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Post by topbilled on Nov 12, 2024 15:58:50 GMT
Audie Murphy was young when he became a hero in WWII. After the war, he was approached by James Cagney to come to Hollywood. But Audie’s movie career did not get off to a great start. There were some supporting roles in low budget fare. Things did not really gel for him in the movie capital until he signed with Universal. Starting in 1950, the studio featured him in a series of western adventure stories. These were big hits with audiences who couldn’t get enough of their favorite military hero, now a western cowboy hero on the big screen. Eventually, studio bosses expanded Audie’s range and cast him in comedy dramas and war films. His most important war flick was when he played himself in TO HELL AND BACK, a 1955 release that was based on his own bestselling autobiography. At first he was reluctant to play himself, but when it came down to it, nobody else would have been acceptable in the role. Occasionally Audie had assignments at other studios, but for the most part, he stayed with Universal, the studio he called home until 1966.
Check out:
KANSAS RAIDERS (1950)
COLUMN SOUTH (1953) |
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Post by jamesjazzguitar on Nov 12, 2024 16:41:48 GMT
Gritt TV shows a lot of Universal westerns and thus a lot of Audie Murphy westerns. There were 3 on last night.
The most interesting one was Ride a Crooked Trail which had Walter Matthau playing a strong-arm judge\lawman.
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Post by topbilled on Nov 13, 2024 15:57:15 GMT
At the height of his stardom, in 1961, he took a slight break from films to star in a weekly western TV series for Revue Studios (which leased sound stages at Universal and was absorbed into Universal's television arm). It was Whispering Smith, based on the 1948 film starring Alan Ladd.
The series generated 26 episodes and was met with considerable controversy-- as it was deemed too violent. Desilu's The Untouchables also faced the same criticism at this time.
After the show wrapped production he was back making feature films for Universal.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whispering_Smith_(TV_series)
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Post by jamesjazzguitar on Nov 13, 2024 19:37:53 GMT
At the height of his stardom, in 1961, he took a slight break from films to star in a weekly western TV series for Revue Studios (which leased sound stages at Universal and was absorbed into Universal's television arm). It was Whispering Smith, based on the 1948 film starring Alan Ladd.
The series generated 26 episodes and was met with considerable controversy-- as it was deemed too violent. Desilu's The Untouchables also faced the same criticism at this time.
After the show wrapped production he was back making feature films for Universal.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whispering_Smith_(TV_series) TV westerns in the late 50s and early 60s, were considered to be too violent. The FCC issued a directive sometime in the late 50s. This caused a few of these westerns to produce some episodes were no one is shot or killed. (because prior to the directive, someone was shot or killed in 99% of the episodes. |
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