Tension at Table Rock | |
---|---|
Directed by | Charles Marquis Warren |
Screenplay by | Winston Miller |
Based on | Bitter Sage 1954 novel by Frank Gruber |
Produced by | Sam Wiesenthal |
Starring | Richard Egan Dorothy Malone Cameron Mitchell Angie Dickinson |
Cinematography | Joseph F. Biroc |
Edited by | Doane Harrison Harry Marker |
Music by | Dimitri Tiomkin |
Production company | Sam Wiesenthal Productions |
Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 93 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $1.4 million (US/Canada rentals) [1] |
Tension at Table Rock is a 1956 American Western drama film directed by Charles Marquis Warren and starring Richard Egan and Dorothy Malone. The film stars Richard Egan as a man vilified after killing a famous gunslinger who was a public hero. [2]
After killing a man whom many thought was his friend, Wes Tancred is assaulted and immortalized in an uncomplimentary song about one man shooting his best friend in the back; when in fact Wes' friend was reaching for his gun to shoot Wes in the back as he started out the door. Wes leaves town and winds up working as a hostler at a Stagecoach Outpost. He adopts an alias and befriends the father and son who run the outpost. Three outlaws arrive with plans to rob the stagecoach when it arrives. The father is killed in a showdown with the three outlaws. Wes kills them and takes the boy to live with his aunt and uncle, who is the Sheriff in Table Rock. A reckless band of herders that are running a cattle drive come to town with revelry and kill a sodbuster. In court there is testimony presented that the murder was self-defense because the ramrodder had placed a weapon in the victim's hand. Both the Sheriff and Wes are aware of this; however, the Sheriff who was traumatized from a previous beating, states in his report, that it was self-defense. He revises his report when Wes steps forward with testimony to the contrary, challenging him to overcome his fear. Wes shoots down a hired gun that comes to town to kill the Sheriff and the Sheriff, in turn, shoots the man who hires the gunman when he attempts to shoot Wes in the back.
Sterling Hayden claimed he had been hired for six weeks to appear in the film but RKO Pictures disclaimed the agreement so he sued them for $35,000. RKO settled out of court. [3]
Dorothy Malone was an American actress. Her film career began in 1943, and in her early years, she played small roles, mainly in B-movies, with the exception of a supporting role in The Big Sleep (1946). After a decade, she changed her image, particularly after her role in Written on the Wind (1956), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Warlock is a 1959 American Western film produced and directed by Edward Dmytryk starring Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda, Anthony Quinn and Dorothy Malone. The picture is an adaptation of the novel Warlock by American author Oakley Hall. The film is both set and filmed in Utah.
Charles Robert Starrett was an American actor, best known for his starring role in the Durango Kid westerns. Starrett still holds the record for starring in the longest series of theatrical features: 131 westerns, all produced by Columbia Pictures.
Richard Egan was an American actor. After beginning his career in 1949, he subsequently won a Golden Globe Award for his performances in the films The Glory Brigade (1953) and The Kid from Left Field (1953). He went on to star in many films such as Underwater! (1955), Seven Cities of Gold (1955), The Revolt of Mamie Stover (1956), Love Me Tender (1956), Tension at Table Rock (1956), A Summer Place (1959), Esther and the King (1960) and The 300 Spartans (1962).
William Herman Katt, known as Bill Williams, was an American television and film actor. He is best known for his starring role in the early television series The Adventures of Kit Carson, which aired in syndication from 1951 to 1955.
The Unholy Wife is a 1957 Technicolor film noir crime film produced and directed by John Farrow at RKO Radio Pictures, but released by Universal Pictures as RKO was in the process of ceasing its film activities. The film features Diana Dors, Rod Steiger, Tom Tryon and Beulah Bondi. The screenplay was written by William Durkee and Jonathan Latimer
John Arthur Doucette was an American character actor who performed in more than 280 film and television productions between 1941 and 1987. A man of stocky build who possessed a deep, rich voice, he proved equally adept at portraying characters in Shakespearean plays, Westerns, and modern crime dramas. He is perhaps best remembered, however, for his villainous roles as a movie and television "tough guy".
Seven Men from Now is a 1956 American Western film directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Randolph Scott, Gail Russell and Lee Marvin. The film was written by Burt Kennedy and produced by John Wayne's Batjac Productions.
Pandro Samuel Berman, also known as Pan Berman, was an American film producer.
William Bowers was an American reporter, playwright, and screenwriter. He worked as a reporter in Long Beach, California and for Life magazine, and specialized in writing comedy-westerns. He also turned out several thrillers.
Charles Randolph "Chubby" Johnson was an American film and television supporting character actor with a genial demeanor and warm, country-accented voice.
Edward Waller was an American stage, film and television actor.
Back from Eternity is a 1956 American drama film about a planeload of people stranded in the South American jungle and subsequently menaced by headhunters. The film stars Robert Ryan, Rod Steiger, Anita Ekberg and Gene Barry. The film is a remake of the 1939 film Five Came Back, also directed and produced by John Farrow. Richard Carroll, who is credited with writing the story for Back from Eternity, wrote the original story for Five Came Back.
William McClellan Chapin was an American child actor, known for a considerable number of screen and TV performances from 1943 to 1959 and best remembered for both his roles as the "diaper manager" Christie Cooper in the 1953 family feature The Kid from Left Field and little John Harper in Charles Laughton's 1955 film noir movie The Night of the Hunter.
El Paso is a 1949 American Western film directed by Lewis R. Foster and starring John Payne, Gail Russell and Sterling Hayden.
The Iron Sheriff is a 1957 American Western film starring Sterling Hayden.
The Arizona Ranger is a 1948 American Western film directed by John Rawlins and starring Tim Holt and his father Jack.
Stagecoach Kid is a 1949 American Western film directed by Lew Landers and starring Tim Holt, Jeff Donnell and Richard Martin. It was one of a number of B-Westerns Holt made for RKO.
The Arizonian is a 1935 American Western film directed by Charles Vidor and starring Richard Dix, Margot Grahame, Preston Foster, and Louis Calhern. The screenplay was by Dudley Nichols. The film was released by RKO Radio Pictures on June 28, 1935.
The Phantom Stagecoach is a 1957 American Western film directed by Ray Nazarro and starring William Bishop, Kathleen Crowley, Richard Webb, Hugh Sanders, John Doucette, and Frank Ferguson. The film was released by Columbia Pictures on April 1, 1957.