touring America, and he's also romantically involved with one of them. Their fortunes seem on the slide (particularly when Harry accepts an engagement involving mud wrestling!) but then the big grudge match beckons.